Chapter 9

THE CLUB


The vast "morning-room" of the Monumental Club (pre-eminent among
clubs for its architecture) was on the whole tonically chilly. But
as one of the high windows stood open, and there were two fires
fluttering beneath the lovely marble mantelpieces, between the fires
and the window every gradation of temperature could be experienced by
the curious. On each wall book-shelves rose to the carved and gilded
ceiling. The furlongs of shelves were fitted with majestic volumes
containing all the Statutes, all the Parliamentary Debates, and
all the Reports of Royal Commissions ever printed to narcotise the
conscience of a nation. These calf-bound works were not, in fact,
read; but the magnificent pretence of their usefulness was completed
by carpeted mahogany ladders which leaned here and there against the
shelfing, in accord with the theory that some studious member some day
might yearn and aspire to some upper shelf. On reading-stands and on
huge mahogany tables were disposed the countless newspapers of Great
Britain and Ireland, Europe and America, and also the files of such
newspapers. The apparatus of information was complete.

G.J. entered the splendid apartment like a discoverer. It was empty.
Not a member; not a servant! It waited, content to be inhabited,
equally content with its own solitude. This apartment had made an