The Lust of Hate by Guy Newell Boothby (ebook reader for pc .txt) 📖
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number, talking sensibly and calmly enough in the smoking room, and
then going upstairs to my bedroom and leaning out of my window, from
which a glimpse of the Strand was obtainable, to watch the constant
stream of passers by and to wonder if Bartrand were among the number.
I would imagine myself meeting him and enticing him into one of those
dark passages leading from the gas-lit thoroughfare, and then, when I
had revealed my identity, drawing a knife from my sleeve and stabbing
him to his treacherous heart. On another occasion I spent hours
concocting a most ingenious plan for luring him on to the Embankment
late at night, and arranging that my steps to my hotel, feeling about
as miserable as it would be possible for a man to be. What did life
contain for me now? I asked myself this question for the hundredth
time, as I walked up the sombre street; and the answer was,
Nothing—absolutely nothing. By judiciously investing the
amount I had inherited under my father’s will I had secured to myself
an income approaching two hundred pounds a year, but beyond that I
had not a penny in the world. I had been sick to death of Australia
for some years before I had thought of leaving it, and my last great
disappointment had not furnished me with any desire to return to it.
On the other hand I had seen too much of the world to be able to
settle down to an office life in England, and my enfeebled
constitution, even had I desired to do so, would have effectively
debarred me from enlisting in the Army. What, therefore, was to
become of me—for I could not entertain the prospect of settling down
to a sort of vegetable existence on my small income—I could not see.
“Oh, if only I had not been taken ill after Ben’s death,” I said to
myself again and again; “what might I not then have done?” As it was,
that scoundrel Bartrand had made millions out of what was really my
property, and as a result I was a genteel pauper without a hope of
any sort in the world. As the recollection of my disappointment came
into my mind, I ground my teeth and cursed him; and for the rest of
my walk occupied myself thinking of the different ways in which I
might compass his destruction, and at the same time hating myself for
lacking the necessary pluck to put any one of them into
execution.
As I reached the entrance to my hotel a paper boy came round the
corner crying his wares.
‘“Ere yer are, sir; ‘orrible murder in the West End,” he said,
running to meet me; and, wanting something to occupy me until
breakfast should be ready, I bought a copy and went in and seated
myself by the hall fire to read it. On the second page was a column
with the following headline, in large type:—
“SHOCKING TRAGEDY IN THE WEST END.” Feeling in the humour for this
sort of literature, I began to read. The details were as
follows:—
“It is our unfortunate duty to convey to the world this morning
the details of a ghastly tragedy which occurred last night in the
West End. The victim was Major-General Charles Brackington, the
well-known M.P. for Pollingworth, whose speech on the Short Service
Extension Bill only last week created such a sensation among military
men. So far the whole affair is shrouded in mystery, but, it is
believed, the police are in possession of a clue which will
ultimately assist them in their identification of the assassin. From
inquiries made we learn that Major-General Brackington last night
visited the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in company with his wife and
daughter, and having escorted them to Chester Square, where his
residence is situated, drove back to the Veteran Club, of which he is
one of the oldest and most distinguished members. There he remained
in conversation with some brother officers until a quarter past
twelve o’clock, when he hailed a passing hansom and bade the man
drive him home. This order was given in the hearing of one of the
Club servants, whose evidence should prove of importance later on.
From the time he left the Club until half-past one o’clock nothing
more was seen of the unfortunate gentleman. Then Police-Sergeant
Maccinochie, while passing along Piccadilly, discovered a man lying
in the centre of the road almost opposite the gates of the Royal
Academy. Calling the constable on the beat to his assistance, he
carried the body to the nearest gas lamp and examined it. To his
horror he recognised Major-General Brackington, with whose features
he was well acquainted. Life, however, was extinct. Though convinced
of this fact, he nevertheless obtained a cab and drove straightway to
Charing Cross Hospital, where his suspicions were confirmed. One
singular circumstance was then discovered—with the exception of the
left eyebrow, which had been cut completely away, evidently with some
exceedingly sharp instrument, there was not a wound of any sort or
description upon the body. Death, so the medical authorities
asserted, had been caused by an overdose of some anaesthetic, though
how administered it was impossible to say. The police are now engaged
endeavouring to discover the cabman, whom it is stated, the Club
servant feels sure he can identify.”
