CHAPTER CXXXV.
SOME PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF A LONDON THIEF.
Alf Purvis, alias Mr. Algernon Sutherland, had, with the exception of our hero, become one of the most daring of metropolitan thieves. His genteel appearance and engaging manners were of essential service to him in carrying on his nefarious practices.
In this respect he had the advantage of Peace; but with all these qualities he was not nearly so cunning or artful as our hero.
Nevertheless, Mr. Sutherland was, in his own particular sphere, a young gentleman of note and mark, who was greatly admired and envied by villains of coarser type with whom he was wont to associate.
He was known by the cognomen of the “Dandy,” in consequence of his fashionable attire and finicking ways.
A more audacious, unscrupulous young scoundrel it would not be easy to find. As far as pocket-picking was concerned he was a sort of prodigy; but he did not confine his attention to this branch of the profession, as he termed it; he had at times recourse to other means to replenish his exchequer, and of late he had hit upon what he deemed a most ingenious scheme to furnish him with the means of indulging in his extravagant mode of living.
The reader will doubtless remember the “Smoucher,” whose acquaintance he made at the thieves’ haunt in Whitechapel.
The “Smoucher,” as he was termed by his familiars, was an adept in penmanship, and had the faculty of imitating the handwriting of any person in a manner which was at once remarkable and surprising.
It occurred to Mr. Sutherland that he might make very good use of the Smoucher’s ability, and he at once put into practice a scheme he had pondered over for a considerable period.