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Page 1 of 31922 · PDF PAGE 115
… around my waist and dug her nails into my ribs. “Chuck it, Cockie,” she said, ‘‘ we’re well out of a mess. I always had my doubts about Feccles, and his going off like this looks to me as if there were something very funny about it.” My dream of a quarter of a million disappeared without a moment’s regret. I had been prudent after all. I had invested my cash in something tangible. Feccles was an obvious crook. If I had handed him that five thousand, I should never have heard of him or of it again. ' I began to recover my spirits. “Look here,” …
1922 · PDF PAGE 100
…aw in a flash the magnificent possibilities of the plan. “Of course, I needn’t tell you to keep it as dark as a wolf’s mouth,” continued Feccles. “If this got out, every financier in Paris would buy the thing over our heads. I wouldn’t have mentioned it to you at all except for two things. I know you're on the square —that goes without saying; but the real point is this, that I told you I rather believe in the Occult.” “Oh, yes,” cried Lou, “then, of course, you know King Lamus.”’ } Feccles started as if he had received a blow in the face. For …
1922 · PDF PAGE 130
116 The Diary of a Drug Fiend Hang it all, one doesn’t want another man on one’s honeymoon |! So there was Feccles turning to me in a sort of limp, helpless protest, imploring me to put my foot down about it. So I said, ‘“‘ Feccles, old top, you’re the right sort. I always liked you at school, and I shall never forget what you've done for me these last thirty or forty years or whatever it is we've been in Capri, and Lloyd George can trust you to nip that blighter you're after, why shouldn’t I trust you to see us through this fun at the Gatto Fr…
1922 · PDF PAGE 93
…ain, we saw quite plainly that the cigarette case had been under it, and therefore must have been on top of it before it was overturned. Feccles laughed heartily at the humorous character of the incident. I suppose it was funny in a sort of way. On the other hand, I don’t think it was quite the thing to call attention to. However, I suppose the fellow had to have his cigarette case, and after all, when you do find a table upside down, it’s not much good pretending that you don’t notice it. And very likely, on the whole, the best way to pass ove…
1922 · PDF PAGE 94
80 The Diary of a Drug Fiend generous impulse into words, Lou sailed in like an angel descending from heaven. She went straight up to Feccles, and she positively kissed him before my eyes, and begged him to stay and have lunch. She positively took the words out of my mouth. But I must admit that I wanted to be alone with Lou—not only then, but for ever; and I was most consumedly glad when I heard Feccles say :— “Why, really, that’s too kind of you, Lady Pen- dragon, and I hope you repeat the invitation some other day, but I’ve got to lunch with…
1922 · PDF PAGE 101
…y being lucky. My luck in the war had been prodigious. Then there was this inheritance, and Lou on the top of that; and here I’d met old Feccles by a piece of absolute chance, and there was this brilliant investment. That was the word—he was careful to point out that it was not a speculation, strictly speaking—absolutely waiting for me. We were so overjoyed that we could hardly grasp the practical details. The amount required was four thousand nine hundred and fifty pounds. Of course, there was no difficulty in getting a trifle like that, but a…
1922 · PDF PAGE 80
…t that you and Lady Pen- dragon take supper with us at the Petit Savoyard ?”’ Haidée slipped her arm into mine, and Lou led the way with Feccles. “We were going there ourselves,” she told him, “and it will be perfectly delightful to be with friends. I see you're quite an old friend of my husband's.” He began to tell her of the old school. As if by accident, he gave an account of the circumstances which had led to his leaving. ““ My old man was in the city, you know,” I heard him say, ‘‘ and he dropped his pile ‘somewhere in Lom- bard Street’’’ …
1922 · PDF PAGE 99
… she chirruped. ‘“ This is where you go right in and win. I’ve really got to have those pearls, you know.” _ “She’s quite right,’ agreed Feccles. “‘ When you're through with this honeymoon, come round with me, and we'll take our coats off and get into the game for all we’re worth and a bit more, and when we come out, we'll have J. D. Rockefeller as flat as a pancake.” “ Well,” said I, ‘no time like the present. I don’t want to buttin, but if I could be any use to you about this deal of yours——”’ Feccles shook his head. _ “No,” he said, ‘‘ this …
1922 · PDF PAGE 79
…e let’s forget the past,” smiled Lou, taking my arm. I don’t know why I should have felt embarrassed at explaining that we were married. Feccles rattled off a string of congratulations. “‘ May I introduce Mademoiselle Haidée Lamoureux? ” The girl beside him smiled and bowed. Haidée Lamoureux was a brilliant brunette with a flashing smile and eyes with pupils like pin-points. She was a mass of charming contradictions. The nose and mouth suggested more than a trace of Semitic blood, but the wedge-shaped contour of the face betokened some very opp…
1922 · PDF PAGE 86
92 The Diary of a Drug Fiend price is that we live by labour, and—‘‘ In his eyes foreknowledge of death. Feccles caught my thought. He quoted .with slow emphasis :— “ He weaves and is clothed with derision, Sows. and he shall not reap. His life is a watch or a vision, Between a sleep and a sleep.” The thought of the great Victorian seemed to chill him. He. threw off his depression, lighting a cigarette and taking a strong pull at his brandy. “‘ Haidée,”’ he said, with assumed lightness, ‘‘ lives in open sin with a person named Baruch de Espinos…
