Detective and mystery stories, English; Police -- Fiction; Short stories
It was some time, on partially recovering my senses, before I could
realize either what had occurred or the situation in which I found
myself. Gradually, however, the incidents attending the
artfully-prepared treachery of Madame Jaubert grew into distinctness,
and I pretty well comprehended my present position. I was lying at the
bottom of a cart, blindfold, gagged, handcuffed, and covered over by
what, from their smell, seemed to be empty corn-sacks. The vehicle was
moving at a pretty rapid rate, and judging from the roar and tumult
without, through one of the busiest thoroughfares of London. It was
Saturday evening; and I thought, from the character of the noises, and
the tone of a clock just chiming ten, that we were in Tottenham Court
Road. I endeavored to rise, but found, as I might have expected, that it
was impossible to do so; my captors having secured me to the floor of
the cart by strong cords. There was nothing for it, therefore, but
patience and resignation; words easily pronounced, but difficult, under
such circumstances, to realize in practice. My thoughts, doubtless in
consequence of the blows I had received, soon became hurried and
incoherent. A tumultuous throng of images swept confusedly past, of
which the most constant and frequent were the faces of my wife and
youngest child, whom I had kissed in his sleep just previous to leaving
home. Madame Jaubert and James Martin were also there; and ever and anon
the menacing countenance of Levasseur stooped over me with a hideous
expression, and I felt as if clutched in the fiery grasp of a demon. I
have no doubt that the voice which sounded in my ear at the moment I was
felled to the ground must have suggested the idea of the Swiss--faintly
and imperfectly as I caught it. This tumult of brain only gradually
subsided as the discordant uproar of the streets--which no doubt added
to the excitement I was suffering under by suggesting the exasperating
nearness of abundant help which could not be appealed to--died gradually
away into a silence only broken by the rumble of the cart-wheels, and
the subdued talk of the driver and his companions, of whom there
appeared to be two or three. At length the cart stopped, I heard a door
unlocked and thrown open, and a few moments afterwards I was dragged
from under the corn-sacks, carried up three flights of stairs, and
dropped brutally upon the floor till a light could be procured. Directly
one was brought, I was raised to my feet, placed upright against a
wooden partition, and staples having been driven into the paneling,
securely fastened in that position, with cords passed through them, and
round my armpits. This effected, an authoritative voice--the now
distinct recognition of which thrilled me with dismay--ordered that I
should be unblinded. It was done; and when my eyes became somewhat
accustomed to the suddenly-dazzling light and glare, I saw Levasseur and
the clerk Dubarle standing directly in front of me, their faces kindled
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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