The Quest of Julian Day Read Free Page B

grey-haired English gentleman was actually suggesting that I should go out and commit murder.
    I stared at him almost doubting that I had heard aright, but his mild blue eyes were now quite unwavering and he went on smoothly, ‘You would have to be careful, of course, to avoid being caught; since, if you were, we could not give you any official protection.’
    â€˜I see,’ I said slowly.
    Sir Roger stood up. ‘I need hardly stress the fact that I should, if necessary, categorically deny any suggestion that this conversation had ever taken place. But, as you know, I am one of those whose duty it is to guard the interests of the Empire, and these people are a menace not only to Britain but to law and order throughout the world. Sometimes, when such people are too clever for us to catch in the ordinary way, we have to take certain steps which we all deplore; but there it is. I don’t want you to say yes or no. Just think it over, my boy, and good luck to you, whatever you decide.’
    I did think it over, but it seemed a hopeless task to pit mywits against such a vast organisation as O’Kieff’s, and although I might have succeeded in tracking down and killing one or more of the Big Seven I had no desire to be hanged for murder. There had not been sufficient time for bitterness really to eat into my soul. That only came later. My brain was numbed by the catastrophe which had shattered every interest I had in life, and my one craving was to get away from everyone to some solitude where I could not be reminded of the past and could endeavour to blot the whole horrible business from my memory.
    To have gone to stay with any of my foreign relatives might have lent colour to the rumours I dreaded, so, having resigned from my clubs and had an unholy row with Uncle Herbert, I spent the summer months among the lonely forests and lakes of Finland, licking my wounds. By autumn I was drifting down the Baltic ports, then I settled for a few weeks in Warsaw, but winter was approaching. I hate the cold and I was beginning to get thoroughly fed up with my own company, so I decided to spend the winter in Egypt. The remains of the ancient Egyptian civilisation interested me enormously, but I had to avoid numerous people whom I knew and that brought home to me with appalling keenness the fact that I should never again be able to mix freely with the sort of people I had known before the crash. Each time I thought of the life I should have been leading and everything of which O’Kieff had robbed me, my smouldering anger against him grew. In the spring I moved to the Balkans, working my way gradually up towards the Dalmatian Coast, but my loneliness was becoming more than I could bear. I began to crave desperately for some definite employment and, vaguely at first, thoughts of Sir Roger’s suggestion crept back into my mind. I felt that another year of drifting would bring me to the brink of suicide, and by this time I had realised that my own life was quite worthless; useless to my fellow-men and a burden to myself.
    It was November when I returned to London—still with no settled plans—and only then on account of financial affairs which I had to attend to personally. Having attended to these I walked unenthusiastically into Cook’s one morning with the thought of planning another journey further East, and the first person I saw leaning up against the counter was Sean O’Kieff.

2
The Quest Begins
    O’Kieff did not recognise me but for that there was a very good reason. It may be that I was over-sensitive about my invidious position; many of my old friends would have stood by me, I am sure, but after receiving one or two grim disillusionments in Egypt the previous winter I had decided to spare all my old acquaintances and myself further cause for embarrassment by growing a beard. After eleven months I possessed a fine, curly, dark-brown barb—an inconvenient appendage, I admit—but