Alas, the “mocking sunshine,” as the poets have it, deprived me of my last hope when Susan called me some three hours later. So at noon, while the redheaded prodigy is belabouring the piano, behold me descending Mrs. Everett’s front-door steps, with “my courage in two hands.”
Praised be the saints, the sweet mama of the latest little terror I tried to teach had a Parisian maid; beneficent powers be also praised, I lent Félise French novels, and in return she made my dresses! I am reminded of the fact as I contemplate my reflection in a plate-glass window, the hang of my skirt, coupled with the consciousness of having expended I am ashamed to chronicle how much a yard for the material, imparting an exhilarating certitude about my costume. Yes, Félise; you had your weaknesses, notably a penchant for Zola, cigarettes, and the footmen, the last of which predilections cost you your place; but with this your creation on my back I am charitably disposed, and my recollection is not a harsh one!
In Oxford Street I turned, and bought a pair of gloves, declining “Our Reliable Chevrette” with the delicate scorn of a millionaire, and disbursing four and sixpence though my heart ached. I have not sojourned eight-and-twenty years in this vale of tears without discovering that the less you look in want of the thing you solicit the more likely you are to get it. My toilette being now calculated to inspire respect I proceeded towards my destination.
No. 7, Queen’s Row, High Holborn, was conspicuous only by a highly-polished brass-plate bearing the terse inscription—
“A. Bazalgette: Detective.” On the right of the passage in entering I found the name again, painted in black capitals on a white background, “Second Floor:—Bazalgette. Mendes.,” and to the second floor I nervously mounted. I was admitted to a small front-room, in which I took a seat, amusing myself, while waiting, by the perusal of a printed notice to the following effect.
“Detectives are to present themselves daily at 11 A.M.—All detectives to give voucher to Superintendant for sums received.”
The announcement had a mysterious fascination for me, and I was gazing at it still when an individual appeared who politely inquired my errand. He was a negative sort of man, inclined to stoutness, who might have been any age from twenty-five to forty. His hair was sandy, his very freckles were sandy; he was sandy from his suggestion of whisker to the colour of his clothes; his cheeks alone discarded the prevailing tint, and they were florid and fat. You took him for the most simple, ingenuous of creatures until you met his eyes, and then you started, they were so bright and cunning. It seemed as if all the wickedness of the human race must be known to the owner of those eyes, and there could be no mortal depravity so uncommonly vile as to surprise him.
I said, “Is Mr. Bazalgette in?” And he replied, with the slightest tinge of foreign accent, “No, madam; is it anything I can do for you? I am Mr. Bazalgette’s partner.”
“You employ women, do you not?” I resumed diffidently. “I was led to imagine so!”
“Occasionally, yes: it depends on the business!”
“I——, that is, what arrangements have to be made?”
“I can’t tell you that without knowing what you refer to;” he smiled, “of course if you will explain your case you may be sure we shall adopt the proper measures,”
“You misunderstand me. I have no case to confide. I learnt that yon—er—did make such engagements, and being through reverses of fortune compelled to adopt some mode of livelihood——,” I began desperately, and then stopped suddenly short for the overwhelming reason that I saw the man did not believe me.
“Well, come now,” he said indulgently, “are you in trouble, or is a friend of yours in trouble, which is it?”
If at that moment the Brussels carpet could have yawned at my feet, and engulfed me, I am confident my sensation would have been one of unmixed gratitude. To be regarded by this cheerful wretch as a possible forger, or worse, scattered the last remnants of my self-possession, and sent the blood tingling into my face and neck with all the forty-horse blushing power of an ingénue in book muslin.
“Let us comprehend each other, Mr. Mendes, please, for I presume I am speaking to that gentleman!” I said as steadily as I could manage. “I have, as I stated, called to ask for employment on your staff; have you a vacancy, or have you not?”
For an instant, to do him justice, he evinced signs of being faintly disconcerted; then, “What are your qualifications?” he demanded.
“I speak French, German, and Italian; I have a tolerable acquaintance with the Continent, and—”
“Yes, yes! why do you choose this work?”
“Because I want money; moreover, because I think I have some latent aptitude for it.”
“What are your references?”
“Are references essential?”
“Indispensable! We must always be certain there has never been anything against the applicant.”
“I can furnish you with a testimonial from a lady with whom I lived in the capacity of governess, I brought it with me in the event of such a thing being required. It is, as you will perceive, dated ten months back, but I can assure you I have not committed a burglary in the meantime, and in it you can see for yourself the reason of my quitting her house.
“ ‘Lady Edward Jones having ascertained Miss Lea has occupied a position on the public stage, and being unwilling that Master Pelham Jones should imbibe any vulgar tendencies towards art, will have no alternative but to dispense with Miss Lea’s services at the expiration of the present quarter.’ ”
Apparently unable to appreciate the subtle loveliness of the extract I had quoted, Mr. Mendes read this precious epistle from the address to the final full stop.
“How have you lived since, Miss Lea?”
“On my savings; the exposure of my terrible past did not occur until I had been fulfilling my duties for two years.”
“Ah; and you are staying now—?”
