The Talleyrand Maxim Page 17

  CHAPTER XVII

  ADVERTISEMENT

  Eldrick looked up at his partner with a sharp, confirmatory glance.

  "That's our Parrawhite, of course!" he said. "Who's after him, now?" Andhe went on to read the rest of the advertisement, murmuring itsphraseology half-aloud: "'in practice as a solicitor at Nottingham andwho left that town six years ago. If the said James Parrawhite willcommunicate with the undersigned he will hear something greatly to hisadvantage. Any person able to give information as to his whereaboutswill be suitably rewarded. Apply to Halstead & Byner, 56B, St. Martin'sChambers, London, W.C.' Um!--Pascoe, hand over that Law List."

  Collingwood looked on in silence while Eldrick turned over the pages ofthe big book which his partner took down from a shelf. He wondered atEldrick's apparent and almost eager interest.

  "Halstead & Byner are not solicitors," announced Eldrick presently."They must be inquiry agents or something of that sort. Anyway, I'llwrite to them, Pascoe, at once."

  "You don't know where the fellow is," said Pascoe. "What's the good?"

  "No--but we know where he last was," retorted Eldrick. He turned toCollingwood as the junior partner sauntered out of the room. "Rather oddthat Pascoe should draw my attention to that just now," he remarked."This man Parrawhite was, in a certain sense, mixed up with Pratt--atleast, Pratt and I are the only two people who know the secret ofParrawhite's disappearance from these offices. That was just about thetime of your grandfather's death."

  Collingwood immediately became attentive. His first suspicions of Prattwere formed at the time of which Eldrick spoke, and any reference toevents contemporary excited his interest.

  "Who was or is--this man you're talking of?" he asked.

  "Bad lot--very!" answered Eldrick, shaking his head. "He and I werearticled together, at the same time, to the same people: we saw a lot ofeach other as fellow articled clerks. He afterwards practised inNottingham, and he held some good appointments. But he'd a perfect maniafor gambling--the turf--and he went utterly wrong, and misappropriatedclients' money, and in the end he got into prison, and was, of course,struck off the rolls. I never heard anything of him for years, and thenone day, some time ago, he turned up here and begged me to give him ajob. I did--and I'll do him the credit to say that he earned his money.But--in the end, his natural badness broke out. One afternoon--I'mcareless about some things--I left some money lying in thisdrawer--about forty pounds in notes and gold--and next morningParrawhite never came to business. We've never seen or heard of himsince."

  "You mentioned Pratt," said Collingwood.

  "Only Pratt and I know--about the money," replied Eldrick. "We kept itsecret--I didn't want Pascoe to know I'd been so careless. Pascoe didn'tlike Parrawhite--and he doesn't know his record. I only told him thatParrawhite was a chap I'd known in better circumstances and wanted togive a hand to."

  "You said it was about the time of my grandfather's death?" askedCollingwood.

  "It was just about then--between his death and his funeral I shouldsay," answered Eldrick, "The two events are associated in my mind.Anyway, I'd like to know what it is that these people want Parrawhitefor. If it's money that's come to him, it'll be of no advantage--it'llonly go where all the rest's gone."

  Collingwood lost interest in Parrawhite. Parrawhite appeared to havenothing to do with the affairs in which he was interested. He sat downand began to tell Eldrick about his own suspicions of Pratt at the timeof Antony Bartle's death; of what Jabey Naylor had told him about thepaper taken from the _History of Barford_; of the lad's account of theold man's doings immediately afterwards; and of his own proceedingswhich had led him to believe for the time being that his suspicions weregroundless.

  "But now," he went on, "a new idea occurs to me. Suppose that thatpaper, found by my grandfather in a book which had certainly belonged tothe late John Mallathorpe, was something important relating to Mrs.Mallathorpe? Suppose that my grandfather brought it across here to you?Suppose that finding you out, he showed it to Pratt? As my grandfatherdied suddenly, with nobody but Pratt there, what was there to preventPratt from appropriating that paper if he saw that it would give him ahold over Mrs. Mallathorpe? We know now that he has some document in hispossession which does give him a hold--may it not be that of which theboy Naylor told me?"

  "Might be," agreed Eldrick. "But--my opinion is, taking things alltogether, that the paper which Antony Bartle found was the one youyourself discovered later--the list of books. No--I'll tell you what Ithink. I believe that the document which Pratt told Miss Mallathorpe heholds, and to which her mother referred in the letter asking Pratt tomeet her, is probably--most probably!--one which he discovered insearching out his relationship to Mrs. Mallathorpe. He's a cutechap--and he may have found some document which--well, I'll tell youwhat it might be--something which would upset the rights of HarperMallathorpe to his uncle's estates. No other relatives came forward, orwere heard of, or were discoverable when John Mallathorpe was killed inthat chimney accident; but there may be some--there may be one inparticular. That's my notion!--and I intend, in the first place, to makea personal search of the parish registers from which Pratt got hisinformation. He may have discovered something there which he's keepingto himself."

