The Talleyrand Maxim

by J. S. Fletcher

  CHAPTER VII

  THE SUPREME INDUCEMENT

  Pratt was in Eldrick & Pascoe's office soon after half-past eight nextmorning, and for nearly forty minutes he had the place entirely tohimself. But it took only a few of those minutes for him to do what hehad carefully planned before he went to bed the previous night. Shuttinghimself into Eldrick's private room, and making sure that he was alonethat time, he immediately opened the drawer in the senior partner'sdesk, wherein Eldrick, culpably enough, as Parrawhite had sneeringlyremarked, was accustomed to put loose money. Eldrick was strangelycareless in that way: he would throw money into that drawer in presenceof his clerks--notes, gold, silver. If it happened to occur to him, hewould take the money out at the end of the afternoon and hand it toPratt to lock up in the safe; but as often as not, it did not occur.Pratt had more than once ventured on a hint which was almost aremonstrance, and Eldrick had paid no attention to him. He was acareless, easy-going man in many respects, Eldrick, and liked to dothings in his own way. And after all, as Pratt had decided, when hefound that his hints were not listened to, it was Eldrick's own affairif he liked to leave the money lying about.

  There was money lying about in that drawer when Pratt drew it open; itwas never locked, day or night, or, if it was, the key was left in it.As soon as he opened it, he saw gold--two or three sovereigns--andsilver--a little pile of it. And, under a letter weight, four banknotesof ten pounds each. But this was precisely what Pratt had expected tosee; he himself had handed banknotes, gold, and silver to Eldrick theprevious evening, just after receiving them from a client who had calledto pay his bill. And he had seen Eldrick place them in the drawer, asusual, and soon afterwards Eldrick had walked out, saying he was goingto the club, and he had never returned.

  What Pratt now did was done as the result of careful thought anddeliberation. There was a cheque-book lying on top of some papers in thedrawer; he took it up and tore three cheques out of it. Then he pickedup the bank-notes, tore them and the abstracted blank cheques intopieces, and dropped the pieces in the fire recently lighted by thecaretaker. He watched these fragments burn, and then he put the gold andsilver in his hip-pocket, where he already carried a good deal of hisown, and walked out.

  Nine o'clock brought the office-boy; a quarter-past nine brought theclerks; at ten o'clock Eldrick walked in. According to custom, Prattwent into Eldrick's room with the letters, and went through them withhim. One of them contained a legal document over which the solicitorfrowned a little.

  "Ask Parrawhite's opinion about that," he said presently, indicating amarked paragraph.

  "Parrawhite has not come in this morning, sir," observed Pratt,gathering up letters and papers. "I'll draw his attention to it when hearrives."

  He went into the outer office, only to be summoned back to Eldrick a fewminutes later. The senior partner was standing by his desk, looking alittle concerned, and, thought Pratt, decidedly uncomfortable. Hemotioned the clerk to close the door.

  "Has Parrawhite come?" he asked.

  "No," replied Pratt, "Not yet, Mr. Eldrick."

  "Is--is he usually late?" inquired Eldrick.

  "Usually quite punctual--half-past nine," said Pratt.

  Eldrick glanced at his watch; then at his clerk.

  "Didn't you give me some cash last night?" he asked.

  "Forty-three pounds nine," answered Pratt. "Thompson's bill of costs--hepaid it yesterday afternoon."

  Eldrick looked more uncomfortable than ever.

  "Well--the fact is," he said, "I--I meant to hand it to you to put inthe safe, Pratt, but I didn't come back from the club. And--it's gone!"

  Pratt simulated concern--but not astonishment. And Eldrick pulled openthe drawer, and waved a hand over it.

  "I put it down there," he said. "Very careless of me, no doubt--butnothing of this sort has ever happened before, and--however, there's theunpleasant fact, Pratt. The money's gone!"

  Pratt, who had hastily turned over the papers and other contents of thedrawer, shook his head and used his privilege as an old and confidentialservant. "I've always said, sir, that it was a great mistake to leaveloose money lying about," he remarked mournfully. "If there'd only beena practice of letting me lock anything of that sort up in the safe everynight--and this chequebook, too, sir--then----"

  "I know--I know!" said Eldrick. "Very reprehensible on my part--I'mafraid I am careless--no doubt of it. But----"

  He in his turn was interrupted by Pratt, who was turning over thecheque-book.

  "Some cheque forms have been taken out of this," he said. "Three! at theend. Look there, sir!"

  Eldrick uttered an exclamation of intense annoyance and disgust. Helooked at the despoiled cheque-book, and flung it into the drawer.

  "Pratt!" he said, turning half appealingly, half confidentially to theclerk. "Don't say a word of this--above all, don't mention it to Mr.Pascoe. It's my fault and I must make the forty-three pounds good.Pratt, I'm afraid this is Parrawhite's work. I--well, I may as well tellyou--he'd been in trouble before he came here. I gave him anotherchance--I'd known him, years ago. I thought he'd go straight. But--Ifear he's been tempted. He may have seen me leave money about. Was he inhere last night?"

  Pratt pointed to a document which lay on Eldrick's desk.

  "He came in here to leave that for your perusal," he answered. "He wasin here--alone--a minute or two before he left."

  All these lies came readily and naturally--and Eldrick swallowed each.He shook his head.

