“Have another glass of brandy?” said R.
“No, thank you,” answered Ashenden, who was of an abstemious turn.
“One should do what one can to mitigate the rigours of war,” remarked R. as he took the bottle and poured out a glass for himself and another for Ashenden.
Ashenden, thinking it would be affectation to protest, let the gesture pass, but felt bound to remonstrate with his chief on the unseemly manner in which he held the bottle.
“In my youth I was always taught that you should take a woman by the waist and a bottle by the neck,” he murmured.
“I am glad you told me. I shall continue to hold a bottle by the waist and give women a wide berth.”
Ashenden did not know what to reply to this and so remained silent. He sipped his brandy and R. called for his bill. It was true that he was an important person, with power to make or mar quite a large number of his fellows, and his opinions were listened to by those who held in their hands the fate of empires; but he could never face the business of tipping a waiter without an embarrassment that was obvious in his demeanour. He was tortured by the fear of making a fool of himself by giving too much or of exciting the waiter’s icy scorn by giving too little. When the bill came he passed some hundred-franc notes over to Ashenden and said:
“Pay him, will you? I can never understand French figures.”
The groom brought them their hats and coats.
“Would you like to go back to the hotel?” asked Ashenden.
“We might as well.”
It was early in the year, but the weather had suddenly turned warm, and they walked with their coats over their arms. Ashenden knowing that R. liked a sitting-room had engaged one for him and to this, when they reached the hotel, they went. The hotel was old-fashioned and the sitting-room was vast. It was furnished with a heavy mahogany suite upholstered in green velvet and the chairs were set primly round a large table. On the walls, covered with a dingy paper, were large steel engravings of the battles of Napoleon, and from the ceiling hung an enormous chandelier once used for gas, but now fitted with electric bulbs. It flooded the cheerless room with a cold, hard light.
“This is very nice,” said R., as they went in.
“Not exactly cosy,” suggested Ashenden.
“No, but it looks as though it were the best room in the place. It all looks very good to me.”
He drew one of the green velvet chairs away from the table and, sitting down, lit a cigar. He loosened his belt and unbuttoned his tunic.
“I always thought I liked a cheroot better than anything,” he said, “but since the war I’ve taken quite a fancy to Havanas. Oh, well, I suppose it can’t last forever.” The corners of his mouth flickered with the beginning of a smile. “It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good.”
Ashenden took two chairs, one to sit on and one for his feet, and when R. saw him he said: “That’s not a bad idea,” and swinging another chair out from the table with a sigh of relief put his boots on it.
“What room is that next door?” he asked.
“That’s your bedroom.”
“And on the other side?”
“A banqueting hall.”
R. got up and strolled slowly about the room and when he passed the windows, as though in idle curiosity, peeped through the heavy rep curtains that covered them, and then returning to his chair once more comfortably put his feet up.
“It’s just as well not to take any more risk than one need,” he said.
He looked at Ashenden reflectively. There was a slight smile on his thin lips, but the pale eyes too closely set together, remained cold and steely. R.’s stare would have been embarrassing if Ashenden had not been used to it. He knew that R. was considering how he would broach the subject that he had in mind. The silence must have lasted for two or three minutes.
“I’m expecting a fellow to come and see me tonight,” he said at last. “His train gets in about ten.” He gave his wristwatch a glance. “He’s known as the Hairless Mexican.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s hairless and because he’s a Mexican.”
“The explanation seems perfectly satisfactory,” said Ashenden.
“He’ll tell you all about himself. He talks nineteen to the dozen. He was on his uppers when I came across him. It appears that he was mixed up in some revolution in Mexico and had to get out with nothing but the clothes he stood up in. They were rather the worse for wear when I found him. If you want to please him you call him General. He claims to have been a general in Huerta’s army, at least I think it was Huerta; anyhow he says that if things had gone right he would be minister of war now and no end of a big bug. I’ve found him very useful. Not a bad chap. The only thing I really have against him is that he will use scent.”
“And where do I come in?” asked Ashenden.
“He’s going down to Italy. I’ve got rather a ticklish job for him to do and I want you to stand by. I’m not keen on trusting him with a lot of money. He’s a gambler and he’s a bit too fond of the girls. I suppose you came from Geneva on your Ashenden passport.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve got another for you, a diplomatic one, by the way, in the name of Somerville with visas for France and Italy. I think you and he had better travel together. He’s an amusing cove when he gets going, and I think you ought to get to know one another.”
“What is the job?”
“I haven’t yet quite made up my mind how much it’s desirable for you to know about
