“Don’t be a fool,” said Lady Underhill, and was driven away by another baggage-truck. “You know perfectly well,” she resumed, returning to the attack, “that your marriage is a matter of the greatest concern to me and to the whole of the family.”
“Listen, mother!” Derek’s long wait on the draughty platform had generated an irritability which overcame the deep-seated awe of his mother which was the result of years of defeat in battles of the will. “Let me tell you in a few words all that I know of Jill, and then we’ll drop the subject. In the first place, she is a lady. Secondly, she has plenty of money …”
“The Underhills do not need to marry for money.”
“I have already described to you in my letter—very inadequately, but I did my best—what she looks like. Her sweetness, her loveableness, all the subtle things about her which go to make her what she is, you will have to judge for yourself.”
“Well, that’s all, then. She lives with her uncle, a Major Selby …”
“I didn’t ask him,” snapped the goaded Derek. “And, in the name of heaven, what does it matter?”
“Probably a line regiment,” said Lady Underhill with an indescribable sniff.
“Possibly. What then?” He paused, to play his trump card. “If you are worrying about Major Selby’s social standing, I may as well tell you that he used to know father.”
“Years ago. In India, when father was at Simla.”
“I certainly remember him! Not that he and I ever met, but your father often spoke of him.”
Derek was relieved. It was abominable that this sort of thing should matter, but one had to face facts, and, as far as his mother was concerned, it did. The fact that Jill’s uncle had known his dead father would make all the difference to Lady Underhill.
“Christopher Selby!” said Lady Underhill reflectively. “Yes! I have often heard your father speak of him. He was the man who gave your father an I.O.U. to pay a card debt, and redeemed it with a check which was returned by the bank!”
“Didn’t you hear what I said? I will repeat it, if you wish.”
“Only the one your father made when he trusted the man.”
“Of course!” said Lady Underhill satirically. “No doubt your father knew hundreds of Christopher Selbys!”
“Well, after all,” he said doggedly, “whether it’s true or not …”