The Middle of Things Read online

  CHAPTER XXVI

  THE DISMAL STREET

  Unknown to those who had taken part in the conference at Viner's house,unknown even to Carless, who in the multiplicity of his engagements, hadforgotten the instructions which he had given on the previous afternoonto Portlethwaite, a strict watch was being kept on the man around whomall the events of that morning had centred. Portlethwaite, after Methleyand his client had left Carless and Driver's office, had given certaininstructions to one of his fellow-clerks, a man named Millwaters, inwhose prowess as a spy he had unlimited belief. Millwaters was a fellowof experience. He possessed all the qualities of a sleuth-hound and wasnot easily baffled in difficult adventures. In his time he had watchederring husbands and doubtful wives; he had followed more than onehigh-placed wrong-doer running away from the consequences of forgery orembezzlement; he had conducted secret investigations into the behaviourof persons about whom his employers wanted to know something. In personand appearance he was eminently fitted for his job--a little,inconspicuous, plain-featured man who contrived to look as if he neversaw anything. And to him, knowing that he was to be thoroughly dependedupon, Portlethwaite had given precise orders.

  "You'll go up to Lancaster Gate tonight, Millwaters, and get a good lookat that chap," Portlethwaite had told him. "Take plenty of money--I'llspeak to the cashier about that--and be prepared for anything, even tofollowing, if he bolts. Once you've seen him, you're not to lose sight ofhim; make sure of him last thing today and first thing tomorrow. Followhim wherever he goes, make a note of wherever he goes, and particularlyof whoever he meets. And if there's need, ring me up here, and let's knowwhat's happening, or if you want assistance."

  There was no need for Millwaters to promise faithful compliance;Portlethwaite knew well enough that to put him on a trail was equivalentto putting a hound on the scent of a fox or a terrier to the run of arat. And that evening, Millwaters, who had clever ways of his own, madehimself well acquainted with the so-called Mr. Cave's appearance, andassured himself that his man had gone peacefully to rest at his hotel,and he had seen him again before breakfast next morning and had been inquiet and unobtrusive attendance upon him when, later, he visitedMethley's office and subsequently walked away with Methley to thepolice-court. And Millwaters was in the police-court, meditatively suckingpeppermint lozenges in a corner, when Mr. Cave was unexpectedly asked togive evidence; he was there, too, until Mr. Cave left the court.

  Cave's remarkable story ran off Millwaters' mentality like raindrops offa steep roof. It mattered nothing to him. He did not care the value of abrass button if Cave was Earl of Ellingham or Duke of Ditchmoor; his jobwas to keep his eye on him, whoever he was. And so when Viner and hisparty went round to Markendale Square, Millwaters slunk along in theirrear, and at a corner of the Square he remained, lounging about, untilhis quarry reappeared. Two or three of the other men came out with Cave,but Millwaters noticed that Cave immediately separated from them. He wasevidently impressing upon them that he was in a great hurry aboutsomething or other, and sped away from them, Millwaters's cold eye uponhim. And within a minute Millwaters had observed what seemed to himhighly suspicious circumstance--Cave, on leaving the others, had shot offdown a side-street in the direction of Lancaster Gate, but as soon as hewas out of sight of Markendale Square, had doubled in his tracks, hurrieddown another turning and sped away as fast as he could walk towardsPaddington Station.

  Millwaters, shorter in the leg than the tall man in front, had to hurryto keep him in sight, but he was never far behind as Cave hastened alongCraven Road and made for the terminus. Once or twice in this chase thequarry lifted a hand to an approaching taxicab, only to find each wasengaged; it was not until he and his pursuer were in front of the GreatWestern Hotel that Cave found an empty cab, hailed it, and sprang in.Millwaters grinned quietly at that; he was used to this sort of chase,and he had memorized car and number before Cave had been driven off. Itwas a mere detail to charter the next, and to give a quiet word and winkto its chauffeur, who was opening its door for Millwaters when a thirdperson came gently alongside and tapped the clerk's shoulder. Millwatersturned sharply and encountered Mr. Perkwite's shrewd eyes.

  "All right, Millwaters!" said the barrister. "I know what you're after!I'm after the same bird. We'll go together."

  Millwaters knew Mr. Perkwite very well as a promising young barristerwhom Carless and Driver sometimes favoured with briefs. Mr.Perkwite's presence did not disturb him; he moved into the farthercorner, and Mr. Perkwite slipped inside. The car moved off in pursuitof the one in front.

