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+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #66088 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66088)
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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of Recollections of Captain Wilkie, by A.
-Conan Doyle
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: Recollections of Captain Wilkie
-       Story of An Old Offender
-
-Author: A. Conan Doyle
-
-Release Date: August 19, 2021 [eBook #66088]
-
-Language: English
-
-Produced by: Roger Frank and Sue Clark
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECOLLECTIONS OF CAPTAIN WILKIE ***
-
-
-
-
-
-RECOLLECTIONS OF CAPTAIN WILKIE
-
-A Story of an Old Offender
-
-By A. Conan Doyle.
-
-
-“Who can he be?” thought I, as I watched my companion in the
-second-class carriage of the London and Dover Railway.
-
-I had been so full of the fact that my long-expected holiday had
-come at last, and that for a few days, at least, the gayeties of
-Paris were about to supersede the dull routine of the hospital
-wards, that we were well out of London before I observed that I was
-not alone in the compartment. In these days we have all pretty well
-agreed that “three is company and two is none” upon the railway. At
-the time I write of, however, people were not so morbidly sensitive
-about their travelling companions. It was rather an agreeable
-surprise to me to find that there was some chance of whiling away
-the hours of a tedious journey. I therefore pulled my cap down over
-my eyes, took a good look from beneath it at my vis-a-vis, and
-repeated to myself: “Who can he be?”
-
-I used rather to pride myself on being able to spot a man’s trade or
-profession by a good look at his exterior. I had the advantage of
-studying under a master of the art, who used to electrify both his
-patients and his clinical classes by long shots, sometimes at the
-most unlikely of pursuits; and never very far from the mark. “Well,
-my man,” I have heard him say, “I can see by your fingers that you
-play some musical instrument for your livelihood, but it is a rather
-curious one; something quite out of my line.” The man afterwards
-informed us that he earned a few coppers by blowing “Rule Britannia”
-on a coffee-pot, the spout of which was pierced to form a rough
-flute. Though a novice in the art, I was still able to astonish my
-ward companions on occasion, and I never lost an opportunity of
-practising. It was not mere curiosity, then, which led me to lean
-back on the cushions and analyze the quiet middle-aged man in front
-of me.
-
-I used to do the thing systematically, and my train of reflections
-ran somewhat in this wise: “General appearance, vulgar; fairly
-opulent and extremely self-possessed; looks like a man who could
-out-chaff a bargee, and yet be at his ease in middle-class society.
-Eyes well set together and nose rather prominent; would be a good
-long-range marksman. Cheeks flabby, but the softness of expression
-redeemed by a square-cut jaw and a well-set lower lip. On the whole,
-a powerful type. Now for the hands—rather disappointed there.
-Thought he was a self-made man by the look of him, but there is no
-callous in the palm and no thickness at the joints. Has never been
-engaged in any real physical work, I should think. No tanning on the
-backs of the hands; on the contrary, they are very white, with blue
-projecting veins and long, delicate fingers. Couldn’t be an artist
-with that face, and yet he has the hands of a man engaged in
-delicate manipulations. No red acid spots upon his clothes, no ink
-stains, no nitrate of silver marks upon the hands (this helps to
-negative my half-formed opinion that he was a photographer). Clothes
-not worn in any particular part. Coat made of tweed, and fairly old;
-but the left elbow, as far as I can see it, has as much of the fluff
-left on as the right, which is seldom the case with men who do much
-writing. Might be a commercial traveller, but the little pocketbook
-in the waistcoat is wanting, nor has he any of those handy valises
-suggestive of samples.”
-
-I give these brief headings of my ideas merely to demonstrate my
-method of arriving at a conclusion. As yet I had obtained nothing
-but negative results; but now, to use a chemical metaphor, I was in
-a position to pour off this solution of dissolved possibilities and
-examine the residue. I found myself reduced to a very limited number
-of occupations. He was neither a lawyer nor a clergyman, in spite of
-a soft felt hat, and a somewhat clerical cut about the necktie. I
-was wavering now between pawnbroker and horsedealer; but there was
-too much character about his face for the former, and he lacked that
-extraordinary equine atmosphere which hangs about the latter even in
-his hours of relaxation; so I formed a provisional diagnosis of
-betting man of methodistical persuasions, the latter clause being
-inserted in deference to his hat and necktie.
-
-Pray, do not think that I reasoned it out like this in my own mind.
-It is only now, sitting down with pen and paper, that I can see the
-successive steps. As it was, I had formed my conclusion within sixty
-seconds of the time when I drew my hat down over my eyes and uttered
-the mental ejaculation with which my narrative begins.
-
-I did not feel quite satisfied even then with my deduction. However,
-as a leading question would—to pursue my chemical analogy—act as
-my litmus paper, I determined to try one. There was a “Times” lying
-by my companion, and I thought the opportunity too good to be
-neglected.
-
-“Do you mind my looking at your paper?” I asked.
-
-“Certainly, sir, certainly,” said he most urbanely, handing it
-across.
-
-I glanced down its columns until my eye rested upon the list of the
-latest betting.
-
-“Hullo!” I said, “they are laying odds upon the favorite for the
-Cambridgeshire. But perhaps,” I added, looking up, “you are not
-interested in these matters?”
-
-“Snares, sir!” said he violently; “wiles of the enemy! Mortals are
-but given a few years to live; how can they squander them so? They
-have not even an eye to their poor worldly interests,” he added in a
-quieter tone, “or they would never back a single horse at such short
-odds with a field of thirty.”
-
-There was something in this speech of his which tickled me
-immensely. I suppose it was the odd way in which he blended
-religious intolerance with worldly wisdom. I laid the “Times” aside
-with the conviction that I should be able to spend the next two
-hours to better purpose than in its perusal.
-
-“You speak as if you understood the matter, at any rate,” I
-remarked.
-
-“Yes, sir,” he answered; “few men in England understood these things
-better in the old days before I changed my profession. But that is
-all over now.”
-
-“Changed your profession?” said I, interrogatively.
-
-“Yes; I changed my name, too.”
-
-“Indeed?” said I.
-
-“Yes; you see, a man wants a real fresh start when his eyes become
-opened, so he has a new deal all round, so to speak. Then he gets a
-fair chance.” There was a short pause here, as I seemed to be on
-delicate ground in touching on my companion’s antecedents, and he
-did not volunteer any information. I broke the silence by offering
-him a cheroot.
-
-“No, thanks,” said he; “I have given up tobacco. It was the hardest
-wrench of all, was that. It does me good to smell the whiff of your
-weed. Tell me,” he added suddenly, looking hard at me with his
-shrewd gray eyes, “why did you take stock of me so carefully before
-you spoke?”
-
-“It is a habit of mine,” said I. “I am a medical man, and
-observation is everything in my profession. I had no idea you were
-looking.”
-
-“I can see without looking,” he answered. “I thought you were a
-detective, at first; but I couldn’t recall your face at the time I
-knew the force.”
-
-“Were you a detective, then?” said I.
-
-“No,” he answered, with a laugh; “I was the other thing—the
-detected, you know. Old scores are wiped out now, and the law cannot
-touch me; so I don’t mind confessing to a gentleman like yourself
-what a scoundrel I have been in my time.”
