by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER IV
Mr. Hawtrey's hope that a clue had been obtained was speedilydissipated, for the next letter was posted in the south of London, andthe one after it at Brompton. It was clear that the man who sent themdid not confine himself to one particular office, and that it would beuseless to set a watch on that in Claymore Street, Chelsea. EdwardHampton coming in that afternoon, he relieved his mind by telling whathad happened.
'It is a comfort to talk it over with some one, Ned. You were apolice-officer for some time out in India, I think, and may be able tosee your way through this business. Danvers has been very kind about it,but so far nothing has come of his suggestions.'
'My Indian police experience is not much to the point. I had a policedistrict for a year, but my duties consisted principally in hunting downcriminals. Have you told Lord Halliburn?'
'Yes; as soon as the second letter came I went to him; it was only rightthat he should know.'
'Certainly. How did he take it, Mr. Hawtrey? if I may ask.'
'He was naturally annoyed at it; though, of course, he agreed with methat it was simply a piece of malice. A detective, to whom Danvers hadspoken, without mentioning any name, suggested that it might be the workof some woman who had a grudge against him, or felt herself aggrieved athis engagement. I mentioned this to him, and he assured me that, so faras he knew, there was no one who had any complaint against him, and thathe had never had any entanglement of any kind.'
'It is a horribly annoying thing, Mr. Hawtrey, and I am sure MissHawtrey must feel it very much. I thought she was not looking quiteherself when I met her at dinner the night before last. Still, theremust be some way of getting to the bottom of it. If it is not the workof an enemy, either of Lord Halliburn or of your daughter, it may be thework of one who has an enmity against yourself--one who is striking atyou through yours.'
'That is just possible, Ned; but beyond men I have sentenced on thebench I don't know of anyone who would put himself out of his way toannoy me. Assuredly this cannot be the work of any Lincolnshire rustic.'
'But you have certainly one enemy who is just the sort of man toconceive and carry out such a blackguard business as this--I mean thatman who was impertinent to you on the racecourse, and whose history youtold us that evening.'
'I had not thought of him. Yes, that suggestion is certainly a probableone. He is evidently deeply impressed with the sense of injury, though,Heaven knows, I did not have the slightest ill-feeling against him, butwas driven to do what I did by his own courses, and especially by hisfather's earnest request that he should not succeed him. There is nodoubt as to his malice, and there can be as little as to hisunscrupulousness.'
'Danvers and I were both of opinion, Mr. Hawtrey, that by his tone andmanner when he spoke to you about payment of debts, that he had alreadydone you some injury or had some distinct plan in his head. At that timeyour daughter was not engaged to Lord Halliburn, and his ideas may havebeen vague ones until the public notice of the engagement met his eye,when he may have said to himself, "This is my opportunity for taking myrevenge, by annoying both father and daughter."'
'It is possible, Ned. I can hardly bring myself to think that the son ofmy old friend would be capable of such a dastardly action, but I admitthat there is at least a motive in his case, and that I can see none inthat of anyone else.'
'At any rate, Mr. Hawtrey, here is a clue worth following, and as I havenothing whatever to do, and my own time hangs rather heavily on myhands, I will, if you will allow me, undertake to follow it up.'
'But with no evidence against him, not a particle, what can you do,Ned?'
'My business will be to get evidence. The first thing is to find outwhere the fellow lives, and to have him watched and followed, and ifpossible, caught in the act of posting one of these letters.'
'Remember, Ned, I would above all things avoid publicity, for Dorothy'ssake. Nothing is more hateful than for a girl to be talked about, and itis only as a last resource that I would bring a charge against him atthe Police Court.'
'I can quite understand that, and will certainly call in no police to myaid until I have previously consulted you and received your sanction todo so. It will be easy enough to find him, for I should know him in aninstant, and shall probably meet him at the first racecourse I go to. Itis not as if I knew nothing of his habits.'
For the next week Captain Hampton frequented every racecourse within ashort distance of London, but without meeting the man he was lookingfor. Men of the same class were there in scores--some boisterous, someoily-mouthed, some unmitigated ruffians, others crafty rogues.
Several times he accosted one of these men, and inquired if he had seena betting man having the name of Marvel on his hat; each time theresponse was the same.
'I have not seen him here to-day. I know who you mean well enough, buthe is not here. I can lay you the odds if you like. You would be safewith me.'
