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DOROTHY'S DOUBLE
BY G. A. HENTY
AUTHOR OF 'RUJUB THE JUGGLER' 'IN THE DAYS OF THE MUTINY' 'THE CURSE OFCARNE'S HOLD' ETC.
IN THREE VOLUMES--VOL. II.
London CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY 1894
PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE LONDON
DOROTHY'S DOUBLE
CHAPTER IX
Just before twelve o'clock on the following day Mr. Hawtrey's carriagedrew up at Charles Levine's office. In the waiting room they foundDanvers, who had arrived shortly before them.
'Thank you for coming,' Mr. Hawtrey said, as he shook hands with him; 'Ithink I am rather afraid of Levine by himself. Of course I know that heis the best adviser one can have in a business of this sort, but thatway he has of lifting his eyebrows makes me nervous. I feel as DavidCopperfield did with that man-servant of Steerforth's; he thought himvery young indeed. It does not make me feel young, but rather that he isconsidering me to be an old fool. I don't suppose he means exactly that,but that is the impression I get from those eyebrows of his.'
'I am sure he does not mean that, Mr. Hawtrey,' Danvers laughed, 'thoughit may be that the action is expressive of a passing doubt in his mind,or rather of his perceiving some point that is unfavourable to the causehe is retained to defend. I hope you have come here to say that youagree with our view in the matter.'
'You will hear presently, Danvers. I came to that conclusion yesterday,but the position is somewhat changed.'
At this moment the door opened, and a clerk asked them to follow him, asMr. Levine was now disengaged.
'This is your client--my daughter Dorothy,' Mr. Hawtrey said, as heintroduced her to the lawyer; 'this is Mr. Singleton, an old friend andneighbour of ours.'
Mr. Levine shook hands with Dorothy, looking at her scrutinisingly as hedid so; she looked as frankly at him.
'So you thought I was guilty, Mr. Levine?'
'I am sure that your father will do me the justice to say that I saidnothing that could in any way be construed into such an opinion, MissHawtrey,' he replied, courteously.
'Perhaps not, but you thought so all the same. I am learning to be athought reader. I saw that, and also I think that a slight feeling ofdoubt came into your mind as you shook hands.'
'I must be careful, I see,' he said, smiling; 'however, without eitheradmitting or denying anything, I may say that I am glad that Mr. Hawtreybrought you with him.'
'And now, Mr. Levine,' Mr. Hawtrey said, 'I will tell you what we havecome about. Yesterday we had quite made up our minds to take youradvice, although my daughter assented to it only with the greatestreluctance. A fresh complication has occurred which I will leave Mr.Singleton to tell for himself.'
Mr. Levine took up a pen and prepared to take notes, as Mr. Singletonbegan the story with his conversation with Dorothy at Mrs. Dean's. Atthe point when Dorothy called her father, Mr. Levine interposed.
'Pardon me for interrupting you, but it is very important that I shouldunderstand the position exactly before you go farther. Whatever thismatter may be of which you are about to tell me, do I understand that itwas one entirely between Miss Hawtrey and yourself?'
'Entirely.'
'It was one of which you never intended to have spoken, and of whichMiss Hawtrey felt perfectly confident that under no circumstanceswhatever would you have revealed it?'
'Certainly, I have known her from a child, and nothing whatever wouldhave induced me to have mentioned it to any one, and Miss Hawtrey had, Iam certain, an absolute confidence that I would not do so.'
'It was then, therefore, a wholly spontaneous action on the part of MissHawtrey in summoning her father to her side, and asking him to take youhome with him.'
'Entirely so; I was myself absolutely bewildered at what appeared to meher determination to make her father acquainted with the particulars ofthe painful scenes of which I will now tell you.'
And he then related the particulars of the interview in his chambers.
'At the time,' he concluded, 'no doubt whatever entered my mind, thatthe person who called upon me was Miss Hawtrey. Thinking it over now,and having an absolute confidence in her, I see that I may have beenmistaken; she was veiled when she entered, and in all the years I haveknown Miss Hawtrey I have never seen her wear a veil. A veil certainlyalters the appearance of a face, and for an instant when she entered Idid not recognise her, but the likeness must be very great, for myhesitation was only momentary. Afterwards she had a handkerchief up toher face during the greater part of the interview, and during the wholetime she spoke in a low voice broken by sobs. No doubt there must besome similarity between the voices, but heard in that way it was sodifferent from her usual outspoken tones, that I should be sorry to becalled upon to swear whether at other times it would resemble her voiceor not.'
