Perceval Gibbon

“ Not even his genuine liking for the girl could shake his determination to be done with Chatham as soon as his plans should be ripe. Twice again he threw away base coins for her, and the fact of her fixed and unalterable honesty, a quality as constant in the make-up of her mind as the shape of her features in the contours of her face, became less marvelous to him. ”

“ He went forward upon his way, still breathing desultory maledictions.
“Murderin’ fools,” he repeated, as his unhurrying feet brought him to the bend around which the car had disappeared. “Pair of bloomin’——”
He ceased abruptly; there was no need of further ill wishing. A hundred yards ahead of him the car had left the road and charged the ditch that ran beneath the high hedge beside it and now lay with its near-side wheels crumpled under it, its screen a bristle of shining splinters of glass and the whole of it a wreck and an ensign of disaster. ”

“ He went slowly, so as not to shake up their unconscious burden, and in the very deliberation of the car’s progress there was for the tramp a suggestion of arrogant indifference to his existence.
“Well, I’m blowed!” he said, as he stood alone beside the debris of the canary-colored car. “Murder—in broad daylight! But who’s goin’ to believe me?”
He was assured that no one would. He had not even actually seen the accident take place; and the girl was almost certainly dead and, therefore, past bearing out his testimony. He shrugged resignedly and stopped to gather up his bundle again. ”

“ The youth, still pressing the handkerchief to one side of his face, moaned weakly.
“’S, my eye,” he said tremulously. “Smashed my glass; ’fraid it’s done for! Here!” He detached the hand by which he held on to the car, fumbled at a pocket, and managed to bring forth some loose money. “Go ’n’ fetch doctor!” he said.
“Go to blazes!” snarled the tramp and bent to the girl.
She showed no obvious wound, but as he raised her so as to lay her with her head uppermost she weighed as lifeless as a shape of stone upon his hands. There were puddles of water in the ditch bottom ”

“ Another half crown an’ a two-shillin’ piece—an’ I’ve got to make it good!”
“It’s a shame,” said Webb warmly. “Must be some feller that’s got you marked down. Why don’t you go to the police an’ ’ave them put a detective on.”
She sighed. “The landlord’s done that a’ready,” she answered. “But it is a shame. It isn’t only that I got to lose by it; but to think there’s a man like that goin’ about! It makes you sick—feedin’ himself an’ buyin’ his drinks with money that don’t belong to him! Wouldn’t you rather starve?”
“I’d like to catch, ’im,” said Webb. ”

“ He thrust it deep into his pocket and took his bundle in hand.
His conscience troubled him not at all. James Webb, from time to time deck hand on Thames barges, dock laborer, Jack of all trades upon many watersides and now, since the spring was fine and the summer promised well, a tramp of the southern counties of England, was so little a thief in the grain that he was genuinely unaware that he was stealing at all. The girl was dead, so she didn’t own it; she wasn’t the young fool’s wife, so he didn’t own it ”

“ Pawnshops, as he knew them, were the very homes and headquarters of suspicion and distrust; and he had no idea of how to find the discreet dealers in stolen goods who give a value for value and ask no questions. “I got to get some different clo’es,” he repeated to himself, and had a vision of himself nobly clad, armored against the doubts of usurers, laying down his treasure confidently upon a counter whence presently he picked up its price in handful after handful of spendable money.
“An’ that means gettin’ a job,” was his conclusion. ”

“ He gathered up the curious contents of the bundle he had let fall in his jump for safety. He had found this Kentish main road in general a kindly one; he had obtained lifts on homeward-bound market wagons and food of a sort had been plentiful. The canary-colored car was an outrage; his anger was that of a man whose clear rights have been infringed. ”

“ In a stuffy little compartment not much bigger than a telephone booth he laid his bundle down and demanded beer and bread and cheese.
“Come far?” asked the girl who pushed the tankard toward him, with perfunctory civility.
He nodded. “Walked over from Maidstone,” he answered. Now that he was in search of work there was no need to tell her more. She was a large and buxom girl with a mild and pleasant face and something of directness and simplicity in her regard. She picked up the shilling which he laid down and moved toward the cash register at the back of the bar. A harsh voice arrested her. ”

“ The latter had taken a flask from his pocket and went to work to force some of the contents between the girl’s slack lips. All of them pointedly disregarded the tramp. He stood by the ditch, watching them as they went to work and marking with envy the unhesitating manner with which the man with the flask felt at the girl’s heart and tested for a pulse in her slim wrist. He was out of it all.
The man who worked over the girl looked up at last.
“I say, Jack!” he called. “I think we’d better get ’em into your car and rush ’em into Maidstone. ”

“ It was twenty minutes later that a sturdy young man in worn working clothes and with a face whose hard seriousness imperfectly masked a certain trepidation, made his way to the desk of the sergeant on duty at the police station. ”

“ She passed it to Webb who pocketed it and leaned against the counter, chatting till it was time to push his tankard over to be replenished. He paid for it this time with a half crown that he fished at random from his pocket. And as on the evening of his first visit, the landlord intercepted the girl and took the coin from her.
“’Ere!” he demanded suddenly of Webb. “What’s this you tryin’ on?”
He bounced the coin upon the bar; it rang as flat as lead. His little eyes were savage as he glared at Webb.
“What yer talkin’ about?” retorted Webb. “If it ain’t good, that’s your lookout. ”

“ For that was his purpose, to find some index to the value of his find, ready for the time when he should turn it into cash. He frowned thoughtfully at the bright window and was suddenly aware of a dapper assistant within watching him suspiciously through the glass of the door. Upon a sudden impulse he pointed with a finger to the diamond heart and beckoned the assistant forth with his head. ”

“ I bin savin’ money all the weeks I bin ’ere an’ soon I’ll ’ave more—’eaps an’ ’eaps more. We’d go to London; p’r’aps we c’d even ’ave a pub of our own. What say?”
She looked at him steadily. “You mean—get married?”
He nodded. Then, misreading her silence, he leaned across the bar, and, in tones little louder than a whisper, he told her the story of the accident on the Maidstone road, of his find, of his plan and his prospects. And to clinch his tale he fumbled within his waist band, pricked his finger on the pin of the brooch and managed to extract it. ”

“ She felt in her pocket and produced an envelope and emptied its contents on the bar. There were three half crowns and two florins. Webb picked up one of the former and examined it curiously.
“’E’s a clever workman, whoever ’e is,” he commented. “You could pass one o’ these on me any time an’ I’d never know. ’Ardly anybody’d know. A man ’u’d take it an’ go off an’ spend it and not be any the worse.” ”