It's the most wonderful
glorious thing--"
"Ah, but then you're so young," he always expected his companions to
say; and the thing that pleased him most of all was to hear some one
declare--"Tony Gale's such a puzzle--sometimes he seems only eighteen and
then suddenly he's fifty."
It was rumoured that he had once been in love with Alice Galleon when she
had been Alice du Cane--and that they had nearly made a match of it; but he
was certainly now married to a charming girl whom he had seen in Cornwall
and the two young things were considered delightful by the whole of
Chelsea.
Tony Gale had with him a man called James Maradick whom Peter had met
before and liked. Maradick was forty-two or three, large, rather heavy in
build and expression and very taciturn. He was in business in the city, but
had been drawn, Peter knew not how, into the literary world of London. He
was often to be found at dinner parties and evening "squashes" silent,
observant and generally alone. Many people thought him dull, but Peter
liked him partly because of his reserve and partly because of his
enthusiasm for Cornwall. Cornwall seemed to be the only subject that could
stir Maradick into excitement, and when Cornwall was under discussion the
whole man woke into sudden stir and emotion.
To-night, with his almost cynical observance of the emotions and excitement
that surged about him, he seemed to Peter the one man possible in the whole
gathering.
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