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(Harvard University)
Popular Novels by Fergus Hume
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THE SECRET PASSAGE
_The Albany Evening Journal_ says: "Fully as interesting as his former
books, and keeps one guessing to the end. The story begins with the
murder of an old lady, with no apparent cause for the crime, and in
unraveling the mystery the author is very clever in hiding the real
criminal. A pleasing romance runs through the book, which adds to the
interest."
12mo, Cloth bound, $1.25
THE YELLOW HOLLY
_The Philadelphia Public Ledger_ says: "'The Yellow Holly' outdoes any
of his earlier stories. It is one of those tales that the average
reader of fiction of this sort thinks he knows all about after he has
read the first few chapters. Those who have become admirers of Mr.
Hume cannot afford to miss 'The Yellow Holly.'"
12mo, Cloth bound, $1.25
A COIN OF EDWARD VII.
_The Philadelphia Item_ says: "This book is quite up to the level of
the high standard which Mr. Hume has set for himself in 'The Mystery
of a Hansom Cab' and 'The Rainbow Feather.' It is a brilliant,
stirring adventure, showing the author's prodigious inventiveness, his
well of imagination never running dry."
12mo, Cloth bound, $1.25
THE PAGAN'S CUP
_The Nashville American_ says: "The plot is intricate with mystery and
probability neatly dovetailed and the solution is a series of
surprises skillfully retarded to whet the interest of the reader. It
is excellently written and the denouement so skillfully concealed that
one's interest and curiosity are kept on edge till the very last. It
will certainly be a popular book with a very large c lass of readers."
12mo, Cloth bound, $1.25
THE MANDARIN'S FAN
_The Nashville American_ says: "The book is most attractive and
thoroughly novel in plot and construction. The mystery of the curious
fan, and its being the key to such wealth and power is decidedly
original and unique. Nearly every character in the book seems possible
of accusation. It is just the sort of plot in which Hume is at his
best. It is a complex tangle, full of splendid climaxes. Few authors
have a charm equal to that of Mr. Hume's mystery tales."
12mo, Cloth bound, $ 1.25
======================================================================
G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY
PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
LADY JIM of
CURZON STREET
_A Novel_
By
FERGUS HUME
_Author of_
"The Mystery of a Hansom Cab," "A Coin of Edward VII,"
"The Pagan's Cup," "The Yellow Holly," "The Red Window,"
"The Mandarin's Fan," "The Secret Passage," etc.
G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY
PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
Copyright, 1906, BY
G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY
-----------
Issued March, 1906
Lady Jim of
Curzon Street
LADY JIM OF CURZON STREET
CHAPTER I
"We're on the rocks this time, Leah, smashin' for all we're worth. How
we can win clear beats me."
With hands which had never earned a shilling thrust into pockets empty
even of that coin, Jim Kaimes stretched out his long legs and surveyed
his neat boots as he made this cryptic speech. His habit of expressing
himself in a parabolic fashion was confusing to his friends. But five
years of marital squabbling had schooled his wife into ready
comprehension, and she usually responded without comment. On this
occasion, however, the subject under discussion irritated even her
healthy nerves, and she replied irrelevantly.
"Really, Jim, I wish you would talk English."
"Huh! Never knew I was talking Choctaw."
"You might be, for all the sense an ordinary person can make of it."
"Ah-a-a!" said Jim, with the clumsy affection of a bear; "but you're
not an ordinary person, Leah. I'm the common or garden ass, that can't
straighten things. Now you can."
"For want of a husband I suppose I must."
"Come now, Leah. Am I not your husband?"
"Oh yes!" she answered, with a flick of her handkerchief across a pair
of scornful lips: "_my_ husband, not _a_ husband."
"What's the difference?"
"As if I could waste time in explaining. We have more serious matters
to talk about than your want of brains."
"Serious enough," assented the man, sulkily; "but you know how to deal
with trouble, Leah."
