"Mr. Arundel. Yes, I remember. Anybody else?"
"n.o.body else."
"You forget yourself, Checkley," Mr. Dering said. "You were, as usual, in and out at different times."
"O Lord! sir-- I hope you don"t think----" The old clerk stammered, turning pale.
"I think nothing, I want to find out. Go to the bank. See the manager.
Let him tell you if he can find out by whom the cheque was cashed. If in notes--it must have been in notes--let those notes be instantly stopped.
It is not crossed, so that we must not expect anything so simple as the Clearing House. Go at once and find out exactly what happened."
This happened at about half-past ten. The bank was no more than five minutes" walk. Yet it was twelve o"clock when the clerk returned.
"Well, what have you found out?" asked the master.
"I have found out a great deal," Checkley began eagerly. "First, I saw the manager, and I saw the pay clerk. The cheque was handed in by a commissionaire. Everybody trusts a commissionaire. The pay clerk knows your signature, and thought it was all right. I showed the cheque to the manager. He knows your handwriting, and he says he would swear that the cheque was drawn by you yourself. So I am not such a fool as you think."
"Go on."
"The commissionaire told the pay clerk that he was ordered to take it all in ten-pound notes. He took them, put them in his pouch, and walked away. He was a one-armed man, and took a long time over the job, and didn"t seem a bit in a hurry."
"About the notes?"
"The manager will stop them at once. But he says that if the thing was done by an old hand, there must be confederates in it, and there will be trouble. However, the notes are stopped. That"s done. Then I went on to the commissionaires" barracks in the Strand. The sergeant very soon found the man, and I had a talk with him. He was employed by an old gentleman, he says, staying at the Cecil Hotel, Strand. The old gentleman sent him to the bank with instructions to get the money in ten-pound notes; and very particular he was with him about not losing any of them on the way. He didn"t seem a bit in a hurry either. Took the notes from the man and laid them in a pocket-book. It was in the coffee-room, and half a dozen other gentlemen were there at the same time. But this gentleman seemed alone."
"Humph! A pretty cool business, upon my word! No hurry about it. Plenty of time. That was because they knew that the old cheque book would not be found and examined."
"Why did they write the cheque on the counterfoil? Why did they put the cheque book back again--after they had taken it out?"
"I don"t know. The workings of a forger"s brain are not within the compa.s.s of my experiences. Go on, Checkley."
"The commissionaire says that he is certain he would know the gentleman again."
"Very good indeed, if we can only find the gentleman."
"I then went on to the Cecil Hotel and saw the head waiter of the coffee-room. He remembered the commissionaire being sent for: he saw the bundle of bank-notes brought back from the bank, and he remembers the old gentleman very well. Says he should certainly know him again."
"Did he describe him?"
"There didn"t seem anything particular to describe. He was of average height, so to speak, dressed in grey trousers and a black frock-coat, and was grey-haired. Much as if I was to describe you."
"Oh! The notes are stopped. Yet in three weeks there has been ample time to get them all changed. Every note may have been changed into gold in three weeks. An elderly gentleman: grey hair: average height: that tells us nothing. Checkley, the thing has been done by some one who had, or still has, access to my safe. Perhaps, in some way or other, keys have been procured. In that case----" He stepped over to the safe and opened a drawer. "See, Checkley; this drawer is untouched: it is full of jewellery and things which belonged to my mother. Nothing touched. Here is a bag of spade guineas again--nothing taken. What do you say to that?
If the forger had possessed keys, he would, first of all, have cleared out the things which he could turn into money without any difficulty and very little risk. Nothing taken except that cheque, and the cheque book replaced. What do you say to that? Eh?"
"I don"t know what to say. I"m struck stupid. I never heard of such a thing before."
"Nor I. Why, it must have been done in this room, while the safe was open, while I was actually present. That is the only solution possible.
Again, who has been in this room?"
"All the callers--I read their names to you--your clients."
"They all sit in that chair. They never leave that chair so long as they are with me." He indicated the chair which stood at the corner of the lawyer"s great table at his left hand. Now the safe was in the far corner, on the other side of the room. "They could not possibly---- Checkley, the only two who could possibly have access to that safe in office hours are yourself and Mr. Arundel."
"Good heavens! sir--you can"t believe--you can"t actually think----"
"I believe nothing. I told you so before. I think nothing. I want the facts."
