The Yellow Streak

The Yellow Streak, by Williams, Valentine

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Title: The Yellow Streak
Author: Williams, Valentine
Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9974] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on November 5, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO Latin-1
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THE YELLOW STREAK
BY VALENTINE WILLIAMS

CONTENTS
I. THE MASTER OF HARKINGS
II. AT TWILIGHT
III. A DISCOVERY
IV. BETWEEN THE DESK AND THE WINDOW
V. IN WHICH BUDE LOOKS AT ROBIN GREVE
VI. THE LETTER
VII. VOICES IN THE LIBRARY
VIII. ROBIN GOES TO MARY
IX. MR. MANDERTON
X. A SMOKING CHIMNEY
XI. "... SPEED THE PARTING GUEST!"
XII. MR. MANDERTON is NONPLUSSED
XIII. JEEKES
XIV. A SHEET OF BLUE PAPER
XV. SHADOWS
XVI. THE INTRUDER
XVII. A FRESH CLUE
XVIII. THE SILENT SHOT
XIX. MR. MANDERTON LAYS HIS CARDS ON THE TABLE
XX. THE CODE KING
XXI. A WORD WITH MR. JEEKES
XXII. THE MAN WITH THE YELLOW FACE
XXIII. TWO'S COMPANY
XXIV. THE METAMORPHOSIS OF MR. SCHULZ
XXV. THE READING OF THE RIDDLE
XXVI. THE FIGURE IN THE DOORWAY
XXVII. AN INTERRUPTION FROM BEYOND
XXVIII. THE DEATH OF HARTLEY PARRISH

THE YELLOW STREAK
CHAPTER I
THE MASTER OF HARKINGS
Of all the luxuries of which Hartley Parrish's sudden rise to wealth gave him possession, Bude, his butler, was the acquisition in which he took the greatest delight and pride. Bude was a large and comfortable- looking person, triple-chinned like an archdeacon, bald-headed except for a respectable and saving edging of dark down, clean-shaven, benign of countenance, with a bold nose which to the psychologist bespoke both ambition and inborn cleverness. He had a thin, tight mouth which in itself alone was a symbol of discreet reticence, the hall-mark of the trusted family retainer.
Bude had spent his life in the service of the English aristocracy. The Earl of Tipperary, Major-General Lord Bannister, the Dowager Marchioness of Wiltshire, and Sir Herbert Marcobrunner, Bart., had in turn watched his gradual progress from pantry-boy to butler. Bude was a man whose maxim had been the French saying, "Je prends mon bien ou je le trouve."
In his thirty years' service he had always sought to discover and draw from those sources of knowledge which were at his disposal. From MacTavish, who had supervised Lord Tipperary's world-famous gardens, he had learnt a great deal about flowers, so that the arrangement of the floral decorations was always one of the features at Hartley Parrish's soigne dinner-parties. From Brun, the unsurpassed chef, whom Lord Bannister had picked up when serving with the Guards in Egypt, he had gathered sufficient knowledge of the higher branches of the cuisine to enable Hartley Parrish to leave the arrangement of the menu in his butler's hands.
Bude would have been the first to admit that, socially speaking, his present situation was not the equal of the positions he had held. There was none of the staid dignity about his present employer which was inborn in men like Lord Tipperary or Lord Bannister, and which Sir Herbert Marcobrunner, with the easy assimilative faculty of his race, had very successfully acquired. Below middle height, thick-set and powerfully built, with a big head, narrow eyes, and a massive chin, Hartley Parrish, in his absorbed concentration on his business, had no time for the acquisition or practice of the Eton manner.
It was characteristic of Parrish that, seeing Bude at a dinner-party at Marcobruaner's, he should have engaged him on the spot. It took Bude a week to get over his shock at the manner in which the offer was made. Parrish had approached him as he was supervising the departure of the guests. Waving aside the footman who offered to help him into his overcoat, Parrish had asked Bude point-blank what wages he was getting. Bude mentioned the generous remuneration he was receiving from Sir Herbert Marcobrunner, whereupon Parrish had remarked:
"Come to me and I'll double it. I'll give you a week to think it over. Let my secretary know!"
After a few discreet enquiries, Bude, faithful to his