The Third Round

The Third Round

By H. C. McNeile.

Table of Contents

1. Titlepage
2. Imprint
3. I: In Which the Metropolitan Diamond Syndicate Holds Converse with Mr. Edward Blackton
4. II: In Which Professor Goodman Realises That There Are More Things in Life Than Chemistry
5. III: In Which Strange Things Happen in Professor Goodman’s Laboratory
6. IV: In Which Mr. William Robinson Arrives at His Country Seat
7. V: In Which Mr. William Robinson Loses His Self-Control
8. VI: In Which Hugh Drummond Loses His Self-Control
9. VII: In Which Drummond Takes a Telephone Call and Regrets It
10. VIII: In Which Drummond Plays a Little Game of Trains
11. IX: In Which Professor Goodman Has a Trying Time
12. X: In Which Drummond Goes on Board the S.Y. Gadfly
13. XI: In Which Drummond Leaves the S.Y. Gadfly
14. XII: In Which He Samples Mr. Blackton’s Napoleon Brandy
15. XIII: In Which Drummond Receives an Addition to His Library
16. Colophon
17. Uncopyright

Imprint

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I

In Which the Metropolitan Diamond Syndicate Holds Converse with Mr. Edward Blackton

With a sigh of pleasure Mr. Edward Blackton opened the windows of his balcony and leaned out, staring over the lake. Opposite, the mountains of Savoy rose steeply from the water; away to the left the Dent du Midi raised its crown of snow above the morning haze.

Below him the waters of the lake glittered and scintillated with a thousand fires. A steamer, with much blowing of sirens and reversing of paddle-wheels, had come to rest at a landing-stage hard by, and was taking on board a bevy of tourists, while the gulls circled round shrieking discordantly. For a while he watched them idly, noting the quickness with which the birds swooped and caught the bread as it was thrown into the air, long before it reached the water. He noted also how nearly all the food was secured by half a dozen of the gulls, whilst the others said a lot but got nothing. And suddenly Mr. Edward Blackton smiled.

“Like life, my dear,” he said, slipping his arm round the waist of a girl who had just joined him at the window. “It’s the fool who shouts in this world: the wise man says nothing and acts.”

The girl lit a cigarette thoughtfully, and sat down on the ledge of the balcony. For a while her eyes followed the steamer puffing fussily away with its load of sightseers and its attendant retinue of gulls: then she looked at the man standing beside her. Point by point she took him in: the clear blue eyes under the deep forehead, the aquiline nose, the firm mouth and chin. Calmly, dispassionately she noted the thick brown hair greying a little over the temples, the great depth of chest, and the strong, powerful hands: then she turned and looked once again at the disappearing steamer. But to the man’s surprise she gave a little sigh.

“What is it, my dear?” he said solicitously. “Bored?”

“No, not bored,” she answered. “Whatever may be your failings, mon ami, boring me is not one of them. I was just wondering what it would feel like if you and I were content to go on a paddle-wheel steamer with a Baedeker and a Kodak, and a paper bag full of bananas.”

“We will try tomorrow,” said the man, gravely lighting a cigar.

“It wouldn’t be any good,” laughed the girl. “Just once in a way we should probably love it. I meant I wonder what it would feel like if that was our life.”

Her companion nodded.

“I know, carissima,” he answered gently. “I have sometimes wondered the same thing. I suppose there must be compensations in respectability, otherwise so many people wouldn’t be respectable. But I’m afraid it is one of those things that we shall never know.”

“I think it’s that,” said the girl, waving her hand towards the mountains opposite⁠—“that has caused my mood. It’s all so perfectly lovely: the sky is just so wonderfully blue. And look at that sailing boat.”

She pointed to one of the big lake barges, with its two huge lateen sails creeping gently along in the centre of the lake. “It’s all so peaceful, and sometimes one wants peace.”

“True,” agreed the man; “one does. It’s just reaction, and we’ve been busy lately.” He rose and began to pace slowly up and down the balcony. “To be quite honest, I myself have once or twice thought recently that if I could pull off some really big coup⁠—something, I mean, that ran into the millions⁠—I would give things up.”

The girl smiled and shook her head.

“Don’t misunderstand me, my