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  CHAPTER 1

  The Genius of Gabriel Toller

  ‘THEY say,’ said a vacuous-looking young man dressed in white flannels, an old jacket, and a sweater in which some loving hand had prettily weaved strands of red and blue, ‘that the old chap in the corner was nearly murdered nine times up to the end of last year.’ The young man spoke in a hushed voice and peered as if with short-sighted eyes at his companion; he was pleading to be believed.

  ‘And he doesn’t look a bit like a cat,’ said Polly Dalton, keeping a straight face. That was difficult, because her lips liked to smile, and when they did, dimples in her plump cheeks were born anew and laughter shone in her blue eyes.

  ‘A cat?’ echoed the vacuous but earnest young man. Polly did not help him out. ‘Cat,’ repeated the young man, and then understanding dawned upon him. ‘Oh, a cat! Nine lives! Oh, by Jove, jolly good! I say, marvellous!’

  ‘I’m glad you like it,’ murmured Polly, and for once the dimples were not brought to life, because the spindly youth embarrassed her. His large, horn-rimmed glasses made him look in the early twenties, but his behaviour was that of a youth in the early teens.

  Polly Dalton wondered how she could get away from him.

  In front of them, on the table in the open lounge of the Mayberry Hotel, were tankards of cider. Polly was dressed in a cream shirt-blouse and a cream pleated skirt which did not reach her dimpled knees, ankle socks which made her firm, round legs look very plump, and tennis shoes. By the side of her wicker chair was her tennis racquet. She was pleasantly tired after three sets with the spindly youth, whose name she did not know.

  After lunch she had looked round the small dining-room and asked: ‘Would anyone care for some tennis?’ The youth had been the only one to say ‘yes’. She had seen him at breakfast, and felt sorry for him, he looked so woebegone and helpless. She had expected no pleasure from a game of pat-ball, but found the youth transformed on the court. He performed prodigies of recovery, and as they had walked to the lounge she had an uncomfortable feeling that he had let her win. Then she had allowed herself to admit that she had nothing to do for the rest of the afternoon, and so was fated to have him as a companion at least until tea-time.

  ‘I do like a good joke,’ he said, three minutes after he had stopped laughing. Then he grew serious again. ‘It’s a fact, though, Miss Dalton. Nine times! He’s a genius.’

  ‘At avoiding being murdered, you mean,’ said Polly, for she had a fair wit.

  ‘I say,’ said her companion, doubled up again, ‘you are good, you know! You really are! By Jove, marvellous! I wish I could think of something clever to say sometimes.’

  ‘I’m sure you can, sometimes,’ said Polly, her distress growing deeper. He would soon become maudlin. ‘How did you know my name?’

  ‘Oh, that was easy,’ said the young man, beaming. ‘It’s on a tag on your ball net. I say, would you mind very much—I mean—curiosity and all that—er—what does the E stand for?’

  He meant the ‘E’ which came before Dalton on the telltale label, and Polly, casting almost desperate glances about the room, said that it stood for Ethel but that her friends called her Polly. The young man asked whether they did, really. Then he hesitated as if he were about to ask humbly whether he might join the circle of her friends, but surprisingly conquered the impulse and volunteered the information that his name was George.

  ‘George,’ he repeated, his eyes bright behind the clear lenses, ‘George!’ He beamed. ‘You didn’t expect that, did you?’

  ‘Er—what?’ asked Polly, distractedly.

  ‘George, George,’ said George, and slapped his bony knees. ‘Ha-ha-ha! It surprises everyone. As a matter of fact,’ he added, suddenly sober, ‘I’ve a middle name. I don’t tell everyone that, it rather spoils the joke, doesn’t it? But I don’t mind telling you. It’s Henry.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Polly, blankly.

  ‘George, Henry, George,’ declared George, and added anxiously: ‘You do see, don’t you? Christian names George Henry, surname just George.’

  Polly clutched her tankard.

  ‘What, no hyphen?’ she said, and plunged her face towards the cider. She kept it there until George Henry George had recovered from the exquisite witticism, and then found herself looking at a slim, gold cigarette-case extended towards her. She could not help noticing his fingers and the perfect filbert shape of the nails; his hands were perfectly kept.