Further inquiry elicited the conjecture that 'he might have gone upNorth, or to some other distant races.'
'There are two meetings pretty well every day,' one said, 'sometimesthree, and a man cannot be at them all. What do you want him for? If itis to get money out of him, you won't find the job a very easy one,unless he has happened to strike on a vein of luck. You had much bettertake the odds from me.'
Captain Hampton explained that his business was a private one, andaltogether unconnected with betting.
'Well, if you will give me your name I will let him know that you wantto see him, if I happen to run up against him. I should say that he willbe at Reading next week.'
But Captain Hampton said his name would be unknown to Marvel, and thebookmaker, after looking him over suspiciously, concluded that it was ofno use wasting further time, and turning away set up a stentorian shoutof 'Six to one, bar one.'
Captain Hampton tried Reading, but was as unsuccessful here as in hisprevious attempts.
'Want Marvel?' one man he asked repeated. 'Well, I have not seen himhere, and I haven't seen him for the last ten days; so I expect he haseither gone down on a country tour, or he is ill, or he is so short ofthe dibs that he can't pay his fare down. He would be here if he could;for he would manage to make enough money to pay his expenses, anyhow. Itis hard when a man cannot do that.'
Captain Hampton was not to be baffled, and after examining a sportingpaper took a ticket early next morning for the North. He was away aweek, and returned home disheartened. He had not seen the man nor didany of those he had questioned know the name of Marvel. 'It is likeenough I may know the man,' one said confidentially, 'but I don't knowthe name; names don't go for much in the outside ring. A man is Marvelone day, and if when the racing is over he cannot pay his bets and hasto go off quiet, he alters the cut of his hair next time and puts afresh name on his hat, and is ready to take his davy, if questioned,that he was not near the course, and never heard the name of Marvel; andas he is sure to have some one with him to back him up and swear that hewas with him at the other side of England on that day, the chap as wantshis money concludes that he may as well drop it.'
The day after his return Ned Hampton went to Epsom and there recognisedwith a start of satisfaction the man of whom he was in search. He had noname in his hat, and was talking to two or three men of his own class,one of whom he recognised as the man who had offered to tell Marvel thathe wished to see him. He moved up in the crowd, and placed himself closeto the men, but with his back towards them. Marvel was speaking.
'But what sort of fellow was he?'
'A military-looking swell.'
'And he said I should not know his name? I should know it sharp enoughif it was down in my book without a pencil mark through the bet. Thereare people, you know, who, quite accidentally of course, I haven'tsettled up with.'
There was a laugh among the group. 'A good many I should fancy, Jacob,but I don't think this chap could have been one of them. A man who hasbeen left in the lurch generally takes it out in strong language. Ifthis chap had wanted you for a tenner and you h
ad not forked over, hewould probably have spoken of you as a swindling scoundrel and said thatif he met you he would take it out of you in another way if he could notget the money. Now he didn't seem put out at all; he wanted to see youabout something or other, but I don't think it was anything to do withmoney. I can always tell when there is anything wrong about that. A manmay put it as mild as he likes, but there is something in it that sayshe is nasty.'
'Well, I don't want to see him whoever he is,' Marvel said, 'so if hecomes across any of you again tell him you hear I've retired, or that Ihave drowned myself, or anything else you like, but that anyhow I ain'tlikely to be on any of the courses again this season. And mind, youdon't know anything about where I live or where he is likely to get anynews of me.'
'But where have you been the last fortnight, Jacob?'
'I have been on another job altogether, and if it turns out well youain't likely to see much more of me here. I have had about enough ofit.'
As he found that he was not likely to hear more, Hampton moved away inthe crowd, but continued to keep Marvel in sight. In two or threeminutes the man separated from his companions, moved off the course, andstood for a minute or two with his hands in his pockets, meditating.Then his mind was made up. He pushed his way through the crowd, crossedthe course, and walked quickly towards one of the entrances. CaptainHampton followed him closely, and was by no means surprised to see himwalk to the station.
'He is evidently nervous about what they have told him,' he said tohimself, 'and although he cannot tell what my business with him may be,he is determined to avoid me. All the better; I should have had greatdifficulty in keeping my eye on him in the crowd later on, and now Iwon't lose sight of him again.'
