"i cannot wait for dr. leeds to come round," hilda said the next morning at breakfast. "you and i will pay him a visit in harley street. i am sure that he will not grudge a quarter of an hour to hear what you have done."
"what mystery are you two girls engaged in?" miss purcell asked, as she placidly poured out the tea.
"it is a little plot of our own, aunt," netta said. "we are trying to get on walter's track in our own way, and to be for a time amateur detectives. so far we have not found any decisive clew, but i think that we are searching in the right direction. please trust us entirely, and we hope some day we shall have the triumph of bringing walter back, safe and sound."
"i pray god that it may be so, my dear. i know that you are both sensible girls, and not likely to get yourselves into any silly scrape."
"i don't think we are, aunt; but i am afraid that neither of us would consider any scrape a foolish one that brought us even a little bit nearer to the object of our search. at any rate, aunt, it will reassure you to know that we are acting in concert with dr. leeds, of whom i know that you entertain the highest opinion."
"certainly i do. of course i am no judge whatever as to whether he is a good doctor, but i should think, from what dr. pearson says, that he must, in the opinion of other medical men, be considered an exceptionally clever man for his age; and having seen him for four months and lived in close contact with him, i would rather be attended by him than by anyone else i have ever met. his kindness to the general was unceasing.[pg 165] had he been his son, he could not have been more patient and more attentive. he showed wonderful skill in managing him, and was at once sympathetic and cheerful. but, more than that, i admired his tact in filling the somewhat difficult position in which he was placed. although he was completely one of the family, and any stranger would have supposed that he was a brother, or at least a cousin, there was always something in his manner that, even while laughing and chatting with us all, placed a little barrier between us and himself; and one felt that, although most essentially a friend, he was still there as the general's medical attendant.
"it was a difficult position for a man of his age to be placed in. had he been like most of the doctors we knew in germany, a man filled with the idea that he must always be a professor of medicine, and impressing people with his learning and gravity, it might have been easy enough. but there is nothing of that sort about him at all; he is just as high-spirited and is as bright and cheerful as other young men of about the same age, and it was only when he was with the general that his gentleness of manner recalled the fact that he was a doctor. as i say, it was a difficult position, with only an old woman like myself and two girls, who looked to him for comfort and hope, who treated him as if he had been an old friend, and were constantly appealing to him for his opinion on all sorts of subjects.
"i confess that, when he first came here with dr. pearson, i thought that it was a very rash experiment to introduce a young and evidently pleasant man to us under such circumstances, especially as you, hilda, are a rich heiress and your own mistress; and feeling as i did that i was in the position of your chaperon, i must say that at first i felt very anxious about you, and it was a great relief to me when after a time i saw no signs, either on his part or yours, of any feeling stronger than friendship springing up."
hilda laughed merrily.
"the idea never entered into my mind, aunt; it is[pg 166] funny to me that so many people should think that a young man and a young woman cannot be thrown together without falling in love with each other. at present, fortunately, i don't quite understand what falling in love means. i like dr. leeds better, i think, than any young man i ever met, but i don't think that it can be in the least like what people feel when they fall in love. certainly it was always as uncle's doctor, rather than as a possible suitor for my hand—that is the proper expression, isn't it?—that i thought of him."
"so i was glad to perceive, hilda; and i was very thankful that it was so. against him personally i had nothing to say, quite the contrary; but i saw that he was greatly attached to a profession in which he seems likely to make himself a fine position, and nothing could be more uncomfortable than that such a man should marry a girl with a fine country estate. either he would have to give up his profession or she would have to settle down in london as the wife of a physician, and practically forfeit all her advantages."
hilda again laughed.
"it is wonderful that all these things should never have occurred to me, aunt. i see now how fortunate it was that i did not fall in love with him. and now, netta, as we have finished breakfast, we will put on our things at once and go and consult our physician in ordinary. we have a fair chance of being the first to arrive if we start immediately. i told roberts to have the carriage at the door at half-past nine, and he does not begin to see patients until ten."
"bravo! miss purcell," dr. leeds exclaimed, when she had given him an account of her mission. "of course there is nothing absolutely proved, but at least it shows that his identity is open to doubt, since none of the people he had known recognized him at first sight, and of course all his knowledge of them may have been picked up from the gossiping old lady, his aunt. something has been gained, but the evidence is rather negative than positive. it is possible that he is not the man[pg 167] that he pretends to be; though at present, putting aside the question of handwriting, we must admit that the balance of probability is very much the other way. to begin with, how could this man, supposing him to be an impostor, know that john simcoe was born in stowmarket, and had relatives living there?"
