Leave it to Psmith (16 page)

§ 2

The scrutiny of his lordship’s lobelias had palled upon Psmith at a fairly early stage in the proceedings, and he was sitting on the terrace wall enjoying a meditative cigarette when Freddie found him.

‘Ah, Comrade Threepwood,’ said Psmith, ‘welcome to Blandings Castle! You said something about wishing to have speech with me, if I remember rightly?’

The Hon. Freddie shot a nervous glance about him, and seated himself on the wall.

‘I say,’ he said, ‘I wish you wouldn’t say things like that.’

‘Like what, Comrade Threepwood?’

‘What you said to the Peavey woman.’

‘I recollect having a refreshing chat with Miss Peavey yesterday afternoon,’ said Psmith, ‘but I cannot recall saying anything calculated to bring the blush of shame to the cheek of modesty. What observation of mine was it that meets with your censure?’

‘Why, that stuff about expecting to wear your hair shorter. If you’re going to go about saying that sort ofthing – well, dash it, you might just as well give the whole bally show away at once and have done with it.’

Psmith nodded gravely.

‘Your generous heat, Comrade Threepwood, is not unjustified. It was undoubtedly an error of judgment. If I have a fault – which I am not prepared to admit – it is a perhaps ungentlemanly desire to pull that curious female’s leg. A stronger man than myself might well find it hard to battle against the temptation. However, now that you have called it to my notice, it shall not occur again. In future I will moderate the persiflage. Cheer up, therefore, Comrade Threepwood, and let us see that merry smile of yours, of which I hear such good reports.’

The appeal failed to alleviate Freddie’s gloom. He smote morosely at a fly which had settled on his furrowed brow.

‘I’m getting as jumpy as a cat,’ he said.

‘Fight against this unmanly weakness,’ urged Psmith. ‘As far as I can see, everything is going along nicely.’

‘I’m not so sure. I believe that blighter Baxter suspects something.’

‘What do you think he suspects?’

‘Why, that there’s something fishy about you.’

Psmith winced.

‘I would be infinitely obliged to you, Comrade Threepwood, if you would not use that particular adjective. It awakens old memories, all very painful. But let us go more deeply into this matter, for you interest me strangely. Why do you think that cheery old Baxter, a delightful personality if ever I met one, suspects me?’

‘It’s the way he looks at you.’

‘I know what you mean, but I attribute no importance to it. As far as I have been able to ascertain during my brief visit, he looks at everybody and everything in precisely the same way. Only last night at dinner I observed him glaring with keen mistrust at about as blameless and innocent a plate of clear soup as was ever dished up. He then proceeded to shovel it down with quite undisguised relish. So possibly you are all wrong about his motive for looking at me like that. It may be admiration.’

‘Well, I don’t like it.’

‘Nor, from an aesthetic point of view, do I. But we must bear these things manfully. We must remind ourselves that it is Baxter’s misfortune rather than his fault that he looks like a dyspeptic lizard.’

Freddie was not to be consoled. His gloom deepened.

‘And it isn’t only Baxter.’

‘What else is on your mind?’

‘The whole atmosphere of the place is getting rummy, if you know what I mean.’ He bent towards Psmith and whispered pallidly, ‘I say, I believe that new housemaid is a detective!’

Psmith eyed him patiently.

‘Which new housemaid, Comrade Threepwood? Brooding, as I do, pretty tensely all the time on deep and wonderful subjects, I have little leisure to keep tab on the domestic staff.
Is
there a new housemaid?’

‘Yes. Susan, her name is.’

‘Susan? Susan? That sounds all right. Just the name a real housemaid would have.’

‘Did you ever,’demanded Freddie earnestly, ‘see a real housemaid sweep under a bureau?’

‘Does she?’

‘Caught her at it in my room this morning.’

‘But isn’t it a trifle far-fetched to imagine that she is a detective? Why should she be a detective?’

‘Well, I’ve seen such a dashed lot of films where the housemaid or the parlourmaid or what not were detectives. Makes a fellow uneasy.’

‘Fortunately,’ said Psmith, ‘there is no necessity to remain in a state of doubt. I can give you an unfailing method by means of which you may discover if she is what she would have us believe her.’

‘What’s that?’

‘Kiss her.’

‘Kiss her!’