-
-“We are none of us perfect,” said I.
-
-“No; but I was a real out-and-outer. A ‘fake,’ you know, to start
-with, and afterwards a ‘cracksman.’ It is easy to talk of these
-things now, for I’ve changed my spirit. It’s as if I was talking of
-some other man, you see.”
-
-“Exactly so,” said I. Being a medical man, I had none of that
-shrinking from crime and criminals which many men possess. I could
-make all allowances for congenital influence and the force of
-circumstances. No company, therefore, could have been more
-acceptable to me than that of the old malefactor; and as I sat
-puffing at my cigar, I was delighted to observe that my air of
-interest was gradually loosening his tongue.
-
-“Yes; I’m converted now,” he continued, “and of course I am a
-happier man for that. And yet,” he added wistfully, “there are times
-when I long for the old trade again, and fancy myself strolling out
-on a cloudy night with my jimmy in my pocket. I left a name behind
-me in my profession, sir. I was one of the old school, you know. It
-was very seldom that we bungled a job. We used to begin at the foot
-of the ladder, the rope ladder, if I may say so, in my younger days,
-and then work our way up, step by step, so that we were what you
-might call good men all through.”
-
-“I see,” said I.
-
-“I was always reckoned a hard-working, conscientious man, and had
-talent, too; the very cleverest of them allowed that. I began as a
-blacksmith, and then did a little engineering and carpentering, and
-then I took to sleight-of-hand tricks, and then to picking pockets.
-I remember, when I was home on a visit, how my poor old father used
-to wonder why I was always hovering around him. He little knew that
-I used to clear everything out of his pockets a dozen times a day,
-and then replace them, just to keep my hand in. He believes to this
-day that I am in an office in the City. There are few of them could
-touch me in that particular line of business, though.”
-
-“I suppose it is a matter of practice?” I remarked.
-
-“To a great extent. Still, a man never quite loses it, if he has
-once been an adept—excuse me; you have dropped some cigar ash on
-your coat,” and he waved his hand politely in front of my breast, as
-if to brush it off. “There,” he said, handing me my gold scarf pin,
-“you see I have not forgot my old cunning yet.”
-
-He had done it so quickly that I hardly saw the hand whisk over my
-bosom, nor did I feel his fingers touch me, and yet there was the
-pin glittering in his hand. “It is wonderful,” I said as I fixed it
-again in its place.
-
-“Oh, that’s nothing! But I have been in some really smart jobs. I
-was in the gang that picked the new patent safe. You remember the
-case. It was guaranteed to resist anything; and we managed to open
-the first that was ever issued, within a week of its appearance. It
-was done with graduated wedges, sir, the first so small that you
-could hardly see it against the light, and the last strong enough to
-prize it open. It was a clever managed affair.”
-
-“I remember it,” said I. “But surely some one was convicted for
-that?”
-
-“Yes, one was nabbed. But he didn’t split, nor even let on how it
-was done. We’d have cut his soul out if—” He suddenly damped down
-the very ugly fires which were peeping from his eyes. “Perhaps I am
-boring you, talking about these old wicked days of mine?”
-
-“On the contrary,” I said, “you interest me extremely.”
-
-“I like to get a listener I can trust. It’s a sort of blow-off, you
-know, and I feel lighter after it. When I am among my brethren I
-dare hardly think of what has gone before. Now I’ll tell you about
-another job I was in. To this day, I cannot think about it without
-laughing.”
-
-I lit another cigar, and composed myself to listen.
-
-“It was when I was a youngster,” said he. “There was a big City man
-in those days who was known to have a very valuable gold watch. I
-followed him about for several days before I could get a chance; but
-when I did get one, you may be sure I did not throw it away. He
-found, to, his disgust, when he got home that day, that there was
-nothing in his fob. I hurried off with my prize, and got it stowed
-away in safety, intending to have it melted down next day. Now, it
-happened that this watch possessed a special value in the owner’s
-eyes because it was a sort of ancestral possession—presented by his
-father on coming of age, or something of that sort. I remember there
-was a long inscription on the back. He was determined not to lose it
-if he could help it, and accordingly he put an advertisement in an
-evening paper, offering thirty pounds reward for its return, and
-promising that no questions should be asked. He gave the address of
-his house, 31 Caroline Square, at the end of the advertisement. The
-thing sounded good enough, so I set off for Caroline Square, leaving
-the watch in a parcel at a public house which I passed on the way.
-When I got there, the gentleman was at dinner; but he came out quick
-enough when he heard that a young man wanted to see him. I suppose
-he guessed who the young man would prove to be. He was a
-genial-looking old fellow, and he led me away with him into his
-study.
-
-“‘Well, my lad,’ said he, ‘what is it?’
-
-“‘I’ve come about that watch of yours,’ said I. ‘I think I can lay
-my hands on it.’
-
-“‘Oh, it was you that took it!’ said he.
-
-“‘No,’ I answered; ‘I know nothing whatever about how you lost it. I
-have been sent by another party to see you about it. Even if you
-have me arrested you will not find out anything.’
-
-“‘Well,’ he said, ‘I don’t want to be hard on you. Hand it over, and
-here is my check for the amount.’
-
-“‘Checks won’t do,’ said I; ‘I must have it in gold.’
-
-“‘It would take an hour or so to collect in gold,’ said he.
-
-“‘That will just suit,’ I answered, ‘for I have not got the watch
-with me. I’ll go back and fetch it, while you raise the money.’
-
-“I started off and got the watch where I had left it. When I came
-back, the old gentleman was sitting behind his study table, with the
-little heap of gold in front of him.
-
-“‘Here is your money,’ he said, and pushed it over.
-
-“‘Here is your watch,’ said I.
-
-“He was evidently delighted to get it back; and after examining it
-carefully, and assuring himself that it was none the worse, he put
-it into the watch-pocket of his coat with a grunt of satisfaction.
-
-“‘Now, my lad,’ he said, ‘I know it was you that took the watch.
-Tell me how you did it, and I don’t mind giving you an extra
-five-pound note.’
-
-“‘I wouldn’t tell you in any case,’ said I; ‘but especially I
-wouldn’t tell you when you have a witness hid behind that curtain.’
-You see, I had all my wits about me, and it didn’t escape me that
-the curtain was drawn tighter than it had been before.
-
-“‘You are too sharp for us,’ said he, good-humoredly. ‘Well, you
-have got your money, and that’s an end of it. I’ll take precious
-good care you don’t get hold of my watch again in a hurry. Good
-night—no; not that door,’ he added as I marched towards a cupboard.
-‘This is the door,’ and he stood up and opened it. I brushed past
-him, opened the hall door, and was round the corner of the square in
-no time. I don’t know how long the old gentleman took to find it
-out, but in passing him at the door, I managed to pick his pocket
-for the second time, and next morning the family heirloom was in the
-melting-pot, after all. That wasn’t bad, was it?’”
-
-The old war-horse had evidently forgotten all about his conversion
-now. There was a tone of triumph in the conclusion of his anecdote
-which showed that his pride in his smartness far surpassed his
-repentance of his misdeeds. He seemed pleased at the astonishment
-and amusement I expressed at his adroitness.
