Читать книгу Unconditional Surrender онлайн

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Guy first met him when on leave he went reluctantly to call on his Uncle Peregrine. This was during the Loot's first days in England.

"...Brought a letter from a fellow who used to come to Cowes. Wants to see my miniatures..."

Then during that same week Guy was asked to dinner at the House of Commons by his brother-in-law, Arthur Box-Bender. "...Told we ought to do something about some of these Americans. They're interested in the House, naturally. Do come along and give a hand..." There were six young American officers, the Loot among them.

Very soon he had ceased to be a mere member of the occupying forces to whom kindness should be shown. Two or three widows survived from the years of hospitality and still tried meagrely to entertain. The Lieutenant was at all their little parties. Two or three young married women were staking claims to replace them as hostesses. The Loot knew them all. He was in every picture gallery, every bookshop, every club, every hotel. He was also in every inaccessible castle in Scotland, at the sickbed of every veteran artist and politician, in the dressing-room of every leading actress and in every university common-room, and he expressed his thanks to his hosts and hostesses not with the products of the PX store but with the publications of Sylvia Beach and sketches by Fuseli.