A Town like Alice

Well, that took up to about three weeks ago before I got that finished up, and I must be back at Midhurst by the end of October for getting in the stores and that before the wet begins at Christmas. So I thought that coming on this holiday I'd better fly."
    Flying to England, I thought, must have made a considerable hole in his thousand pounds. "You came to London, then, and went straight down to Southampton?"
    "That's right," he said.
    "And from there you went up to North Wales and from there you came here?"
    "That's right."
    I looked him in the eyes, and smiled. "You must want to see Miss Paget very much."
    He met my gaze. "I do."
    I leaned back in my chair. "I've got a disappointment for you, I'm afraid, Mr Harman. Miss Paget is abroad."
    He stared down at his hat for a moment. Then he raised his head. "Is she far away?" he asked. "I mean, is it France or anything like that, where I could get to see her?"
    I shook my head. "She's travelling in the East."
    He said quietly, "I see."
    I couldn't help liking and respecting this man. It was perfectly obvious that he had come twelve thousand miles or so to find Jean Paget, and now he wasn't going to find her. It was bad luck, to say the least of it, and he was taking it well. I felt that I wanted a little time to consider this affair.
    "The most that I can do for you," I said, "is to forward a letter. I can do that, if you care to write one, and I'll send it to her by air mail. But I'm afraid that you may have to wait a month or so before you get an answer."
    He brightened. "I'd like to do that. I never thought that after coming all this way I'd find that she'd gone walkabout."
    He thought for a minute. "What address should I put upon the letter."
    "I can't give you my client's address, Mr Harman," I said. "What I suggest that you do is to write her a letter and bring it in to me here tomorrow morning. I will send it on with a short covering note explaining how it came into my hands. Then if she wants to see you she will get in touch with you herself."
    "You don't think she'll want to see me?" he said heavily.
    I smiled. "I didn't say anything of the sort, Mr Harman. I'm quite sure that when she hears you've been in England looking for her she will write to you. What I'm saying is that I have her interests to consider, and I'm not going to give her address to anyone who comes into this office and cares to ask for it." I paused. "There's one thing that you'd better know," I said. "Miss Paget is a fairly wealthy woman. Women who have command of a good deal of money are apt to be troubled by touts. I'm not saying that you're a tout or that you're after her money. I am saying that you must write to her first of all, and then let her decide if she wants to meet you. If you're a friend of hers you'll see that that's reasonable."
    He stared at me. "I never knew that she had money. She told me she was just a typist in an office."
    "That's quite true," I said. "She inherited some money recently."
    He was silent. "Suppose you come back tomorrow morning, Mr Harman," I said. I glanced at my engagement diary. "Say, twelve o'clock tomorrow morning. Write her a letter saying whatever it is you want to say, and bring it here then. I will forward it to her tomorrow evening."
    "All right," he said. He got up and I got up with him.
    "Where are you staying, Mr Harman?" I asked.
    "At the Kingsway Palace Hotel."
    "All right, Mr Harman," I said. "I shall expect you tomorrow morning, at twelve o'clock."
    I spent most of that evening wondering if I had done the right thing in refusing Mr Harman the address. I thought ruefully that Jean would have been very angry if she had known I had done such a thing, especially when she was looking for him all over Australia. At the same time, what I had done would not delay a letter from him reaching her, and there was no sense in putting all her cards upon the table for him to see just at present. One thing that puzzled me a little was, why had he suddenly awoken to the fact that he wanted to meet Jean Paget again, after six years? A question or two upon that point seemed to be in order, and I prepared a small interrogation for him when he came to see me with his letter.
    Twelve o'clock next morning came, and he didn't turn up for his appointment. I waited in for him till one o'clock, and then I went to lunch.
    By three o'clock I was a little bit concerned. The initiative had passed into his hands. If he should vanish into thin air now and never come back