-
-“Yes,” he continued with a laugh, “it was a capital joke. But
-sometimes the fun lies all the other way. Even the sharpest of us
-come to grief at times. There was one rather curious incident which
-occurred in my career. You may possibly have seen the anecdote, for
-it got into print at the time.”
-
-“Pray let me hear it,” said I.
-
-“Well, it is hard lines telling stories against one’s self, but this
-was how it happened: I had made a rather good haul, and invested
-some of the swag in buying a very fine diamond ring. I thought it
-would be something to fall back upon when all the ready was gone and
-times were hard. I had just purchased it, and was going back to my
-lodgings in the omnibus, when, as luck would have it, a very
-stylishly-dressed young lady came in and took her seat beside me. I
-didn’t pay much attention to her at first; but after a time
-something hard in her dress knocked up against my hand, which my
-experienced touch soon made out to be a purse. It struck me that I
-could not pass the time more profitably or agreeably than by making
-this purse my own. I had to do it very carefully; but I managed at
-last to wriggle my hand into her rather light pocket, and I thought
-the job was over. Just at this moment she rose abruptly to leave the
-’bus, and I had hardly time to get my hand with the purse in it out
-of her pocket without detection. It was not until she had been gone
-some time that I found out that in drawing out my hand in that
-hurried manner the new and ill-fitting ring had slipped over my
-finger and remained in the young lady’s pocket. I sprang out and ran
-in the direction in which she had gone with the intention of picking
-her pocket once again. She had disappeared, however; and from that
-day till this I have never set eyes on her. To make the matter
-worse, there was only four pence half-penny in coppers inside the
-purse. Sarve me right for trying to rob such a pretty girl; still,
-if I had that two hundred quid now I should not be reduced to—Good
-heavens, forgive me! What am I saying?”
-
-He seemed inclined to relapse into silence after this; but I was
-determined to draw him out a little more, if I could possibly manage
-it. “There is less personal risk in the branch you have been talking
-of,” I remarked, “than there is in burglary.”
-
-“Ah!” he said, warming to his subject once again, “it is the higher
-game which is best worth aiming at. Talk about sport, sir, talk
-about fishing or hunting! Why, it is tame in comparison! Think of
-the great country house with its men-servants and its dogs and its
-firearms, and you with only your jimmy and your centre bit, and your
-mother wit, which is best of all. It is the triumph of intellect
-over brute force, sir, as represented by bolts and bars.”
-
-“People generally look upon it as quite the reverse,” I remarked.
-
-“I was never one of those blundering life-preserver fellows,” said
-my companion. “I did try my hand at garroting once; but it was
-against my principles, and I gave it up. I have tried everything. I
-have been a bedridden widow with three young children; but I do
-object to physical force.”
-
-“You have been what?” said I.
-
-“A bedridden widow. Advertising, you know, and getting
-subscriptions. I have tried them all. You seem interested in these
-experiences,” he continued, “so I will tell you another anecdote. It
-was the narrowest escape from penal servitude that ever I had in my
-life. A pal and I had gone down on a country beat—it doesn’t
-signify where it was—and taken up our headquarters in a little
-provincial town. Somehow it got noised abroad that we were there,
-and householders were warned to be careful, as suspicious characters
-had been seen in the neighborhood. We should have changed our plans
-when we saw the game was up; but my chum was a plucky fellow, and
-wouldn’t consent to back down. Poor little Jim! He was only
-thirty-four round the chest, and about twelve at the biceps; but
-there is not a measuring-tape in England could have given the size
-of his heart. He said we were in for it, and we must stick to it; so
-I agreed to stay, and we chose Morley Hall, the country house of a
-certain Colonel Morley, to begin with.
-
-“Now this Colonel Morley was about the last man in the world that we
-should have meddled with. He was a shrewd, cool-headed fellow, who
-had knocked about and seen the world, and it seems that he took a
-special pride in the detection of criminals. However, we knew
-nothing of all this at that time; so we set forth hopefully to have
-a try at the house.
-
-“The reason that made us pick him out among the rest was that he had
-a good-for-nothing groom, who was a tool in our hands. This fellow
-had drawn up a rough plan of the premises for us. The place was
-pretty well locked up and guarded, and the only weak point we could
-see was a certain trap-door, the padlock of which was broken, and
-which opened from the roof into one of the lumber-rooms. If we could
-only find any method of reaching the roof, we might force a way
-securely from above. We both thought the plan rather a good one and
-it had a spice of originality about it which pleased us. It is not
-the mere jewels or plate, you know, that a good cracksman thinks
-about. The neatness of the job and his reputation for smartness are
-almost as important in his eyes.
-
-“We had been very quiet for a day or two, just to let suspicion die
-away. Then we set out one dark night, Jim and I, and got over the
-avenue railings and up to the house without meeting a soul. It was
-blowing hard, I remember, and the clouds were hurrying across the
-sky. We had a good look at the front of the house; and then Jim went
-round to the garden side. He came running back in a minute or two in
-a great state of delight. ‘Why, Bill,’ he said, gripping me by the
-arm, ‘there never was such a bit of luck! They’ve been repairing the
-roof or something, and they’ve left the ladder standing.’ We went
-round together, and there, sure enough, was the ladder towering
-above our heads, and one or two laborers’ hods lying about, which
-showed that some work had been going on during the day. We had a
-good look round, to see that everything was quiet, and then we
-climbed up, Jim first and I after him. We got to the top, and were
-sitting on the slates, having a bit of a breather before beginning
-business, when you can fancy our feelings to see the ladder that we
-came up by suddenly stand straight up in the air, and then slowly
-descend until it rested in the garden below. At first we hoped it
-might have slipped, though that was bad enough; but we soon had that
-idea put out of our heads.
-
-“‘Hullo, up there!’ cried a voice from below.
-
-“We craned our heads over the edge, and there was a man, dressed, as
-far as we could make out, in evening dress, and standing in the
-middle of the grass plot. We kept quiet.
-
-“‘Hullo!’ he shouted again. ‘How do you feel yourself? Pretty
-comfortable, eh? Ha! ha! You London rogues thought we were green in
-the country. What’s your opinion now?’
-
-“We both lay still, though feeling pretty considerably small, as you
-may imagine.
-
-“‘It’s all right; I see you.’ he continued.
-
-“‘Why, I have been waiting behind that lilac bush every night for
-the last week, expecting to see you. I knew you couldn’t resist
-going up that ladder, when you found the windows were too much for
-you.—Joe! Joe!’
-
-“‘Yes, sir,’ said a voice, and another man came from among the
-bushes.
-
-“‘Just you keep your eye on the roof, will you, while I ride down to
-the station and fetch up a couple of constables?—_Au revoir_,
-gentlemen! You don’t mind waiting, I suppose?’ And Colonel
-Morley—for it was the owner of the house himself—strode off; and
-in a few minutes we heard the rattle of his horse’s hoofs going down
-the avenue.
