May 15, 2025 • 18 mins
Journey with Paul Walmsley, a well-known regular at Stephanos, as his peaceful dinner is interrupted by a fast-acting stranger who not only steals his meal but also hands him a mysterious packet beneath the table. This encounter marks the start of exhilarating adventures with the enigmatic American adventurer, Joseph H. Parker and his charming daughter, Eve. Please note that there is an alternative narration for section 8, both renditions are equally compelling and we invite you to enjoy either or both.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter nine of An Amiable Charlatan. This is a LibriVox recording.
All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
by gille je le blein An Amiable Charlatan by E.
(00:21):
Phillips Oppenheim, Chapter nine, the exposure. The next morning, at
twelve o'clock, I took a taxicab round to Banton Street.
The hall porter, who was beginning to know me well,
seemed a little surprised at my appearance. Is the young
lady upstairs? I asked. He was distinctly taken aback. Mister
(00:45):
Parker and his daughter have gone, he told me. I
stopped on my way to the stairs. Gone, I repeated,
went off this morning, he continued, two taxicabs full of luggage.
Aren't they coming back? No signs of it? Did they
leave any address? None? Are you sure? I persisted, Please
(01:08):
ask at the office. The porter left me for a moment,
but returned shaking his head. Mister Parker said there would
be no messages or letters, and accordingly, he left no address.
I turned slowly away. The hall porter followed me. He
was drawing something from his waistcoat pocket. I wouldn't do
(01:31):
a thing, he declared, to get mister Parker into any
trouble for a nicer, freer handed gentleman never came inside
the hotel. But I don't know as there's much harm
in showing you this, being as you're a friend. I
picked it up in the sitting room after they'd gone.
He held out a cablegram. Before I realized what I
(01:53):
was doing, I had read it. It was handed in
at New York look Out. H sailed last Saturday, pretty
badly scared of H he was, the hall porter remarked.
Ten minutes after that cablegram came, they were hard at
it packing. I gave the man a chip and drove
(02:17):
back to my rooms, where I spent a restless morning,
then lunched at my club and returned to the Milan afterward,
only in the hope that I might find there a
note or a message. There was nothing. However, just as
I was starting to go out, the telephone bell rang.
I took up the receiver. It was Eve's voice. Is
(02:39):
that mister Walmsley it is? I admitted, how are you? Eve?
Quite well? Thank you? Still in London? Certainly would you
like to come and have tea with me rather, I
replied enthusiastically. Where are you hiding? That's all right, I replied,
(03:00):
I shan't give it away. Where shall I find you? Well?
She said. We talked it over and decided that the
best hiding place was one of the larger hotels. We
are at the Ritz. I'll come right along if I may,
very well, she agreed, ask for mister Bundercombe. I groaned
under my breath, but I made no further comment, and
(03:24):
in a very few minutes I presented myself at the
Ritz Hotel. I was escorted upstairs and ushered into a
very delightful suite on the second floor. Eve rose to
meet me from behind a little tea table. She was
charmingly dressed and looked exceedingly well. Mister Bundercombe, on the
other hand, who was walking up and down the apartment
(03:45):
with his hands behind his back, was distinctly nervous. He
nodded at my entrance. How are you, Walmsley, he said,
how are you? I'm quite well, sir, Thank you, I replied,
a little stupef say I'm afraid we are making a
great mistake here. He went on, anxiously we've slipped the
(04:07):
point too near to the wind this time. If you'll
allow me to tell you exactly what I think I ventured. Frankly,
I think you have made a mistake. There's that matter
of Reggie Siddeley. He was worrying me all yesterday morning
to find out where you were, and when I evaded
the point, he told me straight that he didn't believe
(04:28):
you were the Bundercombes at all. He is always in
and out of this place, and if he sees your
name on the register, or his mother, Lady Enterdean, sees it,
it seems to me it's about all up a piece
of bravado, I must admit, mister Parker muttered, a piece
of absolute bravado. But there's the young woman who's responsible,
(04:53):
he added, shaking his fist at Eve. I may have
suggested our coming to your party as the Bundercombes, but
it it was Eve's idea that we put up this
little piece of bluff. Now I'm all for Paris, he
went on, insinuatingly. At that precise moment, I felt that
there was nothing I wanted so much as to get
(05:13):
Eve away from the Ritz, and I fell in with
the scheme, we'll all go, I suggested, I haven't had
a week in Paris for a long time. Eve handed
me my tea. Don't count me in, she begged. I
never felt less inclined to move from anywhere. If being
Eve Bundercombe means living at the Ritz, I think i'd
(05:34):
rather go on. The life of an adventuress is, after all,
just a little strenuous, and I am tired of living
on the thin edge of nothing. Perhaps before you know
where you are, mister Bundercombe, remarked gloomily, you'll be living
on the thin edge of a little less than nothing.