Entering the station, the man waited until a train came up and then tookhis place in a third class carriage. Hampton entered the nextcompartment, but, to his great annoyance, found on arriving at Waterloothat Marvel was not in the carriage.
'Confound it,' he muttered angrily, 'he must have slipped out at one ofthe other stations without my noticing him. It must have been atVauxhall, just as those four men were pushing past me to get out. I am anice sort of fellow to take up the amateur detective business. To huntfor a man for nearly three weeks and then when I have found him to losehim again like this. I will go across and see Danvers. Of course he willhave the laugh against me. Well, I can't help that; I will take hisadvice about it. I am evidently not fit to manage by myself.'
Danvers had just returned from the Courts when Captain Hampton reachedthe chambers.
'Hullo, Hampton, where do you spring from? Everyone has missed you fromyour accustomed haunts. Some said you had eloped with an heiress; othersthat you are wanted for forgery. I met the Hawtreys last night atdinner. They both asked me after you. The young lady quite seemed totake your disappearance to heart. The more so, I think, because she hadsent down a servant with a note to your lodgings, and the girl hadlearnt from your landlady that you had been away for a week. Of course,I could not enlighten her. Her father took me apart and asked me quiteseriously about you. He seemed to think that you had been trying toferret out something about this confounded letter business. He told mehe had talked it over with you, regarding you as almost one of thefamily.'
'That is just what I have been about, Danvers, and I have made anamazing ass of myself.'
'You don't mean to say that!' Danvers exclaimed in affected surprise.'Well, I know you used to do it at school sometimes, but I hoped thatyou had got out of the habit.'
'Bosh!' Hampton laughed. 'But I own I have done it this time. Youremember that fellow on the racecourse?'
'You mean at the Oaks. Of course I remember him.'
'Well, it struck me that he might be the man who had sent the letters.He had, as Hawtrey told us in the evening, a bitter grudge against him,and such a dirty trick as this was just the sort of thing that adisreputable broken-down knave like him might concoct to gratify hismalice.'
'You are right there; I wonder the idea did not occur to me. Well, Iretract what I said just now; so far you have told me nothing to justifythe epithet you bestowed on yourself.'
'My first idea,' Hampton went on, without noticing the interruption,'was that as I had nothing particular to do I would go down to some ofthe races near town where I felt certain I should find him, follow thefellow back, and track him to his home. Then I had intended to come toyou and ask your advice as to the next step to be taken.'
'There you showed your sagacity again, Hampton. Well, what came of it?'
'I went for a fortnight to every racecourse near town and asked afterMarvel from bookmakers of his stamp. They all seemed rather surprised athis absence, and suggested that perhaps having failed to pay up here hehad gone to one of the country meetings up in the North. I was up inYorkshire for a week but with no better result. I came up last night andwent to Epsom this morning and there spotted my man.' He then relatedthe conversation he had overheard and the manner in which he had allowedthe man to slip through his fingers. Danvers could not help laughing,though he, too, was vexed.
'I can quite understand your missing him at Vauxhall, Hampton. Of courseit is easy to be wise after the event. It would not have done for you tohave got in the same compartment with him at Epsom. You don't look likea third-class passenger, and the idea that you were the military swellwho had been enquiring after him would probably have occurred to him;but if you had got out at a station or two further on, and then takenyour place in his carriage, that idea would hardly have entered hismind.'
'Well, the result is I have thrown away three weeks of my leave intaking a lot of trouble and we are no nearer than we were before.'
'Not much, except that we have learnt that the man is engaged on adifferent matter, in which he intends to make money, and also that thereis but little probability of his being met with again for some time on aracecourse. Of course, this business may be altogether unconnected withthat of the Hawtreys, but on the other hand it may be. I am afraid thereis little clue left for us to follow up. Getting out at Vauxhall mightmean that he lived in that neighbourhood, or at Camberwell, or Peckham,or Kennington, or anywhere about there; or he might have crossed theriver, and there is all the region between Chelsea and Westminster tochoose from. If we knew that he went under the name of Marvel somethingmight be done, but it is a hundred to one against that being the name hegoes by in his domestic circle. If you have come to me for advice I cangive you none; I can see nothing whatever to do but to wait for newdevelopments. Have you seen the "Liar" this week?'
'No; I never look at it.'
