'Yes,' Racksole assented. 'Know anything about them?'
'Well - no, not exactly,' said Mr Levi. 'But I had a fancy you and I
might be useful to each other; I had a kind of fancy to that effect.'
'Come back and sit down again, Mr Levi,' Racksole said, attracted
by the evident straightforwardness of the man's tone. 'Now, how
can we be of service to each other? I flatter myself I'm something
of a judge of character, especially financial character, and I tell
you - if you'll put your cards on the table, I'll do ditto with mine.'
'Agreed,' said Mr Sampson Levi. 'I'll begin by explaining my
interest in your hotel. I have been expecting to receive a summons
from a certain Prince Eugen of Posen to attend him here, and that
summons hasn't arrived. It appears that Prince Eugen hasn't come
to London at all. Now, I could have taken my dying davy that he
would have been here yesterday at the latest.'
'Why were you so sure?'
'Question for question,' said Levi. 'Let's clear the ground first, Mr
Racksole. Why did you buy this hotel? That's a conundrum that's
been puzzling a lot of our fellows in the City for some days past.
Why did you buy the Grand Babylon? And what is the next move
to be?'
'There is no next move,' answered Racksole candidly, 'and I will
tell you why I bought the hotel; there need be no secret about it. I
bought it because of a whim.' And then Theodore Racksole gave
this little Jew, whom he had begun to respect, a faithful account of
the transaction with Mr Felix Babylon.
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