Angels of Music Read Free Page A

girls there. Before his nuptials, the Grand Marshal, despite his advancing years, was an especially favoured and enthusiastic regular customer.’
    ‘Tarts like ’em old and rich,’ said Trilby. ‘They can’t do much, but pay well over the odds.’
    Irene laughed, and Christine joined in.
    ‘Though not of an artistic temperament,’ continued Erik, ‘Grand Marshal Gérard found Madame Sabatier’s establishment more to his liking than many rival houses run to cater to more military tastes.’
    ‘Boots and whips,’ shuddered Irene.
    ‘Subsequent to his wedding, he has not visited the Salon.’
    ‘No wonder. He’s getting poked for free at home.’
    ‘
La
, Irène, you say such things,’ tittered Christine.
    ‘Madame Sabatier reports that losing a longstanding patron to marriage is an accepted risk of her business. However, she takes pride in the fact that, with this single exception, her clients have returned within three months of their honeymoons, and been more generous than before in the matter of recompense and gifts, usually with an added exhortation to increased discretion.’
    Christine laughed out loud, musically. ‘The Madame is deluded. Look at Gérard’s life, all the way back to the last century. All those exploits and adventures. He’s obviously a reckless romantic.’
    ‘I agree,’ said Trilby. ‘The old idiot’s probably in love with the minx.’
    ‘I’ll bet nuggets Petite Poupée has been down to the dressmakers to see how she looks in black,’ said Irene. ‘Then steered by the apothecary’s on the way home. If used in excess, those boudoir philtres for the use of senior gentlemen are bad for the constitution… so I hear.’
    ‘If that is the case, we are required by our client to intervene,’ said Erik.
    ‘I’ll say,’ put in Trilby. ‘Can’t let some filly get away with murder. We’ve got a reputation to think of.’
    ‘Does Madame Présidente fear for Gérard’s life?’ asked Christine.
    There was a pause. Breathing could be heard through the tube.
    ‘It may come to that. At present, she is more concerned that the old fellow is not “acting like himself”. She takes a keen interest in the defence of France…’
    ‘Sausage-eaters are notoriously rough on whores and stingy about paying.’
    ‘Thank you for that insight, Irene. “Adler” is a German name, is it not? As I was saying, Étienne Gérard’s change of mind on matters military and political troubles Madame Sabatier more than his absence from her customer register. She believes the Grand Marshal might have been “got at” in some way…’
    ‘Hypnotised,’ said Christine, thrilled.
    ‘Mesmerised,’ said Trilby, dreamily.
    ‘Doped,’ said Irene, cynically.
    ‘She wonders if the Grand Marshal even
is
the Grand Marshal.’
    ‘Murdered and replaced by the mad twin from the attic,’ suggested Christine, who read a great deal of sensation fiction, avidly following every
feuilleton
in every periodical in Paris. ‘Possessed by one of those invisible
horlas
one hears of and forced to do the bidding of some creature from beyond the veil.’
    The Persian gathered back all the documents, and resealed the packet.
    ‘Erik,’ said Irene, ‘are you
sure
this is a job for the Agency? It sounds mighty like some scorned
comare
, sulking because Sugar Daddy has cut off the cash flow, out to do dirt to the chit who has stolen him away. Shouldn’t they settle it with a decent knife-fight and leave us out of it?’
    The Persian produced several more wallets.
    ‘The Grand Marshal is not an isolated case.’

III
    T HE M ARRIAGE C LUB had international members, though all were often found in Paris. Aristide Saccard, the daring international financier, a man who would never escape the soubriquet of ‘shady’; the Duke of Omnium, an English cabinet minister whose speeches were rumoured to have the mystic power of sending entire Houses of Parliament into restful sleep (‘If Planty ever had to declare war,’