ADVERTISEMENT
Eldrick looked up at his partner with a sharp, confirmatory glance.
"That's our Parrawhite, of course!" he said. "Who's after him, now?" And
he went on to read the rest of the advertisement, murmuring its
phraseology half-aloud: "'in practice as a solicitor at Nottingham and
who left that town six years ago. If the said James Parrawhite will
communicate with the undersigned he will hear something greatly to his
advantage. Any person able to give information as to his whereabouts
will be suitably rewarded. Apply to Halstead & Byner, 56B, St. Martin's
Chambers, London, W.C.' Um!--Pascoe, hand over that Law List."
Collingwood looked on in silence while Eldrick turned over the pages of
the big book which his partner took down from a shelf. He wondered at
Eldrick's apparent and almost eager interest.
"Halstead & Byner are not solicitors," announced Eldrick presently.
"They must be inquiry agents or something of that sort. Anyway, I'll
write to them, Pascoe, at once."
"You don't know where the fellow is," said Pascoe. "What's the good?"
"No--but we know where he last was," retorted Eldrick. He turned to
Collingwood as the junior partner sauntered out of the room. "Rather odd
that Pascoe should draw my attention to that just now," he remarked.
"This man Parrawhite was, in a certain sense, mixed up with Pratt--at
least, Pratt and I are the only two people who know the secret of
Parrawhite's disappearance from these offices. That was just about the
time of your grandfather's death."
Collingwood immediately became attentive. His first suspicions of Pratt
were formed at the time of which Eldrick spoke, and any reference to
events contemporary excited his interest.
"Who was or is--this man you're talking of?" he asked.
"Bad lot--very!" answered Eldrick, shaking his head. "He and I were
articled together, at the same time, to the same people: we saw a lot of
each other as fellow articled clerks. He afterwards practised in
Nottingham, and he held some good appointments. But he'd a perfect mania
for gambling--the turf--and he went utterly wrong, and misappropriated
clients' money, and in the end he got into prison, and was, of course,
struck off the rolls. I never heard anything of him for years, and then
one day, some time ago, he turned up here and begged me to give him a
job. I did--and I'll do him the credit to say that he earned his money.
But--in the end, his natural badness broke out. One afternoon--I'm
careless about some things--I left some money lying in this
drawer--about forty pounds in notes and gold--and next morning
Parrawhite never came to business. We've never seen or heard of him
since."
"You mentioned Pratt," said Collingwood.
"Only Pratt and I know--about the money," replied Eldrick. "We kept it
secret--I didn't want Pascoe to know I'd been so careless. Pascoe didn't
like Parrawhite--and he doesn't know his record. I only told him that
Parrawhite was a chap I'd known in better circumstances and wanted to
give a hand to."
"You said it was about the time of my grandfather's death?" asked
Collingwood.
"It was just about then--between his death and his funeral I should
say," answered Eldrick, "The two events are associated in my mind.
Anyway, I'd like to know what it is that these people want Parrawhite
for. If it's money that's come to him, it'll be of no advantage--it'll
only go where all the rest's gone."
Collingwood lost interest in Parrawhite. Parrawhite appeared to have
nothing to do with the affairs in which he was interested. He sat down
and began to tell Eldrick about his own suspicions of Pratt at the time
of Antony Bartle's death; of what Jabey Naylor had told him about the
paper taken from the _History of Barford_; of the lad's account of the
old man's doings immediately afterwards; and of his own proceedings
which had led him to believe for the time being that his suspicions were
groundless.
"But now," he went on, "a new idea occurs to me. Suppose that that
paper, found by my grandfather in a book which had certainly belonged to
the late John Mallathorpe, was something important relating to Mrs.
Mallathorpe? Suppose that my grandfather brought it across here to you?
Suppose that finding you out, he showed it to Pratt? As my grandfather
died suddenly, with nobody but Pratt there, what was there to prevent
Pratt from appropriating that paper if he saw that it would give him a
hold over Mrs. Mallathorpe? We know now that he has some document in his
possession which does give him a hold--may it not be that of which the
boy Naylor told me?"
"Might be," agreed Eldrick. "But--my opinion is, taking things all
together, that the paper which Antony Bartle found was the one you
yourself discovered later--the list of books. No--I'll tell you what I
think. I believe that the document which Pratt told Miss Mallathorpe he
holds, and to which her mother referred in the letter asking Pratt to
meet her, is probably--most probably!--one which he discovered in
searching out his relationship to Mrs. Mallathorpe. He's a cute
chap--and he may have found some document which--well, I'll tell you
what it might be--something which would upset the rights of Harper
Mallathorpe to his uncle's estates. No other relatives came forward, or
were heard of, or were discoverable when John Mallathorpe was killed in
that chimney accident; but there may be some--there may be one in
particular. That's my notion!--and I intend, in the first place, to make
a personal search of the parish registers from which Pratt got his
information. He may have discovered something there which he's keeping
to himself."
