Swirling Waters

was a masterpiece even for Monte Carlo, where dining is taken au grand sérieux. He did not sip cognac, but took it neat in lique

d glory. He had helped to capture Matheson as a son-in-law, and a com

mpanies with his name; manage his estate (through an agent) with a mixture of cross conservatism and despotic benevolence; and shoot, hunt and

his head screwed

sen, "he managed to gouge me for a tidy ext

hich Larssen had noted with some puzzlement. His mind had worked over the reasons for it without arriv

. "That's more than I e

is breast-pocket, then stopped. "I was forgetting. I

ind of tribute to the fetish of good form. He wanted

just as much as you like. Unless, of course, yo

and's business partner. I think it's good for both sides. When my dear wife was with me, we were share-

d read it over with an air of concentrated, conscious wisdom-the air he caref

d St Aubyn and Carleton-Wingate are the men I want for the o

t shares for me?" asked

f course. A private arrangement between C

head with pleasure as she read it throug

de to hand it back. "Keep it till

e say he wi

. It's a delicate matter to handle-very delic

e's travelling unde

nt," commen

urmured Sir Francis. "Not

sharply: "What does it matter if it helps

rhaps so.

and Carleton-Wingate?"

But has Clifford ap

cour

ou it w

e I

greement Clif

ssen's daring scheme. But it would have taken a far shrewder man than he to re

erview in Clifford's office, and he left details to you and me. His last w

ton-Wingate, they'll be expecting me to-I mean

usiness negotiations. He poured himself out another glass of cognac and drank it off. His attitud

his agreement to the scheme in black and w

"I dislike all those

ess," quoted her f

be back before the prosp

're to go ahead just as if he were here. That's what he told me bef

nothing f

swered Olive. "Clifford said to re

rs over," said the

icion that made Sir Francis hesitate, but petty dignity. He had become huffed. He felt that his dignity had not been sufficiently studi

ers would merely drive h

Matheson had agreed to the scheme and to the use of his name. It was vital that Sir Francis should take the whole responsibility of the flotation on to his own shoulder

of Matheson's death came to light-as it inevitably must in the course of time-Letchmere would be

elicate machinery of the scheme. Larssen quickly resolved to get at him

. Take the draft scheme and look it through at your lei

hypodermic syringe in silver and glass, and a phial of colourless liquid. She held the phial in her hands with a curious look of furtive tenderness,

it by a pet name, as t

ess look had left her eyes, and they now glittered with life and fire. When they left the tables to stroll by the milk-white ter

pon the people they had rubbed shoulders with at the tables; upon

r achieve full success in any field whatever. They climb up to

y st

n a car of that kind. Near to the top, but no

w men who have the 1

a 100 per cent. man when you started your busines

t for it. Fought every boy who wouldn't acknowledge it.... When I went to sea as cabin-boy on the "Mary R." of Gloucester, the men on the trawler tried to "lick me into shape," as they called it.

ation. "That's epic!" she exclaimed

Olive. She was to be used as a pawn in the great game, just as he was using Sir Francis and the dead Clifford Matheson. It came upo

don't hide that. When my dear wife was with me, she was an inspiration to

age change

t here I'm monopolizing the conversation with talk a

ould inspire, but my inspiring goes to waste. I'm an engine racing without a shaft to take up its energy. Clifford is developing sc

it myself at times," he

? I mean the woman in green. Swooping down from a distance to gorge herself with a tasty feast, and then finding a man with a rake to chase her off.

n extraordinarily keen

the Casino. He had won money at trente-et-quarante, and was feeling

en. "I'll see that my father gets busy on t

t's

few days. I don't want to be left

London. Urgent

Leave them to your manager

way-or seem to give way-an

answered with flattering cordiality. "It's not