The Grand Babylon Hotel by Arnold Bennett (good story books to read txt) 📕

“First and foremost, I want to know the names of your accomplices inside this hotel.”

“I have no more,” said Jules. “Rocco was the last.”

“Don’t begin by lying to me. If you had no accomplice, how did you contrive that one particular bottle of Romanée-Conti should be served to his Highness Prince Eugen?”

“Then you discovered that in time, did you?” said Jules. “I was afraid so. Let me explain that that needed no accomplice. The bottle was topmost in the bin, and naturally it would be taken. Moreover, I left it sticking out a little further than the rest.”

“You did not arrange, then, that Hubbard should be taken ill the night before last?”

“I had no idea,” said Jules, “that the excellent Hubbard was not enjoying his accustomed health.”

“Tell me,” said Racksole, “who or what is the origin of your vendetta against the life of Prince Eugen?”

“I had no vendetta against the life of Prince Eugen,” said Jules, “at least, not to begin with. I merely undertook, for a consideration, to see that Prince Eugen did not have an interview with a certain Mr. Sampson Levi in London before a certain date, that was all. It seemed simple enough. I had been engaged in far more complicated transactions before. I was convinced that I could manage it, with the help of Rocco and Em⁠—and Miss Spencer.”

“Is that woman your wife?”

“She would like to be,” he sneered. “Please don’t interrupt. I had completed my arrangements, when you so inconsiderately bought the hotel. I don’t mind admitting now that from the very moment when you came across me that night in the corridor I was secretly afraid of you, though I scarcely admitted the fact even to myself then. I thought it safer to shift the scene of our operations to Ostend. I had meant to deal with Prince Eugen in this hotel, but I decided, then, to intercept him on the Continent, and I despatched Miss Spencer with some instructions. Troubles never come singly, and it happened that just then that fool Dimmock, who had been in the swim with us, chose to prove refractory. The slightest hitch would have upset everything, and I was obliged to⁠—to clear him off the scene. He wanted to back out⁠—he had a bad attack of conscience, and violent measures were essential. I regret his untimely decease, but he brought it on himself. Well, everything was going serenely when you and your brilliant daughter, apparently determined to meddle, turned up again among us at Ostend. Only twenty-four hours, however, had to elapse before the date which had been mentioned to me by my employers. I kept poor little Eugen for the allotted time, and then you managed to get hold of him. I do not deny that you scored there, though, according to my original instructions, you scored too late. The time had passed, and so, so far as I knew, it didn’t matter a pin whether Prince Eugen saw Mr. Sampson Levi or not. But my employers were still uneasy. They were uneasy even after little Eugen had lain ill in Ostend for several weeks. It appears that they feared that even at that date an interview between Prince Eugen and Mr. Sampson Levi might work harm to them. So they applied to me again. This time they wanted Prince Eugen to be⁠—em⁠—finished off entirely. They offered high terms.”

“What terms?”

“I had received fifty thousand pounds for the first job, of which Rocco had half. Rocco was also to be made a member of a certain famous European order, if things went right. That was what he coveted far more than the money⁠—the vain fellow! For the second job I was offered a hundred thousand. A tolerably large sum. I regret that I have not been able to earn it.”

“Do you mean to tell me,” asked Racksole, horror-struck by this calm confession, in spite of his previous knowledge, “that you were offered a hundred thousand pounds to poison Prince Eugen?”

“You put it rather crudely,” said Jules in reply. “I prefer to say that I was offered a hundred thousand pounds if Prince Eugen should die within a reasonable time.”

“And who were your damnable employers?”

“That, honestly, I do not know.”

“You know, I suppose, who paid you the first fifty thousand pounds, and who promised you the hundred thousand.”

“Well,” said Jules, “I know vaguely. I know that he came via Vienna from⁠—em⁠—Bosnia. My impression was that the affair had some bearing, direct or indirect, on the projected marriage of the King of Bosnia. He is a young monarch, scarcely out of political leading-strings, as it were, and doubtless his ministers thought that they had better arrange his marriage for him. They tried last year, and failed because the Princess whom they had in mind had cast her sparkling eyes on another Prince. That Prince happened to be Prince Eugen of Posen. The ministers of the King of Bosnia knew exactly the circumstances of Prince Eugen. They knew that he could not marry without liquidating his debts, and they knew that he could only liquidate his debts through this Jew, Sampson Levi. Unfortunately for me, they ultimately wanted to make too sure of Prince Eugen. They were afraid he might after all arrange his marriage without the aid of Mr. Sampson Levi, and so⁠—well, you know the rest.⁠ ⁠… It is a pity that the poor little innocent King of Bosnia can’t have the Princess of his ministers’ choice.”

“Then you think that the King himself had no part in this abominable crime?”

“I think decidedly not.”

“I am glad of that,” said Racksole simply. “And now, the name of your immediate employer.”

“He was merely an agent. He called himself Sleszak⁠—S-l-e-s-z-a-k. But I imagine that that wasn’t his real name. I don’t know his real name. An old man, he often used to be found at the Hôtel Ritz, Paris.”

“Mr. Sleszak and I will meet,” said Racksole.

“Not in this world,” said Jules quickly. “He is dead. I heard only last night⁠—just before our