There was a knock at the door. We all looked
(05:55):
at one another. A magnificent person with powdered hair, breeches
and silk stockings presented himself, Lord Reginald Sidley. He announced
in walked Reggie. He was correctly a child for calling,
and he carried a most immaculate silk hat in his hand.
I fully expected to see him drop it on the floor,
(06:18):
but he did nothing of the sort. He laid it
upon a small table, paused for one second to shake
his fist at me, and advanced toward Eve with both
hands outstretched. At last, I have found you, then, he exclaimed,
Miss Bundercombe. Well, I am glad to see you. Hello, Reggie,
(06:40):
she answered sweetly, what a time you've been looking us up.
He was taken aback. Well, I like that, he gasped,
And how are you, mister Bundercombe. Glad to see you,
mister Bundercombe replied cheerlessly. The meeting had taken place, and
I seemed to be the only person in the roome
(07:00):
who was suffering from any sort of shock. Reggie was
still holding one of Eve's hands and was almost incoherent. Come,
I like that, I like that, he exclaimed, A long
time looking you up. Indeed, why didn't you let me
know you were here? There hasn't been a line from
you or from your father. We couldn't believe it when
(07:20):
we heard that you had been at the dinner the
other evening. I was never so disappointed in my life.
I gripped mister Bundercombe by the arm and led him
firmly to one side. Look here, I said, is your
name Bundercombe? It is? He admitted gloomily. Are you a millionaire?
I persisted, multi he groaned, Then what the blazes? What
(07:44):
the I stopped short once more, the door was opened,
this time without the formality of a knock. If mister
Bundercombe had seemed anxious and depressed before, it was obvious
now that the worst had happened. All the cheerful life
seemed to have faded from his good humored face. He
had literally collapsed in his clothes. Even Eve gave it
(08:08):
a little shriek. Upon the threshold stood mister Cullen, and
by his side a lady who might have been anywhere
between fifty and sixty years old. She was dressed in
a particularly unattractive checked traveling suit, with a little satchel
suspended from a shiny black leather band round her waist.
(08:28):
She wore a small hat that was much too juvenile
for her, and from the back of it a blue veil,
which she had pushed on one side, hung nearly to
the floor. Her complexion was very yellow, She had a
square jaw, and through her spectacles, her eyes glittered in
a most unpleasant fashion. Her greeting was scarcely conciliatory. So
(08:51):
I've got you at last, Have I say? This is
a pretty chase you've led me. Do you know I've
had to desert my post as president of the Great
am Augamated Meeting of the Free Women of the West
to come and look after you two. Do you know
that three thousand women had to listen to his substitute
last Thursday, and after I'd spent two months getting my
(09:12):
facts for them? Do you know that you're the laughing
stock of Okata? No one asked you to come, Mother
Eve remarked, with a sigh, ask me to come. Indeed,
the newcomer retorted, look at you both. I've heard all
about your doings. This gentleman by my side has told
me a few things. I'll talk to you presently, young woman.
(09:36):
But say, is there anywhere on the face of this
earth such a miserable, addle headed lunatic as that man
whom it's my misfortune to call my husband? She shook
her fist at mister Bundercombe, who seemed to have become
still smaller. Then she looked at me and at Reggie,
who was standing with his mouth wide open. She fixed
(09:56):
upon us as her audience look at him. She went on,
stretching out her hands. There's a respectable American for you.
