A model trench in Hyde Park impressed an idea of conditions in France upon non- combatants its cleanliness and home comforts provoked bitter mirth among those on leave from the real thing.

Fire-eyed vampire girls scoured Piccadilly and Shaftesbury Avenue with white feathers for presentation to any of their undead brothers not in the King's service. Posters blazoned severe penalties for evading the call- up. Around every group of men in uniform swarmed crowds of hearty fellows eager to stand 'our boys' rounds of drinks and hero-worshipping young women intent on bestowing hot favours. Theatres, restaurants and pubs (and, doubtless, vice dens and brothels) teemed with soldiers desperate for forgetfulness.

Even in the heart of Empire, touched only by an odd air raid, it was impossible to forget the war. Despite rain and unlit streets, purposeful night crowds were everywhere. He was met at Victoria by Ashenden, a youth who had proved himself a cool hand in Switzerland, and driven through the dark city. Beauregard wished the uninterested Spenser good luck and gave Godfrey his card, then crossed the shadowed platform to board the fast train for London. German submarines were rumoured to be in the Channel. The second son of the Duke of Denver was among the current crop of Dottyville cases. After seasons of gruelling war, breakdowns were almost de rigueur for the better sort of officer. Four years ago, the army had considered shell-shock deplorable cowardice. They were shepherded with kindly firmness by the nurses. As a group, the men were quiet and pliable. Often, as he got older, he thought of those seconds.Īt Newhaven quay, nurses awaited a small group of maddened officers. At the sacrifice of his own life, he might have put an end to Count Dracula. He regretted each time he had killed but he also regretted, in a single instance, not killing. Beauregard recognised as a better man one who would die for his country but not kill. He had chosen ambulance duty over prison and been decorated for bravery under fire at Vimy Ridge. He chatted with the Quaker stretcher-bearer, Godfrey. His whole life had been lived in the dark.

It would be pleasant to be innocent and ignorant.Īfter years of service to the Diogenes Club, Charles Beauregard sat with the venerable Mycroft and the eccentric Smith-Cumming on the Ruling Cabal, highest echelon of the Secret Service. Sometimes, Beauregard wished his own skull would open and let his secrets escape. The inevitable diagnosis was a failure of nerve, but Beauregard thought it must take a steady hand to perform such an operation upon oneself.īeauregard reproached himself for his failure to appreciate the strain put on Spenser by the demands of Diogenes. It seemed he intended to porcupine his entire skull. When an orderly had found him, Spenser was on the point of driving in a fifth nail.

Anno dracula the bloody red baron