'I may add, Mr. Levine,' Mr. Hawtrey said, when he had finished, 'that Ihave this morning received a bill from Allerton's, where my daughterusually gets things, for four silk dresses and two mantles which wereordered on the same day and at about the same hour at which the jewelswere stolen and this interview with Mr. Singleton took place. I drovedown there after breakfast, and found that the goods were taken out andplaced in a cab that was waiting at the door, my daughter saying thatshe wished to take them at once to her dressmaker. I also called in atGilliat's, and found that there, as well as at Allerton's, the woman wasveiled when she gave the orders.'
Mr. Levine had listened with close attention to Mr. Singleton, glancingkeenly at times towards Dorothy, who was sitting with her side-face tohim, absorbed in the repetition of the story.
When Mr. Hawtrey ceased speaking, he was silent for a minute, and thensaid--
'In the first place, Miss Hawtrey, I have to make an apology to you. Youwere right. I see so much of the bad side of human nature that I ownthat, until I saw you, I did not entertain a shadow of a doubt that you,driven by some pressure, had resorted to this desperate expedient ofraising money. The whole story appeared to be consistent only with yourguilt, providing that you were possessed of an extraordinary amount ofself-possession and audacity. I admit and apologise for the mistake, nowthat I hear the same thing has been done in two other cases, and thatwithin an hour or two of the first; it is to me conclusive that yourfather's theory is the correct one, and that you were personated by someclever woman who must bear an extraordinary likeness to you. That ayoung lady of your age, driven into a corner, should commit a barefacedrobbery is a matter that my experience has taught me to believe to bevery possible, but that she should a few minutes afterwards proceed toraise money from a friend, and still more, to commit the petty crime ofswindling a tradesman of four silk dresses, or rather the materials, ofthe value perhaps of thirty or forty pounds, seems to me incredible. Foronce I have been entirely at fault.'
'Now as to paying this money for the jewels, Mr. Levine,' Mr. Hawtreysaid, 'do you still advise it?'
'I must think that over. It is an extremely difficult matter on which togive an opinion, and I shall be glad, in the first place, to have Mr.Danvers' opinion about it. Perhaps he will be good enough to come andsee you after we have talked it over; but I will not give a finalopinion until I have turned it over in my mind for a day or two. PerhapsI may ask you to come and see me again.'
Danvers went out to the carriage with them. 'I congratulate you mostheartily, Miss Hawtrey,' he said. 'There is no doubt that this willimmensely strengthen your position. It has had, at any rate, a gre
ateffect on the mind of Levine. It is not often he has to own that hisfirst impressions are entirely erroneous. I will come round this eveningif you will be at home.'
'We will be at home, Danvers,' Mr. Hawtrey said, 'and I particularlywant to see you about another matter. Come to dinner. Half-past seven.Can you come too, Singleton?' he went on as the carriage drove off. 'Youare in the thick of it now, and are indeed one of the partiesinterested, for of course I shall see that you are not a loser by yourintended kindness to Dorothy.'
'If I hear any nonsense of that sort,' Mr. Singleton said, hotly, 'Iwill get out of the carriage at once and have nothing more to do withthe affair. Dorothy is my god-daughter, and if I choose to give her onethousand or ten I have a perfect right to do so. So let us hear no moreabout it.'
Mr. Hawtrey shook his old friend warmly by the hand. 'You always were anobstinate fellow,' he said 'and I suppose I must let you have your ownway. Dorothy, I think I will get out at the top of St. James's Street,and if Ned Hampton is not in leave my card with a line, asking him tojoin us at dinner. He has worked most nobly for us, Singleton, as I toldyou last night, and ought certainly to be told of this new development.It will make us an odd number, for my cousin, Mary Daintree, has--I wasgoing to remark I am glad to say, but I suppose I oughtn't--not yetrecovered from the shock given her by Dorothy breaking off herengagement, and is keeping to her bed. However, it does not matter aboutthere being an odd number.'
'Of course you can ask Captain Hampton if you like, father,' Dorothysaid, coldly, 'but at any rate for my part I would rather that he didnot meddle any more in my affairs.'
