questions?'
'Certainly not,' replied Julia; 'and if you can make me
understand why Morris has sent a
statue of Hercules instead of a
barrel containing specimens for a friend, I shall be grateful
till my dying day. And what are specimens for a friend?'
'I haven't a guess,' said Gideon. 'Specimens are usually bits of
stone, but rather smaller than our friend the
monument. Still,
that is not the point. Are you quite alone in this big house?'
'Yes, I am at present,' returned Julia. 'I came up before them to
prepare the house, and get another servant. But I couldn't get
one I liked.'
'Then you are utterly alone,' said Gideon in
amazement. 'Are you
not afraid?'
'No,' responded Julia stoutly. 'I don't see why I should be more
afraid than you would be; I am weaker, of course, but when I
found I must sleep alone in the house I bought a revolver
wonderfully cheap, and made the man show me how to use it.'
'And how do you use it?' demanded Gideon, much amused at her
courage.
'Why,' said she, with a smile, 'you pull the little
trigger thing
on top, and then pointing it very low, for it springs up as you
fire, you pull the
underneath little
trigger thing, and it goes
off as well as if a man had done it.'
'And how often have you used it?' asked Gideon.
'O, I have not used it yet,' said the determined young lady; 'but
I know how, and that makes me
wonderfullycourageous, especially
when I barricade my door with a chest of drawers.'
'I'm
awfully glad they are coming back soon,' said Gideon. 'This
business strikes me as excessively unsafe; if it goes on much
longer, I could provide you with a
maiden aunt of mine, or my
landlady if you preferred.'
'Lend me an aunt!' cried Julia. 'O, what generosity! I begin to
think it must have been you that sent the Hercules.'
'Believe me,' cried the young man, 'I admire you too much to send
you such an
infamous work of art..'
Julia was
beginning to reply, when they were both startled by a
knocking at the door.
'O, Mr Forsyth!'
'Don't be afraid, my dear girl,' said Gideon, laying his hand
tenderly on her arm.
'I know it's the police,' she whispered. 'They are coming to
complain about the
statue.'
The knock was
repeated. It was louder than before, and more
impatient.
'It's Morris,' cried Julia, in a startled voice, and she ran to
the door and opened it.
It was indeed Morris that stood before them; not the Morris of
ordinary days, but a wild-looking fellow, pale and
haggard, with
bloodshot eyes, and a two-days' beard upon his chin.
'The
barrel!' he cried. 'Where's the
barrel that came this
morning?' And he stared about the lobby, his eyes, as they fell
upon the legs of Hercules,
literally goggling in his head. 'What
is that?' he screamed. 'What is that waxwork? Speak, you fool!
What is that? And where's the
barrel--the water-butt?'
'No
barrel came, Morris,' responded Julia
coldly. 'This is the
only thing that has arrived.'
'This!' shrieked the
miserable man. 'I never heard of it!'
'It came addressed in your hand,' replied Julia; 'we had nearly
to pull the house down to get it in, that is all that I can tell
you.'
Morris gazed at her in utter
bewilderment. He passed his hand
over his
forehead; he leaned against the wall like a man about to
faint. Then his tongue was loosed, and he overwhelmed the girl
with torrents of abuse. Such fire, such directness, such a choice
of ungentlemanly language, none had ever before suspected Morris
to possess; and the girl trembled and
shrank before his fury.
'You shall not speak to Miss Hazeltine in that way,' said Gideon
sternly. 'It is what I will not suffer.'
'I shall speak to the girl as I like,' returned Morris, with a
fresh
outburst of anger. 'I'll speak to the hussy as she
deserves.'
'Not a word more, sir, not one word,' cried Gideon. 'Miss
Hazeltine,' he continued, addressing the young girl, 'you cannot
stay a moment longer in the same house with this unmanly fellow.
Here is my arm; let me take you where you will be secure from
insult.'
'Mr Forsyth,' returned Julia, 'you are right; I cannot stay here
longer, and I am sure I trust myself to an
honourable gentleman.'
Pale and
resolute, Gideon offered her his arm, and the pair
descended the steps, followed by Morris clamouring for the
latchkey.
Julia had
scarcely handed the key to Morris before an empty
hansom drove smartly into John Street. It was hailed by both men,
and as the cabman drew up his restive horse, Morris made a dash
into the vehicle.
'Sixpence above fare,' he cried recklessly. 'Waterloo Station for
your life. Sixpence for yourself!'
'Make it a
shilling, guv'ner,' said the man, with a grin; 'the
other parties were first.'
'A
shilling then,' cried Morris, with the
inwardreflection that
he would reconsider it at Waterloo. The man whipped up his horse,
and the hansom vanished from John Street.
CHAPTER VI. The Tribulations of Morris: Part the First
As the hansom span through the streets of London, Morris sought
to rally the forces of his mind. The water-butt with the dead
body had miscarried, and it was
essential to recover it. So much
was clear; and if, by some blest good fortune, it was still at
the station, all might be well. If it had been sent out, however,
if it were already in the hands of some wrong person, matters
looked more
ominous. People who receive unexplained packages are
usually keen to have them open; the example of Miss Hazeltine
(whom he cursed again) was there to
remind him of the
circumstance; and if anyone had opened the water-butt--'O Lord!'
cried Morris at the thought, and carried his hand to his damp
forehead. The private
conception of any
breach of law is apt to
be inspiriting, for the
scheme (while yet inchoate) wears dashing
and
attractive colours. Not so in the least that part of the
criminal's later
reflections which deal with the police. That
useful corps (as Morris now began to think) had
scarce been kept
sufficiently in view when he embarked upon his
enterprise. 'I
must play
devilish close,' he reflected, and he was aware of an
exquisite
thrill of fear in the region of the spine.
