"In the morning I decided that it was necessary for my wife to go to Montgomery and bring the money North with her. I was in jail and might need the money to procure bail, which I would like to do now. Then, there was danger in leaving the money where it was secreted--in the old trunk in the garret--as Floyd might want to clear the garret out, and I had several times seen him sell unclaimed baggage. My old trunk might be sold for a trifle and some one take it home and find it contained a treasure.
"As soon as she could, Mrs. Maroney went to Montgomery for the money. I had informed her where it was concealed, and told her to get it and bring it North.
"The money was rather bulky, as although there were some large bills, there were a great many fives, tens, twenties and a few one hundred dollar notes. The whole of it made a large pile, but my wife proved a good hand. She fooled them all, and concealed the money in her bustle.
It was a troublesome weight to travel with, and she was obliged to stop at Augusta, Ga., to rest herself. She also spent a day with my brother at Danielsville, who promised to come and see me. He came, and, as you know, accomplished nothing.
"My wife has now got the money concealed in the cellar of Josh. c.o.x"s house. c.o.x is her brother-in-law, and from what she tells me of him is a good-natured fellow, but pretty shrewd. Mrs. c.o.x is very smart. They never leave the house entirely alone, one or the other of them always keeping watch.
"That Madam Imbert is said by my wife to be a fine woman. I was much pleased with her when she came here the other day. Mrs. Maroney managed well with her and discovered that her husband is imprisoned in Missouri.
She also followed her in Philadelphia and found her changing money. My wife is smart, she suddenly confronted her and the Madam admitted all.
A man comes to see her who exchanges money for her. My wife was about arranging with her to have the express money exchanged, but you are going out and I prefer to entrust my affairs to you. You see, White, I know I can trust you. There is only one thing that troubles me about Jenkintown: A fellow named De Forest is stopping there and is quite attentive to my wife. I think he is an agent of the Adams Express; but from what my wife says, she is smart enough for him and can rope him in long before he can her.
"Now I have told you all, and hope you will act in the matter just as your judgment dictates. The fact of the matter is, your knowledge of the North is so great that you can act much better than I."
"Yes," said White, "I understand the ropes well, and you may depend upon it I will handle them as well as I know how. I think that as soon as I get clear myself--which may take four, five, or six days--and have settled up with my lawyers--I don"t like those fellows, but sometimes you can"t get along without them--I think I will try and get a key to the pouch made; I can do so easily. Then I will go to Montgomery and see Chase, study his movements on the cars and at the hotels. I can at the same time arrange to get the girl, whom I intend to bring from here, into the Exchange, and as soon as possible get her acquainted with Chase. But see here, don"t you think it best to get some of the stolen money to use in this case?"
"Certainly," said Maroney, "My wife will give you all the money you need. I will give you a letter to her."
"No," said White, "I don"t want to have anything to do with women. Your wife may be perfectly true to you, but if I come in I doubt very much whether she takes any interest in me, unless it be to thwart my plans."
"Why not?" asked Maroney. "My wife should know and take an interest in all my affairs. She will do all in her power for us, and she is so shrewd that she will be able to help us very much."
"Well," said White, "that may be all true enough, but women are sure to get strange notions. I don"t like to deal with them; women seem naturally suspicious. I don"t want to treat your wife with injustice, but at the same time if she has a finger in the pie, ten to one she will suspect me of trying to get the whole pile and intending to clear out with it."
"Don"t you believe that for a moment," replied Maroney. "She knows I have entire confidence in you, and that will be enough for her. You need have no fears that she will interfere in the matter in any way. I trust you, and my word is law to her. I would prefer to have you take all the money; you can then select what you want for Chase, and try and work off the balance in small amounts. This will be a delicate operation, as the banks very likely marked some of the bills before they shipped them."
"Yes, there are a great many obstacles to be overcome in changing the money, but I think I can manage to work it off in some way."
_CHAPTER XXVII._
"White, I will write a letter to my wife which will pave your way to gaining her implicit confidence."
"How will you do that?" asked White.
"I will write to her informing her that you are coming, and that you will identify yourself by presenting a letter from me."
"Yes, but suppose she won"t give up the money? I could not go back again, as some of the detectives might suspect me and take me into custody."
"Oh, nothing of the sort will happen. I will write you a letter that will surely get the money; come, we will see what we can do." And they sat down at a table, where Maroney began to write.
In a short time he finished a letter, and read it to White. He wrote:
"MY DEAREST WIFE: I have confided all to Mr. White. He will be liberated to-day or to-morrow. He has some business to attend to, which will detain him four or five days, when he will call on you in the guise of a book-peddler. Now, I say to you, trust implicitly in him! I have trusted him with my secret. He will take care of all. Give him everything you have in the packages. Take no writing from him, whatever. He requires something to work off on Chase, and wants to use some of the stuff I got in Montgomery. When he succeeds in this, Chase will be in my place. Then he will begin to exchange all I have; afterwards all will be easy. When I am at liberty, we can enjoy it in safety. I feel perfectly safe, and confident. Now, dearest, as I have before said, trust him implicitly, and all will be right.
