Page 102 - the-thirty-nine-steps

into this temple of gracious ease. And the best of it was that
they did not even know my name.
I resolved not to puzzle my head but to take the gifts the
gods had provided. I shaved and bathed luxuriously, and
got into the dress clothes and clean crackling shirt, which
fitted me not so badly. By the time I had finished the look-
ing-glass showed a not unpersonable young man.
Sir Walter awaited me in a dusky dining-room where
a little round table was lit with silver candles. The sight of
him so respectable and established and secure, the embodi-
ment of law and government and all the conventions took
me aback and made me feel an interloper. He couldn’t know
the truth about me, or he wouldn’t treat me like this. I sim-
ply could not accept his hospitality on false pretences.
‘I’m more obliged to you than I can say, but I’m bound
to make things clear,’ I said. ‘I’m an innocent man, but I’m
wanted by the police. I’ve got to tell you this, and I won’t be
surprised if you kick me out.’
He smiled. ‘That’s all right. Don’t let that interfere with
your appetite. We can talk about these things after dinner.’
I never ate a meal with greater relish, for I had had nothing
all day but railway sandwiches. Sir Walter did me proud,
for we drank a good champagne and had some uncom-
mon fine port afterwards. it made me almost hysterical to
be sitting there, waited on by a footman and a sleek butler,
and remember that I had been living for three weeks like a
brigand, with every man’s hand against me. I told Sir Wal-
ter about tiger-fish in the Zambesi that bite off your fingers
if you give them a chance, and we discussed sport up and

102 The Thirty-Nine Steps