“Oh, go on—I’ll bet that’s what she’s after—and if you ask me, he’s plenty good enough for her. She’s probably a cousin of his; any one with all that fuzzy black hair and those black saucer eyes and nasty glittery little teeth——”
“Wrong again, dear boy. The lady is undeniably the legitimate offspring of Lady Scott’s English maid and a Portuguese wine merchant, born in Madeira. She is
also a British subject, being the legitimate widow of the late Tommy Potts, one-time pianist of the Imperial Doll Baby Girls.”
“Widow?” demanded Ledyard 杭州桑拿按摩推荐 incredulously.
“Widow and orphan, William. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Tommy, alas, passed away while they were touring New Zealand, in a distressingly complicated 杭州养生按摩网 attack of appendicitis and D. T.’s. She didn’t tell you?”
279 “No, she did not tell me,” replied William somewhat aggressively. “See here, how do you happen to know so much about this Portuguese Empire Doll Baby?”
“A trifling matter of a passport, William. Purely as a business matter it became my painful duty to excavate the lady’s buried past.”
Ledyard eyed him suspiciously.
“I believe she’s gone on you and you know it,” he said gloomily. “Anyway, if she doesn’t turn up pretty soon, I’m going to pull out, and that’s that. You and Bhakdi can fight it out between the two of you—I’m through chaperoning Daisy de Vallorosa Potts from now on.”
“Sorry, but you’re going to have to chaperon her clear back to Singapore,” the Honourable Tony assured him inflexibly. “If there’s one thing that I simply cannot and will not stick it’s 杭州按摩技师 cheap powder, and if there are two things that I simply cannot and will not stick—it’s cheap perfume. The less they cost, the more they use. Lord, Lord, the perfume that little 杭州按摩服务会所 hussy uses!”
“If she’s a British subject, it’s your job to look out for her. She’s under your protection.”
“My dear kid, I wouldn’t disturb this enchanting existence by lifting a finger to protect Queen Victoria from Don Juan.”
“Well, she’d better step lively,” remarked her280 late escort ominously. “I’m not joking, you know—if I don’t make connections with that boat in Singapore, I’m as good as disinherited! My Governor’s not so gone on you that he’d consider you any excuse for missing two boats, you know.”
“Not for missing one, you young ass.” The gay eyes dwelt on him deeply for a moment, mocking and affectionate. “Your very able parent was one fellow who 杭州好的水疗会所推荐 never entertained any illusions as to my intrinsic merit, wasn’t he?”
Ledyard drew a long breath, his face a little pale.
“Yes,” he said slowly, “he was. That was one of the 杭州爱情故事spa是飞机吗 things I wanted to talk to you about. It’s hard to talk to you about anything like that, Calvert!”
“Like what?”
The tone was hardly encouraging for all its amiability, but young Ledyard pushed doggedly ahead.
“Like that—anything serious or intimate or real. You make it darned difficult, let me tell you.”
“Then why do it?”
“Oh, not because I want to!” His angry, tired young face bore unmistakable testimony to that. “Believe me, if I were consulting my own pleasure I’d have told you to go to the devil the first time you tried any of that condescending impertinence of yours on me.”
281 “Is it beside the mark to ask you just whose pleasure you are consulting, 杭州哪个浴场有服务 then?”
Young Ledyard set his teeth hard.
“Pattie’s,” he said, very distinctly.
The Honourable Tony did not stir, but the eyes that he fixed on Pattie’s brother went suddenly and 杭州不正规洗脚店里面什么样 incredibly black. After a long pause he repeated, evenly and courteously,
“Pattie’s?”
“Yes, Pattie’s. That’s half of why I came—the other half, if you want to know, is because I’m fool enough to care more about you than any other man I ever met—than any other two men.”
The wide eyes were suddenly blue again.
“Thanks,” said the Honourable Tony, and there was something startlingly sweet in his smile. “Thanks awfully. It’s quite mutual, you know—any three men, I should say offhand. Suppose we simply let it go at that? And do try one of these
cigarettes; they really are first-rate.”
“I can’t let it go at that, I tell you—I wish to the Lord I could. Pattie had it 杭州哪里推拿好 all out with Dad, and she made me swear that I’d run you down when I got out here and bring you back. She said that if I couldn’t work it any other way I was to tell you 杭州桑拿按摩全套体验 that she said ‘Please.’ I’m at the end of my rope, Calvert—and Pattie says ‘Please.’”