The Irish Witch
Page 40
When he was shown upstairs at 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister greeted him pleasantly, waved him to a chair and said:
‘Mr. Brook, I understand that your lovely daughter is to marry the young Earl of St. Ermins toward the end of the month.’
Roger smiled. ‘’Tis so, my lord, and both I and St. Ermins’s mother, Her Grace of Kew, are most happy about it, for we have been life-long friends and know the young people to have long loved each other dearly.’
Thoughtfully, the Prime Minister remarked, ‘I feel it something of a pity, though, that one of the wealthiest nobles in England should be taking a commoner as his bride. ’Twould be so much more suitable if he were about to wed the daughter of an Earl.’
Puzzled and annoyed, Roger frowned. ‘I fail to comprehend the point of Your Lordship’s remark. Except that I am not descended from a king on the wrong side of the blanket, my mother’s family do not take second place to that of St. Ermins. Their ancestry is longer.’
His Lordship laughed. ‘You must forgive me my little jest, Mr. Brook. It was with regard to your ancestry that I requested you to call upon me. There are no secrets from one in my position. I am well acquainted with the many services you have rendered Britain over the past quarter of a century. Moreover, not only my Lord Castlereagh and His Grace of Wellington but also His Imperial Majesty the Czar and Talleyrand, have all brought to my attention the invaluable part you played in helping to bring about a settlement in France which bids fair to ensure peace and prosperity to her people under a limited monarchy.
‘As you know, it is a long established custom for secret services to go unrewarded, except for payments of cash. But I felt you were deserving of special consideration, and Talleyrand suggested, in his letter to me, a way in which we could acknowledge our debt to you. With the death of your cousin, the title of your mother’s family went into abeyance. But titles can be revived for descendants of a noble family. I have spoken to the Prince Regent about it and His Royal Highness gave his willing consent. Be pleased to come here again, Mr. Brook, at the same hour this day week, suitably robed. Lord Castlereagh and I will then do ourselves the honour to present you in the House of Lords to your fellow Peers as the Right Honourable the Earl of Kildonan.’
A Note on the Author
DENNIS WHEATLEY
Dennis Wheatley (1897 – 1977) was an English author whose prolific output of stylish thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world’s best-selling writers from the 1930s through to the 1960s.
Wheatley was the eldest of three children, and his parents were the owners of Wheatley & Son of Mayfair, a wine business. He admitted to little aptitude for schooling, and was expelled from Dulwich College, London. In 1919 he assumed management of the family wine business but in 1931, after a decline in business due to the Depression, he began writing.
His first book, The Forbidden Territory, became a bestseller overnight, and since then his books have sold over fifty million copies worldwide. During the 1960s, his publishers sold one million copies of Wheatley titles per year, and his Gregory Sallust series was one of the main inspirations for Ian Fleming’s James Bond stories.
During the Second World War, Wheatley was a member of the London Controlling Section, which secretly coordinated strategic military deception and cover plans. His literary talents gained him employment with planning staffs for the War Office. He wrote numerous papers for the War Office, including suggestions for dealing with a German invasion of Britain.
Dennis Wheatley died on 11th November 1977. During his life he wrote over seventy books and sold over fifty million copies.
Discover books by Dennis Wheatley published by Bloomsbury Reader at
www.bloomsbury.com/DennisWheatley
Duke de Richleau
The Forbidden Territory
The Devil Rides Out
The Golden Spaniard
Three Inquisitive People
Strange Conflict
Codeword Golden Fleece
The Second Seal
The Prisoner in the Mask
Vendetta in Spain
Dangerous Inheritance
Gateway to Hell
Gregory Sallust
Black August
Contraband
The Scarlet Impostor
Faked Passports
The Black Baroness
V for Vengeance
Come Into My Parlour
The Island Where Time Stands Still
Traitors’ Gate
They Used Dark Forces
The White Witch of the South Seas
Julian Day
The Quest of Julian Day
The Sword of Fate
Bill for the Use of a Body
Roger Brook
The Launching of Roger Brook
The Shadow of Tyburn Tree
The Rising Storm
The Man Who Killed the King
The Dark Secret of Josephine
The Rape of Venice
The Sultan’s Daughter
The Wanton Princess
Evil in a Mask
The Ravishing of Lady Mary Ware
The Irish Witch
Desperate Measures
Molly Fountain
To the Devil a Daughter
The Satanist
Lost World
They Found Atlantis
Uncharted Seas
The Man Who Missed the War
Espionage
Mayhem in Greece
The Eunuch of Stamboul
The Fabulous Valley
The Strange Story of Linda Lee
Such Power is Dangerous
The Secret War
Science Fiction
Sixty Days to Live
Star of Ill-Omen
Black Magic
The Haunting of Toby Jugg
The KA of Gifford Hillary
Unholy Crusade
Short Stories
Mediterranean Nights
Gunmen, Gallants and Ghosts
This electronic edition published in 2014 by Bloomsbury Reader
Bloomsbury Reader is a division of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square,
London WC1B 3DP
First published in 1973 by Hutchinson & Co. Ltd.
Copyright © 1973 Dennis Wheatley
All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The moral right of the author is asserted.
eISBN: 9781448212989
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