Jarman

“ Jasper Jarman, as the waiter touched him on the shoulder and handed him the note, started violently. For him a touch on the shoulder meant but the one thing, in fact he had been dreaming night and day, ever since his arrival on the island, of touches upon the shoulder.
"Ze gentleman, sir, he speak with m'sieu."
"The devil he will." Jasper Jarman rose hastily and grabbed up his hat and umbrella. "I don't know a soul in the dam island, waiter, and I don't want to. You have made a mistake, my good man." ”

“ They shall be our lions. You leave it to me. We will invite commonplace, middle-class folk to meet them.”
And this, to my terror and alarm, Dan persisted in doing. Jarman entered into the spirit of the joke with gusto. So far as he was concerned, our guests, from the beginning to the end, were one and all, I am confident, deceived. The more he swaggered, the more he boasted, the more he talked about himself—and it was a failing he was prone to—the greater was his success. ”

“ Miss Sellars, “the bonnie wee rose;” myself, “the chiel.” Periods of silence were dispersed by suggestions that we should “hoot awa',” Jarman himself setting us the example.
With the clearance away of the eatables, making room for the production of a more varied supply of bottles, matters began to mend. Mrs. Peedles became more arch, Jarman's Scotch more striking and extensive, the Lady 'Ortensia's remarks less depressingly genteel, her aitches less accentuated.
Jarman rose to propose the health of the O'Kelly, coupled with that of the Signora. ”

“ My dear Paul, your society novelist would make a fortune out of such a character. The personages of her amusing anecdotes, instead of being third-rate theatrical folk, shall be Earl Blank and the Baroness de Dash. The editors of society journals shall pay me a shilling a line for them. Jarman—yes, Jarman shall be the son of a South American millionaire. Vulgar? Nonsense! you mean racy. Minikin—he looks much more like forty than twenty—he shall be an eminent scientist. His head will then appear the natural size ”

“ Unluckily, however, Mr Jarman stood by, and the matter could hardly be allowed to drop.
“As regards the incident last night,” said the doctor, “you know quite well, all of you, that no boy, even the head of his house, has the right to set his authority against that of a master. Your conduct was an insult to him, and requires an apology. These small boys may have considered they were not doing wrong in obeying you. Tempest, but you can plead no such ignorance. I expect you to apologise to Mr Jarman.” ”

“ Jarman had the reputation of being a solitary man, and those who knew him in literary circles hinted at the destroying influences of the inevitable woman. But Eustace never explained. After a journalistic career in town he disappeared into the Essex wilds, and devoted himself to writing music-hall sketches, short tales, and articles on countries he had visited. As he had been round the world twice or thrice, and knew the manners and customs of various peoples, he was well paid for his contributions. The cost of living at Wargrove was nil, and Jarman was supposed to be saving money. ”

“ Some of this gentleman's work Jarman had read—in manuscript; but that was a distinction purely temporary. He, Jarman, claimed to be no judge of literature, but this he could and would say, it took a good deal to make him miserable, yet this the literary efforts of Mr. Kelver invariably accomplished.
Mrs. Peedles, speaking without rising, from personal observation in the daytime—which she hoped would not be deemed a liberty; literature, even in manuscript, being, so to speak, public property—found herself in a position to confirm all that Mr. Jarman had remarked. ”

“ Whereupon I sought out Langrish and Trimble, and had the satisfaction of making their hair stand on end for once. At first they flatly refused to come, and reminded me that, as President of the Conversation Club, the entire responsibility for the guy rested on me.
“All serene,” said I, “only come and let them know how Jarman brought it all on. The more we go for him, the better for our man.” ”

“ Conversation appeared to be drifting in a direction unsuitable to the occasion; but Jarman was fortunately there to seize the helm.
“The plain fact of the matter is,” said Jarman, “girls have gone up in value. Time was, so I've heard, when they used to be given away with a useful bit of household linen, maybe a chair or two. Nowadays—well, it's only chaps wallowing in wealth like Clapper there as can afford a really first-class article.” ”

