Outwood's at that moment saw
what, if they had but known it, was a most unusual sight, the spectacle
of Psmith running. Psmith's usual mode of progression was a dignified
walk. He believed in the contemplative style rather than the hustling.
On this occasion, however, reckless of possible injuries to the crease
of his trousers, he raced down the road, and turning in at Outwood's
gate, bounded upstairs like a highly trained professional athlete.
On arriving at the study, his first act was to remove a shoe from the
top of the pile in the basket, place it in the small cupboard under the
bookshelf, and lock the cupboard. Then he flung himself into a chair
and panted.
"Brain," he said to himself approvingly, "is what one chiefly needs in
matters of this kind. Without brain, where are we? In the soup, every
time. The next development will be when Comrade Downing thinks it over,
and is struck with the brilliant idea that it's just possible that the
shoe he gave me to carry and the shoe I did carry were not one shoe but
two shoes. Meanwhile ..."
He dragged up another chair for his feet and picked up his novel.
He had not been reading long when there was a footstep in the passage,
and Mr.
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