London's Heart: A Novel

by B. L. Farjeon

"We shall see."

"We shall."

Felix is supremely calm; Mr. Sheldrake's passion breaks against him as the sea breaks against a rook and recoils upon itself.

"And you came here, I suppose, to play the hero, and to trick that young lady with fine speeches. But if she knows what is good for her, she'll be wise in time."

"I hope she will. Lily!"

She does not answer in words, but creeps into his arms. Then Mr. Sheldrake shows his full meanness. "Take her!" he says, with a toss of the hand, as discarding a worthless thing. "She came with me from the old man's house last night. How many hours ago? Ah, thirteen! Take her. I have done with her!"

Felix laughs cheerily, and holds Lily closer to his breast.

"It was a lucky chance," he says, not addressing Mr. Sheldrake, "that caused us to put up at the Myrtle Inn; for going into the stable to look after my horse, I saw another horse which had been put up but a very short time before we arrived. I have driven that horse more than once, and I know the livery-stables to which it belonged. It was by another lucky chance that I inquired of the ostler at the Myrtle whether a man of the name of Thompson, a man with a crooked nose and a hare-lip, had driven that horse down. But it was by the luckiest chance of all that we found Thompson in bed at that very inn, and that we induced him, without much trouble, to tell all about the pleasant drive he had had, and where he had set his passengers down."

"You have been very lucky," sneers Mr. Sheldrake, "but all your luck will not avail you to save Master Alfred from the hulks. It is my mission now to assist him to that desirable retreat for fools and thieves. I have you there, my lucky hero."

"I think not. You have not heard all our luck yet. A friend of mine, a detective--O yes, I have detective friends, as well as you!--has in his possession certain letters and documents concerning transactions in which the names of Sheldrake, Staveley, and half a dozen aliases assumed by each to serve his turn, suspiciously occur. I think the law is not inclined to treat with leniency the miserable tricksters whose knavery leads many poor creatures to ruin. Some public attention has been drawn to the class to which Mr. Sheldrake and Mr. Staveley belong, as you may have observed. The law hitherto has been comparatively powerless, because of the want of sufficiently direct evidence; the rascals are a cunning set. But I and my detective friend have in our possession documents by which we shall be able to prove distinct fraud; and as those who administer the law wait but for the opportunity to convict, you may depend that the punishment will not be light. Nay, we have not only documents; we have witnesses. Knowing what kind of man we had to deal with, knowing what kind of knavery we had to expose, we set traps, not yesterday, nor last week, but months ago, and the evidence we can bring forward will be sufficient. Temptation has proved too strong for you in one or two instances, and you have overstepped the mark, as we shall prove to you to your cost."