Leave it to Psmith (17 page)

‘I’m afraid I haven’t time to wander about the grounds,’ she said aloofly. ‘I must be going and seeing Mr Baxter.’

‘Baxter,’ said Psmith, ‘is not one of the natural beauties of the place. Time enough to see him when you are compelled to. . . . We are now in the southern pleasaunce or the west home-park or something. Note the refined way the deer are cropping the grass. All the ground on which we are now standing is of historic interest. Oliver Cromwell went through here in 1550. The record has since been lowered.’

‘I haven’t time . . .’

‘Leaving the pleasaunce on our left, we proceed to the northern messuage. The dandelions were imported from Egypt by the ninth Earl.’

‘Well, anyhow,’ said Eve mutinously, ‘I won’t come on the lake.’

‘You will enjoy the lake,’ said Psmith. ‘The newts are of the famous old Blandings strain. They were introduced, together with the water-beetles, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Lord Emsworth, of course, holds manorial rights over the mosquito-swatting.’

Eve was a girl of high and haughty spirit, and as such strongly resented being appropriated and having her movements directed by one who, in spite of his specious claims, was almost a stranger. But somehow she found her companion’s placid assumption of authority hard to resist. Almost meekly she accompanied him through meadow and shrubbery, over velvet lawns and past gleaming flower-beds, and her indignation evaporated as her eyes absorbed the beauty of it all. She gave a little sigh. If Market Blandings had seemed a place in which one might dwell happily, Blandings Castle was a paradise.

‘Before us now,’ said Psmith, ‘lies the celebrated Yew Alley, so called from the yews which hem it in. Speaking in my capacity of guide to the estate, I may say that when we have turned this next corner you will see a most remarkable sight.’

And they did. Before them, as they passed in under the boughs of an aged tree, lay a green vista, faintly dappled with stray shafts of sunshine. In the middle of this vista the Hon. Frederick Threepwood was embracing a young woman in the dress of a housemaid.

§ 4

Psmith was the first of the little group to recover from the shock of this unexpected encounter, the Hon. Freddie the last. That unfortunate youth, meeting Eve’s astonished eye as he raised his head, froze where he stood and remained with his mouth open until she had disappeared, which she did a few moments later, led away by Psmith, who, as he went, directed at his young friend a look in which surprise, pain, and reproof were so nicely blended that it would have been hard to say which predominated. All that a spectator could have said with certainty was that Psmith’s finer feelings had suffered a severe blow.

‘A painful scene,’ he remarked to Eve, as he drew her away in the direction of the house. ‘But we must always strive to be charitable. He may have been taking a fly out of her eye, or teaching her jiu-jitsu.’

He looked at her searchingly.

‘You seem less revolted,’ he said, ‘than one might have expected. This argues a sweet, shall we say angelic disposition and confirms my already high opinion of you.’

‘Thank you.’

‘Not at all. Mark you,’ said Psmith, ‘I don’t think that this sort ofthing is a hobby of Comrade Threepwood’s. He probably has many other ways of passing his spare time. Remember that before you pass judgment upon him. Also – Young Blood, and all that sort ofthing.’

‘I haven’t any intention of passing judgment upon him. It doesn’t interest me what Mr Threepwood does, either in his spare time or out of it.’

‘His interest in you, on the other hand, is vast. I forgot to tell you before, but he loves you. He asked me to mention it if the conversation happened to veer round in that direction.’

‘I know he does,’ said Eve ruefully.

‘And does the fact stir no chord in you?’

‘I think he’s a nuisance.’

‘That,’ said Psmith cordially, ‘is the right spirit. I like to see it. Very well, then, we will discard the topic of Freddie, and I will try to find others that may interest, elevate, and amuse you. We are now approaching the main buildings. I am no expert in architecture, so cannot tell you all I could wish about the façade, but you can see there
is
a façade, and in my opinion – for what it is worth – a jolly good one. We approach by a sweeping gravel walk.’

‘I am going in to report to Mr Baxter,’ said Eve with decision. ‘It’s too absurd. I mustn’t spend my time strolling about the grounds. I must see Mr Baxter at once.’

Psmith inclined his head courteously.

‘Nothing easier. That big, open window there is the library. Doubtless Comrade Baxter is somewhere inside, toiling away among the archives.’

‘Yes, but I can’t announce myself by shouting to him.’

