The Moonstone 37 страница

Miss Verinder is kneeling by the side of the sofa. She has so placed herself that when his eyes first open, they must open on her face.

Shall I leave them together?

Yes!

* * * * *

Eleven o'clock. --The house is empty again. They have arranged it among themselves; they have all gone to London by the ten o'clock train. My brief dream of happiness is over. I have awakened again to the realities of my friendless and lonely life.

I dare not trust myself to write down, the kind words that have been said to me especially by Miss Verinder and Mr. Blake. Besides, it is needless. Those words will come back to me in my solitary hours, and will help me through what is left of the end of my life. Mr. Blake is to write, and tell me what happens in London. Miss Verinder is to return to Yorkshire in the autumn (for her marriage, no doubt); and I am to take a holiday, and be a guest in the house. Oh me, how I felt, as the grateful happiness looked at me out of her eyes, and the warm pressure of her hand said, " This is your doing! "

My poor patients are waiting for me. Back again, this morning, to the old routine! Back again, to-night, to the dreadful alternative between the opium and the pain!

God be praised for His mercy! I have seen a little sunshine--I have had a happy time.

FIFTH NARRATIVE

The Story Resumed by FRANKLIN BLAKE

CHAPTER I

But few words are needed, on my part, to complete the narrative that has been presented in the Journal of Ezra Jennings.

Of myself, I have only to say that I awoke on the morning of the twenty-sixth, perfectly ignorant of all that I had said and done under the influence of the opium--from the time when the drug first laid its hold on me, to the time when I opened my eyes, in Rachel's sitting-room.

Of what happened after my waking, I do not feel called upon to render an account in detail. Confining myself merely to results, I have to report that Rachel and I thoroughly understood each other, before a single word of explanation had passed on either side. I decline to account, and Rachel declines to account, for the extraordinary rapidity of our reconciliation. Sir and Madam, look back at the time when you were passionately attached to each other--and you will know what happened, after Ezra Jennings had shut the door of the sitting-room, as well as I know it myself.

I have, however, no objection to add, that we should have been certainly discovered by Mrs. Merridew, but for Rachel's presence of mind. She heard the sound of the old lady's dress in the corridor, and instantly ran out to meet her; I heard Mrs. Merridew say, " What is the matter? " and I heard Rachel answer, " The explosion! " Mrs. Merridew instantly permitted herself to be taken by the arm, and led into the garden, out of the way of the impending shock. On her return to the house, she met me in the hall, and expressed herself as greatly struck by the vast improvement in Science, since the time when she was a girl at school. " Explosions, Mr. Blake, are infinitely milder than they were. I assure you, I barely heard Mr. Jennings's explosion from the garden. And no smell afterwards, that I can detect, now we have come back to the house! I must really apologise to your medical friend. It is only due to him to say that he has managed it beautifully! "

So, after vanquishing Betteredge and Mr. Bruff, Ezra Jennings vanquished Mrs. Merridew herself. There is a great deal of undeveloped liberal feeling in the world, after all!

At breakfast, Mr. Bruff made no secret of his reasons for wishing that I should accompany him to London by the morning train. The watch kept at the bank, and the result which might yet come of it, appealed so irresistibly to Rachel's curiosity, that she at once decided (if Mrs. Merridew had no objection) on accompanying us back to town--so as to be within reach of the earliest news of our proceedings.

Mrs. Merridew proved to be all pliability and indulgence, after the truly considerate manner in which the explosion had conducted itself; and Betteredge was accordingly informed that we were all four to travel back together by the morning train. I fully expected that he would have asked leave to accompany us. But Rachel had wisely provided her faithful old servant with an occupation that interested him. He was charged with completing the refurnishing of the house, and was too full of his domestic responsibilities to feel the " detective-fever" as he might have felt it under other circumstances.

Our one subject of regret, in going to London, was the necessity of parting, more abruptly than we could have wished, with Ezra Jennings. It was impossible to persuade him to accompany us. I could only promise to write to him--and Rachel could only insist on his coming to see her when she returned to Yorkshire. There was every prospect of our meeting again in a few months--and yet there was something very sad in seeing our best and dearest friend left standing alone on the platform, as the train moved out of the station.

On our arrival in London, Mr. Bruff was accosted at the terminus by a small boy, dressed in a jacket and trousers of threadbare black cloth, and personally remarkable in virtue of the extraordinary prominence of his eyes. They projected so far, and they rolled about so loosely, that you wondered uneasily why they remained in their sockets. After listening to the boy, Mr. Bruff asked the ladies whether they would excuse our accompanying them back to Portland Place. I had barely time to promise Rachel that I would return, and tell her everything that had happened, before Mr. Bruff seized me by the arm, and hurried me into a cab. The boy with the ill-secured eyes took his place on the box by the driver, and the driver was directed to go to Lombard Street.

