Page 109 - the-thirty-nine-steps

and it’s hard to see how there can be any miscarriage. But I
don’t mind admitting that I’m horribly nervous. This mur-
der of Karolides will play the deuce in the chancelleries of
Europe.’
After breakfast he asked me if I could drive a car. ‘Well,
you’ll be my chauffeur today and wear Hudson’s rig. You’re
about his size. You have a hand in this business and we are
taking no risks. There are desperate men against us, who
will not respect the country retreat of an overworked of-
ficial.’
When I first came to London I had bought a car and
amused myself with running about the south of England,
so I knew something of the geography. I took Sir Walter to
town by the Bath Road and made good going. It was a soft
breathless June morning, with a promise of sultriness lat-
er, but it was delicious enough swinging through the little
towns with their freshly watered streets, and past the sum-
mer gardens of the Thames valley. I landed Sir Walter at his
house in Queen Anne’s Gate punctually by half-past eleven.
The butler was coming up by train with the luggage.
The first thing he did was to take me round to Scotland
Yard. There we saw a prim gentleman, with a clean-shaven,
lawyer’s face.
‘I’ve brought you the Portland Place murderer,’ was Sir
Walter’s introduction.
The reply was a wry smile. ‘It would have been a welcome
present, Bullivant. This, I presume, is Mr Richard Hannay,
who for some days greatly interested my department.’
‘Mr Hannay will interest it again. He has much to tell

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