AN AFFAIR OF STATE
My cousin met me at St. Pancras. I saw him before my own carriage had
reached the platform, peering into the window of every compartment
in his short-sighted way. He recognized me at last with a little wave of
the hand.
"Glad to see you, Hardross! These your things? We'll have a hansom. Where
are you staying?"
"At the club, if I can get a room," I answered. "I shall try there before
I go to an hotel, at any rate."
"Come and have some lunch first," Sir Gilbert said firmly. "You can see
about your room afterwards. Remember your appointment is at three
o'clock."
I acquiesced, and got into a cab with my cousin. I was perfectly aware
that he was almost consumed with curiosity. He scarcely waited until we
were off before he began.
"Hardross!" he asked, "what's up?"
"Nothing particular," I answered lamely.
"Rubbish!" he declared, "you are the last man in the world I should have
expected to see in town the second week in September! You haven't come
for nothing, have you? And then this interview with Lord Polloch. What on
earth can you have to say to the Prime Minister?"
"I'm afraid, Gilbert," I answered, "that I can't tell you--just yet. You
see it isn't my own affair at all. It's--another man's secret."
My cousin was palpably disappointed.
"Well," he said, a little curtly, "whatever sort of a secret it is, it
hasn't agreed with you very well. I never saw you look so seedy--and
years older too! What on earth have you been doing with yourself?"
I shrugged my shoulders.
"I've had a cold," I said. "Got wet through shooting one day last week."
My cousin regarded me incredulously.
"A cold! You!" he remarked. "I like that! I don't believe you ever had
such a thing in your life!"
I leaned forward in the cab to look at the placards of the afternoon
papers.
"Any news in town?" I asked.
"None at all," Gilbert answered. "There's scarcely any one about. I'm off
to Hamburg to-morrow myself."
"And Lord Polloch?" I asked.
"He's off to Scotland to-night for a fortnight's golf. Afterwards I
believe he's going abroad. You must confess that your appearance here is
a little extraordinary. If I hadn't been on particularly good terms with
Polloch, I could not possibly have got you an interview. He's up to his
eyes in work, and as keen as a schoolboy on getting away for his
holiday."
"It's very good of you," I answered.
My cousin regarded me critically.
"You'll forgive my suggesting it, I'm sure, Hardross," he said, "but you
have got something particular to say to him, I suppose? These fellows
don't like being bothered about trifles. The responsibility is on my
shoulders, you see."
"I have something quite important to say to him," I declared. "In all
probability, he will give you a seat in the Cabinet for having arranged
the meeting."
Gilbert abandoned the subject for the moment. A sense of humor was not
amongst his characteristics, and I do not think that he approved
altogether of my levity. But later on, as we sat at luncheon, he returned
to it.
"Have you ever thought of Parliament, Hardross?" he asked.
I shook my head.
"One in the family," I murmured, "is sufficient."
"The diplomatic service," he remarked, "you are, of course, too old for."
"Naturally," I agreed; "as a matter of fact, I have no hankerings for
what you would call a career."
"And yet--" he began.
"And yet," I interrupted, "I am anxious for an interview with the Prime
Minister. I am afraid I cannot tell you very much, Gilbert, but I will
tell you this. Some rather important information has come into my
possession in a very curious fashion. I conceive it to be my duty to pass
it on to the government of this country. Lord Polloch can decide whether
or not it is of any real value. It is for this purpose that I am seeking
this interview with him. I tell you this much in confidence. I cannot
tell you more."
My cousin smiled in a somewhat superior manner.
"You have got a cheek," he said. "As though any information you could
pick up would be worth bothering Polloch with!"
I glanced at the clock and leaned back in my chair.
"Well," I said, "in about a quarter of an hour his Lordship will have an
opportunity of judging for himself. By the bye, Gilbert, do you mind
keeping what I have told you entirely to yourself?"
"You haven't told me anything," he grunted.
"I have told you enough to get me into pretty considerable trouble," I
remarked grimly. "Shall I see you later?"
"I shall wait till you return," he answered firmly. "I am rather anxious
to hear how you get on with the chief."
"I am a little anxious about it myself," I admitted, as we went out into
the hall.
I walked the short distance to Downing Street. The afternoon was
brilliantly fine, and the pavements were thronged with foot-passengers. I
passed down the club steps into what seemed to me to be a new world. I
did not recognize myself or my kinship with my fellow-creatures. For the
first time in my life, I was affected with forebodings. I scanned the
faces of the passers-by. I had an uneasy suspicion all the time that I
was watched. As I turned in to Downing Street, the feeling grew stronger.
