'You can,' he said, 'but how do you know you can?'
She seemed surprised.
'Why--' she said. She stopped for a moment, and then went on
hurriedly, with a touch of embarrassment. 'Why, how absurd! Of
course, I know. Can't you read faces? I can. Look,' she said,
pointing, 'now you can see the castle. How do you like it?'
They had reached a point where the fields sloped sharply downward. A
few hundred yards away, backed by woods, stood the gray mass of
stone which had proved such a kill-joy of old to the Welsh sportsmen
during the pheasant season. Even now, it had a certain air of
defiance. The setting sun lighted the waters of the lake. No figures
were to be seen moving in the grounds. The place resembled a palace
of sleep.
'Well?' said Molly.
'It's wonderful!'
'Isn't it! I'm so glad it strikes you like that. I always feel as if
I had invented everything round here. It hurts me if people don't
appreciate it.'
They went down the hill.
'By the way,' said Jimmy, 'are you acting in these theatricals they
are getting up?'
'Yes. Are you the other man they were going to get? That's why Lord
Dreever went up to London, to see if he couldn't find somebody. The
man who was going to play one of the parts had to go back to London
on business.'
'Poor brute!' said Jimmy. It seemed to him at this moment that there
was only one place in the world where a man might be even reasonably
happy. 'What sort of part is it? Lord Dreever said I should be
wanted to act. What do I do?'
'If you're Lord Herbert, which is the part they wanted a man for,
you talk to me most of the time.'
Jimmy decided that the piece had been well cast.
The dressing-gong sounded just as they entered the hall. From a
door on the left, there emerged two men, a big man and a little one,
in friendly conversation. The big man's back struck Jimmy as
familiar.
'Oh, father,' Molly called. And Jimmy knew where he had seen the
back before.
The two men stopped.
'Sir Thomas,' said Molly, 'this is Mr. Pitt.'
The little man gave Jimmy a rapid glance, possibly with the object
of detecting his more immediately obvious criminal points; then, as
if satisfied as to his honesty, became genial.
'I am very glad to meet you, Mr. Pitt, very glad,' he said. 'We have
been expecting you for some time.'
Jimmy explained that he had lost his way.
'Exactly. It was ridiculous that you should be compelled to walk,
perfectly ridiculous. It was grossly careless of my nephew not to
let us know that you were coming. My wife told him so in the car.'
