DUCKWORTH DREW

Duckworth Drew is an agent with the British Foreign Office.

That is what is said in the title of the compilations of adventures but a subtitle clearly refers to Drew as being of the Secret Service. He, though, talks of himself as a "diplomatic freelance". That term is quite interesting for it implies that Drew works for various people with allegiance to none but it is quite clear from his tales that he is totally aligned with "the Most Noble the Marquis of Macclesfield, Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs".

The missions that make of the recorded life of Drew center around the rapidly growing tensions between the Triple Alliance (German, Austria-Hungary, and Italy) and the Triple Entente (England, France, and Russia) aka the Allies. At least they talk at the beginning like they do but it is clearly established as the tales progress that England has many allies but no friends and those allies are transitory at best.

Russia is a valued collaborator in the struggle to curtail German aggression and yet Drew shows more than once that Russia cannot be trusted. France is vital in the defense of the U.K., being a physical buffer to German troops but France is fickle and can never be counted on should chips actually need playing. And Germany is the embodiment of danger and threat to the British realm except when it can be used to keep Russia occupied from expanding its empire. Such are the diplomatic threads that are constantly pulled and weaved in the world inhabited by Drew and he is a master at both.

He is indeed a master and you would have to do nothing more than listen to him expound on his numerous triumphs to know that his work has kept the King and Country safe time and again. He on more than one occasion will talk elegantly and at length at how Macclesfield, apparently a normally stern and unforgiving taskmaster, has lauded him with so much praise that Drew is humbled and embarrassed. Mind you, this all comes from the pen of Drew as the tales are told through his eyes.

When Drew is not on the Continent gleaming yet another morsel of vital intelligence, he resides in a a set of "comfortable rooms" on Guilford Street in London, tended there by his loyal and able valet, Boyd. That gentleman's gentleman will accompany Drew on several excursions but does not play a part except to make sure that his apparel is appropriate and pressed.

When Drew is at work, he has many identities on which to rely, several being a citizen of France which he can pull off perfectly because he indeed does own dual citizenship with England and France having an English father and a French mother. He is completely at ease in France or in play a Frenchman's part and I got the impression he even owns a home somewhere near Paris [conjecture]. Another extremely important and valuable asset Drew possesses is a gift of languages as he is at home with German and Russian, among others, as he is with English and French.

Drew does not have a steady female companion nor anyone missing him back home because the life of an agent is all-consuming. That does not mean he does not have an eye for a lovely lady or a smooth patter when talking with them. He is quite a lady's man, from the implications, but being a true gentleman, he does not go into any details that might be inappropriate.

Though Drew is very familiar with a hand gun and quite able to defend himself in a physical fight, knocking out opponents with a single blow, he also has the use of some innovative objects. He has a pin that once puncturing a person's skin will instantly put them out for a good while. He has been known to drug a man with a loaded cigar. He has other tricks as well which are fun to uncover. Indeed, Drew is a man far ahead of his time with such tactics.

All told, Drew is a man's man and a credit to shadowy world of the secret agent, a task not meant for normal people, one that seldom is appreciated but is always in demand.

I first read some scathing rebukes of William Le Queux's writing (well, his basic bellicose leanings) so I delayed reading Duckworth Drew for some time. That and, to me, the natural expectations of some long-billed foul anthropomorphized as a cloak-wearing secret agent, based on the name. Then I chose to read his later character, Hugh Morrice, written about a decade later and I was surprised. The character was a tad full of himself but the stories were interesting and well penned.

So, finally, I forced myself to check out Mr. Drew and my pleasure was still there.

Drew is also full of himself but he is just as interesting as Morrice was. In fact, if someone gave me a snippet from either character's adventures and asked me to identify the spy, I would not have a clue. The same does not go quite as much for yet another of his characters I am about to write about, Claud Heathwaite, or for his Gerry Sant, both who came some time later after the author had perfected his craft.

But Drew was his first real excursion into the "Diplomatic Freelance" business (his words) and so it is most interesting. The prose is a tad flowery but the characters were interesting and varied and the plots were well developed.

The most interesting thing I found was the long periods of time he supposedly spent on each assignment. We are not talking days or even weeks but sometimes a few months just establishing a cover at a new location. It made me wonder what the fellow was doing all those many, many days. And it also struck me as interesting the way that his boss would tell him of the urgency in a particular mission, Drew would readily grasp the severity, and then write that he spent the next couple of months making himself known at some seaside villa. Drew and I have different concepts of urgent.