Latest / Man Who Was Thursday, A Nightmare (Dramatic Reading) / Affair at the Semiramis Hotel - A. E. W. Mason

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Affair at the Semiramis Hotel - A. E. W. Mason · Man Who Was Thursday, A Nightmare (Dramatic Reading)

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  Speaker 1: Art one of the Affair at the Semarami's Hotel. This
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  Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Recording by David Wales, The Affair at
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  Speaker 1: the Simarami's Hotel by A. E. W. Mason. One. Mister Ricardo,
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  Speaker 1: when the excitements of the villaros were done with, returned
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  Speaker 1: to Grosvenor Square and resumed the busy, unnecessary life of
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  Speaker 1: an amateur. But the studios had lost their savor, artists,
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  Speaker 1: their attractiveness, and even the Russian Opera seemed a trifle flat.
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  Speaker 1: Life was altogether a disappointment fate. Like an actress at
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  Speaker 1: her restaurant had taken the wooden pestle in her hand
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  Speaker 1: and stirred all the sparkle out of the champagne. Mister
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  Speaker 1: Ricardo languished until one unforgettable morning. He was sitting disconsolately
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  Speaker 1: at his breakfast table when the door was burst open
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  Speaker 1: and a square, stout man with the blue shaven face
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  Speaker 1: of a French comedian flung himself into the room. Ricardo
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  Speaker 1: sprang towards the newcomer with a cry of delight, my
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  Speaker 1: dear Hanau. He seized his visitor by the arm, feeling
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  Speaker 1: it to make sure that here, in flesh and blood
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  Speaker 1: stood the man who had introduced him to the acutest
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  Speaker 1: sensations of his life. He turned towards his butler, who
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  Speaker 1: was still bleating expostulations in the doorway. At the unceremonious
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  Speaker 1: irruption of the French detective. Another place, Burton at once,
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  Speaker 1: he cried, And as soon as he and Hanau were alone,
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  Speaker 1: what good wind blows you to London business, my friend,
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  Speaker 1: the disappearance of bullion somewhere on the line between Paris
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  Speaker 1: and London. But it is finished, Yes, I take all
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  Speaker 1: a day. A light had suddenly flashed in mister Ricardo's eyes,
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  Speaker 1: and was now no less suddenly extinguished. Hanau paid no
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  Speaker 1: attention whatever to his friend's disappointment. He pounced upon a
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  Speaker 1: piece of silver which adorned the tablecloth, and took it
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  Speaker 1: over to the window. Everything is as it should be,
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  Speaker 1: my friend, he exclaimed, with a grin Grosvenor Square, the
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  Speaker 1: times open at the money column, and a false antique
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  Speaker 1: upon the table. Thus I have dreamed of you, oh
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  Speaker 1: mister Ricardo, is In that sentence, Ricardo laughed nervously, recollection
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  Speaker 1: that made him wary of Hanno's sarcasms. He was shy
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  Speaker 1: even to protest the genuineness of his silver. But indeed
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  Speaker 1: he had not the time for The door opened again,
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  Speaker 1: and once more the butler appeared. On this occasion, however,
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  Speaker 1: he was alone. Mister Kaladeina would like to speak to you, sir,
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  Speaker 1: he said. Kaladeine, cried Ricardo, in an extreme surprise. That
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  Speaker 1: is the most extraordinary thing. He looked at the clock
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  Speaker 1: upon his mantelpiece. It was barely half past eight at
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  Speaker 1: this hour too, mister Kaladin is still wearing evening dress,
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  Speaker 1: the butler remarked. Ricardo started in his chair. He began
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  Speaker 1: to dream of possibilities. And here was Hanau miraculously at
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  Speaker 1: his side. Where is mister Khaladein, he asked, I've shown
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  Speaker 1: him into the library. Good, said mister Ricardo. I will
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  Speaker 1: come to him, but he was in no hurry. He
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  Speaker 1: sat and let his thoughts play with this incident of
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  Speaker 1: Kaladein's early visit. It is very odd, he said, I
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  Speaker 1: have not seen Kaladeen for months. No, nor has anyone
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  Speaker 1: yet a little while ago, no one was more often seen.
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  Speaker 1: He fell apparently into a muse, but he was merely
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  Speaker 1: seeking to provoke Hanno's curiosity. In this attempt, however, he failed.
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  Speaker 1: Hanau continued placidly to eat his breakfast, so that mister
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  Speaker 1: Ricardo was compelled to volunteer the story which he was
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  Speaker 1: burning to tell. Drink your coffee, Hano, and you shall
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  Speaker 1: hear about galadein. Hano grunted with resignation, and mister Ricardo
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  Speaker 1: flowed on. Kaladin was one of England's young men every time.
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  Speaker 1: But he said so he was going to do very
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  Speaker 1: wonderful things, as soon as he had made up his
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  Speaker 1: mind exactly what sort of wonderful things he was going
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  Speaker 1: to do. Meanwhile, you met him in Scotland at Newmarket,
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  Speaker 1: at asked at cows in the box of some great
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  Speaker 1: lady at the opera, not before half past ten in
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  Speaker 1: the evening. There in any fine house where the candles
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  Speaker 1: that night happened to be lit. He went everywhere, and
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  Speaker 1: then a day came and he went nowhere. There was
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  Speaker 1: no scandal, no trouble, not a whisper against his good name.
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  Speaker 1: He simply vanished for a little while A few people
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  Speaker 1: asked what has become of Kaladeen, but there never was
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  Speaker 1: any answer, and London has no time for unanswered questions.
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  Speaker 1: Other promising young men dined in his place. Kaladeen had
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  Speaker 1: joined the huge legion of the e come to nothings.
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  Speaker 1: No one even seemed to pass him in the street. Now, unexpectedly,
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  Speaker 1: at half past eight in the morning, and in evening,
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  Speaker 1: he calls upon me. Why, I asked myself. Mister Ricardo
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  Speaker 1: sank once more into a reverie. Hanaud watched him with
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  Speaker 1: a broadening smile of pure enjoyment. And in time, I suppose,
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  Speaker 1: he remarked, casually, you will perhaps ask him. Mister Ricardo
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  Speaker 1: sprang out of his pose to his feet. Before I
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  Speaker 1: discuss serious things with an acquaintance, he said, with a
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  Speaker 1: scathing dignity, I make it a rule to revive my
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  Speaker 1: impressions of his personality. The cigarettes are in the crystal box,
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  Speaker 1: they would be, said Hanaud, unabashed, as Ricardo stalked from
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  Speaker 1: the room, But in five minutes mister Ricardo came running back,
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  Speaker 1: all his composure gone. It is the greatest good fortune
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  Speaker 1: that you, my friend, should have chosen this morning to
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  Speaker 1: visit me, he cried, and Hanaud nodded with a little
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  Speaker 1: grimace of resignation. There goes my holiday. You shall command
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  Speaker 1: me now and always. I will make the acquaintance of
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  Speaker 1: your young friend. He rose up and followed Ricardo into
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  Speaker 1: his study, where a young man was nervously pacing the floor.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Khaladein, said Ricardo, this is mister Hanau. The young
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  Speaker 1: man turned eagerly. He was tall, with a noticeable elegance
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  Speaker 1: and distinction, and the face which he showed to Hanaud was,
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  Speaker 1: in spite of its agitation, remarkably handsome. I am very glad,
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  Speaker 1: he said. You are not an official of this country.
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  Speaker 1: You can advise without yourself taking action, if you'll be
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  Speaker 1: so good. Hanau frowned. He bent his eyes uncompromisingly upon Kaladin.
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  Speaker 1: What does that mean, he asked, with a note of
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  Speaker 1: sternness in his voice. It means that I must tell someone.
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  Speaker 1: Kaladein burst out in quivering tones that I don't know
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  Speaker 1: what to do. I am in a difficulty too big
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  Speaker 1: for me. That's the truth. Hanau looked at the young
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  Speaker 1: man keenly. It seemed to Ricardo that he took in
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  Speaker 1: every excited gesture, every twitching feature in one comprehensive glance.
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  Speaker 1: And then he said, in a friendlier voice, sit down
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  Speaker 1: and tell me, and he himself drew up a chair
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  Speaker 1: to the table. I was at the Cimaramis last night,
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  Speaker 1: said Kaladine, naming one of the great hotels upon the embankment.
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  Speaker 1: There was a fancy dress fall. All this happened, by
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  Speaker 1: the way, in those far off days before the war,
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  Speaker 1: nearly in fact, three years ago to day, when London,
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  Speaker 1: flinging aside its reticence, its shy self consciousness, had become
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  Speaker 1: a city of carnivals and masquerades, rivaling its neighbors on
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  Speaker 1: the continent in the spirit of its gayety, and exceeding
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  Speaker 1: them by its stupendous luxury. I went by the merest chance.
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  Speaker 1: My rooms are in the Adelphi Terrace. There, cried mister
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  Speaker 1: Ricardo in surprise, and Hanaul lifted a hand to check
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  Speaker 1: his interruptions. Yes, continued Kaladine. The night was warm, the
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  Speaker 1: music floated through my open windows and stirred old memories.
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  Speaker 1: I happened to have a ticket, so I went. Khaladin
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  Speaker 1: drew up a chair opposite to Hanau and seating himself,
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  Speaker 1: told with many nervous starts and in troubled tones, a
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  Speaker 1: story which, to mister Ricardo's thinking, was as fabulous as
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  Speaker 1: any out of the Arabian nights. I had a ticket,
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  Speaker 1: he began, but no domino. I was consequently stopped by
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  Speaker 1: an attendant in the lounge at the top of the
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  Speaker 1: staircase leading down to the ballroom. You can hire a
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  Speaker 1: domino in the cloak room, mister Khaladin, he said to me,
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  Speaker 1: I had already begun to regret the impulse which had
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  Speaker 1: brought me, and I welcomed the excuse with which the
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  Speaker 1: absence of a costume provided me. I was indeed turning
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  Speaker 1: back to the door when a girl who had at
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  Speaker 1: that moment run down from the stairs of the hotel
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  Speaker 1: into the lounge cried gaily, that's not necessary, and at
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  Speaker 1: the same moment she flung to me a long scarlet
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  Speaker 1: cloak which she had been wearing over her own dress.
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  Speaker 1: She was young, fair, rather tall, slim, and very pretty.
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  Speaker 1: Her hair was drawn back from her face with a
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  Speaker 1: ribbon and rippled down her shoulders in heavy curls, and
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  Speaker 1: she was dressed in a satin coat and knee breeches
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  Speaker 1: of pale green and gold, with a white waistcoat and
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  Speaker 1: silk stockings, and scarlet heels to her satin shoes. She
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  Speaker 1: was as straight limbed as a boy, and exquisite, like
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  Speaker 1: a figure draced in China. I caught the cloak and
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  Speaker 1: turned to thank her, but she did not wait. With
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  Speaker 1: a laugh, she ran down the stairs, a supple and
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  Speaker 1: shining figure, and was lost in the throng at the
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  Speaker 1: doorway of the ball room. I was stirred by the
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  Speaker 1: prospect of an adventure. I ran down after her. She
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  Speaker 1: was standing just inside the room alone, and she was
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  Speaker 1: gazing at the scene with parted lips and dancing eyes.
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  Speaker 1: She laughed again as she saw the cloak about my shoulders,
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  Speaker 1: a delicious gurgle of amusement, and I said to her,
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  Speaker 1: may I dance with you? Oh? Do? She cried, with
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  Speaker 1: a little jump and clasping her hands. She was of
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  Speaker 1: a high and joyous spirit, and not difficult in the
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  Speaker 1: matter of an introduction. This gentleman will do very well
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  Speaker 1: to present us, she said, leading me in front of
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  Speaker 1: a bust of the god Pan, which stood in a
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  Speaker 1: niche of the wall. I am, as you see, straight
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  Speaker 1: out of an opera. My name is Salomyne, or anything
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  Speaker 1: with an eighteenth century sound to it. You are, oh
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  Speaker 1: well what you will for this evening? We are friends
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  Speaker 1: and for tomorrow, I asked. I will tell you about
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  Speaker 1: that later on, she replied, and she began to dance,
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  Speaker 1: with a light step and a passion in her dancing,
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  Speaker 1: which earned me many an envious glance from the other men.
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  Speaker 1: I was in luck for Salameienne knew no one, and
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  Speaker 1: though of course I saw the faces of a great
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  Speaker 1: many people whom I remembered, I kept them all at
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  Speaker 1: a distance. We had been dancing for about half an
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  Speaker 1: hour when the first queerish thing happened. She stopped suddenly
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  Speaker 1: in the midst of a sentence, with a little gasp.