‘Precisely. Go to her and say, “Susan, you’re a very pretty girl . . .”’

‘But she isn’t.’

‘We will assume, for purposes of argument, that she is. Go to her and say, “Susan, you are a very pretty girl. What would you do if I were to kiss you?” If she is a detective, she will reply, “How dare you, sir!” or, possibly, more simply, “Sir!” Whereas if she is the genuine housemaid I believe her to be and only sweeps under bureaux out of pure zeal, she will giggle and remark, “Oh, don’t be silly, sir!” You appreciate the distinction?’

‘How do you know?’

‘My grandmother told me, Comrade Threepwood. My advice to you, if the state of doubt you are in is affecting your enjoyment of life, is to put the matter to the test at the earliest convenient opportunity.’

‘I’ll think it over,’ said Freddie dubiously.

Silence fell upon him for a space, and Psmith was well content to have it so. He had no specific need of Freddie’s prattle to help him enjoy the pleasant sunshine and the scent of Angus McAllister’s innumerable flowers. Presently, however, his companion was off again. But now there was a different note in his voice. Alarm seemed to have given place to something which appeared to be embarrassment. He coughed several times, and his neatly-shod feet, writhing in self-conscious circles, scraped against the wall.

‘I say!’

‘You have our ear once more, Comrade Threepwood,’ said Psmith politely.

‘I say, what I really came out here to talk about was something else. I say, are you really a pal of Miss Halliday’s?’

‘Assuredly. Why?’

‘I say!’ A rosy blush mantled the Hon. Freddie’s young cheek. ‘I say, I wish you would put in a word for me, then.’

‘Put in a word for you?’

Freddie gulped.

‘I love her, dash it!’

‘A noble emotion,’ said Psmith courteously. ‘When did you feel it coming on?’

‘I’ve been in love with her for months. But she won’t look at me.’

‘That, of course,’ agreed Psmith, ‘must be a disadvantage. Yes, I should imagine that that would stick the gaffinto the course of true love to no small extent.’

‘I mean, won’t take me seriously, and all that. Laughs at me, don’t you know, when I propose. What would you do?’

‘I should stop proposing,’ said Psmith, having given the matter thought.

‘But I can’t.’

‘Tut, tut!’ said Psmith severely. And, in case the expression is new to you, what I mean is “Pooh, pooh!” Just say to yourself, “From now on I will not start proposing until after lunch.” That done, it will be an easy step to do no proposing during the afternoon. And by degrees you will find that you can give it up altogether. Once you have conquered the impulse for the after-breakfast proposal, the rest will be easy. The first one of the day is always the hardest to drop.’

‘I believe she thinks me a mere butterfly,’ said Freddie, who had not been listening to this most valuable homily.

Psmith slid down from the wall and stretched himself.

‘Why,’ he said, ‘are butterflies so often described as “mere”? I have heard them so called a hundred times, and I cannot understand the reason. . . . Well, it would, no doubt, be both interesting and improving to go into the problem, but at this point, Comrade Threepwood, I leave you. I would brood.’

‘Yes, but, I say, will you?’

‘Will I what?’

‘Put in a word for me?’

‘If,’ said Psmith, ‘the subject crops up in the course of the chitchat, I shall be delighted to spread myself with no little vim on the theme of your fine qualities.’

He melted away into the shrubbery, just in time to avoid Miss Peavey, who broke in on Freddie’s meditations a moment later and kept him company till lunch.

§ 3

The twelve-fifty train drew up with a grinding of brakes at the platform of Market Blandings, and Psmith, who had been whiling away the time of waiting by squandering money which he could ill afford on the slot-machine which supplied butterscotch, turned and submitted it to a grave scrutiny. Eve Halliday got out of a third-class compartment.

‘Welcome to our village, Miss Halliday,’ said Psmith, advancing.

Eve regarded him with frank astonishment.

‘What are you doing here?’ she asked.

‘Lord Emsworth was kind enough to suggest that, as we were such old friends, I should come down in the car and meet you.’

‘Are we old friends?’

‘Surely. Have you forgotten all those happy days in London?’

‘There was only one.’

‘True. But think how many meetings we crammed into it.’

‘Are you staying at the castle?’

‘Yes. And what is more, I am the life and soul of the party. Have you anything in the shape of luggage?’

