The Missing Angel - Erle Cox (whitelam books .TXT) 📗
- Author: Erle Cox
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shot. They must have been torn through the frame, but the frame remained
intact.
“Je-ru-salem!” whistled Tydvil.
“Wait—I promised you something more.”
As Jones looked back, something fluttered through the air and landed on
the blotting pad before him. He gasped as he saw it was his private
cheque book. That book, he knew, was locked in a smaller safe in the
strong-room.
Jones looked an enquiry at His Highness, who nodded assent. Then he
walked over to the open door and examined the bolts. Entering the
strong-room, he unlocked the smaller safe. His cheque book was not
there. Convinced, he returned to his chair. At a wave of the thin brown
hand, the door closed as quietly as it had opened.
“You forgot to put away the cheque book,” laughed Tydvil.
“Pardon,” murmured His Highness. Leaning forward, he picked up the book
and tossed it towards the steel door. It disappeared in mid flight.
Jones stood up and opened the door with his keys and the combination. In
the strong-room he found his cheque book back in its place.
Returning to his chair once more, he sat with his hands on the edge of
his table, staring blankly at the blotting pad for a long minute. Then
he came to swift decision. “I’ll do it!” he said abruptly.
His visitor nodded, smiling. “I am really delighted to hear it. I assure
you I take a great personal interest in you, Mr. Jones, and I feel
certain you will have no cause to regret your determination. Now, let us
arrange the formalities, and I will be in a position to take your
instructions. Have you a promissory note form?”
With the air of a man who has burned his boats and enjoyed the process,
Jones opened a small cash-box, from which he drew a small wad of stamped
forms. Bending to select one, he hesitated. “By the way,” he asked,
“what stamps will be necessary?”
His Highness shook his head. “I scarcely follow you. Is a stamp
necessary?”
“Decidedly! Under the Act,” explained Tydvil, “it is necessary to have a
duty stamp valued at sixpence on each note up to twenty-five pounds in
value, one shilling up to fifty pounds, and an additional shilling for
each further fifty pounds, or part of that amount. I would prefer to
have the note unassailably legal.”
The other waved his hand largely. “Why go to unnecessary expense—make
it a sixpenny stamp, my dear fellow.” Then, observing the flush on the
face of Tydvil, he continued, “However, decide for yourself. I am afraid
I was looking at it from my viewpoint rather than yours.”
Jones still hesitated.
“You see, my friend, I am apt to regard a commodity as of low value when
I can obtain millions of it for nothing—the world market parity for
souls. Still, I see your point of view. Decide for yourself, my dear
sir.”
Jones chuckled. “I see, a purely commercial proposition, at ruling
prices. It is not what I value it at, but what it would bring?”
“Precisely,” answered his visitor cheerfully.
Tydvil drew a form with a sixpenny stamp on it from the wad, and
laughed. “Here goes!” Preparing to write, he said, “Now, this is the
first day of August—shall we say at three months?”
The other bowed. “I leave the details entirely in your hands, and with
complete confidence.” A very handsome testimonial coming from such a
quarter.
Tydvil blushed with pride. “Very well! Three months, then. That will
make it due on November fourth, allowing for the formal three days’
grace.” He wrote for a moment, and then looked up with a puzzled
expression. “To whom shall I make it payable, you see…” he paused
awkwardly.
His Highness smiled. “Of course, it would be hardly—well, a little
unusual to make it payable to the Devil.”
Jones nodded. “My idea exactly. And since we are likely to see a good
deal of one another during the next three months, it might be as well to
arrange for some conventional form of address at the same time.”
His visitor reflected a moment. “There are so many names—Satan, The
Devil, Lucifer, Ahrimanes, The Tempter, Prince of Darkness, of Evil—
all very uncomplimentary, and even more inaccurate, and quite unsuitable
for modern use, at any rate. Can you suggest anything yourself?”
Tydvil tried, but not hopefully. “The Dickens,” he paused and, receiving
no answer, went on, “Old Scratch, Old Nick…”
“All most offensive and familiar,” retorted His Highness, somewhat
nettled.
“Might I venture to suggest,” Tydvil returned, “that we could use the
last name I mentioned by paraphrasing it. We could change ‘Old Nick’
to Nicholas Senior. I think Mr. Nicholas Senior would be most suitable.”
“Excellent, my friend, excellent!” agreed His Highness. “We will
certainly make it Nicholas Senior.”
“How about a title,” put in Jones, persuasively. “Say, Sir Nicholas
Senior, K.B.E.”
“No,” replied his friend. “On the whole I prefer to remain completely
incog. Put it down to a natural humility.”
Jones apologised. He felt there was a rebuke behind the words. Presently
he paused again in his writing.
“Provided, when the note falls due, you have fulfilled your side of the
contract, do you take immediate possession of the security?” he asked a
little uneasily.
“Not at all! Not at all!” answered Mr. Senior hastily. “The usual terms
apply in full. You retain a life interest in your soul, which I inherit
on your death—that is, when you have no further use for it.”
