The Allingham Casebook by Margery Allingham

Author:Margery Allingham [Allingham, Margery]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Agora Books

The Lying-In-State

How the body of the young Emir of Eulistahn came to lie in state in the vaults of the Norfolk Street Safe Deposit is one of London’s secrets. The city takes its overseas visitors far more seriously than most of them suspect. Under a blank exterior there lurks an almost fanatical determination to oblige the poor lunatics however absurd their requirements. All it insists upon is the exercise of a modicum of common sense.

On this occasion it was the famous, if slightly ramshackle, Alderton’s Hotel which did the insisting. The Emir’s entourage was composed of his black-bearded uncle, his doctor, two private secretaries and the best part of half a dozen valets and cooks.

His death occurred very suddenly, less than two hours after his arrival in Britain to attend a Royal wedding, and the first reaction of his staff was to insist that he must lie in state for two days in the centre of his private drawing room overlooking the park.

Even this could have been arranged had it not been for the value of the state jewellery with which protocol demanded the corpse should be arrayed.

Actually, Mr Sydney Robbins who was the manager of Alderton’s had won a minor tussle about this very jewellery before the party arrived in London at all.

He was one of those placid businessmen who appear to have been knitted rather loosely out of woolly good nature until something arises to threaten their interests, when they become opaque-eyed and quite incredibly obstinate. Therefore, when the Emir’s Second Secretary, who was young, slim and olive-skinned, had first arrived earlier in the month to make the original booking and had mentioned, in an impeccable Oxford accent, the question of adequate protection for the Diamond Shawl, the Pigeon’s Egg Rings, the Five Emerald Stars and the Black Pearl, Mr Robbins put his foot down at once.

He pointed out that the Emir would be only one of five foreign Royalties honouring the hotel and whereas the security arrangements were adequate for most eventualities this occasion was a little out of the ordinary. He then recommended the Norfolk Street Safe Deposit, as he always did in similar circumstances.

The Second Secretary protested that His Highness was bringing the jewels to wear, first at the Reception and Ball and, next day, at the Abbey, and he mentioned several illustrious sponsors. But he was no match for Mr Robbins when it came to discreet name dropping and, in the end, he listened meekly to the merits of the Safe Deposit.

Everything Mr Robbins said about the place was quite true. It was a British Institution, it was used by the highest in the land, all personnel were appointed on a basis of heredity, and safety and discretion were indeed guaranteed. In the midst of a covetous world it lay inviolate a nest of five steel chambers deep in the yellow London clay.

A great deal of legend surrounded its contents. At least two South American dictators were said to prefer it to Switzerland for

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