Yours forever, NAT."
White approved of the letter. Maroney, therefore, sealed it up, directed it, and gave it to Shanks, who was in the jail, to post. Of course the dutiful young man would not fail to do so.
He then wrote the following letter of introduction and handed it to White:
"MY DEAREST WIFE: This is the book-peddler. You will want to buy books from him. Buy what you want. Give him the packages for me. He is honest. All is well.
NAT."
White scanned its contents, and said: "I suppose this is sufficient, but the question still remains: will she obey it? I will do the best I can, but I have little faith in women."
"Oh, now!" said Maroney, "don"t make me feel down-hearted. I have done the best I can, and I know she will obey me."
"Very well," replied White, "I will go as soon as possible--in a week, more or less; as soon as I can possibly arrange my own affairs. On my arrival in Jenkintown I will write to you at once and let you know how I am received."
"Agreed; I have trusted you, and my wife must trust you."
Shanks had several commissions to attend to. He first came to my room in the hotel and handed me Maroney"s letter to his wife. I opened and read the letter, and exclaimed. "Now the battle is ours! Victory is almost within our grasp." I saw the Vice-President and read the letter to him. He was highly delighted and said he could now see the wisdom of all my manoeuvres.
The following day White was released from his long confinement. It must be admitted that his duties were extremely arduous, but such is often the fate of a detective. I have sometimes had my men in prison for a longer time than this, and they have often failed to accomplish any thing, being obliged to give up without discovering what they were looking for. White remained in New York attending to his _own_ business after his release. He called once or twice on Maroney to show that he had not forgotten him, and to a.s.sure him that he would soon get a pouch-key made. This was easily accomplished, as all he had to do was to go the Express Office, get a key, file it up a little to make it look bright and new, and show it to Maroney as an earnest of his intentions in regard to Chase.
We will now leave the parties in New York and return to Jenkintown. Very little had taken place here and the various parties in whom we have an interest were conducting themselves much as usual. Mrs. Maroney and Madam Imbert went to Philadelphia on the same day that White was liberated. They spent most of the day in the city and came out on the cars in the evening. De Forest met them and drove them to Stemples"s in his buggy. After tea Madam Imbert went down to c.o.x"s and strolled up to the post office with Mrs. Maroney. Mrs. Maroney received a letter which she opened. She said it was from Nat. She began to read it as they walked along. As she read, Madam Imbert noticed that all color left her face, and she became white as wax. She folded up the letter and leaned heavily on the Madam"s arm for support.
"What"s the matter? are you sick?" she anxiously enquired.
"No; but I have received so strange a letter; walk along with me; I am very weak; I will tell you its contents in a few minutes."
She did not go in the direction of c.o.x"s, but led the way to the garden.
Here the two women took seats. She read the letter over again and then handed it to Madam Imbert. "Read it," she said. The Madam did so.
Neither spoke for some time. "What do you think of it?" she at length asked. "I think it a little strange, but at the same time have no doubt but that it is all right. Your husband is of course the best judge in this matter, and must have good reasons for taking the step. He has full confidence in White; has been locked up with him for several months; has seen him day and night, and doubtless has thoroughly studied his character. White is almost like his wife, and he knows what he is doing when he consents to trust him so far."
Mrs. Maroney was rapidly getting better and said, angrily, "No, I will never give him the money in this way! it is all nonsense! "What do I know about White?" This is asking too much of me! Why did he not write and consult me on the subject? He simply says, "White is out of jail now; give him the money!" and gives me no chance to speak on the subject. Suppose White gets the money; how do I know but that he will run away with it and leave us to suffer without getting any of the benefit? Madam Imbert I must tell you all: you see that in this letter Nat. does not mention money, but he means money. As you are now the only one I can trust, I will talk plainly to you. My husband took the forty thousand dollars from the Express Company, and also ten thousand dollars previously. Now all is out! When he was thrown into prison in New York he sent me for the money which he had concealed in Montgomery, and I brought it here, and have it hidden in Josh."s cellar. Now what am I to do? If I give it to this man White, I shall probably never see it again; in fact I am sure I never shall."
"You are mistaken, I think," said Madam Imbert; "have confidence!"
"_Confidence!_ It would be my best plan to run away myself!"--she was going on still further, but Madam Imbert stopped her.
"Don"t say any thing more at present, my dear Mrs. Maroney. You are too excited to talk calmly; let the matter rest until morning."
They dropped the subject for the time, and as Mrs. Maroney expressed a desire for a little brandy to calm her nerves, went down to c.o.x"s. Mrs.
Maroney offered some brandy to the Madam, which she politely declined to take, but this did not in the least abash her, for she gulped down enough to stagger an old toper. Josh. was not at home, and so very little was said.
Mrs. c.o.x asked her if she had received a letter from Nat.
"Yes," she answered in a snappish tone, and said no more.