British Barbarians and 18 Other Books (eBook)

Grant Allen (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2018
703 Seiten
Seltzer Books (Verlag)
978-1-4554-2907-3 (ISBN)

Infos

This file includes: An African Millionaire, The Beckoning Hand and Other Stories, Biographies of Working Men, The British Barbarians, Charles Darwin, Early Britain, Falling In Love, The Great Taboo, Hilda Wade, Michael's Crag, Miss Cayley's Adventures, Philistia, Post-Prandial Philosophy, Recalled to Life, Science in Arcady, Strange STories, What's Bred in the Bone, The White Man's Foot, and The Woman Did It.According to Wikipedia: 'Charles Grant Blairfindie Allen (February 24, 1848 - October 25, 1899) was a science writer, author and novelist, and a successful upholder of the theory of evolution.'

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This file includes: An African Millionaire, The Beckoning Hand and Other Stories, Biographies of Working Men, The British Barbarians, Charles Darwin, Early Britain, Falling In Love, The Great Taboo, Hilda Wade, Michael's Crag, Miss Cayley's Adventures, Philistia, Post-Prandial Philosophy, Recalled to Life, Science in Arcady, Strange STories, What's Bred in the Bone, The White Man's Foot, and The Woman Did It. According to Wikipedia: "e;Charles Grant Blairfindie Allen (February 24, 1848 - October 25, 1899) was a science writer, author and novelist, and a successful upholder of the theory of evolution."e;

Textauszug

VII. THE EPISODE OF THE ARREST OF THE COLONEL

 

 How much precisely Charles dropped over the slump in Cloetedorps I never quite knew. But the incident left him dejected, limp, and dispirited.

 

"Hang it all, Sey," he said to me in the smoking-room, a few evenings later. "This Colonel Clay is enough to vex the patience of Job--and Job had large losses, too, if I recollect aright, from the Chaldeans and other big operators of the period."

 

"Three thousand camels," I murmured, recalling my dear mother's lessons; "all at one fell swoop; not to mention five hundred yoke of oxen, carried off by the Sabeans, then a leading firm of speculative cattle-dealers!"

 

"Ah, well," Charles meditated aloud, shaking the ash from his cheroot into a Japanese tray--fine antique bronze-work. "There were big transactions in live-stock even then! Still, Job or no Job, the man is too much for me."

 

"The difficulty is," I assented, "you never know where to have him."

 

"Yes," Charles mused; "if he were always the same, like Horniman's tea or a good brand of whisky, it would be easier, of course; you'd stand some chance of spotting him. But when a man turns up smiling every time in a different disguise, which fits him like a skin, and always apparently with the best credentials, why, hang it all, Sey, there's no wrestling with him anyhow."

 

"Who could have come to us, for example, better vouched," I acquiesced, "than the Honourable David?"

 

"Exactly so," Charles murmured. "I invited him myself, for my own advantage. And he arrived with all the prestige of the Glen-Ellachie connection."

 

"Or the Professor?" I went on. "Introduced to us by the leading mineralogist of England."

 

I had touched a sore point. Charles winced and remained silent.

 

"Then, women again," he resumed, after a painful pause. "I must meet in society many charming women. I can't everywhere and always be on my guard against every dear soul of them. Yet the moment I relax my attention for one day--or even when I don't relax it--I am bamboozled and led a dance by that arch Mme. Picardet, or that transparently simple little minx, Mrs. Granton. She's the cleverest girl I ever met in my life, that hussy, whatever we're to call her. She's a different person each time; and each time, hang it all, I lose my heart afresh to that different person."

 

I glanced round to make sure Amelia was well out of earshot.

 

"No, Sey," my respected connection went on, after another long pause, sipping his coffee pensively, "I feel I must be aided in this superhuman task by a professional unraveller of cunning disguises. I shall go to Marvillier's to-morrow--fortunate man, Marvillier--and ask him to supply me with a really good 'tec, who will stop in the house and keep an eye upon every living soul that comes near me. He shall scan each nose, each eye, each wig, each whisker. He shall be my watchful half, my unsleeping self; it shall be his business to suspect all living men, all breathing women. The Archbishop of Canterbury shall not escape for a moment his watchful regard; he will take care that royal princesses don't collar the spoons or walk off with the jewel-cases. He must see possible Colonel Clays in the guard of every train and the parson of every parish; he must detect the off-chance of a Mme. Picardet in every young girl that takes tea with Amelia, every fat old lady that comes to call upon Isabel. Yes, I have made my mind up. I shall go to-morrow and secure such a man at once at Marvillier's."

 

"If you please, Sir Charles," Césarine interposed, pushing her head through the portière, "her ladyship says, will you and Mr. Wentworth remember that she goes out with you both this evening to Lady Carisbrooke's?"