  ‘Thank you,’ she said.

  George lit the cigarettes from a gold lighter, and tucked both case and lighter beneath his sweater, revealing for a moment a pale blue silk singlet.

  ‘No,’ he said, ‘he certainly doesn’t look like a cat. True.’ Incredibly, he was serious. ‘A lion, now.’

  ‘Do lions go white?’ asked Polly, with difficulty.

  The remark did not occasion another outburst of astonished applause; George continued to be serious.

  ‘Well, I’ve never seen an old lion,’ he said, ‘so far as I know. I mean, that great massive head and beard—patriarchal, isn’t it? He’s a marvellous old boy!’

  ‘Really,’ said Polly.’

  ‘Oh, I know what I’m talking about,’ said George, very earnestly. ‘I know a man who knows him jolly well. He’s a genius. Not my friend,’ he hastened to make clear, ‘the old gentleman in the corner. Mind you, my friend’s very clever, too. But I don’t think he would call himself a genius. Not quite.’ He glanced towards the corner, and then turned hastily away, for the old gentleman with the massive head and the magnificent spade-shaped beard—which was as white as his luxuriant hair—was looking towards him. ‘Don’t look!’ he warned, urgently. ‘He’s staring at us. Perhaps he knows we’re talking about him.’

  ‘We mustn’t embarrass him,’ said Polly, clutching her racquet. ‘And I ought to go up to my room and write some letters.’

  ‘Oh, I say!’ said George, in acute disappointment. ‘Wouldn’t a card do? If you haven’t any cards,’ he added, leaning forward confidentially, ‘I could give you one or two funny ones. Do make a card do.’

  ‘I really can’t,’ said Polly; ‘it’s to my mother—and my sister and some old friends,’ she added, recklessly. ‘I ought not to have played tennis this afternoon, thank you so much for the game!’ She collected her racquet and bag, gave George a quick, dimpling smile, and fled.

  He stared disconsolately after her.

  The Mayberry Hotel was a small private hotel in Bournemouth, close to the sea and almost abutting the edge of the cliffs. Among its attractions was a tennis court, the one thing which had decided Polly Dalton in its favour. She had hoped, however, for a crowd of young people, but George Henry George was the only one whom she had met. That morning she had caught a glimpse of a harassed young woman putting a baby into a pram in the garden, with another child, no more than two years old, clinging to her skirts, but for the rest the residents were old or middle-aged.

  As she sat down at her dressing-table and began to write her letters—a duty which she had earlier decided to defer until the next day, but was far better than bearing with the crashing bore—she found herself thinking of the ‘genius’. He looked eighty if he were a day. She had almost cannoned into him when she had come from the bathroom that morning, and noticed his remarkably handsome features, his clear, white skin—almost transparent and seeming to glow—and his clear grey eyes. He had impressed her then, and George’s remarks heightened her interest. Had the old man really been attacked? Had he narrowly escaped being murdered? Was he a genius? If so, what did
he do?

  Curiously enough, she could not get George’s earnest face out of her mind’s eye. He had remarkable eyes as well as fine hands. Once or twice she had found herself wondering whether he really needed the glasses or whether they were an affectation. She tried to remember when he had looked at her ball-bag. The label was an old one, and the ink was faded; only someone with good eyes could have made out the name at a glance. She was quite sure that he had not picked the bag up and examined it closely.

  ‘...the position is glorious, and it’s a perfect day. Looking across the bay—the Mayberry is on the East Cliff, and you can see across to a place called Studland, near Swanage, I think—it’s a dream picture. The cliff walks are lovely. I’m told that a feature of the town are the chines, wooded valleys leading down to the sea...’

  A sound made her turn her head. It seemed to come from the passage, a curious scratching noise. It stopped, then started again, and continued at brief intervals.

  ‘Is anyone there?’ she called.

  There was no answer, but the scratching noise ceased abruptly. She got up and went to the door. No one was in the passage, but she heard a movement and a sound, as if one of the nearby doors had been closed. Frowning, she went back to the dressing-table.