'Well, you see there is a nasty paragraph there that unmistakablyalludes to the affair. I have no doubt it is Halliburn's doing; he gotso annoyed at these letters keeping on coming--and indeed it seems thatsome have been sent to him with 'Look before you leap,' 'Be sure thatall is right before it is too late,' and things of that sort--that hewent off to Scotland Yard, kicked up a row there, showed the envelopeshe had received to the authorities, and gave them the whole historyabout the others. Of course, they promised that they would do what theycould, and equally of course they will be able to do nothing. Well, Isuppose some understrapper there got to hear of it, and probably soldthe thing to one of the men who gather up garbage for the "Liar." I havegot the paper. There, that is the paragraph: "There is a possibilitythat a marriage that has been arranged in high life may not come offafter all. The noble lord who was to figure as bridegroom has receivedthe unpleasant information that the young lady has been pestered withdemands for money in exchange for compromising letters, and has himselfreceived missives calculated to make one in his position extremelyuncomfortable. Further developments may be looked for."'
'It is scandalous,' Captain Hampton exclaimed passionately, 'that ablackguard rag like this is allowed to exist!'
'Quite so, Hampton; I agree with you most heartily. Still, there it is,and others like it, and we have got to put up with it. If it had notbeen for that fool, Halliburn, taking things into his hands this noticewould neve
r have got in. One of Hawtrey's servants came round in a cabto fetch me this morning. I found him foaming with rage, talking abouthorsewhipping and all sorts of things. It is curious how that sort ofthing still lingers in the minds of country squires. I told him, ofcourse, that would make it ten times worse. Then he talked of an action,and I said, "Now, my dear Mr. Hawtrey, you are getting altogether beyondmy province. As a friend I am very glad to give you my advice as long asit is merely a question of endeavouring to find out the authors of theselibels. Now it has assumed an altogether different phase, and you mustgo to your lawyer for advice. I am sure that he will tell you that youcan do nothing, especially as in point of fact the statements areperfectly true. Still, there is no saying how far the thing will go, andwhether it may not be necessary eventually to take legal steps;therefore it is only fair to your solicitor that you should put him inpossession of the whole circumstances as far as they have gone."
'"Very well," he said, "I will go down at once to Harper and Hawes, andtake their advice about it."'
'There is one comfort,' Captain Hampton said; 'there are not many peoplewho will understand to whom this paragraph relates. I suppose there havebeen a dozen lords of one sort and another who have become engagedduring the season, so that, except for us who are behind the scenes,there is nothing to point distinctly to the identity of the parties.'
'You need not count on that,' Danvers said shortly. 'This paragraph ismerely intended to whet the curiosity of the public. You will see thatnext week there will be another, saying that they are now able to state,beyond fear of contradiction, that the nobleman and young lady who havebeen persecuted by anonymous letters are Lord Halliburn and MissHawtrey.'
'This sort of thing makes one regret that duelling has gone out offashion,' Captain Hampton said savagely. 'There is nothing would give megreater pleasure than to parade the editor of that blackguard paper atsix o'clock to-morrow morning on Wimbledon Common!'
'It would no doubt be a pleasure to you, my dear Hampton,' Danvers saidtranquilly, 'and the result might be a matter of unmingled satisfactionto all decent people; but, you see, it cannot be done. If it could havebeen he would have been shot years ago, noxious beast that he is. Itbeing impossible, let us change the subject. What are you going to dothis evening?'
'I am going to have dinner first.'
'It is only six o'clock, my dear fellow.'
'All the better. I want to get it over, so as to go round and catch theHawtreys before they go out--that is to say, if they are going to a ballor anything of that sort, and not to a dinner; Mr. Hawtrey knows I havebeen doing what I could to find out this betting fellow, but has notmentioned it to his daughter, for the same reason, probably, that I havetaken pains to avoid meeting them since I began the search. At any rate,I should not like her to think that I have been away for this threeweeks on my own pleasure, in perfect indifference to the unpleasantposition in which she is placed, so I shall go to report progress--or,rather, want of progress--and to assure them that I will continue thesearch until I have run this fellow to earth.'
Danvers looked at his friend through his half-closed eyes with a gleamof quiet amusement.
