THE COMPLETE BULLDOG DRUMMOND SERIES (10 Novels in One Edition). H. C. McNeile / Sapper
of the last big fancy-dress ball of the season held at the Albert Hall the preceding night. Much of it may be passed over as unworthy of perpetuation, but the concluding paragraph had its points of interest.
"Half-way through the evening," she wrote in her breezy way, "just as I was consuming an ice in one hand with the Duchess of Sussex, and nibbling the last of the asparagus in the other with the Princess of Montevideo, tastefully disguised as an umbrella-stand, we were treated to the thrill of the evening. It seemed as if suddenly there sprang up all round the room a mass of mysterious figures clothed from head to foot in black. The dear Princess grew quite hysterical, and began to wonder if it was a 'hold up' as she so graphically described it. In fact, for safety, she secreted the glass- headed parasol—the only remaining heirloom of the Royal House—and which formed a prominent part of her costume, behind a neighbouring palm. Whispers of the mysterious Black Gang were heard on all sides, but we were soon reassured. Belovedst, they all carried champagne bottles! Wasn't it too, too thrilling!! And after a while they all formed up in a row, and at a word from the leader—a huge man, my dears, puffectly 'uge—they discharged the corks in a volley at one of the boxes, which sheltered no less than two celebrities—Sir Bryan Johnstone, the chief of all the policemen, and Sir John Haverton, the Home Secretary. It is rumoured that one of the corks became embedded in Sir John's right eye—but rumour is a lying jade, is not she? Anyway loud sounds of revelry and mirth were heard proceeding from the box, and going a little later to powder my nose I distinctly saw Sir John being taught the intricacies of the fox-trot by the huge man in the passage. Presumably the cork had by then been removed from his eye, but one never knows, does one? Anything can happen at an Albert Hall ball, especially at the end of the season."
THE END
The Third Round
I. — IN WHICH THE METROPOLITAN DIAMOND SYNDICATE HOLDS CONVERSE WITH MR EDWARD BLACKTON
II. — IN WHICH PROFESSOR GOODMAN REALISES THAT THERE ARE MORE THINGS IN LIFE THAN CHEMISTRY
III. — IN WHICH STRANGE THINGS HAPPEN IN PROFESSOR GOODMAN'S LABORATORY
IV. — IN WHICH MR WILLIAM ROBINSON ARRIVES AT HIS COUNTRY SEAT
V. — IN WHICH MR WILLIAM ROBINSON LOSES HIS SELF- CONTROL
VI. — IN WHICH HUGH DRUMMOND LOSES HIS SELF- CONTROL.
VII. — IN WHICH DRUMMOND TAKES A TELEPHONE CALL AND REGRETS IT
VIII. — IN WHICH DRUMMOND PLAYS A LITTLE GAME OF TRAINS
IX. — IN WHICH PROFESSOR GOODMAN HAS A TRYING TIME
X. — IN WHICH DRUMMOND GOES ON BOARD THE S.Y. GADFLY
XI. — IN WHICH DRUMMOND LEAVES THE S.Y. GADFLY
XII. — IN WHICH HE SAMPLES MR BLACKTON'S NAPOLEON BRANDY
XIII. — IN WHICH DRUMMOND RECEIVES AN ADDITION TO HIS LIBRARY
I. — IN WHICH THE METROPOLITAN DIAMOND SYNDICATE
HOLDS CONVERSE WITH MR EDWARD BLACKTON
With a sigh of pleasure Mr Edward Blackton opened the windows of his balcony and leaned out, staring over the lake. Opposite, the mountains of Savoy rose steeply from the water; away to the left the Dent du Midi raised its crown of snow above the morning haze.
Below him the waters of the lake glittered and scintillated with a thousand fires. A steamer, with much blowing of sirens and reversing of paddle-wheels, had come to rest at a landing-stage hard by, and was taking on board a bevy of tourists, while the gulls circled round shrieking discordantly. For a while he watched them idly, noting the quickness with which the birds swooped and caught the bread as it was thrown into the air, long before it reached the water.
He noted also how nearly all the food was secured by half a dozen of the gulls, whilst the others said a lot but got nothing. And suddenly Mr Edward Blackton smiled.
"Like life, my dear," he said, slipping his arm round the waist of a girl who had just joined him at the window. "It's the fool who shouts in this world: the wise man says nothing and acts."
The girl lit a cigarette thoughtfully, and sat down on the ledge of the balcony. For a while her eyes followed the steamer puffing fussily away with its load of sightseers and its attendant retinue of gulls: then she looked at the man standing beside her. Point by point she took him in: the clear blue eyes under the deep forehead, the aquiline nose, the firm mouth and chin. Calmly, dispassionately she noted the thick brown hair greying a little over the temples, the great depth of chest, and the strong, powerful hands: then she turned and looked once again at the disappearing steamer. But to the man's surprise she gave a little sigh.
"What is it, my dear?" he said solicitously. "Bored?"
"No, not bored," she answered. "Whatever may be your failings, mon ami, boring me is not one of them. I was just wondering what it would feel like if you and I were content to go on a paddle-wheel steamer with a Baedeker and a Kodak, and a paper bag full of bananas."
"We will try tomorrow," said the man, gravely lighting a cigar.
"It wouldn't be any good," laughed the girl. "Just once in a way we should probably love it. I meant I wonder what it would feel like if that was our life."
Her companion nodded.
"I know, carissima," he answered gently. "I have sometimes wondered the same thing. I suppose there must be compensations in respectability, otherwise so many people wouldn't be respectable. But I'm afraid it is one of those things that we shall never know."
"I think it's that," said the girl, waving her hand towards the mountains opposite—"that has caused my mood. It's all so perfectly lovely: the sky is just so wonderfully blue. And look at that sailing boat."
She pointed to one of the big lake barges, with its two huge lateen sails, creeping gently along in the centre of the lake. "It's all so peaceful, and sometimes one wants peace."
"True," agreed the man; "one does. It's just reaction, and we've been busy lately."
He rose and began to pace slowly up and down the balcony. "To be quite honest, I myself have once or twice thought recently that if I could pull off some really big coup—something, I mean, that ran into the millions—I would give things up."
The girl smiled and shook her head.
"Don't misunderstand me, my dear," he went on. "I do not suggest for a moment that we should settle down to a life of toping and ease. We could neither of us exist without employing our brains. But with really big money behind one, we should be in a position to employ our brains a little more legitimately, shall I say, than we are able to at present,