Call Mr. Fortune | Page 2

and since he had been called in to remove a fish bone from
the archducal throat he could not keep the Archduke out of his
conversation. The royal geniality of the Archduke, the royal disdain of
the Archduchess - Dr. Fortune had been much gratified thereby, and
Reggie was prepared to loathe their Royal Highnesses. Thank Heaven,
the pater was safe on his holiday! If his head swelled so over an
archducal fish bone, he would have burst over an archduke knocked
down.
Reggie was practical, if without sympathy; he made haste in his neat
way, and the sedate chauffeur of Dr. Fortune was horrified by
instructions to let the car rip. The streets of Westhampton are not
adapted to this. The district has tried hard to keep itself rural still, and
its original narrow winding lanes remain ill-lighted and overhung by
trees. Boldrewood stands high, and its grounds border upon
Westhampton Heath, across which there is one lamp per furlong. Just
as Reggie's car swung round to the heath it was stopped with a jerk.
"What's the trouble, Gorton?" Reggie said to the chauffeur.
Gorton was leaning sideways and peering into the gloom of the gutter.
A gleam from the sidelight winked at a body which lay still. "Give me
a turn," Gorton muttered. His face showed white. Reggie jumped out,

but Gorton was quicker. "Lumme, it's the Archduke!" he said, and his
voice went up high.
"Don't be futile, Gorton." Reggie bent over the body. "Get the lamps on
him."
Gorton backed the car and the body came into the light. Its face was
crushed. Gorton gasped and swallowed. "But it's not him neither," he
muttered.
After a minute Reggie stood up. "He was a fine chap about an hour
ago," he said gently.
"All over, sir?" Reggie nodded. "Some hog done him in?"
"As you say, Gorton. Running-down case. Big car. Took him in the
back. Went over his head. But I don't see how he got into the gutter."
He walked round the body, moved it a little, and picked up two
matches - unusual matches in England - very thin vestas with dark blue
heads. "Why did you think he was the Archduke, Gorton?"
"Such a big chap, sir. Not many his measure. And there's something
about the make of the poor chap that's very like. But thank God's it's
not the Archduke, anyway."
"Why?" said Reggie, who was without reverence for Archdukes. "Well,
let's take him along."
They brought the dead man to the lodge at the main gates of
Boldrewood, and there left him with a message to be telephoned to the
police.
The hall at Boldrewood is in the Victorian baronial style, absurd but
comfortable. Reggie was still blinking at the light when a woman ran at
him. His first notion of the Archduchess Ianthe was vehemence. She
came upon him, a great fur cloak falling away from her speed, panting,
black eyes glowing, and then stopped short, and her pale face was
distorted with passion. "Dr. Fortune! You are not Dr. Fortune!" she

cried.
"Dr. Fortune, Junior, madame. My father is away, and I am in charge of
his practice." She muttered something in a language he did not know,
and looked as if she was going to kill him. His second notion of her
was that she was wickedly beautiful. A Greek perfection in the pale
face, but, Lord, what a temper! The daintiest grace of body, but it
moved and quivered like a whip lash.
"My dear Ianthe!" A man came smiling from behind the screen by the
fire. He was tall and slight and dandyish: a lot of colour in his clothes,
an odd absence of colour in him. A bright blue tie with an emerald in it,
a bright blue handkerchief hanging half out of the pocket of the
silver-grey coat. But his face had a waxy pallor, his hair, his moustache,
and little pointed beard were so fair that they looked like patches of
paint on a mask. "We are much obliged by Dr. Fortune's coming so
quickly."
The Archduchess whirled round. " He is too young," she said in
German. "Look at him. He is a boy."
"I beg your pardon, madame," said Reggie in the same language. " May
I see the patient? "
The man laughed. "I am sure we have every confidence in your skill,
Dr. Fortune." All the laughter was smoothed out of his face. "And your
discretion," he said in a lower voice. "I am the Archduke Leopold. You
may be frank with me. And rely upon my help." Reggie bowed. "How
did the accident happen, sir? " The Archduke turned to his sister-in-law.
"You know that I do not know," she cried. " I was out in the car."
"As my