It is clear to me that no attempt has yet been made to change the stolen
bank-notes, and I may add that Sergeant Bulmer was of that opinion also
when he left the case in my hands. What is the natural conclusion to
draw from the conversation which I have just set down? Evidently that
the confederates meet to-morrow to take their respective shares in the
stolen money, and to decide on the safest means of getting the notes
changed the day after. Mr. Jay is, beyond a doubt, the leading criminal
in this business, and he will probably run the chief risk--that of
changing the fifty-pound note. I shall, therefore, still make it my
business to follow him--attending at the Regent's Park to-morrow, and
doing my best to hear what is said there. If another appointment is
made for the day after, I shall, of course, go to it. In the meantime, I
shall want the immediate assistance of two competent persons (supposing
the rascals separate after their meeting) to follow the two minor
criminals. It is only fair to add that, if the rogues all retire
together, I shall probably keep my subordinates in reserve. Being
naturally ambitious, I desire, if possible, to have the whole credit of
discovering this robbery to myself.
8th July.
I have to acknowledge, with thanks, the speedy arrival of my two
subordinates--men of very average abilities, I am afraid; but,
fortunately, I shall always be on the spot to direct them.
My first business this morning was necessarily to prevent possible
mistakes by accounting to Mr. and Mrs. Yatman for the presence of two
strangers on the scene. Mr. Yatman (between ourselves, a poor, feeble
man) only shook his head and groaned. Mrs. Yatman (that superior woman)
favoured me with a charming look of intelligence.
"Oh, Mr. Sharpin!" she said, "I am so sorry to see those two men! Your
sending for their assistance looks as if you were beginning to be
doubtful of success."
I privately winked at her (she is very good in allowing me to do so
without taking offence), and told her, in my facetious way, that she
laboured under a slight mistake.
"It is because I am sure of success, ma'am, that I send for them. I am
determined to recover the money, not for my own sake only, but for Mr.
Yatman's sake--and for yours."
I laid a considerable amount of stress on those last three words. She
said, "Oh, Mr. Sharpin!" again, and blushed of a heavenly red, and
looked down at her work. I could go to the world's end with that woman
if Mr. Yatman would only die.
I sent off the two subordinates to wait until I wanted them at the
Avenue Road gate of the Regent's Park. Half an hour afterward I was
following the same direction myself at the heels of Mr. Jay.
The two confederates were punctual to the appointed time. I blush to
record it, but it is nevertheless necessary to state that the third
rogue--the nameless desperado of my report, or, if you prefer it, the
mysterious "somebody else" of the conversation between the two
brothers--is--a woman! and, what is worse, a young woman! and, what is
more lamentable still, a nice-looking woman! I have long resisted a
growing conviction that, wherever there is mischief in this world, an
individual of the fair sex is inevitably certain to be mixed up in it.
After the experience of this morning, I can struggle against that sad
conclusion no longer. I give up the sex--excepting Mrs. Yatman, I give
up the sex.
The man named "Jack" offered the woman his arm. Mr. Jay placed himself
on the other side of her. The three then walked away slowly among the
trees. I followed them at a respectful distance. My two subordinates, at
a respectful distance also, followed me.
It was, I deeply regret to say, impossible to get near enough to them to
overhear their conversation without running too great a risk of being
discovered. I could only infer from their gestures and actions that they
were all three talking with extraordinary earnestness on some subject
which deeply interested them. After having been engaged in this way a
full quarter of an hour, they suddenly turned round to retrace their
steps. My presence of mind did not forsake me in this emergency. I
signed to the two subordinates to walk on carelessly and pass them,
while I myself slipped dexterously behind a tree. As they came by me, I
heard "Jack" address these words to Mr. Jay:
"Let us say half past ten to-morrow morning. And mind you come in a cab.
We had better not risk taking one in this neighbourhood."
Mr. Jay made some brief reply which I could not overhear. They walked
back to the place at which they had met, shaking hands there with an
audacious cordiality which it quite sickened me to see. They then
separated. I followed Mr. Jay. My subordinates paid the same delicate
attention to the other two.
Instead of taking me back to Rutherford Street, Mr. Jay led me to the
Strand. He stopped at a dingy, disreputable-looking house, which,
according to the inscription over the door, was a newspaper office, but
which, in my judgment, had all the external appearance of a place
devoted to the reception of stolen goods.
After remaining inside for a few minutes, he came out whistling, with
his finger and thumb in his waistcoat pocket. Some men would now have
arrested him on the spot. I remembered the necessity of catching the two
confederates, and the importance of not interfering with the appointment
that had been made for the next morning. Such coolness as this, under
trying circumstances, is rarely to be found, I should imagine, in a
young beginner, whose reputation as a detective policeman is still to
make.
From the house of suspicious appearance Mr. Jay betook himself to a
cigar-divan, and read the magazines over a cheroot. From the divan he
strolled to the tavern and had his chops. I strolled to the tavern and
had my chops. When he had done he went back to his lodging. When I had
done I went back to mine. He was overcome with drowsiness early in the
evening, and went to bed. As soon as I heard him snoring, I was overcome
with drowsiness and went to bed also.
Early in the morning my two subordinates came to make their report.
They had seen the man named "Jack" leave the woman at the gate of an
apparently respectable villa residence not far from the Regent's Park.
Left to himself, he took a turning to the right, which led to a sort of
suburban street, principally inhabited by shopkeepers. He stopped at the
private door of one of the houses, and let himself in with his own
key--looking about him as he opened the door, and staring suspiciously
at my men as they lounged along on the opposite side of the way. These
were all the particulars which the subordinates had to communicate. I
kept them in my room to attend on me, if needful, and mounted to my
peep-hole to have a look at Mr. Jay.
He was occupied in dressing himself, and was taking extraordinary pains
to destroy all traces of the natural slovenliness of his appearance.
This was precisely what I expected. A vagabond like Mr. Jay knows the
importance of giving himself a respectable look when he is going to run
the risk of changing a stolen bank-note. At five minutes past ten
o'clock he had given the last brush to his shabby hat and the last
scouring with bread-crumb to his dirty gloves. At ten minutes past ten
he was in the street, on his way to the nearest cab-stand, and I and my
subordinates were close on his heels.
He took a cab, and we took a cab. I had not overheard them appoint a
place of meeting when following them in the Park on the previous day,
but I soon found that we were proceeding in the old direction of the
Avenue Road gate. The cab in which Mr. Jay was riding turned into the
Park slowly. We stopped outside, to avoid exciting suspicion. I got out
to follow the cab on foot. Just as I did so, I saw it stop, and
detected the two confederates approaching it from among the trees. They
got in, and the cab was turned about directly. I ran back to my own cab,
and told the driver to let them pass him, and then to follow as before.
The man obeyed my directions, but so clumsily as to excite their
suspicions. We had been driving after them about three minutes
(returning along the road by which we had advanced) when I looked out of
the window to see how far they might be ahead of us. As I did this, I
saw two hats popped out of the windows of their cab, and two faces
looking back at me. I sank into my place in a cold sweat; the expression
is coarse, but no other form of words can describe my condition at that
trying moment.
"We are found out!" I said, faintly, to my two subordinates. They stared
at me in astonishment. My feelings changed instantly from the depth of
despair to the height of indignation.
"It is the cabman's fault. Get out, one of you," I said, with
dignity--"get out, and punch his head."
Instead of following my directions (I should wish this act of
disobedience to be reported at headquarters) they both looked out of the
window. Before I could express my just indignation, they both grinned,
and said to me, "Please to look out, sir!"