'Hulloa! hulloa!' Mr. Singleton exclaimed, 'what is in the wind now,Dorothy? I thought you and Ned Hampton were sworn friends, and next toyourself, Ned has always stood very high in my regard. A nicer lad thanhe was I have not come across; I only wish he was master of the oldplace down there instead of his brother, who is by no means a popularcharacter in the county; although, perhaps, that is his wife's faultrather than his own. What have you been quarrelling with him about? Ishould have thought that for a young fellow, after being six years fromEngland, to give up everything for a month, and spend it in yourservice, was in itself a strong claim to your regard.'
'There has been no quarrel between Captain Hampton and myself,' Dorothysaid, as coldly as before. 'I do not say that it was not kind of him totake the pains he did about my affairs; but he acknowledged that he haddoubted me, and after that I do not wish him to trouble himself anyfurther in the matter.'
'What nonsense, Dorothy,' her father said, warmly. 'Who could havehelped doubting you under the circumstances? Why, without half theexcuse, even I was inclined to doubt you for a moment. Levine doubtedyou; Danvers, though he has not said as much, no doubt took the sameview; and even Singleton here, when he gave you, as he believed, thatmoney, thought that you had got into some horrible scrape. Singletoncould not disbelieve the evidence of his eyes, and you are not angrywith him for it. Why should you be so with Hampton, who also believedthe evidence of his eyes?'
'What was that, if I may ask?' Mr. Singleton said. 'I have heard nothingabout that, and I am quite sure that Ned Hampton would not have doubtedDorothy without what he believed to be very strong evidence.'
'Well, Singleton, I will tell you, though I should not tell eitherLevine or Danvers, for it is undoubtedly the strongest piece of evidenceagainst Dorothy. He went up to Islington late in the afternoon of theday when all this took place, to see if he could light upon thatscoundrel Truscott, and he saw Truscott in close confabulation in aquiet street with the woman who came to your chambers, and whom he, likeyou, of course, took to be Dorothy. At that time neither he nor any oneelse knew of the jewel robbery, but naturally it struck him, as, ofcourse, it would have struck every one, that Dorothy had got into somescrape, and that she had met that man to endeavour to persuade or bribehim to give up the letters, or, at any rate, to move, and so escape fromthe search we were making for him. Ned went out of town at once, andcame back just about the time we heard of the jewel robbery. By thattime he had, on thinking it over, concluded that his first idea wasaltogether erroneous, and when, at my wits' end, I told him of the jewelaffair, he said at once it was absolutely impossible that Dorothy couldhave done such a thing, and that indeed it seemed to him a confirmationof the theory he had formed that some adventuress having a singularlikeness to Dorothy was personating her. The idea had never occurred tome, and I was delighted on finding a possible explanation of what seemedto me a blank and absolute mystery. I consider that Dorothy is even moreindebted to him for that suggestion than for the pains he took in tryingto discover Truscott.'
'I certainly think you are wrong, Dorothy,' Mr. Singleton said, gravely,seeing that the girl listened with cold indifference to her father'sexplanation. 'He did no more than I did, namely, believe the evidence ofhis eyes, and on that evidence both of us were forced to believe thatyou had got into a scrape of some sort, and were under the thumb of arascal.'
'I cannot argue about it, Mr. Singleton. I only know that I believedCaptain Hampton would trust me implicitly, as I should have trusted him,and it is a great disappointment to me to find that I was mistaken. I donot defend myself; I admit that it may be silly and wrong on my part. Ionly say that I am disappointed in Captain Hampton, and that I wouldmuch rather he did not interfere in any way in my affairs.'
Mr. Hawtrey shrugged his shoulders. Mr. Singleton lifted his eyebrowsslightly and then glanced with a furtive smile, which it was well thatDorothy did not detect, at her father, who looked somewhat surprised atthis unexpected demonstration.
'At any rate, Dorothy,' the latter said, 'I must ask him to dinner;there will be no occasion for him to interfere farther in the matter, sofar as I can see, and I should think that after your manner to him hewill not be inclined to do so; still, it is impossible, after the painshe has taken in the matter, not to acquaint him with what has occurredhere. We are at the top of St. James's Street,' and he pulled the checkstring. 'I suppose you will get out here too, Singleton?'
