"My good fellow," said he, "I couldn't let you sleep any longer. That
infernal name has come to my mind. My correspondent lived in Warren
County somewhere,--Pinckney, I think is the name of his place, and I am
sure the old clerk read his name to us to-day, but I could not recall
it then."
I asked him _why_ "in the name of St. George," he didn't take his
pencil and make a note of this, and let me sleep till morning,
reminding him that we could not do anything till daylight. With English
stupidity, he said he didn't think so far as that, and didn't suppose I
was asleep, as he was not! And back to bed I went, without even
thanking him for thus disturbing me. In the morning we again repaired
to the old clerk, and found at last the name of Mr. Rogers's
correspondent. He was a very shrewd lawyer, so said the old clerk, and
I "wormed out" of him that the fellow was rather "tricky." At this time
I knew nothing of Mr. Rogers's affair with the Vermont lawyer. He was
rather ashamed of that, and I never heard a word about it till my visit
to England subsequently. It was arranged that I go alone out to
Pinckney, about twenty-five miles west, or north-west of St. Louis, and
I departed--found the lawyer; and I would like to give his full name,
for reasons which will suggest themselves to the reader as he goes on,
but the man is still living, I hear; has since been a member of
Congress (from another State than Missouri, however), and is believed
to be a very honest, upright man in his present neighborhood; and,
perhaps, he has properly won the esteem he enjoys. I believe in the
right and privilege of scoundrels to repent, if they are so inclined
(and here let me interpolate, that, in my opinion, if society at large
would recognize and _respect_ such right and privilege, many a villain,
who now preys upon communities, would lead a respectable life; and nine
tenths of the poor fallen women, now "hedged in" (as that piquant and
humanitary author, Miss Elizabeth Phelps, would express it), by the
unforgiving spirit of the times, and confined to the low estate into
which they are fallen, would abandon their unhappy mode of life, and
become true and pure women again; and many of them, too, become the
very best, noblest, and greatest women of the age).
Well, I found the lawyer; and such a man I never encountered before.
Affable, "good-looking" in the general, but with a something so
devilish about him--something indefinable--I have never met another
like him, save within the last year from this writing, when I was
closeted at the gubernatorial rooms with the governor of a certain
Southern State,--the keenest mere politician, perhaps, now on the
stage. I made my errand known at once to the lawyer, that is, I told
him that I came as the emissary of his English correspondent, Mr.
Rogers, and at the same time handed him a short note of introduction,
which Mr. Rogers had prepared just before I started. This was a
mistake; but I never suspected that I should find such a man to deal
with. As he opened the note, he turned his back upon me, but a little
too late, evidently, to hide an expression of triumph on his face. I
instantly suspected foul play, and as instantly put myself into the
mood to receive it.
"Ah, my friend Rogers has got as far as St. Louis, on his scent?" said
he, turning about to me. "What does he expect?"
"The note of introduction tells you--does it not?"
"No, not exactly; Mr. Campbell" (the name I had assumed, for the reader
knows, who has followed these pages, that I had been in St. Louis
before, and there was a good reason now why I should not appear upon
the register of the hotel by any of my old names); "but tell me what
sort of a man is this Mr. Rogers. I have never seen him. I can only
judge by his writing."
"Well, what do you judge by his writing?" I asked, resolved to tell him
as little as need be.
"I hardly know, in fact. Is he a pretty resolute man--man of sanguinary
temperament?"
"I am not technically acquainted with temperaments--couldn't tell what
you would call his."
"Well, describe him; is he large or small, red or black-haired; old or
young; hearty or ill?"
"You've seen a good many Englishmen in your life, I suppose," I replied.
"O, yes, sir; a great many."
"Well, to my eye, he's pretty much like all the rest."
"That's not very definite, sir; but I suppose you don't study these
matters of temperament, etc., as much as we lawyers do. It is a part of
our business. We must know our clients in order to serve them well."
"But, in this case, I don't see why it is necessary to know your client
at all. No matter who he is; all he wants is to find Mr. Frederic
Hague, and I have come to you to learn where he is, with instructions
from Mr. Rogers to pay you for the trouble you have been at, and for
whatever further assistance you may render him," I replied.
