A CASE OF BLACKMAIL,

Press, Volume LV, Issue 10060, 11 June 1898, Page 2

A CASE OF BLACKMAIL,

Archie Arjistroxg, in the St. James's Budget.

Mr Blest, of Blest, Gust and Co., solicitors, sat contemplating a name upon a clip of paper with a puzzled expression. 'She's a ripper, uncle," said his nephew and articled clerk, who had brought it to him: "but she will only see you." "Then I suppose 1 must." said Mr Blest; '"show her up.' . He took a piece of paper that looked like a theatrical programme, and seemed to give an air of frivolity to the papers on. his table, and dropped it into the waste-paper basket; his nephew saw him do it. and s«id in a tone of remonstrance:

"Uncle, can't yon come?" "Can't you see I'm busy?" said Mr Blest. "Show the woman up, and tell her to be 'quick if she can.' , A minute later a young lady came in smiling, with a very small hand held out, encased apparently in a still smaller glove. "You have forgotten mc," she laughed, as he bowed stiffly. "Airs Smythe—Maude Uttersoh."

Deal- mc," said Mr Blest, "so it is."

The small hand rose and hovered somewhere, above his shoulder a* he caught ita finger-tips in his bony old claw. "Well," she exclaimed, "it's three years since you've seen mc, and then I had just come of age, and you only saw mc when you gave mc away; of course, no one looks on her wedding-day like she does afterwards." "You are looking very well." "Thank you; I was afraid I was growing thin,' , she said, pinching her arm critically. "I am very unhappy, that is why I came to see you."

"Indeed," said Mr Blest. "You pain mc extremely—yonr husband "It's not quite come to that; but it will soon, if you can't help mc. Look here, Mr Blest, I feel I have known you since I was a little girl, because you used to send mc post-office orders for pocket-money, with type-written letters to ask if they were kiud to mc at school, just as if I should have dared to say they were not!" "Ah, I never thought of that/ said Mr Blest.

"And then you tied up my wretched little five thousand pounds in a marriage settlement, so that I get nothing a year and have to buy all my clothes out of it —and now if you will only not interrupt mc I think I can tell you everything." He bowed silently as she settled herself in the battered easy chair, extending a pair of pointed little patent-leather boots to the gasfire in the grate.

"Not bad for a country parson's wife, eh? , ' she said, following the direction of his eyes. "It's my hats, though, that they talk about most down there; you can't show your boots very well in a pew." As he had been asked not to interrupt he said nothing; while she arranged her left sleeve and pulled down the right-hand corner of her veil.

"It is hard on mc," she went on, with a sigh, "because I truly don't deserve it; but it is like this. Years ago, before I married, I knew a Captain—his name does not matter, call him "

"Doe," suggested Mr Blest. "Sounds rather like a baker; well, never mind. Captain Dough and I were great pals; friends, you know, nothing more; and he went away to India, and I wrote him letters—naturally." Mr Blest bowed.

"I thought myself rather more than just a pal then, you know; I was only eighteen, and my letters said" a good deal, I fancy. I should not write like that now to any one. However, I supposed he liked them, and kept them. Never keep a letter from a woman, Mr Blest-; perhaps you never did,, lawyers are "so careful.! Well, he is dead now, poor fellow- He'died in India, and hie servant or somebody stolen all my poor little scrawls, and just listen to the letter I received a fortnight ago; I'll read it) to you : — " 'Madam, —We are instructed by a client to offer you for sale certain letters written by you to Captain——'• [Dough, late of the —never mind the regiment]. 'Kindly let us know if you would care to purchase them for a thousand pounds cash, or whether your husband would possibly be likely to desire them. It seems a pity that documents so interesting to your, family should fall into other hands.—Faithfully yours, James Hkdgeteb.'

"He calls himself an autograph dealer. There! —a thousand pounds." "Dear mc," said Mr Blest. "How many letters are there?"

