SNOOPING
Young Deaves (his father addressed him as George) passed out through a
small door on the left presumably to telephone to Evan's references.
His father followed him, still protesting tearfully that the salary he
purposed paying Evan would ruin them both. Evan was left standing in
the middle of the room. Before he had time to take a further survey of
his surroundings the door from the hall was softly opened, and a smug,
pale young man in a sober suit sidled into the room, a servant. Evan
learned later that "Second man" was his official title. "Spy" was writ
large on him. The house seemed to be swarming with them. This fellow
had undoubtedly been listening at the door.
"Good God! who would be rich!" thought Evan.
The servant with a sly, meaning look in Evan's direction went to a
console at the left of the room, and affected to busy himself in
arranging the objects upon it. In reality his long ears were stretched
for sounds coming through the little door. Having satisfied himself
that the Deaves' were good for several minutes in there, he came
towards Evan with an ingratiating leer.
"Nice day," he said.
Evan's impulse was to call the fellow down, but he reflected that if he
was to become an inmate of the house, it would be just as well for his
own protection to learn what this snooping and eavesdropping signified.
"Fine," he said non-committally.
"Are you going to be one of us?"
"I don't know yet."
"It's a rummy joint."
"So I gather," said Evan dryly.
"Have you seen the Missus yet?"
"No."
The lackey cast up his eyes and whistled softly. "Oh boy! You've got
something to see!"
This was Evan's first experience of the below-stairs point of view. It
was a revelation.
"Were you planted here?" the servant asked with a mysterious air.
"What do you mean?" asked Evan.
The other quickly turned it off. "Oh nothing." He glanced towards the
little door. "When you work for a bunch like this you don't feel like
you owed them anything. It's every man for himself."
"I suppose so," said Evan.
"But there's a square bunch down-stairs. Come down to the butler's
room when you can and get acquainted."
"Thanks."
"Take it from me you won't find it such a bad house if you stand in
with the crowd down-stairs. There's money to be made on the side if
you're smart enough."
"How?" asked Evan.
The second man winked at him knowingly. "Let's you and I get better
acquainted before we get confidential."
"Sure," said Evan. "I see you're a wise guy."
"Wise!" said the other. "Solomon wasn't one two three with me."
"What do they call you?"
"Alfred. I'll make you acquainted with the bunch down-stairs. The
women----" He suddenly broke off, and stiffened into the blank-faced,
deferential servant.
Young Deaves and old Deaves returned through the little door.
"If you please, sir," said Alfred quickly, "Mr. Hilton sent me to ask
what wines you would have for dinner."
"I'm busy!" snapped George Deaves. "Tell Hilton when I want wine I'll
let him know."
"Yes, sir, very good, sir." The rubber-shod one wafted out of the
room, shutting the door behind him as softly as a flower closes.
George Deaves looked sharply to see that it was closed, then looked as
sharply at Evan.
"Was he talking to you?" he demanded.
Evan quickly decided that the only safe hand to play in this strange
house was a lone hand; he would take no one into his confidence.
"Nothing in particular," he said.
"Why don't you fire him, George?" asked his father.
The younger man shrugged wearily. "What's the use? The next one would
be no better." He turned his attention to Evan. "Your references were
satisfactory," he said. "You may consider yourself engaged.
Thirty-five dollars was the sum we agreed on, I believe."
"No, sir, forty dollars," said Evan firmly.
"Ah, my mistake. It's a great deal of money. I hope you'll be worth
it. You will be at my father's call whenever he wants you."
"I will come at nine o'clock every morning and stay until five.
Sundays are my own of course."
George Deaves turned to his father. "On your part, if I pay out all
this money, you must promise me that you will not go out except with
this young man."
The old man gave an ungracious assent.
"I will report at nine to-morrow," Evan said.
"But I want to go out now," the old man said like a child.
"You've had quite enough outing for to-day, Papa," George Deaves said
severely.
Simeon Deaves said to Evan spitefully like a balked child: "Well, your
wages won't begin until to-morrow, then. To-day doesn't count."
As Evan had his hand on the door he became aware that George Deaves was
making signals to him to remain. He lingered, wondering what was in
the wind now. George said to his father:
"Lunch is ready. You'd better go down."
Forgetting all about Evan, the old man hastened out of the room with an
expectant air.
When he had gone George Deaves hemmed and hawed, gazed at the ceiling,
made scratches on his desk pad and beat all around the bush. The gist
of it as finally extracted by Evan was something as follows:
"I am not paying you all this money as a simple attendant for papa. I
could get two at the price. The fact is papa has an unfortunate
faculty for getting involved in street disputes. On account of his
prominence a certain publicity is attached to it. Very distressing to
the family. I shall expect you to keep him out of such troubles. You
will have to be firm. He is very obstinate. But I authorise you to
take any measures, any measures to save him from his own folly."
