His wife was faithful enough to him, but he had good reasons for mistrusting the woman Thompson, who was prone to gossipping, and given to drink, and who was, moreover, kept under subjection by cruel usage and a system of espionage; but, with all this, there was no telling how soon a man might be compromised by means of an incautious word, and it required a wonderful amount of pains and trouble to keep watch and ward over Mrs. Thompson, who, to say the least of her, was anything but a prudent woman.
In addition to all this, Peace had to elude the vigilance of the police. This he continued to do successfully enough for a considerable period, but it was not done without a vast amount of dodging, and even while at Peckham he was disturbed by them.
One morning the local policeman noticed a light in Thompson’s house at an unusual hour—about two o’clock. He was afraid things were not quite right, and was unwilling to let so estimable a citizen be robbed.
He knocked loudly at the door. All was silent. He knocked again, and then there shuttled along the passage some one who cautiously opened the door.
When Peace saw it was the policeman, and heard his business, he was instantly himself—the cool, impudent rogue that he was.
Flinging open the door, he insisted upon his coming in, saying—
“We are working here at all hours of the night at present. The fact is, I am busy on an invention by which I expect to make my fortune over again—it is for raising sunken ships, and I hope to start with the ‘Eurydice.’”
And the interested constable went in and had the invention explained to him. It is more probable that at that time Peace was busy at his crucible melting down some stolen goldware, and that he first cleared away all signs of the work and substituted the model of his patent to produce before the policeman. On one occasion Peace had a “scare.”
A “Long Firm” had been established at Peckham, and two detectives—one rather famous in his profession—came over from Greenwich.
At that time, an assistant to Mr. Cleaves—a man named Thomas, who looks after the removal of furniture—was helping Peace to erect his stable. Peace’s quick eye noticed the detectives stop opposite his house.