Edgar Wallace

“ A fortunate man was he, never short of a copper for a half-pint of ale, thought no more of spending a shilling on a race than would you or I, was even suspected of taking his breakfast in bed, a veritable hall-mark of luxury and affluence by all standards. ”

“ He was quite cool now—master of himself—completely under control.
“I shall be outside this house,” he said, “for the rest of the night. If you go out with this man I shall arrest you.” She started and took a step back. “I shall arrest you,” he went on determinedly. “I don’t care what happens to me afterwards. I will trump up any charge against you. I will take you to the station, through the streets, and put you in the iron dock as though you were a common thief. ”

“ He held the other’s arm lightly, but when Jakobs attempted to disengage himself he found the pressure on his arm increased. “What’s the game?” he asked innocently.
“The same old game,” said Frank, with a little smile. “Hullo. Willie, you’ve dropped something.”
He stooped quickly, without releasing his hold, and picked up a pocket-book.
The bus was on the point of moving off as Frank swung round and with a signal stopped the conductor. “I think some one who has just boarded your bus has lost a pocket-book. I think it is that stoutish gentleman who has just gone inside.” ”

“ I think I can say that if you had mentioned him before it might have made a lot of difference to you, Willie.”
Mr. Jakobs addressed the ceiling. “Come to think of it,” he said, “he ’inted at this once before.”
“I ’int at it once again,” said Frank. “Will you tell me why Black pays you two pounds a week?”
“Because he don’t,” said Willie promptly. “Because he’s a sneakin’ hook an’ because he’s a twister, because he’s a liar—”
“If there’s any reason you haven’t mentioned, give it a run.” said Constable Fellowe in the vernacular.
Willie hesitated. “What’s the good of my tellin’ you?” he asked. ”

“ Willie wrote to Colonel Black, and received in reply a letter in which “Colonel Black could not grasp the contents of yours of the 4th. He has never sent money, and fails to understand why the writer should have expected,” etc., etc.
Willie, furious and hurt at the base ingratitude and duplicity of his patron, carried the letter and a story to a solicitor, and the solicitor said one word—“Blackmail!” Here, then, was a disgruntled Willie Jakobs forced to work: to depend upon chance bookings and precarious liftings. ”