For thirty years. He works as a man should, for
it's what a man's made for and thanks to his
wife's help and advice, he prospers. Look at him, I
ask you, A baby can see that he hasn't the
(10:19):
brains of a chicken. Yet there he stands Joseph H. Bundercombe,
the Bundercombe's Reapers, with eight million dollars worth of stock
to his name. I saw Reggie's eyes go up to
the ceiling, and I knew he was dividing eight million
dollars by five. An expression almost of reverence passed into
(10:39):
his face as he achieved the result. We none of
us felt the slightest inclination to interrupt. Missus Bundercombe's long,
skinny forefinger drew a little nearer to her victim. Then
she coughed the short, dry cough of the professional speaker
and continued. Wouldn't you believe that was success enough for
any reasonable mortal? Wouldn't you say that, with a wife
(11:03):
holding an honored and great position in the state, and
his daughter by his side, he'd settled down there and
lay a respectable, decent life. Not he? First of all,
he wants to travel. What does he do then, but
take up what he calls a hobby. He buys and
gloats over every silly detective story that was ever written,
(11:24):
practices disguises and making himself up, as he calls it,
takes lessons in conjuring, haunts the police courts, consorts with criminals.
In short, behaves like a great overgrown child in his
own native city, where the name of Bundercombe, from the
feminine standpoint, realizes everything that stands for freedom and greatness.
(11:47):
The time came when it was necessary for me to
put down my foot once and for all. I called
him to me, Joseph Henry Bundercombe. I said, there must
be an end to this, shall be, he promised. The
next day he and Eve, my misguided step daughter, were
on their way to Europe, and I am credibly informed
(12:08):
they cheated a commercial traveler at cards on the way
to New York. That I find him at Liberty. Now,
it seems to me is entirely owing to the clemency
and kindness of this gentleman who recognized my description at
Scotland Yard and brought me here. Say all I am
prepared to admit about that is that it was somehow fortunate.
(12:30):
Mister Bundercombe remarked, with a sudden revival of his old self,
that it fell to my lot to have mister Cullen
investigate some of my small adventures. Mister Bundercombe said Cullen severely.
I think you will do well to listen to your
wife and to take her advice. There are one or
two of these little affairs you must remember that are
(12:51):
not entirely closed yet, mister Bundercombe sighed. He adopted an
attitude of resignation. Well, Cullen, he replied, if my career
of crime is really to come to an end, I
don't want to bear you any ill. Will we'll just
take a stroll downstairs and talk about it. Missus Bundercombe,
(13:12):
with a quick movement to the left, blocked the way
that means a visit to the bar. She declared, I
know you, mister Bundercombe. You'll stay right here and listen
to a little more of what I've got to say.
Who this gentleman may be, I don't at present know,
she went on, turning suddenly upon me, but I am
agreeable to listen to his name if any one has
(13:33):
the manners to mention it. Walmsley, Madam, I told her quickly,
Paul Walmsley, I had the honor to be engaged to
marry your step daughter. Missus Bundercombe looked at me in
stony silence. Twice she opened her lips, and I am
quite sure that if words had come, they would have
been unkind ones twice Apparently, however, her command of language
(13:57):
seemed inadequate. So you going to marry an Englishman, she said,
glaring at Eve. I'm going to marry mister Walmsley. Mother
Eve agreed sweetly. He has been such a kind friend
to us during the last few days, and I rather
fancy I shall like living on this side. Dear me,
dear me, I hadn't heard of this. Mister Bundercombe remarked
(14:19):
with interest, You and I will go downstairs and have
a little chat about it. Mister Walmsley, he made another
strategic movement toward the door, which was promptly and effectually
frustrated by his wife. No you don't, Missus, Bundercombe prohibited.
I've a good deal more to say yet. I haven't
been dragged over the ocean three thousand miles to have
(14:42):
you all slip away directly. I arrive a nice state
of things. Indeed, my husband, Joseph H. Bundercombe, a suspect
at Scotland yard, followed everywhere by detectives and my daughter,
step daughter, please, Eve interrupted. Step daughter then talking about
marry a man. She's probably known about twenty four hours
(15:04):
and met at a bar, or in a thieves kitchen
or something of the sort. If you must marry an englishman,
she continued, with rising voice, why don't you marry Lord
Reginald Sidley there? His father's an earl anyway, His uncle's one,
Reggie put in, gloomily, jerking his head toward me. Old
Walmsley's all right. Eve patted his hand. Good boy, she said.
(15:29):
You know I never encouraged you, did I? Reggie encourage me?