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  Speaker 1: I spoke to her, but she did not hear. She
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  Speaker 1: was gazing past me, her eyes wide open, and such
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  Speaker 1: a rapt look upon her face as I had never seen.
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  Speaker 1: She was lost in a miraculous vision. I followed the
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  Speaker 1: direction of her eyes, and to my astonishment, I saw
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  Speaker 1: nothing more than a stout, short, middle aged woman, egregiously
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  Speaker 1: overdressed as a Marie Antoinette. So you do know some
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  Speaker 1: one here, I said, and I had to repeat the
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  Speaker 1: word sharply before my friend withdrew her eyes. But even
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  Speaker 1: then she was not aware of me. It was as
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  Speaker 1: if a voice had spoken to her whilst she was
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  Speaker 1: asleep and had disturbed but not wakened her. Then she
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  Speaker 1: came too. There's really no other word I can think
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  Speaker 1: of which describes her at that moment. She came to
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  Speaker 1: with a deep sigh. No, she answered. She is a
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  Speaker 1: missus Blumenstein from Chicago, a widow with ambitions and a
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  Speaker 1: great deal of money. But I don't know her yet.
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  Speaker 1: You know all about her, I remarked. She crossed in
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  Speaker 1: the same boat with me. Selimene replied, did I tell
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  Speaker 1: you that I landed at Liverpool this morning? She is
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  Speaker 1: staying at the Samaram stew Oh, let's dance. She twitched
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  Speaker 1: my sleeve impatiently and danced with a kind of violence
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  Speaker 1: and wildness, as if she wished to banish some sinister thought,
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  Speaker 1: and she did undoubtedly banish it. We supped together and
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  Speaker 1: grew confidential, as under such conditions people will. She told
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  Speaker 1: me her real name. It was Joan Carew. I have
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  Speaker 1: come over to get an engagement if I can at
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  Speaker 1: Cavant Garden, I'm supposed to sing, all right, but I
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  Speaker 1: don't know any one I have been brought up in Italy.
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  Speaker 1: You have some letters of introduction, I suppose, I asked, Oh, yes,
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  Speaker 1: one from my teacher in Milan, one from an American manager.
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  Speaker 1: In my turn, I told her my name and where
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  Speaker 1: I lived, and I gave her my card. I thought,
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  Speaker 1: you see that since I had used to know a
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  Speaker 1: good many operatic people, I might be able to help her.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, she said, And at that moment missus Blumenstein,
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  Speaker 1: followed by a party, chiefly those lap dog young men
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  Speaker 1: who always seemed to gather about that kind of person,
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  Speaker 1: came into the supper room and took a table close
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  Speaker 1: to us. There was at once an end of all confidences,
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  Speaker 1: indeed of all conversation. Joan Carew lost all the lightness
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  Speaker 1: of her spirit. She talked at random, and her eyes
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  Speaker 1: were drawn again and again to the grotesque slander on
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  Speaker 1: Marie Antoinette. Finally I became annoyed. Shall we go? I
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  Speaker 1: suggested impatiently, and to my surprise, she whispered passionately, oh yes,
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  Speaker 1: please let us go. Her voice was actually shaking, her
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  Speaker 1: small hands clenched. We went back to the ball room,
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  Speaker 1: But Joan Carew did not recover her gaiety, and half
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  Speaker 1: way through a dance, when we were near to the door,
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  Speaker 1: she stopped, abruptly, extraordinary, abruptly. I shall go, she said, abruptly.
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  Speaker 1: I'm tired, I've grown dull. I protested, but she made
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  Speaker 1: a little grimace. You'll hate me in half an hour.
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  Speaker 1: Let's be wise and stop now while we are friends,
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  Speaker 1: she said, And whilst I removed the domino from my shoulders,
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  Speaker 1: she stooped very quickly. It seemed to me that she
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  Speaker 1: picked up something which had lain hidden beneath the sole
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: of her slipper. She certainly moved her foot, and I
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: certainly saw something small and bright flash in the palm
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: of her glove as she raised herself again. But I
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  Speaker 1: imagined merely that it was some object which she had dropped. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: we'll go, she said, and we went up the stairs
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  Speaker 1: into the lobby. Certainly all the sparkle had gone out
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  Speaker 1: of our adventure. I recognized her wisdom. But I shall
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  Speaker 1: see you again, I asked. Yes, I have your address.
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  Speaker 1: I'll write and fix a time when you will be
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: sure to find me in good night, and a thousand
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: thanks I should have been bored to tears if you
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: hadn't come without a domino. She was speaking lightly as
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  Speaker 1: she held out her hand, but her grip tightened a
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  Speaker 1: little and clung. Her eyes darkened and grew troubled. Her
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  Speaker 1: mouth trembled. The shadow of a great trouble had suddenly
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  Speaker 1: close upon her. She shivered. I am half inclined to
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  Speaker 1: ask you to stay, however, dull I am, and dance
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  Speaker 1: with me till daylight, the safe daylight, she said. It
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: was an extraordinary phrase for her to use, and it
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  Speaker 1: moved me. Let us go back, then, I urged. She
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: gave me an impression suddenly of someone quite forlorn, but
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: John Carew recovered her courage. No, no, she answered quickly.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: She snatched her hand away and ran lightly up the staircase,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: turning at the corner to wave her hand and smile.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: It was then half past one in the morning. So
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: far Kaladine had spoken without an interruption. Mister Ricardo, it
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: is true, was bursting to break in with the most
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: important questions, but a salutary fear of Hanaul restrained him. Now, however,
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: he had an opportunity for celadein paused half past one,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: he said, sagely, ah, and when did you go home?
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: Hanau asked if Kaledine true, said mister Ricardo, it is
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  Speaker 1: of the greatest consequence. Kalodine was not so sure. His
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: partner had left behind her the strangest medley of sensations
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: in his breast. He was puzzled, haunted, and charmed. He
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: had to think about her. He was a trifle uplifted.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Sleep was impossible. He wandered for a while about the
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: ball room. Then he walked to his chambers along the
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: echoing streets and sat at his window. And some time afterwards,
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: the hoot of a motor horn broke the silence, and
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: a car stopped and whirred in the street below. A
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: moment later, his spell rang. He ran down the stairs
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: in a queer excitement, unlocked the street door and opened
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: it to Joam Carew, still in her masquerade dress, with
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: her scarlet cloak about her shoulders, slipped through the opening.
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  Speaker 1: Shut the door, she whispered, drawing herself apart in the corner.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: Your cab, asked Kaladine. Bliskon. Kaladine latched the door above.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: In the well of the stairs. The light spread out
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: from the open door of his flat. Down here all
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: was dark. He could just see the glimmer of her
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: white face, the glitter of her dress, But she drew
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: her breath like one who has run far. They mounted
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: the stairs cautiously. He did not say a word until
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: they were both safely in his parlor, and even then
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  Speaker 1: it was in a low voice. What has happened? You
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: remember the woman I stared at. You didn't know why
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  Speaker 1: I stared, but any girl would have understood. She was
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  Speaker 1: wearing the loveliest pearls I ever saw in my life.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Joan was standing by the edge of the table. She
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: was tracing with her finger a pattern on the cloth.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: As she spoke, Kaladin started with a horrible presentiment. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: she said, I worship pearls. I always have done for
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  Speaker 1: one thing they improve on me. I haven't got any,
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: of course, I have no money. But friends of mine
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  Speaker 1: who do own pearls have sometimes given theirs to me
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: to wear when they were going sick, and they have
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: always got back their luster. I think that has had
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  Speaker 1: a little to do with my love of them. Oh,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: I've always longed for them, just a little string. Sometimes
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  Speaker 1: I have felt that I would have given my soul
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  Speaker 1: for them. She was speaking in a dull, monotonous voice.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: But Kaladin recalled the ecstasy which had shown in her
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  Speaker 1: face when her eyes first had fallen on the pearls,
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  Speaker 1: the longing which had swept her quite into another world,
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  Speaker 1: the passion with which she had danced to throw the
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: obsession off. And I never noticed them at all, he said,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Yet they were wonderful, the color, the luster. All the
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: evening they tempted me. I was furious that a fat,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: coarse creature like that should have such exquisite things. Oh,
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: I was mad. She covered her face suddenly with her
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: hands and swayed. Kaladin sprang towards her, but she held
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: out her hand. No, no, I'm all right, And though
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: he asked her to sit down, she would not. You
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: remember when I stopped dancing suddenly? Yes, you had something
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: hidden under your foot. The girl nodded her key, and
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: under his breath, Kaladine uttered a startled cry. For the
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: first time since she had entered the room, Joan Carew
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: raised her head and looked at him. Her eyes were
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: full of terror, and with the terror was mixed an incredulity,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: as though she could not possibly believe that that had happened,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: which she knew had happened. A little yale key, the
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: girl continued. I saw Missus Blumenstein looking on the floor
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: for something, and then I saw it shining on the
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: very spot Missus as Blumenstein's suite was on the same
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: floor as mine, and her maid slapped above all the maids.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Do I knew that? Oh, it seemed to me as
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: if I had sold my soul and was being paid.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Now Kaladein understood what she had meant by her strange phrase,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: the safe daylight. I went up to my little sweet
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Joam Carew continued. I sat there with the key burning
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: through my glove until I had given her time enough
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: to fall asleep. And though she hesitated before she spoke
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: the words, she did speak them, not looking at Kaladein,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: and with a shudder of remorse, making her confession complete.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: Then I crept out. The corridor was dimly lit far
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: away below. The music was throbbing. Up here it was
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: as silent as the grave. I opened the door her door.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: I found myself in a lobby. The sweet, though bigger,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: was arranged like mine. I slipped in and closed the
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: door behind me. I listened in the darkness, I couldn't
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: hear a sound. I crept forward to the door in
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: front of me. I stood with my fingers on the
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: handle and my heart beating fast enough to choke me.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: I had still time to turn back, but I could not.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: There were those pearls in front of my eyes, lustrous
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: and wonderful. I opened the door gently an inch or so,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: and then it all happened. In a second end of
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: part one, Part two of the Affair at the Cimaramis
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: Hotel by A. E. W. Mason. This LibriVox recording is
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Part two Joam Carew faltered. The
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: night was too near to her, its memory too poignant
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: with terror. She shut her eyes tightly and cowered down
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: in a chair. With the movement, her cloak slipped from
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: her shoulders and dropped on the ground. Kaladin leaned forward
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: with an exclamation of horror. Joan Carew started up. What
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: is it? She asked, Nothing go on. I found myself
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: inside the room with the door shut behind me. I
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: had to shut it myself in a spasm of terror,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: and I dared not turn round to open it. I
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: was helpless. What do you mean? She was awake. Joan
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Carew shook her head. There were others in the room
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: before me, and on the same errand men. Kaladin drew back,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: his eyes, searching the girl's face. Yes, he said slowly.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: I didn't see them at first, I didn't hear them.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: The room was quite dark except for one jet of
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: fierce white light which beat upon the door of a
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: safe And as I shut the door, the jet moved swiftly,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: and the light reached me and stopped. I was blinded.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: I stood in the full glare of it, drawn up
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: against the panels of the door, shivering, sick with fear.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: I heard a quiet laugh, and some one moved softly
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: towards me. Oh, it was terrible. I recovered the use
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: of my limbs in a panic. I turned to the door,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: but I was too late. Whilst I fumbled with a handle,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: I was seized. A hand covered my mouth. I was
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: lifted to the center of the room. The jet went out,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: the electric lights were turned on. There were two men
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: dressed as apatches and velvet trousers and red scarves, like
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: a hundred others in the ballroom below, and both were masked.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: I struggled furiously, but of course, I was like a
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: child in their grasp tire legs. The man whispered to
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: was holding me. She's making too much noise. I kicked
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: and thought, but the other man stooped and tied my ankles,
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: and I fainted. Kaledein nodded his head, yes, he said.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: When I came to, the lights were still burning. The
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: door of the safe was open, the room empty. I
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: had been flung on to a couch at the foot
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: of the bed. I was lying there quite free. Was
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: the safe empty, asked Kaladein. Suddenly I didn't look, She answered, oh,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: and she covered her face spasmodically with her hands. I
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: looked at the bed. Someone was lying there under a sheet,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: and quite still. There was a clock ticking in the room.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: It was the only sound. I was terrified. I was
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: going mad with fear if I didn't get out of
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: the room at once. I felt that I should go mad,
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: that I should scream and bring everyone to find me
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: alone with what was under the sheet in the bed.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: I ran to the door and looked out through a
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: slid into the corridor. It was still quite empty, and
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: below the music still throbbed in the ballroom. I crept
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: down the stairs, meeting no one until I reached the hall.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: I looked into the ballroom as if I was searching
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: for some one. I stayed long enough to show myself.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Then I got a cab and came to you. A
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: short silence followed. Joan Carew looked at her companion in appeal.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: You are the only one I could come to. She added,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: I know no one else. Kaladina sat watching the girl
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: in silence. Then he asked, and his voice was hard,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: and is that all you have to tell me? Yes,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: you are quite sure. John Carew looked at him, Perplexed
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: by the urgency of his question. She reflected for a
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: moment or two quite. Kaladin arose to his feet and
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: stood beside her. Then how do you come to be
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: wearing this? He asked, and he lifted a chain of
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: platinum and diamonds which she was wearing about her shoulders.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: You weren't wearing it when you danced with me, John
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Carew stared at the chain. No, it's not mine. I've
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: never seen it before. Then a light came into her eyes.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: The two men, they must have thrown it over my
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: head when I was on the couch before they went.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: She looked at it more closely. That's it. The chain's
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: not very valuable. They could spare it and it would
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: accuse me of what they they did. Yes, that's very
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: good reasoning, said Kaladin coldly. Joan Carew looked quickly up
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: into his face. Oh you don't believe me, she cried,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: you think, Oh it's impossible, and holding him by the
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: edge of his coat, she burst into a storm of
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: passionate denials. But you went to steel, you know, he
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: said gently, and she answered him at once, Yes I did,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: but not this. And she held up the necklace. Should
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: I have stolen this? Should I have come to you
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: wearing it? If I had stolen the pearls? If I
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: had and she stopped, If my story were not true?