"I ought to," retorted his wife, with a shrug, "considering the
experience I have had since marrying you. I wish I hadn't."
"So do I," confessed Jim; then mended his speech with a dim sense of
having overstepped the mark: "No, by Jupiter, I don't mean that. You
an' I get on very well, considerin' each swings on a private hook. You
are not a bad sort, Leah, and I'm a--a--a--well, you know what I am."
"Not a diplomatist, certainly. Isn't this praise a trifle obvious? You
don't mean it, do you?"
She looked at him wistfully, but her candid husband soon stopped any
sentimental illusions she may have momentarily entertained. "Oh yes, I
mean it in a sort of way. An' good temper on both sides will help us
to push through the business quicker."
"You mean the Bankruptcy Court," snapped his wife.
"Perhaps I mean the Divorce Court," was his tart reply, but she was
quite ready with an answer.
"On your own part, then; you can't say a word against me."
"Who said I could? You've got the one virtue that gives its name to
the rest, and think yourself an angel."
"I had your assurance that I was an angel--once."
"No doubt. It's the sort of thing a man has to say to the woman he is
engaged to."
"And never says to the woman he is married to!"
"Marriage isn't all honey, Leah, and----"
"Heavens!" Lady Jim addressed the ceiling; "as if I required telling.
But compared with other women, Jim, I am not----"
"I never said you were," interrupted Kaimes, crossly. "I'd screw your
neck if you went on like other women."
"Upon my word, Jim, I would admire you more if you did attempt
something of that sort."
"Sorry I can't oblige you; but I'm a gentleman and bear an honoured
name."
"An honoured name!"
"Sneerin' won't alter facts, Leah. The name of Kaimes has always been
honoured----"
"Till you dragged it through the mud," interrupted Leah, in her turn.
"The old Duke is all right, and Frith's a kind man, if somewhat dull.
But you--oh heavens! to think that such a Saul should be amongst the
prophets."
Jim, not understanding the scriptural allusion, thought he was being
chaffed, a liberty which his bovine pride resented by two minutes of
sulky silence. Moreover, he dreaded his wife's formidable tongue, the
lash of which could cut through even his tough hide.
"How are we goin' to get through the business at this rate?" was his
next contribution to the conversation. "You don't remember that I've
to meet a fellow at the club to see about a bet. An' I haven't got one
shillin' to rattle against another," declared Jim, pathetically.
"Well," was the sharp reply, "I have to shop this afternoon with but
one miserable sovereign in my purse."
Lord Jim opened his sleepy blue eyes. "I say, you couldn't----?"
"No," said his wife, decisively. "I couldn't and I wouldn't, and I
can't and I shan't. Perhaps you'll read the paper and let me think."
"All right," said Kaimes, reaching for the _Sporting Times_. "I want
to see the bettin' on Podaskas."
"Betting will be your ruin."
"Has been," corrected Jim, chuckling; then reverted to his early
metaphor: "We're on the rocks this time, Leah, and no mistake."
His wife cast a look of scorn on the pink-and-white face she had once
thought handsome. And, indeed, Kaimes was good-looking in a heavy
Saxon way. Tall and muscular, with the strength of a bull and the
manners of a bear, he was precisely the sort of brutal athlete to
attract women. They flocked round him like bees, and gave him more
honey than was good for him. He accepted their endearments with the
complacent vanity of an egotist, and took little trouble to please
even the prettiest, whereupon he was adored the more.
Leah, with her elbows on the breakfast-table, stared at Jim's
well-brushed head bending over the pink sheets, and asked herself, for
the hundredth time, why she had married him. Physically he resembled a
splendid Hercules, but in another sense the likeness was not a
speaking one. He satisfied her eyes, and in no other way gave her
pleasure. When he talked, he babbled vainly about himself and his
doings, to the exclusion of any topic likely to interest other people.
