"
"Exactly," said Basil calmly, getting into his great-coat; "I
thought you might care to accompany me. If not, of course, make
yourselves jolly here till I come back."
It is our nature always to follow vanishing things and value them
if they really show a resolution to depart. We all followed Basil,
and I cannot say why, except that he was a vanishing thing, that
he vanished decisively with his great-coat and his stick. Rupert
ran after him with a considerable flurry of rationality.
"My dear chap," he cried, "do you really mean that you see any good
in going down to this ridiculous scrub, where there is nothing but
beaten tracks and a few twisted trees, simply because it was the
first place that came into a rowdy lieutenant's head when he wanted
to give a lying reference in a scrape?"
"Yes," said Basil, taking out his watch, "and, what's worse, we've
lost the train."
He paused a moment and then added: "As a matter of fact, I think
we may just as well go down later in the day. I have some writing
to do, and I think you told me, Rupert, that you thought of going
to the Dulwich Gallery. I was rather too impetuous. Very likely he
wouldn't be in. But if we get down by the 5.15, which gets to
Purley about 6, I expect we shall just catch him."
"Catch him!" cried his brother, in a kind of final anger.
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