Talbot Mundy

“ Open an office, I guess—Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta, Simla—he aims to be a sort of clearing-house for information so’s to trip crooks before they get started—card indexes to beat the encyclopædia—every thing in ’em from a man’s past to what he might do if the game looked good. Poker out of books, I’d call it, but that’s his affair. The funny part is this: he’d come away to give the papers and the public time to calm down and forget him, Zelmira Poulakis included. ”

“ Unexplainable in the circumstances, Meldrum Strange has friends, and Cottswold Ommony has enemies. We, who view all life accurately, classing this man as a hero, that man as a villain, may wonder; but the fact is so. ”

“ Ommony stands for nearly all the things that Meldrum Strange objects to, including the heresy that more than enough is too much; Strange never had enough, and loves the power of money, which Ommony despises, although like the rest of us he has to bow to it quite often. Ommony approves of individual liberty, whereas Strange believes that all men should be beaten into ploughshares for uplifting use by their betters. They met, and there was no explosion, which is the most remarkable circumstance; but much else happened.
CHARLEY MEARS began it. ”

“ He swore a blue streak and took the train that night—Delhi like a darned fool; she could go to Delhi. Who’s to stop her? She showed up at our hotel in Delhi—never made a move to interfere with Strange, but treated Grim and Jeff Ramsden like old friends. Strange caught me talking to her, so he shipped me off all over the place making dates for him, and I was in a place called Ahmednugger when I got a telegram a yard long telling me to see you and fix up tiger-shooting for him. He wants to hide and have a good time until Zelmira picks on some one else. ”

“ It proves without intending to that the best of us are weak, and the worst have elements of decency that overwhelm them when the gods get ready; none of which, of course, is orthodox. But orthodoxy is missing from the calculations of those Powers that rule us—“whatever gods there be” as Swinburne calls them. ”

“ When a man gets money he’s always crazy on some point or other. Strange ’ud rather get shaved than have his picture taken, and he’s worn foliage since he was old enough to smoke cigars. A man in his office told me Strange was all fed up and going to travel. ”

“ Charley asked.
“Years. He’s my friend.”
“You’re lucky. Strange hired him over the cable and sent Jeff sliding like an elephant on ice to deed him up. Strange keeps you busy—pays good, and has his money’s worth. Jeff’s sweated off about two hundred, but there’s lots left. Grim and King got past the sweating stage before Strange hired ’em, so they don’t show it much, but they kind o’ know they’ve made the team.”
“What is Meldrum Strange doing?” asked Ommony.
“Bits of everything. Reorganizing the universe mostly. They say his roll grows faster than he can peel it off ”

“ There’s an alley behind the office, and he can step out of the back door into a limousine, and straight home. He doesn’t golf. He likes yachting, but the crew’s hand-picked, and he stays below as long as there’s a chance to snap him. ”

“ I guess they said nothing to Meldrum, for fear of their jobs—or if they did, maybe they said they’d smashed the camera.
“Anyway, I didn’t waste any time then. I developed and printed the pictures that night, and believe me, they were good. Next morning I put copies in an envelope with my calling card, and sent ’em up to Meldrum Strange’s private office, saying I’d wait for an answer. It wasn’t five minutes before he sent for me.
“‘How much d’you want?’ he demanded.
“He was scornful, and he had his check-book on the table. Got to hand it to him; he can eat crow good. I could have taxed him. ”