“C. Q.”; or, In the Wireless House
him smoking in his room and drinking whisky and soda.”
“‘Hello, Cosmo, old chap,’ he said, smirking at me. Then he saw something was up and turned white.
“I told him he must kill himself or the matter would be taken out of his hands. He turned yellow—yellow—and knocked the glass of whisky on to the floor. He could n’t speak.
“‘No,’ he said. ‘No!—It ’s a joke, isn’t it, Cosmo?’
“‘Joke, you swine!’ I cried. ‘Have you a pistol?’
“‘Yes,’ he said. But he lied. He had n’t one.
“‘Give me twenty-four hours to settle my affairs,’ he whined.
“‘We ’ll give you till to-morrow noon,’ I answered. ‘If it is n’t done then—we ’ll do it for you.’
“I waited near his door all night, but nothing happened. There was a mt next day and everybody was in the field. We mounted Roakby on an old broken-winded roan that dropped behind inside the first three fields. I136