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: Kaladein weighed her argument, and it affected him. No, I
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: think you wouldn't, he said frankly. Most crimes, no doubt,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: were brought home because the criminal had made some incomprehensibly
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: stupid mistake. Incomprehensibly stupid, that is, by the standards of
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: normal life. Nevertheless, Kaladin was inclined to believe her. He
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: looked at her, that she should have murdered, was absurd. Moreover,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: she was not making a parade of remorse, and she
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: was not playing the unctuous penitent. She had yielded to
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: a temptation, had got herself into desperate straits, and was
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: at her WIT's end how to escape from them. She
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: was frank about herself. Kaledine looked at the clock. It
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: was nearly five o'clock in the morning, and though the
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: music could still be heard from the ball room in
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: the Semaramis, the night had begun to wane upon the river.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: You must go back, he said, I'll walk with you.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: They crept silently down the stairs and into the street.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: It was only a step to the Samaramis. They met
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: no one until they reached the strand there many like
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: Joam Carew in masquerade, were standing about, or walking hither
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: and thither in search of carriages and cabs. The whole
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: street was in a bustle, what with driver shouting and
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: people coming away. You can slip in on notice, said
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Kaladine as he looked into the thronged courtyard. I'll telephone
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: to you in the morning, you will, she cried, eagerly,
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: clinging for a moment to his arm. Yes, for certain
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: he replied, wait in until you hear from me. I'll
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: think it over. I'll do what I can. Oh, thank you,
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: she said fervently. He watched her scarlet cloak flitting here
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: and there in the crowd until it vanished through the doorway. Then,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: for the second time, he walked back to his chambers,
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: while the morning crept up the river from the sea.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: This was the story which Kaladin told in mister Ricardo's library.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: Mister Ricardo heard it out with varying emotions. He began
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: with a thrill of expectation, like a man on a
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: dark threshold of great excitements. The setting of the story
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: appealed to him too, by a sort of brilliant bizarree
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: which he found in it. But as it went on
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: he grew puzzled and a trifle disheartened. There were flaws
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: and chinks. He began to bubble with unspoken criticisms, then
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: swift and clever thrusts which he dared not deliver. He
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: looked upon the young man with disfavor, as upon one
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: who had half opened a door upon a theater of
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: great promise, and shown himself a spectacle not up to
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: the mark. Hanou On the other hand, listened imperturbably without
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: an expression upon his face until the end. Then he
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: pointed a finger at Kaladin and asked him what, to
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: Ricardo's mind, was a most irrelevant question. You got back
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: to your rooms then before five, mister Kaladin, and it's
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: now nine o'clock less a few minutes. Yes, yet you
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: have not changed your clothes. Explain to me that what
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: did you do between five and half past eight? Kaladine
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: looked down at his rumpled shirt front. Upon my word,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: I never thought of it, he cried. I was worried
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: out of my mind. I couldn't decide what to do.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: Finally I determined to talk to mister Ricardo. And after
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: I come to that conclusion, I just waited impatiently until
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: I could come round with decency. Hano rose from his chair.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: His manner was grave, but conveyed no single hint of
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: an opinion. He turned to Ricardo. Let us go round
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: to your young friend's rooms in the Adelphi, he said,
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: and the three men drove thither At once two. Kaladein
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: lodged in a corner house, and upon the first floor.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: His rooms, large and square and lofty, with Adam's mantelpieces
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: and a delicate tracery upon their ceilings breathed the grace
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: of the eighteenth century. Broad high windows, embrassured in thick walls,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: overlooked the river and took in all the sunshine and
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: the air which the river had to give, and they
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: were furnished fittingly. When the three men had entered the parlor,
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: mister Ricardo was astounded. He had expected the untidy litter
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: of a man run to seed the neglect and the
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: dust of the recluse. But the room was as clean
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: as a deck of a yacht, and abusson carpet made
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: the floor luxurious underfoot. A few colored prints of real
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: value decorated the walls, and the mahogany furniture was polished
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: so that a lady could have used it as a mirror.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: There was, even by the newspapers, upon the round table
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: a china bowl full of fresh red roses. If Kaladin
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: had turned hermit, he was a hermit of an unusually
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: fastidious type. Indeed, as he stood with his two companions
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: in his disheveled dress, he seemed quite out of keeping
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: with his rooms. So you live here, mister Kaladein, said Hanaud,
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: taking off his hat and laying it down. Yes, with
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: your servants. Of course, they come in during the day,
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: said Kaladein, and Hanaud looked at him curiously. Do you
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: mean that you sleep here alone? Yes, but your ballot.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: I don't keep a ballot, Kaladein, and again the curious
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: look came into Hanno's eyes. Yet he suggested gently, there
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: are rooms enough in your set of chambers to house
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: a family. Kaladin colored and shifted uncomfortably from one foot
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: to the other. I prefer at night not to be disturbed,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: he said, stumbling a little over the words. I mean,
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: I have a liking for quiet. Gabriel Hanaud nodded his
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: head with sympathy. Yes, yes, and it is a difficult
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: thing to get, as difficult as my holiday, he said, ruefully,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: with a smile from mister Ricardo. However, he turned towards Kaladin.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: No doubt, now that you are at home, you would
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: like a bath and a change of clothes. And when
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: you are dressed, perhaps she will telephone to the Samaramis
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: and asked miss Carew to come round here. Meanwhile, we
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: will read your newspapers and smoke your cigarettes. Hano shut
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: the door upon Kaldein, but he turned neither to the
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: papers nor the cigarettes. He crossed the room to mister Ricardo,
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: who seated at the open window, was plunged deep in reflections.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: You have an idea, my friend, cried Hanaud. It demands
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: to express itself, that sees itself in your face. Let
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: me hear it, I pray. Mister Ricardo started out of
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: an absorption which was altogether assumed I was thinking. He said,
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: with a far away smile, that you might disappear in
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: the forests of Africa, and at once everyone would be
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: very busy about your disappearance. You might leave your village
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: in Leicestershire and live in the fogs of Glasgow, and
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: within a week the whole village would know your postal address.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: But London, what a city, how different, how indifferent? Turn
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: out of Saint James's into the Adelphi Terrace, and not
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: a soul will say to you, doctor Livingstone, I presume,
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: But why should they ask, Hanaud, if your name isn't
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: doctor Livingstone. Mister Ricardo smiled indulgently. Scoffer, He said, you
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: understand me very well. And he sought to turn the
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: tables on his companion. And you, does this room suggest
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: nothing to you? Have you no ideas? But he knew
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: very well that Hanaud had. Ever since Hanau had crossed
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: the threshold, he had been like a man stimulated by
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: a drug. His eyes were bright and active, his body alert. Yes,
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: he said, I have. He was standing now by Ricardo's side,
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: with his hands in his pockets, looking out at the
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: trees on the embankment and the barges swinging down the river.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: You are thinking of the strange scene which took place
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: in this room such a few hours ago, said Ricardo,
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: the girl in her masquerade dress making her confession with
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: the stolen chain about her throat. Hano looked backwards carelessly. No,
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: I wasn't giving it a thought, he said, And in
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: a moment or two he began to walk about the
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: room with that a curiously light step which Ricardo was
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: never able to reconcile with his cumbersome figure, with the
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: heaviness of a bear. He still padded. He went from
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: corner to corner, opened a cupboard here, a drawer of
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: the bureau there, and stooped. Suddenly he stood erect again
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: with a small box of Morocco leather in his hand.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: His body from head to foot seemed to Ricardo to
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: be expressing the question have I found it? He pressed
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: a spring, and the lid of the box flew open,
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: and no emptied his contents into the palm of his hand.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: There were two or three sticks of sealing wax, and
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: a seal with a shrug of the shoulders. He replaced
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: them and shut the box. You are looking for something,
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: Ricardo announced, with sagacity, I am, replied hanaud. And it
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: seemed that in a second or two he found it.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: Yet yet he found it with his hands in his pockets.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: If he had found it, mister Ricardo saw him stop
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: in that attitude in front of the mantel shelf, and
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: heard him utter a long, low whistle. Upon the mantel shelf,
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: some photographs were arranged, a box of cigars stood at
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: one end, a book or two lay between, some delicate
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: ornaments of china, and a small engraving in a thin
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: gilt frame was propped at the back against the wall.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: Ricardo sobeyed the shell from his seat in the window,
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: but he could not imagine which it was. Of these objects.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: That so drew and held an NOO's eyes. Hano, however,
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: stepped forward. He looked into a vase and turned it
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: upside down. Then he removed the lid of a porcelain cup,
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: and from the very look of his great shoulders, Ricardo
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: knew that he had discovered what he sought. He was
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: holding something in his hands, turning it over, examining it.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: When he was satisfied, he moved swiftly to the door
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: and opened it cautiously. Both men could hear the splashing
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: of water in a bath. Hanau closed the door again
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: with a nod of contentment, and crossed once more to
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: the window. Yes, it is all very strange and curious,
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: he said, And I do not regret that you drag
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: me into the affair. You are quite right, my friend,
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: this morning. It is the personality of your young mister Khaldine,
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: which is the interesting thing. For instance, here we are
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: in London in the early summer, the trees out freshly green,
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: lilac and flowers in the garden, and I don't know
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: what tingle of hope and expectation in the sunlight and
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: the air. I am middle aged, yet there's a riot
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: in my blood a recapture of youth, a belief that
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: just around the corner, beyond the reach of my eyes,
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: wonders wait for me. Don't you feel too something like that?
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: Well then, and he heaved his shoulders in astonishment. Can
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: you understand a young man with money, with fastidious tastes,
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: good looking, hiding himself in a corner at such a
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: time except for some overpowering reason? No, nor can I.
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: There is another thing. I put a question or two
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: to Kaledin. Yes, said Ricardo. He has no servants here
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: at night, he is quite alone. And here is what
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: I find interesting. He has no valet. That seems a
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: small thing to you, Hano asked in a moment from Ricardo. Well,
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: it is, no doubt a trifle, but it's a significant trifle.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: In the case of a young rich man, it is
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: generally a sign that there is something strange, perhaps even
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: something sinister, in his life. Mister Kaledin some months ago
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: turned out of Saint James's into the Adelphi. Can you
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: tell me why, no, replied mister Ricardo. Can you? Hanno
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: stretched out a hand in his open palm lay a small, round,
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: hairy bulb about the size of a big button, and
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: of a color between green and brown. Look, he said,
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: what is that? Mister Ricardo took the bulb oneingly. It
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: looks to be like the fruit of some kind of cactus.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: Hano nodded. It is. You will see some pots of
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: it in the hothouses of any really good botanical gardens.