“Very generous,” said Tydvil, looking relieved. Presently he looked up,
and read from the form before him. “Dated August 1st, 1904. Due,
November 4th, 1904. In place of the usual sum in figures I have written
‘Soul.’ Will that suffice?”
Mr. Senior nodded agreement.
“Three months after date,” continued Jones, “I promise to pay Nicholas
Senior, or order, my Immortal Soul for services to be rendered during
the currency of this note. Payable at my offices in 3973 Flinders Lane,
Melbourne. Signed, Tydvil Jones.”
He handed the note across the table to Mr. Senior, who read it
carefully. Then he turned the note face down, and, after writing on the
back of it, he returned it to Jones for inspection.
This is the endorsement Jones read. The handwriting was exquisitely neat
and clear. “If, during the currency of this note, I fail to perform any
task or service of any description which I may be called upon to perform
by the maker thereof, I agree that the note shall become automatically
null and void. Nicholas R., et I.”
“Very handsome, indeed, Mr. Senior,” said Jones, handing back the note,
“but I assure you, quite unnecessary.”
Mr. Senior folded the document carefully, and placed it in his wallet.
“We are both businessmen, my friend, and it is only right that my
obligation should be set out in writing.”
Jones stared at him a moment thoughtfully. “I suppose it is entirely
legal. Not that I would think of trying to upset it.”
There was a grim smile at the corners of the clean-cut mouth. “Not all
the children of my very numerous family known as the Legal Profession,
together, could upset it.”
“It would be interesting to hear it argued,” smiled Tydvil.
“Perhaps,” from the still smiling lips. “But, as from the County Courts
to the Privy Council I am represented on every bench…!” He flipped
his fingers carelessly.
Then his mood changed. “And now, my friend, I am entirely at your
service. Command me.”
“I must think things over a little,” replied Tydvil. “You see, this has
come so suddenly and unexpectedly…” He was interrupted by the
telephone bell.
“Excuse me one moment.” He raised the receiver to his ear and listened a
moment. Then he snorted out a curt “Very well!” and slammed it down
again.
Then he turned abruptly to Mr. Senior. “My wife will be here in half an
hour. I have no desire to meet her just now. Could you arrange some
means of altering her intention?”
“Most certainly. A pleasure indeed,” replied Mr. Senior lightly. “I will
be most interested to meet the lady, who, I feel sure, is responsible
for your own remarkable record—to a great extent. But after?”
Jones thought for a moment. “Can you meet me here about seven-thirty
this evening?”
In answer to a nod of acquiescence, he went on, “That will suit me
admirably, so, until then, I need not trouble you.” He rose and looked
at the door. “If I let you out by the door, it may cause comment. Miss
Brand is not aware of your presence here.”
“No matter,” said Mr. Senior, “my goings and comings may be arranged
otherwise.”
“There will be no trouble about my wife?”
“Not the slightest! I will arrange to have her fully occupied for the
remainder of the day.” He held out his hand, which Tydvil shook warmly,
and as he released it, Mr. Senior was not. He vanished.
For a long time Tydvil sat thinking. Then he took his hat, and leaving
the warehouse, he turned into Elizabeth Street, there made certain
purchases, and returned to his office.
While Tydvil Jones was undergoing the experiences of the most unsettling
morning of his life, Amy was as busy as a nest of hornets planning
reprisals. For the first time during their married life, Tydvil had
out-fought her. His revolt wounded her pride. She was too clever not to
recognise that a few more victories such as that of the morning—that
Battle of Breakfast would shake her domestic throne.
How very tiresome men were, thought Amy. But Tydvil’s tiresomeness had
to be stopped. After careful reflection on the situation, she decided
that a fight to a finish in his own office, where he could not afford to
make a scene, would be all to her advantage. It was this decision that
impelled her to ring Tydvil to notify him of her intended call. She
decided against descending on him unannounced. She had backed her
challenge with the warning, that if he were absent when she arrived, she
would wait for him in his office all day if necessary.
Her car was already waiting at the door when a mighty limousine Rolls
Royce swung from St. Kilda Road into the drive. With all the majesty of
a battleship, it came to anchor just astern of her own car as Amy was in
the act of stepping in to it.
Amy stepped back under the colonnaded verandah. The chauffeur of the
shining monster sprang from his seat and swung open its door almost
reverently, and from the door stepped a stranger.
The car had impressed Amy. A limousine of that make meant no ordinary
mortal, and Amy did not care much for ordinary mortals, except as
objects of patronage. But the stranger, as he approached her, impressed
her more than the car. There was a distinction in his bearing that was
worthy of the entwined red R’s on the radiator.
He mounted the steps and stood bareheaded before her. “May I enquire,”
he asked deferentially, “if I am speaking to Mrs. Tydvil Jones?” and
there was a delicate flattery in the deference.
She bowed graciously.
He looked a little embarrassed. “I am afraid,” he said, glancing at the
waiting car, “that I have chosen an awkward moment for my call. Perhaps
you will permit me to return at a more suitable time.”
Amy wreathed her face in her best samples of “Dear Amy” smiles. Her
mission, she assured him, was of little or no importance. Would he
kindly come
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