CHECKLEY SEES A GHOST
To Checkley, watching every evening, though not always at the same time,
sooner or later the same discovery was certain to come. It happened, in
fact, on Friday evening, the day after Athelstan shook hands with Mr.
Edmund Gray. On that night he left the office between six and seven,
walked to his lodgings in Clerkenwell, made himself a cup of tea, and
hurried back to Gray's Inn. Here he planted himself, as usual, close to
the passage in the north-east corner of South Square, so that he could
slip in on occasion and be effaced. Like many of the detective tribe, or
like the ostrich, fount of many fables, he imagined himself by reason of
this retreat entirely hidden from the observation of all. Of course the
exact contrary was the result. The Policeman regarded him with the
liveliest curiosity: the laundresses watched him daily: the newspaper
vendor came every evening from the gateway to see what this ancient spy
was doing, and why he lurked stealthily in the passage and looked out
furtively. He was one of the little incidents or episodes which vary the
daily routine of life in the Inn. Many of these occur every year: the
people who come to their offices at ten and go away at five know nothing
about them: the residents who leave at ten and return at six or seven
or twelve know nothing about them. But the Service know: and they talk
and conjecture. Here was an elderly man--nay, an old, old man,
apparently eighty years of age. What did he want, coming night after
night to hide himself in a passage and peer out into the Square? What,
indeed? The Policeman, who had done duty in Hyde Park, could tell
instructive stories from his own experience about frisky age: the
laundresses remembered gentlemen for whom they had 'done,' and pranks
with which those gentlemen amused themselves; but no one knew a case
parallel to this. Why should an old man stand in the corner and secretly
look out into the Square? He generally arrived at half-past seven, and
he left his post at nine, when it was too dark to see across the Square.
Then he went to the _Salutation_ and enjoyed society, conversation, and
a cheerful glass, as you have seen.
The time he chose was unfortunate, because Mr. Edmund Gray, when he
called at his Chambers, generally did so at half-past six or seven, on
his way to the Hall of Science, Kentish Town. Therefore, Checkley might
have gone on watching for a long time--say an aeon--watching and waiting
in vain. But an accident happened which rewarded him richly for all his
trouble. It was on Friday. Elsie, provided by this time with a latch-key
to the Chambers, arrived at Gray's Inn at six. She was going to spend
the evening with the Master. She walked in, ascended the staircase--Mr.
Gray had not yet arrived--opened the door, shut it behind her, and
entered the room.
The hand of woman was now visible in the general improvement of the
room. The windows were clean and bright: the wainscoted walls had been
cleaned: the ceiling whitewashed: the carpet had been swept and the
furniture dusted: there were flowers on the table: there was an easel,
on which stood Elsie's fancy portrait of Mr. Dering, so wonderfully like
Mr. Gray--a speaking likeness: books lay about the table--they were all
books on the Labour Question: on the Social Question: on the Problems of
the Day: all the books on all the questions with which men now torture
themselves, and think thereby to advance the coming of the Kingdom of
Heaven. There were new curtains, dainty curtains, of lace, hanging
before the windows: and the window-blinds themselves were clean and new.
Elsie looked about her with a certain satisfaction: it was her own
doing, the work of her own hand, because the old laundress was satisfied
to sit down and look on. 'At the least,' she said, 'the poor dear man
has a clean room.' Then she remembered that in a day or two she would
leave him to his old solitude, and she sighed, thinking how he clung to
her and leaned upon her, and already looked upon her as his
successor--'a clean room,' she said, 'when I have left him. Perhaps he
will leave the room, too, and be all day long what he used to be.--Sane
or mad? I love him best when he is mad.'
The table was covered with manuscripts. These were part of the great
work which he was about to give to the world.
Elsie had never seen the room behind this. A guilty curiosity seized
her. She felt like the youngest of Bluebeard's wives. She felt the
impulse: she resisted: she gave way: she opened the door and looked in.
She found a room nearly as large as the sitting-room. The windows were
black with dust and soot. She opened one, and looked out upon a small
green area outside, littered with paper and bottles and all kind of
jetsam. The floor of the room was a couple of inches deep with dust: the
chairs and the dressing-table were deep in dust. The bed was laid, but
the blankets were devoured by moths: there was not a square inch left
whole. It looked as if it had been brought in new and covered with
sheets and blankets and so left, the room unopened, the bed untouched,
for the ten years of Mr. Edmund Gray's tenancy.
Between the bedroom and the sitting-room was a small dark room,
containing a bath, a table for washing-up, knives and forks in a basket,
teacups and saucers.
'The pantry,' said Elsie, 'and the scullery, and the house-maid's
closet, all together. Oh! beautiful! And to think that men live in such
dens--and sleep there contentedly night after night in this lonely,
ghostly old place. Horrible! 'A rattling behind the wainscoting warned
her that ghosts can show themselves even in the daytime. She shuddered,
and retreated to the sitting-room. Here she took a book and sat by the
open window, heedless of the fact that she could be seen by anyone from
the Square.
