登陆注册
15449000000037

第37章 CHAPTER XVI(1)

The two men who had walked up together arm in arm from Downing Street, stood for several moments in Pall Mall before separating. The pressman who was passing yearned for the sunlight in his camera. One of the greatest financiers of the city in close confabulation with Mr. Gordon Jones, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was an interesting, almost an historical sight.

"It is a source of the greatest satisfaction to me, Sir Alfred," the Minister was saying earnestly, "to find such royal and whole-hearted support in the city. I am afraid," he went on, with a little twinkle in his eyes, "that there are times when I have scarcely been popular in financial circles.""We have hated you like poison," the other assured him, with emphasis.

"The capitalists must always hate the man who tries to make wealth pay its just share in the support of the Empire," Mr. Gordon Jones remarked. "The more one has, the less one likes to part with it. However, those days have passed. You bankers have made my task easier at every turn. You have met me in every possible way. To you personally, Sir Alfred, I feel that some day Ishall have to express my thanks--my thanks and the thanks of the nation--in a more tangible form.""You are very kind," the banker acknowledged. "Times like this change everything. We remember only that we are Englishmen."The Minister hailed a passing taxi and disappeared. The banker strolled slowly along Pall Mall and passed through the portals of an august-looking club. The hall-porter relieved him of his coat and hat with great deference.

As he was crossing the hall, after having exchanged greetings with several friends, he came face to face with Surgeon-Major Thomson. The latter paused.

"I am afraid you don't remember me, Sir Alfred," he said, "but I have been hoping for an opportunity of thanking you personally for the six ambulance cars you have endowed. I am Surgeon-Major Thomson, chief inspector of Field Hospitals."Sir Alfred held out his hand affably.

"I remember you perfectly, Major," he declared. "I am very glad that my gift is acceptable. Anything one can do to lessen the suffering of those who are fighting our battle, is almost a charge upon our means.""It is very fortunate for us that you feel like that," the other replied.

"Thank you once more, sir."

The two men separated. Sir Alfred turned to the hall-porter.

"I am expecting my nephew in to dine," he said,--"Captain Granet. Bring him into the smoking-room, will you, directly he arrives.""Certainly, sir!"

Sir Alfred passed on across the marble hall. Thomson, whose hand had been upon his hat, replaced it upon the peg. He looked after the great banker and stood for a moment deep in thought. Then he addressed the hall-porter.

"By-the-bye, Charles," he inquired, "if you ask a non-member to dinner, you have to dine in the strangers' room, I suppose?""Certainly, sir," the man replied. "It is just at the back of the general dining-room.""I suppose an ordinary member couldn't dine in there alone?""It is not customary, sir."

Surgeon-Major Thomson made his way to the telephone booth. When he emerged, he interviewed the head-waiter.

"Keep a small table for me in the strangers' room," he ordered. "I shall require dinner for two.""At what time, sir?"

Major Thomson seemed for a moment deaf. He was looking through the open door of the smoking-room to where Sir Alfred was deep in the pages of a review.

"Are there many people dining there to-night?" he asked.

"Sir Alfred has a guest at eight o'clock, sir," the man replied. "There are several others, I think, but they have not ordered tables specially.""At a quarter past eight, if you please. I shall be in the billiard-room, Charles," he added, turning to the hall-porter.

Sir Alfred wearied soon of the pages of his review and leaned back in his chair, his hands folded in front of him, gazing through the window at the opposite side of the way. A good many people, passing backwards and forwards, glanced at him curiously. For thirty years his had been something like a household name in the city. He had been responsible, he and the great firm of which he was the head, for international finance conducted on the soundest principles, finance which scorned speculation, finance which rolled before it the great snowball of automatically accumulated wealth. His father had been given the baronetcy which he now enjoyed, and which, as he knew very well, might at any moment be transferred into a peerage. He was a short, rather thick-set man, with firm jaws and keen blue eyes, carefully dressed in somewhat old-fashioned style, with horn-rimmed eyeglass hung about his neck with a black ribbon. His hair was a little close-cropped and stubbly. No one could have called him handsome, no one could have found him undistinguished.

Even without the knowledge of his millions, people who glanced at him recognised the atmosphere of power.

"Wonder what old Anselman's thinking about," one man asked another in an opposite corner.

"Money bags," was the prompt reply. "The man thinks money, he dreams money, he lives money. He lives like a prince but he has no pleasures. >From ten in the morning till two, he sites in his office in Lombard Street, and the pulse of the city beats differently in his absence.""I wonder!" the other murmured.

