The Curse of the Bronze Lamp

Author:John Dickson Carr [Carr, John Dickson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780786704408
Publisher: Carroll & Graf
Published: 1997-04-01T15:39:12+00:00

"Now here," he pursued, holding out the scrapbook and pointing, "is one of me christening a battleship; There was a spot of bother there, I can't think how, with the champagne bottle. Instead of hittin' the battleship, it conked the Mayor of Portsmouth and knocked the poor blighter cold.""Indeed, sir? I trust there were no serious consequences?"

"Oh, no. Only a clout over the onion. But he looks kind of cross-eyed in that picture, don't he ?" "Extremely, sir."

"And the bottle didn't break, so we used it again. That's me oh the left. Newspaper photographers say they like takin' my picture."

"I cannot in the least doubt it, sir. I should fancy you must have provided them with some memorable photographs."

"Oh, well I" said H. M, waving this away with the same stuffed false-modesty which would not have deceived a baby. "Now here," he bent forward in absorption, "here's somethin' really choice. Full-face and close up. I had it taken when I was standin' for Parliament. East Bristol. The idea is to express nobility and sternness, d'ye see ?"

Evidently it did. The effect was such that even Benson started slightly and shied back.

"What's the matter, son ? Don't you think it does me justice?"

Benson coughed.

"Candidly, sir, I can't say it does."

"Aha I" said H. M. "You hear that, Masters ?"

The chief inspector did not comment. Perhaps Masters was incapable of it He merely pressed his hands firmly to his bowler hat

"And why don't you think it does me justice, son ?"

Benson coughed again.

"Well, sir. There is about your countenance a certain quality, a certain je ne sais quoi if I may so express myself, very difficult to define. . Indeed, I doubt whether it could be recorded by a photographic plate."

H. M. looked very hard at him, as though suspicious of some ulterior meaning in this. But the tactful butler hastened to explain.

"I mean, sit, that it is a quality often found. Now I have here"—undoubtedly determined to get in his own innings, Benson thrust forward his own scrapbook—"photographs of her ladyship taken over a period of a dozen years. You will no doubt observe..."

"Sure, sure I But I was showin' you..."

"... that her ladyship," said Benson firmly, "though very beautiful, is not what is called photogenic. It is a matter of colour and expression, I fancy. Her photo-

"This is me at the Taj Mahal." "... are execrable or unrecognizable. If you will glance at this picture taken recently in Cairo, with a certain Mr. Beaumont, you will note..."

"Here is me impersonate' Peter the Hermit in a pageant of the Crusades." Benson closed his eyes.

"Yes, sir. That brings me to my next point with regard to getting a good likeness of you. I refer, sir, to your evident fondness for being photographed in false beards."

H. M. sat up.

"What's wrong with false beards ?" he demanded. 'I like false beards !'

"Exactly, sir," agreed Benson with a serene smile. "I like them myself, especially in Christmas charades." . "Well, then ?’

"But in no less

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.