7th July.
SIR,--As you have not honoured me with any answer to my last
communication, I assume that, in spite of your prejudices against me, it
has produced the favourable impression on your mind which I ventured to
anticipate. Gratified and encouraged beyond measure by the token of
approval which your eloquent silence conveys to me, I proceed to report
the progress that has been made in the course of the last twenty-four
hours.
I am now comfortably established next door to Mr. Jay, and I am
delighted to say that I have two holes in the partition instead of one.
My natural sense of humour has led me into the pardonable extravagance
of giving them both appropriate names. One I call my peep-hole, and the
other my pipe-hole. The name of the first explains itself; the name of
the second refers to a small tin pipe or tube inserted in the hole, and
twisted so that the mouth of it comes close to my ear while I am
standing at my post of observation. Thus, while I am looking at Mr. Jay
through my peep-hole, I can hear every word that may be spoken in his
room through my pipe-hole.
Perfect candour--a virtue which I have possessed from my
childhood--compels me to acknowledge, before I go any farther, that the
ingenious notion of adding a pipe-hole to my proposed peep-hole
originated with Mrs. Yatman. This lady--a most intelligent and
accomplished person, simple, and yet distinguished in her manners, has
entered into all my little plans with an enthusiasm and intelligence
which I can not too highly praise. Mr. Yatman is so cast down by his
loss that he is quite incapable of affording me any assistance. Mrs.
Yatman, who is evidently most tenderly attached to him, feels her
husband's sad condition of mind even more acutely than she feels the
loss of the money, and is mainly stimulated to exertion by her desire to
assist in raising him from the miserable state of prostration into which
he has now fallen.
"The money, Mr. Sharpin," she said to me yesterday evening, with tears
in her eyes, "the money may be regained by rigid economy and strict
attention to business. It is my husband's wretched state of mind that
makes me so anxious for the discovery of the thief. I may be wrong, but
I felt hopeful of success as soon as you entered the house; and I
believe that, if the wretch who robbed us is to be found, you are the
man to discover him." I accepted this gratifying compliment in the
spirit in which it was offered, firmly believing that I shall be found,
sooner or later, to have thoroughly deserved it.
Let me now return to business--that is to say, to my peep-hole and my
pipe-hole.
I have enjoyed some hours of calm observation of Mr. Jay. Though rarely
at home, as I understand from Mrs. Yatman, on ordinary occasions, he has
been indoors the whole of this day. That is suspicious, to begin with. I
have to report, further, that he rose at a late hour this morning
(always a bad sign in a young man), and that he lost a great deal of
time, after he was up, in yawning and complaining to himself of
headache. Like other debauched characters, he ate little or nothing for
breakfast. His next proceeding was to smoke a pipe--a dirty clay pipe,
which a gentleman would have been ashamed to put between his lips. When
he had done smoking he took out pen, ink, and paper, and sat down to
write with a groan--whether of remorse for having taken the bank-notes,
or of disgust at the task before him, I am unable to say. After writing
a few lines (too far away from my peep-hole to give me a chance of
reading over his shoulder), he leaned back in his chair, and amused
himself by humming the tunes of popular songs. I recognized "My Mary
Anne," "Bobbin' Around," and "Old Dog Tray," among other melodies.
Whether these do or do not represent secret signals by which he
communicates with his accomplices remains to be seen. After he had
amused himself for some time by humming, he got up and began to walk
about the room, occasionally stopping to add a sentence to the paper on
his desk. Before long he went to a locked cupboard and opened it. I
strained my eyes eagerly, in expectation of making a discovery. I saw
him take something carefully out of the cupboard--he turned round--and
it was only a pint bottle of brandy! Having drunk some of the liquor,
this extremely indolent reprobate lay down on his bed again, and in five
minutes was fast asleep.
After hearing him snoring for at least two hours, I was recalled to my
peep-hole by a knock at his door. He jumped up and opened it with
suspicious activity.
A very small boy, with a very dirty face, walked in, said, "Please, sir,
they're waiting for you," sat down with his legs a long way from the
ground, and instantly fell asleep! Mr. Jay swore an oath, tied a wet
towel round his head, and, going back to his paper, began to cover it
with, writing as fast as his fingers could move the pen. Occasionally
getting up to dip the towel in water and tie it on again, he continued
at this employment for nearly three hours; then folded up the leaves of
writing, woke the boy, and gave them to him, with this remarkable
expression: "Now, then, young sleepy-head, quick march! If you see the
governor, tell him to have the money ready for me when I call for it."
The boy grinned and disappeared. I was sorely tempted to follow
"sleepy-head," but, on reflection, considered it safest still to keep my
eye on the proceedings of Mr. Jay.
In half an hour's time he put on his hat and walked out. Of course, I
put on my hat and walked out also. As I went downstairs I passed Mrs.