There were several loiterers in the roadway. I watched them suspiciously.
The idea grew stronger within me that I should not be allowed to reach my
destination. I found myself measuring the distance, almost counting the
yards which separated me from that quiet, grey stone house, almost the
last in the street. It was with a sense of immense relief that I pushed
open the gate and found myself behind the high iron palings. A butler in
sombre black opened the door, almost before my hand had left the bell. I
was myself again immediately. My vague fears melted away. I handed in my
card, and explained that I had an appointment with Lord Polloch. In less
than five minutes I was ushered into his presence.
"I am very glad to see you, Mr. Courage," he said. "I understand that
you have some information which you wish to give me. I have exactly
twenty-five minutes to give you. Take that easy-chair and go ahead...."
In less than three-quarters of an hour, I was back in the club. I
found my cousin almost alone in the smoking-room. He looked up with
ill-suppressed eagerness as I entered.
"Well?"
I lit a cigarette and threw myself into an easy-chair.
"Quiet afternoon here?" I remarked.
"You saw Lord Polloch?"
I nodded.
"I was with him exactly twenty-five minutes," I answered.
"Well?" he repeated.
I called a waiter and ordered something to drink. I felt that I needed
it.
"My dear Gilbert," I said, "I will not affect to misunderstand you! You
want to know how Lord Polloch received me, what the nature of my business
with him was, and its final result. That is so, isn't it?"
"To a certain extent, yes!" he admitted; "as I was responsible for the
interview, I naturally feel some interest in it," he added stiffly.
"Lord Polloch was most civil," I assured him. "He thanked me very much
for coming to see him. He hoped that I would call again immediately on
his return from Scotland, and--I have no doubt that by this time he has
forgotten all about me."
"Your information, after all, then," Gilbert exclaimed, "was not really
important!"
"He did not appear to find it so," I admitted.
"I wonder," Gilbert said, looking at me curiously "what sort of a mare's
nest you have got hold of. Rather out of your line, this sort of thing,
isn't it?"
The walls of the club smoking-room seemed suddenly to break away. I was
looking out into the great work where men and women faced the whirlwinds,
and were torn away, struggling and fighting always, into the Juggernaut
of destruction. I looked into the quiet corners where the cowards lurked,
and I seemed to see my own empty place there.
"Oh! I don't know," I answered calmly. "We are all the slaves of
opportunity. Lord Polloch very courteously, but with little apparent
effort, has made me feel like a fool. Perhaps I am one! Perhaps Lord
Polloch is too much of an Englishman. That remains to be discovered."
"What do you mean by 'too much of an Englishman'?" Gilbert asked.
I shrugged my shoulders.
"Too much self-confidence, too little belief in the possibility of the
unusual," I answered.
"Suppose you appoint me arbitrator," Gilbert suggested.
I shook my head.
"I cannot, Gilbert," I answered. "As I have said, the issue is between
Lord Polloch and myself, and I hope to Heaven that Lord Polloch is in the
right, or there will be trouble."
"You are extraordinarily mysterious," Gilbert remarked.
"I must seem so," I answered, "I cannot help it. Have a drink, Gilbert,
and wish me God speed!"
"Are you off back to Medchestershire to-night?" Gilbert asked.
I shook my head.
"No! but I thought of running over to the States next week."
Gilbert laid down his cigar, and looked at me anxiously.
"Have you seen a doctor lately, Hardross?" he asked.
"Not necessary," I answered. "I'm as fit as I can be!"
"Then will you tell me," he asked, "why, with the shooting just on, and
the hunting in full view, you are talking of going to America?"
"I've had a good many years of hunting and shooting and cricket and sport
of all sorts, Gilbert," I answered. "Perhaps I'm not quite so keen as I
was."
"If you are not going to America for sport," my cousin asked, "what are
you going for?"
I rose to my feet.
"Gilbert," I said, "it's no use. Some day or other you will know all
about it--perhaps very soon. But, for the present, I can tell you
nothing. I've stumbled into a queer place, and I've got to get out of it
somehow. Wish me good luck, old chap!" I added, holding out my hand;
"and--if anything should happen to me abroad--look after the old
place--it'll be yours, you know, every stick and stone."
Then I got away as soon as I could. Gilbert was by way of becoming
incoherent, and, so far as I was concerned, there was nothing more to be
said.