'Main line or loop?' enquired the cabman, through the scuttle.
'Main line,' replied Morris, and mentally
decided that the man
should have his
shilling after all. 'It would be
madness to
attract attention,' thought he. 'But what this thing will cost
me, first and last, begins to be a nightmare!'
He passed through the booking-office and wandered disconsolately
on the
platform. It was a breathing-space in the day's traffic.
There were few people there, and these for the most part
quiescent on the benches. Morris seemed to attract no remark,
which was a good thing; but, on the other hand, he was making no
progress in his quest. Something must be done, something must be
risked. Every passing
instant only added to his dangers.
Summoning all his courage, he stopped a
porter, and asked him if
he remembered receiving a
barrel by the morning train. He was
anxious to get information, for the
barrel belonged to a friend.
'It is a matter of some moment,' he added, 'for it contains
specimens.'
'I was not here this morning, sir,' responded the
porter,
somewhat
reluctantly, 'but I'll ask Bill. Do you
recollect, Bill,
to have got a
barrel from Bournemouth this morning containing
specimens?'
'I don't know about specimens,' replied Bill; 'but the party as
received the
barrel I mean raised a sight of trouble.'
'What's that?' cried Morris, in the
agitation of the moment
pressing a penny into the man's hand.
'You see, sir, the
barrel arrived at one-thirty. No one claimed
it till about three, when a small, sickly--looking gentleman
(probably a curate) came up, and sez he, "Have you got anything
for Pitman?" or "Wili'm Bent Pitman," if I
recollect right. "I
don't exactly know," sez I, "but I rather fancy that there
barrelbears that name." The little man went up to the
barrel, and
seemed
regularly all took aback when he saw the address, and then
he pitched into us for not having brought what he wanted. "I
don't care a damn what you want," sez I to him, "but if you are
Will'm Bent Pitman, there's your
barrel."'
'Well, and did he take it?' cried the
breathless Morris.
'Well, sir,' returned Bill, 'it appears it was a packing-case he
was after. The packing-case came; that's sure enough, because it
was about the biggest packing-case ever I clapped eyes on. And
this Pitman he seemed a good deal cut up, and he had the
superintendent out, and they got hold of the vanman--him as took
the packing-case. Well, sir,' continued Bill, with a smile, 'I
never see a man in such a state. Everybody about that van was
mortal, bar the horses. Some gen'leman (as well as I could make
out) had given the vanman a sov.; and so that was where the
trouble come in, you see.'
'But what did he say?' gasped Morris.
'I don't know as he SAID much, sir,' said Bill. 'But he offered
to fight this Pitman for a pot of beer. He had lost his book,
too, and the receipts, and his men were all as
mortal as himself.
O, they were all like'--and Bill paused for a simile--'like
lords! The
superintendent sacked them on the spot.'
'O, come, but that's not so bad,' said Morris, with a bursting
sigh. 'He couldn't tell where he took the packing-case, then?'
'Not he,' said Bill, 'nor yet nothink else.'
'And what--what did Pitman do?' asked Morris.
'O, he went off with the
barrel in a four-wheeler, very trembling
like,' replied Bill. 'I don't believe he's a gentleman as has
good health.'
'Well, so the
barrel's gone,' said Morris, half to himself.
'You may depend on that, sir,' returned the
porter. 'But you had
better see the
superintendent.'
'Not in the least; it's of no account,' said Morris. 'It only
contained specimens.' And he walked
hastily away.
Ensconced once more in a hansom, he proceeded to reconsider his
position. Suppose (he thought), suppose he should accept defeat
and declare his uncle's death at once? He should lose the
tontine, and with that the last hope of his seven thousand eight
hundred pounds. But on the other hand, since the
shilling to the
hansom cabman, he had begun to see that crime was
expensive in
its course, and, since the loss of the water-butt, that it was
uncertain in its consequences. Quietly at first, and then with
growing heat, he reviewed the advantages of backing out. It
involved a loss; but (come to think of it) no such great loss
after all; only that of the tontine, which had been always a
toss-up, which at bottom he had never really expected. He
reminded himself of that
eagerly; he congratulated himself upon
his
constantmoderation. He had never really expected the
tontine; he had never even very
definitely hoped to recover his
seven thousand eight hundred pounds; he had been
hurried into the
whole thing by Michael's
obvious dishonesty. Yes, it would
probably be better to draw back from this high-flying venture,
settle back on the leather business--
'Great God!' cried Morris, bounding in the hansom like a
Jack-in-a-box. 'I have not only not gained the tontine--I have
lost the leather business!'
Such was the
monstrous fact. He had no power to sign; he could
not draw a cheque for thirty
shillings. Until he could produce
legal evidence of his uncle's death, he was a penniless