“Where I have been staying ever since;” and I gave him the number of the street.
I deemed it now time to put a few queries on my own account.
“Might I ask what salary you usually allow?”
“We have no fixed figure, it varies; we discharge all expenses, and pay per diem in accordance with the nature of the undertaking, from five shillings to——, well, we have paid so much as four pounds.”
“A day?”
“A day.”
Good heavens, twenty-eight pounds a week! It seemed incredible that a single member of the establishment should be remunerated at so vast a rate till I reflected the client would probably be charged double the amount in the bill.
“I need not tell you,” he continued, “that was in extremely rare cases, and in taking fresh persons we try them on very small jobs.”
“I should have thought,” I remarked with emphasis, “a lady would have been valuable from the first; I have understood that Scotland Yard will pay any amount for ladies and gentlemen, they are so difficult to secure, and still more difficult to keep!”
I had not understood anything of the kind, but it was a venture, and it told.
“Of course,” he rejoined blandly, “we do not get many applicants quite like yourself, but then it is seldom we should want them; our principal investigations are for divorce, and we send out our female agents most usually as ladies’-maids. Still, as you observe, there are exceptions, and occasions where——”
“Where a knowledge of the Queen’s English and the usages of society are desirable! Well, what is your reply?”
At this juncture we were interrupted by the advent of a tall military-looking man with a springy walk, moustache-points fiercely waxed, and a brilliant silk hat set jauntily on the side of his head. Mr. Mendes glanced round at him, and nodded.
“How are you?” he said. “Will you go through?”
The new-comer strode into the adjoining apartment, through which I caught a glimpse of yet another door, but his arrival had terminated my interview.
“What is your reply, Mr. Mendes?”
I repeated.
“We have no opening at present,” he averred hurriedly. “Should an occasion crop up we will see! How I must say ‘good morning,’ madam. If you are passing you might drop in in the course of a week or two,—good day!”
And so ended my wild attempt towards this strange career.
CHAPTER III.
July 19th.
ELEVEN days have passed; two pounds ten of my capital have gone to swell Mrs. Everett’s exchequer, and on settling the account yesterday morning I gave her a week’s notice, the next presented being the last I can defray.
I am in trouble about my trunk too. It would doubtless look remarkable to leave it in her charge; people ordered abroad for the benefit of their health usually take their portmanteaux with them. But though with strict economy I shall have enough for a cab-fare on Monday, and can depart in orthodox style, if I am hampered by luggage, where on earth am I to tell the man to drive? Without it I might alter my mind on the subject of the previous direction delivered with great distinctness for the benefit of Susan; get out; and complacently discharge him well inside the shilling radius. I wonder if the cloak-room at Charing-Cross——, no, I suppose not!
Oh, “dere diry,” I no longer feel the capability of smiling if I had the provocation! Baggage apart, what is to become of me, homeless in this wilderness of houses? where am I going when I have shaken the dust of Mrs, Everett’s Kidderminster from my feet? For ten months, with a roof to cover me, I have endeavoured to obtain an occupation, and in vain; how then can I hope to find one without a shelter, and deprived of food? It is too terrible; in my most ultramarine fits of abject depression, promoted by a protracted presence of the two middle-aged females, I never imagined a strait like this! It seems as if it could not be real, and yet I know it is. Once, if another woman like myself had told me she had tried during ten months in London to get employment and failed, I would not have credited it, or I should have said, “My dear little simpleton, you have not set properly about it!” Now from personal experience I learn how very easy of occurrence such a thing may be. Since I opened you last, my blotted volume, I have made a succession of visits to all the agencies whose books are adorned with the cognomen of “Miriam Lea”; I have spent sixpence replying to three bogus advertisements, and ineffectively walked myself tired to answer some genuine ones. Kismet! Unhappily the sentiment is philosophical but not filling, and one cannot live on philosophy,—unless, indeed, a publisher chances to appreciate it too.
On consideration, my sole resource is to secure the cheapest bedroom available; quit the Board and Residence accompanied by my belongings, and start pledging my wardrobe without delay.
And when it is gone?—I give it up!
* * * * *
July 21st.
In pursuit of more ordinary avocations I had lost sight of Mr. Mendes’ permission to return. Only three more days remain to me; it is my last chance; I will go.
* * * * *
July 22nd.
I am engaged! My hand is trembling so I can hardly hold the pen. When I went in, Mr. Mendes was exchanging some muttered confidence with a portly personage I intuitively guessed to be his partner. I did not devote much attention to the latter, however; I only remember he struck me as being considerably the elder of the two. My previous acquaintance recognised me with what appeared to me a slight indication of astonishment, at which Mr. Bazalgette raised his brows interrogatively, and Mr. Mendes affirmatively closed his eyes. From these rapid signals in woman’s own deaf and dumb language I gathered I had been the subject of their conversation, and had not inopportunely arrived. After a few preliminary observations my suspicion was confirmed.
“I have been talking of you to Mr. Bazalgette, Miss Lea,” said the younger man hesitatingly. “Indeed we thought it possible we might communicate with you.”
“Indeed?” I remarked.
