THE DISMAL STREET
Unknown to those who had taken part in the conference at Viner's house,
unknown even to Carless, who in the multiplicity of his engagements, had
forgotten the instructions which he had given on the previous afternoon
to Portlethwaite, a strict watch was being kept on the man around whom
all the events of that morning had centred. Portlethwaite, after Methley
and his client had left Carless and Driver's office, had given certain
instructions to one of his fellow-clerks, a man named Millwaters, in
whose prowess as a spy he had unlimited belief. Millwaters was a fellow
of experience. He possessed all the qualities of a sleuth-hound and was
not easily baffled in difficult adventures. In his time he had watched
erring husbands and doubtful wives; he had followed more than one
high-placed wrong-doer running away from the consequences of forgery or
embezzlement; he had conducted secret investigations into the behaviour
of persons about whom his employers wanted to know something. In person
and appearance he was eminently fitted for his job--a little,
inconspicuous, plain-featured man who contrived to look as if he never
saw anything. And to him, knowing that he was to be thoroughly depended
upon, Portlethwaite had given precise orders.
"You'll go up to Lancaster Gate tonight, Millwaters, and get a good look
at that chap," Portlethwaite had told him. "Take plenty of money--I'll
speak to the cashier about that--and be prepared for anything, even to
following, if he bolts. Once you've seen him, you're not to lose sight of
him; make sure of him last thing today and first thing tomorrow. Follow
him wherever he goes, make a note of wherever he goes, and particularly
of whoever he meets. And if there's need, ring me up here, and let's know
what's happening, or if you want assistance."
There was no need for Millwaters to promise faithful compliance;
Portlethwaite knew well enough that to put him on a trail was equivalent
to putting a hound on the scent of a fox or a terrier to the run of a
rat. And that evening, Millwaters, who had clever ways of his own, made
himself well acquainted with the so-called Mr. Cave's appearance, and
assured himself that his man had gone peacefully to rest at his hotel,
and he had seen him again before breakfast next morning and had been in
quiet and unobtrusive attendance upon him when, later, he visited
Methley's office and subsequently walked away with Methley to the
police-court. And Millwaters was in the police-court, meditatively sucking
peppermint lozenges in a corner, when Mr. Cave was unexpectedly asked to
give evidence; he was there, too, until Mr. Cave left the court.
Cave's remarkable story ran off Millwaters' mentality like raindrops off
a steep roof. It mattered nothing to him. He did not care the value of a
brass button if Cave was Earl of Ellingham or Duke of Ditchmoor; his job
was to keep his eye on him, whoever he was. And so when Viner and his
party went round to Markendale Square, Millwaters slunk along in their
rear, and at a corner of the Square he remained, lounging about, until
his quarry reappeared. Two or three of the other men came out with Cave,
but Millwaters noticed that Cave immediately separated from them. He was
evidently impressing upon them that he was in a great hurry about
something or other, and sped away from them, Millwaters's cold eye upon
him. And within a minute Millwaters had observed what seemed to him
highly suspicious circumstance--Cave, on leaving the others, had shot off
down a side-street in the direction of Lancaster Gate, but as soon as he
was out of sight of Markendale Square, had doubled in his tracks, hurried
down another turning and sped away as fast as he could walk towards
Paddington Station.
Millwaters, shorter in the leg than the tall man in front, had to hurry
to keep him in sight, but he was never far behind as Cave hastened along
Craven Road and made for the terminus. Once or twice in this chase the
quarry lifted a hand to an approaching taxicab, only to find each was
engaged; it was not until he and his pursuer were in front of the Great
Western Hotel that Cave found an empty cab, hailed it, and sprang in.
Millwaters grinned quietly at that; he was used to this sort of chase,
and he had memorized car and number before Cave had been driven off. It
was a mere detail to charter the next, and to give a quiet word and wink
to its chauffeur, who was opening its door for Millwaters when a third
person came gently alongside and tapped the clerk's shoulder. Millwaters
turned sharply and encountered Mr. Perkwite's shrewd eyes.
"All right, Millwaters!" said the barrister. "I know what you're after!
I'm after the same bird. We'll go together."
Millwaters knew Mr. Perkwite very well as a promising young barrister
whom Carless and Driver sometimes favoured with briefs. Mr.
Perkwite's presence did not disturb him; he moved into the farther
corner, and Mr. Perkwite slipped inside. The car moved off in pursuit
of the one in front.
