The Saint Meets His Match (She was a Lady)

Now, once upon a time Lord Essenden had fired a revol­ver at Simon Templar with intent to qualify him for a pair of wings and a white nightie. Simon bore Lord Essenden no malice for that, for the Saint was a philosopher, and he was philosophically ready to admit that on that occasion he. had been in the act of forcing open Lord Essenden's desk with a burglarious instrument, to wit, a jemmy; so that Lord Essenden might philosophically be held to have been within his rights. Besides, the bul­let had missed him by a yard.

No, Simon Templar's interest in Essenden, and particu­larly in Essenden's trips to Paris, had always been com­monplace and practical. Simon, having once upon a time watched and pried into Lord Essenden's affairs conscien­tiously and devotedly for some months, knew that Essenden, on his return from every visit he paid to Paris (and these visits were more frequent than the visits of a respec­tably married peer should rightly have been), was wont to pay large numbers of French francs into his bank in London. And the Saint, who had been younger than he was at this time, knew that Englishmen who are able to pay large numbers of French francs into their London banks when they return from a short visit to Paris are curiosities; and collecting curiosities was the Saint's voca­tion.

So Simon Templar and Jill Trelawney went to Paris and stayed two days at the Crillon in the Place de la Concorde, which they chose because Lord Essenden chose it. Also, during those two days the Saint held no conversation with Lord Essenden beyond once begging his pardon for treading on his toes in the lift.

It was during the forty-ninth hour of their residence at the Crillon that Simon learnt that Essenden was leaving by the early train next morning.

His room was on the same floor as Essenden's. He re­tired to it when Essenden retired, bidding the peer an affa­ble good-night in the corridor, for that night the Saint had met Essenden in the bar and relaxed his aloofness. In fact, they had drunk whisky together. This without any reference to their previous encounter. On that occa­sion the Saint had been masked; and now, meeting Es­senden in more propitious circumstances, he had no wish to rake up a stale quarrel.