CHAPTER X

MADEMOISELLE VIVIEN, PALMIST

I woke next morning at seven, or perhaps I should say I was awakened by Gertie ’Uggins, who to judge from the noise was apparently engaged in wrecking the sitting-room.  I looked at my watch, and then halloed to her through the door.  The tumult ceased, and a head, elaborately festooned with curl-papers, was inserted into the room.

“Yer want yer barf?” it asked.

“I do, Gertrude,” I said; “and after that I want my breakfast.  I have a lot to do today.”

The head withdrew itself, tittering; and a moment later I heard a shrill voice calling down the kitchen stairs.

“Grahnd floor wants ’is ’ot water quick.”

Within about five minutes the ground floor’s wish was gratified, Mrs. Oldbury herself arriving with a large steaming can which she placed inside a hip bath.  She asked me in a mournful voice whether I thought I could eat some eggs and bacon, and having received a favourable reply left me to my toilet.

It was about a quarter to eight when I sat down to breakfast.  Considering that for three years I had been obliged to rise at painfully unseasonable hours, this may appear to have been unnecessarily energetic, but as a matter of fact I was not acting without good reasons.

To start with, it was my purpose to spend a pleasant morning with George.  I wanted to be outside his house so that I could see his face when he came out.  I felt sure that as long as I was at liberty he would be looking worried and depressed, and I had no wish to postpone my enjoyment of such a congenial spectacle.

Then, provided that I could restrain myself from breaking his head, I intended to follow him to Victoria Street or wherever else he happened to go.  Beyond this I had no plan at the moment, but at the back of my mind there was a curious irrational feeling that sooner or later I should stumble across some explanation of the mystery of Marks’ death.

I knew that as a rule George didn’t start for business until nine-thirty or ten.  I was anxious to get out of the house as soon as possible, however, just in case I was correct in my idea that the gentleman with the scar was keeping a kindly eye on my movements.  In that case I thought that by departing before half-past eight I should be almost certain to forestall him.  If, as I believed, he was under the impression that I had been indulging in a night’s dissipation, it was unlikely that he would credit me with sufficient energy to get up before ten or eleven.  As to waiting for George—­well, I had no objection to that.  It was a nice sunny morning, and I could buy a paper and sit on one of the embankment seats.

This, indeed, was exactly what I did.  I slipped out of the house as unobtrusively as possible, and, stopping at a little newspaper and tobacco shop round the first corner, invested in a Telegraph and a Sportsman.  Then, after making sure that I was not being followed, I set off for the embankment.