Indiscretions of Archie. P. G. Wodehouse

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      “Between ourselves, I've never done anything much in England, and I fancy the family were getting a bit fed. At any rate, they sent me over here—”

      Mr. Brewster disentangled himself for the third time.

      “I would prefer to postpone the story of your life,” he said coldly, “and be informed what is your specific complaint against the Hotel Cosmopolis.”

      “Of course, yes. The jolly old hotel. I'm coming to that. Well, it was like this. A chappie on the boat told me that this was the best place to stop at in New York—”

      “He was quite right,” said Mr. Brewster.

      “Was he, by Jove! Well, all I can say, then, is that the other New York hotels must be pretty mouldy, if this is the best of the lot! I took a room here last night,” said Archie quivering with self-pity, “and there was a beastly tap outside somewhere which went drip-drip-drip all night and kept me awake.”

      Mr. Brewster's annoyance deepened. He felt that a chink had been found in his armour. Not even the most paternal hotel-proprietor can keep an eye on every tap in his establishment.

      “Drip-drip-drip!” repeated Archie firmly. “And I put my boots outside the door when I went to bed, and this morning they hadn't been touched. I give you my solemn word! Not touched.”

      “Naturally,” said Mr. Brewster. “My employes are honest”

      “But I wanted them cleaned, dash it!”

      “There is a shoe-shining parlour in the basement. At the Cosmopolis shoes left outside bedroom doors are not cleaned.”

      “Then I think the Cosmopolis is a bally rotten hotel!”

      Mr. Brewster's compact frame quivered. The unforgivable insult had been offered. Question the legitimacy of Mr. Brewster's parentage, knock Mr. Brewster down and walk on his face with spiked shoes, and you did not irremediably close all avenues to a peaceful settlement. But make a remark like that about his hotel, and war was definitely declared.

      “In that case,” he said, stiffening, “I must ask you to give up your room.”

      “I'm going to give it up! I wouldn't stay in the bally place another minute.”

      Mr. Brewster walked away, and Archie charged round to the cashier's desk to get his bill. It had been his intention in any case, though for dramatic purposes he concealed it from his adversary, to leave the hotel that morning. One of the letters of introduction which he had brought over from England had resulted in an invitation from a Mrs. van Tuyl to her house-party at Miami, and he had decided to go there at once.

      “Well,” mused Archie, on his way to the station, “one thing's certain. I'll never set foot in THAT bally place again!”

      But nothing in this world is certain.

CHAPTER II. A SHOCK FOR MR. BREWSTER

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      Mr. Daniel Brewster sat in his luxurious suite at the Cosmopolis, smoking one of his admirable cigars and chatting with his old friend, Professor Binstead. A stranger who had only encountered Mr. Brewster in the lobby of the hotel would have been surprised at the appearance of his sitting-room, for it had none of the rugged simplicity which was the keynote of its owner's personal appearance. Daniel Brewster was a man with a hobby. He was what Parker, his valet, termed a connoozer. His educated taste in Art was one of the things which went to make the Cosmopolis different from and superior to other New York hotels. He had personally selected the tapestries in the dining-room and the various paintings throughout the building. And in his private capacity he was an enthusiastic collector of things which Professor Binstead, whose tastes lay in the same direction, would have stolen without a twinge of conscience if he could have got the chance.

      The professor, a small man of middle age who wore tortoiseshell-rimmed spectacles, flitted covetously about the room, inspecting its treasures with a glistening eye. In a corner, Parker, a grave, lean individual, bent over the chafing-dish, in which he was preparing for his employer and his guest their simple lunch.

      “Brewster,” said Professor Binstead, pausing at the mantelpiece.

      Mr. Brewster looked up amiably. He was in placid mood to-day. Two weeks and more had passed since the meeting with Archie recorded in the previous chapter, and he had been able to dismiss that disturbing affair from his mind. Since then, everything had gone splendidly with Daniel Brewster, for he had just accomplished his ambition of the moment by completing the negotiations for the purchase of a site further down-town, on which he proposed to erect a new hotel. He liked building hotels. He had the Cosmopolis, his first-born, a summer hotel in the mountains, purchased in the previous year, and he was toying with the idea of running over to England and putting up another in London, That, however, would have to wait. Meanwhile, he would concentrate on this new one down-town. It had kept him busy and worried, arranging for securing the site; but his troubles were over now.

      “Yes?” he said.

      Professor Binstead had picked up a small china figure of delicate workmanship. It represented a warrior of pre-khaki days advancing with a spear upon some adversary who, judging from the contented expression on the warrior's face, was smaller than himself.

      “Where did you get this?”

      “That? Mawson, my agent, found it in a little shop on the east side.”

      “Where's the other? There ought to be another. These things go in pairs. They're valueless alone.”

      Mr. Brewster's brow clouded.

      “I know that,” he said shortly. “Mawson's looking for the other one everywhere. If you happen across it, I give you carte blanche to buy it for me.”

      “It must be somewhere.”

      “Yes. If you find it, don't worry about the expense. I'll settle up, no matter what it is.”

      “I'll bear it in mind,” said Professor Binstead. “It may cost you a lot of money. I suppose you know that.”

      “I told you I don't care what it costs.”

      “It's nice to be a millionaire,” sighed Professor Binstead.

      “Luncheon is served, sir,” said Parker.

      He had stationed himself in a statutesque pose behind Mr. Brewster's chair, when there was a knock at the door. He went to the door, and returned with a telegram.

      “Telegram for you, sir.”

      Mr. Brewster nodded carelessly. The contents of the chafing-dish had justified the advance advertising of their odour, and he was too busy to be interrupted.

      “Put it down. And you needn't wait, Parker.”

      “Very good, sir.”

      The valet withdrew, and Mr. Brewster resumed his lunch.

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