Sword of Rome: Standard Bearer (8 page)

“Yet I found out this week that Cardinal is no
gentleman. He has proved a fiend rather than friend. Employing a technical
clause in the contract he is calling in the debt, or else he will be upping the
rate of interest during the interim period before I can collect on my
investments. I am to meet with him the day after tomorrow. If I do not have his
money - which I don’t -
 
then he says he
will seek to destroy my reputation by informing my family and employers of my
indebtedness. Cardinal also employs a number of thugs who will look to inflict
harm upon my body, rather than good name. I am caught between Scylla and
Charybdis Raffles. My lack of funds has only been matched by my lack of sleep
over the last day or so. I fear I will just have to relinquish all my
investments to him – and thus leave me ruined for years to come.”

Raffles opened his silver cigarette case and
handed me a Sullivan. His face had betrayed neither sympathy nor indifference
when listening to my plight.

“You have a trusting nature Bunny.
‘Tis
a virtue I admire old chap, as is your
trustworthiness, but others see such virtues as weaknesses rather than
strengths. I have heard about this Alexander Cardinal. He is as rapacious as he
is
niggarding
, I understand. He is also a hermit
somewhat, or agoraphobic is the term I
believe,
hence
he conducts his business dealings at home. He lives with just his manservant, a
former soldier, who also serves as his minder.”

“And he has heard of you Raffles in return, it
seems. When he discovered that you were an acquaintance he spoke of a passion
for cricket and a desire to meet you. I duly played down our friendship, as I
did not wish for him to have any thoughts of ensnaring you also. I will not
have you in his debt too and suffer my fate.”

My friend stood up and commenced to pace
around the room - his head bowed, deep in thought. After two laps around his
armchair and desk he finally stopped, lifted his head and smiled.

“You must ask Cardinal to pay me a visit here,
upon the evening after tomorrow. Let us say 9.00. You should state, to further
entice the fox from his burrow at such an hour, that you will pay the debt in
full. And you will be paying off your debt with your very own hard earned money
Bunny.”

“But how?
Raffles, you are being absurd. A whole year’s earnings from my
writing would be needed to pay off the sum. And if you are thinking that we
could pull a job in that time then it’s out of the question. We would need time
to locate and reconnaissance the place. Also, we would need the house to be
empty – and for there to be enough boodle about. No, I will not permit you to
risk your neck, or for there to be any blood spilled,” I vehemently exclaimed.

“Bunny, I need you to utilise your trusting
nature one last time – by trusting me.”

I smiled, feebly, and nodded my head but I was
stumped if I knew how Raffles thought he could deliver me from my ruinous fate
within forty eight hours.
    

2.

The Madeira may have wiped away some of my
brain cells, but alas it did not wipe away my debts when I awoke the next
morning. As I had promised Raffles my task for the day was to visit my
persecutor. Cardinal’s house – and his intimidating character – loomed large in
my mind but I confronted them both that afternoon.

Perhaps
a certain
desperation of having nothing left to lose, or my growing resentment for the
odious usurer, emboldened me to hold fast in my insistence that Raffles would
meet with Cardinal – but only in the evening and at the Albany. It rankled with
his pride - and the prospect of venturing outdoors discomforted him - but
Cardinal agreed to the meeting. He explained how he was keen to meet the famous
cricketer who could “turn a game with the turn of his wrist.” And of course he
was eager to have me settle my debt with him, one way or another.

“I’ll either have the money, or you, in my
pocket by the end of the week Mr
Manders
,” Cardinal
remarked with self-satisfaction – and then cackled to
himself
.
I looked up to see his smarmy butler-soldier grinning too. I was a source of
amusement, as well as revenue, to the broker of the “quick quid” it seemed.

Later that evening Raffles insisted that I
join him for a function at Lord’s. He briefly went over the arrangements for
the following night during the cab journey over to the hallowed ground. I was
to bring my spare key to the Albany as Raffles was due to run an errand and he
might be late for the meeting.

“However tardy I might be though you must keep
the villain at the Albany. State that I will be bringing his money along.
Mention too how I am keen to meet him, to discuss cricket or business
opportunities. Just keep the predator in your sights, Bunny. I will look after
everything else.”

3.

I woke early the following day, the sunlight
screeching through my window, but in a gesture towards not wishing to face the
day ahead I remained in bed,
Oblomov
-like, for some
time. I tried to read but not even Tennyson – or Pope – could distract me from
my black thoughts. If I could just awake tomorrow free from the clutches of my
Shylock then I promised myself that I would be as prudent with my money as
George Peabody. There are no “quick
quids
”, just hard
times. You cannot lift oneself out of debt by borrowing and digging a bigger
hole for oneself.

“
Come
what may, time
and the hour run through the roughest day,” I told myself, unconvincingly. I
prayed to God that things would work out and that I would escape ruination –
but in many ways, more than God, I was praying to Raffles.

I must confess that I was less assured that
God might answer my prayers when Raffles failed to answer his door. As
instructed though I had brought the spare key and I let myself in. Cardinal
arrived on the hour. One could have put his age at fifty, or seventy. Light
shone off his silvery grey hair and balding head. Beady, hazel eyes shone out
behind serpent-like eye-lids. His face was long, cheeks sunken akin to a
cadaver’s and his black expression – and black garb – gave him the air of an
undertaker. Aye, in some ways he was here for my funeral, I thought to myself.
The moneylender was accompanied by his manservant cum bodyguard, Gough. Gough
(he had neither a Christian name nor Christian bone in his body) stood six feet
tall. A long pink scar marked the side of his flame-haired head from where a
bullet had grazed him during the battle of
Maiwand
. A
scowl marked Gough’s appearance too when he entered the apartment. As
transfixed as one could be by his broken nose and cauliflower ears I could not
help notice the bulge in his jacket also, where he kept his revolver.

