Page:Herbert Jenkins - The Rain Girl.djvu/296

 of M.P.'s. She reproached Nature for her obsolete methods in providing for the continuance of the race. She held up to the open light of day your iniquitous conduct in proposing to marry a road-girl. She implied that I was responsible for your determination, stating in clear and unambiguous terms that I exercise an evil influence upon you. She suggested that no man could know me without wanting to marry a road-girl, tramp or whatever it was she had in mind."

Drewitt paused to sip his whisky-and-soda. With a sigh of weariness he continued:

"She asked me if she were expected to keep you iand your wife to-be, together with any infantile complications that might arise out of the union. I assured her that I was not in your confidence to that extent. Then in a voice that caused the wire to throb she asked who was to keep you and your vagabond wife; the expression is hers. Personally, I disclaimed any such intention, pointing out that it would be neither delicate nor decent for a peer of the realm to keep another man's wife. It was at this juncture that she accused me of coarseness and a lack of that refinement which, as far as I could gather, forms the most attractive bait for unsophisticated heiresses."

Drewitt paused to light a cigarette and once more sip his whisky-and-soda.

"At last," he continued, "I had to remind her that this was the Diplomatic Club, where no one ever speaks his mind or conveys facts except in a form disguised beyond all recognition. Finally, she