The room was long rather than square, lit by two large windows, overlooking the gardens of New Square, Lincoln"s Inn. The lawyer sat with his back to the fire, protected by a cane-screen, before a large table. On his left hand, at the corner of the table, stood the clients"
chair: on his right hand, between the two windows, was a small table with a couple of drawers in it. And in the corner, to the left of any one writing at the small table, and on the right hand of the lawyer, was the open safe already mentioned. There were two doors, one communicating with the clerk"s room, the other opening directly on the stairs. The latter was locked on the inside.
"Call Mr. Arundel," said the chief.
While Checkley was gone, he walked to the window and observed that any one sitting at the table could, by merely reaching out, take anything from the safe and put it back again un.o.bserved, if he himself happened to be occupied or looking another way. His grave face became dark. He returned to his own chair, and sat thinking, while his face grew darker and his eyes harder, until Mr. Arundel appeared.
Athelstan Arundel was at this time a recently admitted member of the respectable but too numerous family of solicitors. He was between two and three and twenty years of age, a tall and handsome young fellow, of a good manly type. He was an ex-articled clerk of the House, and he had just been appointed a Managing Clerk until something could be found for him. The Arundels were a City family of some importance: perhaps something in a City Firm might presently be achieved by the united influence of family and money. Meantime, here he was, at work, earning a salary and gaining experience. Checkley--for his part, who was as jealous of his master as only an old servant, or a young mistress, has the right to be--had imagined symptoms or indications of a growing preference or favour toward this young gentleman on the part of Mr.
Dering. Certainly, he had Mr. Arundel in his own office a good deal, and gave him work of a most confidential character. Besides, Mr. Dering was Executor and Trustee for young Arundel"s mother, and he had been an old friend and schoolfellow of his father, and had known the young man and his two sisters from infancy.
"Mr. Arundel," the lawyer began. At his own house, he addressed his ward by his Christian name: in the office, as managing clerk, he prefixed the courtesy t.i.tle. "An extremely disagreeable thing has happened here.
Nothing short of a forgery.--Don"t interrupt me, if you please"--for the young man looked as if he was about to practise his interjections.--"It is a most surprising thing, I admit. You needn"t say so, however. That wastes time. A Forgery. On the fifth of this month, three weeks ago, a cheque, apparently in my handwriting, and with my signature, so skilfully executed as to deceive even Checkley and the manager of the bank, was presented at my bank and duly cashed. The amount is--large--720_l_.--and the sum was paid across the counter in ten-pound notes, which are now stopped--if there are any left." He kept his eyes fixed on the young man, whose face betrayed no other emotion than that of natural surprise. "We shall doubtless trace these notes, and through them, of course, the forger. We have already ascertained who presented the cheque. You follow?"
"Certainly. There has been a forgery. The forged cheque has been cashed.
The notes are stopped. Have you any clue to the forgery--any suspicions?"
"As yet, none. We are only beginning to collect the facts." The lawyer spoke in the coldest and most austere manner. "I am laying them, one by one, before you."
Young Arundel bowed.
"Observe then, that the forged cheque belongs to a cheque book which has been lying, forgotten by me, in this safe for two years. Here is the book. Turn to the last counterfoil. Here is the cheque, the forged cheque, which corresponds. You see?"
"Perfectly. The book has been in the safe for two years. It has been taken out by someone--presumably the forger--the cheque has been forged; the counterfoil filled up; and the book replaced. Why was all this trouble taken? If the man had got the cheque, why did he fill up the counterfoil? Why did he return the book? I beg your pardon."
"Your questions are pertinent. I come to the next point. The safe is never opened but by myself. It is open so long as I am in the room, and at no other time."
"Certainly, I know that."
"Very well. The man who took out this cheque book, forged the cheque, and replaced the book, must have done it in my very presence."
"Oh! Could not someone--somehow--have got a key?"
"I thought of that. It is possible. But the drawers are full of valuables, jewellery--curios--all kinds of things which could easily be turned into money. And they were not touched. Now, had the safe been opened by a key, these things would certainly have vanished."
"So it would seem."
"These are the main facts, Mr. Arundel. Oh! one more. We have found the messenger who cashed the cheque. Perhaps there are one or two other points of more or less importance. There is only one more point I wish to bring before you. Of course--I make no charge--I insinuate none. But this must be remembered--there are only two persons who have had access to this safe in such a manner as to make it possible for them to take anything out of it-- Checkley----"
"No--no--no," cried the old man.
"And you yourself. At the time of the robbery, you were working at that table with the safe open and within reach of your left hand. This is a fact, mind--one of the facts of the case--not a charge."