'Certainly, it is my lunch time; I will walk round with you to NedHampton's, and you had better lunch with me at the Travellers'. I willtake him round there too, if we find him in.'
'Tell James we shall be five to dinner, Dorothy, as soon as you getback.'
As the carriage drove away Mr. Singleton indulged in a quiet laugh.
'What is it, Singleton? I could not make out that glance you gave me inthe carriage. I own I see nothing at all laughable in it; to my mindthis fancy of Dorothy's is at once utterly unreasonable and confoundedlyannoying, and is, I may say, altogether unlike her.'
'My dear Hawtrey, I would ask you a question. Has it ever entered yourmind that you would like Ned Hampton as a son-in-law?'
'As a son-in law!' Mr. Hawtrey repeated in astonishment. 'What do youmean, Singleton? No such idea ever occurred to me--how should it? Therewas a boy and girl friendship of a certain kind between them before hewent away, but at that time Dorothy was a mere child of twelve yearsold, and of course no idea about her future marriage to him or any oneelse had entered my mind. When he came home the other day she was on theverge of being engaged to Halliburn, and was so engaged a week later. Soagain the idea could not have occurred to me. He is the son of an oldfriend and was constantly in and out of our house as a boy, and I have avery great regard and liking for him, but I certainly should not regardhim as a very eligible match for Dorothy.'
'I should think, Hawtrey, you have had enough of eligible marriages,'Mr. Singleton said, sarcastically, 'and I should think Dorothy has, too.Next time I hope her heart will have something to say in the matter. Idon't see why Ned Hampton should not be eligible. He is a younger son'tis true, and has, I believe, only about four hundred a year inaddition to his pay. Dorothy has, I know, some twenty thousand poundsfrom her mother's settlements, and some land that brings in about twohundred more, and she will some day have what you can leave her besides,which, as you have told me, would be something like fifteen thousandmore; so with her
money and his, it would come some day to not very farshort of two thousand a year. As I told you, I have put her down in mywill for five thousand. I should have put her down for more had Ithought she wanted it, but as it seemed likely that she would make agood match, I did not think it would be of any use to leave her more. Ihave put him down for a like sum, and certainly if those two were tocome together, I should considerably increase it. I have no children ofmy own. My relations, as far as I know of them, are well-to-do people,and therefore I am perfectly free to do what I like with my money andestate. That being so, I think you may dismiss from your mind any ideathat Dorothy is likely to come to poverty if she marries Ned Hampton.'
'Well, old friend, that certainly alters the case. However, as you see,there is no probability whatever of the young people taking that view ofthe case. Ned Hampton has always been like an elder brother or, if youlike, a favourite cousin of Dorothy's, and since he came home I havenever seen the slightest change in his manner towards her. As to her,you have just heard what she has said.'
'I know nothing of his ideas on the subject, Hawtrey, but as Dorothy wasand is, so far as he knows, engaged to the Earl of Halliburn, Ned,whatever he might think, would scarcely embark in a flirtation with her.As to Dorothy, as you say, she showed pretty clearly the state of hermind just now.'
'Yes, she has evidently taken a strong prejudice against him, Singleton.It is a pity, too, for I like him exceedingly, and I don't know any oneto whom personally I would more willingly entrust Dorothy's happiness.'
'I don't know,' Mr. Singleton remarked meditatively, 'why fathers shouldbe so much more blind about their daughters than other people are. Youdon't suppose that if Dorothy had been quite indifferent as to NedHampton's opinion of her she would have been so exceedingly sore at hishaving doubted her. I do not say she loves him. I do not even supposethat she has the remotest idea of such a thing. I only say that sheevidently attaches a very great weight to his good opinion, and isproportionately grieved at what she considers his want of confidence inherself.