"i forgot to mention that, dr. leeds. an advertisement was inserted in the county paper, saying that if any relatives of john simcoe, who left england about 1830, would communicate with someone or other in town they would hear something to their advantage. i was told this by one of miss simcoe's friends, who saw it in the paper and brought it in to her. she was very proud of having made the discovery, and regarded herself quite in the light of a benefactor to miss simcoe. i remarked, when she told me, that it was curious he should have advertised instead of coming down himself to inquire. miss simcoe said that she had expressed surprise to him, and that he had said he did so because he should have shrunk from coming down, had he not learned there was someone to welcome him."
"curious," dr. leeds said thoughtfully. "we may quite put it out of our minds that the reason he gave was the real one. a man of this kind would not have suffered any very severe shock had he found that stowmarket and all it contained had been swallowed up by an earthquake. no, certainly that could not have been the reason; we must think of some other. and now, ladies, as this is the third card i have had brought in since you arrived, i must leave the matter as it stands. i think that we are getting on much better than we could have expected."
"that advertisement is very curious, netta," hilda said as they drove back. "why should he have put it in? it would have been so much more natural that he should have gone straight down."
"i cannot think, hilda. it did not strike me particularly when i heard of it, and i did not give it a thought afterwards. you see, i did not mention it, either to you[pg 168] or dr. leeds, until it flashed across my mind when we were talking. of course i did not see the advertisement itself, but miss simcoe told me that there had been a good deal of discussion before she answered it, as some of them had thought that it might be a trick."
"when was it he went down?"
"it was in august last year; and it was in the first week in september that he came here."
"he went down to get or manufacture proof of his identity," hilda said. "as it turned out, uncle accepted his statement at once, and never had the smallest doubt as to his being john simcoe. the precaution, therefore, was unnecessary; but at the same time it certainly helps him now that a doubt has arisen. it would have been very strange if a man possessing sufficient means to travel in india should have had no friends or connections in england. i was present when he told my uncle that he had been down to see his aunt at stowmarket, and in the spring he brought a gentleman who, he said, was manager of the stowmarket bank, in which he had himself been at one time a clerk. so you see he did strengthen his position by going down there."
"it strengthens it in one way, hilda, but in the other it weakens it. as long as no close inquiries were made, it was doubtless an advantage to him to have an aunt of the same name in stowmarket, and to be able to prove by means of a gentleman in the position of manager of the bank that he, john simcoe, had worked under him three or four and twenty years ago. on the other hand, it was useful to us as a starting-point. if we had been utterly in the dark as to simcoe's birthplace or past career, we should have had to start entirely in the dark. now, at any rate, we have located the birthplace of the real man, and learned something of his position, his family, and how he became possessed of money that enabled him to start on a tour round the world. i adhere as firmly as before to the belief that this is not the real man, and the next step is to discover how he learned that john simcoe had lived at stowmarket. at any rate it[pg 169] would be as well that we should find the advertisement. it might tell us nothing, but at the least we should learn the place to which answers were to be sent. how should we set about that?"
"i can get a reader's ticket for the british museum, because the chief librarian was a friend of uncle's and dined with him several times," hilda replied. "if i write to him and say that i want to examine some files of newspapers, to determine a question of importance, i am sure that he will send me a ticket at once. i may as well ask for one for you also. we may want to go there again to decide some other point."
hilda at once wrote a note and sent tom roberts with it to the museum, and he returned two hours later with the tickets.
"there are three suffolk papers," the chief assistant in the newspaper department said courteously, on their sending up the usual slip of paper. "which do you want?"
"i do not know. i should like to see them all three, please; the numbers for the first two weeks in august last."
in a few minutes three great volumes were placed on the table. these contained a year's issue, and on turning to the first week in august they found that the advertisement had appeared in all of the papers. they carefully copied it out, and were about to leave the library when netta said:
"let us talk this over for a minute or two before we go. it seems to me that there is a curious omission in the advertisement."
"what is that?"