'The Indian sun does not seem to have cooled the enthusiasm of youryouth, Hampton. You used to throw yourself then like a young demon intothe middle of a football scrimmage, and rowed stroke in that four ofyours till you rowed your crew to a standstill, and then tugged away allto yourself, till they got their wind again. To us, jaded men----'
'Shut up, man!' Hampton said hotly, 'this is no joking matter. Here isthe honour and happiness of a girl who, when she was a little child, wasvery dear to me'--Danvers' eyes twinkled momentarily--'and I should be abrute if I did not do everything I could to put the matter straight; andI am quite sure,' he went on more quietly, 'that although, of course,they are not such friends of yours as they are of mine, you would spareno trouble yourself if you only saw any way in which you could be ofreal assistance.'
'Perhaps so, old man, perhaps so; but I should not get into fever heatabout it. You see, the matter at present principally concerns Halliburn.It is his business and privilege to stand first in the line of defenceof the character of the young lady to whom he is engaged.'
'And a nice mess he has made of his first move,' Captain Hampton agreed,pointing to the copy of the 'Liar.' 'Well, I won't wait any longer; theydine at seven o'clock when they are alone, and I will go round at eighton the chance of finding them in.'
Danvers sat looking at the empty grate for some minutes after he hadleft. 'It is about even betting, I should say,' he muttered to himself,'and I think, if anything, the odds are slightly on Hampton, though hehas not the slightest idea at present that he has entered for the race.The other one has got the start, but Hampton always had no end of last,and he will take every fence well, and it seems to me there are likelyto be some awkward ones. Besides, I am not half sure that the otherfellow will run straight when the pinch comes.'
When Captain Hampton presented himself at the house in Chester Square,he found, to his satisfaction, that Mr. Hawtrey and his daughter were athome.
'They have just finished dinner, sir,' the servant said; 'dessert is onthe table.'
'Then I will go in,' Captain Hampton said, and, opening the dining-roomdoor, walked in.
'I am presuming on my old footing to enter unceremoniously, Mr.Hawtrey,' he said.
'I am glad to see you. You are heartily welcome, Ned. This reminds oneof old times indeed.'
Dorothy's welcome was sensibly cooler, while Mrs. Daintree, who had fromthe first set herself strongly against his intimacy at the house, wasabsolutely frigid.
Ned saw that Dorothy's colour had perceptibly paled since he last sawher, and that she looked harassed and anxious.
'It is three weeks since I saw you,' he said.
'Is it?' she asked with an air of indifference. He laughed outright.
'That was really very well done, Dorothy, and I quite understand what itmeans. You think I have been neglecting you altogether, and amusingmyself while you were in trouble; and were that the case I shoulddeserve all the snubbing, and more, that you could give me. I believethat your father has not told you what I have been doing, and I do notwish to enter into details now,' and he glanced towards Mrs. Daintree,'but I feel that I must, in justice to myself, assure you that the wholeof my time has been occupied in the matter, and that although I have nosuccess to boast of, I have, at least, tried my very best to deserveit.'
'That is good of you, Ned,' the girl said brightly. 'I have been feelinga little hurt at your desertion, and thought it did not seem like you toleave me in trouble. I always used to rely upon you when I got into ascrape. I don't want to know what you have been doing, though father cantell me if he likes, but I am quite content to take your word for it.Now I must go; it is time for us to dress. I wish I could stay at homeand have a quiet evening, but you see I am no longer quite my ownmistress.'
'Well, Hampton, what have you been doing, and why have you not been tosee me before? I heard you were in town--at least, I heard so ten daysago.'
'I should have come, sir, before, had I had anything to tell you. I havenothing much now, and in fact have to-day bungled matters considerably;still, I shall start on a fresh search to-morrow, and hope to be luckierthan I have been so far.' He then gave a detailed account of his visitsto racecourses, of his meeting with Truscott that morning, of theconversation he had overheard, and of the manner in which the man hadeluded him.
'Well, Ned, you certainly have deserved success, and I am indeed obligedto you for the immense trouble you have taken over the matter. It is toobad your spending your time over this annoying affair, when you are onlyhome on a year's leave. What you have learned is, of course, no directproof that Truscott has a hand in this affair; at the same time, what hesaid confirms to some extent your suspicions of him. Would it not be aswell to put the search for him into the hands of a detective, now thatthere is some one definite to search for? One of these men might beuseful, and I really wou
ld vastly rather employ one than know that youare spending day after day searching for him yourself. These men areaccustomed to the work; they know exactly the persons to whom to apply;they have agents under them, who know infinitely better the sort ofplace where such a fellow would be likely to take up his quarters thanyou can do.'