Yatman going up. The lady has been kind enough to undertake, by previous
arrangement between us, to search Mr. Jay's room while he is out of the
way, and while I am necessarily engaged in the pleasing duty of
following him wherever he goes. On the occasion to which I now refer, he
walked straight to the nearest tavern, and ordered a couple of
mutton-chops for his dinner. I placed myself in the next box to him, and
ordered a couple of mutton-chops for my dinner. Before I had been in the
room a minute, a young man of highly suspicious manners and appearance,
sitting at a table opposite, took his glass of porter in his hand and
joined Mr. Jay. I pretended to be reading the newspaper, and listened,
as in duty bound, with all my might.
"Jack has been here inquiring after you," says the young man.
"Did he leave any message?" asks Mr. Jay.
"Yes," says the other. "He told me, if I met with you, to say that he
wished very particularly to see you to-night, and that he would give you
a look in at Rutherford Street at seven o'clock."
"All right," says Mr. Jay. "I'll get back in time to see him."
Upon this, the suspicious-looking young man finished his porter, and
saying that he was rather in a hurry, took leave of his friend (perhaps
I should not be wrong if I said his accomplice?), and left the room.
At twenty-five minutes and a half past six--in these serious cases it is
important to be particular about time--Mr. Jay finished his chops and
paid his bill. At twenty-six minutes and three quarters I finished my
chops and paid mine. In ten minutes more I was inside the house in
Rutherford Street, and was received by Mrs. Yatman in the passage. That
charming woman's face exhibited an expression of melancholy and
disappointment which it quite grieved me to see.
"I am afraid, ma'am," says I, "that you have not hit on any little
criminating discovery in the lodger's room?"
She shook her head and sighed. It was a soft, languid, fluttering
sigh--and, upon my life, it quite upset me. For the moment I forgot
business, and burned with envy of Mr. Yatman.
"Don't despair, ma'am," I said, with an insinuating mildness which
seemed to touch her. "I have heard a mysterious conversation--I know of
a guilty appointment--and I expect great things from my peep-hole and my
pipe-hole to-night. Pray don't be alarmed, but I think we are on the
brink of a discovery."
Here my enthusiastic devotion to business got the better part of my
tender feelings. I looked--winked--nodded--left her.
When I got back to my observatory, I found Mr. Jay digesting his
mutton-chops in an arm-chair, with his pipe in his mouth. On his table
were two tumblers, a jug of water, and the pint bottle of brandy. It was
then close upon seven o'clock. As the hour struck the person described
as "Jack" walked in.
He looked agitated--I am happy to say he looked violently agitated. The
cheerful glow of anticipated success diffused itself (to use a strong
expression) all over me, from head to foot. With breathless interest I
looked through my peep-hole, and saw the visitor--the "Jack" of this
delightful case--sit down, facing me, at the opposite side of the table
to Mr. Jay. Making allowance for the difference in expression which
their countenances just now happened to exhibit, these two abandoned
villains were so much alike in other respects as to lead at once to the
conclusion that they were brothers. Jack was the cleaner man and the
better dressed of the two. I admit that, at the outset. It is, perhaps,
one of my failings to push justice and impartiality to their utmost
limits. I am no Pharisee; and where Vice has its redeeming point, I say,
let Vice have its due--yes, yes, by all manner of means, let Vice have
its due.
"What's the matter now, Jack?" says Mr. Jay.
"Can't you see it in my face?" says Jack. "My dear fellow, delays are
dangerous. Let us have done with suspense, and risk it, the day after
to-morrow."
"So soon as that?" cries Mr. Jay, looking very much astonished. "Well,
I'm ready, if you are. But, I say, Jack, is somebody else ready too? Are
you quite sure of that?"
He smiled as he spoke--a frightful smile--and laid a very strong
emphasis on those two words, "Somebody else." There is evidently a third
ruffian, a nameless desperado, concerned in the business.
"Meet us to-morrow," says Jack, "and judge for yourself. Be in the
Regent's Park at eleven in the morning, and look out for us at the
turning that leads to the Avenue Road."
"I'll be there," says Mr. Jay. "Have a drop of brandy and water? What
are you getting up for? You're not going already?"
"Yes I am," says Jack. "The fact is, I'm so excited and agitated that I
can't sit still anywhere for five minutes together. Ridiculous as it may
appear to you, I'm in a perpetual state of nervous flutter. I can't, for
the life of me, help fearing that we shall be found out. I fancy that
every man who looks twice at me in the street is a spy--"
At these words I thought my legs would have given way under me. Nothing
but strength of mind kept me at my peep-hole--nothing else, I give you
my word of honour.
"Stuff and nonsense!" cries Mr. Jay, with all the effrontery of a
veteran in crime. "We have kept the secret up to this time, and we will
manage cleverly to the end. Have a drop of brandy and water, and you
will feel as certain about it as I do."
Jack steadily refused the brandy and water, and steadily persisted in
taking his leave.
"I must try if I can't walk it off," he said. "Remember to-morrow
morning--eleven o'clock, Avenue Road, side of the Regent's Park."
With those words he went out. His hardened relative laughed desperately
and resumed the dirty clay pipe.