The Malefactor | Page 8

of coming himself,
because he thought that I might be more useful to you. London changes
so quickly--you would hardly know your way about now. I should like
you to come and dine with me tonight, and I'll take you round
anywhere you care to go; and then if you don't want to go back to your
old tradespeople, I could take you to my tailor and bookmaker."
"Is that all?" Wingrave asked calmly.
Rocke was again taken aback.
"Certainly not," he answered. "There must be many ways in which I
could be useful to you, but I can't think of them all at once. I am here to
serve you professionally or as a friend, to the best of my ability. Can
you suggest anything yourself? What do you want?"
"That is the question," Wingrave said, "which I have been asking
myself. Unfortunately, up to now, I have not been able to answer it.
Regarding myself, however, from the point of view of a third party, I
should say that the thing I was most in need of was the society of my
fellow creatures."
"Exactly," Rocke declared. "That is what I thought you would say! It
won't take us long to arrange something of the sort for you."
"Can you put me up," Wingrave asked, "at your club, and introduce me
to your friends there?"
Rocke flinched before the steady gaze of those cold enquiring eyes, in
which he fancied, too, that a gleam of malice shone. The color mounted
to his cheeks. It was a most embarrassing situation.
"I can introduce you to some decent fellows, of course, and to some
very charming ladies," he said hesitatingly, "but as to the club--I--well,
don't you think yourself that it would scarcely be wise to--"
"Exactly," Wingrave interrupted. "And these ladies that you spoke of--"
"Oh! There's no difficulty about that," Rocke declared with an air of
relief. "I can make up a little dinner party for tonight, if you like.
There's an awfully smart American woman over here, with the Fanciful
Fan Company--I'm sure you'd like her, and she'd come like a shot. Then
I'd get Daisy Vane--she's all right. They don't know anything, and
wouldn't care if they did. Besides, you could call yourself what you
liked."
"Thank you," Wingrave said. "I am afraid I did not make myself quite
clear. I was not thinking of play fellows. I was thinking of the men and

women of my own order. Shall I put the matter quite clearly? Can I
take my place in society under my own name, renew my old
friendships and build up new ones? Can I do this even at the risk of a
few difficulties at first? I am not a sensitive man. I am prepared for the
usual number of disagreeable incidents. But can I win my way
through?"
With his back against the wall, Rocke displayed more courage. Besides,
what was the use of mincing matters with a man who had all the
appearance of a human automaton, who never flinched or changed
color, and whose passions seemed dried up and withered things?
"I am afraid not, Sir Wingrave," he said. "I should not recommend you
to try, at any rate for the present."
"Give me your reasons," was the cool response.
"I will do so with pleasure," Rocke answered. "About the time of the
trial and immediately afterwards, there was a certain amount of
sympathy for you. People felt that you must have received a good deal
of provocation, and there were several unexplained incidents which
told in your favor. Today, I should think that the feeling amongst those
who remember the affair at all is rather the other way. You heard, I
believe, that Lady Ruth married Lumley Barrington?"
"Yes."
"Barrington has been very successful at the Bar, and they say that he is
certain of a judgeship before long. His wife has backed him up well,
they have entertained lavishly, and today I should think that she is one
of the most popular hostesses in London. In her earlier days, I used to
hear that she was one of the very fast hunting set--that was the time
when you knew her. I can assure you that if ever that was true, she is a
completely altered woman today. She is patroness of half a dozen great
charitable schemes, she writes very clever articles in the Reviews on
the Betterment of the Poor Question, and royalty itself visits at her
house."
"I see," Wingrave said drily. "I was not aware of these changes."
"If ever," Mr. Rocke continued, "people were inclined to look a little
askance at her, that has all gone by. Today she is one of the last women
in the world of whom people would be likely