 

"Bless my soul," Charles cried, "so she does! And it's now past ten! The carriage will be at the door for us in another five minutes!"

 

Next morning, accordingly, Charles drove round to Marvillier's. The famous detective listened to his story with glistening eyes; then he rubbed his hands and purred. "Colonel Clay!" he said; "Colonel Clay! That's a very tough customer! The police of Europe are on the look-out for Colonel Clay. He is wanted in London, in Paris, in Berlin. It is le Colonel Caoutchouc here, le Colonel Caoutchouc there; till one begins to ask, at last, IS there any Colonel Caoutchouc, or is it a convenient class name invented by the Force to cover a gang of undiscovered sharpers? However, Sir Charles, we will do our best. I will set on the track without delay the best and cleverest detective in England."

 

"The very man I want," Charles said. "What name, Marvillier?"

 

The principal smiled. "Whatever name you like," he said. "He isn't particular. Medhurst he's called at home. We call him Joe. I'll send him round to your house this afternoon for certain."

 

"Oh no," Charles said promptly, "you won't; or Colonel Clay himself will come instead of him. I've been sold too often. No casual strangers! I'll wait here and see him."

 

"But he isn't in," Marvillier objected.

 

Charles was firm as a rock. "Then send and fetch him."

 

In half an hour, sure enough, the detective arrived. He was an odd-looking small man, with hair cut short and standing straight up all over his head, like a Parisian waiter. He had quick, sharp eyes, very much like a ferret's; his nose was depressed, his lips thin and bloodless. A scar marked his left cheek--made by a sword-cut, he said, when engaged one day in arresting a desperate French smuggler, disguised as an officer of Chasseurs d'Afrique. His mien was resolute. Altogether, a quainter or 'cuter little man it has never yet been my lot to set eyes on. He walked in with a brisk step, eyed Charles up and down, and then, without much formality, asked for what he was wanted.

 

"This is Sir Charles Vandrift, the great diamond king," Marvillier said, introducing us.

 

"So I see," the man answered.

 

"Then you know me?" Charles asked.

 

"I wouldn't be worth much," the detective replied, "if I didn't know everybody. And you're easy enough to know; why, every boy in the street knows you."

 

"Plain spoken!" Charles remarked.

 

"As you like it, sir," the man answered in a respectful tone. "I endeavour to suit my dress and behaviour on every occasion to the taste of my employers."

 

"Your name?" Charles asked, smiling.

 

"Joseph Medhurst, at your service. What sort of work? Stolen diamonds? Illicit diamond-buying?"

 

"No," Charles answered, fixing him with his eye. "Quite another kind of job. You've heard of Colonel Clay?"

 

Medhurst nodded. "Why, certainly," he said; and, for the first time, I detected a lingering trace of American accent. "It's my business to know about him."

 

"Well, I want you to catch him," Charles went on.

 

Medhurst drew a long breath. "Isn't that rather a large order?" he murmured, surprised.

 

Charles explained to him exactly the sort of services he required. Medhurst promised to comply. "If the man comes near you, I'll spot him," he said, after a moment's pause. "I can promise you that much. I'll pierce any disguise. I should know in a minute whether he's got up or not. I'm death on wigs, false moustaches, artificial complexions. I'll engage to bring the rogue to book if I see him. You may set your mind at rest, that, while I'm about you, Colonel Clay can do nothing without my instantly spotting him."

 

"He'll do it," Marvillier put in. "He'll do it, if he says it. He's my very best hand. Never knew any man like him for unravelling and unmasking the cleverest disguises."

 

"Then he'll suit me," Charles answered, "for I never knew any man like Colonel Clay for assuming and maintaining them."

 

It was arranged accordingly that Medhurst should take up his residence in the house for the present, and should be described to the servants as assistant secretary. He came that very day, with a marvellously small portmanteau. But from the moment he arrived, we noticed that Césarine took a violent dislike to him.

 

Medhurst was a most efficient detective. Charles and I told him all we knew about the various shapes in which Colonel Clay had "materialised," and he gave us in turn many valuable criticisms and suggestions. Why, when we began to suspect the Honourable David Granton, had we not, as if by accident, tried to knock his red wig off? Why, when the Reverend Richard Peploe Brabazon first discussed the question of the paste diamonds, had we not looked to see if any of Amelia's unique gems were missing? Why, when Professor Schleiermacher made his bow to assembled science at Lancaster Gate, had we not strictly inquired how far he was personally known beforehand to Sir Adolphus Cordery and the other mineralogists? He...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 1.3.2018
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Anthologien
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Klassiker / Moderne Klassiker
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• ISBN-10: 1-4554-2907-4 / 1455429074
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4554-2907-3 / 9781455429073