Mad Part 40

"Found dead."

And then there was a little quiet bustle, and sc.r.a.ping of chairs upon the oilcloth, for the inquest was over; and old Matt and the weeping girl were standing outside by some railings.

"Strange as we should meet again after talking as we did."

"Yes, yes," said the girl sadly; "but why didn't you say you knew her when I spoke to you?"

"Didn't know her by that name," said Matt; "and I had only seen her a few times, hardly to speak to. But about that Bible?"

"Well!" said the girl sadly.

"Have you got it now?"

"Yes," she said; and then she turned, for a hand was laid upon her arm, and one of the jurymen led her on a few steps talking long and earnestly, till after repeating something aloud two or three times he walked away; and Matt and the girl, two of the waifs of London streets, went slowly on, not noticing that they were watched.

"Poor, poor Marian!" sobbed the girl, stopping by a doorway. "Told me to read the words she had marked in the Bible, and then to go and do that!"

"Well, well, well," said the old man, "let's hope she has gone to a better world; and now, my la.s.s, where are you going?"

"Back to my lodging," said the girl wearily.

"That gentleman told you to call somewhere, didn't he?" said Matt.

"Ah, yes," said the girl abstractedly, "I think so."

"Now I don't believe you remember it," said Matt; "but I happened to hear it, and I'll write it down. Now, look here;" and he brought out his old, ragged memorandum-book and the lead-pencil stump; and then, using the crown of his hat for a desk, he wrote down the address carefully, tore out half a leaf, and gave it to the girl.

"There, my la.s.s," he said, "take my advice, and go there; and now I want you to let me have that Bible."

"What for?" and the girl looked wonderingly at him.

"It's a whim of mine, that's all," said Matt. "But you'll--"

He paused, for a hand was laid upon his shoulder, and turning round he stood face to face with the juryman who had spoken to the girl.

"What paper was that you gave to the girl?" he said roughly.

"The one you ought to have given," said Matt, resenting the question, and the tone of voice in which it was asked.

"What do you mean?" said the stranger.

Old Matt was weak and ill, or he would have retorted angrily; but he only said, "An address."

"What address?" said the juryman dubiously.

"Well, then, yours, if you must know," said Matt.

The juryman looked keenly at the old printer, who met his gaze without flinching. "It was easy to remember," said the former.

"I know that," said Matt, "but I thought she'd forget; and you seemed to mean well by the poor la.s.s. I watched you, sir, at the inquest."

"G.o.d knows I do, my man," said the juryman softly; "and I ask your pardon for playing the spy; for I must confess to having had my doubts of you."

"It's all right, sir; and we can cry quits," said Matt. "I had my doubts, too; and was in two minds about writing down the address; but if you can do anything towards saving the country the cost of another inquest, for G.o.d's sake do. No, thank you, sir; I don't want your money. I don't like taking it where I haven't earned it. It's a weak point of mine, and has stood in the way of my comfort more than once: and I'm old now, sir, and can't break myself of bad habits. Good-day, sir."

The juryman smiled as they parted, and old Matt hurried off talking to himself; for the girl had disappeared while he had been detained.

"I want to see that Bible," he muttered, "and he's hindered me dreadfully. But, yes; no; yes; that's her; there she is," and he shuffled on after a slight figure he saw crossing the road, some distance down the street. "Hang the folks, how they do get in your way when you're in a hurry," he growled. "Now, stoopid, which way is it to be?" And then he hurried and panted along to overtake the retreating figure, which had again disappeared. Dodging amongst the vehicles he encountered, he crossed the road, pressing on, with everyone he met apparently resenting his hurry, till pa.s.sing a turning, he looked down, to see the figure he had followed nearly at the bottom.

"Gets over the ground well," muttered the old man, wiping his forehead; "but I'm safe of her now. Must have that Bible; there may be some clue there, and I want to have this matter cleared up; but how can I tell Miss Lucy?"

The old man reached the bottom of the street, and stood within twenty yards of the figure he sought to overtake, when hurrying on he caught up to her, saying--

"My la.s.s, you'll let me have that book, won't you?"

The figure turned sharply round, as Matt touched her shoulder lightly; but the face was strange, and, taken aback and confounded, the old man made a rough apology, and stood panting as he clung to the railings of a house hard by.

Volume Three, Chapter XI.

MR JARKER IS WANTED.

Mr William Jarker had had a long holiday from the public school where her Majesty's officers try to instil lessons of good, while their refractory pupils resent them to the best of their ability. So long had been Mr Jarker's holiday, that the police had grown uncomfortable at their inability to bring something home to him, but he was wanted, at last, on account of a collection of plate and valuables that had suddenly disappeared after a few linnets and finches had been netted some thirty miles down in Hertfords.h.i.+re, though even here the burglary would not have drawn Mr Jarker into trouble had it not been for a confederate who had "peached" in consequence of what he called an unfair division of the spoil.