  ‘...and so I had a stroke of good fortune [she continued]. The room reserved for me wasn’t free, after all, the man who had it before me is staying on, and I’ve been given a double room, with marvellous views of the bay. I’m next door to a remarkable old man with a snow-white beard, the very image of an Old Testament Prophet as portrayed on Sunday School walls....’

  She broke off, this time with an exclamation of annoyance, for the scratching noise had started again. She sat quite still, looking at the reflection of the door in the mirror. She had an uneasy fancy that someone was trying to get into the room, undetected, but the handle was not moving. There was no need to use a tool, anyway, because the door was not locked.

  The sound continued. It was rather like a mouse scratching in the wall.

  She pushed the stool back firmly, not quite able to understand why she was so affected. The touch of mystery about it intrigued her, and she dismissed the idea that it was a mouse. She tip-toed towards the door, but when she was only half-way across the room there was a tap at the window.

  She swung round.

  By the window, peering in at her and displaying his wide, foolish grin, was George Henry George. He was beckoning her and making hideous faces, as if to reassure her. She felt furiously angry, and strode across the room. One window was wide open, but the other was closed, because a stiff breeze was coming off the sea. George was by the closed one. As she drew nearer, he put a hand to his mouth and pursed his lips and tapped them, enjoining her to silence.

  Then her heart nearly turned over, for George slipped.

  One moment he was standing with his head and shoulders and one arm in full view, the next he had disappeared. There was a tearing sound, but no cry of alarm or distress. She saw a hand wave wildly, and then clutch the window-sill. By the time she reached the window and opened it, George was climbing back on some creeper, pulling himself up with one arm. Now she could see that he had climbed from a small balcony in the room next to hers—not the old man’s room—and his feet were on the ledge which surrounded the balcony.

  ‘What do you mean——’ she began, between alarm and anger.

  ‘Hush-shush-shush!’ hissed George. His glasses had become unlodged in his fall and were hanging on to one ear. For the first time she noticed that his ears were small and pale, rather attractive, like his hands. ‘Oh, hush-shush-shush!’ repeated George, urgently.

  Tight-lipped, she rescued his glasses, then gripped his wrist and pulled. He scrambled over the window-sill, making little sound. One moment she had his wrist in her fingers, the next the hold had been shifted and he was gripping hers.

  ‘Polly the Powerful,’ he said, making her gasp. ‘Silence was never more golden. All will be explained.’ He adjusted his glasses, and grinned vacantly at her—but was the grin so vacant?

  ‘If I were a giraffe, this wouldn’t be necessary,’ George went on brightly. ‘Enormous advantages giraffes have over human beings. First floor windows are never safe from them! Have you heard anything odd?’

  ‘Heard?’ she echoed, faintly.

  ‘Noises,’ said George. ‘I—oh, hush, shush-shush!’ He looked positively panic-stricken and stared towards the door, but his grip on her arm did not slacken.

  The scratching noise, which had either ceased or had been drowned by their movements and whispered words, started afresh. George kept quite still for several seconds, then released her wrist and patted her forearm.

  ‘Good girl,’ he said. ‘Reliable in a crisis. Bless you.’ He stepped towards the door with his long, springy stride, which somehow failed to be ungainly. He opened the door slowly, making no sound. He peered into the passage, without putting his head through the doorway, then nearly closed the door and beckoned her, putting his fingers to his lips as he finished. Completely bewildered, she joined him. As she looked into the passage she saw the back of a man who was standing outside the door of the Old Testament Prophet.

  ‘Tenth attempt on Gabriel,’ said George, closing the door without making a sound. ‘Not the angel, the genius. Gabriel Toller, a shining light of the twentieth century. Can you act?’

  ‘What are you drivelling about?’ she demanded, but she kept her voice low. ‘No, I can’t act.’