He protested. I think on the whole you said the
rudest things to me I ever heard in my life
from a girl anyway, I imagine, he added, taking up
his hat, that it's up to me to leave this
little domestic gathering. I'll see you out, mister Bundercombe, declared
(15:50):
with alacrity. Missus Bundercombe, with her eyes steadily fixed upon
her husband, stepped back until she blocked the doorway. My
dear Hannah, your dear nothing, she interrupted, ruthlessly. You just
sit down by the side of your daughter there and
let me tell you both what I think of you
and what I'm going to do about it. I think
(16:13):
I suggested a little taxi drive. Your mother and father,
no doubt, have a great deal to say to one another,
and you can receive your little lecture later. Eve assented
at once, and Missus Bundercombe, for some reason or other,
only entered a faint protest against our departure. It was
about five o'clock in the afternoon, and the streets were
(16:34):
crowded with every description of vehicle. The sun was still warm,
there was a faint pink light in the sky, a
perfume of lilac in the air from the window boxes
and the flower barrows. I took Eve's fingers in mine
and held them. I think she knew that something in
the nature of an inquisition was coming, for she sat
(16:55):
very demure, her eyes fixed on the road ahead. Eve.
I how about Missus Samuelson's jewels. They were returned to
her from a repentant criminal. Eve murmured, and the forged
bank notes made by the young man in the Adelphi.
They were all destroyed as fast as father could buy them.
(17:16):
She explained, he has found the boy a post now
with some printer in America and the two thousand pounds
at the gaming club. That first night, Daddy made it
three and sent it to a hospital. He thought it
would do them more good. You know you're a shocking pair,
I said severely, Paul, She sighed, You never can know
(17:39):
how dull it was at a kata. I'm jolly glad
it was. I told her. It gives me a better chance,
doesn't it. And we'll give Daddy a good time whenever
we can, she pleaded. Always, I promised, he's one of
the best. He's so clever, too clever without doubt, I admitted.
(18:01):
Only I think perhaps we might get him to use
his talents in a more orthodox way. By the by,
I added, putting my head out of the window, I
think it's getting a little chilly. I ordered the taxi closed,
and we returned to the hotel. The hall porter drew
me on one side, confidentially, mister Bundercombe and the other gentlemen, sir,
(18:24):
he announced, are waiting for you in the bar. End
of chapter nine,
Chapter nine of An Amiable Charlatan. This is a LibriVox recording.
All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
by gille je le blein An Amiable Charlatan by E.
(00:21):
Phillips Oppenheim, Chapter nine, the exposure. The next morning, at
twelve o'clock, I took a taxicab round to Banton Street.
The hall porter, who was beginning to know me well,
seemed a little surprised at my appearance. Is the young
lady upstairs? I asked. He was distinctly taken aback. Mister
(00:45):
Parker and his daughter have gone, he told me. I
stopped on my way to the stairs. Gone, I repeated,
went off this morning, he continued, two taxicabs full of luggage.
Aren't they coming back? No signs of it? Did they
leave any address? None? Are you sure? I persisted, Please
(01:08):
ask at the office. The porter left me for a moment,
but returned shaking his head. Mister Parker said there would
be no messages or letters, and accordingly, he left no address.
I turned slowly away. The hall porter followed me. He
was drawing something from his waistcoat pocket. I wouldn't do
(01:31):
a thing, he declared, to get mister Parker into any
trouble for a nicer, freer handed gentleman never came inside
the hotel. But I don't know as there's much harm
in showing you this, being as you're a friend. I
picked it up in the sitting room after they'd gone.
He held out a cablegram. Before I realized what I
(01:53):
was doing, I had read it. It was handed in
at New York look Out. H sailed last Saturday, pretty
badly scared of H he was, the hall porter remarked.
Ten minutes after that cablegram came, they were hard at
it packing. I gave the man a chip and drove
(02:17):
back to my rooms, where I spent a restless morning,
then lunched at my club and returned to the Milan afterward,
only in the hope that I might find there a
note or a message. There was nothing. However, just as
I was starting to go out, the telephone bell rang.
I took up the receiver. It was Eve's voice. Is
(02:39):
that mister Walmsley it is? I admitted, how are you? Eve?