"You think that is the course to adopt?" asked Collingwood, after a
moment's reflection.
"At present--yes," replied Eldrick. "And while I'm making it--I'll do it
myself--we'll just go on outwardly--as if nothing had happened. If I
meet Pratt--as I shall--I shall not let him see that I know anything. Do
you go on in just the usual way. Go out to Normandale Grange now and
then--and tell Miss Mallathorpe to think no more of her interview with
Pratt until we've something to talk to her about. You talk to her
about--something else."
When Collingwood had left him Eldrick laid a telegram form on his
plotting pad, and after a brief interval of thought wrote out a message
addressed to the people whose advertisement had attracted Pascoe's
attention.
"HALSTEAD & BYNER, 56B, St. Martin's Chambers, London, W.C.
"I can give you definite information concerning James Parrawhite
if you will send representative to see me personally.
"CHARLES ELDRICK, Eldrick & Pascoe, Solicitors, Barford."
After Eldrick had sent off a clerk with this message to the nearest
telegraph office, he sat thinking for some time. And at the close of his
meditations, and after some turning over of a diary which lay on his
desk, he picked up pen and paper, and drafted an advertisement of his
own.
"TEN POUNDS REWARD will be paid to any person who can give
reliable and useful information as to James Parrawhite, who
until November last was a clerk in the employ of Messrs. Eldrick
& Pascoe, Solicitors, Barford, and who is believed to have left
the town on the evening of November 23.--Apply to Mr. CHARLES
ELDRICK, of the above firm."
"Worth risking ten pounds on--anyway," muttered Eldrick. "Whether these
London people will cover it or not. Here!" he went on, turning to a
clerk who had just entered the room. "Make three copies of this
advertisement, and take one to each of the three newspaper offices, and
tell 'em to put it in their personal column tonight."
He sat musing for some time after he was left alone again, and when he
at last rose, it was with a shake of the head.
"I wonder if Pratt told me the truth that morning?" he said to himself.
"Anyway, he's now being proved to be even deeper than I'd ever
considered him. Well--other folk than Pratt are possessed of pretty good
wits."
Before he left the office that evening Eldrick was handed a telegram
from Messrs. Halstead & Byner, of St. Martin's Chambers, informing him
that their Mr. Byner would travel to Barford by the first express next
morning, and would call upon him at eleven o'clock.
"Then they have some important news for Parrawhite," mused Eldrick, as
he put the message in his pocket and went off to his club. "Inquiry
agents don't set off on long journeys at a moment's notice for a matter
of a trifling agency. But--where is Parrawhite?"
He awaited the arrival of Mr. Byner next morning with considerable
curiosity. And soon after eleven there was shown in to him, a smart,
well-dressed, alert-looking young man, who, having introduced himself as
Mr. Gerald Byner, immediately plunged into business.
"You can tell me something of James Parrawhite, Mr. Eldrick?" he began.
"We shall be glad--we've been endeavouring to trace him for some months.
It's odd that you didn't see our advertisement before."
"I don't look at that sort of advertisement," replied Eldrick. "I
believe it was by mere accident that my partner saw yours yesterday
afternoon. But now, a question or two first. What are you--inquiry
agents?"
"Just so, sir--inquiry agents--with a touch of private detective
business," answered Mr. Gerald Byner with a smile. "We undertake to find
people, to watch people, to recover lost property, and so on. In this
case we're acting for Messrs. Vickers, Marshall & Hebbleton, Solicitors,
of Cannon Street. They want James Parrawhite badly."
"Why?" asked Eldrick.
"Because," replied Byner with a dry laugh, "there's about twenty
thousand pounds waiting for him, in their hands."
Eldrick whistled with astonishment.
"Whew!" he said. "Twenty thousand--for Parrawhite! My good sir--if
that's so, and if, as you say, you've been advertising----"
"Advertising in several papers," interrupted Byner. "Dailies, weeklies,
provincials. Never had one reply, till your wire."
"Then--Parrawhite must be dead!" said Eldrick. "Or--in gaol, under
another name. Twenty thousand pounds--waiting for Parrawhite! If
Parrawhite was alive, man, or at liberty, he wouldn't let twenty
thousand pence wait five minutes! I know him!"
"What can you tell me, Mr. Eldrick?" asked the inquiry agent.
Eldrick told all he knew--concealing nothing. And Byner listened
silently and eagerly.
"There's something strikes me at once," he said. "You say that with him
disappeared three or four ten-pound notes of yours. Have you the numbers
of those notes?"
"I can't say," replied Eldrick, doubtfully. "I haven't, certainly.
