Page 56 - the-thirty-nine-steps

When we were in the car again my host was in wild spir-
its at having got his job over. ‘A ripping speech, Twisdon,’
he said. ‘Now, you’re coming home with me. I’m all alone,
and if you’ll stop a day or two I’ll show you some very de-
cent fishing.’
We had a hot supper and I wanted it pretty badly and
then drank grog in a big cheery smoking-room with a
crackling wood fire. I thought the time had come for me to
put my cards on the table. I saw by this man’s eye that he was
the kind you can trust.
‘Listen, Sir Harry,’ I said. ‘I’ve something pretty impor-
tant to say to you. You’re a good fellow, and I’m going to be
frank. Where on earth did you get that poisonous rubbish
you talked tonight?’
His face fell. ‘Was it as bad as that?’ he asked ruefully.
‘It did sound rather thin. I got most of it out of the PRO-
GRESSIVE MAGAZINE and pamphlets that agent chap of
mine keeps sending me. But you surely don’t think Germa-
ny would ever go to war with us?’
‘Ask that question in six weeks and it won’t need an an-
swer,’ I said. ‘If you’ll give me your attention for half an hour
I am going to tell you a story.’
I can see yet that bright room with the deers’ heads and
the old prints on the walls, Sir Harry standing restlessly on
the stone curb of the hearth, and myself lying back in an
armchair, speaking. I seemed to be another person, standing
aside and listening to my own voice, and judging carefully
the reliability of my tale. It was the first time I had ever told
anyone the exact truth, so far as I understood it, and it did

56 The Thirty-Nine Steps