‘I nearly always take luggage when I am going to stay a month or so in the country. It’s at the back somewhere.’

‘I will look after it. You will find the car outside. If you care to go and sit in it, I will join you in a moment. And, lest the time hangs heavy on your hands, take this. Butter-scotch. Delicious, and, so I understand, wholesome. I bought it specially for you.’

A few minutes later, having arranged for the trunk to be taken to the castle, Psmith emerged from the station and found Eve drinking in the beauties of the town of Market Blandings.

‘What a delightful old place,’ she said as they drove off. ‘I almost wish I lived here.’

‘During the brief period of my stay at the castle,’ said Psmith, ‘the same thought has occurred to me. It is the sort of place where one feels that one could gladly settle down into a peaceful retirement and grow a honey-coloured beard.’ He looked at her with solemn admiration. ‘Women are wonderful,’ he said.

And why, Mr Bones, are women wonderful?’ asked Eve.

‘I was thinking at the moment of your appearance. You have just stepped off the train after a four-hour journey, and you are as fresh and blooming as – if I may coin a simile – a rose. How do you do it? When I arrived I was deep in alluvial deposits, and have only just managed to scrape them off.’

‘When did you arrive?’

‘On the evening of the day on which I met you.’

‘But it’s so extraordinary. That you should be here, I mean. I was wondering if I should ever see you again.’ Eve coloured a little, and went on rather hurriedly. ‘I mean, it seems so strange that we should always be meeting like this.’

‘Fate, probably,’ said Psmith. ‘I hope it isn’t going to spoil your visit?’

‘Oh, no.’

‘I could have done with a trifle more emphasis on the last word,’ said Psmith gently. ‘Forgive me for criticising your methods of voice production, but surely you can see how much better it would have sounded spoken thus: “Oh,
no
!”’

Eve laughed.

‘Very well, then,’ she said. ‘Oh,
no
!’

‘Much better,’ said Psmith. ‘Much better.’

He began to see that it was going to be difficult to introduce a eulogy of the Hon. Freddie Threepwood into this conversation.

‘I’m very glad you’re here,’ said Eve, resuming the talk after a slight pause. ‘Because, as a matter of fact, I’m feeling just the least bit nervous.’

‘Nervous? Why?’

‘This is my first visit to a place of this size.’ The car had turned in at the big stone gates, and they were bowling smoothly up the winding drive. Through an avenue of trees to the right the great bulk of the castle had just appeared, grey and imposing against the sky. The afternoon sun glittered on the lake beyond it. ‘Is everything very stately?’

‘Not at all. We are very homely folk, we of Blandings Castle. We go about, simple and unaffected, dropping gracious words all over the place. Lord Emsworth didn’t overawe you, did he?’

‘Oh, he’s a dear. And, of course, I know Freddie quite well.’

Psmith nodded. If she knew Freddie quite well, there was naturally no need to talk about him. He did not talk about him, therefore.

‘Have you known Lord Emsworth long?’ asked Eve.

‘I met him for the first time the day I met you.’

‘Good gracious!’ Eve stared. ‘And he invited you to the castle?’

Psmith smoothed his waistcoat.

‘Strange, I agree. One can only account for it, can one not, by supposing that I radiate some extraordinary attraction. Have you noticed it?’

‘No!’

‘No?’ said Psmith, surprised. ‘Ah, well,’ he went on tolerantly, ‘no doubt it will flash upon you quite unexpectedly sooner or later. Like a thunderbolt or something.’

‘I think you’re terribly conceited.’

‘Not at all,’ said Psmith. ‘Conceited? No, no. Success has not spoiled me.’

‘Have you had any success?’

‘None whatever.’ The car stopped. ‘We get down here,’ said Psmith, opening the door.

‘Here? Why?’

‘Because, if we go up to the house, you will infallibly be pounced on and set to work by one Baxter – a delightful fellow, but a whale for toil. I propose to conduct you on a tour round the grounds, and then we will go for a row on the lake. You will enjoy that.’

‘You seem to have mapped out my future for me.’

‘I have,’ said Psmith with emphasis, and in the monocled eye that met hers Eve detected so beaming a glance of esteem and admiration that she retreated warily into herself and endeavoured to be frigid.