hatter

by Mark wells

  ‘I believe I can have this in production within five years’.

  ‘That is an awfully long time to see a return. How much will my outlay be?’ This was a question I had to ask, although money had very little meaning, to me.

  ‘I have money of my own, and your outlay, will be fifteen thousand pounds over five years. I thought for a second, and said I would settle the amount.

  ‘Go to the offices of Paul Winter tomorrow, and he will draw up the documents relating to the loan. Will you have a brandy, and cigar, to conciliate the deal?’

  ‘I will, but I very rarely take alcohol’. We shook hands, and ate the light supper Edith had prepared. The subject drifted, and we began to talk of other things, and I touched on the subject of prize fighting, thinking that because he knew more of London than I, he may know something of the venues where this dubious activity took place. ‘I have heard most of these fights take place, in farm buildings, usually by word of mouth. I have heard of one contest, taking place on Monday week, between two fighters, Thomas King, and a lesser know fighter, called George Fairfax, nobility I believe. This is not the sort of event I would dream of going to, but if you wish I will take you, and leave you there’.

  ‘George Fairfax is a friend and the only reason for me to go is to stop it taking place’.

  ‘You will not be able to stop it, wagers will have already been placed, and ‘sailor Tom’, is one of the best’.

  ‘I have to try, for friendship’s sake, if nothing else’.

  ‘I will have to be going now, the hour is late. My wife knows I am here, but she will still worry. She does not like me to be alone, in London at night. I will be here at five o’clock, Monday week, to take you to the fight’.

  ‘I will see you Monday week then’. He thanked me, for the evening, and left. The house immediately became quiet, and I sank in to the chair, to read, but George Fairfax now occupied my mind, and I decided to retire. ‘I am going to retire to bed now Edith. Could I have bacon and eggs for breakfast, around eight in the morning’? By the way I do not like, leaving you in the house, alone. Do you know of anyone who wishes employment’?

  ‘Yes I know someone, who requires employment’. ‘Very well. I trust your judgement, in this matter. Will they be able to start the day after tomorrow? I know you will train them well’.

  ‘I will sir and thank you’.

  ‘Goodnight Edith. I do not wish a heavy breakfast in the morning, tea and toast, I believe will suffice. I will have some ham, and boiled eggs as well, for I have not eaten well of late’.

  ‘Very good sir. May I wish you a restful night? Would you like some warm milk’?

  ‘Yes thank you’.

  ‘I will bring it up shortly’. Edith always gave me warm milk, and it never failed to have the desired effect, calm, restful sleep. I was woken about nine a.m, by the usual everyday sounds, emanating from the world outside. Looking from the window, I could just make out, the shapes of boats, moored on the far bank of the Thames. Through the fog, which seems to have lasted forever. I could see, the shapes of people, coming in and out of focus, released, then enveloped again by the mist that seemed to cling to all, that it touched. The day ahead of me would be a long one, trying to find the mud lark, that found Robert, would be tough, if not impossible, but I had to, questions needed to be asked, and answers found, if I was ever to, catch, or assist in the capture of the murderer of my friends. Breakfast was welcomed, and swiftly consumed. I closed the door behind me, and caught a hansom, to the spot where Robert was found close to Battersea.

  THE MUD LARK:

  On the mud flats I could see no-one, save the figure of a man about forty years old. I tried to attract his attention, but his thoughts must have been on what he could find in the mud. Eventually he saw me, and slowly made his way to where I was standing.

  ‘What d’ya want? Can’t ya see I’m busy’, he said in rough commoner’s voice. ‘Information’, I said.

  ‘About what?’ The body that was found near here’. ‘Information costs’. I pulled a gold sovereign, from my pocket, and held it out, between my fingers. He reached for it, and I quickly pulled it back in to my closed fist. ‘You have to earn this’.