'No doubt that is so,' Captain Hampton admitted reluctantly. 'I shouldhave liked to have run him down myself, now that I have hunted him solong. Still, that is a matter of no importance, the great thing is tolose no time. I will get Danvers to give me a note to the man he spoketo first.'
'On my behalf, remember, Ned; he must be engaged on my behalf.'
'Very well, sir, if you wish it so; but I would rather that you and Iarrange with him direct, and that it is not done by your solicitors.Danvers told me that you were going to them this morning about thatinfamous paragraph in the "Liar."'
'Certainly they shall have nothing to do with it,' Mr. Hawtrey saidhotly; 'I was a fool to go to them at all; I might as well have gone totwo old women. They have been lawyers to our family for I don't know howmany years, and are no doubt excellent men in their capacity of familylawyers, but this matter is altogether out of their line. They looked ateach other like two helpless fools when I told them the story, and saidat once that they would not undertake to advise me, but that I hadbetter go to Levine, or one of the other men who are always engaged inthese what they call delicate cases, that is to say, hideous scandals.However, I have made up my mind to keep clear of them all as far as Ican; but, of course, I must be guided to some extent by Halliburn'sopinion, or rather his wishes. As to his opinion, I have no confidencein it one way or the other. I'm glad you did not say anything about whatyou had been doing before my cousin; she is worrying herself almost intoa fever about it, the more so because there is no one to whom she cantalk about it. She means well, but were it not that just at present itis absolutely necessary that Dorothy should show herself everywhere witha perfectly unconcerned air, I would make some excuse to send Mrs.Daintree down to the country again; as it is, I must keep her as achaperon, but she is very trying I assure you, and I believe would comeinto my study to cry over the affair half-a-dozen times a day, if Iwould but let her. Now, Ned, you must excuse me, the carriage will beround in a few minutes, and as, with one thing and another, I got backtoo late to dress for dinner, I have not another minute to spare. ShallI give you a note authorising you to arrange with the detective?'
'There is no occasion for that; I shall speak in your name, and as hewill want to have an interview with you before long, you can thenconfirm any arrangement I have made as to his remuneration.'
Hampton called in on Danvers in the morning for the address of thedetective, Slippen, and a card of introduction. The address was inClifford's Inn, and on finding the number Hampton saw the name over adoor on the ground floor. A sharp looking boy was sitting on a highstool swinging his legs. He evidently thought that amusement somewhatmonotonous and was glad of a change, for he jumped down with alacrity.
'The governor is in, sir, but he has got a party in with him. I willtake your card in. I expect he will be glad to get rid of her, for shehas been sobbing and crying in there awful.'
'I am in no particular hurry,' Captain Hampton said, amused at the boy'sconfidential manner.
'Divorce, I expect,' the lad went on, as Captain Hampton took a seat onthe only chair in the dark little office. 'I allus notice that the firsttime they comes they usually goes on like that. After a time or two theytakes it more business-like. They comes in brisk, and says, "Is Mr.Slippen in?" just the same as if they was asking for a cup of tea. Whenthey goes out sometimes they look sour, and I knows then that he,' andhe jerked his thumb towards the inner office, 'hasn't any news to tell'em; sometimes they goes out looking red in the face and in a regularpaddy, and you can see by the way they grips their umbrellas they wouldlike to give it to some one.'
'You must find it dull sitting here all day. I suppose you haven't muchwriting to do?'
'I doesn't sit here much. I am mostly about. There ain't many as comeshere of a day, and he can hear the knocker. Those as does come callsmostly in the morning, from ten to eleven. There, she is a-moving.'
The inner door opened, and a stout woman came out looking flushed andangry; the boy slid off his stool and opened the door for her, and thentook Captain Hampton's card in. A moment later Mr. Slippen himselfappeared at the door.
'Will you walk in, Captain Hampton? I am sorry to have kept you waiting.I rather expected,' he said, as he closed the door behind him, 'that Ishould have a call, either from Mr. Danvers or some one from him, when Isaw that paragraph in the "Liar." I made sure it was the case he wasspeaking to me about, and I said to myself, "They are safe to be doingsomething now."'
'Yes, it is that case that I come about. I am here on the part of Mr.Hawtrey, the father of the young lady. I am an intimate friend of thefamily. Mr. Danvers gave you the heads of the matter.'