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: Q has them. I have no doubt. Paris certainly has.
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: They are labeled on Helonium luini. But amongst the Indians
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: of Yucatan the plant as a simpler name. What name,
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: asked Ricardo, Mescal. Mister Ricardo repeated the name. It conveyed
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: nothing to him. Whatever, there are a good many bulbs
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: just like that in the cup upon the mantelshelf, said Hanno.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: Ricardo looked quickly up. Why, he asked, Mescal is a drug?
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: Ricardo started, Yes, you are beginning to understand now. Peno continued,
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: Why your young friend Kaladine turned out of Saint James's
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: into the Adelphi terrace. Ricardo turned the little bulb over
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: in his fingers. You you make a decoction of it,
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: I suppose, he said, Or you can use it as
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: the Indians do in Yucatan, replied Hanaud mescal enters into
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: their religious ceremonies. They sit at night in a circle
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: about a fire built in the forest, and chew it
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: whilst one of their number beats perpetually upon a drum.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: Hanau looked round the room and took notes of its
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: luxurious carpet, its delicate appointments. Outside the window, there was
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: a thunder in the streets, a clamor of voices. Boats
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: went swiftly down the river. On the ebb beyond the
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: mass of the Samaramis rose the great gray white dome
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: of Saint Paul's opposite upon the southern bank, the giant
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: sky signs the big Highlander drinking whisky, and the rest
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: of them waited gaunt skeletons for the Knight to lend
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: them in fire and give them life. Below, the trees
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: in the gardens, rustled and waved in the air, were
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: the uplift and sparkle of the young summer. It's a
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: long way from the forest of Yucatan to the Adelphi
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: terrace of London, said Hanno. Yet here I think, in
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: these rooms, when the servants are all gone and the
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: house is very quiet, there is a little corner of
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: wild Mexico. A look of pity came into mister Ricardo's face.
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: He had seen more than one young man of great
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: promise slacken his hold and let go just for this reason. Kaladin,
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: it seemed, was another. It's like Bong and Keith and
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: the rest of the devilish things, I suppose, he said, indignantly,
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: tossing the button upon the table. Hano picked it up. No,
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: he replied, It's not quite like any other drug. It
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: has a quality of its own, which just now is
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: of particular importance to you and me. Yes, my friend,
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: and he nodded his head very seriously. We must watch
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: that we do not make the big fools of ourselves
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: in this affair there, mister Ricardo agreed, with an ineffable
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: air of wisdom. I am entirely with you, now, why,
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: Hanou asked. Mister Ricardo was at a loss for a reason,
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: but Hanau did not. Wait. I will tell you. Mescal intoxicates, yes,
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: but it does more. It gives to the man who
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: eats of it, colored dreams. Colored dreams, mister Ricardo repeated,
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: in a wondering voice. Yes, strange heated charms in which
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: violent things happen vividly amongst bright colors. Color is the
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: gift of this little prosaic brown button. He spun the
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: bulb in the air like a coin, and catching it again,
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: took it over to the mantelpiece and dropped it into
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: the porcelain cup. Are you sure of this, Ricardo cried excitedly,
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: and Hanaud raised his hand in warning. He went to
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: the door, opened it for an inch or so, and
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: closed it again. I am quite sure, he returned. I
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: have for a friend, a very learned chemist in the
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: College Fonts. He is one of those enthusiasts who must
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: experiment upon themselves. He tried this drug, yes, Ricardo said,
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: in a quieter tone. And what did he see? He
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: had a vision of a wonderful garden bathed in sunlight,
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: an old garden of gorgeous flowers and emerald lawns, ponds
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: with golden lilies and thick yew hedges. A garden where
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: peacocks stepped indolently, and groups of gay people fantastically dressed,
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: quarreled and fought with swords. That is what he saw,
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: and he saw it so vividly that when the vapors
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: of the drug passed from his brain, and he waked.
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: He seemed to be coming out of the real world
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: into a world of shifting illusions and no strong quiet
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: voice stopped, and for a while there was a complete
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: silence in the room. Neither of the two men stirred
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: so much as a finger. Mister Ricardo once more was
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: conscious of the thrill of strange sensations. He looked round
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: the room. He could hardly believe that a room which
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: had been I was the home and shrine of mysteries
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: in the dark hours, could wear so bright and innocent
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: a freshness in the sunlight of the morning. There should
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: be something sinister which leaped to the eyes as you
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: crossed the threshold out of the real world. Mister Ricardo quoted,
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: I begin to see, yes, you begin to see, my friend,
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: that we must be very careful not to make the
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: big fools of ourselves. My friend of the Correege de
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: France saw a garden. But had he been sitting alone
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: in the window seat where you are listening through a
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: summer night to the music of the masquerade at the Zamarames,
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: might he not have seen the ball room, the dancers,
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: the scarlet cloak, and the rest of this story. You mean,
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: cried Ricardo, now fairly startled, that Kaladine came to us
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: with the fumes of mescal still working in his brain,
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: that the false world was the real one still for him.
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: I do not know, said Hanaud at present. I only
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: put questions. I ask them of you. I wish to
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: hear how they sound. Let us reason this problem out, Kaladin.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: Let us say, takes a great deal more of the
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: drug than my professor. It will have on him a
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: more powerful effect while it lasts, and it will last longer.
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: Fancy dress balls are familiar things, said Kaladein. The music
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: floating from the Samarames will revive old memories. He sits here,
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: the pageant takes shape before him. He sees himself taking
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: his part in it. Oh, he is happier here, sitting
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: quietly in his window seat than if he was actually
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: at the Samarames, For he is there more intensely, more vividly,
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: more really than if he had actually descended this staircase.
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: He lives his story through the story of a heated brain.
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: The scene of it changes in the way dreams have.
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: It becomes tragic and sinister. It oppresses him with horror,
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: and in the morning so obsessed with it that he
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: does not think to change his clothes. He is knocking
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: at your door. Mister Ricardo raised his eyebrows and moved, Ah,
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: you see a flaw in my argument, said Hanaud. But
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: mister Ricardo was weary too often in other days he
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: had been leaped upon and crounts for a careless remark.
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: Let me hear the end of your argument, he said.
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: There was, then, to your thinking, no temptation of jewels,
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: no theft, no murder. In a word, no celemne. She
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: was born of recollections and the music of the samaramis no,
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: cried Hanaud. Come with me, my friend. I am not
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: so sure that there was no Seleemyne. With a smile
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: upon his face, Hanau led the way across the room.
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: He had the dramatic instinct and rejoiced in it. He
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: was going to produce a surprise for his companion, and,
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: savoring the moment in advance, he managed his effects. He
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: walked towards the mantelpiece and stopped a few paces from it. Look.
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: Mister Ricardo looked and saw a broad Adam's mantelpiece. He
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: turned a bewildered face to his friend. You see nothing,
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: Hanno asked, nothing. Look again, I am not sure, but
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: is it not that Selimenee is supposing before you? Mister
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: Ricardo looked again. There was nothing to fix his eyes.
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: He saw a book or two, a cup, a vase
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: or two, and nothing else really except a very pretty
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: and apparently valuable piece of And suddenly mister Ricardo understood.
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: Straight in front of him, in the very center of
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: the mantelpiece, a figure in painted china was leaning against
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: a China style. It was the figure of a perfectly
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: impossible courtier, feminine and exquisite as could be, and appareled
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: also even to the scarlet heels, exactly as Kaladein had described.
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: Joan carew Hanau chuckled with satisfaction when he saw the
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: expression upon mister Ricardo's face. Ah, you understand, he said.
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: Do you dream, my friend, at times? Yes, like the
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: rest of us. Then recollect your dreams. Things people which
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: you have seen, perhaps that day, perhaps months ago, pop
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: in and out of them without making themselves prayed for.
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: You cannot understand why. Yet sometimes they cut their strange
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: capers there logically too, through subtle associations which the dreamer,
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: once awake, does not apprehend. Thus, our friend here sits
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: in the window, intoxicated by his drug. The music plays
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: in the Cimarames, the curtain goes up. In the heated
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: theater of his brain. He sees himself step upon the stage,
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: and who else meets him but the China figure from
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: this mantelpiece. To Ricardo, for a moment was all enthusiasm.
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: Then his doubt returned to him. What you say, my
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: dear Hanaud, is very ingenious. The figure upon the mantelpiece
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: is also extremely convincing. And I should be absolutely convinced.
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: But for one thing, yes, said Hanaud, watching his friend closely.
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: I am I may say it. I think a man
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: of the world, and I ask myself. Mister Ricardo never
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: could ask himself anything without assuming a manner of extreme pomposity.
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: I asked myself whether a young man who has given
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: up his social ties, who has become a hermit, and
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: that still more, who has become the slave of a drug,
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: would retain that scrupulous carefulness of his body which is
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: indicated by dressing for dinner when alone. Hanaud struck the
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: table with the palm of his hand and sat down
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: in a chair. Yes, that is the weak point in
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: my theory. You have hit it. I knew it was there,
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: that weak point, and I wondered whether you would seize it. Yes,
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: the consumers of drugs are careless, untidy, even unclean as
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: a rule, but not always. We must be careful. We
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: must wait for what, asked Ricardo, beaming with pride for
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: the answer to a telephone message, replied a no, with
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: a nod towards the door. Both men waited impatiently until
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: Kaladin came into the room. He wore now a suit
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: of blue serge. He had a clearer eye, his skin
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: a healthier look. He was altogether a more reputable person.
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: But he was plainly very ill at ease. He offered
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: his visitors cigarettes, he proposed refreshments, He avoided entirely and awkwardly,
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: the object of their visit, and O smiled. His theory
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: was working out. Sobered by his path, Kaladine had realized
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: the foolishness of which he had been guilty. You telephoned
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: to the Samarames, of course, said Hanaud, cheerfully. Kaledin grew red. Yes,
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: he stammered. Yet I did not hear that volume of Hellos,
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: which precedes telephonic connection in your country of leisure, Hanau continued,
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: I telephoned from my bedroom. You could not hear anything
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: in this room. Yes, yes, the walls of these old
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: houses are solid. Hanau was playing with his victim. And
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: when may we expect miss carew Why can't say, replied Kaladin.
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: It's very strange she is not in the hotel. I
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: am afraid that she's gone away, fled. Mister Ricardo and
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: Hanau exchanged a look. They were both satisfied. Now there
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: was no word of truth in Kaladine's story, then there
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: is no reason for us to wait, said Hanaud. I
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: shall have my holiday after all. And while he was
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: yet speaking, the voice of a newsboy calling out the
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: first edition of an evening paper because a distantly audible
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: Hanou broke off his farewell. For a moment, he listened
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: with his head bent. Then the voice was heard again. Confused, indistinct,
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: Hanou picked up his hat and cane, and, without another
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: word to Kaladein, raced down the stairs. Mister Ricardo followed him,
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: but when he reached the pavement, Hanau was half down
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: the little street at the corner. However, he stopped and
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: Ricardo joined him, coughing and out of breath. What's the matter,
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: he gasped. Listen, said Hanaud. At the bottom of Duke Street,
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: by Charing Cross station, the newsboy was shouting his wares.
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: Both men listened, and now the words came to them
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: mispronounced but decipherable, mysterious crime at the Zamarames Hotel. Ricardo
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: stared at his companion. You were wrong, then, he cried,
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: Kaladein's story was true for once in a way. SnO
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: was quite disconcerted. I don't no yet, he said, we
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: will buy a paper. But before he could move a step,
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: a taxicab turned into the Adelphi from the strand, and,
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: wheeling in front of their faces, stopped at Kaladein's door.
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: From the cab a girl descended, Let us go back,
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: said Hano. End of Part two, Part three of the
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: Affair at the Samarames Hotel by A. E. W. Mason.
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Part three
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: mister Ricardo could no longer complain. It was half past
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: eight when Kaladeen had first disturbed the formalities of his
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: house in Grosvenor Square. It was barely ten now, and
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: during that short time he had been flung from surprise
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: to surprise. He had looked underground on a morning of
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: fresh summer, and had been thrilled by the contrast between
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: the queer, sinister life before and within, and the open
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: call to joy of the green world above. He had
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: passed from incredulity to belief, from belief to incredulity. And
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: when at last incredulity was firmly established and the story
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: to which he had listened proved the emanation of a
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: drugged and heated brain, lo the facts buffeted him in
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: the face, and the story was shown to be true.