'She makes light of having broken off her engagement to Halliburn, butwe know she must feel it a great deal more than she pretends to do. Nogirl in her position in society would break off such a match withoutfeeling sore about it--however convinced she might be that it was thebest thing to do--and in that temper the defection, as she considers it,of a faithful ally would naturally be keenly felt. Of course, there isnothing to do but to let the matter rest; only, please do not attempt toargue the point with her, but let her have her own way, without comment.She is far more likely to come round in time if left alone than ifconstantly put upon the defence. But, bless me! here we are at WaterlooPlace, and have forgotten altogether the business in hand, which is tocall at Ned Hampton's lodgings. Well, they are about half-way alongJermyn Street, so that we may as well turn up here. Now--to continue ourconversation for another minute or two--I should say we had best put allthis out of our minds for the present, and leave matters to rightthemselves. There are more urgent things to think of, for I am afraid,Hawtrey, there is a good deal of trouble ahead for her and for you,whatever course you may decide to take about Gilliat's matter. We whoknow and love Dorothy may be absolutely certain of her innocence inthese matters, but you must remember that unless we can produce thewoman, it will be uphill work indeed to get the world to see matters inthe same light, if it comes to a trial and all the facts come out. Onthe other hand, if you compromise, it is morally certain these thingswill go on. You will be absolutely driven to fight one of these claims,and every claim you pay you will make it harder to resist the next, sothat either way there is trouble, I am afraid great trouble, ahead, andthe only way out of it that I can see is to find this man and woman, whomay for aught I know at the present moment be on the other side of theAtlantic. There does not seem to be a shadow of a clue which we canfollow up, and a wild-goose chase is a joke to it.'
'I agree with you entirely, Singleton. Of course, in an affair like thismoney is nothing, and I shall employ the best detectives I can get.Levine will be able to tell me of good men. If I find Ned Hampton in Iwill tell him the whole story at once, which will save explanations thisevening.'
'You mean you will tell him while we are at lunch, Hawtrey, for it ispast two o'clock now, and at my age one cannot afford to neglect theinner man in this way.'
They met Captain Hampton half way along the street.
'We were just coming for you, Ned,' Mr. Hawtrey said. 'Singleton wantsyou to come and lunch with him. He and I want to have a talk with you.'
'I have only just finished my lunch, but I am perfectly ready for thetalk, Mr. Hawtrey.'
'Where were you going now?'
'I think I was principally going to smoke a cigar. I have been in allthe morning, and on a day like this one gets restless after a time.'
'Then you shall take a turn for twenty minutes, Ned. There is nothingmore unpleasant than looking on at people eating, unless it is eatingwith people looking on; besides, we could not begin our talk now. Whatdo you say, Hawtrey? Shall we join him, say, at the foot of the Duke ofYork's steps, turn in to St. James's Park and sit down, if we can find abench free of nursemaids? as I daresay we shall, as they won't come outtill later. At any rate, we don't want to be overheard, and we can nevermake sure of that in a club smoking-room.'
'That will suit me very well, Mr. Singleton, but don't hurry over yourlunch; you will see me somewhere about when you are coming down thesteps. I have just time to stroll down the Mall and back by BirdcageWalk.'
'Well, we will say in half-an-hour from the time you leave us.'
'This is another proof, Mr. Hawtrey, that our suspicion that Truscott isat the bottom of it all is well founded,' Captain Hampton said, when hehad heard the story. 'It must have been somebody who was accuratelyacquainted with your affairs; some one who knew that Mr. Singleton wasan intimate friend; so intimate that your daughter would be likely to goto him were she in any trouble, and that he would be likely to assisther.'
'It is certainly another link in the chain,' Mr. Hawtrey agreed.
'I would give a thousand pounds if we could lay our hands on thefellow,' Mr. Singleton exclaimed fiercely.
'But if we could find him, Singleton, we could not touch him; you and I,Ned, may be morally certain that he is at the bottom of all this, but wehave not the remotest shadow of evidence on which a magistrate wouldgrant a warrant for his arrest. If we found him, he would snap hisfingers in our face.'
'You forget, Mr. Hawtrey,' said Ned, 'if we find him we are pretty sureof being able to find this woman. I do not say we are certain to findher, because we know nothing of their relations to each other; perhapsthey are only united to carry out this piece of swindling. Truscott isshrewd enough to see that it would be better for them to part; perhapsthey kept together until they went over to Hamburg, and sold thediamonds; then she might go over to Paris, and he to America, or theymay have gone to any other two widely separated places in the world. Ifthey have kept together, and are still in England, I should say they aremost likely to be at present in some quiet and respectable lodgings atsome large watering-place, where they pass as father and daughter. Iquite agree with you in what you say that the fact of these two freshrobberies altogether alters the case, and that you can never calculateupon being free of annoyance, still I should say that you are safe forsome little time. They ought to be satisfied with what they have got,and will naturally wait to see whether there is any stir made, and whatcomes of it, before repeating the same game. Have you seen Levineagain?'
