Valentine Williams
The Man with the Clubfoot
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4057664629395
Table of Contents
THE LADY OF THE VOS IN'T TUINTJE
I BOARD THE BERLIN TRAIN AND LEAVE A LAME GENTLEMAN ON THE PLATFORM
IN WHICH A SILVER STAR ACTS AS A CHARM
I HEAR OF CLUBFOOT AND MEET HIS EMPLOYER
I ENCOUNTER AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE WHO LEADS ME TO A DELIGHTFUL SURPRISE
MISS MARY PRENDERGAST RISKS HER REPUTATION
HIS EXCELLENCY THE GENERAL IS WORRIED
FRANCIS TAKES UP THE NARRATIVE
WE HAVE A RECKONING WITH CLUBFOOT
CHAPTER I
I SEEK A BED IN ROTTERDAM
The reception clerk looked up from the hotel register and shook his head firmly. "Very sorry, saire," he said, "not a bed in ze house." And he closed the book with a snap.
Outside the rain came down heavens hard. Every one who came into the brightly lit hotel vestibule entered with a gush of water. I felt I would rather die than face the wind-swept streets of Rotterdam again.
I turned once more to the clerk who was now busy at the key-rack.
"Haven't you really a corner? I wouldn't mind where it was, as it is only for the night. Come now … "
"Very sorry, saire. We have two gentlemen sleeping in ze bathrooms already. If you had reserved … " And he shrugged his shoulders and bent towards a visitor who was demanding his key.
I turned away with rage in my heart. What a cursed fool I had been not to wire from Groningen! I had fully intended to, but the extraordinary conversation I had had with Dicky Allerton had put everything else out of my head. At every hotel I had tried it had been the same story—Cooman's, the Maas, the Grand, all were full even to the bathrooms. If I had