Capitalists and financiers -- Fiction; Great Britain -- Politics and government -- Fiction; Political fiction
The accident was a godsend to Mr. Bevan. He noticed that his quarry had
at least had the decency to go into the saloon bar; he dashed into the
public one, gulped down a glass of beer, bought a handful of biscuits,
went out immediately lest he should miss the trail, and was glad to see
that his victim yet lingered within.
In twenty minutes or so he came out, his eyes a little watery, and
continued his unsuspecting way towards the Heath with the detective
after him. But he was not alone! By his side there walked, dressed in a
manner that would have appalled the Press itself, a young woman!
The plot thickened. And Mr. Bevan, who had expected a very different
occupation to be provided for him, divined at once the possibilities
which his discovery contained. He had no need now to fear hunger,
anxiety, or lack of matter. It was plain sailing for the whole
afternoon. He followed them to the Heath, he saw them seated and
embraced behind a clump of thorn and ready to devour a luncheon they
had purchased and carried in a paper bag. He would leave them now; he
had time to return to the little public-house and to inquire of the
potman every detail of the unhappy man's conduct; he was told of his
monstrous promise to marry the daughter of the potman's master; of
his repeated and lengthy calls; he learnt at full length the whole
disgraceful business, and with admirable self-mastery he pretended
to no surprise when he heard that the name the visitor was known to
the publican and his servant by was "Zachary Hemmings." He waited
patiently until the guilty man reappeared with his paramour in her
father's home. He waited outside in the advancing dusk until the male
offender had reappeared, somewhat unsteadily, and giving every sign of
an exhilaration due to something more than requited affection. His hat
was not absolutely straight upon his head; his umbrella trailed upon
the ground; his face was indolently happy. Zachary did not take the
Tube, but as it was now already dark and as he remembered in a fuddled
way that his place was in jeopardy, he had the cunning to hail a lonely
taximeter which was returning in no good humour after depositing a fare
at the Spaniards.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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