  "So you're on that game, Mr. Perkwite?" remarked Millwaters. "Ah! And whomight have got you on to it, if one may ask?"

  "You know that I was at your people's office yesterday?" said Perkwite.

  "Saw you there," replied Millwaters.

  "It was about this business," said the barrister. "Did you see me in thepolice-court this morning?"

  "I did--listening for all you were worth," answered the clerk.

  "And I dare say you saw me go with the rest of them to Mr. Viner's, inMarkendale Square?" said Perkwite.

  "Right again, sir," assented Millwaters. "I did."

  "This fellow in front," observed Perkwite, "made some statements atViner's, in answer to your principal, Mr. Carless, which incline meto the opinion that he's an impostor in spite of his carefullyconcocted stories."

  "Shouldn't wonder, Mr. Perkwite." said Millwaters. "But that's not mybusiness. My job is to keep him under observation."

  "That's what I set out to do when I came out of Viner's," said thebarrister. "He's up to something. He assured us as we left the house thathe'd a most pressing engagement at his hotel in Lancaster Gate; the nextminute, happening to glance down a side-street, I saw him cutting off inthe direction of Paddington. And now he's evidently making for the City."

  "Well, I'm after him," remarked Millwaters. He leaned out of his window,called the chauffeur, and gave him some further instructions."Intelligent chap, this, Mr. Perkwite," he said as he sat down again. "Heunderstands--some of 'em are poor hands at this sort of game."

  "You're a pretty good hand yourself, I think?" suggested the barrister,with a smile.

  "Ought to be," said Millwaters. "Had plenty of experience, anyway."

  It seemed to Perkwite that his companion kept no particular observationon the car in front as it sped along to and through the northern edge ofthe City and beyond. But Millwaters woke to action as their own carprogressed up Whitechapel Road, and suddenly he gave a warning word tothe barrister and a smart tap on the window behind their driver. The carcame to a halt by the curb; and Millwaters, slipping out, pushed somemoney into the man's hand and drew Perkwite amongst the people who werecrowding the sidewalk. The barrister looked in front and around andseemed at a loss.

  "Where is he?" he asked. "Hang it, I've lost him!"

  "I haven't!" said Millwaters. "He left his car before we left ours. Ourman knew what he was after--he slowed up and passed him until I saw wherehe went." He twisted Perkwite round and pointed to the mouth of a streetwhich they had just passed.

  "He's gone down there," he said. "Nice neighbourhood, too! I knowsomething of it. Now, Mr. Perkwite, if you please, we'll separate. Youtake the right of that street--I'll take the left. Keep a look out for mygentleman's Homburg hat--grey, with a black band--and keep the tail ofyour eye on me, too."

  Cave's headgear was easily followed down the squalid street. Its ownerwent swiftly ahead, with Millwaters in pursuit on one pavement, and thebarrister on the other, until he finally turned into a narrower andshabbier thoroughfare. Then the clerk hurried across the road, attractedPerkwite's attention, winked at him as he passed without checking hispace, and whispered two or three words.

  "Wait--by the street-corner!"

  Perkwite pulled up, and Millwaters went down the dismal street inpursuit of the Homburg hat. This excellent indication of its owner'spresence suddenly vanished from Perkwite's sight, and presentlyMillwaters came back.

  "Ran him
to earth--for the time being, anyway," he said. "He's gone intoa surgery down there--a Dr. Martincole's. Number 23--brass plate ondoor--next to a drug-shop. Suspicious sort of spot, altogether."

  "Well?" demanded Perkwite. "What next? You know best, Millwaters."

  The clerk jerked a thumb down the side of the dismal street on which theywere standing.

  "There's a public-house down there," he said, "almost opposite thissurgery. Fairly decent place for this neighbourhood--bar-parlour lookingout on the street. Better slip in there and look quietly out. Butremember, Mr. Perkwite--don't seem to be watching anything. We're justgoing in for a bottle of ale, and talking business together.

  "Whatever you recommend," said Perkwite.

  He followed his companion down the street to the tavern, a joyless andshabby place, the bar-parlour of which, a dark and smoke-stained room wasjust then empty, and looked over its torn half-blind across the way.

  "Certainly a queer place for a man who professes to be a peer of therealm to visit!" he muttered. "Well, now, what do you propose to do,Millwaters?"

  "Hang about here and watch," whispered the clerk. "Look out!"

  A face, heavy and bloated, appeared at a hatch-window at the back of theroom, and a gruff voice made itself heard.

  "Any orders, gents?"

