Page:Barry Pain - Az ablak The Window.djvu/14



Mr. Herbert Packer habitually spoke of women as the fair sex. If that does not give you the man sufficiently, I may add that he prided himself on a turn for harmless gallantry and a knowledge of the world. When a railway carriage was crowded, he never failed to offer his seat to any lady who was standing, and he always made sufficient fuss about it. He possessed a shilling copy of The Perfect Gentle­man, and he had studied it. He was a member of a cheap and touting club, always became slightly supercilious on entering it, and (after the first time) was not fool enough to leave a good hat in the hall. He had no vices, and on the other side of the counter was quite a useful man. When he came out into the world his conversation on the subject of tact made some men dislike him, but it won him the respect of others—Ernest Taggs for instance.

Taggs was younger, poorer and weaker. His respect for Packer was not ill-received. One evening he happened to say that Packer was his idea of the typical ladies’man. «Nonsense, my boy,» said Packer. But all the same, a few minutes later, Taggs was seated in Packer’s club, and Packer was ordering two glasses of sherry as if it were of no importance.