Part 19 (1/2)

”And do you think he'll be satisfied with them?”

”He ought to be. I don't like to be c.o.c.k-sure, but I believe--I really do believe--that I've given him rather more than he expected. It's going to be a devilish good house, though I say it myself.”

”Something new-fangled and fantastic, eh? Well, he mayn't care about it, you know. When you've had my experience, you'll realise that a client is a rum bird to satisfy.”

”I shall satisfy _my_ old bird,” said Horace, gaily. ”He'll have a cage he can hop about in to his heart's content.”

”You're a clever chap enough,” said Beevor; ”but to carry a big job like this through you want one thing--and that's ballast.”

”Not while you heave yours at my head! Come, old fellow, you aren't really riled because I sent off those plans without showing them to you?

I shall soon have them back, and then you can pitch into 'em as much as you please. Seriously, though, I shall want all the help you can spare when I come to the completed designs.”

”'Um,” said Beevor, ”you've got along very well alone so far--at least, by your own account; so I dare say you'll be able to manage without me to the end. Only, you know,” he added, as he left the room, ”you haven't won your spurs yet. A fellow isn't necessarily a Gilbert Scott, or a Norman Shaw, or a Waterhouse just because he happens to get a sixty-thousand pound job the first go off!”

”Poor old Beevor!” thought Horace, repentantly, ”I've put his back up.

I might just as well have shown him the plans, after all; it wouldn't have hurt me and it would have pleased _him_. Never mind, I'll make my peace with him after lunch. I'll ask him to give me his idea for a--no, hang it all, even friends.h.i.+p has its limits!”

He returned from lunch to hear what sounded like an altercation of some sort in his office, in which, as he neared his door, Beevor's voice was distinctly audible.

”My dear sir,” he was saying, ”I have already told you that it is no affair of mine.”

”But I ask you, sir, as a brother architect,” said another voice, ”whether you consider it professional or reasonable----?”

”As a brother architect,” replied Beevor, as Ventimore opened the door, ”I would rather be excused from giving an opinion.... Ah, here is Mr.

Ventimore himself.”

Horace entered, to find himself confronted by Mr. Wackerbath, whose face was purple and whose white whiskers were bristling with rage. ”So, sir!”

he began. ”So, sir!----” and choked ignominiously.

”There appears to have been some misunderstanding, my dear Ventimore,”

explained Beevor, with a studious correctness which was only a shade less offensive than open triumph. ”I think I'd better leave you and this gentleman to talk it over quietly.”

”Quietly?” exclaimed Mr. Wackerbath, with an apoplectic snort; ”_quietly!!_”

”I've no idea what you are so excited about, sir,” said Horace. ”Perhaps you will explain?”

”Explain!” Mr. Wackerbath gasped; ”why--no, if I speak just now, I shall be ill: _you_ tell him,” he added, waving a plump hand in Beevor's direction.

”I'm not in possession of all the facts,” said Beevor, smoothly; ”but, so far as I can gather, this gentleman thinks that, considering the importance of the work he intrusted to your hands, you have given less time to it than he might have expected. As I have told him, that is a matter which does not concern me, and which he must discuss with you.”

So saying, Beevor retired to his own room, and shut the door with the same irreproachable discretion, which conveyed that he was not in the least surprised, but was too much of a gentleman to show it.

”Well, Mr. Wackerbath,” began Horace, when they were alone, ”so you're disappointed with the house?”

”Disappointed!” said Mr. Wackerbath, furiously. ”I am disgusted, sir, disgusted!”

Horace's heart sank lower still; had he deceived himself after all, then? Had he been nothing but a conceited fool, and--most galling thought of all--had Beevor judged him only too accurately? And yet, no, he could not believe it--he _knew_ his work was good!

”This is plain speaking with a vengeance,” he said; ”I'm sorry you're dissatisfied. I did my best to carry out your instructions.”