1922 · PDF PAGE 152
138 The Diary of a Drug Fiend arrangements had been made to catch Mr. Laroche Feccles. We managed to get pretty drunk in the course of the evening; but there was no exhilaration. The shock had been too great, the disillusion too disgusting. Above all, there was the complete absence of what had, after all, been the mainspring of our lives; our love for each other. That was gone, as if it had been packed in our luggage. The only approach to sympathetic communion between us was when Lou, practical to the last, brought out our pitifully small suppl…
1922 · PDF PAGE 95
…s. I haven’t a thing for a week.” And just then the telephone rang. Lou did a two- step across to the instrument. “Qh, it’s for you, Mr. Feccles,” she said. ‘‘ However did any one know you were here? ”’ He gave his funny little laugh. “It’s just what I’ve been telling you, Lady Pen- dragon,” he said, as he walked over to the receiver. “I’m a very much wanted man. Every one seems. to want me but the police,” he giggled, ‘“ and they may get on to me any minute now, the Lord knows.” He became suddenly serious as he talked on the phone. “Oh, yes,” …
1922 · PDF PAGE 113
…bourgeois atmosphere of Paris got on my nerves. Well, there was no need to stay in the beastly place. The thing to do was to hunt up old Feccles and pay him the cash, and get to some place like Capri where one isn’t always being bothered by details. I was flooded by a crazy desire to see Lou swim in the Blue Grotto, to watch the phosphorescent flames flash from her luminous body. We told the chauffeur to stop at Feccles’s hotel, and that was where we hit a gigantic snag.
1922 · PDF PAGE 139
The Gatto Fritto 125 lost child, that Feccles would turn up and get us out of the mess. Unfortunately for either, I had been very capably disarmed, and there was no sign of Feccles. We were marched to the police station and thrown into separate rooms. ‘I cannot hope to depict the boiling rage which kept me awake all night. I resented ill-temperedly the attempts of the other men to be sympathetic. I think they recognised instinctively that I had got into trouble through no fault of my own, and were anxious to show kindness in their own rough way…
1922 · PDF PAGE 124
…iend ‘Oh, I see,” said Lou wisely and bent over to him and whispered in his ear. The words were :— ** Secret Service." “That’s it,” said Feccles softly. ‘‘ And this is where you come in. Look here.” He brought out a passport from his pocket and opened it. He was Monsieur Hector Laroche, of Geneva, so it appeared; by profession a courier. We nodded comprehensively. “I was rather at my wits’ end when I saw you,” he went on. “I’m on the trail of a very dangerous man who has got into the confidence of some English people living in Capri. That’s whe…
1922 · PDF PAGE 122
…at once to his compartment. It was a coupé, and he was its sole occupant. I have already described the shock which the re- appearance of Feccles had administered to my nerves. Normally, I should have felt very awkward indeed, but the cocaine lifted me easily over the fence. The incident became welcome; an additional adven- ture in the fairy tale which we were living. Lou herself was all gush and giggles to an extent which a month earlier I should have thought a shade off. But everything was equally exquisite on this grand com- bination honeymoo…
1922 · PDF PAGE 82
… gone out of us; we might have been convalescents from some very long and wasting illness. “‘ There’s nothing to be alarmed about,” said Feccles, with his curious little laugh. “A trifling indiscretion.” I winced at the word. It took me back to King Lamus. I hated that fellow more than ever. He had begun to obsess me. Confound him |! Lou had confided the whole story to our host, who admitted that he was familiar with these matters. “You see, my dear Sir Peter,” he said, “‘ you can’t take H. like you can C., and when you mix your drinks there’s …
1922 · PDF PAGE 87
… we had taken, there remained a residual effect. We had arrived at the hotel very weary, though as a matter of course we had insisted on Feccles and Haidée coming upstairs for a final drink. But we could hardly keep our eyes open; and as soon as they were gone we made all possible haste to get between the sheets of the twin beds. I need hardly tell my married friends that on previous nights the process of going to bed had been a very elaborate ritual. But on this occasion it was a mere attempt to break the record for speed. Within five minutes …
1922 · PDF PAGE 125
…arrangement. “‘Oh, but you must let us do more than that,” she said. “If we could only help you spot this swine!” “You bet I will,” said Feccles heartily,.and we all shook hands on it. “‘Any time anything happens where you could be useful, I'll tell you what to do. But of course you'll have to remember the rules of the service—absolute silence and obedience. And you stand or fall on your own feet, and if the umpire says ‘out,’ you’re out, and nobody’s going to pick up the pieces.” This honeymoon was certainly coming out in the most wonderful wa…
1922 · PDF PAGE 131
…iness. That sort of knowledge will always come in useful in case of another European War. It was knowing that sort of thing that had put Feccles where he was in the Secret Service, the trusted confident of those mysterious intelligences that watch over the welfare of our beloved country. Thank you, that will conclude the evening’s entertain- ment. I will say this for Feccles. He always understood instinctively when he wasn’t wanted. So immedi- ately the arrangements were made, he excused himself hastily, because he had to go down to the Villa w…