It was the voice of Mr. Marrier. Edward Henry and Mr. Marrier were now
in regular relations. Before Edward Henry had paid his final bill at
Wilkins's and relinquished his valet and his electric brougham, and
disposed for ever of his mythical "man" on board the Minnetonka, and
got his original luggage away from the Hotel Majestic, Mr. Marrier had
visited him and made a certain proposition. And such was the influence
of Mr. Marrier's incurable smile and of his solid optimism and of his
obvious talent for getting things done on the spot (as witness the
photography), that the proposition had been accepted. Mr. Marrier was
now Edward Henry's "representative" in London. At the Green Room
Club Mr. Marrier informed reliable cronies that he was Edward Henry's
"confidential adviser." At the Turk's Head, Hanbridge, Edward Henry
informed reliable cronies that Mr. Marrier was a sort of clerk,
factotum, or maid-of-all-work. A compromise between these two very
different conceptions of Mr. Marrier's position had been arrived at
in the word "representative." The real truth was that Edward Henry
employed Mr. Marrier in order to listen to Mr. Marrier. He turned on
Mr. Marrier like a tap, and nourished himself from a gushing stream of
useful information concerning the theatrical world. Mr. Marrier,
quite unconsciously, was bit by bit remedying Edward Henry's acute
ignorance.
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