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
This little episode was followed by one or two circumstances that the
reader may be put in possession of. Lord H----, who was by no means a
strong-minded man, accepted the incident as a warning of Providence. He
would not for a trifle risk the enmity of her ladyship, to whom he was
somewhat attached, and he dreaded the notoriety of his own criminal
association with the prisoner's sister. He resolved to be virtuous, and
carried out that resolution by a financial arrangement with his
mistress, through the family lawyer. She, who had not been further
tainted by sin than in her illicit connexion with the prosecutor, used
the means now placed at her disposal in a way that enabled her to gain
an honest and creditable livelihood henceforth. Her brother tried to do
the same; but that wish was broken down by the constant interference
with his good resolutions from old associates. He also tried various
modes, like his sister, for obtaining an honest livelihood; but the
impossibility of maintaining an incognito rendered this impracticable.
Ever and anon he encountered former "friends," who reviled his
intentions, and frustrated them. It was a good joke, they told him, that
notion of his of working for a livelihood. "Did he," they asked
ironically, "really think of turning honest? What a funny idea!" they
exclaimed. They persecuted him in various modes. They would demand money
from him, and if he hesitated they would threaten to "split" or "peach"
upon him. He had to give them on such occasions all he had, and promise
more than he had or could perform as the price of their forbearance.
Dogged on every hand, and finding it impossible to earn an honest
livelihood in this country, he fled from it, with the aid of money
supplied him by his sister and brother-in-law (for by this time Clara
had become the wife of a good-natured, easy-going fellow, who held an
appointment in her Majesty's Customs); and I lost sight of him amid a
crowd of steerage passengers on board an emigrant ship bound for
Australia, where I hope he is now living as a creditable member of
society.
THE WORKHOUSE DOCTOR.
Of all scoundrels in society, there are none so bad as disreputable or
dishonest lawyers--unless it be unprincipled doctors. And I think that
the palm of villany, if there be such a thing, might be claimed by a few
of the latter class in any competition with the former. There is no
limit to the mischief, and no fathoming the depths of crime which a
surgeon may commit. Few men, perhaps, have also such ample opportunities
for eluding detection. It is fair to say that I believe the crime of
dishonesty, or malfeasance, is rare among that most honourable
profession of medicine and surgery; but the exceptions, although few,
are terrible.
"Doctor, you have been very good to me," said an old woman, "and I have
done wrong to you, and hope you will forgive me, and be kind to me; for
I am a poor lone old woman, with no friend in the world but you,
doctor."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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