"It is the most extraordinary thing in the world," said Dr. Wilton, "that Mr. Beauchamp can not be found any where--I am really beginning to be apprehensive concerning him. He left me in a very low and depressed state; and if his servant, Harding, were not with him--which, as he is not to be heard of either, it would seem he is--I should be afraid that his mind had given way."
"Harding! Harding!" said Cousins, thoughtfully; "I wonder if that could be the Harding who was a sort of valet and secretary to ---- the banker, and who pocketed a good deal of his cash when he failed. He had well nigh been hanged, or at least taken a swim across the pond--but the lawyer let him off for some disclosures be made, and got him a new place too, they say! I have lost sight of that chap for a long time. But, however, sir, you were speaking about the persons unknown. Now I think, do you see, that I have got the end of a clew that may lead to one of them; and if we get one we can not fail to get all."
"Who, then, do you think it is," demanded Mr. Egerton. "Let no means be spared to find out even one of the ruffians."
"Why, sir, you see, I don't mind telling you, because it will go no farther; but I think it had better be alone," and he looked significantly at the clerk, who was instantly ordered to withdraw.
"Beg pardon, gentlemen," said Cousins, more freely, when the other had left the room; "but I have known some of these country clerks that were the arrantest gossips in the whole neighborhood. However, the matter is, I hit upon what I think is the head of the right nail, when I was after the other business, do you see. You told me to inquire about the burning of the lady's house, and the silver plate that had disappeared; so, among other things, I went to the coach office, and examined the books, and just about that time I found that there had been two parcels sent up to Amos Jacobs, Esq., to be left till called for. Now, thinks I, who can Amos Jacobs be, but the old Jew of the Scuttlehole, as they call him. He receives stolen goods, gentlemen, and is as great a blind as ever swung. Well, I asked the book-keeper if he had noticed those two parcels, and he said yes, because they were so small, and yet so heavy. So then I asked him who brought them, and he said a gentleman who had been lodging three doors down the street for six weeks or so. So away I went, and looking up at the house I saw, 'Lodgings to Let' stuck up, and in I walked."
"Mr. Beauchamp's lodgings, I dare say," said Dr. Wilton, smiling.
"No, no, sir!" replied Cousins, "I knew those before. They lie a good bit farther down. But an old woman came to show me the lodgings, thinking I was going to take them; so I asked her who had been in them before, and she up and told me all about it. A very nice gentleman, she said, he was, who was a great chemist, she believed; for he was always puddling about over a fire, making experiments, as he told her--but bless you, gentlemen! he was just making white soup of the lady's plate--that was what he was doing. So then I asked his name, and she told me it was Mr. Anthony Smithson. So then the whole matter came upon me at once. Your worships must understand that, as far as I know of or remember, there is only one man upon the lay in London who has lost a bit of his finger, and not having seen him for some time, I had forgot all about him. His name is Tony Thomson--but sometimes people call him Billy Winter--and at times he took the name of Johnson--and Perkins too, I have heard him called--but the name he went by generally, a good while ago, was Tony Smithson."
"But if the lodgings were to be let, he must of course be gone," cried Dr. Wilton; "and we are as far off from the facts as ever."
"Oh! he is gone, sure enough!" answered the officer. "That was the first thing I asked the old woman, and she told me that he went the very day before the terrible murder, and that he would be so sorry to hear it, for he used often to walk up that way, and asked her many questions about Mr. Tims, poor old man. Well, when I heard this, and had got a good deal more out of her, I thought I might as well look through the place, for these sort of folks generally are in too great a hurry not to leave something behind them; and I opened all the drawers and places--and the old woman thought it very strange, till I told her who I was. He had cleared all away, however, except this gold thimble, which had fallen half way down between the drawers and the wall. It has got 'J. D.' upon it, which, I take it, means 'Something Darlington.' So it must have been prigged at the time of the fire."
Dr. Wilton and Mr. Egerton both looked at the thimble, and felt convinced that it belonged to Mrs. Darlington. At all events, the information which Cousins had obtained, was of course most important, as it rendered it more than probable that one at least of the persons who had robbed, if not fired the house upon the hill, had been also a principal in the murder of the miser. Both the magistrates, therefore, joined in giving high commendations to the officer, and particular directions were added for prosecuting the investigation. Cousins, however, had already anticipated several of the orders he now received.