-
-“Well, sir, we felt precious silly, as you may imagine. It wasn’t so
-much having been nabbed that bothered us, as the feeling of being
-caught in such a simple trap. We looked at each other in blank
-disgust, and then, to save our lives, we couldn’t help bursting into
-laughter at our own fix. However, it was no laughing matter; so we
-set to work going around the roof, and seeing if there was a likely
-water-pipe or anything that might give us a chance of escape. We had
-to give it up as a bad job; so we sat down again, and made up our
-minds to the worst. Suddenly an idea flashed into my head, and I
-groped my way over the roof until I felt wood under my feet. I bent
-down and found that the colonel had actually forgotten to secure the
-padlock! You will often notice, as you go through life, that it is
-the shrewdest and most cunning man who falls into the most absurd
-mistakes; and this was an example of it. You may guess that we did
-not lose much time, for we expected to hear the constables every
-moment. We dropped through into the lumber-room, slipped downstairs,
-tore open the library shutters, and were out and away before the
-astonished groom could make out what had happened. There wasn’t time
-enough to take any little souvenir with us, worse luck. I should
-have liked to have seen the colonel’s face when he came back with
-the constables and found that the birds were flown.”
-
-“Did you ever come across the colonel again?” I asked.
-
-“Yes; we skinned him of every bit of plate he had, down to the
-salt-spoons, a few years later. It was partly out of revenge, you
-see, that we did it. It was a very well-managed and daring thing,
-one of the best I ever saw, and all done in open daylight, too.”
-
-“How in the world did you do it?” I asked.
-
-“Well, there were three of us in it—Jim was one—and we set about
-it in this way: We wanted to begin by getting the colonel out of the
-way, so I wrote him a note purporting to come from Squire
-Brotherwick, who lived about ten miles away, and was not always on
-the best of terms with the master of Morley Hall. I dressed myself
-up as a groom, and delivered the note myself. It was to the effect
-that the squire thought he was able to lay his hands on the
-scoundrels who had escaped from the colonel a couple of years
-before, and that if the colonel would ride over they would have
-little difficulty in securing them. I was sure that this would have
-the desired effect; so, after handing it in, and remarking that I
-was the squire’s groom, I walked off again, as if on the way back to
-my master’s.
-
-“After getting out of sight of the house, I crouched down behind a
-hedge; and, as I expected, in less than a quarter of an hour the
-colonel came swinging past me on his chestnut mare. Now, there is
-another accomplishment I possess which I have not mentioned to you
-yet, and that is, that I can copy any handwriting that I see. It is
-a very easy trick to pick up if you only give your mind to it. I
-happened to have come across one of Colonel Morley’s letters some
-days before, and I can write so that even now I defy an expert to
-detect a difference between the hands. This was a great assistance
-to me now, for I tore a leaf out of my pocketbook and wrote
-something to this effect:
-
-  “‘As Squire Brotherwick has seen some suspicious characters
-  about, and the house may be attempted again, I have sent down to
-  the bank, and ordered them to send up their bank-cart to convey
-  the whole of the plate to a place of safety. It will save us a
-  good deal of anxiety to know that it is in absolute security.
-  Have it packed up and ready, and give the bearer a glass of beer.’
-
-“Having composed this precious epistle, I addressed it to the
-butler, and carried it back to the Hall, saying that their master
-had overtaken me on the way and asked me to deliver it. I was taken
-in and made much of downstairs, while a great packing case was
-dragged into the hall, and the plate stowed away, among cotton-wool
-and stuffing. It was nearly ready, when I heard the sound of wheels
-upon the gravel, and sauntered round just in time to see a
-business-like closed car drive up to the door. One of my pals was
-sitting very demurely on the box, while Jim, with an official
-looking hat, sprang out and bustled into the hall.
-
-“‘Now then,’ I heard him say, ‘look sharp! What’s for the bank? Come
-on!’
-
-“‘Wait a minute, sir,’ said the butler.
-
-“‘Can’t wait. There’s a panic all over the country, and they are
-clamoring for us everywhere. Must drive on to Lord Blackbury’s
-place, unless you are ready.’
-
-“‘Don’t go, sir!’ pleaded the butler. ‘There’s only this one rope to
-tie. There, it is ready now. You’ll look after it, won’t you?’
-
-“‘That we will. You’ll never have any more trouble with it now,’
-said Jim, helping to push the great case into the car.
-
-“‘I think I had better go with you and see it stowed away in the
-bank,’ said the butler.
-
-“‘All right,’ said Jim, nothing abashed. ‘You can’t come in the car,
-though, for Lord Blackbury’s box will take up all the spare room.
-Let’s see; it’s twelve o’clock now. Well, you be waiting at the bank
-door at half-past one, and you will just catch us.’
-
-“‘All right; half-past one,’ said the butler.
-
-“‘Good-day,’ cried my chum; and away went the car, while I made a
-bit of a short cut and caught it around a turn of the road. We drove
-right off into the next county, got a down-train to London, and
-before midnight the colonel’s silver was fused into a solid lump.”
-
-I could not help laughing at the versatility of the old scoundrel.
-“It was a daring game to play,” I said.
-
-“It is always the daring game which succeeds best,” he answered.
-
-At this point the train began to show symptoms of slowing down, and
-my companion put on his overcoat and gave other signs of being near
-the end of his journey.
-
-“You are going on to Dover?” he said.
-
-“Yes.”
-
-“For the Continent?”
-
-“Yes.”
-
-“How long do you intend to travel?”
-
-“Only for a week or so.”
-
-“Well, I must leave you here. You will remember my name, won’t you?
-John Wilkie. I am pleased to have met you. Is my umbrella behind
-you?” he added, stretching across. “No; I beg your pardon. Here it
-is in the corner;” and with an affable smile, the ex-cracksman
-stepped out, bowed, and disappeared among the crowd upon the
-platform.
-
-I lit another cigar, laughed as I thought of my late companion, and
-lifted up the “Times,” which he had left behind him. The bell had
-rung, the wheels were already revolving, when, to my astonishment, a
-pallid face looked in at me through the window. It was so contorted
-and agitated that I hardly recognized the features which I had been
-gazing upon during the last couple of hours. “Here, take it,” he
-said, “take it. It’s hardly worth my while to rob you of seven
-pounds four shillings, but I couldn’t resist once more trying my
-hand;” and he flung something into the carriage and disappeared.
-
-It was my old leather purse, with my return ticket, and the whole of
-my travelling expenses. His newly awakened conscience had driven him
-to instant restitution.
-
-
-[Transcriber’s Note: This story appeared in the April, 1895 issue
-of _McClure’s Magazine_.]
-
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-  <meta charset="utf-8" />
-  <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" />
-  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" />
-  <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Recollections of Captain Wilkie, by A. Conan Doyle</title>
-  <style>
-    body { margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; text-align: justify;}
-    p { text-indent:1.2em; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; }
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-<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Recollections of Captain Wilkie, by A. Conan Doyle</p>
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
-at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
-are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
-country where you are located before using this eBook.
-</div>
-
-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Recollections of Captain Wilkie</p>
-<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>Story of An Old Offender</p>
-  <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: A. Conan Doyle</p>
-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: August 19, 2021 [eBook #66088]</p>
-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p>
-  <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Roger Frank and Sue Clark</p>
-<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECOLLECTIONS OF CAPTAIN WILKIE ***</div>
-
-<h1>RECOLLECTIONS OF CAPTAIN WILKIE</h1>
-<div style="text-align:center; margin-bottom:2em;">
-A STORY OF AN OLD OFFENDER<br />
-By A. Conan Doyle.