  "You think that is the course to adopt?" asked Collingwood, after amoment's reflection.

  "At present--yes," replied Eldrick. "And while I'm making it--I'll do itmyself--we'll just go on outwardly--as if nothing had happened. If Imeet Pratt--as I shall--I shall not let him see that I know anything. Doyou go on in just the usual way. Go out to Normandale Grange now andthen--and tell Miss Mallathorpe to think no more of her interview withPratt until we've something to talk to her about. You talk to herabout--something else."

  When Collingwood had left him Eldrick laid a telegram form on hisplotting pad, and after a brief interval of thought wrote out a messageaddressed to the people whose advertisement had attracted Pascoe'sattention.

  "HALSTEAD & BYNER, 56B, St. Martin's Chambers, London, W.C.

  "I can give you definite information concerning James Parrawhite if you will send representative to see me personally.

  "CHARLES ELDRICK, Eldrick & Pascoe, Solicitors, Barford."

  After Eldrick had sent off a clerk with this message to the nearesttelegraph office, he sat thinking for some time. And at the close of hismeditations, and after some turning over of a diary which lay on hisdesk, he picked up pen and paper, and drafted an advertisement of hisown.

  "TEN POUNDS REWARD will be paid to any person who can give reliable and useful information as to James Parrawhite, who until November last was a clerk in the employ of Messrs. Eldrick & Pascoe, Solicitors, Barford, and who is believed to have left the town on the evening of November 23.--Apply to Mr. CHARLES ELDRICK, of the above firm."

  "Worth risking ten pounds on--anyway," muttered Eldrick. "Whether theseLondon people will cover it or not. Here!" he went on, turning to aclerk who had just entered the room. "Make three copies of thisadvertisement, and take one to each of the three newspaper offices, andtell 'em to put it in their personal column tonight."

  He sat musing for some time after he was left alone again, and when heat last rose, it was with a shake of the head.

  "I wonder if Pratt told me the truth that morning?" he said to himself."Anyway, he's now being proved to be even deeper than I'd everconsidered him. Well--other folk than Pratt are possessed of pretty goodwits."

  Before he left the office that evening Eldrick was handed a telegramfrom Messrs. Halstead & Byner, of St. Martin's Chambers, informing himthat their Mr. Byner would travel to Barford by the first express nextmorning, and would call upon him at eleven o'clock.

  "Then they have some important news for Parrawhite," mused Eldrick, ashe put the message in his pocket and went off to his club. "Inquiryagents don't set off on long journeys at a moment's notice for a matterof a trifling agency. But--where is Parrawhite?"

  He awaited the arrival of Mr. Byner next morning wit
h considerablecuriosity. And soon after eleven there was shown in to him, a smart,well-dressed, alert-looking young man, who, having introduced himself asMr. Gerald Byner, immediately plunged into business.

  "You can tell me something of James Parrawhite, Mr. Eldrick?" he began."We shall be glad--we've been endeavouring to trace him for some months.It's odd that you didn't see our advertisement before."

  "I don't look at that sort of advertisement," replied Eldrick. "Ibelieve it was by mere accident that my partner saw yours yesterdayafternoon. But now, a question or two first. What are you--inquiryagents?"

  "Just so, sir--inquiry agents--with a touch of private detectivebusiness," answered Mr. Gerald Byner with a smile. "We undertake to findpeople, to watch people, to recover lost property, and so on. In thiscase we're acting for Messrs. Vickers, Marshall & Hebbleton, Solicitors,of Cannon Street. They want James Parrawhite badly."

  "Why?" asked Eldrick.

  "Because," replied Byner with a dry laugh, "there's about twentythousand pounds waiting for him, in their hands."

  Eldrick whistled with astonishment.

  "Whew!" he said. "Twenty thousand--for Parrawhite! My good sir--ifthat's so, and if, as you say, you've been advertising----"

  "Advertising in several papers," interrupted Byner. "Dailies, weeklies,provincials. Never had one reply, till your wire."

  "Then--Parrawhite must be dead!" said Eldrick. "Or--in gaol, underanother name. Twenty thousand pounds--waiting for Parrawhite! IfParrawhite was alive, man, or at liberty, he wouldn't let twentythousand pence wait five minutes! I know him!"

  "What can you tell me, Mr. Eldrick?" asked the inquiry agent.

  Eldrick told all he knew--concealing nothing. And Byner listenedsilently and eagerly.

  "There's something strikes me at once," he said. "You say that with himdisappeared three or four ten-pound notes of yours. Have you the numbersof those notes?"

