The Grand Babylon Hotel
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The Grand Babylon Hotel is a novel by Arnold Bennett, published in 1902, about the mysterious disappearance of a German prince. It originally appeared as a serial in the Daily Mail.
[edit] Plot introduction
The main protagonists are an American millionaire and his daughter. While staying at the Grand Babylon, his daughter wants a steak and Bass beer for dinner, but when he gives the order he is refused. In order to get what he wants he buys the entire hotel for £400,000. Strange things are happening in that hotel. First, Theodore Racksole notices that the headwaiter, Jules, winking at her daughter's friend, Reginald Dimmock, while they consume their expensive steak. He dismisses the headwaiter. The next day a Miss Spencer, pretty efficient hotel clerk who has been employed there for years, disappeared. She just took her things and left, no one knows when or where. And Prince Eugen, a prince regnant of Posen, who was to come to the hotel and meet his youthful uncle Prince Aribert (he and the nephew are of the same age), never turns up. A body of Drimmock, who came ahead to prepare for the both princes' visit is found. He was obviously poisoned. To crown it all, the body disappears. The same evening the hotel is having a ball in the the Gold Room, hosted by a Mr and Mrs Sampson Levi. There is a special secret window though which one can observe the room and the guests. Theodore Racksole looks out of it and sees among the guests the dismissed headwaiter, Jules. Racksole runs out to confront him and throw him away, but can't find him. He comes back to the secret window to encounter Jules, staring intensely into the ball room. Racksole orders him out of the hotel the second time. Prince Aribert, who met Nella (Hellen) Racksole in Paris under the name of Count Steenbock, confides the whole story in her. He tells her that Prince Eugene never arrived, and no one knows where he is. He was last seen at Ostend. His Majesty the Emperor sent a telegram to Aribert, requesting the whereabouts of Eugene. Aribert, who does not know if there is a secret love affair, or an abduction, is facing a dilemma. At last he decides to go to Berlin and state the facts to the emperor. Nella promises him help and support in London. After the departure of Aribert, an old lady signs into the hotel under the name of 'Baroness Zerlinski'. Some chance remarks about hotel rooms convinced Nella, who was substituting for the hotel clerk, that it was, in fact miss Spenser in disguise. When she finds out that miss Spenser suddenly checked out and departed to Ostend, Nella Racksole, too, departs to Ostend, leaving a short message to his father as to her whereabouts. In Ostend, Nella follows Miss Spenser into a house, and tries to find out what's going on, threatening the later with a revolver. Miss Spenser does not divulge a lot: she says that she was under orders of Jules, the headwaiter, whose real name is Tom Jackson and who is, she claims, her husband. She says that Jackson/Jules quarreled with Drimmock and that he had some "money business" with Prince Eugen. She admits that the Prince was a captive in that same house, and she looked after him. He was abducted to prevent him arriving to London, for it would have "upset the scheme". Then Miss Spenser fakes a fain, and Nella, who comes nearer to see if she can help her, is overpowered. Nella loses consciousness.