'Yes, we were there an hour and a half ago, and I am glad to say theselast occurrences have completely changed his opinion of the case. Weleft him going into the matter with Danvers, who is coming to dine withus this evening, and will tell us what they think as to fightingGilliat.'
'What does Halliburn think of it?' Captain Hampton asked, suddenly.'After all, everything will depend, I should think, upon his opinion.'
'On that point, fortunately, we have not got to consult him,Ned--Do
rothy has definitely broken off the engagement. As soon as weheard from Gilliat of the robbery, she declared that it was positivelyimpossible that the matter should go on, and I quite agreed with herdecision.'
Captain Hampton made no remark for a minute or two.
Mr. Hawtrey presently went on. 'I want you to come round to dinner too,Ned. There will only be Singleton and Danvers, and it will be a sort offamily council.'
'Thank you, Mr. Hawtrey,' Captain Hampton replied, after a pause, 'Ithink I would rather not come. I have been unfortunate enough to offendMiss Hawtrey deeply already, and I don't think that my presence at sucha council would be in any way agreeable to her, and that being so, Ineed hardly say that it would not be pleasant to me.'
'Tut, tut, lad, that is all nonsense. For a moment I was inclined todoubt her myself; those fellows' story seemed so terriblystraight-forward that I was completely taken aback. Singleton lethimself be led to believe that she had got into some terrible scrape,and how could you disbelieve your eyes more than he could? She will soonget over her little touchiness.'
'I rather doubt it, Mr. Hawtrey. I think it natural that she should feelvery much hurt. Just at present my taking any part in the affair would,I feel sure, be very distasteful to her. But when you say to me,"Dorothy has quite got over her indignation and wants you to come andhave a chat with her," I shall be delighted to come. In the meantime Iwould rather give no opinion whatever as to the matter, but I shall,nevertheless, work quietly in my own way and do my best to discover someclue as to the movements of this man. I have the great advantage ofknowing him by sight, which no detective would do. I am certain I am notlikely to make any mistake as to the woman. Please don't mention toDorothy that I am taking any further part in the affair. Levine will, Ishould think, advise you to put the matter into the hands of detectives,and I shall be glad to know from time to time what their opinion is andwhether they have gained any clue as to their whereabouts. I wouldsuggest that you should get from Allerton two or three small pieces ofeach of the silks that were taken; should there be anything at allpeculiar in colour or pattern, it might be an aid to the detectives.'
'You are right there, Ned,' Mr. Singleton said; 'an adventuress of thatkind, having got hold of some handsome silks, would not be able toforego the pleasure of having them made up and showing off in them. Doyou mean to pay Allerton, Hawtrey?'
'I gave him a cheque at once. I told him that this was one of severalrobberies that had been committed by some woman personating my daughter,but that it would be so unpleasant to go into the matter, and sodifficult to find the thief, that I would rather pay the money at once.In addition to the patterns of the dresses I will get him to have somesketches made of the mantles. They will probably have some others likethem, but if not they are sure to know the exact particulars of them.There may be some slight peculiarity about the fashion of the thingsthat would help a detective.'
'I think you would do even better than that,' Captain Hampton said, 'ifyou got a dozen of your daughter's daguerreotypes; they would assistdetectives much more than anything else in making inquiries; they wouldonly have to show them to a waiter in any hotel where this womanstopped, and they could hardly fail to be recognised at once, for shewould certainly attract attention wherever she went. Dorothy gave me onea few days after I came back, but as I should be very sorry to have thatknocked about I should be glad if you would let me have another.'
'That is an excellent idea, Ned. I will order a couple of dozen of herphotos this afternoon from Watson, who took the last she had done. Well,I am sorry you won't come and dine with us; though I don't know but thatit is better for you to leave her to herself for a short time. I admitthat she has not quite got over it yet, but I expect that she will comeround before long. Which way are you going?'
'I think I shall sit where I am for a bit, Mr. Hawtrey; it is verypleasant here in the shade, and I want to think over all that you havebeen saying. I must try and see what I had best do next.'
He got up, however, half an hour later with an impatient exclamation.
'What is the use of my wasting my time here? I was three weeks lookingfor the fellow before, and Slippen found him a few hours after takingthe matter in hand. I will take his advice anyhow. He is more likely tohave an idea as to what a fellow like this would do under thecircumstances than I could have.'