  ‘How?’ ‘Take me to the mud lark who found him’. ‘Very well, but it is some distance, and I want two sovereigns’. One now and one when we arrive’. He pulled his boots on, or what was left of them, his heavy coat, had seen better days. A scar ran down the right side of his cheek, and I asked him how he came by it. ‘This was a present from Sevastopol, but my bayonet made short work of him’.

  ‘I fought at Sevastopol; shrapnel got me in the leg, that’s why I have this limp’.

  A sort of rapport sprung up between us. As we walked we spoke of nothing else, but the Crimea. ‘I accepted the Queens shilling, and this is the result’.

  ‘Is there no help for wounded soldiers’?

  ‘I will accept charity from no-one. I still have my pride, but that’s all I have left. I make enough money from mud larking to survive, but, i’m starting to get ill from the cold, and can’t do it for much longer’.

  ‘Then it is a good thing that we have met, for I cannot allow a fellow soldier to suffer this way. Is there any thing you would like to do?’

  ‘Sailors have told me of the gold mines of Canada. I worked the coal mines before Sevastopol, and would like to try my luck there, but I doubt I will ever get there’.

  ‘Have you family here and what is your name’. ‘Ay, I have a wife, and one child, my name is of little consequence, but it is Joshua Cribb’.

  ‘When can you be ready to leave Joshua’?

  ‘Don’t mock me, Are you rich?’

  ‘Very, very rich. A boat leaves for Canada next Tuesday, I believe, and you and your family will be on it. All I ask of you is this. Return my money when able, and send me some butterflies for my collection’. Tears of happiness streamed down his face.

  ‘I will try, to do the best I can, but I would not know the name of a butterfly, even if it told me its name itself’.

  He shook my hand, and I thought that he would wrench it off.

  ‘We are close to where the nipper, who found the body, lives. He lives on the St Johns Road near the Falcon Brook River. I have seen him many times mud larking in the last few weeks’. With this the man stopped. ‘This is as far as I want you to go. I will bring the lad here’.

  ‘Why’?

  ‘Well, the people who live on Falcon Brook River are some of the poorest around, and to see someone dressed as you are, might lead to trouble. I had never considered the way I dressed to be a problem, but I could see his reasoning. ‘What if I take my coat off, and use yours?’

  ‘They can smell a money a mile away, and a gentleman and his money, are soon parted’.

  ‘Very well but do not take too long. Do not forget, your future is riding upon you coming back, with the boy’.

  ‘I will return as quickly as I can’. An hour passed by, and I was beginning to believe I had been taken for a fool when I saw Joshua, dragging the lad by his collar, down the street towards me.

  ‘You managed to find him then?’

  ‘Yes he tried to run off, but I caught him’.

  ‘What is your name boy?’

  ‘What’s it to you. You’re not from the police, are you?’

  ‘No I am not from the police, although I do want to ask you some questions, and try not to look so worried. Firstly tell me your name’.

  ‘People call me Jack’.

  ‘Well then Jack. I know where the body was found, and I am aware of how long it had been in the water, but what I want to know is, did you take, anything from the body’?

  ‘No I did not’.

  ‘Are you sure? I can always get a policeman, if you wish, but I can assure you, he will not be as lenient as I’. He looked at the ground, and made a vain attempt to escape, but was stopped by Joshua.

  ‘Now I will ask you again. Did you take anything from the body’?

  ‘Yes’, he
said with his head pointing at the ground. ‘What, did you take?

  ‘I took his wallet, and some gold sovereigns. I

  hadn’t eaten for a week, and there was more than enough money to feed all my family. You would have done the same; anyway he had no use for it, did he’?

  ‘Let him go Joshua. I do have any more questions to ask.’

  Nothing had been taken by his killer, and once again, he had been attacked from behind. The lad sped off in the direction of the river.

  ‘Was that all you wanted to ask him’?

  ‘Yes! I needed to be sure, but I suppose that I already knew the answer’.

  ‘Do you have a problem, which I can help you with’? I told him about the killings, and He listened intently.

  ‘I will put the word out, and see if I can find anything to help’.

