Chapter 2 The Party

There was an evening party at the home of Mr. Palmer, the president of the distinguished New York Hamilton Club.

Dinner was already over and the ladies and gentlemen were in lively conversation.

"A delightful evening," said Palmer to the banker Hundley. "I am glad that our new Club member, Mr. Edward Bird, has so quickly won the sympathy of the ladies. Just look, my dear Hundley, he is surrounded by beauties."

Both of them observed in the adjoining room the figure of a slender man of about forty, whose face, notwithstanding its proud aristocratic features, had an enchantingly sweet expression.

He had a monocle clamped in his right eye and now and then with a graceful movement of his hand he brought a cigarette to his mouth. In the meantime he told the ladies sitting by him anecdotes from his life. The guests of Mr. Palmer belonged, like himself, to the richest in America; indeed, one could even say that this company, except for a few absent millionaires , was composed of the richest families in the world.

"I have," said Palmer to Hundley, "had a difficult selection for Mr. Bird for the membership of the Hamilton Club. Many of my friends think that he has been in America too short a time. But I am glad that I have had the influence to procure his membership of our club. He is our pride to-day! His manners are like those of a prince!"

Hundley, a small, corpulent man, with a repulsively ugly face, replied:

"I do not know what you see in this Bird, Palmer. Because he is a so-called handsome man, with pleasing manners, it is not certain that he is also of an honourable and really noble character."

Palmer knitted his eyebrows in annoyance. “You are mistaken, Bird is the friend of the Duke of Connaught. I have read the friendly letters myself.”

"One may be the friend of a duke and yet not be a gentleman. I have heard from some of my friends that your protégé has been given an ironical nickname."

Palmer puffed dejectedly on his cigar and asked,

“What kind of nickname is that?”

Hundley laughed mockingly, stroked his short, gray beard several times, and replied:

"Because he has apparently become the leading ruler at the Hamilton Club, because the gentlemen are already copying his waistcoats and ties, and even those who never wore a monocle have acquired one, that is why they call him the Club King. The Hamilton Club seems to be catering to the wishes of the new ruler. Besides, I would wager that he would not be able to cash a check for ten thousand dollars."

Palmer laughed loudly.

"You are and always will be a true Yankee, Hundley, since you judge a gentleman by his checkbook. But this time you are mistaken.

" Bird bought his mansion in Central Park from Mr. Tiffany for a million. I think that a man who has such a sum of money at his disposal in our cash-strapped age would be able to write a check for ten thousand dollars."

Hundley muttered something unintelligible, shrugged his shoulders and said:

“It just depends on whose pocket these millions came from.”

“Now I'm really getting angry,” Palmer replied, flicking the ash from his cigar with an exasperating movement.

“What you're saying is ridiculous.”

“Not at all,” replied Hundley, “have you ever heard of one Lord Lister, the so-called Great Unknown?”

“From Raffles?”

"Certainly, from Raffles! This man only works with great powers, lives like a prince, and no one knows him! ”

Palmer laughed loudly.

“And you suspect that our club king, Mr. Edward Bird, the friend of the Duke of Connaught, may perhaps even be this Englishman, who is John Raffles?”

Instead of answering, Hundley shrugged his shoulders and exhaled heavy clouds of smoke.

"That's a fine idea of ​​yours, Hundley. Perhaps you ate too much of the leg of lamb at dinner this afternoon ."

“Why?” grunted the questioner.

"Now," laughed Palmer, "the bolt seems to have stuck with you. I have seldom heard such an impossible remark in recent years as the one you just made. Perhaps you already consider me a criminal? Or are you one yourself? People are so fond of shifting their own blame onto others."

Hundley replied with a malicious look that gave Mr. Palmer pause.

People sometimes muttered rare things about the life of this pessimistic gentleman. He had only been admitted to the higher circles of New York through his marriage to the beautiful, witty daughter of the late General Symond.

Palmer now broke off the conversation, and the two gentlemen entered the drawing-room, where at this moment a peal of laughter resounded from the ladies.

Bird had rolled up the sleeves of his jacket, rolled up his snow-white shirt to his elbows, and was now performing various feats of magic for the ladies.

When the two spectators entered, he held a precious ring in his hand. Hundley recognized this jewel at once, and a silent curse escaped his lips.

This intimacy of his wife with the club king annoyed him.

“Look, ladies,” cried Bird, holding up the glittering ring , “I hold it with both my fingers, bring it to the candle, and the moment it touches the flame the golden ring will burn.”