"don't you see that he does not mention stowmarket? he simply inquires for relations of john simcoe, who was supposed to have been lost at sea. it would certainly seem to be more natural that he should put it only in the paper that was likely to be read in stowmarket, and surely he would have said 'relatives of john simcoe, who left stowmarket in the year 1830.' it looks very[pg 170] much as if, while he knew that simcoe was a suffolk man, he had no idea in what part of the county he had lived."
"it is very curious, certainly, netta; and, as you say, it does seem that if he had known that it had been stowmarket he would have said so in the advertisement. possibly!" hilda exclaimed so sharply that a gentleman at an adjoining table murmured "hush!" "he did did not know that it was in suffolk. let us look in the london papers. let us ask for the files of the times and standard."
the papers were brought and the advertisement was found in both of them.
"there, you see," netta said triumphantly, "he still says nothing about suffolk."
she beckoned to the attendant.
"i am sorry to give you so much trouble, but will you please get us the files of three or four country papers of the same date. i should like them in different parts of the country—yorkshire, for instance, and hereford, and devonshire."
"it is no trouble, miss," he replied; "that is what we are here for."
in a few minutes the three papers were brought, and netta's triumph was great when she found the advertisement in each of them.
"that settles it conclusively," she said. "the man did not know what part of the country john simcoe came from, and he advertised in the london papers, and in the provincial papers all over the country."
"that was a splendid idea of yours, netta. i think that it settles the question as to the fact that the theory you all laughed at was correct, and that this man is not the real john simcoe."
when they got back, hilda wrote a line to dr. leeds:
"dear doctor: i do think that we have discovered beyond doubt that the man is an impostor, and that whoever he may be, he is not john simcoe. when you can[pg 171] spare time, please come round. it is too long to explain."
at nine o'clock that evening dr. leeds arrived, and heard of the steps that they had taken.
"really, young ladies," he said, "i must retire at once from my post of director of searches. it was an excellent thought to ascertain the exact wording of the advertisement, and the fact that the word stowmarket did not appear in it, and that it was inserted in other county papers, was very significant as to the advertiser's ignorance of john simcoe's birthplace. but the quickness with which you saw how this could be proved up to the hilt shows that you are born detectives, and i shall be happy to sit at your feet in future."
"then you think that it is quite conclusive?"
"perfectly so. the real john simcoe would, of course, have put the advertisement into the county paper published nearest to stowmarket, and he would naturally have used the word stowmarket. that omission might, however, have been accidental; but the appearance of the advertisement in the london papers, and as you have seen, in provincial papers all over england, appears to me ample evidence that he did not know from what county simcoe came, and was ready to spend a pretty heavy amount to discover it. now, i think that you should at once communicate with mr. pettigrew, and inform him of your suspicion and the discovery that you have made. it is for him to decide whether any steps should be taken in the matter, and, if so, what steps. as one of the trustees he is responsible for the proper division of the estates of general mathieson, and the matter is of considerable importance to him.
"i think now, too, that our other suspicions should also be laid before him. of course, these are greatly strengthened by his discovery. john simcoe, who saved your uncle's life at the risk of his own, was scarcely the sort of man who would be guilty of murder and abduction; but an unknown adventurer, who had[pg 172] passed himself off as being simcoe, with the object of obtaining a large legacy from the general, may fairly be assumed capable of taking any steps that would enable him to obtain it. if you'd like to write to mr. pettigrew and make an appointment to meet him at his office at three o'clock to-morrow afternoon, i will be here half an hour before and accompany you."
the lawyer was somewhat surprised when dr. leeds entered the office with the two ladies, but that astonishment became stupefaction when they told their story.
"in the whole of my professional career i have never heard a more astonishing story. i own that the abduction of the child at that critical moment did arouse suspicions in my mind that this mr. simcoe, the only person that could be benefited by his disappearance, might be at the bottom of it, and i was quite prepared to resist until the last any demand that might be made on his part for walter to be declared to be dead, and the property handed over to him. but that the man could have had any connection whatever with the illness of the general, or that he was an impostor, never entered my mind. with regard to the first, it is still a matter of suspicion only, and we have not a shadow of proof to go upon. you say yourself, dr. leeds, that dr. pearson, the general's own medical attendant, and the other eminent physicians called in, refused absolutely to accept your suggestion, because, exceptional as the seizure and its effects were, there was nothing that absolutely pointed to poison. unless we can obtain some distinct evidence on that point, the matter must not be touched upon; for even you would hardly be prepared to swear in court that the general was a victim to poison?"