  ‘Be brave,’ he urged. ‘Try. Go to the middle of the room, push a chair to one side, utter an explosive “damn!” and after a pause add: “Ink!” Having done that, walk heavily but not quickly to the door. Go into the passage, closing door firmly behind you, and then hurry down to the lounge. Oh—on entering the passage, be tight-lipped and show exasperation, as with me downstairs. Remember?’

  ‘Why should I do anything of the kind?’ she demanded.

  He pulled up his sweater, gay with its red and blue, showed his blue silk singlet for a moment, and, as if by sleight of hand, drew a card from beneath it. ‘As rabbits from hats,’ he said, and handed it to her with a flourish.

  He looked at her steadily. Fool that he was, there was gravity in his expression. She read the card, and could not believe what was written there. She stared at him, astonished, then looked at the card again. It was printed: ‘Metropolitan Police, Criminal Investigation Department, New Scotland Yard, S.W.1,’ and on one side was a small photograph, unmistakably a likeness of George. Beneath the heading was a request to all civil authorities to render the bearer, George Henry George, all necessary assistance. Beneath that were two signatures, with a line of print beneath them. The first signature was unreadable, and the print said: ‘Home Secretary.’ The second signature was very clear: ‘Archibald Chatworth, Assistant Commissioner.’

  That was not all.

  In faint print was a capital ‘Z’ over which everything was superimposed.

  ‘Become a civil authority for a moment,’ urged George. ‘Please!’ He smiled at her, winningly.

  She was as quick at making up her mind as she was at retort. After a prolonged stare at him, she turned away, pulled a chair towards her so that it made considerable noise, and then exclaimed aloud: ‘Damn, the ink’s run out!’

  At the first sound, the scratching stopped.

  She paused, and then added, in a quieter voice:

  ‘I suppose there’ll be some downstairs.’ She walked steadily towards the door, and glanced at George, who was standing and clapping his hands together, making no sound, but grinning at her delightedly. ‘Fool!’ she hissed, and opened the door.

  CHAPTER 2

  George Henry’s Black Eye

  A DOOR closed farther along the passage.

  Polly looked towards the old man’s room, but no one was standing outside it now. She hesitated only for a moment, then walked towards the head of the stairs. There were only four rooms in the passage, for the room with the balcony from which George had com
e was entered from the landing.

  Polly disappeared.

  Almost against her will, she started to go downstairs, but she wanted to see what happened in the passage, and halfway down she hesitated....

  The young man with the vacuous expression half expected that, but he thought the girl would have enough wit to realize that she must do no more than peer round the corner, and he hoped that the man trying to break into Gabriel Toller’s room would not notice her. He himself had seen the man at work fifteen minutes before, and there was a reasonable chance that he had the lock almost back; any man worth his salt as a cracksman could have done it in three minutes.

  George stood near the door, listening.

  The scratching sound came again, but suddenly stopped, and a faint sigh followed, probably one of satisfaction. A door squeaked.

  ‘And not a drop of oil,’ said George, sotto voce. ‘Save me from amateurs!’

  The door squeaked again, presumably as it closed, and by that time George was standing in the passage. He heard the bolt shot home, and a broad grin made his mouth stretch almost from ear to ear. He stepped to Gabriel Toller’s door and waited for perhaps two minutes. Then he turned and looked along the passage—and he saw Polly Dalton’s fair, curly hair, and her rounded eyes. He waved her away, and she disappeared. He grinned again, then stood in front of the door with his right shoulder towards it, and thrust his shoulder forward.

  It looked incredibly simple. The door burst open, with hardly any effort, and George stepped calmly into the room. Earlier that day, with Toller’s consent, he had loosened the screws of the bolt.

  Standing by the bed, looking over his shoulder and with something in his right hand, was a short, plump man—much plumper than Polly. He was dressed in an immaculate suit of grey flannel. He was not a bad-looking man, but he looked absurd with his mouth open and his eyes almost popping out of his head in surprise.

  ‘Not this time, Marmaduke,’ said George.

  ‘Marmaduke’ swung round. The thing in his right hand sailed through the air towards George, who caught it neatly and dropped it into his pocket as he moved. The fat man backed towards the window. His left hand was in the air, as if in a gesture of surrender, but his right went into his pocket.