" News from the bank? " I asked, as we started.

" News of Mr. Luker, " said Mr. Bruff. " An hour ago, he was seen to leave his house at Lambeth, in a cab, accompanied by two men, who were recognised by my men as police officers in plain clothes. If Mr. Luker's dread of the Indians is at the bottom of this precaution, the inference is plain enough. He is going to take the Diamond out of the bank. "

" And we are going to the bank to see what comes of it? "

" Yes--or to hear what has come of it, if it is all over by this time. Did you notice my boy--on the box, there? "

" I noticed his eyes. "

Mr. Bruff laughed. " They call the poor little wretch 'Gooseberry' at the office, " he said. " I employ him to go on errands--and I only wish my clerks who have nick-named him were as thoroughly to be depended on as he is. Gooseberry is one of the sharpest boys in London, Mr. Blake, in spite of his eyes. "

It was twenty minutes to five when we drew up before the bank in Lombard Street. Gooseberry looked longingly at his master, as he opened the cab door.

" Do you want to come in too? " asked Mr. Bruff kindly. " Come in then, and keep at my heels till further orders. He's as quick as lightning, " pursued Mr. Bruff, addressing me in a whisper. " Two words will do with Gooseberry, where twenty would be wanted with another boy. "

We entered the bank. The outer office--with the long counter, behind which the cashiers sat--was crowded with people; all waiting their turn to take money out, or to pay money in, before the bank closed at five o'clock.

Two men among the crowd approached Mr. Bruff, as soon as he showed himself.

" Well, " asked the lawyer. " Have you seen him? "

" He passed us here half an hour since, sir, and went on into the inner office. "

" Has he not come out again yet? "

" No, sir. "

Mr. Bruff turned to me. " Let us wait, " he said.

I looked round among the people about me for the three Indians. Not a sign of them was to be seen anywhere. The only person present with a noticeably dark complexion was a tall man in a pilot coat, and a round hat, who looked like a sailor. Could this be one of them in disguise? Impossible! The man was taller than any of the Indians; and his face, where it was not hidden by a bushy black beard, was twice the breadth of any of their faces at least.

" They must have their spy somewhere, " said Mr. Bruff, looking at the dark sailor in his turn. " And he may be the man. "

Before he could say more, his coat-tail was respectfully pulled by his attendant sprite with the gooseberry eyes. Mr. Bruff looked where the boy was looking. " Hush! " he said. " Here is Mr. Luker! "

The money-lender came out from the inner regions of the bank, followed by his two guardian policemen in plain clothes.

" Keep your eye on him, " whispered Mr. Bruff. " If he passes the Diamond to anybody, he will pass it here. "

Without noticing either of us, Mr. Luker slowly made his way to the door--now in the thickest, now in the thinnest part of the crowd. I distinctly saw his hand move, as he passed a short, stout man, respectably dressed in a suit of sober grey. The man started a little, and looked after him. Mr. Luker moved on slowly through the crowd. At the door his guard placed themselves on either side of him. They were all three followed by one of Mr. Bruff's men--and I saw them no more.

I looked round at the lawyer, and then looked significantly towards the man in the suit of sober grey. " Yes! " whispered Mr. Bruff, " I saw it too! " He turned about, in search of his second man. The second man was nowhere to be seen. He looked behind him for his attendant sprite. Gooseberry had disappeared.

" What the devil does it mean? " said Mr. Bruff angrily. " They have both left us at the very time when we want them most. "

It came to the turn of the man in the grey suit to transact his business at the counter. He paid in a cheque--received a receipt for it--and turned to go out.

" What is to be done? " asked Mr. Bruff. " We can't degrade ourselves by following him. "

" I can! " I said. " I wouldn't lose sight of that man for ten thousand pounds! "

" In that case, " rejoined Mr. Bruff, " I wouldn't lose sight of you, for twice the money. A nice occupation for a man in my position, " he muttered to himself, as we followed the stranger out of the bank. " For Heaven's sake don't mention it. I should be ruined if it was known. "

The man in the grey suit got into an omnibus, going westward. We got in after him. There were latent reserves of youth still left in Mr. Bruff. I assert it positively--when he took his seat in the omnibus, he blushed!

The man in the grey suit stopped the omnibus, and got out in Oxford Street. We followed him again. He went into a chemist's shop.

