by W. W. Jacobs
CHAPTER XX--_A Dark Man of Foreign Appearance_
Mr. Dawkins had guessed aright in supposing that George Early felt safeon the temperance question; his old confidence returned at once. Hestarted to enjoy life in real earnest. When at business, he stuck fastto the firm's affairs, and when away, as was not infrequent now, hewent everywhere and saw everything as people with health and money do.
Mrs. Early enjoyed herself immensely, and even Aunt Phoebe, who hadonce felt she could never forgive her nephew for his recklessness,began to assume a placid air, and agreed to prolong her visit toBrunswick Terrace.
Perhaps the alcohol restriction was a thorn in George Early's side; butif so, he grieved in secret, for in public you would never dream thathe had a care.
The keen-eyed Mole and his watchful band doggedly followed theirquarry, and used every artifice known to the modern detective to catchhim napping; to all of which the legatee submitted patiently, and clungto the teetotal habit like a fanatic.
Having disposed of the truth-telling business, and being desirous ofpaying off old scores to the last fraction, George would often takecustomers in hand himself, and, followed by Gray with a note-book, taxhis imagination to the utmost over such prosaic things ascooking-ranges, gulley-pipes, and girders. To all this fiction Graywould listen, conscious that much of the elaboration was at hisexpense.
At a time when the legacies were, so far as Gray and Co. wereconcerned, quite a thing of the past, a dark man of foreign appearance,with black hair and well-curled moustaches, made his appearance in theFairbrother showrooms, and desired to see the principal. He wasexpensively dressed, and was accompanied by a friend, whose business itseemed to be to echo the abstract statements of the foreign man andagree with his conclusions.
George Early appeared, and learned that the foreign gentleman, whosename was Caroli, desired to choose many elaborate articles for anEnglish mansion about to be built.
To so distinguished and wealthy a customer the pick of the Fairbrothergoods were drawn forth, and ably eulogized by the chief himself.
"What can be said of a stove like that?" said Caroli, appealing to hisfriend, as a magnificent invention of burnished brass and copperscintillated before them.
"That is a stove to be considered," said Caroli's friend.
"It is magnificent!" said Caroli.
"Splendid!" said his friend.
"The pattern exactly," said George, solemnly, "as supplied to HisMajesty. Chosen by the Queen herself from among fourteen hundredstoves."
They passed along in procession, followed by menials ready to dragforth hidden treasures, strip and lay bare their beauty to the eye ofCaroli.
Cost was nothing to the wealthy foreigner. He wanted beauty, and lookedat everything with an artist's eye. Doubtless an hereditary trait ofhis noble ancestors.
"Without beauty I could not live," cried Caroli.
"Beauty is the very heart of life," echoed his friend.
"Those leaves are not real, but the artist's soul is in them," criedCaroli.
"They are the perfection of art," said his friend.
The leaves, which happened to be on a wrought-iron gate, were, Georgeinformed his customers, designed from a pattern originally executed bythe King's sister.
With exclamation and acclamation, volubility on Caroli's part, andparrot-like earnestness on that of his friend, ingenious fiction byGeorge Early, patient scribbling by the order clerk, and continuousperspiring by the menials, the best part of two hours went by beforeGeorge led his noble patron to the chief office.
There the principals sat and talked, while the paid hirelings drew up aclean account of the goods chosen and their cost.
Caroli glanced at it, and tossed it aside to continue an interestingaccount of something that happened to somebody at Monte Carlo, in whichhe had succeeded in getting the attention of George Early.
In his foreign way, Caroli gesticulated, and held George with his eyesthrough the most exciting part of the narrative. It was a long story,too, and if anybody else had been there, they would have noticed thatGeorge Early's glance had become a fixed stare, and that Caroli'sgesticulations had developed mysteriously into the passes commonly usedby music-hall mesmerists.
His speech had altered strangely, too, and had taken a more commandingtone. He told George that he (George) was Caroli's friend, that Caroliwas his distinguished customer, and that they had spent a pleasantmorning. He said also that to commemorate this auspicious occasion theywould drink together.
