May Fair : $b being an entertainment purporting to reveal to gentlefolk the real state of affairs existing in the very heart of London during the fifteenth and sixteenth years of the reign of His Majesty King George the Fifth: together with suitable reflections on the last follies, misadventures and galanteries of these charming peopleArlen, Michael
History
May Fair : $b being an entertainment purporting to reveal to gentlefolk the real state of affairs existing in the very heart of London during the fifteenth and sixteenth years of the reign of His Majesty King George the Fifth: together with suitable reflections on the last follies, misadventures and galanteries of these charming people
Arlen, Michael
Great Britain -- History -- George V, 1910-1936 -- Fiction; London (England) -- Fiction
“Don’t they! But see there, Hunt!” Sir Charles, suddenly and sharply,
was waving his cane towards the opposite side of the road, towards the
corner by the massive Argentine Club. “See that man?”
The commissionaire with the lined face followed the direction of the
cane.
“That constable, Sir Charles?”
“No, no! That Jew!”
The commissionaire, mistrustful of his ancient eyes, peered through the
clear night. He sighed: “God knows, Sir Charles, there’s Jews enough in
Mayfair, but I can’t see one just there.”
The Admiral thoughtfully took another cigar from his case. His eyes were
of iron, but his voice had lost all its sudden sharpness as he said:
“Never mind, Hunt. Just give me a light, will you?”
But, as he made to walk down Piccadilly, to join in a rubber at his
other club in St. James’s Street, Sir Charles did not let the dark lean
man on the other side of the road pass out of the corner of his eye. The
young Jew crossed the road. That did not surprise our gentleman. He
walked on and, once on Piccadilly, walked at a good pace.
The Piccadilly scene was seldom crowded between ten and eleven:
cinema-theatres, music-halls and playhouses held the world’s attention,
while the night was not yet deep enough for the dim parade of the
world’s wreckage. Sir Charles would always, at about this hour, take a
little exercise between his clubs in Hamilton Place and St. James’s.
He had passed the opening of Half-Moon Street before the young Jew
caught up with his shoulder. Sir Charles walked on without concerning
himself to look round at the dark, handsome face. Handsome as a black
archangel was Julian Raphael the Jew. Sir Charles vaguely supposed that
the archangels had originally been Jewish, and it was as a black
archangel that the looks of Julian Raphael had first impressed him. It
was altogether a too fanciful business for the Admiral’s taste; but he
had no one to blame for it but himself, since he had originally let the
thing, he’d had to admit often, run away with him.
“Well?” he suddenly smiled over his shoulder. There was, after all, a
good deal to smile about, if you took the thing properly. And it had
needed more than a handsome Jew to prevent Sir Charles taking a thing
properly. But Julian Raphael did not smile. He said gravely:
“When I first saw you, Sir Charles, I thought you were only a fool. But
I am not sure now. You show a resignation towards fate unusual in your
sceptical countrymen. It is scepticism that makes men dull, resignation
that makes men interesting. It is a dull mind that believes in nothing:
it is an interesting mind that expects nothing and awaits the worst.
Your waiting shall be rewarded, Sir Charles.”
The Admiral walked on with a grim smile. He was growing used to
this--even to this! They passed beneath the bitter walls of what was
once Devonshire House. The beautiful Jew said softly:
“You have a broad back, Sir Charles. It is a fine mark for a well-thrown
knife. Have I not always said so!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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