Amiable Charlatan — 04 - Cullen Gives Advice, part 2
The hours passed as though in a dream.
I talked to my sister and her husband, and exchanged the usual gossip with their callers.
I even paid a call or two on my own account; but I have no recollection of whom I went to see or what we talked about.
I had no chance to visit either Mr. Parker or Eve, for neither of them left their places and they were in the middle of a row; but I took good care that we were close together in the vestibule toward the end.
With a little shiver I saw that Lady Orstline was there too--next Mr. Parker.
I was a few feet behind them both, with my sister.
I found myself watching almost feverishly.
As usual there was a block outside, and the few yards between us and the door seemed interminable.
I had none of the optimism of those others.
I
was filled with vague fears of some impending disaster.
Suddenly, with a shiver, I recognized Cullen, scarcely a couple of yards away, also watching, wedged in among the throng.
His lips were drawn closely together; his opera hat was well over his forehead; his eyes never left Mr. Parker.
He looked to me there like a lean-faced rat preparing for its spring.
I followed the exact direction of his steadfast gaze and I became cold with apprehension.
Lady Orstline was just in front of me; by her side was Eve, and immediately behind her Mr. Parker, I tried to lean over, but in the crush it was impossible.
"Some one you want to speak to, Paul?"
my sister asked.
"There's a man there--if I can only get at him."
The little crowd in front of us was suddenly thrown into disorder by having to let through two people whose carriage had been called.
We seemed to lose ground in the confusion, for a moment or two later I noticed Lady Orstline standing outside the door, and my heart sank as I realized that her neck was bare.
Almost at the same instant I saw her hand fly up and heard her voice.
"My necklace!"
she called out.
"Policeman, don't let any one pass out!
My necklace has been stolen--my pearls!"
The confusion that followed was indescribable.
The doors were almost barricaded.
My sister and her husband and I were allowed through easily enough, as we were known to be subscribers, but almost every one else seemed to be undergoing a sort of cross-examination.
My brother-in-law was disposed to be irritable.
"Why can't the silly woman look after her jewels?"
he exclaimed.
"Another advertisement, I suppose."
"Can we drop you anywhere, Paul?"
my sister inquired.
"Or would you like to give us some supper?"
I had been staring out of the window.
There was not a sign anywhere of Eve or her father; nor had I been able to catch a glimpse of Mr. Cullen.
"I am sorry," I replied; "but I am supping with some friends at Stephano's. Could you set me down there?"
My sister raised her eyebrows as she gave the order.
We were already in the Strand.
"Really, Paul," she remonstrated, "at your time of life--you are thirty- four years old, mind--I think you might leave Stephano's to the other generation!"
"Second childhood!"
I explained as I descended.
"In any case I really have an appointment here.
Give you supper any other night with pleasure.
Many thanks!"
My first intention had been not to enter the place at all, but to return at once to Covent Garden.
Some impulse, however, prompted me to glance round the room first.
To my amazement Eve and her father were already seated at their usual table--Eve drawing off her gloves and her father with the wine list in his hand.
I made my way toward them.
I suppose my expression indicated a certain stupefaction, for directly I got there Eve began to laugh softly up into my face.
"We aren't ghosts!"
she declared.
"Did you think _you_ were the only person who could leave the opera house in a hurry?"
"I saw you in the vestibule," I ventured.
"I never saw you get away."
"No more did our friend Cullen," Mr. Parker remarked, smiling.
"I really am beginning to feel sorry for that man.
We were within a yard or two of him and he was watching us good and hard.
I think he had an idea that Eve had a weakness for pearls."
"Oh, don't!"
I exclaimed rather sharply.
"Even in joke it isn't exactly wise, is it, with people passing all the time?"
"Joke!"
Mr. Parker repeated.
"Precious little joke about it, I can assure you.
I dare say it looked simple enough to you, but it was really quite a complicated business.
Never mind, Eve has her pearls--and that's the great thing."
Then he thrust his hand into his trousers pocket and, without the least attempt at concealment, produced and plumped upon the table in front of him the pearl necklace which only a few minutes before I had seen upon the neck of Lady Orstline.
"Look much better on Eve when they've been re-strung, won't they?"
he observed.
"Gee whiz!
What lovely stones they are!"
"Put it away!"
I gasped.
"For Heaven's sake, put it away!"
"Why should I?"
he asked coolly.
My heart suddenly seemed to stop beating.
I felt as though the end of the world had come.
With the light of triumph ablaze in his narrow black eyes, Mr. Cullen was standing by our table!
"Good evening, Mr. Parker!"
he said in a tone from which he struggled to keep the note of triumph.
