PETER KIRBY.
If Brandon had supposed the stranger would prove an unwelcome visitor
to his father, he would have been undeceived if he could have been
present at the interview between them.
"What, Kirby!" said the squire, as the new arrival entered his study.
"Yes, it is I, captain," answered Peter Kirby, sinking into an
arm-chair. "You seem comfortably fixed here."
"Yes; I have tried to make myself comfortable."
"And I understand you go by the name of squire?"
"How did you learn that?"
"From a boy who guided me here."
"I hope you did not express any surprise."
"Oh, no! I did nothing to arouse suspicion. Are you a justice of the
peace?"
"Yes."
"And perhaps preside over trials?"
"Well, yes, sometimes."
"Ha, ha!"
"What are you laughing at?" demanded the squire irritably.
"It is a good joke. Suppose the good people here were acquainted with
your real character?"
"Hush; this is no time for jesting. You might be overheard. Now, what
news?"
"Well, there isn't much. Things have been pretty quiet. You haven't
been at any of our meetings lately?"
"No; I did not care to excite suspicion. I've been engaged in a little
enterprise on my own account."
"What, here?"
"Yes."
"What was it?" asked Kirby with interest.
"I learned that one of my neighbors—a simple minded carpenter—was to
receive a considerable sum of money, which I had reason to think he
would bring home in person. I disguised myself, lay in wait for him,
and took the whole."
"How much was there?"
"A thousand dollars!"
"Excellent! And you have it here?"
"Yes. It happened to be in fifty-dollar bills, and I have not dared to
use any of it lest it should be traced to me. Besides, there is one who
suspects me of having been implicated in the affair?"
"Is it a person likely to prove dangerous?"
"I don't know. It is a boy."
"A boy! How should a boy be likely to suspect you?"
"I will tell you. It is a nephew of the man who lost the money. Near
the scene of the robbery he found a sleeve button marked with my
initial, which I had the ill luck to drop."
"Does he know it is yours?"
"Yes, my son recognized it in his possession, and unfortunately let out
that it was mine. I at once sent for the boy, asked to see the button,
and admitted it was mine."
"How then did you explain?"
"I am coming to that. I told him that both buttons had been stolen from
me, probably by a tramp who had been seen prowling round my house, and
that I presumed the same man had robbed his uncle."
"Very ingenious, upon my word! You always were a man of ideas, captain.
I suppose this allayed his suspicions."
"Not wholly, though it puzzled him. I must tell you that while I
was relieving the uncle of his money, though otherwise disguised I
unfortunately opened my mouth."
"And showed your teeth?"
"Precisely. I have often had occasion to regret that Nature supplied
me with such ugly looking tusks, for they are a dangerous means of
identification. I understand the carpenter—one Adin Dunham—has spoken
of this, but it seemed absurd to those who heard him that a man in my
position should be a robber, and it was taken as a proof that he was
out of his head. I strengthened this impression by taking a foremost
part in raising a subscription for the carpenter to compensate him
partially for his loss, and myself contributed fifty dollars."
"Out of the man's own money?" asked Kirby laughing.
"No, I didn't venture to use one of the fifty dollars. I used other
money which I had."
"Then you have the money by you still?"
"Yes."
Squire Bates rose from his seat, locked the door, and then opening a
small cabinet drew out a roll of bills—which he counted before his
visitor.
"See," he said, "Here are twenty bills, amounting in all to a thousand
dollars."
Peter Kirby's eyes brightened covetously as he eyed this large sum of
money.
"It was a good haul for one man to make, in a quiet place like this,"
he said.
"So I flatter myself," said Squire Bates complacently.
"But I can't help expressing my surprise at your burying yourself in
such a small, out of the way place. If you were in one of our large
cities, for instance, it would be much more convenient, and the rest of
the band could communicate with you better."
Squire Bates rose and paced the room thoughtfully.
"That is true," he said, after a pause, "but you must remember also that
I should stand a better chance of being recognized in a large and
important place, where there is a well disciplined and efficient police
force and an organized body of detectives. No one would think of looking
for me in a small, unimportant village like Waterford, where I pass as
the village lawyer, and have a commission as justice of the peace."
"How do you sustain the part of a lawyer?"
"I have a few law books, and there was a time in earlier years—I think
I was nineteen—when I passed six months in the office of a lawyer,
where I picked up some of the rudiments of practical jurisprudence."
"Where was that?"
"In a Western town, not far from Chicago. Here no very complicated
matters come before me. I am perfectly competent to draft a will, to
write out a deed, make out a lease, and so on—that is all that is
required of me."
"You must find it very dull living here. I couldn't stand it."
"I must live somewhere, and you must remember that I have a wife and
son who are entirely ignorant of my real character."
"They suppose you to be a lawyer?"
"Yes."
"I saw your son outside. It was easy to recognize him as your son."
"Why?"
Peter Kirby touched his teeth with a significant gesture.
"He has your teeth," he said. "They are a perfect _facsimile_."
"Yes," said the squire soberly. "He too is cursed with this deformity."
"Still, as teeth, I have no doubt they are strong and—durable."
"Yes, they will last me all my life. I have no excuse for having them
extracted, and procuring an artificial set. Yet I want to do it, if I
were not a coward as regards dentists. But, to come back to business. I
shall hand you these bills, and ask you to exchange them for bills of
other denominations. You can send them to me in an express package."
"There will be some risk about this, won't there, as it is known that
the stolen money was in fifty-dollar bills?"
"Not if you go far enough away. I shall want you to go to Chicago on
other business which I will communicate to you. There you will have no
difficulty in effecting the change."
"I suppose I am to have a commission?"
"Yes; you can retain fifty dollars."
"That is small, captain," said Kirby, in a tone of discontent.
"It may be, but I have other work for you to do which will increase
your remunerations."
"What sort of work?"
"I have already told you of a boy in the village who suspects me of
being implicated in the robbery."
"Yes."
"I mean you to take him with you."
"What, and to abduct him? That will be difficult and dangerous."
"No, you are to offer him lucrative employment, and he will go with
you willingly. Then you are to get him into trouble, involve him in
a crime perhaps, and he won't dare to come back. I learn from Brandon
that he is anxious to obtain a position. However, I will give you
detailed instructions how to proceed."