Loudwater Mystery , livre ebook

Pub One Info - Edgar Jepson

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102 pages

English

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Lord Loudwater was paying attention neither to his breakfast nor to the cat Melchisidec. Absorbed in a leader in The Times newspaper, now and again he tugged at his red-brown beard in order to quicken his comprehension of the weighty phrases of the leader-writer; now and again he made noises, chiefly with his nose, expressive of disgust. Lady Loudwater paid no attention to these noises. She did not even raise her eyes to her husband's face. She ate her breakfast with a thoughtful air, her brow puckered by a faint frown.

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Publié par	Pub One Info
Date de parution	23 octobre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9782819909842
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0100€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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CHAPTER I
L ord Loudwaterwas paying attention neither to his breakfast nor to the catMelchisidec. Absorbed in a leader in The Times newspaper,now and again he tugged at his red-brown beard in order to quickenhis comprehension of the weighty phrases of the leader-writer; nowand again he made noises, chiefly with his nose, expressive ofdisgust. Lady Loudwater paid no attention to these noises. She didnot even raise her eyes to her husband's face. She ate herbreakfast with a thoughtful air, her brow puckered by a faintfrown.
She also paid no attention to her favourite,Melchisidec. Melchisidec, unduly excited by the smell of grilledsole, came to Lord Loudwater, rose on his hind legs, laid his pawson his trousers, and stuck some claws into his thigh. It was nomore than gentle, arresting pricks; but the tender nobleman sprangfrom his chair with a short howl, kicked with futile violence aportion of the empty air which Melchisidec had just vacated,staggered, and nearly fell.
Lady Loudwater did not laugh; but she did cough.
Her husband, his face a furious crimson, glared ather with reddish eyes, and swore violently at her and the cat.
Lady Loudwater rose, her face flushed, her lipstrembling, picked up Melchisidec, and walked out of the room. LordLoudwater scowled at the closed door, sat down, and went on withhis breakfast.
James Hutchings, the butler, came quietly into theroom, took one of the smaller dishes from the sideboard and LadyLoudwater's teapot from the table. He went quietly out of the room,pausing at the door to scowl at his master's back. Lady Loudwaterfinished her breakfast in the sitting-room of her suite of rooms onthe first floor. She was no longer inattentive to Melchisidec.
During her breakfast she put all consideration ofher husband's behaviour out of her mind. As she smoked a cigaretteafter breakfast she considered it for a little while. She often hadto consider it. She came to the conclusion to which she had oftencome before: that she owed him nothing whatever. She came to thefurther conclusion that she detested him. She had far too good abrow not to be able to see a fact clearly. She wished more heartilythan ever that she had never married him. It had been a grievousmistake; and it seemed likely to last a life-time – her life-time.The last five ancestors of her husband had lived to be eighty. Hisfather would doubtless have lived to be eighty too, had he notbroken his neck in the hunting-field at the age of fifty-four. Onthe other hand, none of the Quaintons, her own family, had reachedthe age of sixty. Lord Loudwater was thirty-five; she wastwenty-two; he would therefore survive her by at least seven years.She would certainly be bowed down all her life under this grievousburden.
It was an odd calculation for a young married womanto make; but Lady Loudwater came of an uncommon family, which hadproduced more brilliant, irresponsible, and passably unscrupulousmen than any other of the leading families in England. Her fatherhad been one of them. She took after him. Moreover, Lord Loudwaterwould have induced odd reveries in any wife. He had beenintolerable since the second week of their honeymoon. Whollywithout power of self-restraint, the furious outbursts of his viletemper had been consistently revolting. She once more told herselfthat something would have to be done about it – not on the instant,however. At the moment there appeared to her to be months to do itin. She dropped her cigarette end into the ash-tray, and with itany further consideration of the manners and disposition of LordLoudwater.
She lit another cigarette and let her thoughts turnto that far more appealing subject, Colonel Antony Grey. Theyturned to him readily and wholly. In less than three minutes shewas seeing his face and hearing certain tones in his voice withamazing clearness. Once she looked at the clock impatiently. It washalf-past ten. She would not see him till three – four and a halfhours. It seemed a long while to her. However, she could go onthinking about him. She did.
While she considered her ill-tempered husband hereyes had been hard and almost shallow. While she considered ColonelGrey, they grew soft and deep. Her lips had been set and almostthin; now they grew most kissable.
Lord Loudwater finished his breakfast, the scowl onhis face fading slowly to a frown. He lit a cigar and with a moodyair went to his smoking-room. The criminal carelessness of the catMelchisidec still rankled.