-</div>
-
-<p>“Who can he be?” thought I, as I watched my companion in the
-second-class carriage of the London and Dover Railway.</p>
-
-<p>I had been so full of the fact that my long-expected holiday had come
-at last, and that for a few days, at least, the gayeties of Paris were
-about to supersede the dull routine of the hospital wards, that we were
-well out of London before I observed that I was not alone in the
-compartment. In these days we have all pretty well agreed that “three is
-company and two is none” upon the railway. At the time I write of,
-however, people were not so morbidly sensitive about their travelling
-companions. It was rather an agreeable surprise to me to find that there
-was some chance of whiling away the hours of a tedious journey. I
-therefore pulled my cap down over my eyes, took a good look from beneath
-it at my vis-a-vis, and repeated to myself: “Who can he be?”</p>
-
-<p>I used rather to pride myself on being able to spot a man’s trade or
-profession by a good look at his exterior. I had the advantage of
-studying under a master of the art, who used to electrify both his
-patients and his clinical classes by long shots, sometimes at the most
-unlikely of pursuits; and never very far from the mark. “Well, my man,”
-I have heard him say, “I can see by your fingers that you play some
-musical instrument for your livelihood, but it is a rather curious one;
-something quite out of my line.” The man afterwards informed us that he
-earned a few coppers by blowing “Rule Britannia” on a coffee-pot, the
-spout of which was pierced to form a rough flute. Though a novice in the
-art, I was still able to astonish my ward companions on occasion, and I
-never lost an opportunity of practising. It was not mere curiosity,
-then, which led me to lean back on the cushions and analyze the quiet
-middle-aged man in front of me.</p>
-
-<p>I used to do the thing systematically, and my train of reflections
-ran somewhat in this wise: “General appearance, vulgar; fairly opulent
-and extremely self-possessed; looks like a man who could out-chaff a
-bargee, and yet be at his ease in middle-class society. Eyes well set
-together and nose rather prominent; would be a good long-range marksman.
-Cheeks flabby, but the softness of expression redeemed by a square-cut
-jaw and a well-set lower lip. On the whole, a powerful type. Now for the
-hands—rather disappointed there. Thought he was a self-made man by the
-look of him, but there is no callous in the palm and no thickness at the
-joints. Has never been engaged in any real physical work, I should
-think. No tanning on the backs of the hands; on the contrary, they are
-very white, with blue projecting veins and long, delicate fingers.
-Couldn’t be an artist with that face, and yet he has the hands of a man
-engaged in delicate manipulations. No red acid spots upon his clothes,
-no ink stains, no nitrate of silver marks upon the hands (this helps to
-negative my half-formed opinion that he was a photographer). Clothes not
-worn in any particular part. Coat made of tweed, and fairly old; but the
-left elbow, as far as I can see it, has as much of the fluff left on as
-the right, which is seldom the case with men who do much writing. Might
-be a commercial traveller, but the little pocketbook in the waistcoat is
-wanting, nor has he any of those handy valises suggestive of
-samples.”</p>
-
-<p>I give these brief headings of my ideas merely to demonstrate my
-method of arriving at a conclusion. As yet I had obtained nothing but
-negative results; but now, to use a chemical metaphor, I was in a
-position to pour off this solution of dissolved possibilities and
-examine the residue. I found myself reduced to a very limited number of
-occupations. He was neither a lawyer nor a clergyman, in spite of a soft
-felt hat, and a somewhat clerical cut about the necktie. I was wavering
-now between pawnbroker and horsedealer; but there was too much character
-about his face for the former, and he lacked that extraordinary equine
-atmosphere which hangs about the latter even in his hours of relaxation;
-so I formed a provisional diagnosis of betting man of methodistical
-persuasions, the latter clause being inserted in deference to his hat
-and necktie.</p>
-
-<p>Pray, do not think that I reasoned it out like this in my own mind.
-It is only now, sitting down with pen and paper, that I can see the
-successive steps. As it was, I had formed my conclusion within sixty
-seconds of the time when I drew my hat down over my eyes and uttered the
-mental ejaculation with which my narrative begins.</p>
-
-<p>I did not feel quite satisfied even then with my deduction. However,
-as a leading question would—to pursue my chemical analogy—act as my
-litmus paper, I determined to try one. There was a “Times” lying by my
-companion, and I thought the opportunity too good to be neglected.</p>
-
-<p>“Do you mind my looking at your paper?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p>“Certainly, sir, certainly,” said he most urbanely, handing it
-across.</p>
-
-<p>I glanced down its columns until my eye rested upon the list of the
-latest betting.</p>
-
-<p>“Hullo!” I said, “they are laying odds upon the favorite for the
-Cambridgeshire. But perhaps,” I added, looking up, “you are not
-interested in these matters?”</p>
-
-<p>“Snares, sir!” said he violently; “wiles of the enemy! Mortals are
-but given a few years to live; how can they squander them so? They have
-not even an eye to their poor worldly interests,” he added in a quieter
-tone, “or they would never back a single horse at such short odds with a
-field of thirty.”</p>
-
-<p>There was something in this speech of his which tickled me immensely.
-I suppose it was the odd way in which he blended religious intolerance
-with worldly wisdom. I laid the “Times” aside with the conviction that I
-should be able to spend the next two hours to better purpose than in its
-perusal.</p>
-
-<p>“You speak as if you understood the matter, at any rate,” I
-remarked.</p>
-
-<p>“Yes, sir,” he answered; “few men in England understood these things
-better in the old days before I changed my profession. But that is all
-over now.”</p>
-
-<p>“Changed your profession?” said I, interrogatively.</p>
-
-<p>“Yes; I changed my name, too.”</p>
-
-<p>“Indeed?” said I.</p>
-
-<p>“Yes; you see, a man wants a real fresh start when his eyes become
-opened, so he has a new deal all round, so to speak. Then he gets a fair
-chance.” There was a short pause here, as I seemed to be on delicate
-ground in touching on my companion’s antecedents, and he did not
-volunteer any information. I broke the silence by offering him a
-cheroot.</p>
-
-<p>“No, thanks,” said he; “I have given up tobacco. It was the hardest
-wrench of all, was that. It does me good to smell the whiff of your
-weed. Tell me,” he added suddenly, looking hard at me with his shrewd
-gray eyes, “why did you take stock of me so carefully before you
-spoke?”</p>
-
-<p>“It is a habit of mine,” said I. “I am a medical man, and observation
-is everything in my profession. I had no idea you were looking.”</p>
-
-<p>“I can see without looking,” he answered. “I thought you were a
-detective, at first; but I couldn’t recall your face at the time I knew
-the force.”</p>
-
-<p>“Were you a detective, then?” said I.</p>
-
-<p>“No,” he answered, with a laugh; “I was the other thing—the detected,
-you know. Old scores are wiped out now, and the law cannot touch me; so
-I don’t mind confessing to a gentleman like yourself what a scoundrel I
-have been in my time.”</p>
-
-<p>“We are none of us perfect,” said I.</p>
-
-<p>“No; but I was a real out-and-outer. A ‘fake,’ you know, to start
-with, and afterwards a ‘cracksman.’ It is easy to talk of these things
-now, for I’ve changed my spirit. It’s as if I was talking of some other
-man, you see.”</p>
-
-<p>“Exactly so,” said I. Being a medical man, I had none of that
-shrinking from crime and criminals which many men possess. I could make
-all allowances for congenital influence and the force of circumstances.
