Page:Chesterton - The Wisdom of Father Brown.djvu/248

THE WISDOM OF FATHER BROWN message. And see whether it is Malvoli who answers."

The nobleman struck the bell on the table with an odd air of new curiosity. He said to the clerk who appeared almost instantly in the doorway: "I have a serious announcement to make to the audience shortly. Meanwhile, would you kindly tell the two champions that the fight will have to be put off."

The clerk stared for some seconds as if at a demon and vanished.

"What authority have you for what you say?" asked Lord Pooley abruptly. "Whom did you consult?"

"I consulted a bandstand," said Father Brown, scratching his head. "But, no, I'm wrong; I consulted a book, too. I picked it up on a bookstall in London—very cheap, too."

He had taken out of his pocket a small, stout, leather-bound volume, and Flambeau, looking over his shoulder, could see that it was some book of old travels, and had a leaf turned down for reference.

The only form in which Voodoo began Father Brown, reading aloud.

"In which what?" inquired his lordship.

In which Voodoo, repeated the reader, almost with relish, is widely organised outside Jamaica itself is in the form known as the Monkey 234