“You still believe yourself capable of conducting a negotiation?”
“Decidedly.”
“Hem!”
“You are a linguist, I hear?” said Mr. Bazalgette, speaking for the first time.
“I know German, French, and Italian, yes!” I answered.
“And can converse in them fluently if need be?”
“In French as fluently as in English, I lived many years in Brussels; in German and Italian not with equal facility, but well!”
“You have accomplishments,—do music on occasion, eh?”
“I play and sing.”
“So; come in here, Miss Lea, sit down!”
They preceded me into the inner office, which I found larger and much better furnished than the other, and I augured well from the invitation. Mr. Mendes seated himself at a mahogany desk confronting me where I lay back in the morocco leather arm-chair; while Mr. Bazalgette stood on the same side with his back to the empty grate, staring at me also.
I was beginning to feel queer.
“Now, Miss Lea,” resumed the former of the pair, if we should consent to intrust a commission to your charge, not a job of following a suspected person on foot or in cabs, but with a really big case, are you willing to undertake it?”
“Yes.”
“I think so!” said Mr. Bazalgette dreamily, as if he had been asked a question too.
“Then listen, and when there is anything you don’t understand have it made clear! Mr. Bazalgette’s services have been solicited by Messrs. “Wynn, May, Reimer and Company, the financiers of Lombard Street, to trace an absconded party. Perhaps you have seen some particulars of the affair in the papers? The man we want is their late managing clerk, Jasper Vining. On the eighteenth of April this person pleading extreme ill-health sent in his resignation, ostensibly intending a lengthy sojourn in Australia. That there was any motive beyond the explanation he tendered was not suspected, for, although it is now ascertained he was accustomed to plunge heavily at cards and on the turf, he comes of a first-rate family, and had for years enjoyed the entire confidence of the House. His resignation at a month’s notice was therefore a subject for regret; all the same they parted on the best of terms.
“After his departure, not till a month after, for he had planned his coup well, it transpired that during the four weeks previous to April the eighteenth he had been systematically forging bills upon the firm’s correspondents in Vienna, Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Copenhagen to the tune of forty thousand pounds; in his capacity of manager, himself opening the letters containing the forged bills accepted, and subsequently discounting them on the Exchange. Besides this, taking with him in his flight one one-thousand, and one five-hundred-pound bond of Egyptian Unified Loan which had shortly before come into his possession in the ordinary course of his duties connected with the Stock-Exchange Settlement. Is it plain to you so far?”
“Quite, thank you; will you go on, please?”
“Messrs. Wynn, May, Reimer and Company’s first step on discovering the fraud,” continued the detective, “was to immediately consign the matter to the dexterity of Scotland Yard, whose efforts, as yet, have. not been crowned by success. The time has certainly been short, but the interested parties growing impatient have now very naturally come to us.”
If the “not” had been uttered in italics, the “us” was delivered in capitals. No type in Printing House Square, however, could have rendered entire justice to the pronoun as it was pronounced just then by Mr. Mendes.
“And now, Miss Lea,” he concluded impressively after the briefest pause, “I must inform you Mr. Bazalgette, with the most signal mark of esteem, has decided to confide the necessary operations in this affair to you!”
“I am grateful for the opening! And those operations will be——?”
“First to find the man; then to he in his company till you have got sufficient information to convince the authorities you have a right to demand an arrest! That you may appreciate how exceptionally fortunate a young lady you are,” insisted Mr. Mendes, who did not appear able to lose sight of the fact, “I may tell you that, in the whole course of his
experience, Mr. Bazalgette only remembers two cases where important business like this has been committed to raw hands, and then the possession of social polish in the agents was not merely desirable, but absolutely indispensable!”
“I shall endeavour to justify Mr. Bazalgette’s confidence,” I returned sweetly, “and yours too, Mr. Mendes. But on the subject of the arrest:—how am I to make it if he resists?”
“You do not make the arrest at all, it is a Treasury prosecution; simply communicate with us!”
“And I suppose I am to search for him anywhere but in Australia?”
“Exactly; he may be in any country but the one he gave out he was going to,—although, I don’t know! He is smart enough to choose that very one in preference to all others!”
“I think not!” said Mr. Bazalgette, opening his mouth again. “He would never risk a destination where he could not arrive until after the exposure in England had taken place; the voyage to Australia is too long. Regarding the Continent, a swell like Jasper Vining lives in capitals or big cities, and it must be borne in mind he was personally known to those correspondents of his firm on whom he drew the forged bills; therefore, unless we except Hamburg as a probable refuge for a bachelor, we may also dismiss Austria, Russia, Denmark, and Germany!”
He accompanied his calculation by a rapid motion of his forefinger, as if he were actually demolishing the countries he named; indeed, under the guidance of this wonderful man, the map of Europe seemed to be dwindling to half its natural size.
“We do except Hamburg?” inquired his partner. “H-u-m-ph,—yes;” he rejoined, “you will go to Hamburg first, Miss Lea! In all towns you visit under our instructions you will stop at the best hotels, and wherever it is practicable, obtain lists of the recent arrivals.”
Mr Bazalgette’s Agent Page 2