Page:Bailey - Call Mr Fortune (Dutton, 1921).djvu/92

Rh "Don't you believe it," Reggie groaned, and went out.

Upon his way home the passionate interest which the world, expressing its emotions on newspaper placards, took in Sir Albert Lunt was heaped upon him. When he let himself in, his factotum, Samuel Baker, was hovering in the hall.

"Oh, don't look so alert, Sam. It's maddening," Reggie complained.

Samuel Baker grinned. "You'll want all the papers, sir?"

"I suppose so!"

"I'm getting each edition as they come along, sir. Would you like a photograph of Sir Albert?"

"Go away, Sam." Reggie waved at him. "Go quite away, Sam. Do you know one reason why many fellows get murdered? It's because other fellows can't live up to them."

As he changed, Reggie looked through the papers. They were eloquent upon Sir Albert Lunt. His career, even when treated with the delicacy due to those who die rich, was a picturesque subject. Sir Albert Lunt, with his surviving brother Victor, had gone out to South Africa in the early days of diamonds. His first vocation was discreetly veiled. Some references to his life-long passion for sport reminded the knowing of the story that he and his brother had been in the front rank of the profession