Possessed of that easy good-nature which refuses nothing, which costs
nothing, Jim Kaimes was looked upon as "a good fellow," a title which
covers a multitude of the minor sins. Jim would have been meritorious
as a cave-man, and pre-historically perfect. As a civilised being he
left very much to be desired.
The subject was neither agreeable nor inexhaustible, and Leah rose
with a shrug of her shapely shoulders. Jim looked up.
"Well?" he asked encouragingly.
"Nothing!" said his wife, curtly, and moved to the window.
Here she leaned against the sash and looked at the narrow grey street
which was such a good address to impress tradesmen, and so expensive
to live in. Not that the question of rent troubled the pair. They paid
none, and would have been as much insulted, if visited on quarter-day,
as an Irish tenant. The Duke of Pentland at the time of their marriage
had presented them with the furnished "10, Curzon Street," but
hampered with certain restrictions. They could not sell it, or even
mortgage it, nor could money be raised on the furniture. The Duke paid
all rates and taxes, and saw to all repairs. Beyond dwelling in this
very desirable residence, and calling it publicly their home, Lord and
Lady Jim had no interest in it whatsoever. Both thought it was
ridiculous that they could not turn the Curzon Street house into
money, when they needed ready cash so badly.
And life was so hard to people of their standing and tastes. Leah came
of a bankrupt family, and had brought nothing to Jim but her own
clever, beautiful self. She considered the two thousand a year which
the Duke allowed his second son opulence, until she learned what
delightful things money could buy. Then Jim used a large amount of the
quarterly payments on his own account, and tradesmen would not give
her the delightful things without money. She certainly had bills in
nearly every shop in Bond Street and out of it, but even bills had to
be paid in the long run. The post brought a good many, and brought
also lawyers' letters, not pleasant to read. Between them, this happy
pair had mortgaged their income, and the money they had obtained was
all gone. Now they had no income and many bills. What was to be done?
This problem Jim had set Leah to solve, but clever as she knew herself
to be, the solution was beyond her.
"Can't you borrow, Jim?" she asked, turning gloomily from the window.
"Perhaps a fiver," was the prompt response; "every one's as mean as
mean. I've tried 'em all. And you?"
Leah shook her head.
"Twenty pounds, for all my asking."
"There's your godmother, old Lady Canvey," suggested Jim. "She's as
rich as Dives."
"And, like Dives, won't give a penny to this Lazarus. She smiles, and
talks epigrams, and preaches, but as to helping----" Leah shrugged her
shoulders again.
The action drew her husband's attention to a very magnificent figure
which was loudly admired. Jim had admired it himself before he had got
used to seeing it in the breakfast-room. Now it struck him that this
attraction might be turned into money.
"You're a ripping woman in the way of looks," he said, throwing down
the newspaper; "if you went on the stage--eh?"
"As the fairy queen?" inquired his wife, scornfully: "that's about all
I'm suited for. I know the things I can't do, Jim, and acting is one.
Besides, think of what the Duke would say."
Jim yawned, and lighted a cigarette.
"He can't say more than he has said," he remarked, lazily. "'Sides, I
never go to hear him preach, now."
"No; you send me."
"Why not? The Duke loves a pretty woman. You can twist him round your
little finger."
"I can't twist any money out of him," said Lady Jim, irritably.
"More's the pity. We're on the rocks----"
"You've said that twice already."
"An' I'll say it again and again and again," snapped Jim. "You don't
seem to realise the hole we're in."
"Don't I?" she queried, with an emotion she would never have shown in
society. "I realise that I have one sovereign; and you----?"
"Only a fiver I intend to borrow from a sure man," said Jim; "but I
say, what's to be done?"
"We must go through the court."
"What's the use of that? It'll only settle our debts. We want ready
money. I don't care a straw about the tradesmen. Can't we let this
house?"
"No; the Duke says we can live in it as long as we like, but if we
leave he'll take it back again."
