Отель «Гранд Вавилон» / The Grand Babylon hotel

Saying no word aloud, but quietly whispering wicked expletives, he searched everywhere in vain, and then, at last, by tortuous stairways and corridors returned to his original post of observation, that he might survey the place anew from the vantage ground. To his surprise he found a man in the dark little room, watching the scene of the ball as intently as he himself had been doing a few minutes before. Hearing footsteps, the man turned with a start.

It was Jules.

The two exchanged glances in the half light for a second.

�Good evening, Mr Racksole,’ said Jules calmly. �I must apologize for being here.’

�Force of habit, I suppose,’ said Theodore Racksole drily.

�Just so, sir.’

�I fancied I had forbidden you to re-enter this hotel?’

�I thought your order applied only to my professional capacity. I am here to-night as the guest of Mr and Mrs Sampson Levi.’

�In your new role of man-about-town, eh?’

�Exactly.’

�But I don’t allow men-about-town up here, my friend.

’

�For being up here I have already apologized.’

�Then, having apologized, you had better depart; that is my disinterested advice to you.’

�Good night, sir.’

�And, I say, Mr Jules, if Mr and Mrs Sampson Levi, or any other Hebrews or Christians, should again invite you to my hotel you will oblige me by declining the invitation. You’ll find that will be the safest course for you.’

�Good night, sir.

’

Before midnight struck Theodore Racksole had ascertained that the invitation-list of Mr and Mrs Sampson Levi, though a somewhat lengthy one, contained no reference to any such person as Jules.

He sat up very late. To be precise, he sat up all night. He was a man who, by dint of training, could comfortably dispense with sleep when he felt so inclined, or when circumstances made such a course advisable. He walked to and fro in his room, and cogitated as few people beside Theodore Racksole could cogitate.

At 6 a.m. he took a stroll round the business part of his premises, and watched the supplies come in from Covent Garden, from Smithfield, from Billingsgate, and from other strange places. He found the proceedings of the kitchen department quite interesting, and made mental notes of things that he would have altered, of men whose wages he would increase and men whose wages he would reduce. At 7 a.m.