Quite well? Thank you? Still in London? Certainly would you
like to come and have tea with me rather, I
replied enthusiastically. Where are you hiding? That's all right, I replied,
(03:00):
I shan't give it away. Where shall I find you? Well?
She said. We talked it over and decided that the
best hiding place was one of the larger hotels. We
are at the Ritz. I'll come right along if I may,
very well, she agreed, ask for mister Bundercombe. I groaned
under my breath, but I made no further comment, and
(03:24):
in a very few minutes I presented myself at the
Ritz Hotel. I was escorted upstairs and ushered into a
very delightful suite on the second floor. Eve rose to
meet me from behind a little tea table. She was
charmingly dressed and looked exceedingly well. Mister Bundercombe, on the
other hand, who was walking up and down the apartment
(03:45):
with his hands behind his back, was distinctly nervous. He
nodded at my entrance. How are you, Walmsley, he said,
how are you? I'm quite well, sir, Thank you, I replied,
a little stupef say I'm afraid we are making a
great mistake here. He went on, anxiously we've slipped the
(04:07):
point too near to the wind this time. If you'll
allow me to tell you exactly what I think I ventured. Frankly,
I think you have made a mistake. There's that matter
of Reggie Siddeley. He was worrying me all yesterday morning
to find out where you were, and when I evaded
the point, he told me straight that he didn't believe
(04:28):
you were the Bundercombes at all. He is always in
and out of this place, and if he sees your
name on the register, or his mother, Lady Enterdean, sees it,
it seems to me it's about all up a piece
of bravado, I must admit, mister Parker muttered, a piece
of absolute bravado. But there's the young woman who's responsible,
(04:53):
he added, shaking his fist at Eve. I may have
suggested our coming to your party as the Bundercombes, but
it it was Eve's idea that we put up this
little piece of bluff. Now I'm all for Paris, he
went on, insinuatingly. At that precise moment, I felt that
there was nothing I wanted so much as to get
(05:13):
Eve away from the Ritz, and I fell in with
the scheme, we'll all go, I suggested, I haven't had
a week in Paris for a long time. Eve handed
me my tea. Don't count me in, she begged. I
never felt less inclined to move from anywhere. If being
Eve Bundercombe means living at the Ritz, I think i'd
(05:34):
rather go on. The life of an adventuress is, after all,
just a little strenuous, and I am tired of living
on the thin edge of nothing. Perhaps before you know
where you are, mister Bundercombe, remarked gloomily, you'll be living
on the thin edge of a little less than nothing.
There was a knock at the door. We all looked
(05:55):
at one another. A magnificent person with powdered hair, breeches
and silk stockings presented himself, Lord Reginald Sidley. He announced
in walked Reggie. He was correctly a child for calling,
and he carried a most immaculate silk hat in his hand.
I fully expected to see him drop it on the floor,
(06:18):
but he did nothing of the sort. He laid it
upon a small table, paused for one second to shake
his fist at me, and advanced toward Eve with both
hands outstretched. At last, I have found you, then, he exclaimed,
Miss Bundercombe. Well, I am glad to see you. Hello, Reggie,
(06:40):
she answered sweetly, what a time you've been looking us up.
He was taken aback. Well, I like that, he gasped,
And how are you, mister Bundercombe. Glad to see you,
mister Bundercombe replied cheerlessly. The meeting had taken place, and
I seemed to be the only person in the roome
(07:00):
who was suffering from any sort of shock. Reggie was
still holding one of Eve's hands and was almost incoherent. Come,
I like that, I like that, he exclaimed, A long
time looking you up. Indeed, why didn't you let me
know you were here? There hasn't been a line from
you or from your father. We couldn't believe it when
(07:20):
we heard that you had been at the dinner the
other evening. I was never so disappointed in my life.
I gripped mister Bundercombe by the arm and led him
firmly to one side. Look here, I said, is your
name Bundercombe? It is? He admitted gloomily. Are you a millionaire?
I persisted, multi he groaned, Then what the blazes? What
(07:44):
the I stopped short once more, the door was opened,
this time without the formality of a knock. If mister
Bundercombe had seemed anxious and depressed before, it was obvious
now that the worst had happened. All the cheerful life
seemed to have faded from his good humored face. He
had literally collapsed in his clothes. Even Eve gave it
(08:08):
a little shriek. Upon the threshold stood mister Cullen, and
by his side a lady who might have been anywhere
between fifty and sixty years old. She was dressed in
a particularly unattractive checked traveling suit, with a little satchel
suspended from a shiny black leather band round her waist.