Mr. Bruff started. " My chemist! " he exclaimed. " I am afraid we have made a mistake. "

We entered the shop. Mr. Bruff and the proprietor exchanged a few words in private. The lawyer joined me again, with a very crestfallen face.

" It's greatly to our credit, " he said, as he took my arm, and led me out--" that's one comfort! "

" What is to our credit? " I asked.

" Mr. Blake! you and I are the two worst amateur detectives that ever tried their hands at the trade. The man in the grey suit has been thirty years in the chemist's service. He was sent to the bank to pay money to his master's account--and he knows no more of the Moonstone than the babe unborn. "

I asked what was to be done next.

" Come back to my office, " said Mr. Bruff. " Gooseberry, and my second man, have evidently followed somebody else. Let us hope that THEY had their eyes about them at any rate! "

When we reached Gray's Inn Square, the second man had arrived there before us. He had been waiting for more than a quarter of an hour.

" Well! " asked Mr. Bruff. " What's your news? "

" I am sorry to say, sir, " replied the man, " that I have made a mistake. I could have taken my oath that I saw Mr. Luker pass something to an elderly gentleman, in a light-coloured paletot. The elderly gentleman turns out, sir, to be a most respectable master iron-monger in Eastcheap. "

" Where is Gooseberry? " asked Mr. Bruff resignedly.

The man stared. " I don't know, sir. I have seen nothing of him since I left the bank. "

Mr. Bruff dismissed the man. " One of two things, " he said to me. " Either Gooseberry has run away, or he is hunting on his own account. What do you say to dining here, on the chance that the boy may come back in an hour or two? I have got some good wine in the cellar, and we can get a chop from the coffee-house. "

We dined at Mr. Bruff's chambers. Before the cloth was removed, " a person" was announced as wanting to speak to the lawyer. Was the person Gooseberry? No: only the man who had been employed to follow Mr. Luker when he left the bank.

The report, in this case, presented no feature of the slightest interest. Mr. Luker had gone back to his own house, and had there dismissed his guard. He had not gone out again afterwards. Towards dusk, the shutters had been put up, and the doors had been bolted. The street before the house, and the alley behind the house, had been carefully watched. No signs of the Indians had been visible. No person whatever had been seen loitering about the premises. Having stated these facts, the man waited to know whether there were any further orders. Mr. Bruff dismissed him for the night.

" Do you think Mr. Luker has taken the Moonstone home with him? " I asked.

" Not he, " said Mr. Bruff. " He would never have dismissed his two policemen, if he had run the risk of keeping the Diamond in his own house again. "

We waited another half-hour for the boy, and waited in vain. It was then time for Mr. Bruff to go to Hampstead, and for me to return to Rachel in Portland Place. I left my card, in charge of the porter at the chambers, with a line written on it to say that I should be at my lodgings at half past ten, that night. The card was to be given to the boy, if the boy came back.

Some men have a knack of keeping appointments; and other men have a knack of missing them. I am one of the other men. Add to this, that I passed the evening at Portland Place, on the same seat with Rachel, in a room forty feet long, with Mrs. Merridew at the further end of it. Does anybody wonder that I got home at half past twelve instead of half past ten? How thoroughly heartless that person must be! And how earnestly I hope I may never make that person's acquaintance!

My servant handed me a morsel of paper when he let me in.

I read, in a neat legal handwriting, these words--" If you please, sir, I am getting sleepy. I will come back to-morrow morning, between nine and ten. " Inquiry proved that a boy, with very extraordinary-looking eyes, had called, and presented my card and message, had waited an hour, had done nothing but fall asleep and wake up again, had written a line for me, and had gone home--after gravely informing the servant that " he was fit for nothing unless he got his night's rest. "

At nine, the next morning, I was ready for my visitor. At half past nine, I heard steps outside my door. " Come in, Gooseberry! " I called out. " Thank you, sir, " answered a grave and melancholy voice. The door opened. I started to my feet, and confronted--Sergeant Cuff.

" I thought I would look in here, Mr. Blake, on the chance of your being in town, before I wrote to Yorkshire, " said the Sergeant.

He was as dreary and as lean as ever. His eyes had not lost their old trick (so subtly noticed in Betteredge's NARRATIVE) of " looking as if they expected something more from you than you were aware of yourself. " But, so far as dress can alter a man, the great Cuff was changed beyond all recognition. He wore a broad-brimmed white hat, a light shooting jacket, white trousers, and drab gaiters. He carried a stout oak stick. His whole aim and object seemed to be to look as if he had lived in the country all his life. When I complimented him on his Metamorphosis, he declined to take it as a joke. He complained, quite gravely, of the noises and the smells of London. I declare I am far from sure that he did not speak with a slightly rustic accent! I offered him breakfast. The innocent countryman was quite shocked. HIS breakfast hour was half-past six--and HE went to bed with the cocks and hens!