"Yes, yes; well--I should--should rather like to see Mr. Rogers first,"
drawlingly responded he; and I felt that I was in the hands of a
practised scoundrel, as well as a practising lawyer, and I resolved to
bring matters to a focus at once; and so I inquired, "Well, sir, what
is your bill for past services, and what will you demand for pointing
out Mr. Hague? Is he here with you?"
"No, he's not in this quarter now. I mean he lives in another State,"
returned he, hurriedly; for that word "now" had escaped his lips
undesignedly.
"Well, I reckon I shall have to charge Mr. Rogers five hundred dollars
for the trouble I've been at. It has cost a great deal of anxiety."
"Why, sir, if I understand Mr. Rogers aright, your correspondence with
him was to the extent of only a half dozen letters at most; and you are
not sure at that, it would seem, from what he says you wrote him, that
you have found the veritable Frederic Hague. Suppose you divide up your
bill--charge some reasonable sum for the services you have rendered,
and let the rest of the five hundred remain contingent on your
presenting to Mr. Rogers the real Mr. Hague?" said I. This seemed to
open up to him a new vision of things.
"Well, I will," said he; "give me two hundred and fifty dollars down,
and I will wait for the rest till I produce Mr. Hague."
"Are these your best terms?"
"Yes; I must be paid for my services, and Mr. Rogers can afford to pay,
for he'll make Hague pay the bill finally, of course."
"I will report to Mr. Rogers," said I, "and will let you hear from me
in a few days at most," I said. "Good day, sir."
He bade me a very pleasant day, hoped I'd have a pleasant ride back to
St. Louis, and that our acquaintance, "so pleasantly inaugurated" (to
use his own words), would continue, etc., in a most fascinating way, as
if he felt that his little scheme for putting five hundred new dollars
in his pocket was already a confirmed success.
But I had no notion at all that Mr. Rogers would suffer himself to be
bled to the tune of two hundred and fifty dollars on a decided
uncertainty, and two hundred and fifty more, too, on another
uncertainty; and as that little word "now" had not escaped my notice, I
thought best to institute some inquiries in the village about this Mr.
Hague before I left. So, returning to the little hotel, where I
stopped, I inquired about the lawyer in the place and vicinity, and
soon found out who among them was this lawyer's greatest foe,--the
thing I wished to learn; and finding that he lived in an adjoining
town, about five miles away, I procured a horse and rode over there to
consult him. He was quite the opposite of the other in personal
appearance. Mr. John Howe (now dead, I hear with regret, for he was one
of those men who ought to live always) was a frank, open-hearted,
sturdy man, of fine intellect, scorning to do mean things, and was, by
nature, the uncompromising foe of such men as the one I had just left.
So I found him, and the more I talked with him the less homely he grew
to my eye; for I confess he was called, in the vernacular of that
quarter, "the homeliest man, by a heap, around these yere diggings."
But he was good, and that's "better than riches."
I told him my story. He wasn't at all surprised at the lawyer's
exactions, and told me that he doubted anybody's being about there by
the name of Hague. Said that he had seen a man in the lawyer's office
some three months before that would answer the description I gave of
Hague, as to age, etc., but said I would find he was known by some
other name; that the lawyer had doubtless picked him up on speculation,
having probably seen one of the advertisements, and that Hague himself
was in his power, and had probably been induced to change his name. He
said the lawyer had a plantation in Arkansas, and occasionally went
down to New Orleans. So that it would not be strange if he had
encountered "Hague" somewhere, and brought him home, and made a sort of
servant of him, while he was carrying on the correspondence. The man he
had in his office was a wreck, and in his poverty easily controllable.
Mr. Howe agreed to make all inquiry possible into the matter at once,
and I went back to the village; and making sundry acquaintances, I
inquired after new comers, and eventually found that there was
occasionally in the village, and sometimes with the lawyer, a fellow
called John Dinsmore, who, on a drunken occasion, two months or so
before, had boasted that he was the ward of an English lord, and had
large estates in England, and that he was going back, by and by, with
Squire ---- (the lawyer) to get his property. This was considered a
drunken man's idle boast, and would have been forgotten but for my
inquiry. I found out what persons had been most seen with this
John,--for I was sure he was the man I wanted to find--and left some
money in my informant's hands to encourage him in "the field of
research," and instructed him to find out in as adroit a way as he
could, where John could be found; and back I went to St. Louis, to see
Mr. Rogers. I told him of my visit to the lawyer, and its results,
without stating at first what I had subsequently done.
