English fiction -- 20th century; Humorous stories, English; Short stories, English
But it is time we got on with the story. The murder of Sir Joshua Tubbs,
M.P. had sent a thrill of horror through England, and hundreds of people
wrote indignant letters to the Press, blaming the police for their
neglect to discover the assassin. Detective-Inspector Frenchard,
however, was hard at work, and he was inspired by the knowledge that he
could always rely upon the assistance of Roger Dangerfield, the famous
barrister, who had sworn to track the murderer down.
To prepare himself for the forthcoming struggle Roger decided, one sunny
day in June, to give up the meat diet upon which he had relied so long,
and to devote himself entirely to a vegetable _regime_. With that
thoroughness which was now becoming a characteristic of him, he left
London and returned to the country, with the intention of making a study
of food values.
CHAPTER XCII
LOVE COMES IN
It was a beautiful day in July and the country was looking its best.
Roger rose at 7.30 a.m. and performed those gentle, health-giving
exercises which have already been described in previous chapters. On
this glorious morning, however, he added a simple exercise for the
elbows to his customary ones, and went down to his breakfast as hungry
as the proverbial hunter. A substantial meal of five dried beans and a
stewed nut awaited him in the fine oak-panelled library; and as he did
ample justice to the banquet his thoughts went back to the terrible days
when he lived the luxurious meat-eating life of the ordinary
man-about-town; to the evening when he discovered the body of Sir
Eustace Butt, M.P., and swore to bring the assassin to vengeance; to the
day when----
Suddenly he realised that his thoughts were wandering. With iron will he
controlled them and concentrated fixedly on the word "dough-nut" for
twelve minutes. Greatly refreshed, he rose and strode out into the sun.
At the door of his cottage a girl was standing. She was extremely
beautiful, and Roger's heart would have jumped if he had not had that
organ (thanks to Twisting Exercise 23) under perfect control.
"Is this the way to Denfield?" she asked.
"Straight on," said Roger.
He returned to his cottage, breathing heavily through his ears.
CHAPTER XCIII
ANOTHER SURPRISE
Six months went by, and the murderer of Sir Joshua Tubbs, M.P. and Sir
Eustace Butt, M.P. still remained at large. Roger had sold his cottage
in the country and was now in London, performing his exercises with
regularity, concentrating daily upon the words "wardrobe," "dough-nut,"
and "wasp," and living entirely upon proteids.
One day he had the idea that he would start a restaurant in the East-End
for the sale of meatless foods. This would bring him in touch with the
lower classes, among whom he expected to find the assassin of his two
oldest friends.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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