E Phillips Oppenheim

Nobody's Man E Phillips Oppenheim

Andrew Tallente stepped out of the quaint little train on to the flower-bedecked platform ofthis Devonshire hamlet amongst the hills, to receive a surprise so immeasurable that for amoment he could do nothing but gaze silently at the tall, ungainly figure whose unpleasantsmile betrayed the fact that this meeting was not altogether accidental so far as he wasconcerned."Miller!" he exclaimed, a little aimlessly."Why not?" was the almost challenging reply. "You are not the only great statesman whoneeds to step off the treadmill now and then."There was a certain quiet contempt in Tallente's uplifted eyebrows. The contrast betweenthe two men, momentarily isolated on the little platform, was striking and extreme. Tallente had the bearing, the voice and the manner which were his by heritage, educationand natural culture. Miller, who was the son of a postman in a small Scotch town, anexhibitioner so far as regards his education, and a mimic where social gifts were concerned, had all the aggressive bumptiousness of the successful man who has wit enough to perceivehis shortcomings. In his ill-chosen tourist clothes, untidy collar and badly arranged tie, hepresented a contrast to his companion of which he seemed, in a way, bitterly conscious."You are staying near here?" Tallente enquired civilly."Over near Lynton. Dartrey has a cottage there. I came down yesterday.""Surely you were in Hellesfield the day before yesterday?"Miller smiled ill-naturedly