As I expected, Mr. Rogers was very wroth; but finally said, he supposed
he would have to pay the five hundred dollars; he had come too far to
lose his game now, he said. Whereupon I told him I hoped we should be
able to avoid the exaction, and "take in" the lawyer--play a sharp game
on him; and told him what further I had learned. The old man brightened
up, and said he'd rather spend two hundred pounds, in his own way, than
be swindled out of a hundred; and told me to "go ahead," and take my
own time for a while. I went back to Warren County, and got scent of my
man. A boon companion of his had told my "spy" that John had gone off
to the lawyer's plantation in Arkansas, where he was a sort of
supernumerary overseer; but where the plantation lay, nobody knew
within nearer than fifty miles; at least my man could get no definite
information. So I instructed my friend how to act, and sent him over to
the lawyer's with a statement that a cousin of his (my friend) had got
it into his head to buy out a plantation somewhere in Arkansas; that he
had a plenty of money, and wanted a good plantation, and would stock it
well; that he was coming down from Lewis County in a few days, and
wanted him to go on "prospecting" with him. Could the lawyer give him
any idea of where such a plantation could be found?
The bait took. The lawyer was not only ready to have good neighbors to
his plantation, but was ready to sell his own for "a fair price." Of
course this led to the naming of the place, and the time it would take
to go there. The plantation was in the vicinity of Gascony, Jefferson
County, on the Arkansas River, as my friend reported, on his return
from the lawyer's, and I felt easy. I rode over to see Squire Howe, and
told him of the situation of things. Meanwhile he had been active, and
had learned that John Dinsmore was the name of the man he had seen in
the lawyer's, and that he had gone to the plantation in Arkansas. So I
felt quite assured that we were on the right track. That night I went
back to the village--called next day on the lawyer, and told him that
Mr. Rogers would not pay him over a hundred dollars to produce Mr.
Hague; to which he replied, in a very gruff and decided way,--
"He can't have him short of my first figures; no, he shall not have him
now for less than a thousand dollars."
"Well," said I, "that ends the matter. Mr. Rogers will return to
England, I think, without his man, rather than pay you over a hundred
dollars. It won't be any loss to him, except what he has already been
at, if he don't find him; but," said I, "I guess we'll leave it this
way. You may hear from him again or you may not. He will not remain in
this country over a month longer, at most."
"O, he won't go away without his man," said he, with a soft, oily
voice; "he'll think better of it, and pay the money, before he returns."
"Perhaps so," said I; and I bade him a pleasant good day. We shook
hands quite cordially, and I got off to St. Louis as soon as possible,
and the next day in the afternoon found us on board the steamer "Pike,
No. 9,"--a Cincinnati and New Orleans boat, which had been run out of
line up to St. Louis, on an extra occasion,--on our way to Napoleon,
Arkansas, where we arrived duly, with no noticeable incidents on board
(save one, and that is the key to another narrative I may write out for
this work), "always excepting," of course, "as worthy of note," the
gambling, tippling, bowie-knife exercises, and so forth, by which
steamboating on the Mississippi used, more than in later years, to be
rendered "interesting and fascinating;" and the next day the shaky
steamboat "Little Rock" bore us on our way up the Arkansas.
We arrived safely at Gascony, and were not many hours in finding our
way to the plantation, and in the presence of Frederic Hague, alias
John Dinsmore. Mr. Rogers was a most delighted man, when, by sundry
questions, he assured himself of the identity of the man; but he could
not be satisfied till Hague pulled off his flannel wrapper (for he wore
no shirt, poor fellow, and everybody who can wears flannels, in that
region, in summer as well as winter). The dirty old wrapper tore into
pieces in the operation; and I dare say that Hague had not removed it
before in two months. But there was the "private mark." There was no
disputing that; and Mr. Rogers ordered, on the evening of that day, the
richest dinner ever cooked, I presume, at a country hotel in that
State. He did not forswear wines, such as they were, and both he and
Hague put me quite to shame with the amount of liquor they drank. But I
must hasten with my story.
