“For you! He was not your man of business, was he?” said Daly, with a sly laugh.
“No, sir, I generally manage my money matters myself; but he happened to have a butler, one Garrett by name, who betted smartly on the turf, and played a little with the bones besides. He was a steady-going chap that knew a thing or two, but honest enough in booking up when he lost; he borrowed two hundred from me on the very day they started; he owed me nearly three besides, and I never saw him since. They say that when his master jumped overboard, Jack Garrett laid hands on all his property, and sailed for America; but I don't believe it, sir.”
“Well, but, Freney, you may believe it, for I was the means of an investigation at Liverpool in which the fact transpired, and the name of John Garrett was entered in the ship-agent's books; I read it there myself.”
“No matter for that, he dared not venture into the States. I know something of Jack's doings among the Yankees, and depend upon it, Mr. Daly, he's not gone; it's only a blind to stop pursuit.”
Daly shook his head dubiously, for, having satisfied himself of Garrett's escape when at Liverpool, he felt annoyed at any discredit attaching to what he deemed his own discovery.
“Take my word for it, Mr. Daly, I 'm right this time; you cannot think what an advantage a man like me possesses in guessing at the way another rogue would play his game. Why, sir, I know every turn and double such a fellow as Garrett would make. Now, I 'd wager Matchlock against a car-horse that he has not left England, and I 'd take an even bet he 'll be at the Spring Meeting at Doncaster.”
“This may be all as you say, Freney,” said Daly, after a pause, “and yet I see no reason to suppose it can interest me, or my friend either. He might know something of Gleeson's affairs; he might, perhaps, be able to tell something of the payment of that sum at Kildare; if so—”
“If so,” interrupted Freney, “money would buy the secret; at all events, I'm determined he shall not escape me so easily. I 'll follow the fellow to the very threshold of Newgate but I 'll have my own,—it is for that purpose I 'm on my way now. A fishing-boat will sail from Howth by to-morrow's tide, and land me somewhere on the Welsh coast, and, if I can serve you, why, it's only doing two jobs at the same time. What are the points you are anxious to discover?”
Daly reflected for a few moments, and then with distinctness detailed the several matters on which he desired information, not only regarding the reasons of Gleeson's embarrassments, but the nature of his intimacy with old Hickman, of which he entertained deep suspicions.
“I see it all,” said Freney. “You think that Gleeson was in league with the doctor?”