Whereupon Caroli suddenly produced a flat bottle of spirits and aglass, drank himself, handed some to his friend, and then poured out aglassful for George.
What would happen? George was a teetotaler. Surely he would not do asthis man suggested; and yet he appeared to offer no opposition. Did herealize what he was about to do--what serious issues were at stake?
To the amazement of Gray, who had silently entered the room, GeorgeEarly lifted the glass at Caroli's command, and drank off the spirit.
* * * * *
The worst of this lapse on the part of George Early was that he knewnothing about it. He remembered some mesmeric influence, in whichCaroli had been the agent, but knew nothing of the whisky until hiscustomers had gone, when he recalled the taste and Gray described thescene.
In addition came the usual letter from the lawyers.
Who could be at the bottom of it? Mr. Dawkins strenuously andindignantly denied any complicity in the affair. Nobody else could beinterested but the philanthropic institution to whom the property wouldgo. But who dare accuse any of these pious gentlemen?
Gray knew. He had had the shrewdness to follow the great Caroli, and hediscovered that some of the pious gentlemen were not so pious as theyseemed. Having got that far, he was able to make a bargain with Caroliin order to keep the facts to himself.
Of course the magnificent array of goods for the country mansion wentback to their shelves. Caroli did not appear again.
Although his great desire was to meet the foreign gentleman once moreand settle accounts with him, George Early chose the wiser course ofputting himself under the chaperonage of his wife or her aunt, whenaway from home, in order to combat any further attacks.
And Aunt Phoebe performed her duty nobly. So nobly that GeorgeEarly's enemies would have to wait until her vigil was relaxed. Theydid wait--and when the time came, made the most of it.
One afternoon Aunt Phoebe entered her niece's room in a great stateof vexation. Something alarming had occurred. You could tell that bythe way she flounced in, jerking her head sharply, and giving littleemphatic thumps at nothing with her clenched hands. George, whofollowed her, sat in a dazed way on the first chair he came to.
Mrs. Early feared the worst, and her fears were realized.
"Bless you, I can't say how it happened," said Aunt Phoebe, herindignation almost depriving her of speech. "We were coming home in ahansom cab, and drove Oxford Street way as I had to make a call aboutsome gloves. I wasn't away a quarter of an hour, I should think, butwhen I came back he was gone. Gone--wafted away."
"Gone?" echoed her niece.
"Missing," said Aunt Phoebe, with a wave of her hand. "I found himstanding on the pavement a little later trying to recollect who he was.All he seems to know of it is that a mysterious man told him I had beentaken ill, and was carried into a wine-shop. A wine-shop, of allplaces! Instead of me he found there the foreign person. What happened,goodness only knows, except that he's been drinking!"
Mrs. Early clasped her hands and gazed tearfully at her husband, whosat looking in a forlorn way at the carpet.
"What's to be done?" asked Mrs. Early, in a loud whisper.
"To be done?" said Aunt Phoebe. "That's what's worrying me. Anotherturn like this, and the two of you are beggars. Think of it--beggars!"
"It's a shame!" cried Mrs. Early, indignantly.
"It's a conspiracy," said her aunt, darkly. "And I shall make it mybusiness to find the conspirators. If that shar
pshoes of a lawyer isn'tat the bottom of it, then somebody else is. One thing's certain, theremust be no more office work for the present. And before the day is outwe must decide what is to be done. The first thing I should advise isyour getting rid of those three men. They've certainly had a hand inthis business."
Towards evening George Early regained his normal condition, andexpressed himself very forcibly about the way in which he had beentreated.
"I'm afraid it won't do you any good to stand there using language,"said Aunt Phoebe, shortly. "It would be more interesting to know whatyou propose doing."
George had nothing to propose at the moment, but promised to try tothink of something. Having taken the edge off his resentment, he saidthat, as matters stood, there was only one thing to be done, and hemeant to do it. So the trio sat far into the night discussing the newproposals.