"Good evening, young lady!"
The hand of Mr. Parker had suddenly covered the pearl necklace.
Mr. Cullen was looking steadily toward it.
"I trust," he continued, "that my arrival was not inopportune.
I haven't interrupted anything, have I--any little celebration, or anything of that sort?"
"On the contrary, we are always pleased to see you," Mr. Parker declared warmly.
"Sit right down, Mr. Cullen!
You'll join us, I trust?
We were just thinking of ordering a little supper."
Mr. Cullen shook his head.
"Perhaps," he advised, "it would be better to postpone that order."
"Postpone it?"
Mr. Parker repeated, glancing at the clock.
"Why, it's late enough now.
Good Heavens, is that the time?"
Mr. Cullen and I both glanced at the clock at the other end of the room.
It was twenty minutes to twelve.
The detective looked back with a smile.
"You are a past master, Mr. Parker," he said, "in the accomplishment that, I believe, in your country goes by the name of bluff; but there are limits, you know.
I shall have to ask you and your daughter and Mr. Walmsley here to accompany me at once to Bow Street.
And," he added, suddenly leaning across the table, "move your right hand, please!
Don't make a disturbance--for Luigi's sake!
If you want trouble you can have it."
Mr. Parker raised his hand at once.
"Trouble?"
he echoed.
"That's the last thing I'm looking for."
Mr. Cullen smiled grimly.
"Ah!
I thank you," he said.
"A pearl necklace, I see!
You must allow me to take charge of this, please."
Mr. Parker's look of surprise was admirably done.
"That is my daughter's necklace," he explained.
"The fastening has become loose."
"Exactly!"
Mr. Cullen sneered.
"I am now going to ask you all three to come with me without any further delay to Bow Street."
"This man is mad!"
Mr. Parker sighed, leaning back in his place--"stark, staring mad!
His interference with my meals is becoming unwarrantable."
"If you take my advice you will avoid a scene," the detective said, leaning a little over the table.
"Believe me, I am not to be trifled with.
If you do not come willingly there are other means.
I am simply trying to avoid a disturbance in a public restaurant."
Mr. Parker rose reluctantly to his feet.
"Eve, dear," he said, "I suppose we may as well obey this very autocratic person.
The sooner we go the sooner we shall be back to supper.
Mr. Walmsley, I owe you my most profound apologies.
I had no idea when I asked you to join us that you would become involved in anything disagreeable."
"Don't mind me," I begged him.
"I am glad to come.
Perhaps we had better get it over as soon as possible."
"We shall be back," Mr. Parker explained to Luigi, who had strolled up to see what was happening, "in twenty minutes.
Prepare, if you please, three oyster cocktails, some grilled cutlets, and saute potatoes.
Thank you, Luigi.
In twenty minutes, mind!"
We passed out toward the entrance.
Mr. Cullen was walking with almost professional proximity to his companion.
Eve and I were a few steps in the rear.
"Eve," I whispered, drawing her for a moment close to me, "remember that whatever comes of this--whatever happens--there is no word I have ever said to you, or to your father about you, which I do not mean and shall not always mean."
She looked at me a little curiously.
From the first her own demeanor had been singularly unmoved.
During the last few seconds, however, she had grown paler.
She suddenly took my hand and gave it a little squeeze.
"You really are a little more than nice!"
she said.
We drove to the police station and Mr. Cullen ushered us at once into a private room, where an inspector was seated at a table.
"Mr. Hennessey, sir," he began, "I have a charge of theft against this man and his daughter.
I watched them at the opera house to-night.
At the entrance they were both of them hustling Lady Orstline.
As you may have heard, she cried out suddenly that her pearl necklace had been stolen.
I
rushed for these two, but by some means or other they got away.
I followed them to Stephano's restaurant and discovered them with the necklace on the table in front of them; The man Parker was showing it to the other two.
He attempted to conceal it, but I was just in time."
The inspector nodded.
"Very good, Mr. Cullen," he said.
"Where is the necklace?"
The detective produced it proudly and laid it upon the table before him.
The inspector dipped his pen in the ink.
"What is your name?"
he asked Mr. Parker.
"Joseph H. Parker," was the reply.
"I am an American citizen and this is my daughter.
Mr. Cullen appears to be a person of observation.
It is true we were at the opera.
It is perfectly true we were within a few yards of Lady Orstline when she called out that her necklace was stolen.
There's nothing remarkable about that, however, as we occupied adjacent stalls.
What I want to point out to you is, though, if you'll allow me, that the necklace I had on the table before me at Stephano's when Mr. Cullen suddenly popped round the screen--the necklace you are now looking at, sir--is of imitation pearls, valued at about ten pounds.
