Mr. Waddington of Wyck | Page 6

it, I think."
"But you are going into it, darling, all the time. Do you mean to keep it
up against him for ever?"
"I'm not keeping anything up. What Ralph Bevan does is no concern of
mine. Since I'm not to be inconvenienced by it--since Miss Madden has
come to my rescue so charmingly--I shall not give it another thought."
He turned to Barbara as to a change of subject. "Had you any
difficulty"--(his voice was measured and important)--"in finding your
way here?"
"None at all."
"Ah, that one-thirty train is excellent. Excellent. But if you had not told
the guard to stop at the Hill you would have been carried on to
Cheltenham. Which would have been very awkward for you. Very
awkward indeed."
"My dear Horatio, what did you suppose she would do?"
"My dear Fanny, there are many things she might have done. She might
have got into the wrong coach at Paddington and been carried on to
Worcester."
"And that," said Barbara, "would have been much worse than
Cheltenham."
"The very thought of it," said Fanny, "makes me shudder. But thank
God, Barbara, you didn't do any of those things."
Mr. Waddington shifted the crossing of his legs as a big dog shifts his
paws when you laugh at him; the more Fanny laughed the more
dignified and solemn he became.
"You haven't told me yet, Horatio, what you did in London."
"I was just going to tell you when Miss Madden--so delightfully--came

in."
At that Barbara thought it discreet to dismiss herself, but Fanny called
her back. "What are you running away for? He didn't do anything in
London he wouldn't like you to hear about."
"On the contrary, I particularly wish Miss Madden to hear about it. I
am starting a branch of the National League of Liberty in Wyck. You
may have heard of it?"
"Yes. I've heard of it. I've even seen the prospectus."
"Good. Well, Fanny, I lunched yesterday with Sir Maurice Gedge, and
he's as keen as mustard. He agrees with me that the League will be no
good, no good at all, until it's taken up strong in the provinces. He
wants me to start at once. Just as soon as I can get my Committee."
"My dear, if you've got to have a Committee first you'll never start."
"It depends altogether on who I get. And it'll be my Committee. Sir
Maurice was very emphatic about that. He agrees with me that if you
want a thing done, and done well, you must do it yourself. There can
only be one moving spirit. The Committee will have nothing to do but
carry out my ideas."
"Then be sure you get a Committee that hasn't any of its own."
"That will not be difficult," said Mr. Waddington, "in Wyck.... The first
thing is the prospectus. That's where you come in, Miss Madden."
"You mean the first thing is that Barbara draws up the prospectus."
"Under my supervision."
"The next thing," Fanny said, "is to conceal your prospectus from your
Committee till it's in print. You come to your Committee with your
prospectus. You don't offer it for discussion."
"Supposing," Barbara said, "they insist on discussing it?"

"They won't," said Fanny, "once it's printed, especially if it's paid for.
You must get Pyecraft to send in his bill at once. And if they do start
discussing you can put them off with the date and place of the meeting
and the wording of the posters. That'll give them something to talk
about. I suppose you'll be chairman."
"Well, I think, in the circumstances, they could hardly appoint anybody
else."
"I don't know. Somebody might suggest Sir John Corbett."
Mr. Waddington's face sagged with dismay as Fanny presented this
unpleasant possibility.
"I don't think Sir John would care about it. I shall suggest it to him
myself; but I don't think--."
After all, Sir John Corbett was a lazy man.
"When you've roused Sir John, if you ever do rouse him, then you'll
have to round up all the towns and villages for twenty miles. It's a pity
you can't have Ralph; he would have rounded them for you in no time
on his motor-bike."
"I am quite capable of rounding them all up myself, thank you."
"Well, dear," said Fanny placably, "it'll keep you busy for the next six
months, and that'll be nice. You won't miss the war then so much, will
you?"
"_Miss the war_?"
"Yes, you do miss it, darling. He was a special constable, Barbara; and
he sat on tribunals; and he drove his motor-car like mad on government
service. He had no end of a time. It's no use your saying you didn't
enjoy it, Horatio, for you did."
"I was glad to be of service