(08:28):
She wore a small hat that was much too juvenile
for her, and from the back of it a blue veil,
which she had pushed on one side, hung nearly to
the floor. Her complexion was very yellow, She had a
square jaw, and through her spectacles, her eyes glittered in
a most unpleasant fashion. Her greeting was scarcely conciliatory. So
(08:51):
I've got you at last, Have I say? This is
a pretty chase you've led me. Do you know I've
had to desert my post as president of the Great
am Augamated Meeting of the Free Women of the West
to come and look after you two. Do you know
that three thousand women had to listen to his substitute
last Thursday, and after I'd spent two months getting my
(09:12):
facts for them? Do you know that you're the laughing
stock of Okata? No one asked you to come, Mother
Eve remarked, with a sigh, ask me to come. Indeed,
the newcomer retorted, look at you both. I've heard all
about your doings. This gentleman by my side has told
me a few things. I'll talk to you presently, young woman.
(09:36):
But say, is there anywhere on the face of this
earth such a miserable, addle headed lunatic as that man
whom it's my misfortune to call my husband? She shook
her fist at mister Bundercombe, who seemed to have become
still smaller. Then she looked at me and at Reggie,
who was standing with his mouth wide open. She fixed
(09:56):
upon us as her audience look at him. She went on,
stretching out her hands. There's a respectable American for you.
For thirty years. He works as a man should, for
it's what a man's made for and thanks to his
wife's help and advice, he prospers. Look at him, I
ask you, A baby can see that he hasn't the
(10:19):
brains of a chicken. Yet there he stands Joseph H. Bundercombe,
the Bundercombe's Reapers, with eight million dollars worth of stock
to his name. I saw Reggie's eyes go up to
the ceiling, and I knew he was dividing eight million
dollars by five. An expression almost of reverence passed into
(10:39):
his face as he achieved the result. We none of
us felt the slightest inclination to interrupt. Missus Bundercombe's long,
skinny forefinger drew a little nearer to her victim. Then
she coughed the short, dry cough of the professional speaker
and continued. Wouldn't you believe that was success enough for
any reasonable mortal? Wouldn't you say that, with a wife
(11:03):
holding an honored and great position in the state, and
his daughter by his side, he'd settled down there and
lay a respectable, decent life. Not he? First of all,
he wants to travel. What does he do then, but
take up what he calls a hobby. He buys and
gloats over every silly detective story that was ever written,
(11:24):
practices disguises and making himself up, as he calls it,
takes lessons in conjuring, haunts the police courts, consorts with criminals.
In short, behaves like a great overgrown child in his
own native city, where the name of Bundercombe, from the
feminine standpoint, realizes everything that stands for freedom and greatness.
(11:47):
The time came when it was necessary for me to
put down my foot once and for all. I called
him to me, Joseph Henry Bundercombe. I said, there must
be an end to this, shall be, he promised. The
next day he and Eve, my misguided step daughter, were
on their way to Europe, and I am credibly informed
(12:08):
they cheated a commercial traveler at cards on the way
to New York. That I find him at Liberty. Now,
it seems to me is entirely owing to the clemency
and kindness of this gentleman who recognized my description at
Scotland Yard and brought me here. Say all I am
prepared to admit about that is that it was somehow fortunate.
(12:30):
Mister Bundercombe remarked, with a sudden revival of his old self,
that it fell to my lot to have mister Cullen
investigate some of my small adventures. Mister Bundercombe said Cullen severely.
I think you will do well to listen to your
wife and to take her advice. There are one or
two of these little affairs you must remember that are
(12:51):
not entirely closed yet, mister Bundercombe sighed. He adopted an
attitude of resignation. Well, Cullen, he replied, if my career
of crime is really to come to an end, I
don't want to bear you any ill. Will we'll just
take a stroll downstairs and talk about it. Missus Bundercombe,
(13:12):
with a quick movement to the left, blocked the way
that means a visit to the bar. She declared, I
know you, mister Bundercombe. You'll stay right here and listen
to a little more of what I've got to say.
