Call Mr. Fortune, page 9 by H.C. Bailey
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ience. "There's something devilish in it. Fortune. One murder-the wrong man dead - and then try again at once the same way. Imagine the creature looking at that poor dead wretch and jumping on the car again to drive it on at the other man. Diabolical! Diabolical!"
"I don't think I have much imagination, sir," said Reggie, who was not impressed by ineffective emotion.
There was a gentle tap at the door, a nurse came and was given her instructions, and the two men went down to the Archduke Leopold.
He had changed his clothes. He was now in a claret-coloured velvet which did violence to his complexion and his pale beard. He sat in the smoking-room with a book on the entomology of Java and a glass of eau sucree. He smiled at them and waved them to chairs.
" I have to tell you, sir, that your brother lies in grave danger," said Sir Lawson.
Reggie looked at him sideways.
"Ah, the concussion! It is serious, then? I am deeply distressed."
"The concussion is most serious. There's another matter. In your brother's chest above the heart, at which it must have been aimed, we have found-this."
" Mon Dieu! It is a hatpin-a woman's hatpin. But it is incredible! It is murder."
"Attempted murder."
"But what do you suggest, sir? Do you accuse some one?"
"Not my function. That pin was driven at your brother's heart by some one. Can you tell me any more, sir?"
The Archduke buried his face in his hands. "I will not believe it," he muttered - "I will not believe it." After a little he controlled himself. "Gentlemen, you have a right to my confidence. I will tell you everything. I trust you to do all that is possible for my poor brother and for the honour of our family, which to him, as to me, is dearer than life. You know that he is the heir to the throne of Bohemia. My uncle, the Emperor, has long been vexed with his living in England. I came here to persuade my brother to go back to his country. My poor brother had made his home here at the wish of t