"I believe you are going to improve," she said hopefully.

CHAPTER XII

Dauncey accepted his chief's invitation, one morning about a week later, when things were slack, to sit in his room and have a chat.

"How goes the dancing?" he enquired, stretching out his hand for a cigarette.

"Interesting developments may shortly be expected," Jacob replied reflectively. "Up to the present, only two of the party have declared themselves. Mr. Mason has made propositions to me with regard to finding the money for starting a night club, and Mr. Hartwell has offered me a share in some oil springs in Trinidad."

"A certain lack of imagination about Hartwell's offer," Dauncey commented.

"On the contrary, I thought it rather subtle," Jacob observed. "You see, I am supposed to know all about oil, although I really know no more about it than the man in the moon. And there certainly is oil in Trinidad."

"What about the others?"

"Lady Powers," Jacob confessed, "has shown a flattering desire for my escort to dinner; in fact, I am afraid I am committed to next Sunday night. It appears that she is in some slight financial trouble and requires the advice of a man of the world."

"Hm!" Dauncey e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. "What does Miss Bultiwell say to that?"

"I don't think she knows," Jacob admitted, "but I am afraid she wouldn't care if she did. Grace Powers pretends to want to be very secretive about it, but I fancy that's only to spare my feelings."

"Any other members of the gang?" Dauncey enquired.

"There's that young sprig of fashion, Lord Felixstowe," Jacob replied.

"I haven't heard from him yet. He is rather a nice boy. And there is Miss Bultiwell herself."

"Have you had any conversation with her?"

"She is lunching with me to-day. I expect I shall get into trouble about it, but I am going to speak to her plainly about her friends."

"How did she get mixed up with such a crew?"

"She was at school with Grace Powers," Jacob answered, "but I don't know how they came together again. She will either tell me this morning--or she won't."

"And Lord Felixstowe?"

There was a knock at the door. The office boy brought in a card. Jacob glanced at it and smiled.

"His turn appears to have arrived," he said. "You can show Lord Felixstowe in."

Dauncey departed, and the visitor entered and proceeded to make himself at home. Notwithstanding a slightly receding chin and a somewhat weedy frame, he was a personable being, and Jacob stifled a sigh of envy as he realised that he would never be able to wear a Guards' tie with his lounge suit. The young man accepted a cigarette.

His att.i.tude was distinctly friendly.

"Thought I'd look you up, old thing," he said. "Not much chance of a powwow at Russell Square. As soon as you and I get a word together, that chap Hartwell comes b.u.t.ting in, or else Phil Mason has a bundle of prospectuses to show you. What-ho the giddy night club! What-ho the Trinidad Oil Wells!"

Jacob coughed.

"There is one thing about Russell Square which puzzles me," he confided, "and that is, except for the people you have mentioned, I seem to be the only pupil."

Lord Felixstowe smiled knowingly.

"They've got a few old crooks come later in the day," he said. "The reason you don't meet any one else there is because they like to keep you to themselves."

"I can't see what they gain by that," Jacob confessed, a little mystified.

The young lordling a.s.sumed the patient air of one having to deal with a person of inferior intelligence.

"Come, come," he remonstrated, "you must know that they're trying to milk you for a bit. Hasn't Mason suggested your financing his night club?"

"Some sort of a proposition was made," Jacob acknowledged. "I declined."

"And Hartwell? Has he mentioned some oil wells in Trinidad?"

"He has," Jacob admitted. "I happen to be doing rather well in oils in another direction."

"You haven't turned up early one day and found Grace in tears with a dressmaker's bill on her knee, have you?"

"That, I presume, is to arrive. Lady Powers is dining with me next Sunday."

"Mind your P's and Q's, then," the young philosopher advised. "She's a fly little hussy. You see, Pratt, I know the world a bit. Seems to me I might be rather useful to you--in fact that's why I came here this morning."

"It is very kind of you," Jacob said. "In what way, may I ask?"

"You see," Lord Felixstowe proceeded, hitching up his trousers and drawing his chair a little nearer, "I know the ropes, Pratt, and you don't. You're a very decent fellow who's made a pot of money, and naturally, just at first, you don't know where you are. You want to get on, eh, to know the right sort of people, go to the right sort of places, be seen about with the right sort? Between ourselves, old thing, Hartwell and Mason aren't the right sort. Suits me to pick their brains a bit, now and then, when the oof's coming along slowly, but then I can do what I like--you can't."

"Let me have your concrete proposition, Lord Felixstowe," Jacob suggested, with a faint smile at the corner of his lips.

"Righto! Tell you what I'm prepared to do. I'll pal you up, take you to lunch and dinner at the smart places, take you to the Opera right nights, and the mater shall ask you to dine once in Belgrave Square and send you cards for her big shows. Then the governor shall ask you to lunch at his club one day, and if there's anything doing, you tumble, there are a couple of his clubs I think he could put you up for. You'll be seen about with me. People will ask who you are. I shall lay it on thick, of course, about the millions, and before you know where you are, old bean, you'll be hobn.o.bbing with all the dukes and d.u.c.h.esses of the land."

"I see," Jacob murmured. "And what are your terms?"

"A thousand down, and two hundred and fifty a month," the young man replied. "You pay all the expenses, of course."

"Does that include the luncheon with your father and the dinner with your mother?" Jacob asked.

"It includes everything. Of course, if the governor has a word or two to say on his own, that's neither here nor there. I want to see you a bit more ambitious, Pratt," the young man declared, throwing one leg over the other and lighting a fresh cigarette. "It's the millions that count, nowadays. Why, there's no reason why you shouldn't marry one of our set, if you play your cards properly and drop that other rabble.

And look here, old dear, I'll give you a straight tip. You chuck 100, Russell Square. They're too fly, those chaps. I'm looking around for anything there may be to pick up myself, but they're too hot for me."

Jacob glanced at his watch.

"Well," he said, "I'm very much obliged to you, Lord Felixstowe, for your visit, and I have thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. I shall certainly remember your warning, and as for your offer--well, I'll think about it."

The visitor rose reluctantly to his feet.