Other people had wondered, too. Still the keen blue eyes looked across through the misty atmosphere at the grey building opposite. Men and women passed before him in a constant, unseen procession. No one came and spoke to him, no one interfered with his meditations. The two men who had been discussing him passed out of the room presently one of them glanced backwards in his direction.

"After all, I suppose," he observed, as he passed down the hall, "there is something great about wealth or else one wouldn't believe that old Anselman there was thinking of his money-bags. Why, here's Granet. Good fellow! I'd no idea you'd joined this august company of old fogies."Granet smiled as he shook hands.

同类推荐
  • 道诗精华录

    道诗精华录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • My Bondage and My Freedom

    My Bondage and My Freedom

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 奉天录

    奉天录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 迪功集

    迪功集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 宁古塔地方乡土志

    宁古塔地方乡土志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 玄阵幻海

    玄阵幻海

    无尽海域,神秘九天,历经千古,孕育十一套阵法,翩翩佳公子东方逸独得其九。阵法为本,机智作辅,灵宝相助,铺就气运之子登天之路。七星聚鼎阵,九龙神火阵……
  • 我心中的南岸少年

    我心中的南岸少年

    我是第一次写小说,写得不太好,请见谅哦~~【这是关于TFBOYS王俊凯的小说】女主角聂雨希是王俊凯的粉丝,和她从小到大一起玩的闺蜜季晴天和虞子瑶是王源和易烊千玺的粉丝。后来聂雨希和季晴天离开了家来到了重庆,搬进了虞子瑶的新家里。再一次的逛街上和王俊凯偶遇,那么他们会发生什么样的事呢?
  • 凤临天下:绝世弃妃

    凤临天下:绝世弃妃

    她是人人皆知的弃妃,却没有人知道她是穿越而来的杀手。杀手女王穿越化身妩媚王妃,从此王爷摊上大事儿了……【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 我们逝去的那些年

    我们逝去的那些年

    初次见面,是因为她救了他。当他醒来后,问她:“你叫什么名字?”她回答:“花百合。”他微笑:“你就像你的名字一样,像百合花一样很纯洁。”再次见面,是在学校学生会。他说:“你好,花百合,我叫夜长远,是学生会会长,有什么不懂的事情可以来问我。”她回答:“谢谢你。”后来,在她的努力下,他们的关系越来越近。可是,在他向她表白时,她却说:“对不起,我累了,一直以来,我都在追着你的脚步走,现在,我想歇歇了。”他笑着说:“没关系,我可以等你。”在他生命凋零的时候,他躺在她的怀里,她哭着说:“对不起,如果不是我……”他笑着打断了她,“没关系,我因你而活,现在因你而死,我很开心,如果可以,我依然愿意再次遇见你。”
  • TFboys之花季恋爱

    TFboys之花季恋爱

    那年花季,那甜蜜的初遇,难以忘怀。三位富豪千金与阳光三小只的爱情故事,就此展开。。。。。。
  • 火爆公主霸气则漏

    火爆公主霸气则漏

    她,顾雨童,是学校校花,又是学霸一枚,本想着自由恋爱一次,但却让无良父母贴上了婚约标签,从此她的生活颠倒了……
  • 逆行天意

    逆行天意

    天有不公我便反,天欲降罚我便灭神佛无阻,古往不遮自小孤儿少一魄,逆天行事念已决看风来偷天换日,逆天改命,踏破天地,战遍八荒……(爱看书的朋友请收藏本书!)
  • 异世武道天尊

    异世武道天尊

    这是一个元素灵气修真的世界,龙天阳经历重重困难最终成为傲世至尊
  • 心经

    心经

    《心经》作为般若经的浓缩本,“缘起性空”是其核心思想,但又进一步从“对外扫相”和“对内破执”两个角度去讲“空”。《心经》是以“色不异空,空不异色;色即是空,空即是色;受想行识亦复如是。”来对外破五蕴身,以“心无挂碍”来破心执。
  • 凌少拐妻:小傲娇快入坑

    凌少拐妻:小傲娇快入坑

    【我要你未来的老公是我,拥着你睡觉的是我,做你方向导航的是我,孩子他爸是我!】——凌墨轩【你的女王只能是我。】——韩佳丽【我可以不要全世界,不要我自己,可我不能不要你。】——慕辰【你开心就好,烂摊子我收拾。】——段枫逸【你的命中注定只能是我。】——夜冥【不管未来怎样,只希望在我枕旁是你。】——叶瑾【心吗?那东西我还有吗。】——孙巧玲【喜欢就是除法只要一方为零结果便为零。】——凌瑶【你在骄傲什么,我不要的东西你才刚刚着迷。】——莫微