"OnJy four that matter. I wrote one afterwards to say that I was engaged, and another after I was married; quite formal; there was nothing in*either of them.' , "Then," said Mr jilest, "if what you tell mc is correct"(he coughed apologetically as the phrase slipped from his lips), "I cannot see how your husband can reasonably be made jeolous." "Of course; just what I thought," said Mrs Sniythe, tapping her foot on 'tte fender impatiently. "And I wrote and said so; and they wrote back to say that if I wanted particulars of the letters, they were undated —just as if one ,went -poking about in almanacks before writing letters—and that if 1 wanted extracts they would enclose some. I hey did, and I burnt them, and I haven't slept since." "But they are undated," said Air Blest, still cheerful and consolatory. She shook her head. "They also said that two were in envelopes with post marks. They told mc the dates —one just before, one just after, I was married." "Dear mc," said the.old solicitor, looking grave. "Then they have put two early letters into envelopes that contained harmless ones, merely saying good-bye." "I thought you would be<jin to understand soon," said his client. "You must tell your nusband everything, of course." began Mr juiest. She stood up, looking sorrowful but firm. "Mr Blest, 1 cannot, positively. Dear William is a good husband, and I love him very much; but he is a clerg3rman, and he does not understand. I—l'm afraid he has been rather cross with mc once or twice, when other men have liked to come and see mc, and —that sort of thing. This will be the last straw; you see I nave never said a word about Captain "

Doe,' said the old solicitor, quickly. "That seems a pity, and the letters, are they very ?" Mr Blest coughed behind his hand. "No," she said shortly, getting a little pink about the cheeks. "'They are not very —anything. In the extract they sent, I said —well—he used to kiss mc sometimes" — her cheeks got for a moment — "and I reminded him of it."

Mr Blest shook his head. "If we only confront the scoundrel with you both, and tell him you are determined to fight him—to prosecute him if necessary." "But we can't," she said, "and you must think of something else." "I will do what i can," he said, taking her by the hand. "At any I will get into communication with this man Hedgeter, and gain time." When she had gone he rang his bell and sent for the articled clerk who had brought in Mrs Smythe. "Yes, uncle, he said. He was a healthy looking youth. The glow that had adorned his cheeks when he rowed seven in his college eight at Henley had not had time to fade from them in London, and nothing seemed to weigh on his mind except his increasing weight. "Well, uncle," he went on, "are you coming to 'Dandy Dick?'"

"Eh," said his uncle sharply, "will you never be serious?"

"But it's for such a splendid charity, uncle. The Imbecile Law Clerks' Seaside Fund, and I'm simply ripping as the Dean! And youVe gone and thrown the programme into the waste-paper basket!" Jlr Blest looked very stem. "I disapprove of anyone, much'more a member of a learned profession like ours, holding up a clergyman to the ridicule of the ribald upon the stage; and I was going to give*you an opportunity of being useful to mc. Please make inquiries about a Mr James Hedgeter, an autograph dealer. Here is bis present address, and when you can tell mc some-

thing about him perhaps I shall be able to impart to you in confidence the details of a case that will be a wholesome warning to you."

"Yes," murmured Mv Blest decidedly, as the door closed behind his nephew. "The husband must know all."

A week later Mr Jamea Hedgeter, who was stout, red-faced, and with a tendency to pimples, met a man who was tall and a little threadbare, and whese red-facedness was concentrated in and round his nose, and walked with him from St. James's Park towards Holborn. The other man shied visibly at the recruiting sergeants in Trafalgar Square, and cro ;sed hurriedly to the pavement by St. Martin's Church.

'•Yer sure it's all serene'/" asked the tall man. "This Blest ain't going to cut up

rough?" "Not he," answered Mr Hedgeter. "He's a regular mild old family solor. if you know what that is. If thoy'd'meant fighting, he'd have turned the job over to somebody else, and then I should have fought say of it. ]S T one of your George Lewises for mc. I've seen Blest, and sized him up, and you've done the same for the par&on's wife."

"I 'avo, and the parson too," said his companion, expectorating contemptuously. '"X's a daisy; big as a 'ouse, smooth, red-faced, an' oily in the pulpit; and didn't 'c give 'er beans walking ome! I 'card im." The tall man stopped and looked into shop windows in Great Turnstile. Mr Hedgeter went on to Bedford Row and asked for Mr Blest with a somewhat exaggerated air 01 confidence and pomposity. Mr Blest stood on the hearthrug looking very hot and nervous. Mr Hedgeter held out his hand, but ho waved him back. "You have brought the letters?" he asked briefly. , "An , you have the notes? sazd the other cWgedly. "I «ame here, as you wouldnt come where I wanted you to, trusting to your ""Did"you?" said Mr Blest drily. "Then, as I put no trust in your honour, Mrs fomythe will identify the letters." _ He touched the tell, and with a rapidity rarely seen off the stage when bells are rung, Mrs Smvthe appeared through a door behind Mr'Hedgeter. He held them up to her one by one, battered worn strips of foreign note-paper, that she looked at mournfully. Still, she had wonderful nerve; her voice hardly shook as she said simply, "There are two more, the two that were in these envelopes." "There ain't," said Mr Hedgeter.

