Have His Carcase

‘No.’ The hairdresser blushed painfully. ‘I’m not a robust man. I couldn’t get passed for active service.’

‘All right,’ said Wimsey. ‘About the razor. What are you doing now?’

‘Well, my lord, I am, as you might say, an itinerant hairdresser. I go from one place to the other, especially seaside towns during the season, and take temporary posts.’

‘Where did you work last?’

The man glanced up at him with his hunted eyes.

‘I haven’t had anything, really, for a long time. I tried to get work in Seahampton. In fact, I’m still trying. I went back there last Wednesday after trying Wilvercombe and Lesston Hoe. I had a week’s employment in Lesston Hoe. Ramage’s is the name of the place. I had to leave there—’

‘What for?’ Hardy was brusque. ‘there was trouble with a customer-’

‘Theft?’

‘Certainly not., He was a very quick-tempered gentleman. I had the misfortune to cut him slightly.’

‘Drunk and incompetent, eh?’ said Hardy. The small man seemed, to shrink together. ‘They said so, but on my word of honour-’

‘What, name were you going by there?’

‘Walters.’

‘Is Bright your real name?’

Under the lash of Hardy’s brutality, the story came out in all its sordid triviality. Alias after alias. A week’s trial here and there, and then dismissal on the same humiliating grounds. Not his fault. A glass of spirits affected him more than it did the ordinary person. Simpson was his real name, but he had used a great many since then. But to each name, the same reputation had stuck. It was his sad weakness,

which he had tried hard to overcome.

Hardy poured himself out a second glass of whisky, and carelessly left the bottle on the window-sill, out of Mr — Bright’s reach.

‘In the matter of the razor,’ said Wimsey, patiently.

‘Yes, my lord. I got that razor in Seahampton, from the place where I tried to get work. Merryweather, the name was. I needed a new razor, and he was willing to sell this one cheap.!

‘You’d better describe the razor,’ suggested Hardy.

‘Yes, sir. It was a Sheffield blade with a white handle, and it came originally from a retailer in Jermyn Street. It was a good razor, but a bit worn. I came on to Wilvercombe, but there was nothing doing here, except that Moreton, down on the Esplanade, said he might be requiring help later on. Then I went to Lesston Hoe. I told you about that. After trying one or two other places there, I came back here and tried Moreton again, but he had just engaged somebody. He would tell you about it, if you asked him There was nothing doing anywhere else. I grew very low in my spirits.’

Mr Bright paused and licked his lips again.

‘This was last Monday week, gentlemen. On the Tuesday night, I went, down to the sea — just over there, at the end of the town, and sat on, a seat to think things over. It was getting on for midnight. The words were coming more fluently now, the glass of whisky having no doubt done its work. ‘I looked at the sea and I felt the razor in my pocket and I wondered whether it was worth while struggling on. I was terribly depressed. I had come quite to the end of my resources. There was the sea, and there was the razor. You might think that the use of a razor would come natural to a hairdresser, but I can assure you gentlemen that the idea of using it for that purpose seems just as horrible to us as it would to you. But the sea — washing up against, the wall of the Esplanade — it seemed to call me, if you can understand what I mean. It sounded as if it was saying: “Chuck it, chuck it, chuck it up, Bill Simpson.” Fascinating and frightening at the same time, as you might say. All the same, I’ve always had a horror of drowning. Helpless and choking, and the green water in your eyes — we all have our special nightmares, and that one’s mine. Well, I’d sat there for a bit, trying to make up my mind, when I; heard somebody walking along, and presently this young fellow came and sat down on the seat, beside me. He was in evening dress, I remember, with an overcoat and a soft hat. He had a black beard — that was about the first thing I noticed, because it’s not very usual on a young man in this country, except he might be an artist, perhaps. Well, we got into conversation