  ‘Thank you. I need all the help I can get. I will leave you here, for I have other things to attend to, by way of Mary Jeffries’.

  ‘Mary Jeffries. What do you want with that whore’?

  ‘Three friends went through her door, and now they are dead. She ought to know something’ ‘You won’t get anything out of her, not without money. Do you want me to come with you’?

  ‘No. I have been there before, and you have much to do, between now, and Sunday’.

  ‘Why Sunday?’

  ‘Well, you and your family will spend your last days in England at my house, so I can make sure you will get to your ship on Tuesday morning. Bring with you, all of your individual effects, and rid yourselves of the rest. Here are four white five pound notes, buy you, your wife, and son some travelling clothes.

  ‘I can’t accept this, and I cannot understand why you are doing this for us’.

  ‘I have helped many people, and it has always

  resulted, in my becoming .richer, in more ways than one. What I want from you. Is a promise that when you make your fortune, as I am sure you will, you will in turn help others in some way? Let this be your guiding principal, and you will not fail, I never have. These are the directions to my house at Cheyne Walk; I will expect you there at ten a.m Sunday morning, booted, and suited’. ‘We will be there’.

  ‘Make sure that you are. I will make this offer only once’. I shook his hand, and turned to walk away, when I felt a tap on the shoulder. I turned to see Joshua crying. ‘What is it? I asked.

  ‘No one has ever done anything for me, ever’! ‘Then this is your lucky day, see you Sunday, and do not be late.

  SECOND VISIT TO MARY JEFFRIES:

  The next part of the day would take me to Mary Jeffries, which was something I could have done without, but was necessary. I caught a hansom, and was dropped at the end of Church Street, deciding I would walk the rest, of the way. I rapped on the door with my cane, looking round to see if anyone was watching, not that I cared, but I did not want any rumours to circulate back to my wife. The large man who escorted me to the door before answered. ‘What, not you again, more questions’? ‘Yes! I wish to see Mary Jeffries, for what I hope to be the final time’.

  ‘I will be back, in a moment’, he said, almost snarling at me. ‘She will see you. You had better come in’. Something about her disposition had changed considerably since our last meeting, but she still wore clothes that showed her cleavage, leaving nothing to the realms of thought. She knew I was looking, but where else was I supposed to look, I thought.

  ‘That will cost you. If you want to see some more, and how is your wife Charlotte that is her name isn’t it?’

  ‘She is well, and I do not wish you to speak her name again’. If this was to be a game of tit for tat, then I will play it. She showed me into her private rooms.

  ‘Tea or something stronger, brandy I believe’, clearly she had been asking questions about me, but who had given her the answers. I did not wish to know. That was not what I was here for.

  ‘Tea!’. I would not fall into the trap of getting drunk here.

  ‘What is it you want’, she said pouring me a cup of tea.

  ‘Information. Firstly how many more of the ten canes have come through your doors’?

  ‘That is my business’.

  ‘If you do not tell me, I will have this house investigated, and you know that I can’.

  ‘Just the three, four including yourself’. I thought that would loosen her tongue.

  ‘Who have you spoken to about us’?

  ‘No-one, those who come here, are not known to anyone but me, and i’m not saying anything. We are a business like any other, and. We provide a service, and some of them are higher than you’.

  I doubt that! Three of my friends are dead, and this house, is one thing that is common to all three. If there is anything you can tell me, then tell me now. You are playing a very dangerous game, Mary Jeffries’.

  ‘I swear, I have told you all I know, and there is nothing more’. I finished my tea, replacing the empty blue and white cup on its saucer. I was sure there was more, but I would not press it, for now.

  ‘I will go now. I hope I never have to come back here again. Do you understand?’

  ‘I do, and if I hear anything, I will get word to you’ ‘You do that’.

  ‘Are you sure, there is nothing else I can get you, while you are here’. I could not contain my anger, at being here, any longer.

