Invisible Weapons. John Rhode

me. “Got any fags to spare, guv’nor?”’

      ‘What did the man look like?’ Jimmy asked.

      ‘Nothing on earth. You couldn’t imagine him unless you had read The King in Yellow, which I don’t suppose you have.’

      Jimmy smiled. ‘“Songs that the Hyades shall sing, Where flap the tatters of the king,”’ he quoted. ‘Is that what you were thinking of?’

      ‘Once more you have divined it. There was something kingly in his assurance that his request would not be denied. And the tatters—the yellow tatters! Nowhere but in Carcosa could he have found a garment like that.’

      ‘Could you describe it?’

      ‘Words don’t often fail me, as you may have noticed. But for that purpose, I can think of none adequate. It still retained a faint suggestion of military discomfort about the collar, as though some veteran of the Peninsula war had cowered in it behind the lines of Torres Vedras. In colour it was yellow, the yellow of dank and mouldering corruption. It was probably verminous, and most certainly it stank.’

      ‘Could you describe the man who was wearing it?’

      ‘Red hair, wandering blue eyes and a pungent aroma of perspiration. Those were my impressions.’

      ‘Did you give him any cigarettes?’

      ‘I did. I gave him a handful out of that box you see over there. I thought it was the quickest way of getting rid of him. And he said, “Honourable toff, here’s my best thanks.” I liked that, for he’s the first person who’s ever thought me honourable or considered me a toff.’

      ‘What happened after that?’

      ‘“Erupit, evasit, as Tully would phrase it!” He hasn’t troubled me since, I’m thankful to say.’

      In reply to further questions Willingdon gave the following information. He had taken the cottage for a month, having seen it advertised in The Times