-No company, therefore, could have been more acceptable to me than that
-of the old malefactor; and as I sat puffing at my cigar, I was delighted
-to observe that my air of interest was gradually loosening his
-tongue.</p>
-
-<p>“Yes; I’m converted now,” he continued, “and of course I am a happier
-man for that. And yet,” he added wistfully, “there are times when I long
-for the old trade again, and fancy myself strolling out on a cloudy
-night with my jimmy in my pocket. I left a name behind me in my
-profession, sir. I was one of the old school, you know. It was very
-seldom that we bungled a job. We used to begin at the foot of the
-ladder, the rope ladder, if I may say so, in my younger days, and then
-work our way up, step by step, so that we were what you might call good
-men all through.”</p>
-
-<p>“I see,” said I.</p>
-
-<p>“I was always reckoned a hard-working, conscientious man, and had
-talent, too; the very cleverest of them allowed that. I began as a
-blacksmith, and then did a little engineering and carpentering, and then
-I took to sleight-of-hand tricks, and then to picking pockets. I
-remember, when I was home on a visit, how my poor old father used to
-wonder why I was always hovering around him. He little knew that I used
-to clear everything out of his pockets a dozen times a day, and then
-replace them, just to keep my hand in. He believes to this day that I am
-in an office in the City. There are few of them could touch me in that
-particular line of business, though.”</p>
-
-<p>“I suppose it is a matter of practice?” I remarked.</p>
-
-<p>“To a great extent. Still, a man never quite loses it, if he has once
-been an adept—excuse me; you have dropped some cigar ash on your coat,”
-and he waved his hand politely in front of my breast, as if to brush it
-off. “There,” he said, handing me my gold scarf pin, “you see I have not
-forgot my old cunning yet.”</p>
-
-<p>He had done it so quickly that I hardly saw the hand whisk over my
-bosom, nor did I feel his fingers touch me, and yet there was the pin
-glittering in his hand. “It is wonderful,” I said as I fixed it again in
-its place.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, that’s nothing! But I have been in some really smart jobs. I was
-in the gang that picked the new patent safe. You remember the case. It
-was guaranteed to resist anything; and we managed to open the first that
-was ever issued, within a week of its appearance. It was done with
-graduated wedges, sir, the first so small that you could hardly see it
-against the light, and the last strong enough to prize it open. It was a
-clever managed affair.”</p>
-
-<p>“I remember it,” said I. “But surely some one was convicted for
-that?”</p>
-
-<p>“Yes, one was nabbed. But he didn’t split, nor even let on how it was
-done. We’d have cut his soul out if—” He suddenly damped down the very
-ugly fires which were peeping from his eyes. “Perhaps I am boring you,
-talking about these old wicked days of mine?”</p>
-
-<p>“On the contrary,” I said, “you interest me extremely.”</p>
-
-<p>“I like to get a listener I can trust. It’s a sort of blow-off, you
-know, and I feel lighter after it. When I am among my brethren I dare
-hardly think of what has gone before. Now I’ll tell you about another
-job I was in. To this day, I cannot think about it without
-laughing.”</p>
-
-<p>I lit another cigar, and composed myself to listen.</p>
-
-<p>“It was when I was a youngster,” said he. “There was a big City man
-in those days who was known to have a very valuable gold watch. I
-followed him about for several days before I could get a chance; but
-when I did get one, you may be sure I did not throw it away. He found,
-to, his disgust, when he got home that day, that there was nothing in
-his fob. I hurried off with my prize, and got it stowed away in safety,
-intending to have it melted down next day. Now, it happened that this
-watch possessed a special value in the owner’s eyes because it was a
-sort of ancestral possession—presented by his father on coming of age,
-or something of that sort. I remember there was a long inscription on
-the back. He was determined not to lose it if he could help it, and
-accordingly he put an advertisement in an evening paper, offering thirty
-pounds reward for its return, and promising that no questions should be
-asked. He gave the address of his house, 31 Caroline Square, at the end
-of the advertisement. The thing sounded good enough, so I set off for
-Caroline Square, leaving the watch in a parcel at a public house which I
-passed on the way. When I got there, the gentleman was at dinner; but he
-came out quick enough when he heard that a young man wanted to see him.
-I suppose he guessed who the young man would prove to be. He was a
-genial-looking old fellow, and he led me away with him into his
-study.</p>
-
-<p>“‘Well, my lad,’ said he, ‘what is it?’</p>
-
-<p>“‘I’ve come about that watch of yours,’ said I. ‘I think I can lay my
-hands on it.’</p>
-
-<p>“‘Oh, it was you that took it!’ said he.</p>
-
-<p>“‘No,’ I answered; ‘I know nothing whatever about how you lost it. I
-have been sent by another party to see you about it. Even if you have me
-arrested you will not find out anything.’</p>
-
-<p>“‘Well,’ he said, ‘I don’t want to be hard on you. Hand it over, and
-here is my check for the amount.’</p>
-
-<p>“‘Checks won’t do,’ said I; ‘I must have it in gold.’</p>
-
-<p>“‘It would take an hour or so to collect in gold,’ said he.</p>
-
-<p>“‘That will just suit,’ I answered, ‘for I have not got the watch
-with me. I’ll go back and fetch it, while you raise the money.’</p>
-
-<p>“I started off and got the watch where I had left it. When I came
-back, the old gentleman was sitting behind his study table, with the
-little heap of gold in front of him.</p>
-
-<p>“‘Here is your money,’ he said, and pushed it over.</p>
-
-<p>“‘Here is your watch,’ said I.</p>
-
-<p>“He was evidently delighted to get it back; and after examining it
-carefully, and assuring himself that it was none the worse, he put it
-into the watch-pocket of his coat with a grunt of satisfaction.</p>
-
-<p>“‘Now, my lad,’ he said, ‘I know it was you that took the watch. Tell
-me how you did it, and I don’t mind giving you an extra five-pound
-note.’</p>
-
-<p>“‘I wouldn’t tell you in any case,’ said I; ‘but especially I
-wouldn’t tell you when you have a witness hid behind that curtain.’ You
-see, I had all my wits about me, and it didn’t escape me that the
-curtain was drawn tighter than it had been before.</p>
-
-<p>“‘You are too sharp for us,’ said he, good-humoredly. ‘Well, you have
-got your money, and that’s an end of it. I’ll take precious good care
-you don’t get hold of my watch again in a hurry. Good night—no; not that
-door,’ he added as I marched towards a cupboard. ‘This is the door,’ and
-he stood up and opened it. I brushed past him, opened the hall door, and
-was round the corner of the square in no time. I don’t know how long the
-old gentleman took to find it out, but in passing him at the door, I
-managed to pick his pocket for the second time, and next morning the
-family heirloom was in the melting-pot, after all. That wasn’t bad, was
-it?’”</p>
-
-<p>The old war-horse had evidently forgotten all about his conversion
-now. There was a tone of triumph in the conclusion of his anecdote which
-showed that his pride in his smartness far surpassed his repentance of
-his misdeeds. He seemed pleased at the astonishment and amusement I
-expressed at his adroitness.</p>
-
-<p>“Yes,” he continued with a laugh, “it was a capital joke. But
-sometimes the fun lies all the other way. Even the sharpest of us come
-to grief at times. There was one rather curious incident which occurred
-in my career. You may possibly have seen the anecdote, for it got into
-print at the time.”</p>
-
-<p>“Pray let me hear it,” said I.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, it is hard lines telling stories against one’s self, but this
-was how it happened: I had made a rather good haul, and invested some of
-the swag in buying a very fine diamond ring. I thought it would be
-something to fall back upon when all the ready was gone and times were
-hard. I had just purchased it, and was going back to my lodgings in the
-omnibus, when, as luck would have it, a very stylishly-dressed young
-lady came in and took her seat beside me. I didn’t pay much attention to
-her at first; but after a time something hard in her dress knocked up
-against my hand, which my experienced touch soon made out to be a purse.
