Chapter 38
gwen wynne a romance of the y by main read chapter eighteen impatient for the post never man looked with more impatience for a post than captain ryecroft for the night mail from the west its morning delivery in london it may bring him a letter on the contents of which will turn the hinges of his life spate assuring his happiness or dooming him to misery and if no letter come its failure will make misery for him all the same it is scarce necessary to say the epistle thus expected and fraught with such grave consequence is an answer to his own that written in herefordshire and posted before leaving the wyside hotel twenty-four hours have since elapsed and now on the morning after he is at the langham london where the response if any should reach him he has made himself acquainted with the statistics of postal time telling him when the night mail is due and when the first distribution of letters in the metropolitan district at earliest in the langham which has post and telegraph office within its own walls this palatial hostelry unrivalled for convenience being in direct communication with all parts of the world
it is on the stroke of eight a m and the ex hussar officer pacing the tessellated tiles outside the deputy manager's moderately sized room with its front glass protected watches for the incoming of the post carrier it seems an inexorable certainty though a very vexatious one that person or thing awaited with unusual impatience must needs be behind time as if to punish the moral delinquency of the impatient one even postmen are not always punctual as vivian ryecroft has reason to know that amiable and active individual in coty of coarse cloth with red rag facings flitting from door to door brisk as a bluebottle on this particular morning does not step across the threshold of the langham till nearly half-past eight there is a thick fog and the street flags are greasy that would be the excuse for his tardy appearance were he called upon to give one dumping down his sack and spilling its contents upon the lead-covered sill of the booking-office window he is off again on a fresh and further flight with no abatement of impatience captain ryecroft stands looking at the letters being sorted a miscellaneous lot bearing the post-marks of many towns and many countries with the stamps of nearly every civilised nation on the globe enough of them to make the eyes of an ardent stamp collector shed tears of contubescence
scarcely allowing the sorter time to deposit them in their respective pigeon-holes rykoff approaches and asks if there be any for him at the same time giving his name no not any answers the clerk after drawing out all under letter r and dealing them off as a pack of cards are you quite sure sir pardon me i intend starting off within the hour and expecting a letter of some importance may i ask you to glance over them again in all the world there are no officials more affable than those of the langham they are in fact types of the highest hotel civilization instead of showing nettled he thus appealed to make a scenting rejoinder accompanying his words with a re-examination of the letters under r soon as completed saying no sir none for the name of ryecroft he bearing this name turns away with an air of more than disappointment the negative denoting that no letter had been written in reply vexes almost irritates him it is like a blow repeated a second slap in his face held up in humiliation after having forgiven the first he will not so humble himself never forgive again this his resolve as he ascends the great stairway to his room once more to make ready for travel the steam packet service between folkestone and boulogne is tidal
consulting bradshaw he finds the boat on that day leaves the former place at four p m the connecting train from the charing cross station one therefore have several hours to be put in meanwhile how are they to be occupied he is not in a mood for amusement nothing in london could give him that now neither afford him a moment's gratification perhaps in paris and he will try there men have buried their griefs women as well too oft laying in the same grave their innocence honour and reputation in the days of napoleon the little a grand cemetery of such hosts entering it pure and stainless to become tainted as the imperial regime itself and he too may succumb to its influence sinister as hell itself in his present frame of mind it is possible nor would his be the first noble spirit broken down wrecked on the reef of a disappointed passion love thwarted the loved one never again to be spoken to in all likelihood never more met while waiting for the folkestone train he is a prey to the most harrowing reflections and in hope of escaping them descends to the billiard-room in the langham a well-appointed affair with tables the very best
the marker accommodates him to a hundred up which he loses it is not for that he drops the cue disheartened and retires had he won with cook bennett or roberts as his adversary could have been all the same once more mounting to his room he makes an appeal to the ever friendly nicotonian a cigar backed by a glass of brandy may do something to soothe his chafed spirit and liking the one he rings for the other this brought him he takes seat by the windows throws up the sash and looks down upon the street there to see what gives him a fresh spasm of pain though to two others affording the highest happiness on earth for it is a wedding ceremony being celebrated at all souls opposite a church before whose altar many fashionable couples join hands to be linked together for life such a couple is in the act of entering the sacred edifice carriages drawing up and off in quick succession coachmen with white rosettes and whips ribbon bedecked footmen wearing similar favours an unusually stylish affair as in shining and with smiling faces the bridal train ascends the steps two by two disappearing within the portals of the church the spectators on the nave and around the enclosure rails also looking joyous
as though each even the raggedest had a personal interest in the event from the window opposite captain ryecroft observes it with very different feelings for the thought is before his mind how near he has been himself to making one in such a procession at its head followed by the bitter reflection he now never shall a sigh succeeded by a half-angry ejaculation then the bell rung with a violence which betrays how the sight has agitated him on the way to entering he cries out call me a cab handsome sir no four-wheeler and this luggage get downstairs as soon as possible his impediments are all in travelling trim but a few necessary articles having been unpacked and a shilling tossed upon the strapped paumanteau insures it with the lot speedy descent down the lift a single pipe of mr trafford's silver whistle brings the cab to the langham entrance in twenty seconds time and in twenty more a traveller's luggage however heavy is slung to the top with the lighter articles stayed inside his departure so accelerated captain ryecroft who had already settled his bill is soon seated in the cab and carried off but despatch ends on leaving the langham the cab being a four-wheeler crawls along like a tortoise
fortunately for the fare he is in no haste now instead will be too early for the folkestone train he only wanted to get away from the scene of that ceremony so disagreeably suggestive shut up imprisoned in the plush lined vehicle shabby and not over clean he endeavours to beguile time by gazing out at the shop windows the hour is too early for regent street promenaders some distraction if not amusement he derives from his cabby's arms these working to and fro as if the man were rowing a boat in burlesque it reminds him of the wye and his waterman wingate but just then something else recalls the western river not ludicrously but with another twinge of pain the cab is passing through leicester square one of the lungs of london long deceased and in process of being doctored it is beset with hoardings plastered against which are huge posters of the advertising kind several of them catch the eye of captain ryecroft but only one holds it causing him the sensation described it is the announcement of a grand concert to be given at the st james's hall for some charitable purpose of welsh speciality programme with list of performers at their head in largest lettering the queen of the estedford edith wynne
to him in the cab now a name of galling reminiscence notwithstanding the difference of orthography it seems like a nemesis pursuing him he grasps the leathern strap and letting down the ill-fitting sash with the clatter cries out to the cabman drive on jarvie or i'll be late for my train a shilling extra for time if cabby's arms sparred slowly before they now work as though he were engaged in catching flies and with their quickened action aided by several cuts of a thick-thonged whip the rosinate goes rattling through the narrow defile of herring's row down king williams street and across the strand into the charing cross station chapter eighteen
