One curiosity of the establishment Mr. Smith found after his tenant left—the crucible which Peace must have used to melt down the jewellery he got in his burglaries, and which he wanted to put off the possibility of detection.
Since Thompson’s real character came out, Mr. Smith tells me he might by selling bits of his goods as relics have recouped himself for his rent and more, the morbid curiosity of visitors having been equal to anything of the kind experienced in the case of previous remarkable criminals.
The new tenant appears at first to have favourably impressed Mr. Smith, for he found himself frequently at No. 5 taking tea with Mr. and Mrs. Thompson and the other lady. Everything, he tells me, was very clean and comfortable.
Mr. Thompson was a kind and pressing host; the best of everything was put on the table, and the appointments in china and silver, to use the landlord’s own words, “were always up to the knocker.”
Thompson conversed freely on the various subjects of the day, took an interest in politics, and impressed his guest with the intelligence and knowledge he possessed.
Whilst Mrs. Thompson deftly served the tea, her husband enunciated his views on the different topics he had found to interest him in the newspapers, of which he was a diligent reader. It may interest Russophiles to know that this distinguished character took a great interest in the war, and favoured their views of the question.
Mr. Smith tells me that though he frequently talked about the war, he never indicated his views in his presence.
Another gentleman, who was the recipient of Mr. Thompson’s opinions on more than one occasion, says that he expressed very general regret that nations could not find a more humane way of settling their differences than by the sword.
He wanted to know what our Christianity and civilisation meant by countenancing such murderous ways of deciding disputes.
He thought that the Turks had shown themselves a cruel race—he admitted they had good qualities, particularly in the matter of abstaining from intoxicants, which was a hobby of Mr. Thompson’s—and he was glad that they had been punished for their cruelty. The Emperor of Russia, he held, had undertaken a high Christian mission, and our Government were greatly to blame in interfering with him.