The Philanderers | Page 6

wills; an analytical hero
too, who traced the sentence through the thought to the emotion, which
originally prompted it; whence his success and influence. But for his

strength, plainly aimed at by the author, and to be conceded by the
reader, if the book was to convince? Drake compared him to scree and
shingle as against solid granite. Lean on him and you slip!
The plot was the time-worn, imperishable story of the married couple
and the amorous interloper, the Influential Man, of course, figuring as
the latter, and consequently glorified. The husband was pelted with
ridicule from the first chapter to the last, though for what particular
fault Drake could not discover, unless it were for that of being a
husband at all; so that the interloper in robbing him of his wife was
related to have secured not merely the succès d'estime which
accompanies such enviable feats, but the unqualified gratitude of all
married women and most unmarried men.
There were, no doubt, redeeming qualities; Drake gave them full credit,
and perhaps more than they deserved. He noticed a glitter in the
dialogue, whether of foil or gold he refused to consider, and a lively
imagination in the interweaving of the incidents. But altogether the
book left with him a feeling of distaste, which was not allayed by the
perception that he himself was caricatured in the picture of befooled
husband, while Mallinson figured as the successful deceiver. After all,
he thought, Mallinson and he were friends, and he disliked the mere
imagining of such a relationship between them.
Drake summed up his impressions as his hansom turned into the
Bayswater Road. The day was just beginning to break; the stems of the
trees bordering the park were black bars against the pure, colourless
light, and their mingling foliage a frayed black ribbon stretched across
the sky. One might have conceived the picture the original of a black
and white drawing by a pre-Raphaelite artist.
Drake drew in a long breath of the keen, clear air.
'I am glad I asked him to bring Conway,' he said to himself.
CHAPTER II
Waking up six hours later, Drake looked out upon a brown curtain of

London fog. The lamps were lit at the crossings in Trafalgar
Square--half-a-mile distant they seemed, opaque haloes about a pin's
point of flame, and people passing in the light of them loomed and
vanished like the figures of a galanty-show. From beneath rose the
bustle of the streets, perceptible only to Drake, upon the fourth floor, as
a subterranean rumble. 'London,' he said to himself, 'I live here,' and
laughed unappalled. Listening to the clamour, he remembered a map,
seen somewhere in a railway guide, a map of England with the foreign
cables, tiny spider-threads spun to the four quarters and thickening to a
solid column at Falmouth and Cromer, the world's arteries, he liked to
think, converging to its heart.
The notion of messages flashing hourly along these wires brought to
mind the existence of the Meteor. He sent out for a copy of each
number which had appeared since he had begun his voyage, and
commencing on the task whilst he was still at breakfast, read through
every article written concerning the Boruwimi expedition. He finished
the last in the smoking-room shortly after one o'clock, and rose from
his investigation with every appearance of relief. From the first to the
final paragraph, not so much as a mention of Gorley's name!
The reason for his relief lay in a promise which he had sent to Gorley's
father, that he would suppress the trouble as far as he could; and Drake
liked to keep his promises.
Gorley had come out to Matanga with a cloudy reputation winging
close at his heels. There were rumours of dishonesty in the office of a
private bank in Kent; his name became a sign for silence, and you were
allowed to infer that Gorley's relatives had made good the deficit and so
avoided a criminal prosecution. It was not surprising, then, that Gorley,
on hearing of Drake's intended march to Boruwimi, should wish to take
service under his command. He called upon Drake with that request,
was confronted with the current story, and invited to disprove it. Gorley
read his man shrewdly, and confessed the truth of the charge without an
attempt at mitigation. He asked frankly for a place in the troop, the
lowest, as his chance of redemption, or rather demanded it as a grace
due from man to man. Drake was taken by his manner, noticed his

build, which was tough and wiry, and conceded the request. Nor had he
reason to regret his decision on the march out. Gorley showed himself
alert, and vigilant, a favourite with the blacks, and obedient to his
officers. He was