Elk 02 The Joker Read Free

in point of intelligence, acumen and - unscrupulousness! He has a theory which is both admirable and baffling. Which means that he has the right theory. For rectitude is the most baffling of all human qualities, because you never know, if a man is doing right, what he will do next. I think that is almost an epigram, Ellenbury: you had best jot it down, so that if ever you are called upon to write my biography you may have material to lighten its pages.’ He looked at his watch. I shall be at Park Lane at eleven o’clock on Friday night, and I can give you ten minutes,’ he said.
    Ellenbury twiddled his fingers unhappily.
    ‘Isn’t there a risk - to you, I mean?’ he blurted. ‘Perhaps I’m stupid, but I can’t see why you do…well, why you take chances. With all your money - ’
    Mr Harlow leaned back in the cushioned seat, amusement faintly visible in his pale eyes.
    ‘If you had millions what would you do? Retire, of course. Build or buy a beautiful house - and then?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ said the older man vaguely. ‘One could travel…’
    ‘The English people have two ideas of happiness: one comes from travel, one from staying still! Rushing or rusting! I might marry but I don’t wish to marry. I might have a great stable of race-horses, but I detest racing. I might yacht - I loathe the sea. Suppose I want a thrill? I do! The art of living is the art of victory. Make a note of that. Where is happiness in cards, horses, golf, women - anything you like? I’ll tell you: in beating the best man to it! That’s An Americanism. Where is the joy of mountain climbing, of exploration, of scientific discovery? To do better than somebody else - to go farther, to put your foot on the head of the next best.’
    He blew a cloud of smoke through the open window and waited until the breeze had torn the misty gossamer into shreds and nothingness.
    ‘When you’re a millionaire you either get inside yourself and become a beast, or get outside of yourself and become a nuisance to your fellows. If you’re a Napoleon you will play the game of power, if you’re a Leonardo you’ll play for knowledge - the stakes hardly matter; it’s the game that counts. Accomplishment has its thrill, whether it is hitting a golf ball farther than the next fellow, or strewing the battle fields with the bodies of your enemies. My thrill is harder to get than most people’s. I’m a millionaire. Sterling and dollars are my soldiers - I am entitled to frame my own rules of war, conduct my forays in my own way. Don’t ask any further questions!’
    He waved his hand towards the door and Mr Ellenbury was dismissed; and shortly afterwards his hired car rattled loudly up the hill and past the gates of the jail. Mr Ellenbury studiously turned his face in the opposite direction.

    CHAPTER 2

    SOME EIGHT months later there was an accident on the Thames Embankment. The girl in the yellow raincoat and the man in the black beret were of one accord - they were anxious, for different reasons, to cross the most dangerous stretch of the Embankment in the quickest possible space of time. There was a slight fog which gave promise of being just plain fog before the evening was far advanced. And through the fog percolated an unpleasant drizzle which turned the polished surface of the road into an insurance risk which no self-respecting company would have accepted.
    The mudguard of the ancient Ford caught Aileen Rivers just below the left elbow, and she found herself performing a series of unrehearsed pirouettes. Then her nose struck a shining button and she slid romantically to her knees at the feet of a resentful policeman. He lifted her, looked at her, put her aside with great firmness and crossed to where the radiator of the car was staring pathetically up a bent lamp-post.
    ‘What’s the idea?’ he asked sternly, and groped for his notebook.
    The young man in the beret wiped his soiled face with the back of his hand, a gesture which resulted in the