BRITISH MYSTERIES - Fergus Hume Collection: 21 Thriller Novels in One Volume. Fergus Hume

I am to be found. How do you spell Tlatonac, Jack?”

      “T-l-a-t-o-n-a-c,” spelt Jack, slowly; “but why don’t you write your lawyer a letter, instead of sending an unsatisfactory telegram.”

      “I have nothing to write about,” replied Philip, signing his name with a flourish; “all they need know is where I am in case of my possible death, so as to make things right for the next-of-kin. They have no letters to forward. I always carry plenty of money, so I never bother my head about them, beyond giving my bare address.”

      “Don’t they object to such unbusiness-like habits?”

      “They did at first, but finding objections of no use, have quite given up such preachings. Don’t trouble any more about them, but let us take a walk. ‘You take a walk, but you drink tea,’ saith Samuel Johnson.”

      “I don’t see the connection,” said Jack, soberly.

      “Neither do I; but what matters. ‘Dulce est desipere in loco.’ There is a bit of dictionary Latin for your delectation.”

      “Peter said you were a misanthrope, Philip; but I don’t think so myself.”

      “Peter is a —— collector of butterflies,” retorted Philip, gaily. “I was a misanthrope; man delighted me not, nor woman neither; but now I have met the friends of my youth, I feel much better. The friends we make in life are never as dear as those we make at school. Since leaving Bedford I have made none. I have lived for my yacht and in my yacht. Now that I have you, and Tim, and Peter, I feel that I am rapidly losing the character for Timonism. Like Mr. Bunthorne, I am a reformed character.”

      “Who is Mr. Bunthorne? a friend of yours?”

      “Jack, Jack! you are a sad barbarian. It is a character in one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operas. But you have lived so long among savages that you don’t know him; in fact, I don’t believe you know who Gilbert and Sullivan are.”

      “Oh yes, I do. I’m not so ignorant as all that.”

      “There is balm in Gilead then,” said Cassim, satirically. “Jack, when you marry Dolores, and realise the opal, you must return to civilisation. I can’t let the friend of my youth dwell among the tombs any longer.”

      “I am very happy among the tombs.”

      “I know you are. You would be happy anywhere,” rejoined Philip, enviously. “Would I were as easily contented. Tell me how to be happy, Jack.”

      “Get married,” returned Jack, promptly.

      “Married!” echoed Cassim, as though the idea were a new revelation; “that is a serious question, Jack, which needs serious discussion. Let us sit down on this soft turf, my friend, and you shall give your opinions regarding matrimony. You don’t know anything about it as yet; but that is a mere detail.”

      By this time, owing to their rapid walking, they had left Yarmouth far behind, and having turned off the high-road, were now strolling across a field yellow with gorse. In a few minutes they arrived at a land-slip where the earth fell suddenly down to the beach. The brow of this was covered with soft grass, starred with primroses, and Philip threw himself down thereon with a sigh of content. Jack more soberly seated himself by the side of his friend, and for a few moments they remained silent, gazing at the scene. Below was the rent and torn earth, on either side a scanty fringe of trees, and in front the blue sea stretching far away towards the dim line of the Hampshire coast. A gentle wind was blowing, the perfume of the wild flowers came delicately on its wings, and they could hear the waves lapping on the beach below, while occasionally a bird piped in the near boughs. It was very cool, pastoral and pleasant, grateful enough to Jack’s eyes, weary of the burning skies, and the gorgeous efflorescence of the tropics. Ah me! how often we sigh for green and misty England in the lands of the sun.

      “‘There is no land like England,’” quoted Jack, absently smelling a pale primrose. “Ah! there is no doubt it is the most delightful country in the whole world. I have been all over the planet, so I ought to know.”

      “And yet you propose to leave the land you profess to love,” said Philip, rolling himself over so as to catch his friend’s eye. “Jack, you are inconsistent.”

      “I must earn my bread and butter. Everyone isn’t born like you, with a silver spoon in his mouth. If I can’t find employment in England, I must go abroad. Besides, there is always Dolores.”

      “Of course,” assented Philip, gravely, “there is always Dolores. Is she pretty, Jack?”

      “Pretty!” echoed Duval, with huge disdain; “if there is one adjective that does not describe Dolores it is ‘pretty.’ She’s an angel.”

      “Such a vague description. Fra Angelica, Burne Jones, Gustave Doré, all paint angels differently.”

      “Oh, I don’t mind being more minute, if you care to listen. But I do not wish to bore you with my love affairs.”

      “I like to be bored with love affairs—when they are those of Jack Duval.”

      Jack smiled thankfully. He was eager to talk of Dolores to Philip; but being somewhat sensitive to ridicule, hesitated as to whether he should do so. As a rule, a man’s friends do not care about listening to a lover’s ravings. Women are the most sympathetic in such a case; but as Jack had no female friend in whom to confide, he had either to hold his tongue or tell Philip. Philip, he thought, would not care for descriptions of the beloved one, so he kept silent; but now that he had been warmly requested to be as explicit as he pleased, he eagerly hastened to unbosom himself. At that moment, Jack thought Philip an angel of sympathy.

      “Dolores,” he began slowly, fixing his eyes seaward, “is rather tall, with a charming figure. Her hair is purple black, her face oval, and her complexion inclined to be darkish. She has teeth like pearls, and a mouth like Cupid’s bow. Her eyes—well, her eyes,” said Jack, enthusiastically, “are like those velvety dark pansies when the dew lies on them.”

      “That’s the first original epithet you’ve used, Jack. Teeth of pearl, and Cupid’s bow for a mouth are old similes. Dew on pansies is distinctly good.”

      “Oh, if you are going to laugh——” began Jack, angrily, when Cassim hastened to disclaim any such discourtesy.

      “I’m not laughing, my dear lad. I am only complimenting you on your ingenuity. I know exactly what kind of a woman Dolores is. She is like De Musset’s Marquise—half fiend, half angel.”

      “I never heard of her,” interrupted Duval, bluntly, as he produced a gold oval from his pocket; “but, to save further description, look at this picture. It was done for me by a Spanish fellow at Tlatonac.”

      Philip surveyed the portrait in the locket long and earnestly.

      “Has Dolores a temper, Jack?”

      “Rather!” replied Jack, laconically; “but what do you think of her?”

      “She has an exquisite face, and, judging from her mouth, a fiery temper. I don’t wonder you are in love with her, Jack. I hope she’ll make you a good wife.”

      “You seem rather doubtful on that point,” said Jack, half annoyed, as he restored the locket to his waistcoat pocket.

      “No; but to tell you the truth, I’m doubtful of the advisability of mixed marriages in the matter of race. It may be all very well for the offspring, who, as a rule, are clever; but the husband and wife, having different trainings, do not as a rule hit it off. Race-nature again, my friend.”

      “Oh, as to that,” rejoined Jack, equably, “I have lived so long in Mexico and South America that I am half Spanish in my habits, and so can suit myself to Dolores. Besides, when we are married, we will stay in Spanish America; it will be more advisable than coming to England.”

      “Yes; I agree with you there,” said Philip, lazily; “in fact,