We learned from Hague that the Missouri lawyer had picked him up at
Napoleon one day, learned something of his history, called to mind an
advertisement he had seen, took him on to Missouri, as he was at that
time on his way home, and had a written contract with him for one half
of his estate, if he should recover it. He had kept him there and on
the plantation in Arkansas, and sometimes wrote him, always
encouragingly, about the matter of the estate. Hague had got it into
his head that that lawyer was the only authorized person to treat with,
and he was jubilant when he found himself out of his clutches.
We were to return to St. Louis, in any event, to see after some
manufacturing matters in which Mr. Rogers had taken some interest, and
I felt, and so did Hague, that it would be well enough to have a little
fun with the lawyer. So, after we arrived at St. Louis, I went out to
Warren County to see him again, and told him I was ready to give him
the two hundred and fifty dollars down, and two hundred and fifty more
on his producing the identical Frederic Hague, if he would put himself
under bonds of five hundred dollars, or put the money in the hands of
the village landlord, to be paid over to me in case his Frederic Hague
should, under my cross-examination, fail to assert himself to be the
true Frederic Hague. He assented, being positively sure of his five
hundred dollars, as he thought, and I drew up to his table and
scratched off a short agreement, taking care to word it as indicated
above. He was to produce Hague within a week and a half or two weeks,
and I was to wait there or in St. Louis.
The next day Hague came straggling along, playing drunk, and told the
lawyer a proper story; and he told Hague his time was come--that an
Englishman would be there to see him, and take him home, to restore to
him his estate, and he wanted Hague to make some alteration in their
contract. Hague consented, but when he got the paper in his hands he
feigned crazy, had a fit, a proper one, and tore and in part ate up the
contract, and felt "relieved," as he said afterwards.
The lawyer caused me to be sent for. Luckily, as he thought, I had not
left the village. When I reached his office he took me aside very
privately, and told me the "bird" had dropped down upon him, all of a
sudden, in a very providential way, and that now he would show me Mr.
Hague, when I was ready to deposit, and he would do the same. The
landlord was sent for, preliminaries arranged, and Frederic Hague
called in. The lawyer questioned him before me, and he answered all
clearly, even to having a "private mark on his shoulder," etc.
"He's your witness now," said the lawyer, triumphantly, probably
feeling the five hundred dollars itching in his palms. And I commenced,
with confidence of success, for Hague and I had practised "our parts,"
and "rehearsed" to my satisfaction.
"You say your name is 'Frederic Hague'?"
"Yes, sir."
"How do you know?"
"That's what they call me."
"Ah! well, do they call you anything else?"
"Yes, sir."
"What?"
"John Dinsmore."
"Then John Dinsmore is as much your name as Frederic Hague?"
"Yes, sir."
"Who calls you John Dinsmore?"
"Everybody here and in Arkansas."
"Who first called you John Dinsmore?"
"Mr. ----" (the lawyer); "he gave me the name--said that was my proper
name; and I've used it ever since."
"Who gave you the name Frederic Hague?"
"I don't know."
"Were you ever in England, sir? Come, now, sir, tell the truth, and no
lying."
"Seems as though I was."
"Seems so? What makes it seem so?"
"Why, I suppose it is because Mr. ----" (the lawyer), "has told me so
so often."
"Has he told you about one Frederic Hague, a man by the same name you
sometimes have borne?"
"Yes, sir."
"A great deal?"
"Yes, sir."
"And you have come to think that you are that Frederic Hague? Now, sir,
tell me if you dare assert that you are the veritable Frederic Hague,
the heir to the estate of one Oliver Hague, about which he has told
you? Don't let us have anything but the truth now, sir."
"No, sir; I don't say that I dare assert it."
"Did you ever have any notice that you were entitled to any property at
all in England, till Mr. ---- told you so?"
"No, sir."
"Well, do you now think you are entitled?"
"I don't know anything about it--"
"O, the fool," here broke in the lawyer; "he's stultified, or he's lied
to me. Here, 'John,' show this man the scars on your shoulder, and tell
him the story you told me about it."
