He might really be backing a foreign, philanthropic ruler andState-founder, and a British Foreign Minister, against the rathersinister Chancellor of the Exchequer that Mr. Gurnard undoubtedly was.It might suit him; perhaps he had shares in something or other thatdepended on the success of the Duc de Mersch's Greenland Protectorate. Iknew well enough, you must remember, that Fox was a big man--one ofthose big men that remain permanently behind the curtain, perhapsbecause they have a certain lack of comeliness of one sort or anotherand don't look well on the stage itself. And I understood now that if hehad abandoned--as he had done--half a dozen enterprises of his own forthe sake of the _Hour_, it must be because it was very well worth hiswhile. It was not merely a question of the editorship of a paper; therewas something very much bigger in the background. My Dimensionist younglady, again, might have other shares that depended on the Chancellor ofthe Exchequer's blocking the way. In that way she might very well talkallegorically of herself as in alliance with Gurnard against Fox andChurchill. I was at sea in that sort of thing--but I understoodvaguely that something of the sort was remotely possible.
I didn't feel called upon to back out of it on that account, yet I verydecidedly wished that the thing could have been otherwise. For myself, Icame into the matter with clean hands--and I was going to keep my handsclean; otherwise, I was at Fox's disposal.
"I understand," I said, the speech marking my decision, "I shall havedealings with a good many of the proprietors--I am the scratcher, infact, and you don't want me to make a fool of myself."
"Well," he answered, gauging me with his blue, gimlet eyes, "it's justas well to know."
"It's just as well to know," I echoed. It _was_ just as well to know.