The Message
By Louis Tracy
“It’s fine!” said Arthur Warden, lowering his binoculars to glut his eyes with the spectacle. “It’s more than fine, it’s glorious!”
He spoke aloud in his enthusiasm. A stout, elderly man who stood near—a man with “retired tradesman” writ large on his face and figure—believed that the tall, spare–built yachtsman was praising the weather.
“Yes, sir,” he chortled pompously, “this is a reel August day. I knew it. First thing this morning I told my missus we were in for a scorcher.”
Warden gradually became aware that these ineptitudes were by way of comment. He turned and read the weather–prophet’s label at a glance. But life was too gracious at that moment, and he was far too well–disposed toward all men, that he should dream of inflicting a snub.
“That was rather clever of you,” he agreed genially. “Now, though the barometer stood high, I was dreading a fog three hours ago.”
The portly one gurgled.
“I’ve got a glass,” he announced. “Gev’ three puns’ ten for it, but there’s a barometer in my bones that’s worth a dozen o’ them things. I’ll back rheumatiz an’ a side o’ bacon any day to beat the best glass ever invented.”
All unknowing, here was the touch of genius that makes men listen. Warden showed his interest.
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Louis Tracy
Louis Tracy (1863–1928) was a British journalist and prolific writer of fiction.
Biography.
He used the pseudonyms Gordon Holmes and Robert Fraser, which were at times shared with M. P. Shiel, a collaborator from the start of the twentieth century.
He was born in Liverpool to a well-to-do middle-class family. At first, he was educated at home and then at the French Seminary at Douai. Around 1884 he became a reporter for a local paper, The Northern Echo at Darlington, circulating in parts of Durham and North Yorkshire; later he worked for papers in Cardiff and Allahabad. During 1892–1894 he was closely associated with Arthur Harmsworth, in The Sun and The Evening News and Post.
His fiction included mystery, adventure, and romance.
Louis Tracy
