People getting bumped off all over the place, jewel robberies, detectives, spies, secret agents, me nearly being arrested. I never liked having crowds here - stuffin' the place with people, mostly perfect strangers to each other. Always leads to unpleasantness. Your mother and I've agreed: in future we have at most three or four guests at a time. Understood?'


Chapter Two

'Rex, baby, come right in.'

Cyrus S. Haggermeir, head of the Haggermeir Pictures Corporation, strode beamingly across the expanse of deep carpet and gripped the hand of the bronzed, handsome man with the thick blonde hair, who had just been shown into his Hollywood office.

Rex Ransom blinked in surprise at the warmth of his reception and allowed himself to be ensconced in an armchair. Haggermeir went to a cocktail cabinet. 'Scotch on the rocks, isn't it, Rex?'

'That'll be fine, Mr Haggermeir.'

'Cyrus, Rex, Cyrus. Surely we been buddies long enough now for you to call me by my first name?'

'We have? Oh — I mean, yes, I guess we have.'

Haggermeir handed Rex a glass, went behind his huge desk and sat down. He was a big man with a frankly homely face, like an unsuccessful prizefighter's. 'Why I sent for - asked you to stop by, Rex, is to discuss your next starring vehicle.'

Rex breathed a sigh of relief - which did not escape Haggermeir's shrewd brown eyes. 'Sumpin' wrong?'

'Oh, no. It's just that it's always good to know another one's being planned. I know the box office receipts of my last picture weren't too hot, and—'

'That wasn't your fault. It was a lousy script. A complete change of setting is called for in your next picture. Recently you've played a Corsican pirate, a Spanish conquistador, and an Arabian prince - all with your hair dyed. Time you got back to an Anglo-Saxon type. You're gonna be an Englishman.'

'I did Robin Hood six years ago, so—'

'English Civil War. Cavaliers and Roundheads. You'll be playing a nobleman, the best swordsman at the court of King Charles, who tries to get the king to safety after the Battle of - of . . .' Haggermeir glanced down at a script lying on his desk. 'Er, one of them battles. But you're also in love with the daughter of a Roundhead boss, the one that's leading the search for Charles. In the end he finds you guarding him and orders you at sword- point to hand him over. You gotta choose between fighting and perhaps killing your girl's pa, or betraying your king.'

'Certainly sounds like a strong storyline. Is that the script you have there?'

'Yeah.' Haggermeir slid the sheaf of oddly yellowing typewritten papers across the desk.

'The Kings Man,' Rex read aloud, 'a scenario by Arlington Gilbert.' He turned the pages. 'This looks awfully old.'

'It's been hanging round the studio for years. We commissioned it from some English writer.