"I'm not," said Browne. "Nothing seems to go right with me, do what I will. I tell you, Jimmy, I'm the biggest ass that walks the earth."
Jimmy whistled softly to himself. "This is plainly a case which demands the most careful treatment," he said aloud. "From what I can see of it, it will be necessary for me to prescribe for him. My treatment will be a good luncheon and a pint of the Widow to wash it down. Come along." So saying, he slipped his arm through that of his companion, and led him back in the direction of the Monolith Club. "Now, Master Browne," he said, as they walked along, "you will just tell me everything,--hiding nothing, remember, and setting down naught in malice. For the time being you must look upon me as your father-confessor."
"In point of fact, Jimmy," Browne began, "I have just seen our friend Maas."
"Well, what of that?" replied the other. "How has that upset you? From what I know of him, Maas is usually amusing, except when he gets on the topic of his ailments."
"That's exactly it," said Browne. "He got on the subject of his ailments with me. The upshot of it all was that he reminded me of an invitation I had given him in Paris, half in jest, mind you, to visit the East with me."
"The deuce!" said Jimmy. "Do you mean to say that he has decided to accompany us, now?"
"That's just it," said Browne. "That's why I'm so annoyed; and yet I don't know exactly why I should be, for, all things considered, he is not a bad sort of a fellow."
"Nevertheless, I wish he were not coming with us," said Jimmy, with unwonted emphasis. "Did you tell him anything of what you are going to do?"
"Of course not," said Browne. "I did not even hint at it. As far as he knows, I am simply visiting Japan in the ordinary way, for pleasure."
"Well, if I were you," said Jimmy, "I should let him remain in that belief. I should not say anything about the real reason at all, and even then not until we are on the high seas. Of course I don't mean to imply, for an instant, that he would be likely to say anything, or to give you away in any possible sort of fashion; but still it would be safer, I should think, to keep silence on the subject. You know what we are going to do, I know it, Miss Petrovitch knows it, and Madame Bernstein also. Who else is there you have told?"