THE DERSINGHAMS AT HOME 115

did not, however; but threw a keen and energetic glance
at Mr. Golspie (whom he had recognised at once as the
dominant partner), then a keen and energetic glance at
Mr. Dersingham, picked up his hat (and in such a
manner as to suggest that he could do some wonderful
things even with that, if he wished to), brought his hat
in front of the second button of his overcoat, gave three
brisk nods, then wheeled about and made an exit like a
torpedo from its tube.

Actually, what Mr. Dersingham and Mr. Golspie did
get on with was an invitation to dinner, delivered by
Mr. Dersingham and accepted by Mr. Golspie. It had
come to that. There were things about Golspie that did
not please Mr. Dersingham, for he was dogmatic, rough,
domineering, and was apt to jeer and sneer in a way that
left Mr. Dersingham's mind bruised and resentful. A
few terms at Worrell would obviously have made a great
difference to Golspie, who now, in his middle age,
showed only too plainly both by word and deed that he
was not a gentleman. From that there was no escape:
Golspie was not a gentleman. But Dersingham did
not think of him as an Englishman who is not a gentle-
man, a bit of a bounder, an outsider (and there can be
no doubt that Golspie at times did talk and act like a
bounder, a complete outsider); he contrived to think of
him as a kind of foreigner who had acquired an extra-
ordinary command of the English language. This was
not difficult, because Golspie did seem to have spent
most of his time outside England and to have no roots
in this country. And the fact remained that he had
presented the firm of Twigg and Dersingham with a new
and glorious lease of life, as if he were a god, a com-
mercial god with a baldish head and a large moustache.