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: I am alive once more, mister Ricardo thought, as he
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: turned back with Hanaud, And in his excitement he cried
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: his thought aloud. Are you, said, Hanaud? And what is
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: life without a newspaper? If you will buy one from
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: that remarkably raucous boy at the bottom of the street,
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: I will keep an eye upon Khaledy's house till you
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: come back. Mister Ricardo spread down to Charing Cross and
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: brought back a copy of the fourth edition of the star.
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: He handed it to Hanaud, who stared at it doubtfully,
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: folded as it was. Shall we see what it says?
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: Ricardo asked, impatiently. By no means, Hanau answered, waking from
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: his reverie, tucking briskly away the paper into the tail
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: pocket of his coat. We will hear what miss Joan
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: Carew has to say, with our minds undisturbed by any discoveries.
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: I was wondering about something totally different. Yes, mister Ricardo
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: encouraged him. What was it? I was wondering, since it
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: is only ten o'clock, at what hour the first editions
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: of the evening papers appear? It is a question, mister
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: Ricardo replied, sentitiously, which the greatest minds have failed to answer.
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: And they walked along the street to the house. The
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: front door stood open during the day, like the front
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: door of any other house which is let off in
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: sets of rooms. Hanno and Ricardo went up the staircase
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: and rang the bell of Kaladin's door. A middle aged
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: woman opened it. Mister Khaladin is in, said hano I
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: will ask, replied the woman of what name shall I say?
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: It does not matter. I will go straight in, said
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: Hanno quietly. I was here with my friend about a
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: minute ago. He went straight forward and into Kaladine's parlor.
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: Mister Ricardo looked over his shoulder as he opened the
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: door and saw a girl turned to them suddenly, a
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: white face of terror, and flinch, as though already she
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: felt the hand of a constable upon her shoulder. Kalodine,
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: on the other hand, uttered a cry of relief. These
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: are my friends, he exclaimed to the girl, the friends
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: of whom I spoke to you, And to Hanaud, he said,
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: this is miss carew Hanau bowed. You shall tell me
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: your story, mademoiselle, he said, very gently, and a little
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: color returned to the girl's cheeks, a little courage revived
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: in her. But you have heard it, she answered, not
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: from you, said Hanaud. So for a second time in
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: that room she told the history of that night, only
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: this time the sunlight was warm upon the world. The
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: comfortable sounds of life's routine were borne through the windows,
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: and the girl herself wore the inconspicuous blue surge of
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: a thousand other girls afoot that morning. These trifles of
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: circumstance took the edge of sheer horror off her narrative,
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: so that, to tell the truth, mister Ricardo was a
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: trifle disappointed. He wanted a crescendo motive in his music,
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: whereas it had begun at its fortissimo. And now, however,
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: was the perfect listener. He listened without stirring, and with
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: most compassionate eyes, so that Joan Carew spoke only to him,
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: and to him each moment that passed with greater competence.
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: The life and sparkle of her had gone altogether. There
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: was nothing in her manner now to suggest the waywardness,
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: the gay, irresponsibility, the radiance which had attracted Kalady the
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: night before. She was just a very young and very
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: pretty girl, telling in a low and remorseful voice, of
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: the tragic dilemma to which she had brought herself. Of Celemina.
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: That remained was something exquisite and fragile in her beauty,
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: in the slimness of her figure, in her daintiness of
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: hand and foot, something almost of the hot house. But
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: the story she told was detail for detail, the same
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: which Kaladine had already related. Thank you, said Hanaud when
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: she had done. Now I must ask you two questions.
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: I will answer them. Mister Ricardo sat up. He began
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: to think of a third question, which he might put himself,
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: something uncommonly subtle and searching, which Hanaud would never have
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: thought of. But Hanaud put his questions, and Ricardo almost
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: jumped out of his chair. You will forgive me, miss Carew,
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: But have you ever stolen before? Joan Carew turned upon
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: Hanaud with spirit. Then a change swept over her face.
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: You have a right to ask, she answered. Never. She
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: looked into his eyes as she answered. Hanaud did not move.
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: He sat with a hand upon each knee, and led
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: to his second question. Early this morning, when you left
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: this room, you told mister Kaladein that you would wait
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: the Samarames until he telephoned to you. Yes. Yet when
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: he telephoned you had gone out. Yes, why, I will
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: tell you, said Joam Careo. I could not bear to
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: keep the little diamond chain in my room for a moment.
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: Even Hanaud was surprised he had lost sight of that complication.
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: Now he leaned forward anxiously, indeed with a greater anxiety
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: than he had yet shown in all this affair. I
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: was terrified, continued Joam Careo. I kept thinking they must
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: have found out by now. They will search everywhere. I
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: didn't reason. I lay in bed, expecting to hear every
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: moment aloud knocking on the door, besides the chain itself
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: being there in my bedroom, her chain, the dead woman's chain. No,
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: I couldn't endure it. I felt as if I had
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: stolen it. And then my maid brought him my tea.
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: You had locked it away, cried Hanaul. Yes, my maid
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: did not see it. Joan Carew explained how she had
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: risen dressed, wrapped the chain in a pad of cotton wool,
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: and enclosed it in an envelope. The envelope had not
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: the stamp of the hotel upon it. It was a
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: rather large envelope, one of a packet which she had
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: bought in a crowded shop in Oxford Street on her
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: way from Euston to the Simaramis. She had bought the
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: envelopes of that particular size in order that when she
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: sent her letter of introduction to the director of the
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: opera at Covent Garden, she might enclose with it a photograph.
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: And to whom did you send it? Asked mister Ricardo
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: to Missus Bloomerstein at the Simaramis. I printed the address carefully,
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: then I went out and posted it where Hanno inquired
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: in the big letter box of the post office at
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: the corner of Trafalgar Square. Hano looked at the girl sharply,
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: you had your wits about you, I see, he said,
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: What if the envelope gets lost, said Ricardo. Ando laughed grimly.
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: If one envelope is delivered at its address in London today,
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: it will be that one. He said. The news of
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: the crime is published, you see, and he swung round
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: to Joan. Did you know that, miss carew No, She
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: answered in an awe stricken voice. Well then it is.
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: Let us see what the special investigator has to say
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: about it. And Hanaud, with a deliberation which mister Ricardo
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: found quite excruciating, spread out the newspaper on the table
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: in front of him. Four There was only one new
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: fact in the couple of columns devoted to the mystery.
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: Missus Blumenstein had died from chloroform poisoning. She was of
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: a stout habit, and the thieves were not skilled in
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: the administration of the anesthetic it's murder none the less,
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: said Hanaud, and he gazed straight at Joan, asking her
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: by the direct summons of his eye, what she was
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: going to do. I must tell my story to the police,
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: she replied, painfully and slowly, but she did not hesitate.
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: She was announcing a meditated plan. Hanau neither agreed nor differed.
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: His face was blank, and when he spoke there was
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: no cordiality in his voice. Well, he asked, and what
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: is it that you have to say to the police,
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: miss that you went into the room to steal, and
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: that you were attacked by two strangers dressed as apaches
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: and masked. That is all, yes? And how many men
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: at the Samaramis ball were dressed as apaches and wore masks?
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: Come make a guess A hundred at the least, I
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: should think. So, then, what will your confession do beyond
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: I quote your English idiom putting you in the coach?
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: Mister Ricardo, now smiled with relief. Hanneau was taking a
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: definite line. His knowledge of idiomatic English might be incomplete,
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: but his heart was in the right place. The girl
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: traced a vague pattern on the tablecloth with her fingers.
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: Yet I think I must tell the police, she repeated,
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: looking up and dropping her eyes again. Mister Ricardo notice
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: that her eyelashes were very long. For the first time.
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: Hannau's face relaxed. And I think you are quite right,
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: he cried heartily to mister Ricardo's surprise. Tell them the
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: truth before they suspect it, and they will help you
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: out of the affair if they can not a doubt
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: of it. Come, I will go with you myself to
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: Scotland Yard. Thank you, said Joan, and the pair drove
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: away in a cab together. Hana returned to Grosvenor Square
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: alone and lunched with Ricardo. It was all right, he said.
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: The police were very kind. Miss Joan Carew told her
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: sorry to them, as she had told it to us. Fortunately,
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: the envelope with the aluminum Jane had already been delivered
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: and was in their hands. They were much mystified about it,
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: but Miss Jones's story gave them a reasonable explanation. I
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: think they were inclined to believe her, and if she
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: is speaking the truth, they will keep her out of
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: the witness box if they can. She is to stay
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: here in London, then asked Ricardo. Oh yes, she is
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: not to go. She will present her letters at the
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: opera house and secure an engagement if she can. The
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: criminals might be lulled thereby into a belief that the
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: girl had kept the whole strange incident to herself, and
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: that there was nowhere even a knowledge of the disguise
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: which they had used. Hannau spoke as carelessly as if
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: the matter were not very important, and Ricardo, with an
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: unusual flash of shrewdness, said, it is clear, my friend,
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: that you do not think those two men will ever
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: be caught at all. Hanau shrugged his shoulders. There is
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: always a chance. But listen, there is a room with
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: a hundred guns, one of which is loaded. Outside the
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: room there are a hundred pigeons, one of which is white.
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: You are taken into the room blindfold, You choose the
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: loaded gun, and you shoot the one white pigeon. That
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: is the value of the chance. But exclaimed Ricardo, those
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: pearls were of great value, and I have heard at
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: a trial expert evidence given by pearl merchants. All agree
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: that the pearls of great value are known, so when
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: they come upon the market. That is true, Hanau interrupted, imperturbably.
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: But how are they known by their weight? Said mister Ricardo.
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: Exactly replied Hanaul, But did you not also hear at
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: this trial of yours that pearls can be peeled like
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: an onion. No, it is true, remove a skin, two skins.
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: The weight is altered. The pearl is a trifle smaller.
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: It has lost a little of its value. Yes, but
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: you can no longer identify it as the so and
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: so pearl which belonged to this or that sultan was
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: stolen by the Vizier of bought by Messrs Lustra and
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: Stanopolas of Hatton Garden, and subsequently sold to the wealthy
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: Missus Blumenstein. No, your pearl has vanished altogether. There is
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: a new pearl which can be traded. He looked at Ricardo,
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: Who shall say that those pearls are not already in
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: one of the queer little back streets of Amsterdam undergoing
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: their transformation. Mister Ricardo was not persuaded, because he would
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: not be. I have some experience in these matters, he
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: said loftily to Hanau. I am sure that we shall
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: lay our hands upon the criminals. We have never failed,
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: Hanau agrinned from ear to ear. The only experience which
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: mister Ricardo had ever had was gained on the shores
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: of Geneva and at Ech under Hanau's tuition. But Hanau
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 1: did not argue, and there the matter rested. The days
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: flew by. It was London's playtime. The green and gold
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: of early summer deepened and darkened, wondrous warm nights under
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: England's pale, blue sky, when the streets rang with the
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: joyous feet of youth, led in clear dawns and lovely
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: glowing days. Hanau made acquaintance with the wooded reaches of
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: the Thames. Joam Carew sang Louise at Covent Garden with
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: notable success, and the affair of the Samaramis Hotel, in
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: the minds of the few who remembered it was already
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: at to the long list of unfathomed mysteries. But towards
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: the end of May there occurred a startling development. John
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: Carew wrote to mister Ricardo that she would call upon
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: him in the afternoon, and she begged him to secure
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: the presence of Hanau. She came as the clock struck.
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: She was pale and agitated, and in the room where
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: Kaladine had first told the story of her visit. She
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: told another story, which, to mister Ricardo's thinking, was yet
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: more strange, and yes, yet more suspicious. It has been
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: going on for some time, she began. I thought of
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: coming to you at once, and then I wondered whether
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: if I waited now, you'll never believe me. Let us hear,
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: said Hanaud patiently. I began to dream of that room.
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: The two men disguised and masked the still figure in
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: the bed. Night after night, I was terrified to go
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: to sleep. I felt the hand upon my mouth. I
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: used to catch myself falling asleep and walk about the
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: room with all the lights up to keep myself awake.
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: But you couldn't, said Hanaud with a smile. Only the
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: old can do that. No, I couldn't, she admitted, And
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: oh my nights were horrible until she paused and looked
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: at her companions doubtfully, until one night the mask slipped.
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: What cried Hanaud in a note of sternness, rang suddenly
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: in his voice, what are you saying? With a desperate
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: rush of words, and the color staining her forehead and cheeks.