-It struck me that I could not pass the time more profitably or agreeably
-than by making this purse my own. I had to do it very carefully; but I
-managed at last to wriggle my hand into her rather light pocket, and I
-thought the job was over. Just at this moment she rose abruptly to leave
-the ’bus, and I had hardly time to get my hand with the purse in it out
-of her pocket without detection. It was not until she had been gone some
-time that I found out that in drawing out my hand in that hurried manner
-the new and ill-fitting ring had slipped over my finger and remained in
-the young lady’s pocket. I sprang out and ran in the direction in which
-she had gone with the intention of picking her pocket once again. She
-had disappeared, however; and from that day till this I have never set
-eyes on her. To make the matter worse, there was only four pence
-half-penny in coppers inside the purse. Sarve me right for trying to rob
-such a pretty girl; still, if I had that two hundred quid now I should
-not be reduced to—Good heavens, forgive me! What am I saying?”</p>
-
-<p>He seemed inclined to relapse into silence after this; but I was
-determined to draw him out a little more, if I could possibly manage it.
-“There is less personal risk in the branch you have been talking of,” I
-remarked, “than there is in burglary.”</p>
-
-<p>“Ah!” he said, warming to his subject once again, “it is the higher
-game which is best worth aiming at. Talk about sport, sir, talk about
-fishing or hunting! Why, it is tame in comparison! Think of the great
-country house with its men-servants and its dogs and its firearms, and
-you with only your jimmy and your centre bit, and your mother wit, which
-is best of all. It is the triumph of intellect over brute force, sir, as
-represented by bolts and bars.”</p>
-
-<p>“People generally look upon it as quite the reverse,” I remarked.</p>
-
-<p>“I was never one of those blundering life-preserver fellows,” said
-my companion. “I did try my hand at garroting once; but it was against
-my principles, and I gave it up. I have tried everything. I have been a
-bedridden widow with three young children; but I do object to physical
-force.”</p>
-
-<p>“You have been what?” said I.</p>
-
-<p>“A bedridden widow. Advertising, you know, and getting subscriptions.
-I have tried them all. You seem interested in these experiences,” he
-continued, “so I will tell you another anecdote. It was the narrowest
-escape from penal servitude that ever I had in my life. A pal and I had
-gone down on a country beat—it doesn’t signify where it was—and taken up
-our headquarters in a little provincial town. Somehow it got noised
-abroad that we were there, and householders were warned to be careful,
-as suspicious characters had been seen in the neighborhood. We should
-have changed our plans when we saw the game was up; but my chum was a
-plucky fellow, and wouldn’t consent to back down. Poor little Jim! He
-was only thirty-four round the chest, and about twelve at the biceps;
-but there is not a measuring-tape in England could have given the size
-of his heart. He said we were in for it, and we must stick to it; so I
-agreed to stay, and we chose Morley Hall, the country house of a certain
-Colonel Morley, to begin with.</p>
-
-<p>“Now this Colonel Morley was about the last man in the world that we
-should have meddled with. He was a shrewd, cool-headed fellow, who had
-knocked about and seen the world, and it seems that he took a special
-pride in the detection of criminals. However, we knew nothing of all
-this at that time; so we set forth hopefully to have a try at the
-house.</p>
-
-<p>“The reason that made us pick him out among the rest was that he had
-a good-for-nothing groom, who was a tool in our hands. This fellow had
-drawn up a rough plan of the premises for us. The place was pretty well
-locked up and guarded, and the only weak point we could see was a
-certain trap-door, the padlock of which was broken, and which opened
-from the roof into one of the lumber-rooms. If we could only find any
-method of reaching the roof, we might force a way securely from above.
-We both thought the plan rather a good one and it had a spice of
-originality about it which pleased us. It is not the mere jewels or
-plate, you know, that a good cracksman thinks about. The neatness of the
-job and his reputation for smartness are almost as important in his
-eyes.</p>
-
-<p>“We had been very quiet for a day or two, just to let suspicion die
-away. Then we set out one dark night, Jim and I, and got over the avenue
-railings and up to the house without meeting a soul. It was blowing
-hard, I remember, and the clouds were hurrying across the sky. We had a
-good look at the front of the house; and then Jim went round to the
-garden side. He came running back in a minute or two in a great state of
-delight. ‘Why, Bill,’ he said, gripping me by the arm, ‘there never was
-such a bit of luck! They’ve been repairing the roof or something, and
-they’ve left the ladder standing.’ We went round together, and there,
-sure enough, was the ladder towering above our heads, and one or two
-laborers’ hods lying about, which showed that some work had been going
-on during the day. We had a good look round, to see that everything was
-quiet, and then we climbed up, Jim first and I after him. We got to the
-top, and were sitting on the slates, having a bit of a breather before
-beginning business, when you can fancy our feelings to see the ladder
-that we came up by suddenly stand straight up in the air, and then
-slowly descend until it rested in the garden below. At first we hoped it
-might have slipped, though that was bad enough; but we soon had that
-idea put out of our heads.</p>
-
-<p>“‘Hullo, up there!’ cried a voice from below.</p>
-
-<p>“We craned our heads over the edge, and there was a man, dressed, as
-far as we could make out, in evening dress, and standing in the middle
-of the grass plot. We kept quiet.</p>
-
-<p>“‘Hullo!’ he shouted again. ‘How do you feel yourself? Pretty
-comfortable, eh? Ha! ha! You London rogues thought we were green in the
-country. What’s your opinion now?’</p>
-
-<p>“We both lay still, though feeling pretty considerably small, as you
-may imagine.</p>
-
-<p>“‘It’s all right; I see you.’ he continued.</p>
-
-<p>“‘Why, I have been waiting behind that lilac bush every night for the
-last week, expecting to see you. I knew you couldn’t resist going up
-that ladder, when you found the windows were too much for you.—Joe!
-Joe!’</p>
-
-<p>“‘Yes, sir,’ said a voice, and another man came from among the
-bushes.</p>
-
-<p>“‘Just you keep your eye on the roof, will you, while I ride down to
-the station and fetch up a couple of constables?—<i>Au revoir</i>, gentlemen!
