The Gentlemen Go By by Cadell Elizabeth

Author:Cadell, Elizabeth [Cadell, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: The Friendly Air Publishing
Published: 2017-01-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

There was no need for Lorna to invite Roderick to the Casa del Carmen. His Excellency the Governor, hearing of the arrival at Gibraltar of his old schoolmate, put the fact beside his recently-acquired knowledge of Lorna’s previous marriage, and drew an entirely erroneous conclusion. He sent an A.D.C. to the Rock Hotel with orders to bring Roderick and his luggage back with him, and applied himself genially to the task of furthering what he took to be Roderick’s plans. A telephone call to Lorna on the following day informed her that His Excellency was passing that morning and would take advantage of her standing invitation to lunch. He would bring with him his old friend, Roderick Saracen.

The strength and warmth of Roderick’s protests merely convinced his well-wishers of the correctness of their guess; the fellow would have to say that, naturally. Man of that type, went the general opinion, obviously wouldn’t let people in on what he was after. Hid his feelings under that cold stare, but he couldn’t deceive his old friends. So the official car drove through the wide-open gates, and Roderick found himself drinking Lorna’s sherry and listening to his sons’ respectful remarks on the view. He was introduced to the other guests, among them a personable Naval Captain, and noted that he seemed to be on terms of easy friendliness with his hostess. Roderick grew angry and uncomfortable, and his grey eyes became colder. He wouldn’t be persuaded to repeat this farce.

His friends, however, had other ideas. The fellow, they said, in good-natured conference, needed a hand. He had come out with great hopes, but insufficient courage, and it was no use letting him hang about the Rock, brooding. The thing was to give him a hand, and see that he got out there to see her. The uprise of interest in his welfare found Roderick unprepared, and its weight made protest both difficult and unprofitable. He was conducted to the Casa del Carmen, unwilling but helpless, and his discomfort was little tempered by the knowledge that Lorna deplored the well-meant interference fully as much as he did.

Between Roderick and Florence, there was instant and immovable dislike. She thought him an aggressive-looking man with a domineering manner and a marked talent for polite insults. He thought her, simply, a painted hag; the cost of the paint, and the modishness of the haggardness, alike passed him by. He resented her permanence, based on nothing better than liking for Lorna and the house; she was deeply suspicious of his intentions, and fearful of his effect upon Lorna. She would have liked to pass some of her suspicions on to Lorna, but she hesitated, and while she was hesitating, Roderick, who never had any qualms about saying what he wanted to say, was putting forward his views.

“What d’you let that woman hang on here for?” he asked Lorna.

They were alone in the drawing room. He had been brought by friends, and the friends had tactfully withdrawn and driven away, leaving him to make the most of his opportunities.

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