The King of Diamonds: A Tale of Mystery and AdventureTracy, Louis
General
The King of Diamonds: A Tale of Mystery and Adventure
Tracy, Louis
Detective and mystery stories; Fiction
The boy filled in the necessary forms there and then. It was some
consolation to know that he could perpetuate her memory in this way,
though he had formulated another project which should keep her name
revered through the ages.
On the site of Johnson's Mews should arise the Mary Anson Home for
Destitute Boys. He would build a place where those who were willing to
work and learn would be given a chance, and not driven, starving and
desperate, to pick up an existence in the gutter.
He was too young to devise all the details of such a splendid
institution, but he had got the idea and would possess the money. He
would leave the practical part of the undertaking to older heads.
The one essential feature was that generations yet unborn should learn
to love and honor the name of Mary Anson. Provided that were achieved,
he knew the work would be successful.
Soon after leaving the cemetery he came face to face with Bradley, the
policeman, who was in plain clothes, and walking with a lady, obviously
Mrs. Bradley, judging by the matronly manner in which she wheeled a
perambulator containing a chubby infant.
"Well, I'm blowed!" cried the policeman, "who would have thought of
meeting you! I looked in at the mews last night, but you had gone. Some
one is looking after you pretty well; eh?"
He cast a patronizing eye over Philip's garments, which were, of course,
considerably smarter in appearance than those in which the constable had
seen him on Thursday evening.
"Yes," said Philip. "I am in good hands now."
"They haven't given you a watch?" This anxiously.
"No. I am watchless."
"That's right. You'll have one soon. The inspector has your address. By
the way, he wants to know your Christian name."
"Philip."
"Thanks. I won't forget."
Philip raised his hat and took the quickest route westward. He did not
count on being recognized so easily.
Mr. Abingdon received him with some degree of reserve. The magistrate
could not understand the receipt of a letter bearing the address of the
Pall Mall Hotel, a place where he had been entertained at dinner
occasionally by one of his wealthy friends, but which was far removed
from the limit imposed on the pocket of any man whose resources depended
on the exercise of an ordinary profession.
But Philip still figured in his mind as a ragged urchin. Not even the
skilled police magistrate could picture him as the actual owner of
millions of pounds worth of portable property. Hence, the boy's
appearance now told in his favor. Cursory impressions soon yielded to
positive bewilderment when Philip began to relate his story faithfully
from beginning to end, neither exaggerating nor suppressing any salient
detail save the actual locality where his astounding adventures found
their center and genesis.
Mr. Abingdon did not doubt for one moment that the boy was telling the
truth. The romance of his narrative was far beyond fiction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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