-You don’t mind waiting, I suppose?’ And Colonel Morley—for it was the
-owner of the house himself—strode off; and in a few minutes we heard the
-rattle of his horse’s hoofs going down the avenue.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, sir, we felt precious silly, as you may imagine. It wasn’t so
-much having been nabbed that bothered us, as the feeling of being caught
-in such a simple trap. We looked at each other in blank disgust, and
-then, to save our lives, we couldn’t help bursting into laughter at our
-own fix. However, it was no laughing matter; so we set to work going
-around the roof, and seeing if there was a likely water-pipe or anything
-that might give us a chance of escape. We had to give it up as a bad
-job; so we sat down again, and made up our minds to the worst. Suddenly
-an idea flashed into my head, and I groped my way over the roof until I
-felt wood under my feet. I bent down and found that the colonel had
-actually forgotten to secure the padlock! You will often notice, as you
-go through life, that it is the shrewdest and most cunning man who falls
-into the most absurd mistakes; and this was an example of it. You may
-guess that we did not lose much time, for we expected to hear the
-constables every moment. We dropped through into the lumber-room,
-slipped downstairs, tore open the library shutters, and were out and
-away before the astonished groom could make out what had happened. There
-wasn’t time enough to take any little souvenir with us, worse luck. I
-should have liked to have seen the colonel’s face when he came back with
-the constables and found that the birds were flown.”</p>
-
-<p>“Did you ever come across the colonel again?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p>“Yes; we skinned him of every bit of plate he had, down to the
-salt-spoons, a few years later. It was partly out of revenge, you see,
-that we did it. It was a very well-managed and daring thing, one of the
-best I ever saw, and all done in open daylight, too.”</p>
-
-<p>“How in the world did you do it?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p>“Well, there were three of us in it—Jim was one—and we set about it
-in this way: We wanted to begin by getting the colonel out of the way,
-so I wrote him a note purporting to come from Squire Brotherwick, who
-lived about ten miles away, and was not always on the best of terms with
-the master of Morley Hall. I dressed myself up as a groom, and delivered
-the note myself. It was to the effect that the squire thought he was
-able to lay his hands on the scoundrels who had escaped from the colonel
-a couple of years before, and that if the colonel would ride over they
-would have little difficulty in securing them. I was sure that this
-would have the desired effect; so, after handing it in, and remarking
-that I was the squire’s groom, I walked off again, as if on the way back
-to my master’s.</p>
-
-<p>“After getting out of sight of the house, I crouched down behind a
-hedge; and, as I expected, in less than a quarter of an hour the colonel
-came swinging past me on his chestnut mare. Now, there is another
-accomplishment I possess which I have not mentioned to you yet, and that
-is, that I can copy any handwriting that I see. It is a very easy trick
-to pick up if you only give your mind to it. I happened to have come
-across one of Colonel Morley’s letters some days before, and I can write
-so that even now I defy an expert to detect a difference between the
-hands. This was a great assistance to me now, for I tore a leaf out of
-my pocketbook and wrote something to this effect:</p>
-
-<div style='font-size:0.9em;margin-top:0.8em; margin-bottom:0.8em;'>
-“‘As Squire Brotherwick has seen some suspicious characters about,
-and the house may be attempted again, I have sent down to the bank, and
-ordered them to send up their bank-cart to convey the whole of the plate
-to a place of safety. It will save us a good deal of anxiety to know
-that it is in absolute security. Have it packed up and ready, and give
-the bearer a glass of beer.’
-</div>
-
-<p>“Having composed this precious epistle, I addressed it to the butler,
-and carried it back to the Hall, saying that their master had overtaken
-me on the way and asked me to deliver it. I was taken in and made much
-of downstairs, while a great packing case was dragged into the hall,
-and the plate stowed away, among cotton-wool and stuffing. It was nearly
-ready, when I heard the sound of wheels upon the gravel, and sauntered
-round just in time to see a business-like closed car drive up to the
-door. One of my pals was sitting very demurely on the box, while Jim,
-with an official looking hat, sprang out and bustled into the hall.</p>
-
-<p>“‘Now then,’ I heard him say, ‘look sharp! What’s for the bank? Come
-on!’</p>
-
-<p>“‘Wait a minute, sir,’ said the butler.</p>
-
-<p>“‘Can’t wait. There’s a panic all over the country, and they are
-clamoring for us everywhere. Must drive on to Lord Blackbury’s place,
-unless you are ready.’</p>
-
-<p>“‘Don’t go, sir!’ pleaded the butler. ‘There’s only this one rope to
-tie. There, it is ready now. You’ll look after it, won’t you?’</p>
-
-<p>“‘That we will. You’ll never have any more trouble with it now,’ said
-Jim, helping to push the great case into the car.</p>
-
-<p>“‘I think I had better go with you and see it stowed away in the
-bank,’ said the butler.</p>
-
-<p>“‘All right,’ said Jim, nothing abashed. ‘You can’t come in the car,
-though, for Lord Blackbury’s box will take up all the spare room. Let’s
-see; it’s twelve o’clock now. Well, you be waiting at the bank door at
-half-past one, and you will just catch us.’</p>
-
-<p>“‘All right; half-past one,’ said the butler.</p>
-
-<p>“‘Good-day,’ cried my chum; and away went the car, while I made a bit
-of a short cut and caught it around a turn of the road. We drove right
-off into the next county, got a down-train to London, and before
-midnight the colonel’s silver was fused into a solid lump.”</p>
-
-<p>I could not help laughing at the versatility of the old scoundrel.
-“It was a daring game to play,” I said.</p>
-
-<p>“It is always the daring game which succeeds best,” he answered.</p>
-
-<p>At this point the train began to show symptoms of slowing down, and
-my companion put on his overcoat and gave other signs of being near the
-end of his journey.</p>
-
-<p>“You are going on to Dover?” he said.</p>
-
-<p>“Yes.”</p>
-
-<p>“For the Continent?”</p>
-
-<p>“Yes.”</p>
-
-<p>“How long do you intend to travel?”</p>
-
-<p>“Only for a week or so.”</p>
-
-<p>“Well, I must leave you here. You will remember my name, won’t you?
-John Wilkie. I am pleased to have met you. Is my umbrella behind you?”
-he added, stretching across. “No; I beg your pardon. Here it is in the
-corner;” and with an affable smile, the ex-cracksman stepped out, bowed,
-and disappeared among the crowd upon the platform.</p>
-
-<p>I lit another cigar, laughed as I thought of my late companion, and
-lifted up the “Times,” which he had left behind him. The bell had rung,
-the wheels were already revolving, when, to my astonishment, a pallid
-face looked in at me through the window. It was so contorted and
-agitated that I hardly recognized the features which I had been gazing
-upon during the last couple of hours. “Here, take it,” he said, “take
-it. It’s hardly worth my while to rob you of seven pounds four
-shillings, but I couldn’t resist once more trying my hand;” and he flung
-something into the carriage and disappeared.</p>
-
-<p>It was my old leather purse, with my return ticket, and the whole of
-my travelling expenses. His newly awakened conscience had driven him to
-instant restitution.</p>
-
-<div class='tn'>
-Transcriber’s Note: This story appeared in the April, 1895 issue of <em>McClure’s Magazine</em>.
-</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECOLLECTIONS OF CAPTAIN WILKIE ***</div>
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