Mr. Carker

“ Carker?" said Captain Cuttle.
"I believe so," said Mr. Carker, showing all his teeth.
The Captain liked his answering with a smile; it looked pleasant. "You see," began the Captain, rolling his eyes slowly round the little room, and taking in as much of it as his shirt-collar permitted; "I’m a seafaring man myself, Mr. Carker, and Wal’r, as is on your books here, is almost a son of mine."
"Walter Gay?" said Mr. Carker, showing all his teeth again.
"Wal’r Gay it is," replied the Captain, "right!" The Captain’s manner expressed a warm approval of Mr. Carker’s quickness of perception. ”

“ Mr Carker the Manager pushed him backward into a corner - the boy submitting quietly, hardly venturing to breathe, and never once removing his eyes from his face - and rang the bell.
'Tell Mr Gills to come here.'
Mr Perch was too deferential to express surprise or recognition of the figure in the corner: and Uncle Sol appeared immediately.
'Mr Gills!' said Carker, with a smile, 'sit down. How do you do? You continue to enjoy your health, I hope?'
'Thank you, Sir,' returned Uncle Sol, taking out his pocket-book, and handing over some notes as he spoke. 'Nothing ails me in body but old age. ”

“ Carker. Inmate of Mr. Carker’s house, and serving about his person, Rob kept his round eyes on the white teeth with fear and trembling, and felt that he had need to open them wider than ever.
He could not have quaked more, through his whole being, before the teeth, though he had come into the service of some powerful enchanter, and they had been his strongest spells. The boy had a sense of power and authority in this patron of his that engrossed his whole attention and exacted his most implicit submission and obedience. ”

“ And although it is not among the instincts wild or domestic of the cat tribe to play at cards, feline from sole to crown was Mr Carker the Manager, as he basked in the strip of summer-light and warmth that shone upon his table and the ground as if they were a crooked dial-plate, and himself the only figure on it. With hair and whiskers deficient in colour at all times, but feebler than common in the rich sunshine, and more like the coat of a sandy tortoise-shell cat ”

“ As no one can easily ride fast, even if inclined to do so, through the press and throng of the City at that hour, and as Mr Carker was not inclined, he went leisurely along, picking his way among the carts and carriages, avoiding whenever he could the wetter and more dirty places in the over-watered road, and taking infinite pains to keep himself and his steed clean. ”

“ There is a very young lady who may perhaps come to see him. I want particularly to know all about her.'
'I'll take care, Sir,' said the boy.
'And take care,' returned his patron, bending forward to advance his grinning face closer to the boy's, and pat him on the shoulder with the handle of his whip: 'take care you talk about affairs of mine to nobody but me.'
'To nobody in the world, Sir,' replied Rob, shaking his head.
'Neither there,' said Mr Carker, pointing to the place they had just left, 'nor anywhere else. I'll try how true and grateful you can be. ”

“ John Carker’s name on people’s attention. That is not the way to befriend Mr. John Carker. Ask him if he thinks it is."
"It is no service to me," said the brother. "It only leads to such a conversation as the present, which I need not say I could have well spared. No one can be a better friend to me:" he spoke here very distinctly, as if he would impress it upon Walter: "than in forgetting me, and leaving me to go my way, unquestioned and unnoticed." ”

“ This was Carker the Manager. Mr Carker the Junior, Walter’s friend, was his brother; two or three years older than he, but widely removed in station. The younger brother’s post was on the top of the official ladder; the elder brother’s at the bottom. The elder brother never gained a stave, or raised his foot to mount one. Young men passed above his head, and rose and rose ”

“ 'Those darling byegone times, Mr Carker,' said Cleopatra, 'with their delicious fortresses, and their dear old dungeons, and their delightful places of torture, and their romantic vengeances, and their picturesque assaults and sieges, and everything that makes life truly charming! How dreadfully we have degenerated!'
'Yes, we have fallen off deplorably,' said Mr Carker. ”

“ Carr gazed into the dock with a vacant look, and shook his head, saying--"I do not think any of those are the men. The three on this side, indeed, might be amongst them, but that man beyond "--and he pointed to the prisoner Martin--"was certainly not one."
A murmur of surprise, and it must be said of indignation, took place at the counsel's table, for lawyers are not easily deceived in such matters, and there was not one man there who was not perfectly convinced that the prisoners at the bar were the persons who had committed the robbery, and, moreover, that Mr. Carr knew it to be so. ”

