after a final draught that made his head swim, he threw his hissing stump away and walked downstairs.
‘Mr Pratt,’ he said as they sat drinking their coffee, ‘you began by saying that as soon as you saw Captain Aubrey you were convinced that all this was a put-up job. May I ask what led you to this conclusion? Did he produce irrefragable arguments that I am unacquainted with?’
‘No, sir, it was not so much what he said as the way he said it. He was so amused at the idea anyone should think him capable of inventing such a rigmarole – he had never heard of a time-bargain or selling forward until Palmer explained – he was sure Palmer would turn up – such a good fellow, and an excellent judge of wine – they would have such a laugh when it was all over. In my calling, sir, I have heard a good many denials and explanations, but never one like that. It would get him nowhere with a jury at the end of a long trial, with him bewildered in a court-room and badgered by the prosecution and maybe the judge – certainly the judge in this case – but man to man in that two-pair front at the Marshalsea – why, as the Romans say, you would give him the blessed sacrament without confession. In my line you get a nose for these things, and I had not listened to him five minutes, no nor two, before I knew he was as innocent as a babe unborn. But dear me, gentlemen, lambs to the slaughter ain’t in it: I have rarely seen the like.’
‘I dare say you have had a great deal of experience, Mr Pratt?’
‘Well, yes, sir, I think I may say I have had as much or even more than most. I was born in Newgate, do you see, where my father was a turnkey, so I grew up among thieves.
Thieves and their children were my companions and playmates and I came to know them very well. Some few were right bastards, particularly among the informers; hut not many.
Then my father moved on to the Clink and after that the King’s Bench, so I made a good many more
friends among the thieves and such south of the river and the low attorneys and gaolers and constables and ward officers, and it all came in very useful after I set up on my own, after a spell with the Bow Street runners.’
‘Aye,’ said Stephen. ‘I am sure it would.’
‘Now, sir,’ said Pratt, putting down his cup, ‘perhaps I had better be getting back to Lyon’s Inn. I must admit I thought I had run my man to earth, for although a great many people live there now, particularly in the back court, which is a regular warren, there could not be many that would match my description. He had to be about five foot seven, lean, bob-wig or his own hair powdered, fifty or thereabouts, a sharp of course.’
‘What do you mean by a sharp?’
‘I am sorry to talk low, sir: it is a cant word we use to mean a dishonest person. They reckon you are a flat if you don’t snap up whatever offers: the world is divided into the sharps and the flats. Mr P was a sharp of course, because nobody but a sharp would have tried to conceal his tracks like that; and a genuine nob, or gentleman by birth. He could never have had dinner with Captain Aubrey and talked to him all night if he had only been one of the swell mob, dressed up for the part, or the Captain would have seen through him, simple though he – that is to say, the Captain would have seen through him for sure.
So I thought I had my man: but I was wrong. He did not live there. He was either spoiling the scent again, which I doubt, or he had just called in to rest or leave a message. It was a cruel blow, but I am carrying on, talking to maid-servants and street boys and ticket-porters and scavengers and the like, as well as my other connections – I am carrying on at the inn, trying to find out who he called on and so work back to him. And I am looking elsewhere too, among the genuine nobs known to my friends who might be that way inclined. But, gentlemen,’ said Pratt, looking from one to another, ‘now that my first bit of luck turned out not to be so lucky after
all – now that I did not manage to take it first bounce -I should not like to make any great promises. This here caper is not the low toby, nor the high toby, but the very tip-top or what you might call the celestial toby: these jobs
– and I have seen a few insurance frauds and one rigging of the market on something like the same scale, prepared very careful and damn the expense – are always run by gentlemen who have just one confidential agent as you might call him that hires the underlings, always at two or three removes, and sees to all the details. Always at two or
three removes: if I was to pick up the Quaker and the flash cove, who certainly belong to the race-course mob, they would be no use to us – they would have no idea of the men who were behind the dummy that recruited them. The confidential agent is the only one who can peach on his principals, and they take good care he does not do so by having a hanging felony to hold over his head: or by some surer way, if things begin to go a little wrong.’ Stephen and Sir Joseph exchanged a covert glance; the practice was not unknown in intelligence. ‘And this chap looks after himself in much the same fashion all the way down the line. I shall go on looking for Mr Palmer, of course, and I may find him; but even if I do, I doubt we shall learn anything about the men at the head of the affair.’
‘From our point of view,’ said Stephen, ‘it is the finding of Palmer that is essential: and with the case coming on so soon, he must be found quickly. Listen, Mr Pratt, have you any reliable colleagues who could work with you, to save time? I will gladly pay them whatever fee you think right, and double yours, if we may have a word with Mr Palmer before the trial.’
‘Why, sir, as to colleagues . . .’ Pratt hesitated, rasping his bony jaw. ‘Of course, it would save a mort of time, having Bill work south of the river,’ he muttered, and aloud he said
‘There is only Bill Hemmings and his brother I could work with really cordial. They were both
at Bow Street with me. I will have a word with them and let you know.’
‘Do that, if you please, Mr Pratt, and pray waste not a minute: there is not a moment to he lost. And remember, YOU may commit me to a handsome fee. Do not let a few score guineas stand in the way.’
‘My dear Maturin,’ said Blaine, when Pratt had kit them, ‘allow me to observe that if you make bargains like that, you will never he a rich man. It is fairly begging Bill I lemmings to fleece you.’
‘It was thoughtless, sure,’ said Stephen: then, with a wan smile, ‘But as for never being a rich man, why, my dear Blaine, I am one already. My godfather made me his heir, God rest his soul. I never knew there was so much money in the world, so much money, that is to say, in a private person’s hands. But this is between ourselves, I would not have it generally known.’
‘When you speak of your godfather, I presume you refer to Don Ramón.’
‘Don Ramón himself, bless him,’ said Stephen. ‘You will not mention it, however.’
‘Of course not. An appearance of decent mediocrity is better by far – infinitely wiser from every point of view. But in this strict privacy, let me give you joy of your fortune.’ They shook hands, and Sir Joseph said, ‘If I do not mistake, Don Ramón must have been one of the richest men in Spain: perhaps you will endow a chair of comparative osteology.’
‘I might too,’ said Stephen. ‘My thoughts have turned that way, when they have had time to turn at all.’
‘Speaking of wealth,’ said Sir Joseph, ‘come into my study and see what Banks has sent me.’ He led the way, opening the door with caution, for the entire room was crammed with case after case of botanical, entomological and mineral specimens, all balanced in tottering piles.
‘God love us,’ cried Stephen, seizing the dried skin of a Surinam toad, ‘what splendour!’