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: Joan carew continued, It's true the mask slipped on the
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: face of one of the men, of the man who
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: held me, only a little way. It just left his
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: forehead visible. No more, well, asked Hanaud, and mister Ricardo
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: leaned forward, swaying between the austerity of criticism and the
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: desire to believe so thrilling a revelation. I waked up.
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: The girl continued in the darkness, and for a moment
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: the whole scene remained vividly with me, for just long
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: enough for me to fix clearly in my mind the
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: figure of the apache with a white forehead, head showing
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: above the mask. When was that, asked Ricardo a fortnight ago.
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: Why didn't you come with your story? Then, I waited,
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: said Joan. What I had to tell wasn't yet helpful.
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: I thought that another night the mask might slip lower. Still. Besides, I, Oh,
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: it is difficult to describe just what I felt. I
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: felt it important just to keep that photograph in my mind,
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: not to think about it, not to talk about it,
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: not even to look at it too often, lest I
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: should begin to imagine the rest of the face and
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: find something familiar in the man's carriage and shape. When
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: there was nothing really familiar to me at all. Do
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: you understand that, she asked, with her eyes fixed in
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: a peal on Hanau's face. Yes, reply to know. I
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: follow your thought. I thought there was a chance, now,
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: the strangest chance, that the truth might be reached. I
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: did not wish to spoil it. And she turned eagerly
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: to Ricardo, as if having persuaded to know, she would
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 1: now turn her batteries on his companion. My whole point
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: of view was changed. I was no longer afraid of
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: falling asleep lest I should dream. I wished to dream,
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: but but you could not, suggested Hanau. No, that is
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: the truth, replied Joam Carew. Whereas before I was anxious
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: to keep awake and yet must sleep from sheer fatigue,
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: now that I tried consciously to put myself to sleep,
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 1: I remained awake all through the night, and only towards
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: the morning, when the light was coming through the blinds,
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: dropped off into a heavy, dreamless slumber. Hano nodded, it
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: is a very perverse world, miss Carew, and things go
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: by contraries. Ricardo listened for some note of irony in
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: Hanau's voice, some look of disbelief in his face, But
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: there was neither the one nor the other. Hanau was
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: listening patiently. Then came my rehearsals, Joam Carew continued, and
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: that wonderful opera drove everything else out of my head.
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: I had such a chance, if only I could make
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: use of it. But when I went to bed now
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: I went with that haunting music in my ears, the
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: Call of Paris. Oh you must remember it, But can
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: you realize what it must mean to a girl who's
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: going to sing it for the first time in Covent Garden.
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 1: Mister Ricardo saw his opportunity. He, the connoisseur to whom
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: the Psychology of the Green Room was an open book,
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 1: could answer that question. It is true, my friend, he
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: informed Hanaul with quiet authority. The great march of events
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: leaves the artists cold. He lives aloof while the tumbrils
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: thunder in the streets. He adds a delicate tent to
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: the picture, he is engaged upon, or recalls his triumph
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: in his last great part. Thank you, said Hanaud gravely.
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: And now miss Carew may perhaps resume her story. It
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: was the very night of my debut, she continued, I
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: had supper with some friends. A great artist, Carmen Belleri,
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: honored me with her presence. I went home excited, and
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: that night I dreamed again. Yes, this time, the chin,
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: the lips, the eyes were visible. There was only a
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: black strip across the middle of the face, and I thought, nay.
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: I was sure that if that strip vanished, I should
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: know the man. And did it vanish? Three nights afterwards,
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 1: and you did know the man. The girl's face became troubled.
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: She frowned. I knew the face, that was all she answered.
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: I was disappointed. I had never spoken to the man.
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: I am sure of that still, but somewhere I have
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: seen him. You don't even remember. When asked, no, no,
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 1: junk Kharoo reflected for a moment with her eyes upon
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: the carpet, and then flung up her head with a
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: gesture of despair. No. I try all the time to remember,
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: but it is no good. Mister Ricardo could not restrain
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: a movement of indignation. He was being played with. The girl,
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: with her fantastic story, had worked him up to a
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: real bitch of excitement, only to make a fool of him.
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: All his earlier suspicions flowed back into his mind. What if,
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 1: after all, she was implicated in the murder and the theft.
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: What if, with a perverse cunning, she had told Hanaud
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: and himself just enough of what she knew, just enough
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 1: of the truth to persuade them to protect her. What
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: if her frank confession of her own overpowering impulse to
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 1: steal the necklace was nothing more than a subtle appeal
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: to the sentimental pity of men, an appeal based upon
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: a wider knowledge of men's weaknesses than a girl of
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: nineteen or twenty ought to have. Mister Ricardo cleared his
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: throat and sat forward in his chair. He was girding
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: himself for a singularly searching interrogatory when Hanau asked the
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: most irrelevant of questions, how did you pass the evening
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: of that night when you first dreamed? Complete the face
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: of your assailant, joam Carew reflected. Then her face cleared,
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: I know, she exclaimed, I was at the opera, and
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: what was being given the jewels of the Madonna. Hano
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: nodded his head to Ricardo. It seemed that he had
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: expected precisely that answer. Now, he continued, you are sure
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: that you have seen this man, Yes, very well, said Hanau.
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: There is a game you play at children's parties. Is
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: there not animal, vegetable or mineral? And always you get
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: the answer. Let us play that game for a few minutes,
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 1: you and I. Joan Carew drew up her chair to
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: the table and sat with her chin propped upon her
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: hands and her eyes fixed on Hanaud's face. As he
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 1: put each question, She pondered on it and answered. If
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: she answered doubtfully, he pressed it. You crossed on the
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: Lucania from New York. Yes, picture to yourself, the dining room,
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: the tables, You have the picture quite clear. Yes. Was
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 1: it at breakfast that you saw him? No? At luncheon? No,
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: at dinner. She paused for a moment, summoning before her
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: eyes the travelers at the tables. No, not in the
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: dining table at all. Then no. In the library when
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 1: you were writing letters, did you not one day lift
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 1: your head and see him. No? On the promenade deck,
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: did he pass you when you sat in your deck chair?
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: Or did you pass him when he sat in his chair? No.
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: Step by step, Hano took her back to New York,
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 1: to her hotel two journeys in the train. Then he
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: carried her to Milan, where she had studied. It was
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: extraordinary to Ricardo to realize how much Hano knew of
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: the curriculum of a student aspiring to grand opera. From Milan,
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: he brought her again to New York, and at the last,
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: with a start of joy, she cried, yes, it was there.
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 1: Hano took his handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his forehead. Uh,
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: he grunted. To concentrate the mind on a day like this,
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: it makes one hot. I can tell you now, Miss Carew,
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: let us hear. It was at a concert at the
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: house of a Missus starlings Field in Fifth Avenue, and
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: in the afternoon John Carew sang. She was a stranger
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: to New York and very nervous. She saw nothing but
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: a mist of faces while she sang. But when she
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: had finished, the mist cleared, and as she left the
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: improvised stage she saw the man. He was standing against
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 1: the wall in a line of men. There was no
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: particular reason why her eyes should single him out, except
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: that he was paying no attention to her singing, and
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: indeed she forgot him altogether. Afterwards, I just happened to
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: see him clearly and distinctly. She said. He was tall,
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 1: clean shaven, rather dark, not particularly young, thirty five or so,
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 1: I should say, a man with a heavy face and
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 1: beginning to grow stout. He moved away whilst I was
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 1: bowing to the audience, and I noticed him afterwards walking
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: about talking to people. Do you remember to whom? No?
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: Did he notice you? Do you think? I am sure
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: he didn't, The girl replied emphatically. He never looked at
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: the stage where I was singing, and he never looked
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: towards me afterwards. End of Part three, Part four of
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: the Affair at the Samaramis Hotel by A. E. W. Mason.
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: This libribox recording is in the public domain. Part four.
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: She gave so far as she could remember the names
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: of such guests and singers as she knew at that party,
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: and that is all she said. Thank you, said Hano.
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: It is perhaps a good deal, but it is perhaps
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: nothing at all. You will let me hear from you,
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 1: she cried, as she rose to her feet. Miss Carew,
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 1: I am at your service, he returned. She gave him
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: her hand timidly, and he took it cordially. For mister Ricardo.
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: She had merely a bow about which recognized that he
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: distrusted her, and that she had no right to be offended.
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: Then she went and Hanau smiled across the table at Ricardo. Yes,
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: he said, all that you are thinking is true enough.
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: A man who slips out of society to indulge a
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: passion for a drug in greater peace. A girl who,
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: on her own confession, tried to steal and to crown
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 1: all this fantastic story. It is natural to disbelieve every
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: word of it. But we disbelieve before when we left
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: Kaladine's lodging in the Adelphi, and we were wrong. Let
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: us be warned. You have an idea, exclaimed Ricardo. Perhaps,
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: said Hanaud, and he looked down the theater column of
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: the times. Let us distract ourselves by going to the theater.
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: You are the most irritating man, mister Ricardo broke out impulsively.
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: If I had to paint your portrait, I should paint
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: you with your finger against the side of your nose,
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: saying mysteriously, I know when you know nothing at all.
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: Hano made a schoolboy's grimace. We will go and sit
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: in your box at the opera tonight, he said, and
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 1: you shall explain to me all through the beautiful music
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: the theory of the tonic sol fat. They reached Covent
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: Garden before the curtain rose. Mister Ricardo's box was on
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: the lowest tier and next to the omnibus box. We
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: are near the stage, said Hanaud, as he took his
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: seat in the corner and so arranged the curtain that
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: he could see and yet was hidden from view. I
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 1: like that the theater was full stalls and boxes, shimmered
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: with jewels and satin, and all that was famous that
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 1: season for beauty and distinction had made its tryst there
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 1: that night. Yes, this is wonderful, said Hanaud. What opera
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: do they play? He glanced at his program and cried,
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: with a little start of surprise. We are in luck.
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: It is the jewels of the Madonna. Do you believe
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: in omens? Mister Ricardo asked, he had not yet recovered
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: from his rebuff of the afternoon. No, but I believe
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 1: that Carmen Balari is at her best in this part,
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: said Eno. Mister Ricardo belonged to that body of critics
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: which must need spoiler enjoyment by comparisons and recollections of
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: other great artists. He was at a disadvantage, certainly to night,
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: for the opera was new, but he did his best.
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: He imagined others in the part. And when the great
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: scene came at the end of the second act, and
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: Carmen balari On obtaining from her lover the jewel stolen
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: from the sacred image, gave such a display of passion
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 1: as fairly enthralled that audience, mister Ricardo sighed quietly and patiently.
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: How Calvat could have brought out the psychological value of
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: that scene, he murmured, And he was quite vexed with Hannau,
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 1: who sat with his opera glasses held to his eyes
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: and every sense apparently concentrated on the stage. The curtains
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: rose and rot again when the act was concluded, and
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: still Hanau sat motionless as the sphynx, staring through his glasses.
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: That is all, said Ricardo. When the curtain fell for
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: the fifth time, they will come out, said Hano. Wait,
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 1: and from between the curtains, Carmen Valeri was led out
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 1: into the full glare of the footlights, with the panoply
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 1: of jewels flashing on her breast. Then at last Hanou
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: put down his glasses and turned to Ricardo with a
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: look of exultation and genuine delight upon his face, which
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 1: filled that season worn de la tomt with envy. What
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 1: a night, said Hanau, What a wonderful night, and he
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 1: applauded until he split his gloves. At the end of
• 1:21:42
  Speaker 1: the opera, he cried, we will go and take supper
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: at the simaramis, yes, my friend, we will finish our
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 1: evening like gallant gentlemen. Come, let us not think of
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 1: the morning, And boisterously he slapped Ricardo in the small
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: of the back. In spite of his boast, however, Hanna
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: hardly touched to supper, and he played with rather than
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: drank his brandy and soda. He had a little table
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 1: to which he was accustomed beside a glass screen in
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: the depths of the room, and he sat with his
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: back to the wall, watching the groups which poured in.
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 1: Suddenly his face lighted up. Here is carmea blarie, he cried,
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 1: once more, we are in luck. Is it not that
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: she is beautiful? Mister Ricardo turned languidly about in his
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 1: chair and put up his eye glass. So so he
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 1: said Ah, returned Hanaud. Then her companion will interest you
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: still more, for he is the man who murdered Missus Blumenstein.
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: Mister Ricardo jumped so that his eye glass fell down
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: and tinkled on its cord against the buttons of his waistcoat.