  "My fault--all my fault!" he said. "Look here--keep it quiet. But--doyou know where Parrawhite has lived--lodged?"

  "No!" replied Pratt. "Some of the others may, though!"

  "Try to find out--quickly," continued Eldrick; "Then, make some excuseto go out--take papers somewhere, or something--and find if he's lefthis lodgings! I--I don't want to set the police on him. He was a decentfellow, once. See what you can make out, Pratt. In strict secrecy, youknow---I do not want this to go further."

  Pratt could have danced for joy when he presently went out into thetown. There would be no hue-and-cry after Parrawhite--none! Eldrickwould accept the fact that Parrawhite had robbed him and flown--andParrawhite would never be heard of--never mentioned again. It was theheight of good luck for him. Already he had got rid of any small scrapsof regret or remorse about the killing of his fellow-clerk. Why shouldhe be sorry? The scoundrel had tried to murder him, thinking no doubtthat he had the will on him. And he had not meant to kill him--what hehad done, he had done in self-defence. No--everything was working mostadmirably--Parrawhite's previous bad record, Eldrick's carelessness andhis desire to shut things up: it was all good. From that day forward,Parrawhite would be as if he had never been. Pratt was not even afraidof the body being discovered--though he believed that it would remainwhere it was for ever--for the probability was that the authoritieswould fill up that pit with earth and stones. But if it was brought tolight? Why, the explanation was simple.

  Parrawhite, having robbed his employer, had been robbed himself,possibly by men with whom he had been drinking, and had been murdered inthe bargain. No suspicion could attach to him, Pratt--he had nothing tofear--nothing!

  For the form of the thing, he called at the place whereat Parrawhite hadlodged--they had seen nothing of him since the previous morning. Theywere poor, cheap lodgings in a mean street. The woman of the house saidthat Parrawhite had gone out as usual the morning before, and had neverbeen in again. In order to find out all he could, Pratt asked if he hadleft much behind him in the way of belongings, and--just as he hadexpected--he learned that Parrawhite's personal property was remarkablylimited: he possessed only one suit of clothes and not over muchbesides, said the landlady.

  "Is there aught wrong?" she asked, when Pratt had finished hisquestions. "Are you from where he worked?"

  "That's it," answered Pratt, "And he hasn't turned up this morning, andwe think he's left the town. Owe you anything, missis?"

  "Nay, nothing much," she replied. "Ten shillings 'ud cover it
, mister."

  Pratt gave her half a sovereign. It was not out of consideration forher, nor as a concession to Parrawhite's memory: it was simply to stopher from coming down to Eldrick & Pascoe's.

  "Well, I don't think you'll see him again," he remarked. "And I dare sayyou won't care if you don't."

  He turned away then, but before he had gone far, the woman called himback.

  "What am I to do with his bits of things, mister, if he doesn't comeback?" she asked.

  "Aught you please," answered Pratt, indifferently. "Throw 'em on thedust-heap."

  As he went back to the centre of the town, he occupied himself inconsidering his attitude to Mrs. Mallathorpe when she called on him thatevening. In spite of his own previous notion, and of hiscarefully-worked-out scheme about the stewardship, he had been impressedby what Parrawhite has said as to the wisdom of selling the will forcash. Pratt did not believe that there was anything in the Collingwoodsuggestion--no doubt whatever, he had decided, that old Bartle had meantto tell Mrs. Mallathorpe of his discovery when she called in answer tohis note, but as he had died before she could call, and as he had toldnobody but him, Pratt, what possible danger could there be fromCollingwood? And a stewardship for life appealed to him. He knew, fromobservation of the world, what a fine thing it is to have a certainty.

  Once he became steward and agent of the Normandale Grange estate, hewould stick there, until he had saved a tidy heap of money. Then hewould retire--with a pension and a handsome present--and enjoy himself.To be provided for, for life!--what more could a wise man want? Andyet--there was something in what that devil Parrawhite had urged.

  For there was a risk--however small--of discovery, and if discovery weremade, there would be a nice penalty to pay. It might, after all, bebetter to sell the will outright--for as much ready money as ever hecould get, and to take his gains far away, and start out on a careerelsewhere. After all, there was much to be said for the old proverb. Theonly question was--was the bird in hand worth the two; or the money,which he believed he would net in the bush?

  Pratt's doubts on this point were settled in a curious fashion. He hadreached the centre of the town in his return to Eldrick's, and there, inthe fashionable shopping street, he ran up against an acquaintance. Heand the acquaintance stopped and chatted--about nothing. And as theylounged on the curb, a smart victoria drew up close by, and out of it,alone, stepped a girl who immediately attracted Pratt's eyes. He watchedher across the pavement; he watched her into the shop. And his companionlaughed.

  "That's the sort!" he remarked flippantly. "If you and I had one each,old man--what?"

  "Who is she?" demanded Pratt.

  The acquaintance stared at him in surprise.

  "What!" he exclaimed. "You don't know. That's Miss Mallathorpe."

  "I didn't know," said Pratt. "Fact!"

  He waited until Nesta Mallathorpe came out and drove away--so that hecould get another and a closer look at her. And when she was gone, hewent slowly back to the office, his mind made up. Risk or no risk, hewould carry out his original notion. Whatever Mrs. Mallathorpe mightoffer, he would stick to his idea of close and intimate connection withNormandale Grange.