“ He is a very creditable artist himself. He will be delighted, I am sure, with Mrs Granger's taste and skill.'
'Damme, Sir!' cried Major Bagstock, 'my opinion is, that you're the admirable Carker, and can do anything.'
'Oh!' smiled Carker, with humility, 'you are much too sanguine, Major Bagstock. ”

“ Cargan," he said "I thought I'd warn you. You'd better get off here. There's a big crowd in the station at Reuton. They're waiting for you, sir; they've heard you're on this train. This lying newspaper, Mr. Cargan, it's been telling tales—I guess you know about that. There's a big mob. You better get off here, sir, and go down-town on a car." ”

“ Carson. “Severe discipline. Life . . . as in the army. We don’t treat anybody gently here,” he added, so pointedly that it seemed like a threat.
“Carson,” said Prokop seriously. “Am I here . . . as it were . . . in prison?”
“Good gracious, no! You’re only in a concern which is under supervision. A powder factory isn’t quite the same sort of thing as a barber’s shop, what? You must adapt yourself to the position.”
“I leave to-morrow,” Prokop burst out.
“Ha, ha!” laughed Mr. Carson and slapped him on the stomach. ”

“ While the Unspeakable Perk was making his way down the dim and narrow trail, another equally weary figure shambled out from the main road upon the flats and made for the landing. The apparel of Mr. Preston Fairfax Fitzhugh Carroll was in a condition that he would have deemed quite unfit for one of his station, had he been in a frame of mind to consider such matters at all. He was not. Affairs vastly more weighty and human occupied his mind. What he most wished was to find Miss Polly Brewster and unburden himself of them.
At the entrance to the pier, he was detained by the American Consul. ”

“ Nick repeated. “Leave the matter entirely to me. I will do all that can be done with the case, and will lose no time in doing it.”
Mollie Waldmere thanked him feelingly, then went to make her preparations for returning home.
Mr. Carrington detained the detective for a moment, asking gravely:
“Tell me frankly, Carter, what do you think of this? Do not deceive me.”
“Frankly, then, Mr. Carrington, it looks bad, quite bad,” said Nick. “Knaves do not take such risks, nor go to so much trouble, unless with some strong incentive. ”

“ All I said to Charker was, “I am afraid we are betrayed. Turn your back full to the moonlight on the sea, and cover the stem of the cocoa-nut tree which will then be right before you, at the height of a man’s heart. Are you right?”
“I am right,” says Charker, turning instantly, and falling into the position with a nerve of iron; “and right ain’t left. Is it, Gill?”
A few seconds brought me to Sergeant Drooce’s hut. He was fast asleep, and being a heavy sleeper, I had to lay my hand upon him to rouse him. The instant I touched him he came rolling out of his hammock, and upon me like a tiger. ”

“ The captain’s wife was to be free. At last their importunity became so great that Mr Carr agreed that, should no sail appear at the end of another twenty-four hours, he would no longer oppose their wishes. Before that time, two of those who were most eager for the dreadful mode of sustaining life, or most fearful of death, were summoned away. The crime was prevented; no one had to become a murderer. I will not describe how my wretched shipmates sustained life. Mr Carr abstained from the dreadful repast. ”

“ One of Mark's servants had entered with a telegraphic dispatch. It was addressed to Mr. Barker.
"Your man has brought it round from Piccadilly, sir. He thought it might be of moment."
"Let's see. Where's it from?--Wales? Ay. Another lode discovered, I'll be bound!"
Mr. Barker carried the paper across the room, and opened it under the lights of a girandole. He stared at it more than read it; stared at the words as if unable to understand them: and a curious expression of puzzled bewilderment, half wonder, half dismay, struggled to his face. ”

“ But I will make it a point to be at the bank at ten o'clock to-morrow morning and meet you there. It is impossible to do any more to-night."
The inspector nodded his head somewhat sadly. He quite saw the force of what Mr. Carrington was saying. He could do no more than make an appointment for the following day. He wished Carrington good-night and turned to go, followed by Masefield. In the corridor somebody called Jack by name. He turned to see a colleague of the junior Bar standing before him.
"Hullo!" the latter said, "where did you turn up from? ”

