A COMPACT OF THREE
Wolfenden, for an idler, was a young man of fairly precise habits. By
ten o'clock next morning he had breakfasted, and before eleven he was
riding in the Park. Perhaps he had some faint hope of seeing there
something of the two people in whom he was now greatly interested. If
so he was certainly disappointed. He looked with a new curiosity into
the faces of the girls who galloped past him, and he was careful even
to take particular notice of the few promenaders. But he did not see
anything of Mr. Sabin or his companion.
At twelve o'clock he returned to his rooms and exchanged his
riding-clothes for the ordinary garb of the West End. He even looked on
his hall-table as he passed out again, to see if there were any note or
card for him.
"He could scarcely look me up just yet, at any rate," he reflected, as
he walked slowly along Piccadilly, "for he did not even ask me for my
address. He took the whole thing so coolly that perhaps he does not mean
even to call."
Nevertheless, he looked in the rack at his club to see if there was
anything against his name, and tore into pieces the few unimportant
notes he found there, with an impatience which they scarcely deserved.
Of the few acquaintances whom he met there, he inquired casually whether
they knew anything of a man named "Sabin." No one seemed to have heard
the name before. He even consulted a directory in the hall, but without
success. At one o'clock, in a fit of restlessness, he went out, and
taking a hansom drove over to Westminster, to Harcutt's rooms. Harcutt
was in, and with him Densham. At Wolfenden's entrance the three men
looked at one another, and there was a simultaneous laugh.
"Here comes the hero," Densham remarked. "He will be able to tell us
everything."
"I came to gather information, not to impart it," Wolfenden answered,
selecting a cigarette, and taking an easy chair. "I know precisely as
much as I knew last night."
"Mr. Sabin has not been to pour out his gratitude yet, then?" Densham
asked.
Wolfenden shook his head.
"Not yet. On the whole, I am inclined to think that he will not come at
all. He doubtless considers that he has done all that is necessary in
the way of thanks. He did not even ask for my card, and giving me his
was only a matter of form, for there was no address upon it."
"But he knew your name," Harcutt reminded him. "I noticed that."
"Yes. I suppose he could find me if he wished to," Wolfenden admitted.
"If he had been very keen about it, though, I should think he would have
said something more. His one idea seemed to be to get away before there
was a row."
"I do not think," Harcutt said, "that you will find him overburdened
with gratitude. He does not seem that sort of man."
"I do not want any gratitude from him," Wolfenden answered,
deliberately. "So far as the man himself is concerned I should rather
prefer never to see him again. By the bye, did either of you fellows
follow them home last night?"
Harcutt and Densham exchanged quick glances. Wolfenden had asked his
question quietly, but it was evidently what he had come to know.
"Yes," Harcutt said, "we both did. They are evidently people of some
consequence. They went first to the house of the Russian Ambassador,
Prince Lobenski."
Wolfenden swore to himself softly. He could have been there. He made a
mental note to leave a card at the Embassy that afternoon.
"And afterwards?"
"Afterwards they drove to a house in Chilton Gardens, Kensington, where
they remained."
"The presumption being, then----" Wolfenden began.
"That they live there," Harcutt put in. "In fact, I may say that we
ascertained that definitely. The man's name is 'Sabin,' and the girl is
reputed to be his niece. Now you know as much as we do. The
relationship, however, is little more than a surmise."
"Did either of you go to the reception?" Wolfenden asked.
"We both did," Harcutt answered.
Wolfenden raised his eyebrows.
"You were there! Then why didn't you make their acquaintance?"
Densham laughed shortly.
"I asked for an introduction to the girl," he said, "and was politely
declined. She was under the special charge of the Princess, and was
presented to no one."
"And Mr. Sabin?" Wolfenden asked.
"He was talking all the time to Baron von Knigenstein, the German
Ambassador. They did not stay long."
Wolfenden smiled.
"It seems to me," he said, "that you had an excellent opportunity and
let it go."
Harcutt threw his cigarette into the fire with an impatient gesture.
"You may think so," he said. "All I can say is, that if you had been
there yourself, you could have done no more. At any rate, we have no
particular difficulty now in finding out who this mysterious Mr. Sabin
and the girl are. We may assume that there is a relationship," he added,
"or they would scarcely have been at the Embassy, where, as a rule, the
guests make up in respectability what they lack in brilliancy."