So Mr Jarker was wanted just at a time when he felt very comfortable and secure. He had certainly felt rather uneasy for a few days past, and read, or rather stumbled through, the various newspapers, taking particular interest in pa.s.sages relating to discoveries of bodies, and inquests, but now this uneasiness had worn off, and no further notice having been taken of his behaviour by the Hardon family, he felt in very good spirits; though for all that, he had kept away from Bennett's-rents, so that he might not encounter the Reverend Arthur Sterne, who had been a.s.saulted, he heard; and on the principle of giving a dog a bad name and then hanging him, Bill thought he might be accused of the a.s.sault. As to the child, he learned that the curate had taken it to his own home.

Mr Jarker's notice was drawn to the fact of his being wanted, one day when making his way from the Dials into Holborn. Naturally given to casting his eyes about him, he became aware of a quiet-looking man following him at a distance; and no sooner did Mr Jarker catch sight of that face, than horrors of the past untold danced before his eyes for an instant; but the next moment he thrust his hands into his pockets, drew a long breath, and began to whistle, all the while looking out ahead for what he next expected to see--a policeman in uniform.

It might be supposed that the whistler intended to give the person who followed him so closely into custody, but this was not the case, for Mr Jarker imagined that no sooner was there a policeman in sight, than the quiet-looking man would begin to close up.

But it might be somebody else who was wanted, so Mr Jarker crossed the road--so did the quiet man; Bill crossed again--so did the quiet man; and, though the weather was cold, the bird-catcher perspired, as he muttered--

"I wonder what it's for?"

However, he appeared to take matters very coolly, and peeped here and there into the bird-fanciers' shops, and so made his way into Holborn, now and then directing a peep at his quiet friend, who was apparently not taking the slightest heed of his proceedings, but all the same thoroughly realising the difficulty of finding one of his brotherhood when wanted.

Pa.s.sengers were plentiful here, and the crowd thickened as Jarker went on, till a good opportunity seemed to present itself.

"Now for it!" thought Bill, and after a glance over his shoulder, he dodged in and out and about for five minutes, making more than one feint of having turned out of the main street; then, being apparently very much taken with the contents of a draper's window, he stopped short, and glanced to the right to find the quiet-looking man in precisely the same place, and worse still, probably in obedience to a sign from the said quiet man, to the left there was a policeman closing up quickly.

"Meant for me!" muttered Bill; and again, as he turned hotter, "I wonder what it's for?" while once more glancing to the right, there was the quiet man also closing in quickly.

But not so quickly as Jarker made a leap backwards into the road, dodged right under a horse's legs, round an omnibus, past cabs, carts, and wagons, and in and out and about like an eel, invulnerable to the tread of horses' feet or the pa.s.sage of wheels. Ordinary people would have been run over half-a-dozen times, but Bill Jarker was not, and on he tore, with the two constables in full chase.

Jarker had not much start, but he made the most of it, with the full determination of making his escape if possible; perhaps even for a small robbery he might have run hard, and fought hard, to avoid capture; but at the present time there was a look of desperation in his face that prevented more than one willing hand from attempting his seizure; and away he sped, in and out of the vehicles coming and going upon the slippery road. All at once he caught sight of a new peril; right in front there was another policeman, and if, to avoid him, he took to the pavement, so great was the crowd of pa.s.sengers, that he must have been hemmed-in and captured directly. So on dashed Jarker, right at the constable in front, coming down upon him with the impetus of a battering-ram. Over he went, and on dashed Bill with the other constables in close pursuit, and shouts and cries rising on all sides.

"Stop thief! stop thief!" with the tail of followers increasing each moment.

Jarker's breath came hot and thick, and he felt that a few more minutes past, and he would be marching through the street handcuffed and with his liberty stopped; he thought no more of that, but shuddered, while, at the same moment, hope animated his breast, for he could see, far in front, a haven of safety: right before him the street was up, and the boards and bricks told of repairs to the sewers, while the large heap of earth pointed out the depth down at which they lay.

On tore Jarker, racing over the ground with a long, loping run, and on came the police, with the tag of idlers; but the goal was reached. With one bound Jarker cleared the barrier, ran and stumbled over the loose earth for some distance, and then dropped to the first platform, slid down ladder after ladder, pa.s.sed man after man, too astonished and startled to attempt to seize him, sometimes falling, sometimes climbing, with the deal planks springing, and brickbats and clods of earth falling after him. One man made a blow at him with his spade, but it came too late, for Jarker reached the bottom, leaped into the black stream, here but little over his knees, went splas.h.i.+ng away under the echoing dark arch of the sewer, into the dense black pa.s.sages that run for so many miles under London, and was out of sight long before the first policeman was half-way down the great opening.