“ Merrick to meet Captain Carg, who would prefer, I am sure, to discuss so delicate a matter as my arrest with a man. Not that he is ungallant, but with a man such as Mr. Merrick he would be more at his ease. Carg is a sailor, rather blunt and rugged, both in speech and demeanor, but wholly devoted to me because I am at present the Jones of Sangoa. ”

“ Carrington had plenty of time to make his plans."
"I can't believe that Carrington is the assassin," muttered Hendle, in dismay, for he dreaded lest he should prove the accusation to be true. "Did Dr. Tollart connect Carrington with the murder?"
"No. If he had, he would have spoken out. He took little notice of Mr. Carrington, thinking he was coming down on a visit to you. And as Mr. Carrington was with you the next day, of course the doctor believed that it was as he had thought."
"Yes, I see. But Carrington did not come on that night. He came by the midday train next day." ”

“ Carrington, warmly. "He stopped my team when your son let them run away from him."
The squire did not relish this remark, and he turned away with some saying on his lips to the effect that [Pg 128] if a man wanted to make a fool of himself, why, it was a free country.
"You are very kind, Mr. Carrington," said Ralph to the gentleman. ”

“ Nick nodded.
“A tramp who uses an ax, or a buck-saw, to earn a meal, has a palm entirely unlike a cracksman.”
“But you didn’t look at their hands!”
“Yes, I did,” smiled Nick. “Now, if you please, I would like to see the patrolman who found Gardner.”
“You seem pretty well posted, Mr. Carter.”
“I read the newspapers pretty carefully.”
The patrolman was brought in, but the interview with him developed nothing of importance.
From police headquarters the detective went to the home of Alonzo Burton, the bank watchman. ”

“ I’ve forgotten!"
"Up-town, there."
"We’d better go up and talk to the chief of police, or the sheriff, I think," Mr. Carruth declared. "Jep is not a criminal, and perhaps it would have been better if he had not run away when the authorities tried to take the baby from him. He had as good a right to it as any one, and it is our baby as much as anybody’s. I’ll find out what they mean by offering a reward for him."
Mr. Carruth had studied law, though he was a business man now, and they all started up town together—the detectives, the two youths, and the father and mother. ”

“ The man may be dying—is dying, I think.”
“All right,” said Carroll promptly. “What’s to be done?”
“Get him home. Help me carry him to the cab.”
Between them, the two men lifted the heavy, mumbling cripple, carried him up the steps with a rush, and deposited him in the cab, while the driver was still angrily expostulating. The beggar was shivering now, and the cold sweat rolled down his face. His bearers placed themselves on each side of him. Perkins gave an order to the driver, who seemed to object, and a rapid-fire argument ensued.
“What’s wrong?” asked Carroll. ”

“ Barker was very humble as he entered the room.
"You're free of the murder charge," stated Carroll promptly, "but we may hold you for blackmail."
Barker heaved a sigh of relief. "I ain't objectin' to that, Mr. Carroll.
It's a small thing when a man has thought he might be strung up."
"Who killed Warren?" questioned the detective.
"Don't you know?" came the surprised answer.
"Yes—but I'm asking you."
"I suppose you're driving at something new," retorted Barker, "but I really think Mrs. Lawrence shot him."
"She didn't," answered Carroll. ”

“ Surely Henry Carleton’s little evening had been enjoyed to the full by every one. And, as it chanced, even the humblest actor in it was to have his share of luck. Tom Satterlee, with some two thirds of his journey to Mr. Sheldon’s accomplished, suddenly gripped the reins more tightly as a warning blast fell on his ears, and a moment later a big motor whizzed past him from the rear. Instantly he recognized the chauffeur, driving alone, and the next moment his cheerful hail had brought the motor to a halt. ”

“ The black death.”
“Plague?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure? Are you an expert?”
“One doesn’t have to be to recognize a case like that. The lump in the armpit is as big as a pigeon’s egg.”
“Why have you interested yourself in the man to such an extent?” asked Carroll curiously.
“He’s a friend of mine. Why did you?”
“Oh, that’s quite different. One can’t disregard a call for help such as yours.”
“A certain kind of ‘one’ can’t,” returned the Unspeakable Perk, with his half-smile. “You don’t mind my saying, Mr. Carroll, you’re a brave man.” ”