  "I can't say," replied Eldrick, doubtfully. "I haven't, certainly.But--they were paid in to our head-clerk, Pratt, and I think he used toenter such things in a sort of day-ledger. I'll get it."

  He went into the clerks' office and presently returned with an oblong,marble-backed book which he began to turn over.

  "This may be what you ask about," he said at last. "Here, under dateNovember 23, are some letters and figures which obviously refer tobank-notes. You can copy them if you like."

  "Another question, Mr. Eldrick," remarked Byner as he made a note of theentries. "You say some cheque forms were abstracted from a book of yoursat the same time. Have you ever heard of any of these cheque forms beingmade use of?"

  "Never!" replied Eldrick.

  "No forgery of your name or anything?" suggested the caller.

  "No," said Eldrick. "There's been nothing of that sort."

  "I can soon ascertain if these bank-notes have reached the Bank ofEngland," said Byner. "That's a simple matter. Now suppose theyhaven't!"

  "Well?" asked Eldrick.

  "You know, of course," continued Byner, "that it doesn't take long for aBank of England note, once issued, to get back to the Bank? You know,too, that it's never issued again. Now if those notes haven't beenpresented at the Bank--where are they? And if no use has been made ofyour stolen cheques--where are they?"

  "Good!" agreed Eldrick. "I see that you ought to do well in your specialline of business. Now--are you going to pursue inquiries for Parrawhitehere in Barford, after what I've told you?"

  "Certainly!" said Byner. "I came down prepared to stop awhile. It'shighly important that this man should be found--highly important," headded smiling, "to other people than Parrawhite himself."

  "In what way?" asked Eldrick.

  "Why," replied Byner, "if he's dead--as he may be--this money goes tosomebody else--a relative. The relative would be very glad to hear he isdead! But--definite news will be welcome, in any case. Oh, yes, now thatI've got down here, I shall do my best to trace him. You have theaddress of the woman he lodged with, you say. I shall go there first, ofcourse. Then I must try to find out what he did with himself in hisspare time. But, from all you tell me, it's my impression he'sdead--unless, as you say, he's got into prison again--possibly underanother name. It seems impossible that he should not have seen ouradvertisements."

  "You never advertised in any Yorkshire newspapers?" asked Eldrick.

  "No," said Byner. "Because we'd no knowledge of his having come so farNorth. We advertised in the Midland papers. But then, all the Londonpapers, daily and weekly, that we used come down to Yorkshire."

  "Parrawhite," said Eldrick reflectively, "was a big newspaper reader. Heused to go to the Free Library reading-room a great deal. I begin tothink he must certainly be dead--or locked up. However, in supplement ofyour endeavours, I did a little work of my own last night. There youare!" he went on, picking up the local papers and handing them over. "Iput that in--we'll see if any response comes. But now a word, Mr. Byner,since you've come to me. You have heard me mention my lateclerk--Pratt?"

  "Yes," answered Byner.

  "Pratt has left us, and is in business as a sort of estate agent in thenext street," continued Eldrick. "Now I have particular reasons--mostparticular reasons!--why Pratt should remain in absolute ignorance ofyour presence in the town. If you should happen to come across him--asyou may, for though there are a quarter of a million of us here, it's asmall place, compared with London--don't let him know your business."

  "I'm not very likely to do that, Mr. Eldrick," remarked Byner quietly.

  "Aye, but you don't take my meaning," said Eldrick eagerly. "I meanthis--it's just possible that Pratt may see that advertisement of yours,and that he may write to your firm. In that case, as he's here, andyou're here, your partner would send his letter to you. Don't deal withit--here. Don't--if you should come across Pratt, even let him know yourname!"

  "When I've a job of this sort," replied Byner, "I don't let anybody knowmy name--except people like you. When I register at one of your hotelspresently, I shall be Mr. Black of London. But--if this Pratt wanted togive any information about Parrawhite, he'd give it to you, surely, nowthat you've advertised."

  "No, he wouldn't!" asserted Eldrick. "Why? Because he's told me all heknows--or says he knows--already!"

  The inquiry agent looked keenly at the solicitor for a moment duringwhich they both kept silence. Then Byner smiled.

  "You said--'or says he knows,'" he remarked. "Do you think he didn'ttell the truth about Parrawhite?"

  "I should say--now--it's quite likely he didn't," answered Eldrick. "Thetruth is, I'm making some inquiry myself about Pratt--and I don't wantthis to interfere with it. You keep me informed of what you find out,and I'll help you all I can while you're here. It may be----"

  A clerk came into the room and looked at his master.

  "Mr. George Pickard, of the _Green Man_ at Whitcliffe, sir," he said.

  "Well?" asked Eldrick.

  "Wants to see you about that advertisement in the paper this morning,sir," continued the clerk.

  Eldrick looked at Byner and smiled significantly. Then he turned towardsthe door.

  "Bring Mr. Pickard in," he said.