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 1: What he exclaimed, It's impossible, he looked again. Certainly the
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: man fits Joan Carew's description. But he turned back to
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: Hanaud utterly astounded. And as he looked at the Frenchman,
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: all his earlier recollections of him, of his swift deductions,
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: of the subtle imagination which his heavy body so well concealed,
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 1: crowded in upon Ricardo and convinced him. How long have
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 1: you known, he asked, in a whisper of awe, since
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: ten o'clock to night. But you will have to find
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: the necklace before you can prove it. The necklace, said
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: Hanau carelessly. Oh, that is already found. Mister Ricardo had
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: been longing for a thrill. He had it now, he
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: felt it in his very spine. Is found, he said,
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 1: in a startled whisper. Yes, Ricardo turned again, with as
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 1: much indifference as he could assume, towards the couple. Who
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 1: were settling down at their table, the man with a
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: surly indifference, Carmen Valeri with the radiance of a woman
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 1: who has just achieved a triumph and is now free
• 1:23:47
  Speaker 1: to enjoy the fruits of it. Confusedly, recollections returned to
• 1:23:51
  Speaker 1: Ricardo of questions put that afternoon by Hanaul to Joon Careo,
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 1: subtle questions into which the name of Carmen Valeri was continued,
• 1:24:00
  Speaker 1: entering she was a woman of thirty, certainly beautiful, with
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 1: a clear, pale face and eyes like the night. Then
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 1: she is implicated too, he said, what a change for her,
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 1: he thought, from the stage of caval Garden to the
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: felon's cell, from the gay supper room of the Samaramis,
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 1: with its bright frocks and its babble of laughter, to
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 1: the silence and the ignominious garb of the work rooms
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: in Alsbury Prison, she exclaimed Hanau, and in his passion
• 1:24:30
  Speaker 1: for the contrasts of drama, Ricardo was almost disappointed. She
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: has nothing whatever to do with it. She knows nothing.
• 1:24:38
  Speaker 1: Andre Fabat there, yes, but Carmen Valeri, She's as stupid
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 1: as an owl and loves him beyond words. Do you
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 1: want to know how stupid she is. You shall know.
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 1: I asked mister Clements, the director of the opera house,
• 1:24:52
  Speaker 1: to take supper with us, And here he is. Hanau
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 1: stood up and shook hands with the director. He was
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 1: of the world of business rather than of art, and
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: long experience of the ways of tenors and prima donnas
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: had given him a good humored cynicism. They are spoilt children,
• 1:25:10
  Speaker 1: all tantrums and vanity, he said, and they would ruin
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: you to keep a rival out of the theater, He
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 1: told them anecdote upon anecdote, and Carmen Valeri. Hanau asked,
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: in a pause, is she troublesome this season? As Ben
• 1:25:25
  Speaker 1: replied Clemence dryly. At present she is playing at being good.
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: But she gave me a turn some weeks ago. He
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: turned to Ricardo superstitions her trouble, and Andre Favat knows
• 1:25:36
  Speaker 1: that she left him behind in America this spring America suddenly,
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 1: cried Ricardo, so suddenly that Clemens looked at him in surprise.
• 1:25:46
  Speaker 1: She was singing in New York. Of course, during the
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: winter he returned well, she left him behind, And I
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 1: was shaking hands with myself when he began to deal
• 1:25:54
  Speaker 1: the cards over there. She came to me in a panic.
• 1:25:57
  Speaker 1: She had just had a cable. She could didn't sing
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 1: on Friday night. There was a black knave next to
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: the nine of diamonds. She couldn't sing for worlds, and
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 1: it was the first night of the Jewels of the Madonna.
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 1: Imagine the fix I was in. What did you do,
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: asked Ricardo. The only thing there was to do, replied Clemence,
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 1: with a shrug of the shoulders. I cabled father to money,
• 1:26:20
  Speaker 1: and he dealt the cards again. She came to me
• 1:26:23
  Speaker 1: a beaming Oh, she had been so distressed to put
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 1: me in the cart. But what could she do now?
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 1: There was a red queen next to the Ace of hearts,
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: so she could sing without a scruple, so long, of course,
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 1: as she didn't pass a funeral on the way down
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 1: to the opera house. Luckily she did not. But my
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 1: money brought Fabard over here, and now I'm living on
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 1: a volcano. For he's the greatest scoundrel, unhung. He never
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 1: has a farthing, however much she gives him. He's a blackmailer,
• 1:26:53
  Speaker 1: he's a swindler. He has no manners and no graces.
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 1: He looks like a butcher, and treats her as if
• 1:26:59
  Speaker 1: she were. He never goes near the opera except when
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 1: she is singing in this part, and she worships the
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 1: ground he walks on. Well, I suppose it's time to go.
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 1: The lights had been turned off, the great room was emptying.
• 1:27:13
  Speaker 1: Mister Ricardo and his friends rose to go, but at
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 1: the door Hanaud detained mister Clements, and they talked together
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 1: alone for some little while, greatly to mister Ricardo's annoyance.
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 1: Hannau's good humor, however, when he rejoined his friend was
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 1: enough for two. I apologize my friend, with my hand
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 1: on my heart, for it was for your sake that
• 1:27:34
  Speaker 1: I stayed behind. You have a meretricious taste for melodrama,
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 1: which I deeply deplore, but which I mean to gratify.
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 1: I ought to leave for Paris tomorrow, but I shall not.
• 1:27:45
  Speaker 1: I shall stay until Thursday. And he skipped upon the pavement.
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 1: As they walked home to Grosvenor Square. Mister Ricardo bubbled
• 1:27:53
  Speaker 1: with questions, but he knew his man he would get
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 1: no answer to any one of them tonight, soh he
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: worked out the problem for himself as he lay awake
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 1: in his bed, and he came down to breakfast next morning,
• 1:28:06
  Speaker 1: fatigued but triumphant Anda was already chipping off the top
• 1:28:10
  Speaker 1: of his egg at the table. So I see you
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 1: have found it all out, my friend, he said. Not
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 1: at all, replied Ricardo modestly, And you will not mind.
• 1:28:20
  Speaker 1: I am sure if I followed the usual custom and
• 1:28:23
  Speaker 1: wish you a good morning. Not at all, said Hano.
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 1: I am all for good manners myself. He dipped his
• 1:28:29
  Speaker 1: spoon into his egg. But I'm longing to hear the
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 1: line of your reasoning. Mister Ricardo did not need much pressing.
• 1:28:36
  Speaker 1: Joam Carew saw Andre Favett at Missus Starlingschieal's party and
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: saw him with Carmen Valari. For Carmen Valari was there.
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 1: I remember that you asked Joan for the names of
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: the artists who sang, and Carmen Valery was amongst them.
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 1: Ando nodded his head exactly no doubt. Joam Carew noticed
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 1: Carmen Valary particularly, and so took unco consciously into her
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: mind an impression of the man who was with her,
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: Andre Favett, of his build, of his walk, of his type.
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 1: Again Hanau agreed. She forgets the man altogether, but the
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 1: picture remains latent in her mind, an undeveloped film. Hanau
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: looked up in surprise, and the surprise flattered mister Ricardo.
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 1: Not for nothing had he tossed about in his bed
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: for the greater part of the night. Then came the
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 1: tragic night at the Samaramis. She does not consciously recognize
• 1:29:31
  Speaker 1: her assailant, but she dreams the scene again and again,
• 1:29:35
  Speaker 1: and by a process of unconscious cerebration, the figure of
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 1: the man becomes familiar. Finally, she makes her debut, is
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 1: entertained at supper afterwards, and meets once more common Valerie. Yes,
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: for the first time since missus Starlingcheald's party, interjected Hanau.
• 1:29:54
  Speaker 1: She dreams again. She remembers asleep more than she remembers
• 1:29:58
  Speaker 1: when awake. The presence of Arma Valerie at her supper
• 1:30:01
  Speaker 1: party has its effect by a process of association. She
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: recalls Fabette and the mask slips on the face of
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 1: her assailant. Some days later, she goes to the opera.
• 1:30:12
  Speaker 1: She hears Carma Valerie sing in the Jewels of the Madonna.
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 1: No doubt the passion of her acting, which I am
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 1: more prepared to acknowledge this morning than I was last night,
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: affects Joonkaroo powerfully emotionally. She goes to bed with her
• 1:30:27
  Speaker 1: head full of Carmen Valerie, and she dreams not of
• 1:30:30
  Speaker 1: Carmen Valerie, but of the man who is unconsciously associated
• 1:30:34
  Speaker 1: with Carman Valerie. In her thoughts. The mask vanishes altogether.
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 1: She sees her assailant now as his portrait limbed in
• 1:30:42
  Speaker 1: her mind. Would know him if she met him in
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 1: the street, though she does not know by what means
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: she identified him. Yes, said Hano. It is curious, the
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: brain working while the body sleeps, the dream revealing what
• 1:30:56
  Speaker 1: thought cannot recall. Mister Ricardo was delighted. He was taken seriously,
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 1: But of course, he said, I could not have worked
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: the problem out but for you. You knew of Andre Favett
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: and the kind of man he was. Hano laughed, Yes,
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: that is always my one little advantage. I know all
• 1:31:16
  Speaker 1: the cosmopolitan blackguards of Europe. His laughter ceased suddenly, and
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: he brought his clinched fists heavily down upon the table.
• 1:31:24
  Speaker 1: Here is one of them who will be very well
• 1:31:26
  Speaker 1: out of the world, my friend, he said, very quietly,
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 1: but there was a look of force in his face
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: and a hard light in his eyes, which made mister
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 1: Ricardo shiver. For a few moments, there was silence. Then
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 1: Ricardo asked, but have you evidence enough? Yes, your two
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 1: chief witnesses, Kaladine and Joonkaroo. You said it yourself. There
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: are facts to discredit them. Will they be believed? But
• 1:31:52
  Speaker 1: they won't appear in the case at all. Hano said, wait, wait,
• 1:31:56
  Speaker 1: and once more he smiled. By the way, what is
• 1:31:59
  Speaker 1: the number of Kaldie's house. Ricardo gave it, and Hanaud
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 1: therefore wrote a letter. It is all for your sake,
• 1:32:06
  Speaker 1: my friend, he said, with a chuckle. Nonsense, said Ricardo.
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 1: You have the spirit of the theater in your bones. Well,
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 1: I shall not deny it, said Hanau, and he sent
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: out the letter to the nearest pillar box. Mister Ricardo
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: waited in a fever of impatience until Thursday came. At breakfast,
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 1: Hanau would talk of nothing but the news of the day.
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 1: At luncheon, he was no better. The affair of the
• 1:32:30
  Speaker 1: Cimarames Hotel seemed a thousand miles from any of his thoughts.
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 1: But at five o'clock he said as he drank his tea.
• 1:32:38
  Speaker 1: You know, of course that we go to the opera tonight, yes,
• 1:32:41
  Speaker 1: do we. Yes, Your young friend Kalidine, by the way,
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 1: will join us in your box. That is a very
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 1: kind of him, I am sure, said mister Ricardo. The
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 1: two men arrived before the rising of the curtain, and
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 1: in the crowded lobby, a stranger spoke a few words
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 1: to Hanaud, but what he said Ricardo would not hear.
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 1: They took their seats in the box and Hanaud looked
• 1:33:03
  Speaker 1: at his program. Ah, it is il balo domaciera tonight.
• 1:33:08
  Speaker 1: We always seemed to hit upon something appropriate, don't we.
• 1:33:12
  Speaker 1: Then he raised his eyebrows. Oh do you see that
• 1:33:16
  Speaker 1: our pretty young friend Joan Carew is singing in the
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 1: role of the Page. It is a showy part. There
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 1: is a particular melody with a long, succaint drill in it.
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 1: As far as I remember, mister Ricardo was not deceived
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 1: by Hanaud's apparent ignorance of the opera to be given
• 1:33:33
  Speaker 1: that night, and of the part Joan Carew was to take.
• 1:33:37
  Speaker 1: He was therefore not surprised when Hanaud added, by the way,
• 1:33:41
  Speaker 1: I should let Kaledine find it all out for himself.
• 1:33:45
  Speaker 1: Mister Ricardo nodded sagely. Yes, that is wise. I had
• 1:33:50
  Speaker 1: thought of it myself, But he had done nothing of
• 1:33:53
  Speaker 1: the kind. He was only aware that the elaborate stage
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 1: management in which Aneau delighted was working out to the
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: desired climax, whatever that climax might be. Kaldein entered the
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: box a few minutes later and shook hands with them awkwardly.
