A blithe twenty minutes or so after Lady Violet had “flown,” Elmer and
Mame decided to get a move on. For one thing Elmer’s curiosity had
been tremendously piqued by the surprise that had been predicted. What
could it be? Lady Violet, he supposed, was just pulling his leg. Yet he
didn’t think so really; he knew she was not the kind of person to break
a solemn promise. Still there was nothing to deduce from the attitude
of Mame. The aider and abettor of Lady Violet was giving nothing
away. The stars were very bright, the air for the time of year quite
balmy, the pavements of London were dry as a bone. All the conditions,
therefore, were favourable for outdoor exercise. Indeed, as Elmer said,
or it may have been Mame who said it, the evening was just ideal for
the purpose.
Mame put on her lovely new cloak trimmed with fur, or at least Elmer
put it on for her. Then Elmer got into his overcoat and clapped on his
smart gibus, which gave him such a look of distinction, that a loafer
cadging for pence just beyond the courtyard of the hotel promptly
addressed him as Captain.
The mutt got the coppers all right. It was not so much that Elmer was
susceptible to that kind of flattery, as that just now he was not in a
mood to refuse anything to anybody. He was moving about this evening in
an enchanted world.
At every step they took in it now, the world through which they were
moving seemed to grow more entrancing. For one thing there was a
powerful magic in the stars. The strip of moon, too, as Mame remarked,
seemed to be trying to put one over on them. She made this observation
while they were in the act of steering each other across the perilous
vortex from Northumberland Avenue to Morley’s Hotel, and nearly barging
into more than one of their compatriots in the process.
However, they crossed in safety. Then they crossed again by the
National Gallery and sauntered gaily along until they came to that
great landmark in Mame’s adventurous life, the Carlton Hotel. She gave
a long look at it as they went by. Even on this night of marvels she
could not pass that consecrated spot without a sense of amazement and
gratitude.
They turned up by the Haymarket, according to plan, and then slowly
rounded the corner into Piccadilly Circus. And then it was in this
identical moment that the goods were delivered in the most unexpected
and convincing way. The surprise that had been solemnly promised Elmer
appeared right before his eyes.
A flaming electric sign winked letter by letter from the starlit sky.