He
came to Goodwood 'on his own hook,' as society put it: and every man who
wears a decent coat and is not a welsher has a right to enjoy the
prettiest race-course in England. He spent a considerable part of the
day in Lesbia's company; but since she was the centre of a little crowd
all the time, there could be no offence in this. He was a stranger,
knowing very few people, and having nothing to do but to amuse himself.
Smithson was an old and familiar friend, and was in a measure bound to
give him hospitality.
Mr. Smithson had recognised that obligation, but in a somewhat sparing
manner. There were a dozen unoccupied bedchambers in the Park Lane
Renaissance villa; but Smithson did not invite his Cuban acquaintance to
shift his quarters from the Bristol to Park Lane. He was civil to Don
Gomez: but anyone who had taken the trouble to watch and study the
conduct and social relations of these two men would have seen that his
civility was a forced civility, and that he endured the Spaniard's
society under constraint of some kind.
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