• 1:34:09
  Speaker 1: It was kind of you to invite me, he said,
• 1:34:12
  Speaker 1: and very ill at ease. He took a seat between
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 1: them and concentrated his attention on the house as it
• 1:34:18
  Speaker 1: filled up. There's the overture, said Hanaud. The curtains divided
• 1:34:22
  Speaker 1: and were festoon on either side of the stage. The
• 1:34:26
  Speaker 1: singers came on in their turn. The page appeared to
• 1:34:29
  Speaker 1: a burst of delicate applause. Joam Carew had made a
• 1:34:33
  Speaker 1: small name for herself that season, and with a stifled cry,
• 1:34:37
  Speaker 1: Kaladein shot back in the box as if he had
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: been struck. Even then, mister Ricardo did not understand. He
• 1:34:44
  Speaker 1: only realized that John Carew was looking extraordinarily trim and
• 1:34:49
  Speaker 1: smart in her boy's dress. He had to look from
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 1: his program to the stage and back again several times
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 1: before the reason of Kaladein's exclamation dawned on him. When
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 1: it did, he was horrified. Hanau, in his craving for
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 1: dramatic effects, must have lost his head altogether. Joan Carew
• 1:35:08
  Speaker 1: was wearing, from the ribbon in her hair to the
• 1:35:11
  Speaker 1: scarlet heels of her buckled satin shoes, the same dress
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: as she had worn on the tragic night at the
• 1:35:18
  Speaker 1: Samarami Hotel. He leaned forward in his agitation to Hanau,
• 1:35:23
  Speaker 1: you must be mad. Suppose Fabat is in the theater
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 1: and sees her. He'll be over on the continent by
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 1: one in the morning. Now he won't, replied Hanaud. For
• 1:35:32
  Speaker 1: one thing, he never comes to Covent Garden unless one
• 1:35:35
  Speaker 1: opera with Carmen Valeri and the chief part is being played,
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 1: as you heard the other night at supper. For a
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 1: second thing, he isn't in the house. I know where
• 1:35:45
  Speaker 1: he is. He is gambling in Dean Street. Soho for
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 1: a third thing, my friend, He couldn't leave by the
• 1:35:52
  Speaker 1: nine o'clock train for the continent if he wanted to.
• 1:35:55
  Speaker 1: Arrangements have been made for a fourth thing. He wouldn't
• 1:35:58
  Speaker 1: wish to he had a really remarkable reasons for desiring
• 1:36:02
  Speaker 1: to stay in London. But he will come to the
• 1:36:05
  Speaker 1: theater later. Clements will send him an urgent message with
• 1:36:09
  Speaker 1: the result that he will go straight to Clement's office. Meanwhile,
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 1: we can enjoy ourselves. Huh. Never was the difference between
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 1: the amateur de la tom and the genuine professional more
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 1: clearly exhibited than by the behavior of the two men
• 1:36:24
  Speaker 1: during the rest of the performance. Mister Ricardo might have
• 1:36:27
  Speaker 1: been sitting on a coal fire from his jumps and twistings.
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 1: Hanno stolidly enjoyed the music, and when Joan Carew sang
• 1:36:35
  Speaker 1: her famous solo, his hands clamored for an encore, louder
• 1:36:40
  Speaker 1: than anyone's in the boxes. Certainly, whether excitement was keeping
• 1:36:44
  Speaker 1: her up or no, Joan Carew had never sung better
• 1:36:47
  Speaker 1: in her life. Her voice was clear and fresh as
• 1:36:50
  Speaker 1: a bird's, a bird with a soul inspiring its song.
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 1: Even Kaladein drew his chair forward again and sat with
• 1:36:58
  Speaker 1: his eyes fixed upon the stone, and quite carried out
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 1: of himself. He drew a deep breath at the end.
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 1: She is wonderful, he said, like a man waking up.
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 1: She is very good replied mister Ricardo, correcting Kdaledean's transports.
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 1: We will go round to the back of the stage,
• 1:37:17
  Speaker 1: said Hanaud. They passed through the iron door and across
• 1:37:20
  Speaker 1: the stage to a long corridor with a row of
• 1:37:23
  Speaker 1: doors on one side. There were two or three men
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 1: standing about in evening dress, as if waiting for friends
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 1: in the dressing rooms. At the third door, Hanaud stopped
• 1:37:33
  Speaker 1: and knocked. The door was opened by Joan Carew, still
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 1: dressed in her green and gold. Her face was troubled,
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 1: her eyes afraid. Courage little one, said Hanaud, and he
• 1:37:44
  Speaker 1: slipped past her into the room. It is as well
• 1:37:47
  Speaker 1: that my ugly familiar face should not be seen too soon.
• 1:37:51
  Speaker 1: The door closed, and one of the strangers loitered along
• 1:37:54
  Speaker 1: the corridor and spoke to a callboy. The callboy ran
• 1:37:57
  Speaker 1: off for five minutes more, mister Ricardo waited with a
• 1:38:01
  Speaker 1: beating heart. He had the joy of a man in
• 1:38:03
  Speaker 1: the center of things. All those people driving homewards in
• 1:38:07
  Speaker 1: their motor cars along the strand how he pitied them.
• 1:38:11
  Speaker 1: Then at the end of the corridor he saw Clements
• 1:38:14
  Speaker 1: and Andrea Favett. They approached, discussing the possibility of Carmen
• 1:38:18
  Speaker 1: Valery's appearance in London Opera during the next season. We
• 1:38:22
  Speaker 1: have to look ahead, my dear friend, said Clemence, And
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 1: though I should be extremely sorry, at that moment they
• 1:38:28
  Speaker 1: were exactly opposite Joam Carew's door. It opened, she came
• 1:38:32
  Speaker 1: out with a nervous movement. She shut the door behind her.
• 1:38:36
  Speaker 1: At the sound Andrea father turned and he saw drawn
• 1:38:40
  Speaker 1: up against the panels of the door, with a look
• 1:38:42
  Speaker 1: of terror in her face, the same gay figure which
• 1:38:45
  Speaker 1: had interrupted him in Missus Blumenstein's bedroom. There was no
• 1:38:49
  Speaker 1: need for Joan to act in the presence of this man.
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 1: Her fear was as real as it had been on
• 1:38:54
  Speaker 1: the night of the Cimarames fall. She trembled from head
• 1:38:58
  Speaker 1: to foot, her eyes closed. She seemed about to swoon.
• 1:39:03
  Speaker 1: Fabert stared and uttered an oath. His face turned white.
• 1:39:07
  Speaker 1: He staggered back, as if he had seen a ghost.
• 1:39:09
  Speaker 1: Then he made a wild dash along the corridor and
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 1: was seized and held by two of the men in
• 1:39:14
  Speaker 1: evening dress. Babert recovered his wits. He ceased to struggle.
• 1:39:19
  Speaker 1: What does this outrage mean? He asked, and one of
• 1:39:22
  Speaker 1: the men drew a warrant and notebook from his pocket.
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 1: You are arrested for the murder of Missus Blumenstein in
• 1:39:28
  Speaker 1: the Samarames Hotel, he said, And I have to warn
• 1:39:31
  Speaker 1: you that anything you may say will be taken down
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: and may be used in evidence against you. Prapposter us,
• 1:39:39
  Speaker 1: exclaimed Fabert, there's a mistake. We will go along to
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 1: the police and put a right where's your evidence against me?
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 1: Hano stepped out of the doorway of the dressing room
• 1:39:49
  Speaker 1: in the property room of the theater, he said. At
• 1:39:52
  Speaker 1: the sight of him, Fabbett uttered a violent cry of rage.
• 1:39:56
  Speaker 1: You are here too, are you? He screamed, and he
• 1:40:00
  Speaker 1: sprang at Hano's throat. Hano stepped lightly aside. Favert was
• 1:40:05
  Speaker 1: borne down to the ground, and when he stood up again,
• 1:40:08
  Speaker 1: the handcuffs were on his wrists. Fabert was led away
• 1:40:11
  Speaker 1: and Hanaud turned to mister Ricardo and clements. Let us
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 1: go to the property room, he said. They passed along
• 1:40:18
  Speaker 1: the corridor and Ricardo noticed that Kaladine was no longer
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 1: with them. He turned and saw him standing outside Joam
• 1:40:25
  Speaker 1: Carew's dressing room. He would like to come, of course,
• 1:40:28
  Speaker 1: said Ricardo, would he said, Hanau, then why doesn't he.
• 1:40:33
  Speaker 1: He's quite grown up, you know, And he slipped his
• 1:40:36
  Speaker 1: arm through Ricardo's and led him back across the stage.
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 1: In the property room, there was already a detective in
• 1:40:42
  Speaker 1: playing clothes. Mister Ricardo had still not as yet guessed
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 1: the truth. What is it you really want, sir, the
• 1:40:50
  Speaker 1: property master asked of the director. Only the Jewels of
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 1: the Madonna, Hanaud answered. The property master unlocked a cupboard
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 1: and took from it the sparkling Hanau pointed to it,
• 1:41:02
  Speaker 1: and there, lost amongst the huge glittering stones of paste
• 1:41:06
  Speaker 1: and false pearls, Missus Bloomenstein's necklace was entwined. Then that
• 1:41:11
  Speaker 1: is why Fabert came always to Covent Garden when the
• 1:41:15
  Speaker 1: Jewels of the Madonna was being performed, exclaimed Ricardo. Hanau nodded.
• 1:41:20
  Speaker 1: He came to watch over his treasure. Ricardo was piecing
• 1:41:24
  Speaker 1: together the sections of the puzzle. No doubt he knew
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 1: of the necklace in America. No doubt he followed it
• 1:41:30
  Speaker 1: to England. Hano agreed. Missus Bloomenstein's jewels were quite famous
• 1:41:35
  Speaker 1: in New York. But to hide them here, cried mister Clements,
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 1: he must have been mad why, asked Hano Can you
• 1:41:43
  Speaker 1: imagine a safer hiding place. Who's going to burgle the
• 1:41:46
  Speaker 1: property room of Covent Garden. Who's going to look for
• 1:41:49
  Speaker 1: a priceless string of pearls amongst the stage jewels of
• 1:41:52
  Speaker 1: an opera house. You did, said mister Ricardo. Ay, replied Hanaud,
• 1:41:58
  Speaker 1: shrugging his shoulders. Joan Careu's dreams led me to Andre Favert.
• 1:42:02
  Speaker 1: The first time we came here and saw the pearls
• 1:42:04
  Speaker 1: of the Madonna, I was on the lookout. Naturally, I
• 1:42:08
  Speaker 1: noticed Fabet at the back of the stalls. But it
• 1:42:11
  Speaker 1: was a stroke of luck that I noticed those pearls
• 1:42:13
  Speaker 1: through my opera glasses at the end of the second act,
• 1:42:17
  Speaker 1: cried Ricardo. Suddenly, I remember now, yes, replied Hanaud. But
• 1:42:22
  Speaker 1: for that second act the pearls would have stayed comfortably
• 1:42:25
  Speaker 1: here all through the season. Carma Valari, a fool, as
• 1:42:29
  Speaker 1: I told you, would have tossed them about in her
• 1:42:32
  Speaker 1: dressing room without a notion of their value. And at
• 1:42:35
  Speaker 1: the end of July, when the murder at the Simaramis
• 1:42:37
  Speaker 1: Hotel had been forgotten, Favert would have taken them to
• 1:42:40
  Speaker 1: Amsterdam and made his bargain shall we go? They left
• 1:42:44
  Speaker 1: the theater together and walked down to the grill room
• 1:42:47
  Speaker 1: of the Semarames. But as Hanaud looked through the glass door,
• 1:42:51
  Speaker 1: he drew back. We will not go in, I think, eh, Why,
• 1:42:55
  Speaker 1: asked Ricardo. Hanaud pointed to a table. Kaladine and Joe
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 1: ow Carew were seated at it, taking their supper. Perhaps,
• 1:43:03
  Speaker 1: said Hanaud with a smile. Perhaps, my friend, what who
• 1:43:08
  Speaker 1: shall say that the rooms at the Adelphi will not
• 1:43:12
  Speaker 1: be given up? They turned away from the hotel. But
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 1: Hanaud was right, and before the season was over, mister
• 1:43:18
  Speaker 1: Ricardo had to put his hand in his pocket for
• 1:43:21
  Speaker 1: a wedding present. And of Part four and of the
• 1:43:26
  Speaker 1: Affair at the Samaramis Hotel I A. E. W. Mason