"It's like giving a boy half a crown and telling him not to spend it,"
said Kaimes, looking round. "If we only could! It's a jolly sort of
room this, and we'd get a good rent for the house."
The room was indeed pretty, being decorated in a Pompadour manner. Its
walls were adorned with white paper, sprinkled with bunches of roses
tied with fluttering blue ribbons, and the carpet bore the same dainty
design. The furniture was of white wood, upholstered in brocade, also
diversified with roses and azure streamers. There were many delicate
water-colour pictures, a grate and fire-irons of polished brass, and
electric lights in rose-tinted globes. Even the grey December light
streaming in through the two windows could not make the apartment look
anything but clean, and delicate, and dainty, and delightful. It was
an ideal nest for a young couple. But this one had outlived the
honeymoon, and cared very little for the ideal.
"A very pretty room," said Jim, again; "and you're the prettiest thing
in it, Leah."
She looked at him scornfully, and then glanced around. "I hate all
this frippery" she said contemptuously. "Something more massive would
suit me better."
"Well, you are a kind of Cleopatra, y' know."
If Jim's historical knowledge had been more accurate, he would have
made a better comparison. Cleopatra, according to the latest
discoveries, was small, foxy-haired, and dainty. She would have suited
this Watteau-like room to perfection. But Lady Jim was as tall as any
daughter of the gods, and bore herself after the imperial style of
Juno, Queen of Olympus. Her hair was of a deep red, and she had a
great quantity, as those who saw her pose in charity tableaux knew
very well. Leah possessed the creamy complexion which usually goes
with such hair, and a pair of large blue eyes, out of which her soul
had never peered. They were hard eyes, shallow as those of a bird, and
surveyed the world and its denizens with the inquiring expression of a
cat on the look-out for titbits. Her lips were thin, and covered
admirably white and regular teeth. It was a clever face, and beautiful
in its serene immobility. Those who did not like Lady Jim called her a
cat; but she was more like a sleek, dangerous pantheress, and woe to
the victim who came under her claws. Yet she could purr very prettily
on occasions.
"Well, Jim," she said more graciously, for she was sufficiently a
woman to be pleased with her husband's grudging compliments. "Now that
you have finished saying sweet things, what next?"
"This business. We're on the----"
"Jim, if you say that again I'll leave you to get out of the trouble
yourself. You're my husband. Think of something."
"I can't--unless it's the insurance."
"The insurance," said Leah, thoughtfully; "twenty thousand pounds,
isn't it, Jim?"
Her husband nodded. "Old Jarvey Peel, my godfather, had my life
insured when I was a child, and arranged that his heirs should pay up
the money every year to keep it in force. Then there's accumulations
of sorts. I don't understand these stale things myself, Leah, but I
know that there's over twenty thousand."
"Can't you raise money on it?"
"No; the old man arranged that I should lose it if I tried that game.
Lord," said Jim, with disgust, "if I could have raised money I should
have got rid of it, ages ago."
"But how does it benefit you?" asked his wife, curiously; "if the
money is paid when you are dead, you won't have any fun. But I"--her
eyes gleamed.
"Oh no, you don't," snapped Jim, not at all pleased at this hint;
"you'd like to turn me into cash in that way, I know. But it so
happens that the twenty thousand, and whatever additions may have
come, will be paid to me when I'm sixty. Much fun in that, when I
shan't have teeth to crack nuts."
"You're over thirty now, Jim."
"Thirty-five, and you're only five years younger; so when we get the
cash at sixty there won't be any enjoyment left for either of us."
"Thirty-five from sixty," murmured Lady Jim. "Leaves how much, Jim?"
"Twenty-five," replied Kaimes, after wrinkling his brow and communing
with his none too quick brain. "Beastly long time to wait."
Leah nodded. "There's no chance of your getting it sooner?"
