The lady evidently knew better than to show herself in that quarter, and we might have failed to rescue our client from his insatiate blackmailer had not a very unforeseen occurrence taken place.
“When thieves fall out, honest men get their own,” and this was a case in point.
One hot July afternoon a lady came to our office to invoke our aid in bringing back to her an individual who had absconded with a large sum of money belonging to her. The gentleman she described and named was Hulbert Brackett, Sir Arthur Brackett’s ne’er-do-weel younger brother, and our would-be new client bore such a strong resemblance to the photograph of Bertha Gerhardt, that we believed this to be that lady herself.
But she gave the name of Madame Rose Gringoire, and professed to be a French widow, who had entrusted Mr Brackett with all her fortune to invest for her, and the onus of proof of her identity with the German schemer whom we were seeking rested with us. She certainly spoke and comported herself as Frenchified as if to the manner born, but we soon discovered that she understood German equally well.
Mr Henniker, got up in very Teutonic fashion called in to the office and bungled so much in his efforts to pass himself off as a needy German, who couldn’t speak English, that madame was highly amused, and I, who was an unsuspected witness of the scene, was an unsuspected witness of the scene, could see that she understood every word that was said.
This discovery helped to convince us that we were indeed on the right track, even if the sum of which this adventuress complained of having been robbed had not tallied exactly with the amount extorted from Sir Arthur only a week before her visit to us.
“I am afraid the thief has too great a start, but we will do all we can in the matter,” said Mr Bell. “I hope your entire resources are not exhausted?”
“By no means! I can always get more money where that came from. But I have no mind to be such a heavy loser, all the same.”
“Then you will pardon me, I hope, if I inquire whether you would care to have the matter made public, or not? Most of our clients prefer us to conduct all their affairs with the utmost secrecy.”
“And so do I. On no account must anyone else know of this business. If you can find Hulbert Brackett for me, I can soon bring him to terms again.”