But--they were paid in to our head-clerk, Pratt, and I think he used to
enter such things in a sort of day-ledger. I'll get it."
He went into the clerks' office and presently returned with an oblong,
marble-backed book which he began to turn over.
"This may be what you ask about," he said at last. "Here, under date
November 23, are some letters and figures which obviously refer to
bank-notes. You can copy them if you like."
"Another question, Mr. Eldrick," remarked Byner as he made a note of the
entries. "You say some cheque forms were abstracted from a book of yours
at the same time. Have you ever heard of any of these cheque forms being
made use of?"
"Never!" replied Eldrick.
"No forgery of your name or anything?" suggested the caller.
"No," said Eldrick. "There's been nothing of that sort."
"I can soon ascertain if these bank-notes have reached the Bank of
England," said Byner. "That's a simple matter. Now suppose they
haven't!"
"Well?" asked Eldrick.
"You know, of course," continued Byner, "that it doesn't take long for a
Bank of England note, once issued, to get back to the Bank? You know,
too, that it's never issued again. Now if those notes haven't been
presented at the Bank--where are they? And if no use has been made of
your stolen cheques--where are they?"
"Good!" agreed Eldrick. "I see that you ought to do well in your special
line of business. Now--are you going to pursue inquiries for Parrawhite
here in Barford, after what I've told you?"
"Certainly!" said Byner. "I came down prepared to stop awhile. It's
highly important that this man should be found--highly important," he
added smiling, "to other people than Parrawhite himself."
"In what way?" asked Eldrick.
"Why," replied Byner, "if he's dead--as he may be--this money goes to
somebody else--a relative. The relative would be very glad to hear he is
dead! But--definite news will be welcome, in any case. Oh, yes, now that
I've got down here, I shall do my best to trace him. You have the
address of the woman he lodged with, you say. I shall go there first, of
course. Then I must try to find out what he did with himself in his
spare time. But, from all you tell me, it's my impression he's
dead--unless, as you say, he's got into prison again--possibly under
another name. It seems impossible that he should not have seen our
advertisements."
"You never advertised in any Yorkshire newspapers?" asked Eldrick.
"No," said Byner. "Because we'd no knowledge of his having come so far
North. We advertised in the Midland papers. But then, all the London
papers, daily and weekly, that we used come down to Yorkshire."
"Parrawhite," said Eldrick reflectively, "was a big newspaper reader. He
used to go to the Free Library reading-room a great deal. I begin to
think he must certainly be dead--or locked up. However, in supplement of
your endeavours, I did a little work of my own last night. There you
are!" he went on, picking up the local papers and handing them over. "I
put that in--we'll see if any response comes. But now a word, Mr. Byner,
since you've come to me. You have heard me mention my late
clerk--Pratt?"
"Yes," answered Byner.
"Pratt has left us, and is in business as a sort of estate agent in the
next street," continued Eldrick. "Now I have particular reasons--most
particular reasons!--why Pratt should remain in absolute ignorance of
your presence in the town. If you should happen to come across him--as
you may, for though there are a quarter of a million of us here, it's a
small place, compared with London--don't let him know your business."
"I'm not very likely to do that, Mr. Eldrick," remarked Byner quietly.
"Aye, but you don't take my meaning," said Eldrick eagerly. "I mean
this--it's just possible that Pratt may see that advertisement of yours,
and that he may write to your firm. In that case, as he's here, and
you're here, your partner would send his letter to you. Don't deal with
it--here. Don't--if you should come across Pratt, even let him know your
name!"
"When I've a job of this sort," replied Byner, "I don't let anybody know
my name--except people like you. When I register at one of your hotels
presently, I shall be Mr. Black of London. But--if this Pratt wanted to
give any information about Parrawhite, he'd give it to you, surely, now
that you've advertised."
"No, he wouldn't!" asserted Eldrick. "Why? Because he's told me all he
knows--or says he knows--already!"
The inquiry agent looked keenly at the solicitor for a moment during
which they both kept silence. Then Byner smiled.
"You said--'or says he knows,'" he remarked. "Do you think he didn't
tell the truth about Parrawhite?"
"I should say--now--it's quite likely he didn't," answered Eldrick. "The
truth is, I'm making some inquiry myself about Pratt--and I don't want
this to interfere with it. You keep me informed of what you find out,
and I'll help you all I can while you're here. It may be----"
A clerk came into the room and looked at his master.
"Mr. George Pickard, of the _Green Man_ at Whitcliffe, sir," he said.
"Well?" asked Eldrick.
"Wants to see you about that advertisement in the paper this morning,
sir," continued the clerk.
Eldrick looked at Byner and smiled significantly. Then he turned towards
the door.
"Bring Mr. Pickard in," he said.