Who this gentleman may be, I don't at present know,
she went on, turning suddenly upon me, but I am
agreeable to listen to his name if any one has
(13:33):
the manners to mention it. Walmsley, Madam, I told her quickly,
Paul Walmsley, I had the honor to be engaged to
marry your step daughter. Missus Bundercombe looked at me in
stony silence. Twice she opened her lips, and I am
quite sure that if words had come, they would have
been unkind ones twice Apparently, however, her command of language
(13:57):
seemed inadequate. So you going to marry an Englishman, she said,
glaring at Eve. I'm going to marry mister Walmsley. Mother
Eve agreed sweetly. He has been such a kind friend
to us during the last few days, and I rather
fancy I shall like living on this side. Dear me,
dear me, I hadn't heard of this. Mister Bundercombe remarked
(14:19):
with interest, You and I will go downstairs and have
a little chat about it. Mister Walmsley, he made another
strategic movement toward the door, which was promptly and effectually
frustrated by his wife. No you don't, Missus, Bundercombe prohibited.
I've a good deal more to say yet. I haven't
been dragged over the ocean three thousand miles to have
(14:42):
you all slip away directly. I arrive a nice state
of things. Indeed, my husband, Joseph H. Bundercombe, a suspect
at Scotland yard, followed everywhere by detectives and my daughter,
step daughter, please, Eve interrupted. Step daughter then talking about
marry a man. She's probably known about twenty four hours
(15:04):
and met at a bar, or in a thieves kitchen
or something of the sort. If you must marry an englishman,
she continued, with rising voice, why don't you marry Lord
Reginald Sidley there? His father's an earl anyway, His uncle's one,
Reggie put in, gloomily, jerking his head toward me. Old
Walmsley's all right. Eve patted his hand. Good boy, she said.
(15:29):
You know I never encouraged you, did I? Reggie encourage me?
He protested. I think on the whole you said the
rudest things to me I ever heard in my life
from a girl anyway, I imagine, he added, taking up
his hat, that it's up to me to leave this
little domestic gathering. I'll see you out, mister Bundercombe, declared
(15:50):
with alacrity. Missus Bundercombe, with her eyes steadily fixed upon
her husband, stepped back until she blocked the doorway. My
dear Hannah, your dear nothing, she interrupted, ruthlessly. You just
sit down by the side of your daughter there and
let me tell you both what I think of you
and what I'm going to do about it. I think
(16:13):
I suggested a little taxi drive. Your mother and father,
no doubt, have a great deal to say to one another,
and you can receive your little lecture later. Eve assented
at once, and Missus Bundercombe, for some reason or other,
only entered a faint protest against our departure. It was
about five o'clock in the afternoon, and the streets were
(16:34):
crowded with every description of vehicle. The sun was still warm,
there was a faint pink light in the sky, a
perfume of lilac in the air from the window boxes
and the flower barrows. I took Eve's fingers in mine
and held them. I think she knew that something in
the nature of an inquisition was coming, for she sat
(16:55):
very demure, her eyes fixed on the road ahead. Eve.
I how about Missus Samuelson's jewels. They were returned to
her from a repentant criminal. Eve murmured, and the forged
bank notes made by the young man in the Adelphi.
They were all destroyed as fast as father could buy them.
(17:16):
She explained, he has found the boy a post now
with some printer in America and the two thousand pounds
at the gaming club. That first night, Daddy made it
three and sent it to a hospital. He thought it
would do them more good. You know you're a shocking pair,
I said severely, Paul, She sighed, You never can know
(17:39):
how dull it was at a kata. I'm jolly glad
it was. I told her. It gives me a better chance,
doesn't it. And we'll give Daddy a good time whenever
we can, she pleaded. Always, I promised, he's one of
the best. He's so clever, too clever without doubt, I admitted.
(18:01):
Only I think perhaps we might get him to use
his talents in a more orthodox way. By the by,
I added, putting my head out of the window, I
think it's getting a little chilly. I ordered the taxi closed,
and we returned to the hotel. The hall porter drew
me on one side, confidentially, mister Bundercombe and the other gentlemen, sir,
(18:24):
he announced, are waiting for you in the bar. End
of chapter nine,
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