The detective nodded; he was a rather short, slightly-built man, withhair cut very short and standing up aggressively; his eyes were widelyopened, with a sharp, quick movement as they glanced from one point toanother, but the general expression of the face was pleasant andgood-tempered.
'He told you my opinion so far as I could form it from the very slightdata he gave me?'
'Yes, you thought at first that the writer of the threats really hadpossession of compromising letters; but upon hearing that she wasengaged you thought it likely that the letters might be the work of someaggrieved or disappointed woman.'
'That is it, sir.'
'So far as we can see,' Captain Hampton went on, 'neither view wascorrect; certainly the first was not. We have, as we think, laid ourfingers on the writer, who is a man who believes himself to have apersonal grievance against Mr. Hawtrey himself.' He then related thewhole story.
'He may be the man,' Mr. Slippen said, when he had finished. 'At anyrate there is something to go on, which there was not before. There willbe no great difficulty in laying one's hand on him, but at present wehave not a shred of real evidence--nothing that a magistrate wouldlisten to.'
'We quite see that. Still, it will be something to find him; then we canhave him watched, and, if possible, caught in the act of posting theletters.'
'You will find that difficult--I do not mean the watching him nor seeinghim post his letters, but bringing it home to him. I would rather haveto deal with anything than with a matter where you have got the PostOffice people to get round. Once a letter is in a box it is theirproperty until it is handed over to the person it is directed to. Still,we may get over that, somehow. The first thing, I take it, is to findthe man. You say his betting name is Marvel?'
'That is the name he had on his hat at Epsom on the Oaks day, but he mayhave a dozen others.'
'Ah, that is true enough. Still, no doubt he has used it often enoughfor others to know him by it; and now for his description.
'Thank you, that will be sufficient. I think I will send a man down toWindsor at once; the races are on again to-day. He will get his addressout of one or other of his pals. It will cost a five-pound note at theoutside. If you will give me your address, I shall most likely be ableto let you have it this evening.'
'I wish to goodness I had come to you before,' Captain Hampton said.'Here I have been wasting three weeks trying to find the man, andspending fifty or sixty pounds in railway fares, stand tickets andexpenses, and you are able to undertake it at once.'
'It is a very simple matter, Captain Hampton. I have been engaged in twoor three turf cases, and one of my men knows a lot of the hangers-on atracecourses. Watches and other valuables are constantly stolen there,and as often enough these things are gifts, and are valued beyond theirmere cost in money, their owners come to us to try if we can get themback for them, which we are able to do three times out of four. Whoevermay steal the things, they are likely to get into one of four or fivehands, and as soon as we let it be known that we are ready to pay a fairprice for their return and no qu
estions asked, it is not long beforethey are brought here. I don't say I may be able to find out this man'sexact address, but I can find out the public-house or other place wherehe is generally to be met with. I don't suppose the actual address ofone in ten of these fellows is known to others. They are to be heard ofin certain public-houses, but even their closest pals often don't knowwhere they live. Sometimes, no doubt, it is in some miserable den wherethey would be ashamed to meet anyone. Sometimes there may be a wife andfamily in the case, and they don't want men coming there. Sometimes itmay be just another way. Many of these fellows at home are quiet,respectable sort of chaps, living at some little place where none oftheir neighbours, and perhaps not even their wives, know that they haveanything to do with racing, but take them for clerks or warehousemen, orsomething in the city. So I don't promise to find out the fellow's home,only the place where a letter will find him, or where he goes to meethis pals, and perhaps do a little quiet betting in the landlord's backparlour.'
'That will be enough for us, to begin with at any rate.'
'Of course, the private address is only a matter of a day or twolonger,' Mr. Slippen went on. 'I have only to send that boy of mine upto the place, and the first time the fellow goes there he will followhim, if it is all over London, till he traces him to the place where helives. If, as he said, he is going to give up attending the races forthe present, he may not go there for a day or two. But he is sure to doso sooner or later for letters.'
'Thank you. It would be as well to know where he lives, but at any ratewhen we have what we may call his business address we shall have time totalk over our next move.'
'Yes, that is where the real difficulty will begin, Captain Hampton. Iexpect you have got to deal with a deep one, and I own that at present Ido not see my way at all clear before me.'