" I only got back from Ireland last night, " said the Sergeant, coming round to the practical object of his visit, in his own impenetrable manner. " Before I went to bed, I read your letter, telling me what has happened since my inquiry after the Diamond was suspended last year. There's only one thing to be said about the matter on my side. I completely mistook my case. How any man living was to have seen things in their true light, in such a situation as mine was at the time, I don't profess to know. But that doesn't alter the facts as they stand. I own that I made a mess of it. Not the first mess, Mr. Blake, which has distinguished my professional career! It's only in books that the officers of the detective force are superior to the weakness of making a mistake. "

" You have come in the nick of time to recover your reputation, " I said.

" I beg your pardon, Mr. Blake, " rejoined the Sergeant. " Now I have retired from business, I don't care a straw about my reputation. I have done with my reputation, thank God! I am here, sir, in grateful remembrance of the late Lady Verinder's liberality to me. I will go back to my old work--if you want me, and if you will trust me--on that consideration, and on no other. Not a farthing of money is to pass, if you please, from you to me. This is on honour. Now tell me, Mr. Blake, how the case stands since you wrote to me last. "

I told him of the experiment with the opium, and of what had occurred afterwards at the bank in Lombard Street. He was greatly struck by the experiment--it was something entirely new in his experience. And he was particularly interested in the theory of Ezra Jennings, relating to what I had done with the Diamond, after I had left Rachel's sitting-room, on the birthday night.

" I don't hold with Mr. Jennings that you hid the Moonstone, " said Sergeant Cuff. " But I agree with him, that you must certainly have taken it back to your own room. "

" Well? " I asked. " And what happened then? "

" Have you no suspicion yourself of what happened, sir? "

" None whatever. "

" Has Mr. Bruff no suspicion? "

" No more than I have. "

Sergeant Cuff rose, and went to my writing-table. He came back with a sealed envelope. It was marked " Private; " it was addressed to me; and it had the Sergeant's signature in the corner.

" I suspected the wrong person, last year, " he said: " and I may be suspecting the wrong person now. Wait to open the envelope, Mr. Blake, till you have got at the truth. And then compare the name of the guilty person, with the name that I have written in that sealed letter. "

I put the letter into my pocket--and then asked for the Sergeant's opinion of the measures which we had taken at the bank.

" Very well intended, sir, " he answered, " and quite the right thing to do. But there was another person who ought to have been looked after besides Mr. Luker. "

" The person named in the letter you have just given to me? "

" Yes, Mr. Blake, the person named in the letter. It can't be helped now. I shall have something to propose to you and Mr. Bruff, sir, when the time comes. Let's wait, first, and see if the boy has anything to tell us that is worth hearing. "

It was close on ten o'clock, and the boy had not made his appearance. Sergeant Cuff talked of other matters. He asked after his old friend Betteredge, and his old enemy the gardener. In a minute more, he would no doubt have got from this, to the subject of his favourite roses, if my servant had not interrupted us by announcing that the boy was below.

On being brought into the room, Gooseberry stopped at the threshold of the door, and looked distrustfully at the stranger who was in my company. I told the boy to come to me.

" You may speak before this gentleman, " I said. " He is here to assist me; and he knows all that has happened. Sergeant Cuff, " I added, " this is the boy from Mr. Bruff's office. "

In our modern system of civilisation, celebrity (no matter of what kind) is the lever that will move anything. The fame of the great Cuff had even reached the ears of the small Gooseberry. The boy's ill-fixed eyes rolled, when I mentioned the illustrious name, till I thought they really must have dropped on the carpet.

" Come here, my lad, " said the Sergeant, " and let's hear what you have got to tell us. "

The notice of the great man--the hero of many a famous story in every lawyer's office in London--appeared to fascinate the boy. He placed himself in front of Sergeant Cuff, and put his hands behind him, after the approved fashion of a neophyte who is examined in his catechism.

" What is your name? " said the Sergeant, beginning with the first question in the catechism.

" Octavius Guy, " answered the boy. " They call me Gooseberry at the office because of my eyes. "

" Octavius Guy, otherwise Gooseberry, " pursued the Sergeant, with the utmost gravity, " you were missed at the bank yesterday. What were you about? "

" If you please, sir, I was following a man. "

" Who was he? "

" A tall man, sir, with a big black beard, dressed like a sailor. "

" I remember the man! " I broke in. " Mr. Bruff and I thought he was a spy employed by the Indians. "

Sergeant Cuff did not appear to be much impressed by what Mr. Bruff and I had thought. He went on catechising Gooseberry.

