Secret Service; or, Recollections of a City DetectiveForrester, Andrew
General
Secret Service; or, Recollections of a City Detective
Forrester, Andrew
Detective and mystery stories, English; Fiction; Short stories
What share in the production of this decision Lady H---- may have had I
do not know, but I have a notion that she had much to do with it; for it
is certain beyond all doubt that the loss of her jewelry preyed upon her
spirits, and exasperated her to the last pitch of intensity. Being
rather shrewishly inclined, she would, I verily believe, have inflicted
summary vengeance on the stoutest of the thieves if she could have
clutched him.
Lord H----'s solicitors were somewhat annoyed at the failure of the
police in the discovery of the criminals. They communicated with me upon
the subject, and I at length was employed.
It was a teasing and difficult job. It gave me ten times more trouble
than many a greater and more important business. Yet, having undertaken
it, I was determined to go through with it. I would not, I felt, be
baffled.
For a long while I could obtain no clue. At length I did get a scent of
my prey, and from that moment the result was certain, although it could
only be overtaken by a circuitous and uneven track.
I at length hunted down the principal delinquent.
The whole robbery had been effected by one man and one woman. The woman
fled as soon as the man was arrested. I might have secured her before,
but in doing so must have lost the man. Her arrest would have given him
notice of his peril; and, in truth, I was almost careless about the
female's escape if I could catch her companion.
Lord H---- was more exasperated than ever when he ascertained who the
criminal was; although he assured his solicitors, as they informed me,
that he had not the slightest knowledge of the man, nor did he suppose
the delinquent had any knowledge of him beyond that which all thieves of
London might have in common of a nobleman.
I suspected that some mysterious cause inspired this desire for
vengeance in his lordship, besides the natural influence of his loss
upon his mind. That was sufficient to account for much revengefulness,
but it did not appear to me an adequate motive for the sudden increase
of such an emotion since the disclosure of the identity of the criminal.
I do not, however, know that my suspicions were correct. It is possible
that they were incorrect.
The offender was brought before the magistrate, in the usual course, and
remand upon remand was applied for and obtained. The prisoner's attorney
resisted the application with all his argumentative power and force of
advocacy, but in vain. The prosecution was thought by the bench to be
entitled to every opportunity for discovering their property, and so
involving the prisoner in the evidence of his guilt as to render his
escape through the meshes of the law impossible.
At length the case was brought home with sufficient clearness to the
prisoner, not only to warrant his committal for trial, but to secure his
conviction when that trial took place. He was accordingly committed.
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