  "Two bottles o' Bass, gov'nor," responded Millwaters promptly, droppinginto colloquial Cockney speech. He turned to Perkwite and winked. "Well,an' wot abaht this 'ere bit o' business as I've come rahnd abaht,Mister?" he went on, nudging his companion, in free-and-easy style.

  "Yer see, it's this ere wy wiv us--if yer can let us have that therestuff reasonable, d'yer see--" He drew Perkwite over to the window andbegan to whisper, "That'll satisfy him," he said with a sharp glance atthe little room behind the hatch where the landlord was drawing corks."He'll think we're doing a bit of trade, so we've nothing to do but standin this window and keep an eye on the street. Out of this I'm not goingtill I see whether that fellow comes out or stops in!"

  Some time had passed, and Millwaters had been obliged to repeat his orderfor bottled Bass before anything took place in the street outside.Suddenly he touched his companion's elbow.

  "Here's a taxicab coming along and slowing up for somewhere abouthere," he whispered. "And--Lord, if there aren't two ladies in it--in aspot like this! And--whew!" he went on excitedly. "Do you see 'em, Mr.Perkwite? The young un's Miss Wickham, who came to our office aboutthis Ashton affair. I don't know who the old un is--but she evidentlyknows her way."

  The berry-faced landlord had now shut down the hatch, and his twobar-parlour customers were alone and unobserved. Perkwite drew away fromthe window, pulling Millwaters by the sleeve.

  "Careful!" he said. "There's something seriously wrong here, Millwaters!What's Miss Wickham being brought down here for? See, they've gone intothat surgery, and the car's going off. Look here--we've got to dosomething, and at once!"

  But Millwaters shook his head.

  "Not my job, Mr. Perkwite!" he answered. "My business is with theman--Cave! I've nothing to do with Miss Wickham, sir, nor with the oldlady that's taken her in there. Cave's my mark! Queer that the young lady'sgone there, no doubt, but--no affair of mine."

  "It's going to be an affair of mine, then," said Perkwite. "I'm going offto the police!"

  Millwaters put out a detaining hand.

  "Don't, Mr. Perkwite!" he said. "To get police into a quarter like thisis as bad as putting a light to dry straw. I'll tell you a better planthan that, sir--find the nearest telephone-box and call up ourpeople--call Mr. Carless, tell him what you've seen and get him to comedown and bring somebody with him. That'll be far better than calling thepolice in."

  "Give me your telephone-number, then," said Perkwite, "and keep a strictwatch while I'm away."

  Millwaters repeated some figures and a letter, and Perkwite ran off upthe street and toward the Whitechapel Road, anxiously seeking for atelephone booth. It was not until he had got into the main thoroughfarethat he found one; he then had some slight delay in getting incommunication with Carless and Driver's office; twenty minutes hadelapsed by the time he got back to the dismal street. At its corner heencountered Millwaters, lounging about hands in pockets. Millwaterswagged his head.

  "Here's another queer go!" he said. "There's been another arrival atNumber 23--not five minutes since. Another of our little lot!"

  "Who?" demanded Perkwite.

  "Viner!" replied Millwaters. "Came peeping and perking along thestreet, took a glimpse of the premises and the adjacent purlieus, rang atNumber 23, and was let in by--the party that came with Miss Wickham! Now,whatever can he be doing there, Mr. Perkwite?"

  "Whatever can any of them be doing there!" muttered Perkwite. "Viner!What business can he have in this place? It seems--by George,Millwaters," he suddenly exclaimed, "what if this is some infernalplant--trap--something of that sort? Do you know, in spite of what yousay, I really think we ought to get hold of the nearest police andtell them--"

  "Wait, Mr. Perkwite!" counselled Millwaters. "Our governor is a prettycute and smart sort, and he's vastly interested in this Miss Wickham; soPortlethwaite and he'll be on their way down here now, hot foot; and withhelp, too, if he thinks she's in any danger. Now, _he_ can go straight tothat door and demand to see her, and--"

  "Why can't we?" interrupted Perkwite. "I'd do it! Lord, man, she may bein real peril--"

  "Not while Viner's in there," said Millwaters quietly. "I might possiblyhave gone and rung the bell myself, but for that. But Viner's inthere--wait!"

  And Perkwite waited, chafing, at the corner of the dismal street, until aquarter of an hour had passed. Then a car came hurrying along and pulledup as Millwaters and his companion were reached, and from it sprang Mr.Carless, Lord Ellingham and two men in plain-clothes, at the sight ofwhom Perkwite heaved a huge sigh of intense relief.