“Where’s our host?” Cardinal asked, already in
a state of impatience and displeasure.

“I am afraid that Raffles is running late. Can
I fix you both a drink while we wait?” I replied, whilst already pouring a
large gin and tonic for myself.

“No. I wish to keep a clear head. And Gough
does not drink whilst on duty.”

Although the ex-soldier remained stone-faced,
sentry-like, I sensed a flicker of disappointment still in his expression.

“So this is the Albany?” Cardinal exclaimed,
arching his eyebrow and surveying the tastefully furnished apartment. “Your
friend Raffles must have a private income, for surely he cannot make any
significant sums of money from playing cricket? Although I hope to change that
by making him an offer he can’t refuse. Perhaps I shall have both of you in my
pocket by the end of the evening,” the moneylender remarked and smirked, a
dog-tooth poking out from beneath his top lip as he did so.

I took another swig of my gin and tonic,
draining the glass, with the contents of Cardinal’s - and Gough’s - pockets
worrying me equally, but for different reasons.

4.

“I am most displeased Mr
Manders
.
Time is money - a lesson which you will learn all the more if you are unable to
settle your debt this evening.”

It was an hour or so since Cardinal had first
arrived. Raffles was still absent. He now needed to turn up with some tonic
water, as well as Cardinal’s pound of flesh. I had apologised repeatedly, with
Gough grunting in disdain each time I did so. Yet, as per instructed by
Raffles, I held fast and persuaded his guests to stay.

“And if you bide your time and remain a little
longer Mr Cardinal, you shall have your money,” I replied, with perhaps more
conviction in my voice than in my heart.

“I just hope that Mr Raffles’ timing with his
bat upon the field is better than his punctuality off it.”

Another half an hour or so passed. Cardinal
often sighed, rolled his eyes and checked his watch. Sometimes he paced around
the room and examined certain pieces of furniture and paintings, or he sat
stern-faced in a chair by the fire – like a judge about to deliver the death
penalty. Gough cracked his knuckles and glared at me too – licking his lips smirking,
as if he were a hangman about to carry out the judge’s sentence.

“This is intolerable. It seems that your
friend has abandoned you,” Cardinal posited, looking at his watch once more.

“Never,” I replied, with perhaps more
conviction in my heart than in my voice.

“Thank you for keeping faith
Bunny,
and for keeping our guests entertained until my
arrival.” Raffles had entered many a different residence before in silence, so
it was unsurprising that he could enter his own apartment unnoticed too. “I
apologise Mr Cardinal for my tardiness. And I hope that I haven’t put your nose
out of joint too Sir, even more so than it already seems to be,” Raffles
remarked when turning to Gough. The surly ex-soldier flared his nostrils and
screwed up his face, offended, but Raffles ignored the fellow and lit a
Sullivan. Cardinal raised a hand to his minder, which served to tame him.

“I will not say that I have been overly
content to wait this long Mr Raffles, but I am pleased that you have finally
graced us with your presence.”

“Bunny tells me that you are a cricket fan Mr
Cardinal. You must let me apologise in deeds, rather than just words, and offer
you and your associate a couple of tickets to the next Gentlemen versus Players
match,” Raffles politely expressed whilst fixing
himself
a whisky and soda-water.

“Your offer is kind, but unnecessary. Our time
will now be brief this evening so I should come to the point. My interest in
cricket, I should confess to you Mr Raffles, derives from my interest in making
money. I am here tonight in order to represent a consortium of gentlemen who
like to, shall we say, even the odds when deciding the outcome of a cricket
match. You would make a valuable addition to our team of players. Most players
join our ranks because, like Mr
Manders
here, they
fall into debt and need a helping hand. Yet any money you make from us will be
pure profit. Imagine, even when you lose a game of cricket, you could still be
a winner in a financial sense.”

Cardinal’s whole face here smiled – his mouth
and serpentine eyes. The wrinkles in his brow were also smoothed out.

I knew
,
more so than
anyone, how Raffles was not immune from making a dishonest quick quid and I
imagine that he was tempted by the devil’s offer – but Raffles was Raffles. He
shook his head, as if bored or pitying the moneylender, and replied,

“When the One Great Scorer comes

To write against your name,

He marks – not that you won or lost –

But how you played the
game.”

The smile fell from the villain’s face as
surely as if Raffles had just bowled him out. Indeed his smile turned into a
grimace – but then Cardinal regained his composure. I dare say that few of the
players in his team of match fixers had sold their souls so quickly – and the
scout did not want to give up signing up such a prized player without giving
him a second chance.

“It would be unwise to say no now my friend,
without giving the matter some serious thought. You could be saying goodbye to
a lot of money by saying goodbye to my associates and I without a fair hearing.”

“Money lost, little lost. Honour lost, much
lost,” Raffles calmly replied, with silk and steel in his tone. “And I would
thank you Mr Cardinal for not calling me your friend. My friend is sitting
opposite you – and I can assure you that you and he are quite unalike.”

The aged moneylender pursed his lips and his
bony fingers gripped the arms of the leather chair like talons – but he finally
smiled, twistedly, and responded.

“
Mr
Manders
may well be quite unlike me Mr Raffles, as you say,
but we are tied together through a bond as strong – if not stronger – than friendship.
That of a financial bond.
And I’ll have my bond; speak
not against my bond,” Cardinal remarked with dramatic relish, quoting his
namesake Shylock.