With a feeling of interest, for which I could not at all account,
seeing that both the Victim and the cabman, whom the police seemed
determined to associate with the crime, were quite unknown to me, I
re-read the paragraph, and then went in to breakfast. While I was
eating I turned the page of the paper, and propping it against the
cruet stand, scanned the fashionable intelligence. Sandwiched in
between the news of the betrothal of the eldest son of a duke, and
the demise of a well-known actress, was a paragraph which stirred me
to the depths of my being. It ran as follows:—
“It is stated on reliable authority that Mr. Richard Bartrand, the
well-known Australian millionaire, has purchased from the executors
of the late Earl of Mount Chennington the magnificent property known
as Chennington Castle in Shropshire, including several farms, with
excellent fishing and shooting.”
*
I crushed the paper up and threw it angrily away from me. So he
was going to pose as a county magnate, was he—this swindler and
liar!—and upon the wealth he has filched from me? If he had been
before me then, I think I could have found it in my heart to kill him
where he stood, regardless of the consequences.
After breakfast I went for another walk, this time in a westerly
direction. As I passed along the crowded pavements I thought of the
bad luck which had attended me all my life. From the moment I entered
the world nothing seemed to have prospered that I had taken in hand.
As a boy I was notorious for my ill-luck at games; as a man good
fortune was always conspicuously absent from my business ventures;
and when at last a chance for making up for it did come in my way,
success was stolen from me just as I was about to grasp it.
Turning into Pall Mall, I made my way in the direction of St.
James’s Street, intending to turn thence into Piccadilly. As I passed
the Minerva Club the door swung open, and to my astonishment my
eldest brother, who had succeeded to the baronetcy and estates on my
father’s death, came down the steps. That he recognised me there
could be no doubt. He could not have helped seeing me even if he had
wished to do so, and for a moment, I felt certain, he did not know
what to do. He and I had never been on good terms, and when I
realised that, in spite of my many years’ absence from home, he was
not inclined to offer me a welcome, I made as if I would pass on. He,
however, hastened after me, and caught me before I could turn the
corner.
“Gilbert,” he said, holding out his hand, but speaking without
either emotion or surprise, “this is very unexpected. I had no notion
you were in England. How long is it since you arrived?”
“I reached London yesterday,” I answered, with a corresponding
coolness, as I took his hand. For, as I have said, there was that in
his face which betrayed no pleasure at seeing me.
He was silent for half a minute or so, and I could see that he was
wondering how he could best get rid of me.
“You have heard of our father’s death, I suppose?” he said at
last.
“I learnt the news in Sydney,” I replied. “I have also received
the five thousand pounds he left me.”
He made no comment upon the smallness of the amount in proportion
to the large sums received by himself and the rest of the family, nor
did he refer in any other way to our parent’s decease. Any one
watching us might have been excused had they taken us for casual
acquaintances, so cool and distant were we with one another.
Presently I enquired, for politeness sake, after his wife, who was
the daughter of the Marquis of Belgravia, and whom I had, so far,
never seen.
“Ethelberta unfortunately is not very well at present,” he
answered. “Sir James Peckleton has ordered her complete rest and
quiet, and I regret, for that reason, I shall not be able to see as
much of you as I otherwise should have hoped to do. Is it your
intention to remain very long in England?”
“I have no notion,” I replied, truthfully. “I maybe here a week—a
year—or for the rest of my life. But you need not be afraid, I shall
not force my society upon you. From your cordial welcome home, I
gather that the less you see of me the more you will appreciate the
relationship we bear to one another. Good morning.”
Without more words I turned upon my heel and strolled on down the
street, leaving him looking very uncomfortable upon the pavement.
There and then I registered a vow that, come what might, I would have
no more to do with my own family.
Leaving Pall Mall behind me, I turned up St. James’s Street and
made my way into Piccadilly. In spite of the slippery roads, the
streets were well filled with carriages, and almost opposite
Burlington House I noticed a stylish brougham drawn up beside the
footpath. Just as I reached it the owner left the shop before which
it was standing, and crossed the pavement towards it. Notwithstanding
the expensive fur coat he wore, the highly polished top hat, and his
stylish appearance generally, I knew him at once for Bartrand, my
greatest enemy on earth. He did not see me, for which I could not
help feeling thankful; but I had seen him, and the remembrance of his
face haunted me for the rest of my walk. The brougham, the horses,
even the obsequious servants, should have been mine. I was the just,
lawful owner of them all.
After dinner that evening I was sitting in the smoking room
looking into the fire and, as usual, brooding over my unfortunate
career, when an elderly gentleman, seated in an armchair opposite me,
laid his paper on his knee and addressed me.
“It’s a very strange thing about these murders,” he said, shaking
his head. “I don’t understand it at all. Major-General Brackington
last night, and now Lord Beryworth this morning.”
“Do you mean to say there has been another murder of the same kind
to-day?” I enquired, with a
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