IN THE SHADOW
It is at your elbow. I forget that I am in the land of electricity. Ach, but these English servants are deliberate! Wiggin, have you any rum?"
Manning started, glanced over his shoulder. Keen as were his own senses he had failed to hear the approach of the felt-shod butler.
"There is some of the Santa Cruz which you sent from the West Injies last May, sir."
"Evidently it is not a popular beverage; so much the better. Bring me a gill, Wiggin; and Wiggin, will you be so good as to look on the dressing table in my room and bring me the green bottle which you will find there; also, some water and the half of a lemon. I beg your pardon, Moultrie; I am going to bore you directly, and before beginning I wish to fortify myself against a fight which is to occur in my blood vessels"—he glanced at the tall clock—"in precisely four hours and fifteen minutes."
"What do you mean?" asked Manning. "Are you ill?" He had at first been inclined to resent Leyden's neglect of his direct question; then he had been puzzled, and when one is puzzled one is apt to try to solve the query before indulging in other emotions.
"No," said Leyden lightly. "There is a chill due in four hours, and I think that with the aid of some very excellent rum which Sir Henry does not properly appreciate and a preparation of my own I may be able to abort it. It is this vile weather … but, so much for that!" He assembled the charred logs, blew upon an ember, kindled the whole into a blaze, raised himself, lightly as a cat, from his knee-strained position, and turned to Manning.
126
