Page:Herbert Jenkins - The Rain Girl.djvu/223

 bore, in addition to being invited to join the Board of the Auto-Balloon Bus and Tram. Car Syndicate, I think that was its name. It has really been most exhausting. By the way, did you ring twice?"

Beresford nodded.

"Thank you for remembering that twice means coffee. You might have rung three times, which means; but never mind, that is a purely domestic matter."

After a pause Drewitt continued, "London's exactly where you left it, Richard, incidentally where Lola Craven left it also. She has not been heard of or seen since that breakfast. Heavens! that breakfast—and—and her aunt. Her conversation made me feel like rose-blight subjected to a patent spray-exterminator. I have never encountered anything like it." A look of complete misery overspread Drewitt's features. "I'm positively afraid to enquire of Hoskins how much I owe for coffee. It must be a prodigious amount. Ah! here it is," as Hoskins entered with a tray and proceeded to fill the two white and gold cups, which he handed to Drewitt and Beresford.

"What I most admire about you, Richard, is your capacity for the unexpected. You leave London for all the discomforts of the country-side, from damp beds to mosquitoes, your loving family hears nothing of you for eight weeks, then suddenly you reappear, clothed in a manner that is a direct challenge to Solomon—the king, I mean, not the Piccadilly florist. You then proceed to behave in a manner