City and town life -- Fiction; Urban poor -- Fiction
D. Wragg gazed curiously at his sallow lodger, as he prepared himself
another cigarette, till, as if feeling that he was watched, Canau
stealthily raised his eyes till they encountered those of the dealer,
when, for a few moments the two men stood, each trying to read the
other's thoughts, till, lowering his lids, Monsieur Canau lit his
cigarette, raised his pinched hat a few inches, and then slowly left the
shop.
Volume 3, Chapter III.
AFTER THE SEARCH.
Upon several occasions when Monsieur Canau saw Patty home to the
pleasant manufacturing shades of Duplex Street, he sought to open up
this affair with Jared Pellet, so as to hear his opinion upon the
subject; but it was only to find Jared dull and abstracted, and ready to
return monosyllabic answers to all that was said. Twice over he had
called too, bringing with him his violin; but upon those occasions
weary-looking Tim Ruggles had been there, and no music had followed--no
Mozart, not even one of Corelli's old sad-toned minor trios, with
movements named after the dances of our forefathers, corantos and
sarabands; funeral marches they ought rather to have been, unless it is
that music grows mellow and sad-hued with age, changing even after the
fashion of wine.
Monsieur Canau used to divine that there was trouble afloat, and
refrained from hinting at the object of his visits, contenting himself
with buying a couple of Jared's atrocious Roman strings, and then coming
away.
"They have a bebe there," muttered Canau, "that is like a music-box; and
I think they wind him up every night just before I go, for he is always
cry."
It was as patent to Monsieur Canau as to D. Wragg that the Brownjohn
Street house was under police surveillance, for there was often some
stranger to be seen loitering about, one very ordinary-looking
individual, trying very hard not to seem as if watching the former as he
went out.
But D. Wragg was not deceived in the slightest degree, for beside his
great experience of `natur,' he had attempted to acquire something of
art--to wit, police art--enough to enable him to point out, with the
accompaniment of a peculiar wink, the plain-clothes officer to his
French lodger, who had, however, only replied by a contemptuous shrug of
the shoulders, and a look in another direction.
But D. Wragg did not look another way, evidently bent upon wearing the
aspect of utter defiance of the law. He stood now at his shop-door
fiercely smoking, giving himself twitches and jerks that quite scared
such of his stock-in-trade as were in close proximity, and sent his dogs
shrinking back, snapping and snarling, whenever he turned their way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account