Shaun Hutson by Shadows (pdf)

Author:Shadows (pdf) [Shadows]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-02-03T23:17:00.484000+00:00

PART TWO

'All human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil ...'

-- Robert Louis Stevenson

'He who shall teach the child to doubt, Shall ne'er the rotting grave get out.'

-- William Blake

London

The Waterloo Club, in the heart of London's Mayfair, was a magnificent anachronism.

Founded a year after the battle of Waterloo by a group of Wellington's infantry officers, the building was more like a museum. There was a subdued reverence about the place, much like that usually reserved for a church. It languished in cultivated peacefulness and had defied ail but the most necessary architectural changes since its construction in 1816. But, for all that, it retained an archaic splendour which was fascinating.

David Blake sipped his drink and scanned the panelled walls. The room seemed dark, despite the lamps which burned in profusion, complimented by the huge crystal chandelier which hung from the ceiling. There were a number of paintings on view including excellent copies of Denis Dighton's 'Sergeant Ewart capturing the Eagle of the 45th', a picture which Blake remembered from a history book. Behind the bar was Sir William Allen's panoramic view of Waterloo, a full fifteen feet in length. It hung in a gilt frame, as imposing a piece of art as Blake had seen. On another wall were two polished cuirasses, the breast plates still carrying musket ball holes. Above them were the brass helmets of Carabiniers, the long swords of the Scots Greys and various original muskets and pistols.

Blake was suitably impressed with the surroundings despite being somewhat perplexed as to why the BBC should have chosen such a setting for the party to welcome Jonathan Mathias to England. Other guests chatted amiably, some, like himself, gazing at the paintings and other paraphernalia. He guessed that there must be about two dozen people there, most of whom he recognized from one or other branch of the

entertainment industry.

He spotted Jim O'Neil sitting in one corner.,He was on the British leg of a European tour which had, so far, taken him and his band to ten different countries encompassing over eighty gigs. He was a tall, wiry man in his late twenties, dressed completely in black leather. The rock star was nodding intently as two young women chatted animatedly to him.

The writer was aware of other well-known faces too. He caught sight of Sir George Howe, the new head of the BBC, speaking to a group of men which included Gerald Brad-dock.

Braddock was the present Government's Minister for the Arts, a plump, red-faced man whose shirt collar was much too tight for him, a condition not aided by his tie which appeared to have been fastened by a member of the thugee cult. Every time he swallowed he looked as though he was going to choke.

Next to him stood Roger Carr, host of the chat show on which Mathias was to appear.

Elsewhere, Blake spotted actors and actresses from TV, an agent or two but, as far as he could see, he was the only writer who had been invited.

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