Читать книгу Midnight House - Ethel Lina White - Страница 12

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THREE days later, on his way back to his office, after lunch, Mr. Spree, the lawyer, again paused outside No. 11 India Crescent. He was joined by Hartley Gull, who was smoking on the steps of the private hotel.

"What's the opening date of your show?" he asked nonchalantly.

"The twenty-fifth instant," replied the lawyer.

"Take my tip and wear your gardening clothes. If you don't dig up any mummies, there'll be the dust of ages."

"Yes, I expect a dirty job. But it will be a satisfaction to open the windows and let the light in upon dark places... Who's that girl?"

Mr. Spree lowered his voice as Elizabeth Featherstonhaugh came out of No. 10, accompanied by Captain Pewter's two children.

"Apparently the nursery governess," remarked Gull.

"She looks rather juvenile. But she's an improvement on the last."

"Maxine?" Gull's voice was indulgent. "Oh, she was all right. Of course she wasn't cut out to wipe the noses of other people's kids. But she had to eat."

The lawyer reflected that he had spoken unguardedly, since Captain Pewter's late governess had a large local following which would inevitably include Hartley Gull. As his own taste was fastidious, he had been repelled by her attraction. To his mind, her beauty had the unwholesome charm of the traditional orchid reared upon a swamp.

But Hartley Gull was the type of seasoned bachelor against whom modern girls warn their mothers. In spite of his suavity and sophistication, he could have gone to a masquerade as a Roman Emperor—and got away with it—on the score of his dark carven features and arrogant carriage. A Puritan himself—the lawyer credited him with a torrid reputation, but he liked him. In his capacity as honorary secretary and treasurer of the local branches of Dr. Barnardo's Homes and the S.P.C.A., he had proved Gull kind-hearted and generous in the cause of charity.