Fred M. White

“ Why, bless you, with any luck, we shall be members of the Board of Guardians yet."
"Not me," Costard said contemptuously. "No Board of Guardians for me. It pays us a sight better to contract with 'em for coal and supplies. But that's business. That's the way to become honoured and respected, and perhaps finish up with a knighthood. But we're wandering from the point, as the newspaper chaps say. What about the long arm of coincidence? And what about the play we've been watching to-night? ”

“ In ten minutes more, at the outside, they would know the best or worst of it. And then, just as the heroine was taxing her maid with an act of perfidy which had admitted a predatory lover to the house of sorrows, a thin curl of blue smoke rose from the wings, a tiny tongue of flame zigzagged up the prompt flat—then, as if by magic, the whole thing burst into a dazzling blaze, and a thick, acrid smoke hid the stage from view. ”

“ Costard shut up accordingly. After all, there seemed to be nothing in the stage performance to fill with fear the heart of a man who boasted, not without justice, that he didn't know what nerves were. To a certain extent, too, the story was common-place enough. Here was the persecuted heroine, whose delicate husband was falsely accused of stealing the family diamonds from a hard-hearted uncle who had cast him adrift to die of consumption all alone in the hard-hearted world. ”

“ Sort of bad luck—you know what I mean. You think everything's goin' right, when all of a sudden somebody turns up as you thought was dead, or the night watchman's on the premises when you think as 'e's takin' 'is 'olidays. Just the same what 'appened in the play I'm talkin' about. Just as everything was goin' right and 'e was goin' to lead a honest life, up turns somebody as 'e couldn't out without gettin' 'is neck stretched, and 'e says, says 'e, ' The long arm of coincidence is reached for me.' Seems to have reached for us, too, don't it?"
Costard nodded moodily. ”

“ They found what they wanted presently, and Costard fluttered over the name in the road. A queer expression came over his face as he laid his dirty thumb on the open page.
"'Ere, this long arm of coincidence of yours seems to be busy," he said. "'Ere we are right enough. Bodington Road, Kensington, lately known as Darchester Terrace, and the number is 15, and it's the same 'ouse where we 'ad the little adventure over the diamonds three years ago. Good old coincidence! Why, this is like some of them stories you read in the Sunday papers. What luck!" ”

“ Slagg replied. "Old gent livin' more or less alone with three servants in Darchester Terrace. 'E ain't got much money, but 'e's got some family diamonds, what possesses what those newspapers call 'istoric interest, and one of them is engraved. We makes up our minds as we're goin' to 'ave them, and you, bein' a better-looking man than me, goes along, and in a short time you manages to win the affections of a nice-looking young female as possesses more beauty than common-sense——"
"'Ere, 'old 'ard," Costard interrupted. ”

“ I'd give a 'undred pounds to know what 'is little game is. I'd give a trifle to know 'ow it was that the business of those diamonds never got into the papers. But what's the use of talkin' like this? Anyway, it couldn't be worse. And that chap's goin' to bide his time like they do in the story books. 'E'll wait till I've got more money. 'E'll wait till I'm Sir James Costard or something of that sort, and then 'e'll come along asking for ten thousand pounds, bold as brass. ”

“ I needn't tell you any more about it, because I see you have already read it for yourself. You feared that someone who had got possession of your secret might blackmail you, and you wanted to see exactly how matters stood. Well, they say that truth is stranger than fiction. ”

“ Slagg growled uneasily. "Makes it all the worse, don't it? I'd give five pounds to know 'ow this play ended. Five pounds! I'd give fifty."
Costard dragged his companion to the comparative seclusion of the street. He seemed easier in his mind now.
"You're goin' to know," he said. "You must keep your money in your pocket. Do you suppose the same people are still in that 'ouse? Not they. Just consider the look of it. It's a risk, Joe, that's what it is, a risk, and I'm goin' to take it. For one night only, as they say on the concert bill, I'm goin' to depart from the strict paths of virtue. ”

“ For the best part of a year I couldn't move without bein' followed; not that it mattered, neither. 'Ow was the police to know that the very next night we was in the 'ouse of that old miser at Notting Hill, what we found dead in his bed? I've 'ad a bit of luck in my time, Joe, but nothin' like that. Why, there the poor old beggar lay dead, and all we 'ad to do was to 'elp ourselves to his money and securities; and when they found 'im afterwards, why, there was nothing to be said or done except bury 'im. They couldn't find no relative and they couldn't find no friends. ”