‘Assuredly not,’ said Psmith. ‘No need for that at all. Leave it to me.’ He stooped and picked up a large flower-pot which stood under the terrace wall, and before Eve could intervene had tossed it lightly through the open window. A muffled thud, followed by a sharp exclamation from within, caused a faint smile of gratification to illumine his solemn countenance. ‘He
is
in. I thought he would be. Ah, Baxter,’ he said graciously, as the upper half of a body surmounted by a spectacled face framed itself suddenly in the window, ‘a pleasant, sunny afternoon. How is everything?’

The Efficient Baxter struggled for utterance.

‘You look like the Blessed Damozel gazing down from the gold bar of Heaven,’ said Psmith genially. ‘Baxter, I want to introduce you to Miss Halliday. She arrived safely after a somewhat fatiguing journey. You will like Miss Halliday. If I had a library, I could not wish for a more courteous, obliging, and capable cataloguist.’

This striking and unsolicited testimonial made no appeal to the Efficient Baxter. His mind seemed occupied with other matters.

‘Did you throw that flower-pot?’ he demanded coldly.

‘You will no doubt,’ said Psmith, ‘wish on some later occasion to have a nice long talk with Miss Halliday in order to give her an outline of her duties. I have been showing her the grounds and am about to take her for a row on the lake. But after that she will – and I know I may speak for Miss Halliday in this matter – be entirely at your disposal.’

‘Did you throw that flower-pot?’

‘I look forward confidently to the pleasantest of associations between you and Miss Halliday. You will find her,’ said Psmith warmly, ‘a willing assistant, a tireless worker.’

‘Did you . . . ?’

‘But now,’ said Psmith, ‘I must be tearing myself away. In order to impress Miss Halliday, I put on my best suit when I went to meet her. For a row upon the lake something simpler in pale flannel is indicated. I shall only be a few minutes,’ he said to Eve. ‘Would you mind meeting me at the boat-house?’

‘I am not coming on the lake with you.’

‘At the boat-house in – say – six and a quarter minutes,’ said Psmith with a gentle smile, and pranced into the house like a long-legged mustang.

Eve remained where she stood, struggling between laughter and embarrassment. The Efficient Baxter was still leaning wrathfully out of the library window, and it began to seem a little difficult to carry on an ordinary conversation. The problem of what she was to say in order to continue the scene in an agreeable manner was solved by the arrival of Lord Emsworth, who pottered out from the bushes with a rake in his hand. He stood eyeing Eve for a moment, then memory seemed to wake. Eve’s appearance was easier to remember, possibly, than some of the things which his lordship was wont to forget. He came forward beamingly.

‘Ah, there you are, Miss . . . Dear me, I’m really afraid I have forgotten your name. My memory is excellent as a rule, but I cannot remember names . . . Miss Halliday. Of course, of course. Baxter, my dear fellow,’ he proceeded, sighting the watcher at the window, ‘this is Miss Halliday.’

‘Mr McTodd,’ said the Efficient One sourly, ‘has already introduced me to Miss Halliday.’

‘Has he? Deuced civil of him, deuced civil of him. But where
is
he?’ inquired his lordship, scanning the surrounding scenery with a vague eye.

‘He went into the house. After,’ said Baxter in a cold voice, ‘throwing a flower-pot at me.’

‘Doing what?’

‘He threw a flower-pot at me,’ said Baxter, and vanished moodily.

Lord Emsworth stared at the open window, then turned to Eve for enlightenment.

‘Why
did Baxter throw a flower-pot at McTodd?’ he said. ‘And,’ he went on, ventilating an even deeper question, ‘where the deuce did he get a flower-pot? There are no flower-pots in the library.’

Eve, on her side, was also seeking information.

‘Did you say his name was McTodd, Lord Emsworth?’

‘No, no. Baxter. That was Baxter, my secretary.’

‘No, I mean the one who met me at the station.’

‘Baxter did not meet you at the station. The man who met you at the station,’ said Lord Emsworth, speaking slowly, for women are so apt to get things muddled, ‘was McTodd. He’s staying here. Constance asked him, and I’m bound to say when I first heard of it I was not any too well pleased. I don’t like poets as a rule. But this fellow’s so different from the other poets I’ve met. Different altogether. And,’ said Lord Emsworth with not a little heat, ‘I strongly object to Baxter throwing flower-pots at him. I won’t
have
Baxter throwing flower-pots at my guests,’ he said firmly; for Lord Emsworth, though occasionally a little vague, was keenly alive to the ancient traditions of his family regarding hospitality.