“ She took a fancy to him, for he was handsome and well-bred. But even Miss Berry, pretty and astute woman as she was, could not learn anything of Lancaster's past, cleverly as she tried to find out. Her uncle, using coarser methods, tried also, but failed likewise. Only to one man had Frank unbosomed himself, and that was to Eustace Jarman, who had first extended to the lonely young man a helping hand. A memory of Starth's words made Lancaster wonder if Jarman had revealed anything, and he would have sought out his friend to ask him directly had not Jarman dwelt in Essex. ”

“ Mildred received a letter this morning, telling her that Walter had been found last night shot through the head in his rooms in Sand Lane. Also he was stabbed in the breast--right through the heart."
"Stabbed also," began Frank, incautiously, when Jarman interposed.
"My new secretary, Mrs. Perth--Mr. Desmond O'Neil. He comes from Ireland."
"I am happy to meet you, Mr. O'Neil," said the old lady in a most stately manner. "What was it you said?"
"I was--was--only expressing--my--my surprise," stammered Frank.
"That the man should be stabbed as well as shot," put in Jarman, ever watchful. ”

“ Perth, addressing Eustace, "and Mildred has gone up to town to hear what she can. The police are in possession of the house. Let us hope the assassin will be found."
"Let us hope so," muttered Frank, and then aimlessly strolled away to a little distance to overcome a qualmish feeling.
"He's rather a nervous chap," explained Jarman to Mrs. Perth; "bad health and weak eyes."
"He does indeed look pale, Mr. Jarman. I fear I'm not looking well myself this morning." ”

“ Government won't offer much, even if it offers any, which isn't likely. No one else will plank down the money. Miss Starth hasn't much, and there are no relatives. Make your mind easy about the reward. There won't be a cent offered for your apprehension."
"What's Miss Starth's name?" asked Frank, who made a fair breakfast.
"Mildred," responded Jarman, with a flush. "She's the sweetest girl you ever met."
"I saw that from the glimpse I caught of her," said Lancaster, and wondered why Jarman coloured through his tan. ”

“ She had been greatly cheered by Jarman's insistence on Frank's innocence.
"Though I never believed he was guilty," she said, in her quiet voice. "Friend Jarman, thou hast been a brother to him. Thy reward will come."
"I don't ask for any reward, Miss Drake. I am not the man to see a fellow like Frank--such a good fellow, too--go under without doing my best to help him. Well, I have told you that he is with me in disguise, and you know all the circumstances of the crime."
"So much, Friend Jarman, as the police could tell me."
"The police? Oh! has Inspector Herny been here?" ”

“ But don't you interfere."
"See here, Darrel," said Jarman, controlling his temper with an effort, "no man shall speak to me like this. I forbid you to mention Miss Starth's name to me again. She will choose for herself."
"I know she will. She will choose me," said Darrel, complacently.
"There's always two to a bargain," said Eustace, drily. "However, as Lancaster has gone, there was no need for you to tell Miss Berry." ”

“ If the Lady 'Ortensia were inclined to be exclusive, who should blame her? Everybody knew their own business best. For use in a second floor front he could not honestly recommend the Lady 'Ortensia; it would not be giving her a fair chance, and it would not be giving the second floor a fair chance. But for any gentleman fitting up marble halls, for any one on the lookout for a really “toney article,” Jarman would say: Inquire for Miss Rosina Sellars, and see that you get her. ”

“ I must wait for that sealed envelope."
"On your twenty-fifth birthday," mused Jarman. "Observe, my son, Denham states that he is to come into money _after_ his birthday. He is the same age as you are."
"And his birthday is on the same day, which makes it stranger. There is money knocking round, as you guessed. But I can't see how it is to come my way."
"You may learn when you open that envelope."
"I'll know soon then. Next month I'm twenty-five. Poor Aunt Dorothy. I wonder what she thinks of my scandal." ”

“ We have our own high position to think of." Jarman could have thrown a book at the head of this dignified ass, who would have let a man die to preserve what he called his position. But it was no use getting angry, lest the man should refuse to say more, therefore Jarman swallowed his temper and continued his questions. ”

“ Jarman noticed that she spoke almost as well as Tamaroo himself, and wondered that, within so short a space of time, he should come into contact with two educated members of the African race.
Evidently she was on her guard, so Eustace tried another shot.
"I was directed to this house by Mrs. Burl," he said.
This time Balkis showed emotion, and, to speak truly, became rather ferocious.
"She's a bad woman. An ungrateful woman! ”