It was seven o'clock before Mr. Edmund Gray arrived. 'Ah! child,' he
cried tenderly, 'you are here before me. I was delayed--some business.
What was it? Pshaw! I forget everything. Never mind--I am here; and
before we take a cab, I want you once more to go through with me the
points of my new Catechism. Now, if you are ready.'
'Quite ready, Master.'
* * * * *
At half-past seven Checkley arrived at his corner and took a preliminary
survey of the Square. 'There he is,' said the Policeman. 'There he is
again,' said two laundresses conversing on a doorstep. 'There he is as
usual,' said the newspaper man. 'Now,' asked all in chorus, 'what's he
want there?'
Mr. Checkley looked out from his corner, saw no one in the Square, and
retreated into his passage. Then he looked out again, and retreated
again. If anyone passed through the passage, Checkley was always walking
off with great resolution in the opposite direction.
Presently, in one of his stealthy peerings, he happened to look up. Then
he started--he shaded his eyes: he looked his hardest. Yes, at the open
window, freely displayed, without the least attempt at concealment, he
saw the head and face of Miss Elsie Arundel. There! There! What more was
necessary? Edmund Gray was Athelstan Arundel, or George Austin, or
both--and Elsie Arundel was an accomplice after the act. There! There!
He retreated to the seclusion of the passage and rubbed his hands. This
would please Sir Samuel. He should hear it that very night. This ought
to please him very much, because it made things so clear at last. There
she was--up-stairs, in the Chambers of Mr. Edmund Gray--in the very
room! There! There! There!
Perhaps he was mistaken. But his sight was very good--for distant
things. In reading a newspaper he might make mistakes, because he was
one of those elderly persons who enjoy their newspaper most when they
can nail it upon the wall and sit down to read it from the other side of
a large room. He looked up again. The setting sun shining on the window
of the side where he stood--the eastern side was reflected upon the
windows of No. 22--Elsie's shapely head--she had taken off her hat--was
bathed in the reflected sunshine. No doubt about her at all. There she
was. There! There! There! The old man was fain to take a walk up Verulam
Buildings and back again, to disguise his delight at this discovery. He
walked chuckling and cracking his fingers, so that those who saw
him--but there are not many in Raymond's Buildings on an August
evening--thought that he must be either a little mad or a little drunk
or a little foolish. But nobody much regards the actions of an ancient
man. It is only the respect of his grandchildren or the thought of his
possessions that gives him importance. Only the strong are regarded, and
an old man who looks poor gets no credit even for foolishness and silly
chuckles. Then Checkley went back to his corner. Oh! what was that? He
rubbed his eyes again. He turned pale: he staggered: he caught at the
door-posts. What was that? He shaded his eyes and looked again--bent and
trembling and shaking all over. Said the Policeman: 'Looks as if he's
going to get 'em again.' Said the laundresses: 'He looks as if he'd seen
a ghost.' The newspaper boy stepped half-way across the Square. 'He's
looking at Mr. Edmund Gray and the young lady. Jealous--p'raps--knows
the young lady--wouldn't have believed it prob'ly.'
Yes--Checkley was looking at that window. No doubt of that at all. He
was not able to disguise his astonishment: he no longer pretended to
hide himself. For he saw, sitting in the window, the young lady whom he
believed to be an accomplice in the crime; and standing over her, with
an expression of fatherly affection, was none other than Mr. Dering
himself.
Yes-- Mr. Dering. Most wonderful! What did it mean? Had Mr. Dering
resolved to clear up the mystery of Edmund Gray? Had he penetrated the
Chambers and found there--not Edmund Gray--but Elsie Arundel?
'My friend,' said the Policeman, standing before him so that the view of
the window was intercepted, 'you seem interested over the way.'
'I am. I am. Oh! yes. Much interested.'
'Well--don't you think you've looked at that old gentleman long enough?
Perhaps he wouldn't like so much looking at. There's a young lady, too.
It isn't manners to be staring at a young lady like a stuck pig.'
'No--no, Policeman-- I've seen enough--thank you.'
'And, still talking in a friendly way, do you think Mr. Edmund Gray over
there would like it if he knew there was a detective or a spy watching
every evening on the other side of the Square? What's the little game,
guv'nor? Anything in our line? Not with that most respectable old
gentleman, I do hope--though sometimes---- Well--what is it? Because we
can't have you goin' on as you have a been goin' on, you know.'
'Policeman'--Checkley pulled him aside and pointed to the little group
at the window--'you see that old gentleman there--do you know him?'
'Certainly. Known him ever since I came to the Inn--two years ago. The
people of the Inn have known him for ten years, I believe. That's Mr.
Edmund Gray. He's not one of the regular residents, and he hasn't got an
office. Comes here now and then when he fancies the place--Mr. Edmund
Gray, that is. I wish all the gentlemen in the Inn were half as liberal
as he is.'
'Oh! it's impossible! Say it again, Policeman. Perhaps I'm a little
deaf--I'm very old, you know--a little deaf perhaps. Say it again.'