‘Is Mr McTodd a poet?’ said Eve, her heart beating.

‘Eh? Oh yes, yes. There seems to be no doubt about that. A Canadian poet. Apparently they have poets out there. And,’ demanded his lordship, ever a fair-minded man, ‘why not? A remarkably growing country. I was there in the year ’98. Or was it,’ he added, thoughtfully passing a muddy hand over his chin and leaving a rich brown stain, ‘’99? I forget. My memory isn’t good for dates. . . . If you will excuse me, Miss – Miss Halliday, of course – if you will excuse me, I must be leaving you. I have to see McAllister, my head gardener. An obstinate man. A Scotchman. If you go into the house, my sister Constance will give you a cup of tea. I don’t know what the time is, but I suppose there will be tea soon. Never take it myself.’

‘Mr McTodd asked me to go for a row on the lake.’

‘On the lake, eh? On the
lake?
said his lordship, as if this was the last place in the neighbourhood where he would have expected to hear of people proposing to row. Then he brightened. ‘Of course, yes, on the lake. I think you will like the lake. I take a dip there myself every morning before breakfast. I find it good for the health and appetite. I plunge in and swim perhaps fifty yards, and then return.’ Lord Emsworth suspended the gossip from the training-camp in order to look at his watch. ‘Dear me,’ he said, ‘I must be going. McAllister has been waiting fully ten minutes. Good-bye, then, for the present, Miss – er – good-bye.’

And Lord Emsworth ambled off, on his face that look of tense concentration which it always wore when interviews with Angus McAllister were in prospect – the look which stern warriors wear when about to meet a foeman worthy of their steel.

§ 5

There was a cold expression in Eve’s eyes as she made her way slowly to the boat-house. The information which she had just received had come as a shock, and she was trying to adjust her mind to it. When Miss Clarkson had told her of the unhappy conclusion to her old school friend’s marriage to Ralston McTodd, she had immediately, without knowing anything of the facts, arrayed herself loyally on Cynthia’s side and condemned the unknown McTodd uncompromisingly and without hesitation. It was many years since she had seen Cynthia, and their friendship might almost have been said to have lapsed; but Eve’s affection, when she had once given it, was a durable thing, capable of surviving long separation. She had loved Cynthia at school, and she could feel nothing but animosity towards anyone who had treated her badly. She eyed the glittering water of the lake from under lowered brows, and prepared to be frigid and hostile when the villain of the piece should arrive. It was only when she heard footsteps behind her and turned to perceive Psmith hurrying up, radiant in gleaming flannel, that it occurred to her for the first time that there might have been faults on both sides. She had not known Psmith long, it was true, but already his personality had made a somewhat deep impression on her, and she was loath to believe that he could be the callous scoundrel of her imagination. She decided to suspend judgment until they should be out in mid-water and in a position to discuss the matter without interruption.

‘I am a little late,’ said Psmith, as he came up. ‘I was detained by our young friend Freddie. He came into my room and started talking about himself at the very moment when I was tying my tie and needed every ounce of concentration for that delicate task. The recent painful episode appeared to be weighing on his mind to some extent.’ He helped Eve into the boat and started to row. ‘I consoled him as best I could by telling him that it would probably have made you think all the more highly of him. I ventured the suggestion that girls worship the strong, rough, dashing type of man. And, after I had done my best to convince him that he was a strong, rough, dashing man, I came away. By now, of course, he may have had a relapse into despair; so, if you happen to see a body bobbing about in the water as we row along, it will probably be Freddie’s.’

‘Never mind about Freddie.’

‘I don’t if you don’t,’ said Psmith agreeably. ‘Very well, then, if we see a body, we will ignore it.’ He rowed on a few strokes. ‘Correct me if I am wrong,’ he said, resting on his oars and leaning forward, ‘but you appear to be brooding about something. If you will give me a clue, I will endeavour to assist you to grapple with any little problem which is troubling you. What is the matter?’

Eve, questioned thus directly, found it difficult to open the subject. She hesitated a moment, and let the water ripple through her fingers.