Page:By order of the Czar.djvu/324



312 BY ORDER OF THE CZAR.

wonder " if Samuel Swynford, Esquire, did not come out trumps in that affair yet."

It was not Sam's lot to engage in any adventure on his way to Milan. He met no fascinating beauty en route. Had he done so he would have compared her so much to her disadvantage with Dolly Norcott that she would not have stirred his imagination even into a desire for a flirtation. Moreover, he had no mysterious attachment, as Philip For- syth had, when that gallant had renewed his acquaintance with the countess at Victoria Station. Sam was as true to his ideal Dolly as if she had never snubbed him, as if she had never warned him they could not be any nearer than friends, as if indeed she had not been engaged to his rival. He was a curious mixture, this prosperous young man of business. The secret of Sam's success on the Stock Exchange lay in his never losing his head, as his friends said. And yet, contemplating him in the midst of his city work, you might have doubted the truth of this judgment. Cordiner said of him :

" Sam Swynford is an enthusiast ; it isn't excitement, the apparent nervousness you think you detect in him when he is doing a big thing ; it is the enthusiasm of the moment, that's what it is ; the same kind of enthusiasm that gives a soldier the dash and pluck necessary in a charge ; the impulse, so to speak, of the moment. But that over, there is no firmer, no more solid operator than Sam Swynford ; a young fellow who never wobbles ; is never doubtful about what is the right thing to do ; doesn't ask advice ; is as firm as a rock and as hard for ( the time ; though, mind you, one of the most generous fellows living."

This description of Sam was no doubt correct, and will account for the quiet, steady, respectful way in which Sam approached his destiny at Venice,

" I can arrange everything to your satisfaction," he repeated calmly. " There is only one meaning in those