forward as he walked, and still nipped along hurriedly, as if
pursued by fate. His face was thin and still handsome. Odd that his
cheap cap, by incongruity, made him look more a gentleman. But it
did. As he walked he glanced alertly hither and thither, and saluted
everybody.
By his side, somewhat tight and tubby, with his chest out and his
head back, went the prim figure of Mr. May, reminding one of a
consequential bird of the smaller species. His plumbago-grey suit
fitted exactly--save that it was perhaps a little tight. The jacket
and waistcoat were bound with silk braid of exactly the same shade
as the cloth. His soft collar, immaculately fresh, had a dark stripe
like his shirt. His boots were black, with grey suède uppers: but a
_little_ down at heel. His dark-grey hat was jaunty. Altogether he
looked very spruce, though a _little_ behind the fashions: very pink
faced, though his blue eyes were bilious beneath: very much on the
spot, although the spot was the wrong one.
They discoursed amiably as they went, James bending forward, Mr. May
bending back. Mr. May took the refined man-of-the-world tone.
"Of course," he said--he used the two words very often, and
pronounced the second, rather mincingly, to rhyme with _sauce_: "Of
course," said Mr. May, "it's a disgusting place--_disgusting_! I
never was in a worse, in all the _cauce_ of my travels. But
_then_--that isn't the point--"
He spread his plump hands from his immaculate shirt-cuffs.
"No, it isn't. Decidedly it isn't. That's beside the point
altogether. What we want--" began James.
"Is an audience--of _cauce_--! And we have it--! Virgin soil--!
"Yes, decidedly. Untouched! An unspoiled market."
"An unspoiled market!" reiterated Mr. May, in full confirmation,
though with a faint flicker of a smile. "How very _fortunate_ for
us."
"Properly handled," said James. "Properly handled."
"Why yes--of _cauce_! Why _shouldn't_ we handle it properly!"
"Oh, we shall manage that, we shall manage that," came the quick,
slightly husky voice of James.
"Of _cauce_ we shall! Why bless my life, if we can't manage an
audience in Lumley, what _can_ we do."
"We have a guide in the matter of their taste," said James. "We can
see what Wright's are doing--and Jordan's--and we can go to
Hathersedge and Knarborough and Alfreton--beforehand, that is--"
"Why certainly--if you think it's _necessary_. I'll do all that for
you. _And_ I'll interview the managers and the performers
themselves--as if I were a journalist, don't you see. I've done a
fair amount of journalism, and nothing easier than to get cards from
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