“ Mildred stared, and looked annoyed.
"Yes," said the Rhodesian, stolidly; "promise to be my wife, and I'll hunt down Lancaster."
Mildred gasped. This was the same bargain as she had made with Eustace, so the situation was duplicated. But she more than liked Jarman, and cared very little for Darrel. Moreover, now that she knew the suspected man was the one who had stared at her, and to whose face she had taken a fancy, she was inclined to agree with Eustace that he was innocent. So refined a man could not possibly have committed so brutal a crime. ”

“ He could not see what connection there could be between the murder of Anchor in San Francisco and that of Walter Starth in Sand Lane, but the mysterious word "Tamaroo" seemed to link the two. Perhaps it might prove the clue to the mystery of the last crime. Jarman sat down to hurriedly arrange his thoughts, but he was unable to answer Mildred for a time. After her exclamation she remained quiet, clasping and unclasping her hands, shaken to the core of her soul by the disturbed looks of this ordinarily phlegmatic man. ”

“ Jarman would beg her for her own sake to be more careful lest one day she should fall down backwards and hurt herself. On the other hand, her bearing was certainly calculated to check familiarity. Even stockbrokers' clerks—young men as a class with the bump of reverence but poorly developed—would in her presence falter and grow hesitating. She had cultivated the art of not noticing to something approaching perfection. She could draw the noisiest customer a glass of beer, which he had never ordered; exchange it for three of whiskey, which he had ”

“ Mildred caught Jarman by the hand, panting.
"Oh, you are a man--a man!" she said.
Darrel picked himself up, but did not show fight. His face was more like that of a negro than ever, and Eustace believed he was a half-caste, seeing how the racial type came out.
"You bully!" growled the man, fiercely, but keeping well in the roadway. "I'll be even with you. I can guess where Lancaster is hiding now, and I'll hunt him down--I'll hunt him down! He shall hang, and you, Jarman, shall go to prison for having assisted him. ”

“ But she knew that Lancaster had been here. And you were the only person who spotted him."
"What fools the others must be," said the genial Darrel. "However, that's neither here nor there. I assure you, on my honour, that I kept Lancaster's secret. He may, or he may not, have killed Starth, but so long as he leaves Miss Starth alone he is in no danger from me. I hope you will understand that."
"I understand," said Jarman, coldly. "And now we will part."
"On an understanding, however," said Darrel, striding after Eustace--"that you don't interfere with my affairs. ”

“ Jasper Jarman was quite an admirable piece of acting.
"Good-morning, Uncle Jasper; up with the lark, eh! the early bird, you know. Slept well, I hope?"
"Ah, Edward, my boy, good-morning—slept like a top, thanks; capital room Charlotte's given us. I'm afraid we've turned you out."
"Oh not at all, uncle, pray don't mention it."
"Faces east, though; your aunt finds the morning sun rather trying. She's going to turn the room out to-day and shift the bed to the other wall."
"Turn out the room, uncle?"
"Yes, my boy; capital woman your aunt, never idle a moment, always up and doing. ”

“ Mildred rolled her handkerchief up into a ball, and became more of a woman and less of a schoolgirl. "I will marry you on one condition."
"What is that?" he asked, eagerly.
"That you find out and punish the person who killed Walter."
Jarman's heart leaped. "Do you mean Lancaster?" he asked, alarmed.
"No--if what that paper says is true. I mean the real person. You say that Mr. Lancaster is innocent, and I know you too well to doubt your word. Find the real person, and--" she bent forward as though to seal the bargain with a kiss. ”

“ Jarman could have struck him to the earth, as he stood there like the Man-mountain of Gulliver. There was something insolent about Darrel which inspired the meekest of men to kick him, and Eustace was by no means a Moses. For the moment Eustace was inclined to take him up on the question of loving Mildred, but remembering that he was not officially engaged to the girl, and that should he not discover the assassin of her brother he might never be her husband, he thought it best to pass over the matter. However, he remarked on the conjunction of the girl's name with Frank's. ”