"What story?"
"Why the story about the fall in the carriage house."
"Why, I never told you any such story--did I? I told you I had a dream
once; I suppose that is what you mean," said John, stripping himself
meanwhile.
"There!" exclaimed the lawyer, "there are unmistakable marks; and they
tell, of themselves, how they got there--cut with hatchel teeth."
And John, alias Frederic, roared out, with a well-feigned laugh, "Yes,
hatchel teeth, in Bill Currier's coach-dog's mouth, down to Mobile!"
[Illustration: THE MISSOURI LAWYER OUTWITTED.]
The lawyer looked confounded--and he put "John" through a severe
re-examination; all to no avail, except to force John into some rather
_bold_ species of story-telling.
The landlord decided the case in my favor, according to the contract
between the lawyer and me, and gave me the five hundred dollars on our
return to his hotel. I got Frederic Hague to St. Louis as soon as I
could, and we proceeded to New York. I let my friend there into the
joke by letter, and told him to make the most of the story for a month,
when I would return the lawyer all his money, except what it had cost
me--the matter of forty-five dollars--to play the joke on him, saying
that he ought to be willing to pay for his fun; and at the end of a
month, after the story had gone far and near, how the lawyer had set
his bait to fish out an estate for a client, and had lost five hundred
dollars himself, the money was duly returned to him through draft on a
St. Louis bank; and that was not the last I heard of him. But I cannot
stop to tell the full story here.
Mr. Frederic Hague, neatly dressed, and apparently in excellent health,
though by no means strong,--his nervous system having been shattered by
his rough western life,--and Mr. Rogers, after a trip to Montreal and
Boston, took steamer from New York for Liverpool.
Mr. Rogers was one of the most victorious, haughty-looking men I ever
saw, as he stepped on to the steamer's deck, with Frederic Hague by his
side. Up to within one or two of my last interviews with him, he always
vaunted himself as struggling in the cause of justice only; but at last
he allowed some remarks to escape him about Mr. Edward Hague, and how
chopfallen he would feel when Frederic should appear on the tapis. And
my curiosity being awakened, I sounded him considerably, the rest I
learned in England afterwards.
Mr. Rogers was very liberal with me, paid me very handsomely, and
treated me most hospitably when I visited him at home. But the poor man
was destined to lose his almost won, but foolish, triumph. Four days
out, Frederic, meeting on board a couple of men whom he had known, the
one in New Orleans, and the other at Louisville, Kentucky, he had
served in the care of horses,--these men were cousins, it
appeared,--must needs tell them of his vast estates in prospect, which
he was just going over to claim. These men were high livers, and took
along their own wines and liquors, and of these, with them, Mr. Hague
partook very liberally, got ravingly intoxicated, and howling about the
deck one night, while something of a breeze was blowing; and the ship
ploughing a little, he was toppled over the rail, as she suddenly
lurched, into the unquiet waters. Every effort was made to save him.
The steam was shut off, the life-boats lowered, and search made for a
whole hour, without avail. The darkness was too great to permit him to
be easily found, if he had not drowned at once.
Of course, Mr. Rogers went home a wiser, and perhaps better man. He
had, unfortunately for his pride, written a triumphant letter home,
stating that he had found the veritable Frederic, and that he should
bring him by the next, or the second steamer thereafter, and would then
teach Edward Hague good manners. But it was difficult to learn anything
from him, I was told, after he arrived at home.
The terms of the will were such, that the property went to Mr. Edward
Hague; and when I met him, he was living in most comfortable style, but
without any attempt at vain show. He was satisfied with his
possessions, and was not a little amused when I told him of Mr.
Rogers's personal exertions in America "in the cause of justice and
truth;" but said he was sorry Frederic had not lived to enjoy something
of life, and that he had no doubt Frederic would have been kind to him.
In fact, I found Mr. Edward Hague one of the most lovable of men, and I
confess that I think the property in his hands was made more useful to
a larger number than it probably would have been in Frederic's hands,
for he had learned some bad habits in America, among which was the
inveterate one of gambling.
I never think of Mr. Rogers without laughing; and so, with a laugh, I
leave him now, and the fortune, and the "private mark."
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