"There are," said Mr Blest, interposing, "and if they are not produced this matter cannot proceed." "Then it's no deal," said Mr Hedgeter, folding up the battered pieces of paper. "You scoundrel!" exclaimed Mr Blest, "do you know that what you are doing means penal servitude?" . "If she likes to tell her husband, it might mean something of the sort," replied Mr Hedseter coolly. "But she has," exclaimed Mrs Sinythe, and Mr Blesfc touched the bell again. "Drop it," exclaimed Mi- Hedgeter, turning a little pale, "yon don't bluff mc. He heard a step* behind him, and a heavy band was laid upon his shoulder. "You scoundrel!" said a deep mellow voice. "Let mc introduce Mr Smythe," said Mr Blest, who seemed to have recovered his nerve; "and let mc remark that DetectiveSergeant Drewitt, of the Metropolitan Police, is waiting downstairs till I ring

again." Mr Hedgeter's face turned a dirty yellow. Only his nose retained any redness, and that adopted a bluer tint that made it almost purple. "You just read these," he said viciously, holding out the letters.:'-Mr Smythe was tall, stout, and his hair was tinged with grey; but bis fingers must have been very strong, for Mr Hedgeter writhed in his grasp without his seeming to exert himself. "Don't, darling," murmured Mrs Smythe warninglv. Her voice seemed to recall to her husband the necessity for being calm. "Put them on the table," he said in his booming deep voice; and then, as Mr Hedgeter mechanically obeyed, he loosed his hold upon him and went and stood by Mrs Smythe with his arm round her. "». c defy you," he said, "I know all, and I believe my wife; dearest," he added, drawing.her towards him, "do not tremble."

jSIr Blest intervened in incisive tones.

"What is more, Mr and Mrs Smythe have decided to prosecute; whether on the surrender of the remaining letters they might in any way vary that decision I am not in a position to say." Mr Hedgeter looked at them. The clergyman was gazing into his wife's eyes, bending over her. She was looking very pretty. Then they both turned and faced him. "Sergeant Drewitt can accompany you to fetch the others," said Mr Blest, shifting his position impatiently.

"Here they are," said Mr Hedgeter sullenly, laying two more slips of paper on the table. Sirs Smythe stepped forward and nodded. Mr Blest took them ,#ll up, swung open the door of his safe, threw them in, and let the door clang upon tnem. "And there they will remain," he remarked in his most acid tones.

"And now," said Mr Smythe to his wife, "we will go and have luncheon together."

She smiled a little embarrassed smile. "You know I have to go to my dressmakers" she said, "and you have to talk to Mr Blest. , ' He looked a little disappointed as she hurried from the room.

Mr Hedgeter, almost forgotten, broke in. "And ain't Ito have anything? Not even a fiver for my services in recovering your papers?" he asked, almost weeping.

"Sergeant Drewitt is still downstairs," remarked Mr Blest, stretching out his hand towards the bell; but Mr Hedgeter was already vanishing through the door. Five minutes .later he was being cursed in Lincoln's Inn Fields by a tall man who listened to his story, and until he had heard all the details twice over refused to believe him. And round Mr Blest's room a stout gentleman is clerical dress danced three limes; while Mr Blest beamed through his goldritnmed spectacles.

"Didn't I do it well, uncle, and oughtn't you to give mc the credit of it?" he shouted; "and won't you come and see 'Dandy Dick, and isn't all this padding hot, just? I say," he added thoughtfully, "I was all right, wasn't I—just as I should be, eh? I mean I couldn't have done any more, could I?"

"Certainly not," said Mr Blest decisively; "and now you had better finish that abstract."

"Confound abstracts, ,, said his nephew. "She ought to have let mc stand her luncheon, en? Fancy mc in this rig at the S*voyl"