"
"I did not mean to imply anything of the kind. I merely wished, so to
speak, to clear the way for what I have to propose."
Faversham nodded. Melrose continued:
"For clearly it would be an impertinence on my part were I to
attempt--suddenly--to lift a man out of a fixed groove and career, and
suggest to him another. I should expect to be sent to the devil--and
serve me right. But in your case--correct me if I am wrong--you seem
not yet to have discovered the groove that suits you. Now I am here to
propose to you a groove--and a career."
Faversham looked at him with astonishment. The gems, which had been so
urgently present to his mind, receded from it. Melrose in his skullcap,
sitting sideways in his chair, his cigarette held aloft, presented a
profile which might have been that of some Venetian Doge, old, withered
and crafty, engaged, say, in negotiation with a Genoese envoy.
"When you were first brought here," Melrose continued--"your presence,
as Undershaw has no doubt told you--of course he has told you, small
blame to him--was extremely distasteful to me. I am a recluse. I like no
women--and d----d few men. I can do without them, that's all; their
intimate company, anyway: and my pursuits bring me all the amusement I
require. Such at any rate was my frame of mind up to a few weeks ago. I
don't apologize for it in the least. Every man has a right to his own
idiosyncrasies. But I confess that your society during the last few
weeks--I am in no mood for mere compliment--has had a considerable
effect upon me.
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