Here Comes a Chopper Read Online Free PDF Page A

polished Ranmore.
    ‘This is by way of being a birthday party, so it’s mostly the family,’ he said. ‘I’m afraid I’m old-fashioned. I rather like family parties.’
    He had smiling dark eyes, a small moustache clipped short in the military manner, large, flexible hands and a kindly, somewhat fatherly voice. Dorothy disliked him very much.
    Roger found himself third down the table from its head. The elderly lizard placed him in position asthough he were an amusing but unimportant exhibit in a show-case, and then prepared to abandon him to strangers.
    ‘We’re not really partners,’ she said, with a leer which made him flinch. ‘You have to look after Mrs Dunley.’
    ‘But
she
doesn’t matter,’ said Roger. ‘I don’t have to worry about
her
. I’ve already been told so.’ He was still young enough to misjudge the carrying powers of his own voice, and a heavy-faced woman who had seated herself on the other side of him suddenly and disconcertingly replied:
    ‘Of course you don’t, my poor boy. I’m tired, and, when I’m tired, I really can’t bear young men. I’m quite sure, somehow, you don’t mind my saying so.’
    The elderly lady cackled, a sound which brought all eyes in their direction. The pause was followed by a remark from the handsome little boy. He sat next to the hostess on her right.
    ‘What do you say, Grand-Aunt Bradley?’
    ‘That fish stinks, flesh is as grass, old fowl are tough, and good red herring is a myth,’ replied the terrifying reptilian promptly. ‘And now,’ she added to Roger, ‘you are wondering why you are here. To be frank, it is, to our hostess, Lady Catherine Leith, a story of some importance.’
    Roger, who had taken an immense, immediate liking to her, exclaimed:
    ‘This is awfully good! Please tell me.’
    ‘It is little George’s birthday party, you see, and the host, Mr Lingfield, is missing. He went outto ride, but remained, it appears, to quarrel, and, being temperamental and, I fancy, thwarted, has now gone off in a huff.’
    ‘Oh, dear! What a sickener for everybody!’
    ‘Not particularly so. He made us thirteen at table. But all is well, and you and your young friend have put it right, even if he returns. And now let’s forget all about it, and settle down to enjoy ourselves. Do you know anybody here?’
    ‘I think I’ve seen the red-haired woman before.’
    ‘Claudia Denbies?’
    ‘Oh, well, a photograph, then. And we saw her out riding this afternoon. I wonder she risks it. Her hands must be worth a fortune.’
    ‘She may play to us after dinner. You must certainly stay long enough to hear her.’
    ‘I say, I’d love to. I went to one of her concerts in London last winter. She’s pretty wonderful, isn’t she?’ He sat and studied her. The red-haired woman had surprisingly muscular arms which showed to no advantage whatever under the short puffed sleeves of a dinner gown of black and silver. Her eyes were amber, and were very large and set wide apart in her head. Her red hair, curled and dressed in a fashion not of the fashion but curiously becoming to her pale, square, resolute, charmingly impudent face, was neither long nor short, but, parted in the middle, fell, with carelessly picturesque effect, not quite to the nape of her neck. Her mouth was too wide and the lipstick on it much too vivid for beauty. She wore neither rings nor a necklace,yet the effect she created was zestful, barbaric and stimulating. In spite of all this savagery, however, her smile was slightly nervous and very charming. Her wrists and hands were beautiful.
    ‘Eat your dinner,’ said his companion. ‘It’s rude to stare like that.’
    She cackled and Roger laughed.
    ‘And now, who are you?’ she asked. He told her his name, and, to his great delight, she mentioned his book of poems and complimented him upon it. ‘And your young friend?’
    ‘Dorothy Woodcote. As a matter of fact, I was going to ask you——’ He hesitated. Mrs Bradley cackled again,