"So you're on that game, Mr. Perkwite?" remarked Millwaters. "Ah! And who
might have got you on to it, if one may ask?"
"You know that I was at your people's office yesterday?" said Perkwite.
"Saw you there," replied Millwaters.
"It was about this business," said the barrister. "Did you see me in the
police-court this morning?"
"I did--listening for all you were worth," answered the clerk.
"And I dare say you saw me go with the rest of them to Mr. Viner's, in
Markendale Square?" said Perkwite.
"Right again, sir," assented Millwaters. "I did."
"This fellow in front," observed Perkwite, "made some statements at
Viner's, in answer to your principal, Mr. Carless, which incline me
to the opinion that he's an impostor in spite of his carefully
concocted stories."
"Shouldn't wonder, Mr. Perkwite." said Millwaters. "But that's not my
business. My job is to keep him under observation."
"That's what I set out to do when I came out of Viner's," said the
barrister. "He's up to something. He assured us as we left the house that
he'd a most pressing engagement at his hotel in Lancaster Gate; the next
minute, happening to glance down a side-street, I saw him cutting off in
the direction of Paddington. And now he's evidently making for the City."
"Well, I'm after him," remarked Millwaters. He leaned out of his window,
called the chauffeur, and gave him some further instructions.
"Intelligent chap, this, Mr. Perkwite," he said as he sat down again. "He
understands--some of 'em are poor hands at this sort of game."
"You're a pretty good hand yourself, I think?" suggested the barrister,
with a smile.
"Ought to be," said Millwaters. "Had plenty of experience, anyway."
It seemed to Perkwite that his companion kept no particular observation
on the car in front as it sped along to and through the northern edge of
the City and beyond. But Millwaters woke to action as their own car
progressed up Whitechapel Road, and suddenly he gave a warning word to
the barrister and a smart tap on the window behind their driver. The car
came to a halt by the curb; and Millwaters, slipping out, pushed some
money into the man's hand and drew Perkwite amongst the people who were
crowding the sidewalk. The barrister looked in front and around and
seemed at a loss.
"Where is he?" he asked. "Hang it, I've lost him!"
"I haven't!" said Millwaters. "He left his car before we left ours. Our
man knew what he was after--he slowed up and passed him until I saw where
he went." He twisted Perkwite round and pointed to the mouth of a street
which they had just passed.
"He's gone down there," he said. "Nice neighbourhood, too! I know
something of it. Now, Mr. Perkwite, if you please, we'll separate. You
take the right of that street--I'll take the left. Keep a look out for my
gentleman's Homburg hat--grey, with a black band--and keep the tail of
your eye on me, too."
Cave's headgear was easily followed down the squalid street. Its owner
went swiftly ahead, with Millwaters in pursuit on one pavement, and the
barrister on the other, until he finally turned into a narrower and
shabbier thoroughfare. Then the clerk hurried across the road, attracted
Perkwite's attention, winked at him as he passed without checking his
pace, and whispered two or three words.
"Wait--by the street-corner!"
Perkwite pulled up, and Millwaters went down the dismal street in
pursuit of the Homburg hat. This excellent indication of its owner's
presence suddenly vanished from Perkwite's sight, and presently
Millwaters came back.
"Ran him to earth--for the time being, anyway," he said. "He's gone into
a surgery down there--a Dr. Martincole's. Number 23--brass plate on
door--next to a drug-shop. Suspicious sort of spot, altogether."
"Well?" demanded Perkwite. "What next? You know best, Millwaters."
The clerk jerked a thumb down the side of the dismal street on which they
were standing.
"There's a public-house down there," he said, "almost opposite this
surgery. Fairly decent place for this neighbourhood--bar-parlour looking
out on the street. Better slip in there and look quietly out. But
remember, Mr. Perkwite--don't seem to be watching anything. We're just
going in for a bottle of ale, and talking business together.
"Whatever you recommend," said Perkwite.
He followed his companion down the street to the tavern, a joyless and
shabby place, the bar-parlour of which, a dark and smoke-stained room was
just then empty, and looked over its torn half-blind across the way.
"Certainly a queer place for a man who professes to be a peer of the
realm to visit!" he muttered. "Well, now, what do you propose to do,
Millwaters?"
"Hang about here and watch," whispered the clerk. "Look out!"
A face, heavy and bloated, appeared at a hatch-window at the back of the
room, and a gruff voice made itself heard.
"Any orders, gents?"