"As to the relationship," Wolfenden said, "I am quite prepared to take
that for granted. I, for one, never doubted it."
"That," Harcutt remarked, "is because you are young, and a little
quixotic. When you have lived as long as I have you will doubt
everything. You will take nothing for granted unless you desire to live
for ever amongst the ruins of your shattered enthusiasms. If you are
wise, you will always assume that your swans are geese until you have
proved them to be swans."
"That is very cheap cynicism," Wolfenden remarked equably. "I am
surprised at you, Harcutt. I thought that you were more in touch with
the times. Don't you know that to-day nobody is cynical except
schoolboys and dyspeptics? Pessimism went out with sack overcoats. Your
remarks remind me of the morning odour of patchouli and stale smoke in
a cheap Quartier Latin dancing-room. To be in the fashion of to-day,
you must cultivate a gentle, almost arcadian enthusiasm, you must wear
rose-coloured spectacles and pretend that you like them. Didn't you hear
what Flaskett said last week? There is an epidemic of morality in the
air. We are all going to be very good."
"Some of us," Densham remarked, "are going to be very uncomfortable,
then."
"Great changes always bring small discomforts," Wolfenden rejoined.
"But after all I didn't come here to talk nonsense. I came to ask you
both something. I want to know whether you fellows are bent upon seeing
this thing through?"
Densham and Harcutt exchanged glances. There was a moment's silence.
Densham became spokesman.
"So far as finding out who they are and all about them," he said, "I
shall not rest until I have done it."
"And you, Harcutt?"
Harcutt nodded gravely.
"I am with Densham," he said. "At the same time I may as well tell you
that I am quite as much, if not more, interested in the man than in the
girl. The girl is beautiful, and of course I admire her, as every one
must. But that is all. The man appeals to my journalistic instincts.
There is copy in him. I am convinced that he is a personage. You may,
in fact, regard me, both of you, as an ally rather than as a rival."
"If you had your choice, then, of an hour's conversation with either of
them----" Wolfenden began.
"I should choose the man without a second's hesitation," Harcutt
declared. "The girl is lovely enough, I admit. I do not wonder at you
fellows--Densham, who is a worshipper of beauty; you, Wolfenden, who are
an idler--being struck with her! But as regards myself it is different.
The man appeals to my professional instincts in very much the same way
as the girl appeals to the artistic sense in Densham. He is a conundrum
which I have set myself to solve."
Wolfenden rose to his feet.
"Look here, you fellows," he said, "I have a proposition to make. We are
all three in the same boat. Shall we pull together or separately?"
Harcutt dropped his eyeglass and smiled quietly.
"Quixotic as usual, Wolf, old chap," he said. "We can't, our interests
are opposed; at least yours and Densham's are. You will scarcely want
to help one another under the circumstances."
Wolfenden drew on his gloves.
"I have not explained myself yet," he said. "The thing must have its
limitations, of course, but for a step or two even Densham and I can
walk together. Let us form an alliance so far as direct information is
concerned. Afterwards it must be every man for himself, of course. I
suppose we each have some idea as to how and where to set about making
inquiries concerning these people. Very well. Let us each go our own way
and share up the information to-night."
"I am quite willing," Densham said, "only let this be distinctly
understood--we are allies only so far as the collection and sharing
of information is concerned. Afterwards, and in other ways, it is each
man for himself. If one of us succeeds in establishing a definite
acquaintance with them, the thing ends. There is no need for either of
us to do anything with regard to the others, which might militate
against his own chances."
"I am agreeable to that," Harcutt said. "From Densham's very elaborate
provisoes I think we may gather that he has a plan."
"I agree too," Wolfenden said, "and I specially endorse Densham's limit.
It is an alliance so far as regards information only. Suppose we go and
have some lunch together now."
"I never lunch out, and I have a better idea," said Harcutt. "Let us
meet at the 'Milan' to-night for supper at the same time. We can then
exchange information, supposing either of us has been fortunate enough
to acquire any. What do you say, Wolfenden?"
"I am quite willing," Wolfenden said.
"And I," echoed Densham. "At half-past eleven, then," Harcutt concluded.