" Well? " he said--" and why did you follow the sailor? "

" If you please, sir, Mr. Bruff wanted to know whether Mr. Luker passed anything to anybody on his way out of the bank. I saw Mr. Luker pass something to the sailor with the black beard. "

" Why didn't you tell Mr. Bruff what you saw? "

" I hadn't time to tell anybody, sir, the sailor went out in such a hurry. "

" And you ran out after him--eh? "

" Yes, sir. "

" Gooseberry, " said the Sergeant, patting his head, " you have got something in that small skull of yours--and it isn't cotton-wool. I am greatly pleased with you, so far. "

The boy blushed with pleasure. Sergeant Cuff went on.

" Well? and what did the sailor do, when he got into the street? "

" He called a cab, sir. "

" And what did you do? "

" Held on behind, and run after it. "

Before the Sergeant could put his next question, another visitor was announced--the head clerk from Mr. Bruff's office.

Feeling the importance of not interrupting Sergeant Cuff's examination of the boy, I received the clerk in another room. He came with bad news of his employer. The agitation and excitement of the last two days had proved too much for Mr. Bruff. He had awoke that morning with an attack of gout; he was confined to his room at Hampstead; and, in the present critical condition of our affairs, he was very uneasy at being compelled to leave me without the advice and assistance of an experienced person. The chief clerk had received orders to hold himself at my disposal, and was willing to do his best to replace Mr. Bruff.

I wrote at once to quiet the old gentleman's mind, by telling him of Sergeant Cuff's visit: adding that Gooseberry was at that moment under examination; and promising to inform Mr. Bruff, either personally, or by letter, of whatever might occur later in the day. Having despatched the clerk to Hampstead with my note, I returned to the room which I had left, and found Sergeant Cuff at the fireplace, in the act of ringing the bell.

" I beg your pardon, Mr. Blake, " said the Sergeant. " I was just going to send word by your servant that I wanted to speak to you. There isn't a doubt on my mind that this boy--this most meritorious boy, " added the Sergeant, patting Gooseberry on the head, " has followed the right man. Precious time has been lost, sir, through your unfortunately not being at home at half past ten last night. The only thing to do, now, is to send for a cab immediately. "

In five minutes more, Sergeant Cuff and I (with Gooseberry on the box to guide the driver) were on our way eastward, towards the City.

" One of these days, " said the Sergeant, pointing through the front window of the cab, " that boy will do great things in my late profession. He is the brightest and cleverest little chap I have met with, for many a long year past. You shall hear the substance, Mr. Blake, of what he told me while you were out of the room. You were present, I think, when he mentioned that he held on behind the cab, and ran after it? "

" Yes. "

" Well, sir, the cab went from Lombard Street to the Tower Wharf. The sailor with the black beard got out, and spoke to the steward of the Rotterdam steamboat, which was to start next morning. He asked if he could be allowed to go on board at once, and sleep in his berth over-night. The steward said, No. The cabins, and berths, and bedding were all to have a thorough cleaning that evening, and no passenger could be allowed to come on board, before the morning. The sailor turned round, and left the wharf. When he got into the street again, the boy noticed for the first time, a man dressed like a respectable mechanic, walking on the opposite side of the road, and apparently keeping the sailor in view. The sailor stopped at an eating-house in the neighbourhood, and went in. The boy--not being able to make up his mind, at the moment--hung about among some other boys, staring at the good things in the eating-house window. He noticed the mechanic waiting, as he himself was waiting--but still on the opposite side of the street. After a minute, a cab came by slowly, and stopped where the mechanic was standing. The boy could only see plainly one person in the cab, who leaned forward at the window to speak to the mechanic. He described that person, Mr. Blake, without any prompting from me, as having a dark face, like the face of an Indian. "

It was plain, by this time, that Mr. Bruff and I had made another mistake. The sailor with the black beard was clearly not a spy in the service of the Indian conspiracy. Was he, by any possibility, the man who had got the Diamond?

" After a little, " pursued the Sergeant, " the cab moved on slowly down the street. The mechanic crossed the road, and went into the eating-house. The boy waited outside till he was hungry and tired--and then went into the eating-house, in his turn. He had a shilling in his pocket; and he dined sumptuously, he tells me, on a black-pudding, an eel-pie, and a bottle of ginger-beer. What can a boy not digest? The substance in question has never been found yet. "