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G. K. Chesterton: The Man Who Knew Too Much4. IV. THE BOTTOMLESS WELL (continued)"And what may that be?" inquired his friend. "It's very apt to set him off with the same energy in a much worse direction," answered Fisher; "a pretty endless sort of direction, a bottomless pit as deep as the bottomless well." Fisher did not see his friend until a fortnight later, when he found himself in the garden at the back of the clubhouse on the opposite side from the links, a garden heavily colored and scented with sweet semitropical plants in the glow of a desert sunset. Two other men were with him, the third being the now celebrated second in command, familiar to everybody as Tom Travers, a lean, dark man, who looked older than his years, with a furrow in his brow and something morose about the very shape of his black mustache. They had just been served with black coffee by the Arab now officiating as the temporary servant of the club, though he was a figure already familiar, and even famous, as the old servant of the general. He went by the name of Said, and was notable among other Semites for that unnatural length of his yellow face and height of his narrow forehead which is sometimes seen among them, and gave an irrational impression of something sinister, in spite of his agreeable smile. "I never feel as if I could quite trust that fellow," said Grayne, when the man had gone away. "It's very unjust, I take it, for he was certainly devoted to Hastings, and saved his life, they say. But Arabs are often like that, loyal to one man. I can't help feeling he might cut anybody else's throat, and even do it treacherously." "Well," said Travers, with a rather sour smile, "so long as he leaves Hastings alone the world won't mind much." There was a rather embarrassing silence, full of memories of the great battle, and then Horne Fisher said, quietly: "The newspapers aren't the world, Tom. Don't you worry about them. Everybody in your world knows the truth well enough." "I think we'd better not talk about the general just now," remarked Grayne, "for he's just coming out of the club." This is page 64 of 166. [Mark this Page] Mark any page to add this title to Your Bookshelf. (0 / 10 books on shelf) Buy a copy of The Man Who Knew Too Much at Amazon.com
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