EXIT MR. GLOVER.
Turk regarded me with surprise.
'An early visitor, Chris,' he said.
'Yes,' I answered; 'I have come on some very particular business. When
do you pay the balance of your debt to Mr. Glover?'
'I expect him here at twelve o'clock. I shall pay him then.'
'Can you give me half an hour or so of your undivided attention,
Turk?'
'Certainly I can: a couple of hours, if you want them.'
'Then sit down, and read this quietly,' I said, handing him the
Remarkable Confession, 'and don't make a remark upon it until you have
finished.'
He read it attentively, and returned it to me with a thoughtful look.
'It is cut from an old newspaper, printed a good many years ago, Turk.
Do you find anything singular in it?'
'I do; something very singular indeed; but how on earth did you come
across it, Chris?'
'I will tell you another time. First, I want to know what it is that
strikes you as singular in the account.'
'Well, Chris, there's the knob in this Bullpit's head----'
'Yes, Turk.'
'Mr. Glover has one precisely similar on his head.'
I could scarcely restrain the expression of my satisfaction at this
proof that, without prompting, his thoughts were taking the same
direction as mine.
'Yes, you told me so, Turk; and that sort of thing runs in families,
you said.'
'I did say so, and I think so.'
'Mr. Glover said he was born with it.'
'Yes, he told me so distinctly,' said Turk, with a puzzled look.
'That's all right, then. What else do you find singular in it, Turk?'
'Well, there's that habit of Anthony Bullpit's of biting his nails.
Mr. Glover does the same.'
'Yes; anything else?' I asked eagerly.
'Well, Chris, the teeth. Mr. Glover's two middle teeth in his top jaw
have just the kind of slit between them that caused the detective to
discover Anthony Bullpit, for all his disguise.'
I uttered an exclamation of triumph.
'Now, what do you make of all this, Turk? Do you think it possible
that such remarkable peculiarities can exist in two men without there
being a relationship between them? Turk, as sure as I stand here, Mr.
Glover is Anthony Bullpit's son. Don't interrupt me. If he is a
convict's son, what becomes of his good character and his unblemished
name, of which he is always preaching, as you know? He trades upon it,
Turk--he trades upon it; and if it were made public that his father
was a forger and a convicted thief, it would be the greatest blow he
could receive. This man is a scoundrel, Turk; a scoundrel and a
hypocrite.'
I believe he is, Chris,' said Turk, carried away probably by my hot
words; but what good can come of exposure--what good to you, I mean?
'Why, Turk, are you blind? Can't you see that I can make the best use
in the world of this strange discovery?'
I told him rapidly what had passed between old Mac and me, and the
opinion which the old actor entertained of Mr. Glover, and then I
developed my own plan of action.
'It is very simple, Turk. I want Mr. Glover immediately to cease his
attentions to Jessie, whose eyes, according to old Mac's account, have
only lately been opened to his real character. Jessie, I have no
doubt, is under obligations to him; and he may take advantage of this
to persecute her. If he does this, I shall expose him; but I shall
first give him a chance of withdrawing himself voluntarily. I think
there will be no reason to fear that he will prove an active enemy;
the proof that I hold will take the sting out of him----'
'But,' interposed Turk, 'what if these personal marks should be mere
coincidences, and no relationship exists between Anthony Bullpit and
Mr. Glover?'
'We shall learn that very soon,' I replied. 'I shall send him this
copy of the Remarkable Discovery with a few words of my own. If he is
quiet after their receipt, we may be sure that our suspicions are
correct. I know that he is a scoundrel--I have been convinced of that
all along, Turk, notwithstanding your defence of him--and I believe
him to be a coward. We shall see. Will you let me be present while you
are paying him the balance you owe him?'
'I have no objection, Chris.'
'And if I happen to say something to him--something to the
point--you'll not mind, perhaps.'
'Say whatever you like, Chris, my boy.'
'I want a promise from you, Turk. Not a word of all this to Jessie.'
'All right, Chris.'
Exactly at twelve o'clock Mr. Glover entered the shop. I was in the
back-room, and I listened quietly to the few words that passed, in the
course of which Turk told Mr. Glover that he was enabled to pay him
the balance of the account between them. Mr. Glover said that it might
stand, if Turk wished, but Turk insisted on paying him, and produced
the money. As Mr. Glover was signing the receipt to the bond, Turk
threw open the door of the room in which I was sitting, and said,
'Chris, perhaps you would not mind witnessing Mr. Glover's signature.'
Mr. Glover looked up with anger in his face, and our eyes met. I
quietly placed my name on the paper as a witness, and then, with a
glance at Mr. Glover's signature, I handed the paper to Turk.
'So now, Turk,' I said, with a smile, 'I am your creditor instead of
Mr. Glover.'
I saw that Turk did not understand why I made this apparently
unnecessary statement.
'Oh,' said Mr. Glover, with a sneer, 'it is your money, then, with
which Turk West has paid his debt!'
'Yes,' I replied. 'Turk is safer in my hands than in the hands of a
moneylender who charges sixty per cent. What was it you said
yesterday, Turk? Curse all professional moneylenders, wasn't it? So
say I.'
Mr. Glover glanced from me to Turk, and from Turk to me, while his
face grew dark with passion.
'I have been thinking, Turk,' I continued, regarding Mr. Glover
steadily, what would be the value of a receipt for money paid,
supposing the name of the person at the foot of the paper is not his
own. How would it stand in law, Mr. Glover? Supposing a person whose
real name was Bullpit----'
I saw instantly that the shot had taken effect The dark shade of
passion disappeared from Mr. Glover's face, which was now quite white.
Added to this, the startled exclamation which escaped him was a
sufficient confirmation.
'You shall hear from me,' he said, in a thick voice, as he turned to
leave the shop.
'You shall hear from me first,' I replied; within two hours I will
leave a letter for you at your house.'
I wrote my letter at once in Turk's shop. The substance of it was that
I enclosed a copy of an account of the arrest and conviction of a
criminal well known in Hertford many years ago; that this criminal had
on his person peculiar marks which were almost certain to be
transmitted to his children; that the history of this criminal was
known only to me and Turk West; that the secret of it would be
faithfully kept if the person to whom my letter was addressed would
immediately cease to honour with his attentions any of the lady
friends of the writer; and that if this condition were not accepted
and carried out in its full letter and spirit, means would be
immediately adopted for making public the Remarkable Discovery, and
the subsequent history of the forger and thief. I did not mention any
names, but Turk West said that Mr. Glover would understand my meaning.
I left the letter with its enclosure at Mr. Glover's house, and
received no answer. Three days afterwards Turk came to tell me that
Mr. Glover had left on a tour to Germany.
'I have other news for you as well,' he said; the theatre in which
Jessie was to have appeared is let to a French Company for three
months.'
I asked Turk no questions, remembering what he had said as to his
being on his parole, but I worked that day with a heart less sad than
it had been for many a long month past.