was in his private office, not at all busy, when his brother came in. He might, if he had been a child of nature, have jumped up and cried out that the light of his life had returned, but instead he made a decent effort to conceal his delight.
“Well!” he said, questioningly.
“Well!” said Lionel, with just his old smile.
Horace melted.
“So you’ve thought better of it, eh? Find you haven’t many friends who’ll do for you what”
“The usual thing,” said Lionel, with a luxurious feeling of sinking down on a feather bed, of completely throwing himself upon someone else. “I’m in a mess, and I want your help.”
This pleased Horace beyond measure.
“Debts?” he asked, trying to frown.
“No—not entirely.... Fact is, old boy, I’m married!”
“By Jove! And that independent young lady’s willing to come round now, is she? Wouldn’t let you take anything from me, I remember. What is it now? Baby?”
“Presently. But, I say, Horace, it’s not that one.”
“Good God!” cried Horace, in amazement. “Another one!”
“Her sister.... I—er—it’s hard to explain....”
“She was a pretty girl,” said Horace, “I thought she’d suit you very well.”
Lionel’s face had become very red. It was undoubtedly difficult to explain, and yet he wanted terribly to tell it all to someone, to hear another person’s comment, to be told definitely whether he was a natural man or a cad. Honestly he didn’t know. There were some incidents that absolutely couldn’t be mentioned. And yet, if they were omitted, the story would be unintelligible.
“I’ll have to—you’ll have to assure me—give me your word you’ll never mention this Especially to Julie. I’m only telling you because I want you to—understand the whole thing....”
He was very anxious, above all, to remove any impression that he was fickle, unstable.
“You see,” he began, “I—Frances and I were separated. More or less by her sister. That is, her sister thought it wasn’t a good match for Frankie, so she prevented it. She explained it all to me, perfectly frankly. She knows Frankie so well, you see. Knew she couldn’t be happy with me. So she ... explained it all. Of course, I had to see her several times, to talk it over, and so forth. And—I—really, this is hard to tell, you know, without seeming She—the sister—took a sort of fancy to me. I didn’t—hadn’t any idea of such a thing.... I asked her to lend me some money so that I could go out to see Frankie—and—she brought it over to me, in my room....”
“Why?” enquired Horace, “What made her come to your room?”
“Well—more or less, to talk about Frankie.... And—in fact, she ... gave herself away, you know.... I really can’t explain very well, old boy, but—I rather lost my head ... and—she stayed.”
“Phew!” said Horace.
“So,” said Lionel, and grew very red again, “Well, in fact—what else could I do? We took a furnished flat—and we weren’t going to say anything about it for a bit—and then this baby So we were married yesterday.”
Horace was looking unusually grave. There were things about this affair he didn’t like.
“You’re sure it wasn’t a trap? It looks mighty queer, my boy.”
Lionel laughed.
“I wish you knew Minnie,” he said. “Then you’d never think such a thing. She’s the most naïve, simple little soul”
“But she should not have stopped there with you. She must have known she was forcing you into a marriage. My boy.... It’s a bad business. How old is she?”
“Twenty-four.”
“Old enough to understand all that. My boy, I know you fairly well. I’d take an oath,” he said solemnly, “that you wouldn’t ‘lose your head,’ as you put it, and take advantage of a respectable young woman unless you were given encouragement—an extraordinary amount of encouragement. Am I right?”
Lionel was not able to be properly indignant.
“I’ll admit,” he said, still very red, “that she’s—too fond of me. Too much faith in me.... But, Horace, old man, you mustn’t misunderstand her. She’s the best little woman on earth. Absolutely. An angel. Never complains. Never finds fault. There she is, all day long, shut up in that beastly little flat, while I’m hunting a job. No clothes, no amusements. Especially hard on her now.”
He was rather surprised at the look he saw on his brother’s face, a compassion so deep, so comprehending.
For Horace was quite certain that Lionel had been trapped, had been the dupe of a woman, whether loving or scheming, it mattered little. Perhaps she could be bought off—a divorce arranged, or something of that sort.
“Well, old chap!” he said, “What can I do for you? How can I help you?”