Priscilla and Charybdis: A Story of AlternativesMoore, Frank Frankfort
General
Priscilla and Charybdis: A Story of Alternatives
Moore, Frank Frankfort
Fiction
He sent the card in a small box, enclosing with it a letter asking the
governor to be good enough to let him know if the finger-prints that
it bore were those of Marcus Blaydon, who had been incarcerated in the
prison for over a year.
With the lapse of only a few posts he received a communication from the
acting-governor of the prison stating that he had sent on the card to
the Criminal Investigation Department, and that the reply had been that
the prints were those of Marcus Blaydon.
He told Priscilla what he had done, and what was the result, and she
shook her head and smiled.
“It was very clever of you to get the finger-prints as you did,” she
said. “But I knew that I could not be mistaken in the man.”
“There was only the ghost of a chance that the man was an impostor,”
said Jack; “but I felt bound to leave no stone--oh, there’s that phrase
buzzing about me again!”
“You were quite right, dear Jack,” she said. “No stone should be left
unturned in digging the foundation for our case.”
Nothing further passed between them on this point; but two days later
Jack received a private letter from the governor of the prison, stating
that he had just resumed his duty after taking his annual leave, and
that he had seen the letter which his deputy had answered.
“I can easily understand that you should be interested in an enquiry
of the nature of that suggested by your communication,” he added; “and
though the reply which was sent to you may not have been just the one
for which you hoped, yet I think it possible that it may be in my power
to give you some assistance in any investigation you or your lawyers may
be making in regard to Marcus Blaydon. It would not be regular to do so
by letter, but if you could make it convenient to pay me a visit I might
be able to place you in possession of one or two interesting--perhaps
they may even turn out to be important--facts which came to my knowledge
respecting the man when he was in my charge.
“When I read in the English newspapers, which I received in Switzerland,
the particulars of the case in which Marcus Blaydon played so sinister a
part, I made up my mind to place myself in communication with you; and
I would have done so even if your letters had not been put into my hands
on my return.”
“It may mean a great deal or it may mean nothing,” remarked Jack,
passing this communication on to Priscilla.
Of course, Priscilla felt inclined, on a first reading of the note,
to attribute a great deal of importance to it. “Why should the prison
official take the trouble to write asking you to meet him if he was not
sure that what he had to say was vital?” she asked Jack. But a second
reading caused her to be less sanguine.
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