"Two bottles o' Bass, gov'nor," responded Millwaters promptly, dropping
into colloquial Cockney speech. He turned to Perkwite and winked. "Well,
an' wot abaht this 'ere bit o' business as I've come rahnd abaht,
Mister?" he went on, nudging his companion, in free-and-easy style.
"Yer see, it's this ere wy wiv us--if yer can let us have that there
stuff reasonable, d'yer see--" He drew Perkwite over to the window and
began to whisper, "That'll satisfy him," he said with a sharp glance at
the little room behind the hatch where the landlord was drawing corks.
"He'll think we're doing a bit of trade, so we've nothing to do but stand
in this window and keep an eye on the street. Out of this I'm not going
till I see whether that fellow comes out or stops in!"
Some time had passed, and Millwaters had been obliged to repeat his order
for bottled Bass before anything took place in the street outside.
Suddenly he touched his companion's elbow.
"Here's a taxicab coming along and slowing up for somewhere about
here," he whispered. "And--Lord, if there aren't two ladies in it--in a
spot like this! And--whew!" he went on excitedly. "Do you see 'em, Mr.
Perkwite? The young un's Miss Wickham, who came to our office about
this Ashton affair. I don't know who the old un is--but she evidently
knows her way."
The berry-faced landlord had now shut down the hatch, and his two
bar-parlour customers were alone and unobserved. Perkwite drew away from
the window, pulling Millwaters by the sleeve.
"Careful!" he said. "There's something seriously wrong here, Millwaters!
What's Miss Wickham being brought down here for? See, they've gone into
that surgery, and the car's going off. Look here--we've got to do
something, and at once!"
But Millwaters shook his head.
"Not my job, Mr. Perkwite!" he answered. "My business is with the
man--Cave! I've nothing to do with Miss Wickham, sir, nor with the old
lady that's taken her in there. Cave's my mark! Queer that the young lady's
gone there, no doubt, but--no affair of mine."
"It's going to be an affair of mine, then," said Perkwite. "I'm going off
to the police!"
Millwaters put out a detaining hand.
"Don't, Mr. Perkwite!" he said. "To get police into a quarter like this
is as bad as putting a light to dry straw. I'll tell you a better plan
than that, sir--find the nearest telephone-box and call up our
people--call Mr. Carless, tell him what you've seen and get him to come
down and bring somebody with him. That'll be far better than calling the
police in."
"Give me your telephone-number, then," said Perkwite, "and keep a strict
watch while I'm away."
Millwaters repeated some figures and a letter, and Perkwite ran off up
the street and toward the Whitechapel Road, anxiously seeking for a
telephone booth. It was not until he had got into the main thoroughfare
that he found one; he then had some slight delay in getting in
communication with Carless and Driver's office; twenty minutes had
elapsed by the time he got back to the dismal street. At its corner he
encountered Millwaters, lounging about hands in pockets. Millwaters
wagged his head.
"Here's another queer go!" he said. "There's been another arrival at
Number 23--not five minutes since. Another of our little lot!"
"Who?" demanded Perkwite.
"Viner!" replied Millwaters. "Came peeping and perking along the
street, took a glimpse of the premises and the adjacent purlieus, rang at
Number 23, and was let in by--the party that came with Miss Wickham! Now,
whatever can he be doing there, Mr. Perkwite?"
"Whatever can any of them be doing there!" muttered Perkwite. "Viner!
What business can he have in this place? It seems--by George,
Millwaters," he suddenly exclaimed, "what if this is some infernal
plant--trap--something of that sort? Do you know, in spite of what you
say, I really think we ought to get hold of the nearest police and
tell them--"
"Wait, Mr. Perkwite!" counselled Millwaters. "Our governor is a pretty
cute and smart sort, and he's vastly interested in this Miss Wickham; so
Portlethwaite and he'll be on their way down here now, hot foot; and with
help, too, if he thinks she's in any danger. Now, _he_ can go straight to
that door and demand to see her, and--"
"Why can't we?" interrupted Perkwite. "I'd do it! Lord, man, she may be
in real peril--"
"Not while Viner's in there," said Millwaters quietly. "I might possibly
have gone and rung the bell myself, but for that. But Viner's in
there--wait!"
And Perkwite waited, chafing, at the corner of the dismal street, until a
quarter of an hour had passed. Then a car came hurrying along and pulled
up as Millwaters and his companion were reached, and from it sprang Mr.
Carless, Lord Ellingham and two men in plain-clothes, at the sight of
whom Perkwite heaved a huge sigh of intense relief.