"no. i could not take my oath to it, but i certainly could declare that the symptoms, to my mind, could be attributed to poison only."
"in the case of the abduction of the boy," the lawyer went on, "the only absolute ground for our suspicion is that this man and no one else would have benefited by it; and this theory certainly appears to be, after the[pg 173] discoveries you have made, a very tenable one. it all comes so suddenly on me that i cannot think of giving any opinion as to the best course to be adopted. i shall, in the first place, consult mr. farmer, and in the next place shall feel it my duty to take my co-trustee, colonel bulstrode, into my confidence, because any action that we may take must, of course, be in our joint names. he called here the other day and stated to me that he regarded the whole matter of walter's abduction to be suspicious in the extreme. he said he was convinced that john simcoe was at the bottom of it, his interest in getting the boy out of the way being unquestionable, and that we must move heaven and earth to find the child. he agreed that we can do nothing about carrying out the will until we have found him. i told him of the steps that we have been taking and their want of success. 'by gad, sir,' he said, 'he must be found, if we examine every child in the country.' i ventured to suggest that this would be a very difficult undertaking, to which he only made some remark about the cold-bloodedness of lawyers, and said that if there were no other way he would dress himself up as a costermonger and go into every slum of london. whether you would find him a judicious assistant in your searches i should scarcely be inclined to say, but you would certainly find him ready to give every assistance in his power."
the next day, at three o'clock, colonel bulstrode was announced. he was a short man, of full habit of body. at the present moment his face was even redder than usual.
"my dear miss covington," he burst out, as he came into the room, "i have just heard of all this rascality, and what you and your friend miss purcell have discovered. by gad, young ladies, i feel ashamed of myself. here am i, harry bulstrode, a man of the world, and, as such, considered that this affair of the man simcoe being made heir in case of the child's death and the simultaneous disappearance of the boy to have been suspicious in the extreme, and yet i have seen no way of doing[pg 174] anything, and have been so upset that my temper has, as that rascal andrew, my old servant, had the impudence to tell this morning, become absolutely unbearable. and now i find that you two girls and a doctor fellow have been quietly working the whole thing out, and that not improbably my dear old friend was poisoned, and that the man who did it is not the man he pretended to be, but an infernal impostor, who had of course carried the child away, and may, for anything we know, have murdered him. it has made me feel that i ought to go to school again, for i must be getting into my second childhood. still, young ladies, if, as is evident, i have no sense to plan, i can at least do all in my power to assist you in your search, and you have only to say to me, 'colonel bulstrode, we want an inquiry made in india,' and i am off by the first p. and o."
"thank you very much, colonel," hilda said, trying to repress a smile. "i was quite sure that from your friendship for my dear uncle you would be ready to give us your assistance, but so far there has been no way in which you could have aided us in the inquiries that we have made. indeed, as dr. leeds has impressed upon us, the fewer there are engaged in the matter the better; for if this man knew that we were making all sorts of inquiries about him, he might think it necessary for his safety either to put walter out of the way altogether, or to send him to some place so distant that there would be practically no hope whatever of our ever discovering him. at present i think that we have fairly satisfied ourselves that this man is an impostor, and that the real john simcoe was drowned, as supposed, in the ship in which he sailed from india. who this man is, and how he became acquainted with the fact that john simcoe saved my uncle's life in india, are mysteries that so far we have no clew to; but these matters are at present of minor importance to us. before anything else we want to find where walter is hidden, and to do this we are going to have this man watched. he cannot have carried off walter by himself, and, no doubt, he meets[pg 175] occasionally the people who helped him, and who are now hiding walter. it is scarcely probable that they come to his lodgings. he is not likely to put himself into anyone's power, and no doubt goes by night in some disguise to meet them. as, of course, he knows you perfectly well, it would be worse than useless for you to try to follow him. that is going to be done by tom roberts."
"well, my man andrew might help him," the colonel said. "simcoe has often dined with me at the club, but he never came to my chambers. one man cannot be always on the watch, and andrew can take turns with roberts. he is an impudent rascal, but he has got a fair share of sense; so, when you are ready, if you will drop me a line, he shall come here and take his instructions from you."
"thank you very much, colonel. that certainly would be of assistance. it is only of an evening that he would be wanted, for we are quite agreed that these meetings are sure to take place after dark."
