Miser Farebrother: A Novel (vol. 3 of 3)Farjeon, B. L. (Benjamin Leopold)
General
Miser Farebrother: A Novel (vol. 3 of 3)
Farjeon, B. L. (Benjamin Leopold)
Fiction
"At half past eleven a woman came out of the Langham, and went over to
the man. The policeman on duty saw this movement, but is not sure that
he will be able to identify the woman. Of the man he _is_ sure.
"The woman spoke to the man behind his back. The man did not turn his
face. She slipped a parcel into his hands, and walked rapidly away.
Almost immediately the man was joined by another in an Inverness cape,
and the two walked away together. The policeman on duty saw nothing more
of them. From the manner in which they walked away together there is no
doubt that they were intimately acquainted with each other, and that
they were confederates. So far, the policeman; now for the next
evidence.
"As near as the cabman can remember, driver of a four-wheeler, it was
within a few minutes of midnight that a man hailed him and bade him come
along. They went a couple of hundred yards and took up a man in an
Inverness cape. The man who hailed the driver gave him half a sovereign
'on account,' and directed him to drive along the Finchley Road. He did
so, and observed while he was driving that the men inside the cab were
lighting matches, which proves that they were examining
something--probably the diamond bracelet. After driving about an hour he
was called upon to stop, and before he had pulled up his horse the man
in the Inverness cape jumped out of the cab and disappeared. Then he was
directed to drive back to London, and he did so, stopping, by orders, in
Portland Place. The man who hailed him first (now the only one remaining
in the cab) alighted, and the cabman noticed that he had a parcel in his
hand. Again the diamond bracelet. The cabman asked for a few shillings
more, reminding his fare that the half-sovereign given to him was 'on
account.' The man said that he was well paid, and refused to part with
anything further. The cabman began to argue with him, but the man did
not stop; he ran off. The cabman's description of his fare tallies with
that of the policeman on duty at the Langham Hotel. The cabman will be
able to identify him.
"In some way which we are not at liberty to divulge, but in which we may
say the good-looking Alice Frost is concerned, the disappearance of a
blackleg going by the name of Captain Ablewhite bears upon the robbery.
It is known that this Captain Ablewhite took the night train on the
following Tuesday to Dover. Nothing further is at present discovered of
him.
"Now comes the piquant feature in the robbery.
"To Mr. Quinlan, who arrived at the Langham Hotel after the discovery of
the robbery, the detective narrated all the particulars of the affair.
Mr. Quinlan laughed. His wife asked him what he was laughing at.
"'My dear,' he said to her, 'the loss is not so great as you suppose.
Your diamond bracelet is safe.'
"'Safe!' she cried.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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