Forty years of 'Spy'

by Sir Leslie Ward

When the case came into Court I was astonished (as were many others) to read the (to me) incredible story of the claim of a Mrs. Druce, who announced that the late Thomas Charles Druce, an upholsterer of Baker Street, had been none other than the late Duke. T. C. Druce was reported to have died at Holcombe House, and it was alleged that he had never been buried at Highgate Cemetery; also, according to report, the servants at Holcombe House had stripped lead off the roof to weight the coffin, to indicate that there was a body inside.

Other evidence was produced to show that Druce was alive several years after his reported death; curious coincidences pointing to a similarity of habits between Druce and the late Duke were sworn to by many witnesses.

The employees at Druce's Baker Street Bazaar said that Druce would never appear when an aristocratic or Royal patron asked for him, and also that, like the Duke, he disappeared for considerable periods, and was known to enter his office from an underground passage leading from Harcourt House. Other significant peculiarities were mentioned—such as Druce's habit of tying his trousers with string round the ankle, the high hat and the old-fashioned wig; and photographs of the Duke and Druce were published in the papers. But I became extremely interested in the case when a point arose as to the date of the Duke's alleged marriage with a Miss Crickmer; it was stated to have occurred in the year 1816 (at this date he was only sixteen and a half years old), and this question was met with a reproduction of my full-length portrait of the Duke, which was stated beyond doubt to have been painted during the period of the Duke's residence at Bury, when he was Lord Tichfield. I regretted that I was not in Court and able to contradict this extraordinary statement; but I felt assured that the Druce claim would prove to be without foundation, and was not surprised to hear eventually that the case had been quashed by the opening of the Druce vault, where the presence of the body put an end to the allegations of the Druce family.

An extraordinary incident which happened with alarming suddenness, and which nearly brought me into unpleasant contact with the law, occurred one night when I was coming home from my club. I usually preferred to walk, for the exercise was beneficial to me after a hard day's work. It was not conspicuously late, and I was walking along lost in thought when a girl whom I knew as one of my models approached me and said rather breathlessly, "There's a woman and two men following you; they're dangerous characters, I feel sure—do take a cab—please!"

I was about to expostulate as this interruption was rather in the nature of a surprise, but before I could speak, she begged me excitedly to "Take a cab," and as a hansom was passing, hailed it and began to bundle me in.

"Really," I began, "why all this excitement? What is the matter?"

At that moment a big woman who looked rather like the adventuress in a Melville melodrama, as far as I could see (she was heavily veiled), came up and addressed some very insulting remarks to the little model.

"Oh, good heavens!" I said, and got into the cab. The girl jumped in quickly and called at the same time to the driver to hurry.

"What is all this?" I said in the cab as I saw her looking anxiously out of the window.

"Let's go another way—she's following us," replied the girl, who appeared to be shaking with fear.