'I have been doing nothing more about that case, Captain Hampton,' thedetective said, when the caller was shown in by a boy who reminded himstrongly of Jacob; 'I wrote to Mr. Hawtrey that the man had altogetherdisappeared, but that I would have the racecourses watched, and that ifhe turned up at any of them we would let him know. That is three weeksago, and he certainly has not shown up at any racecourse, and my menhave ascertained beyond much doubt, that none of his usual pals haveseen or heard anything of him from the day he left his quarters atIslington. I am glad you have come, as I was going to write to Mr.Hawtrey, to ask if he considered it worth while keeping up the search.Certainly it seems to me that if a man like that, who has been aconstant attendant at the races for the last twenty years, and makes hisliving out of them, doesn't go near them for three weeks, it must bebecause he has either gone away or is very ill, or has taken to some newlife altogether.'
'That is just the opinion that I have formed, Mr. Slippen, and I wantedto ask your opinion about it. We have a very strong idea that there is awoman acting in concert with him, and between them they have victimiseda friend of Mr. Hawtrey's out of a considerable sum of money. We maytake it then for granted that they have means sufficient to live on forsome little time, or to take them wherever they may want to go. I fancymyself that they must have left London; a man like that could hardlykeep away from racecourses altogether; therefore I agree with you, thatnothing but severe illness or absence can be the cause of his stayingaway from racecourses and from all his own intimates for three weeks.'
'That is just how I reasoned it, Captain Hampton; and now that you tellme that he has got hold of some money, I have not the least doubt thathe has sloped.'
'Well, from your experience in such matters, Mr. Slippen, where do youthink that a man like that would be likely to go?'
'There is no saying at all. He might go down to some quiet place in thecountry, but Lor' bless you, a man like that could never stand threeweeks of it. It is very likely that if he is in funds and has got aclever woman with him they may have got themselves up and be staying atsome swell hotel at one of the seaside places, or at Harrogate orBuxton, and be carrying on some little swindle there. Then again, afterthis job you say they have managed, they may think it best to makethemselves scarce altogether, and may be at some foreign watering-place.A clever sharp can always make his living at those sort of places,especially with a woman to help him. I suppose she is young and pretty?'
Captain Hampton nodded.
'Bound to be,' the detective went on. 'Well, a sharp fellow with a girllike that, if she is shrewd and clever, can just turn over money atplaces of that kind. They are full of young fools, most of whom have gotmoney in their pockets. Well then, again, they may have gone across thewater somewhere--more likely the States than anywhere else; it is a bigplace for hiding in, and when a fellow has done a bit of clever sharpinghere and knows that he is wanted, he somehow always makes for theStates, just as naturally as a duck takes to water.
'Have you agents who would be of any use at these places?'
'No, I will acknowledge frankly that I have not, Captain Hampton. Itwould be no use taking Mr. Hawtrey's money for a job of that sort; it istoo big for me. If there was any one place to which you could track themI could send out a man there well enough. But I could not work eitherthe Continent or the States. If you have got proof of a bad piece ofswindling against this man, your best plan will be to go to ScotlandYard and get them to put a man at your service. The foreign police wouldnot move a finger if I were to write to them, but they would be willingenough to move if Scotland Yard had the thing in hand.'
'Mr. Hawtrey has put himself in Charles Levin
e's hands, and in thesematters he will have to act as he suggests; but I am taking the matterup on my own account. I have spent a good deal of time over it, anddon't like to be beaten, and if you could have undertaken it, and itwould have been at all within my means, I would have arranged with you.As it is, I shall come to you again for advice and assistance if Irequire them. I think you had better send in your account to Mr. Hawtreyfor the work done so far, with a letter asking for instructions. He maylike to have the racecourses watched for a bit longer. If you see him donot mention this talk with me. By the way, I found that boy you had, onmy door-step a few days ago. He told me he had left you, and as heseemed a sharp little fellow I have taken him on to run errands and thatsort of thing.'
'He is not a bad boy, as that sort of boy goes. They are all youngscamps, but he took it into his head to be cheeky, and I had to kick himout. I am glad to hear he has not gone on the streets again. You willhave to look pretty sharp after him, but you may find him useful, if, asyou say, you are going to try to unearth this fellow we have been insearch of.'