'Well,' he said at length, resuming his seat at the table, and
trying to speak calmly, though his flushed face and quivering lips
showed what an effort it cost him; 'let us have supper first, and we
can talk afterwards.'
'Ah, that's much better,' remarked M. Vandeloup, sitting up to the
table, and unrolling his napkin. 'I assure you, my dear fellow, if
you treat me well, I'm a very easy person to deal with.'
The eyes of the two men met for a moment across the table, and
Vandeloup's had such a meaning look in them, that Meddlechip dropped
his own with a shiver.
The door opened, and the billowy waiter rolled up to the table, and
having left a deposit of plates and food thereon, subsided once more
out of the door, then rolled in again with the champagne. He drew
the cork of one of the bottles, filled the glasses on the table, and
then after giving a glance round to see that all was in order,
suddenly found that it was ebb-tide, and rolled slowly out of the
door, which he closed after him.
Meddlechip ate his supper in silence, but drank a good deal of
champagne to keep his courage up for the coming ordeal, which he
knew he must go through. Vandeloup, on the other hand, ate and drank
very little, as he talked gaily all the time about theatres, racing,
boating, in fact of everything except the thing the other man wanted
to hear.
'I never mix up business with pleasure, my dear fellow,' said
Gaston, amiably, guessing his companion's thoughts; 'when we have
finished supper and are enjoying our cigars, I will tell you a
little story.
Pages:
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261