I bought it in the Burlington Arcade; it belongs to my daughter, and I was simply examining the clasp, which is scarcely safe."
There was a moment's breathless silence.
To me Mr. Parker's statement seemed too good to be true; yet he had spoken with the easy confidence of a man who knows what he is about.
Standing there, the personification of respectability, a trifle indignant, a trifle contemptuous, his words could not fail to carry with them a certain amount of conviction.
The inspector rang a bell by his side.
"What are your daughter's initials?"
he asked quickly.
"E. P.
--Eve Parker," Mr. Parker replied.
"Look at the back of the gold clasp.
There you are," he pointed out--"E. P."
Mr. Cullen and the inspector both bent over the necklace.
The inspector gave a brief order to a policeman.
"The initials on the clasp are certainly E. P.
," the inspector admitted slowly.
"I do not pretend to be a judge of jewelry myself.
However, I have sent for some one who is."
A man in plain clothes entered the room.
The inspector beckoned to him, showed him the necklace and whispered a question.
The man examined the pearls for barely five seconds.
Then he handed them back.
"Very nice imitation, sir," he pronounced.
"There's a place in Bond Street where I should imagine these came from, and another in the Burlington Arcade.
Their value is from seven to ten pounds."
The inspector dismissed him.
He handed the necklace back to Mr. Parker and rose to his feet.
"I can only express my most profound regret, sir," he said, "on behalf, of the force.
Such a mistake is inexcusable.
Mr. Cullen will, I am sure, join in offering you every apology."
Mr. Cullen was standing a few yards back.
He was biting his lip until it was absolutely colorless.
There was a look in his face that was quite indescribable.
"If I have made a mistake this time," he muttered; "if I have been premature--I apologize; but--but--" Mr. Parker turned to the inspector.
"You know," he said, "I fancy this young man's got what they call on this side a 'down' on me!
He's got an idea that I'm a crook--follows me about;
doesn't give me a moment's peace, in fact.
Say, Mr. Inspector, can't I put this thing right somehow--take him to my banker's--" "Banker's!"
Mr. Cullen ejaculated softly.
"The only use you have for a banker is to fleece him!"
"Mr. Cullen!"
the inspector exclaimed, frowning.
"I beg your pardon, sir.
I am sorry if I forgot myself."
He turned abruptly toward the door.
"I offer you my apologies, Mr. Parker," he said, looking back; "also the young lady.
But--some day the luck may be on my side."
The door slammed behind him.
Mr. Parker turned toward the inspector.
"That young man, Mr. Inspector," he said complainingly, "puts altogether too much feeling into his work.
I may have been a bit sarcastic with him once or twice; but if it comes to a lifelong vendetta, or anything of that sort, why, he's beginning to look for trouble--that's all!
I'm getting sick of the sight of him.
If ever I lunch or dine out he's there.
If I go to a theater he's about.
Whatever harmless amusement I go in for he's there looking on.
Just give him a word of caution, Mr. Inspector.
I'm a good-tempered man, but this can't go on forever."
The inspector himself escorted us to the door.
"I beg, Mr. Parker," he said, "that you will take no more notice of Mr. Cullen's little fit of temper.
As regards your complaint, I promise you that I will talk to him seriously.
Allow me to send for a taxicab for you.
Oh!
I beg your pardon--that is your own car.
I only regret that we should have wasted a few minutes of your evening.
Good night, gentlemen!
Good night, madam!"
We left Bow Street amid many manifestations of courtesy and good will.
"Where shall I tell him to go to, sir?"
the policeman asked as he closed the door.
"Back to Stephano's!"
Mr. Parker ordered.
We glided down into the Strand.
Mr. Parker glanced at his watch.
"We shall just about make those grilled cutlets," he remarked.
"Gives you kind of an appetite--this sort of thing!
Say, what's the matter with you, Mr. Walmsley?"
"Oh, nothing particular!"
I answered.
"Only I was just wondering what in the name of all that's miraculous can have become of Lady Orstline's necklace!"
We descended at Stephano's and were ushered to our table, where the oyster cocktails were waiting.
Mr. Parker took my arm.
"Perhaps," he murmured, "you may even know that before you go to sleep to-night."
* * * * * I thought of Mr. Parker's words an hour or so later when I was preparing to undress.
I emptied first the things from my trousers pockets.
The feeling of something unfamiliar in one of them brought a puzzled exclamation to my lips.
I dragged it out and held it in front of me.
My heart gave a great leap, the perspiration broke out upon my forehead, My knees shook and I sat down on the bed.
Without the slightest doubt in the world it was Lady Orstline's pearl necklace!