"Not the slightest. I can't get a cent on it, and I can't sell it, and
I can't use it in any way. Jarvey Peel was a silly old ass. Died worth
no end of coin, and didn't leave me a penny."
"But if you died, Jim?"
"Drop it," retorted Kaimes, who did not at all relish the suggestion.
"Well, but supposing you did?" insisted Leah.
"Then I 'spose the money would be paid to you," said Jim, kicking the
hearth-rug with a gloomy face; "but don't you make any mistake, Leah.
I'm goin' to live right on to sixty and handle the money. I can't do
much at that age, but I'll try hard to get through the lot before I
slip off."
"And what about me?"
"Oh, you must look after yourself," said Jim, heartlessly; "but
if you can think of some scheme to get the cash now, I'll give you
half--there now. There's nothing mean about me."
"What's the use of talking rubbish?" said Lady Jim, crossly; "you
won't die."
"Not to oblige you, my dear, so don't think it."
"Then don't let us talk any more of the impossible."
"Is it impossible?" asked Kaimes, cunningly.
Leah looked at him with wide, bright eyes. "What is it?" she asked.
"I might _pretend_ to die, you know," said Jim, looking at her very
directly; "then the cash 'ud be paid to you, and we could share."
"But it's ridiculous," cried Leah, raising her eyebrows; "you would
have to give up your position and disappear."
"Who cares? You know I never stop longer in England than I can help.
As to my position, it's all debts and duns, and squabbling with you.
Oh, I'd give up the whole thing for the money!"
"You never think of me."
"Got enough to do to think of myself," grumbled Kaimes; "'sides, you
don't care for me. As a widow you could have lots of fun on--on,
say--five thousand."
"That's right, Jim, take the lion's share to yourself."
"Well, shouldn't I be paying the largest price for getting the cash?"
Leah shrugged her shoulders again. "There would be very little
sacrifice in it so far as you are concerned," she said. "You've been
three times to South America since we were married, and I presume with
this money you would go there again."
"I'd go out of your life for ever."
"Oh, well," she said coolly; "I could show my respect to your memory
by wearing a widow's dress. I expect I should look rather nice in a
cap."
Lord Jim was rather disgusted. Little as he loved his wife, he
expected her to be devotedly attached to him, and her ready
acquiescence in his disappearance annoyed him greatly.
"You've got no heart."
"How clever of you to guess that! I gave it to you five years ago."
"And took it back before the honeymoon was over."
"Well, you see, Jim, you are so careless a man that I could not think
of leaving the only heart I possess in your hands. Besides, so many
women have given you their hearts that I thought you might confuse the
lot."
Lord Jim did not like this banter, and said so in a few forcible
words. Then he moved to the door, casting a disgusted look at a pile
of bills on Leah's side of the table.
"What about this truck?"
"Oh, we'll pay them out of your insurance," laughed Lady Jim.
"Not much. I'm not going to disappear and give up everything for the
benefit of a lot of measly tradesmen."
"I wish you wouldn't dangle grapes out of my reach," said his wife,
pettishly; "you know it's not to be done."
Jim plunged forward, and, gathering up the mass of papers, threw them
into the fire. "Pay them in this way, then," said he, enraged.
"I wish I could," sighed Leah, wearily, and looked at herself in the
mirror. "Do stop worrying me, Jim. I'm getting to look quite old. Are
you going out?"
"Yes. We've wasted an hour in talking about nothing. We're on the
rocks, I tell you."
"And so," said Lady Jim, calmly, "you end where you began."
Jim looked up to heaven. "And this is a wife!" said he, plaintively.
"And this," she mocked, laying her hand on his shoulder, "is a
probable bankrupt!"
"Not me. I'll clear out first to South America."
"Leave the insurance money to me, Jim," called Leah, as he banged the
door. "Twenty thousand pounds," she soliloquised--"it's worth trying
for. But I might as well cry for the moon"; and she sighed, the sigh
of selfishness, unexpectedly thwarted.