As he entered the room, half office and halfsmoking-room, Mr. Herbert Manley, his secretary, bade him goodmorning. Lord Loudwater returned his greeting with a scowl.
Mr. Herbert Manley had one of those faces whichbegin well and end badly. He had a fine forehead, lofty and broad,a well-cut, gently-curving-nose, a slack, thick-lipped mouth,always a little open, a heavy, animal jaw, and the chin of aneagle. His fine, black hair was thin on the temples. His moustachewas thin and straggled. His black eyes were as good as his brow,intelligent, observant, and alert. It was plain that had his lipsbeen thinner and his chin larger he would not have been thesecretary of Lord Loudwater – or of any one else. He would havebeen a masterless man. The success of two one-act plays on thestage of the music-halls had given him the firm hope of one daybecoming a masterless man as a successful dramatist. His post gavehim the leisure to write plays. But for the fact that it broughthim into such frequent contact with the Lord Loudwater it wouldhave been a really pleasant post: the food was excellent; the winewas good; the library was passable; and the servants, with theexception of James Hutchings, liked and respected him. He had theart of making himself valued (at far more than his real worth, saidhis enemies), and his air of importance continuously impressedthem.
With a patient air he began to discuss the morning'sletters, and ask for instructions. Lord Loudwater was, as oftenhappened, uncommonly captious about the letters. He had notrecovered from the shock the inconsiderate Melchisidec had givenhis nerves. The instructions he gave were somewhat muddled; andwhen Mr. Manley tried to get them clearer, his employer swore athim for an idiot. Mr. Manley persisted firmly through much abusetill he did get them clear. He had come to consider his employer'sfuries an unfortunate weakness which had to be endured by theholder of the post he found so advantageous. He endured them withwhat stoicism he might.
Lord Loudwater in a bad temper always produced astrong impression of redness for a man whose colouring was merelyred-brown. Owing to the fact that his fierce, protruding blue eyeswere red-rimmed and somewhat bloodshot, in moments of emotion theyshone with a curious red glint, and his florid face flushed adeeper red. In these moments Mr. Manley had a feeling that he wasdealing with a bad-tempered red bull. His employer made very muchthe same impression on other people, but few of them had theimpression of bullness so clear and so complete as did Mr. Manley.Lady Loudwater, on the other hand, felt always, whether her husbandwas ramping or quiet, that she was dealing with a bad-temperedbull.
Presently they came to the end of the letters. LordLoudwater lit another cigar, and scowled thoughtfully. Mr. Manleygazed at his scowling face and wondered idly whether he would everlight on another human being whom he would detest so heartily as hedetested his employer. He thought it indeed unlikely. Still, whenhe became a successful dramatist there might be an actor-manager–
Then Lord Loudwater said: "Did you tell Mrs.Truslove that after September her allowance would be reduced tothree hundred a year?" "Yes," said Mr. Manley. "What did shesay?"
Mr. Manley hesitated; then he said diplomatically:"She did not seem to like it." "What did she say ?" criedLord Loudwater in a sudden, startling bellow, and his eyes shonered.
Mr. Manley winced and said quickly: "She said it wasjust like you." "Just like me? Hey? And what did she mean by that?"cried Lord Loudwater loudly and angrily.
Mr. Manley expressed utter ignorance by lookingblank and shrugging his shoulders. "The jade! She's had six hundreda year for more than two years. Did she think it would go on forever?" cried his employer. "No," said Mr. Manley. "And why didn'tshe think it would go on for ever? Hey?" said Lord Loudwater in achallenging tone. "Because there wasn't an actual deed ofsettlement," said Mr. Manley. "The ungrateful jade! I've a goodmind to stop it altogether!" cried his employer.
Mr. Manley said nothing. His face was blank; itneither approved nor disapproved the suggestion.
Lord Loudwater scowled at him and said: "I expectshe said she wished she'd never had anything to do with me." "No,"said Mr. Manley. "I'll bet that's what she thinks," growled LordLoudwater.
Mr. Manley let the suggestion pass without comment.His face was blank. "And what's she going to do about it?" saidLord Loudwater in a tone of challenge. "She's going to see youabout it." "I'm damned if she is!" cried Lord Loudwater hastily, ina much less assured tone.
Mr. Manley permitted a faint, sceptical smile towreathe his lips. "What are you grinning at? If you think she'llgain anything by doing that, she won't," said Lord Loudwater, witha blustering truculence.
Mr. Manley wondered. Helena Truslove was a lady ofconsiderable force of character. He suspected that if LordLoudwater had ever been afraid of a fellow-creature, he must attimes have been afraid of Helena Truslove. He fancied that now hewas not nearly as fearless as he sounded. He did not say so.
His employer was silent, buried in scowlingreflection. Mr. Manley gazed at him without any great intentness,and came to the conclusion that he did not merely detest him, heloathed him.
Presently he said: "There's a cheque from Hanburyand Johnson for twelve thousand and forty-six pounds for the rubbershares your lordship sold. It wants endorsing."
He handed