'What's the matter with the man?' For he was shaking violently, and his
eyes stared. 'Of course that is Mr. Edmund Gray.'
'What does the girl do with him? Why are they both there together?'
'How should I know why she calls upon him? She's a young lady, and a
sweet young thing too. He's her grandfather likely.'
Checkley groaned.
'I must go somewhere and think this out,' he said. 'Excuse me,
Policeman. I am an old man, and--and-- I've had a bit of a shock and----
Good-evening, Policeman.' He shaded his eyes again and looked up.
Yes--there they were, talking. Then Elsie rose and he saw her putting on
her hat. Then she retreated up the room. But still he stood watching.
'Not had enough yet, guv'nor?' asked the Policeman.
'Only a minute. I want to see her go out.--Yes--there they are--going
out together. It is, after all---- Oh! there is no mistake.'
'There is no mistake, guv'nor,' said the Policeman. 'There goes Mr.
Edmund Gray, and there goes that sweet young thing along of him.--Ah!
there's many advantages about being a gentleman. No mistake, I say,
about them two.--Now, old man, you look as if you'd had a surprise.
Hadn't you better go home and take a drop of something?'
It was earlier than Checkley generally went to the _Salutation_. But he
delayed no longer. He tottered across the Square, showing very much of
extreme feebleness, looking neither to the right nor to the left, his
cheek white, his eyes rolling. The people looked after him, expecting
that he would fall. But he did not. He turned into the tavern, hobbled
along the passage, and sank into an arm-chair in the parlour.
'Good gracious, Mr. Checkley!' cried the barmaid as he passed, 'whatever
is the matter?'
Some of the usual company were already assembled, although it was as yet
hardly eight. The money-lender was there, sitting in his corner, taking
his tobacco and his grog in silence. The decayed Barrister was there,
his glass of old and mild before him, reading the morning newspaper. The
ex-M.P. was there. When Checkley tumbled into the room, they looked up
in surprise. When he gazed about him wildly and gasped, they were
astonished, for he seemed like unto one about to have a fit.
'Give me something, Robert--give me something,' he cried.
'Quick--something strong. I'll have it short. Quick--quick!'
Robert brought him a small glass of brandy, which he swallowed hastily.
'Oh!' he groaned, sitting up, 'I've seen-- I've seen----'
'You look as if you had seen a ghost,' said the barmaid, who had come
along with a glass of water. 'Shall I bathe your forehead?'
'No--no. I am better now--I am all right again.--Gentlemen'--he looked
round the room solemnly--'I've seen this evening a good man--an old
man--a great man--a rich man; gentlemen, wrecked and cast away and
destroyed and ruined. With a little devil of a woman to laugh at him!'
'They don't generally laugh at the men when they are ruined,' said Mr.
Langhorne. 'They laugh while they are ruining them. It's fun to them. So
it is to the men. Great fun it is while it lasts. I daresay the little
woman won't really laugh at him. In my case----'
His case was left untold, because he stopped and buried his head in his
newspaper.
Then Shylock spoke. He removed his pipe from his lips and spoke, moved,
after his kind, by the mention of the words wreck and ruin, just as the
vulture pricks up its feathers at the word death.
'To see a rich man wrecked and ruined, Mr. Checkley, is a thing which a
man may see every day. The thing is not to lose by their wreck--to make
money out of it. Rich men are always being wrecked and ruined. What else
can you expect if men refuse to pay their interest and to meet their
bills? The melancholy thing--ah! the real sadness--is the ruin of a man
who has trusted his fellow creatures and got taken in for his pains.
Only this morning I find that I've been let in by a swindler--a common
swindler, gentlemen--who comes round and says he can't pay up--can't pay
up--and I'm welcome to the sticks.--Which kind of man might your friend
be, Mr. Checkley, the man who's trusted his neighbour and got left--or
the neighbour who's ramped the man that trusted him?'
'It isn't money at all,' Checkley replied.
'Then, sir, if it isn't money,' said the money-lender, 'I don't know why
you come in frightening this honourable company out of their wits. If it
isn't money, how the devil can the gentleman be wrecked and ruined?'
For two hours Mr. Checkley sat in silence, evidently not listening to
what was said. Then he turned to Mr. Langhorne the Barrister: 'You've
known Mr. Edmund Gray a long time, I believe?'
'Nine years--ten years--since he came to the Inn.'
'Always the same man, I suppose?' said Checkley. 'Never another man--not
sometimes a young man--or two young men--one rather a tall young man,
looks as if the world was all his--supercilious beast?'
'Never more than one man at once,' replied the Barrister with a show of
forensic keenness. 'He might have been two young men rolled into one;
but not to my knowledge: always the same man to look at, so far as I
know--and the same man to talk with.'
'Oh! yes--yes. There's no hope left--none. He's ruined and lost and cast
away and done for.'
He rose and walked out. The company looked after him and shook their
heads. Then they drew their chairs a little closer, and the gap made by
his departure vanished.