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WDS Publishing
The Deliberate Detective
The Deliberate Detective
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LORD WIMBLEDON was plainly out of sorts with everything and everybody. He looked gloomily across at the young man who shared the compartment with him in the Paris express, an expression of irritation on his severe face. The young man, quite oblivious to the fretful scrutiny, adjusted the golf-bag against the seat and turned to the pages of an illustrated sporting magazine.
"What on earth did you bring those things with you for?" the old gentleman asked, irritably.
The Hon. Stanley Brooke, scientific illuminator of crime, smiled up at him.
"They assist," he replied, "in giving an air of general negligence to our journey. No one would imagine, for instance, that reasonable men would take golf-clubs with them to Paris on an errand like ours."
Lord Wimbledon grunted, fumbled for a moment in his waistcoat-pocket, and finally produced a telegram which he smoothed out and passed across to Brooke.
"If only one could form any idea as to what our errand was!" he remarked irritably. "Read it aloud, please."
Brooke obeyed. The message had been handed in at Paris about midnight on the previous day, and was addressed to Lord Wimbledon:
Beg you to come over at once,
Am in great trouble.
WARREN.
"Can you make anything out of it?" Lord Wimbledon asked.
"Nothing," Brooke admitted.
"The most idiotic message I ever received in my life," his lordship continued.
"However, I suppose we shall know all about it presently. I hope to goodness he hasn't got himself into any trouble with his chief. Tell me honestly now, Brooke, how does it strike you?"
"To be candid," Brooke replied, "I should say that it does point to some sort of trouble at the embassy. If it had been a private matter, he would surely have written. I must confess, though, that I don't understand it at all. Sidney was always such a careful chap."
"He has never," Lord Wimbledon pronounced, "given me cause for one moment's anxiety."
"That," Brooke sighed, "is what makes it so disquieting. Paris is no place for a young man of that sort."
Lord Wimbledon relapsed into stony silence. It was not until they reached the outskirts of Paris that he spoke again.
"Well, we shall soon know all about it now," he remarked, as they collected their baggage. "Let me come to the window. I shall recognize Warren more easily than you."
"What on earth did you bring those things with you for?" the old gentleman asked, irritably.
The Hon. Stanley Brooke, scientific illuminator of crime, smiled up at him.
"They assist," he replied, "in giving an air of general negligence to our journey. No one would imagine, for instance, that reasonable men would take golf-clubs with them to Paris on an errand like ours."
Lord Wimbledon grunted, fumbled for a moment in his waistcoat-pocket, and finally produced a telegram which he smoothed out and passed across to Brooke.
"If only one could form any idea as to what our errand was!" he remarked irritably. "Read it aloud, please."
Brooke obeyed. The message had been handed in at Paris about midnight on the previous day, and was addressed to Lord Wimbledon:
Beg you to come over at once,
Am in great trouble.
WARREN.
"Can you make anything out of it?" Lord Wimbledon asked.
"Nothing," Brooke admitted.
"The most idiotic message I ever received in my life," his lordship continued.
"However, I suppose we shall know all about it presently. I hope to goodness he hasn't got himself into any trouble with his chief. Tell me honestly now, Brooke, how does it strike you?"
"To be candid," Brooke replied, "I should say that it does point to some sort of trouble at the embassy. If it had been a private matter, he would surely have written. I must confess, though, that I don't understand it at all. Sidney was always such a careful chap."
"He has never," Lord Wimbledon pronounced, "given me cause for one moment's anxiety."
"That," Brooke sighed, "is what makes it so disquieting. Paris is no place for a young man of that sort."
Lord Wimbledon relapsed into stony silence. It was not until they reached the outskirts of Paris that he spoke again.
"Well, we shall soon know all about it now," he remarked, as they collected their baggage. "Let me come to the window. I shall recognize Warren more easily than you."
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