Free A Pelican at Blandings by Sir P G Wodehouse Page B

about Genevieve and
this picture in the art gallery.'
    'And while you were having your lunch he popped around
the corner and bought the picture, and now he's got you here
to sell it to you at a large profit.'
    Amazement held Wilbur speechless for a long moment. He
stared blankly at the clairvoyant girl.
    'How did you guess?' he gasped.
    'It wasn't difficult, knowing the Duke. It must be the
picture that's in the castle portrait gallery now. And I'll bet he
didn't buy it from any love of art. He's in this for what he can
get.'
    With another of his sombre sighs Wilbur endorsed this
theory.
    'And he's invited me here so that I can keep on seeing the
thing. He knows I won't be able to stop myself buying it, no
matter what he asks. And that,' said Wilbur moodily, 'will be
about double what he paid for it. I'm in a spot.'
    'Then say "Out, damned spot."'
    A long train journey and several gin and tonics had left
Wilbur's brain on the sluggish side. There was, he presumed,
some significance in her words, but what it was eluded him.
Pure baloney, he would have said if asked to criticize them.
    'How do you mean?'
    'You say you're in a spot. Why are you in a spot? Ask me,
you're sitting pretty. You're here, the picture's here, and all
you've got to do is swipe it.'
    Wilbur's eyes widened. He uttered a low bronchial sound
like the croak of a bull frog. It is never easy for a man of slow
mind to assimilate a novel idea.
    'Swipe it?' he said. 'Do you mean swipe it?'
    'Sure. Why not? He as good as swiped it from you. You can
find out from the art gallery what he paid for it and reimburse
him, if that's the word.'
    A gleam came into Wilbur's eyes, but it was only
momentary. He was able to recognize the suggestion as a good
one, but he knew that he was not the man to carry it out.
    'I couldn't,' he said with something of the emphasis which
Lord Emsworth had employed while saying the same thing a
little earlier in the afternoon, and Vanessa reacted as she had
done on that occasion.
    'Then I will,' she said, and Wilbur, like Lord Emsworth,
stared for a moment unbelievingly. In the days of their brief
engagement he had come to know Vanessa as a girl of
unconventional trend of thought, but she had never given him
a surprise of this magnitude.
    'You really think you could do it?'
    'Of course I can do it. It only wants thinking over. As a
matter of fact, I've got a glimmering of an idea already. I'm
only hesitating because it means bringing Chesney into it.'
    'Who's Chesney?'
    'Man who's staying at the castle. I'm pretty sure he's a crook,
but I'll have to be certain before I start anything. You don't
want to take chances with a thing of this kind.'
    'You bet not.'
    'I'll be able to tell when I've studied him a bit longer. I hope
he'll turn out to be what I think he is, for if there's one thing
that sticks out of this situation like a sore thumb, it is that His
Grace the Duke must not be allowed to pull quick ones on the
young and innocent and get away with it. And now,' said
Vanessa, 'let's dig that chauffeur out of the bar and be getting
along to the castle.'

CHAPTER SIX
    Night had fallen when John got back to London. He found
Paddington still its refined and unruffled self, and his
forlorn aspect struck as discordant a note there as it had done
at the Emsworth Arms. Paddington porters like to see smiling
faces about them. They may feel pity for young men with
drawn brows and haggard eyes, but they prefer not to have to
associate with them, and this applies equally to guards, engine
drivers and the staff of the refreshment room. The whole
personnel of the station felt a sense of relief when he had
removed himself in a taxi and was on his way to Halsey Court
in the W. I . postal division, his London address.
    His interview with Gally had deepened the despondency
with which he had set out on his journey to Shropshire. He
had been so certain that he would have received an invitation
to Blandings Castle, that essential preliminary to a