  ‘Go to hell’. With that I left that erroneous place, and went to the offices of Paul Winter, who I found, seated at his desk, as usual pouring over piles of paper, but another desk had found its way into his office.

  THE OFFICE OF PAUL WINTER:

  ‘I see you have found some help?’ I said smiling. ‘Yes, I have taken on an apprentice. I give him all the simple jobs, and that allows me to concentrate on the complex ones, but better than that, I get to see my family at night, and things have got a lot better at home, since I took him on, but what brings you here James’.

  ‘I wish you to prepare passage for three people to Canada, for next Tuesday, and I desire business papers drawn up’.

  ‘What are you going into now James?’

  ‘Gold mining’.

  ‘That carries large risks’.

  ‘I know, but anything for a fellow soldier and one

  who seems to know about mining’.

  ‘What percentage do you want?’

  ‘I think thirty, will suffice, so we will require an agreement, a letter of note for our bank in Canada, and passage to the gold fields’.

  ‘Very well, and in edition I have also finalised the loan with Mr Thompson, which also looks risky’.

  ‘I know, but think of the returns if he can pull it off. A gamble worth taking, I would say, wouldn’t you’?

  ‘What name should I use for your old soldier’? ‘Joshua Cribb’.

  ‘Very well but you will have to excuse me now. I will arrange a loan of two thousand pounds to get Mr Cribb, and family started, to be paid to him by instalments on his arrival in the Canada’.

  Can I afford it’?

  ‘Why do you persist in childish remarks like that, when you know that you can afford almost anything’?

  ‘Because I can, and it lightens the mood. Do not forget, with money I trust you, above all men. I have to be leaving now. I trust you will deliver everything to Cheyne Walk by Saturday evening’.

  ‘I will do’.

  ‘Good day and do not forget the fishing lessons next year’.

  ‘I will not. I am looking forward to it’. I decided to walk the rest of the way home. The day was warm enough, which was unusual for this time of year, so I paused at Bridge gardens on my way home. I sat and marvelled at the many white shapes, formed, by the snow which seemed to cling to all that it touched. I said a prayer for my departed friends in silence, as was the metaphysics way; I also thanked the universe for the friends that were still alive, and the people that I had been able to help. I knew that being grateful in this way, would bring me more health, material, and physical, as it always had. I believed that all prayer should be said in silence, and because
of this, the prayer would become individual, and then heard by the universe, and responded to accordingly.

  I rose, and made my way back to Cheyne Walk. The snow crunched beneath my feet, and it was hard to stand without slipping, but I made it in one piece. The door opened, and a dark haired girl of about sixteen answered.

  ‘The master is not in at the moment’, she said with a tone of voice that could have only come from the other side of the river.

  ‘I have business with your master, and he will be here presently. Might I not wait in the drawing room?’ She stared at me. This was one reply she did not expect.

  ‘Please could you wait here a moment’?

  Edith came to the door. ‘Good afternoon Sir’, she said opening the door wide. ‘Take the master’s coat Catherine’. Her face went quite red.

  ‘I’m sorry sir, but I was not acquainted with who you were’.

  ‘You did well not to let a stranger into the house”, I said laughing. Will you make me a cup of sweet tea, and bring it into the drawing room’.

  ‘Yes sir’. It arrived a few minutes later, and was sipped slowly.

  ‘Do you require anything else sir’.

  ‘Not for the moment thank you. What is your name

  and what do your friends call you?’

  ‘Catherine sir. My friends call me Cathy’.

  ‘Very well then. I will call you Cathy, but only when the mistress is not around, for she is more upper-class than I, in that respect. Tell Edith that I will have boiled chicken and fresh vegetables with onion gravy, to eat tonight, and could you tell her that, I wish to see her.’

  ‘Very well sir’. Edith entered the room a few moments later. ‘There will be four for dinner on Sunday, nothing too fancy mind, these are common folk’. ‘You should stop helping people. People around here talk about the waifs, and strays, that come through this door’. ‘Let them talk. What they say will only fall on deaf ears’.