Evan was tempted to ask: "Even to cracking him on the bean?" But
instead he said demurely: "I quite understand."
Evan made his way home down the Avenue ruminating upon what had
happened. "In the words of Alfred it's a rummy joint," he said to
himself. "Father and son are a pair of birds. What do I care? I'm
not going to let them get under my skin. I'll give them their money's
worth for a month or so, then bid them ta-ta and hike to the blessed
country on my savings. Meanwhile the affair has its humorous side.
Mystery, too. Like a play."
If Evan had not recollected when he got to Thirtieth street that he
needed certain small articles of apparel to make himself presentable in
his new job, he would probably not have discovered that he was being
followed. But as he retraced his steps to the shops his attention was
caught by a man's back, a narrow back clad in grey. The owner of the
back was looking in a shop window. It was the little youth that Evan
had seen before that morning. The inference was that he had stopped
merely to give Evan time to pass him.
"By God! another snooper!" thought Evan. "This one dogged our
foot-steps all the way up-town from the fruit-stand. Well, I'll give
him a little run for his money."
Entering one of the big stores Evan made his purchases. He then
hastened up one aisle and down another. It could have been no easy
task to follow him through the crowded store, but his little grey
shadow never lost the scent. In their gyrations Evan had an
opportunity to get a good look at his tracker. He was not like Alfred;
he had a decent look, or rather he looked neither decent nor mean, but
simply watchful. An impenetrable mask was drawn over his face, out of
which his eyes looked quietly, giving nothing away. In years he was no
more than a lad.
"Not a very dangerous customer, anyway," thought Evan.
Issuing from the store Evan jumped on a moving bus bound up-town. He
took a seat on top; the youth got in below. At Forty-Second street
Evan changed to a cross-town car; his pursuer rode on the platform. At
Third avenue he changed again--but without shaking the other. Half an
hour later making his way through Waverly place towards Washington
Square, he was well aware that the grey figure was still behind him,
though pride forbade him turning his head to see.
Reaching the Square, Evan dropped on a bench and waited to see what
would happen. The slender figure passed him, eyes calmly bent ahead,
and sat down on a bench fifty feet farther on. Evan rose again, and
retracing his steps, walked down the east side of the Square, and
entering from the Fourth street corner, sat down again. Once more the
youth passed him and sat down beyond. There were but few people
around; it was hardly possible that he thought his movements had not
been perceived by the man he was following. "As a sleuth you're an
amateur," thought Evan. "You don't care whether I'm on to you or not.
But I must say you have your nerve with you. I'm considerably bigger
than you."
He got up and approached the other. The stripling looked straight
ahead, affecting to be unconscious of his coming. Evan came to a stand
before him and said abruptly:
"What's the idea, kid?"
The youth looked up startled, then quickly drew the mask over his face.
"I don't understand you," he said.
"Come off," said Evan mockingly. "Do you think I'm a blind man not to
notice the particular interest you are taking in my doings? What's the
idea?"
The boy's eyes held to Evan's steadily; they were the eyes of a fanatic
rather than a crook. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said.
"You've been trailing me for the last two hours."
"You're mistaken. I never saw you before."
Evan laughed in exasperation. "That's childish! Do you mean to say
you didn't pick me up in Troy street two hours ago, after that row with
the fruit vendor?"
"I don't know where Troy street is," was the answer.
Evan changed his tactics. Dropping into the seat beside the boy he
said: "Look here, I'm a regular fellow. Loosen up, kid. Give me the
dope. What's it all about?"
The other was silent.
"God knows why anybody should take after me," Evan went on. "I haven't
committed any crime that I know of. And I don't own a thing in the
world anybody could covet. Who hired you to trail me?"
"Nobody," said the boy. "You're mistaken."
Evan began to get hot under the collar. He got up.
"By God----!" he began, clenching his fist. Then he stopped, because
his anger rang false to him. In fact he couldn't work up a genuine
anger against the strange-eyed boy who neither cringed before him nor
defied him but simply looked.
"It would be a shame to hit you," he went on, "you're too little. But
I warn you to keep away from me hereafter. The next time I stumble
over you I won't be so gentle, see? You keep out of my way, that's
all."
He strode off across the Square in the direction of his own place. He
felt exasperated and helpless. He was clearly the injured party, yet
he had come off second best in an encounter with a mere child. To make
matters worse he was perfectly sure that the youth was still trotting
after him like a little dog that refuses to be sent home. He would not
look around to see. As he passed in the door of 45A he did look
around, and there sure enough was his little sleuth across the street.
Evan slammed the door and went up-stairs swearing.
The next time he had occasion to leave the house, the youth had gone.
He saw him no more--that day. "Perhaps his game was to learn where I
lived," thought Evan.