anything if she arrives at his office with me.'
'You are going with her?'
'She's a child, George. Only sixteen. Of course I shall go.' He brushed the ash from his cigar. 'By the way, George, that clerk of yours who is reading law? I believe his name is Gibbons?'
'Johnny Gibbons?' Pendleton was surprised. 'What about him?'
'Did he not work for Adam Brunn before he came to you? I would like to talk to him.'
'Well, I suppose it could be arranged. Come to think of it, he did work for Brunn.' He glanced up. 'Imagine you remembering that.'
'Tonight, George? I would like to see him tonight.'
Pendleton glanced at his watch. 'Finian, you are a most difficult man. I should have known you had something on your mind.'
Reluctantly Pendleton got to his feet. 'I don't know. I could send a messenger - '
'We shall go ourselves. Or rather, I shall. I do not wish to interrupt your dinner.'
'But - '
'Don't worry about it. I shall go myself, if you will just tell me where to find him.'
'Sir, you cannot consider such a thing! Gibbons fancies himself as a writer. Oh, he's reading law, all right, and a very astute young man he is, but he is also planning a book on Philadelphia's history as a seaport. He will not be in his room tonight, but in some dive on the waterfront.'
'Very well, then that is where I shall go. I must see him. He will certainly know something of the Sackett case, and I must have the information before calling upon White.'
'Sir?' Chantry turned at Archie's voice. 'I could go with you, sir. I shall be finished here in a few minutes, and I know the waterfront well. I went to sea at one time.'
'Thank you, Archie, I shall appreciate the company.'
The big black man hesitated. 'You know, sir, it is very rough down there?'
'Archie, I am an old man now, but I, too, spent time at sea.'
'Very well, sir.'
'Do you know Johnny Gibbons?'
'I do sir. There are only a few places he might be, where seamen gather and he can pick up the stories.'
Finian Chantry waited at the door for his carriage and for Archie to join him. He felt oddly exhilarated. How many years since he had walked the waterfront? Too many years, far too many.
'You are eighty-six years old, Finian,' he said to himself, 'of no age to go to the sort of places you will be going tonight. I wonder just how much is left of that young man who commanded his own vessel? Have the years carried it all down the drain? Or is there something left?'
He wore the long trousers that had come in shortly after the beginning of the century, and a top hat. He carried a cane ... was never without it.
'Sir?' Archie spoke quietly. 'We must be careful. There are men down there who would murder you for a shilling, a guilder, or a dollar.'
'I have met them before, Archie, when I was younger. I am an old man now, but I wonder how old.'
Chapter 4
They found Johnny Gibbons seated over a mug of ale in the Dutchman's, on Dock Street. The room was crowded with a sweating, smoking, drinking melange of seafaring men from Copenhagen to Cape Town and all the ports between. They were men from ships which came in with the tide and would be off again in a day or a week. They came ashore for the women, the whiskey, rum, or gin, and some even made it back to their own vessels. Others were shanghaied by crimps and awakened in a dirty bunk aboard a ship strange to them, their belongings lost to them, their future in doubt.
Finian Chantry pushed the door open with his cane and stepped into the room, recognizing Gibbons at once. That young man glanced up, his eyes riveted, and his mouth dropped open in astonishment. Archie led the way through the crowded room. Finian glanced around, enjoying himself, then seated himself opposite Johnny Gibbons.
Johnny was embarrassed and worried. 'Sir? With all due respect, you shouldn't have come to this place! It is dangerous, sir. There are a lot of honest seamen here, but almost as many crimps and thieves.'
'Johnny, 1 spent my youth in such places. In and out of them, at least. I commanded my own ship with crews who were more than half of them pirates.'
'I know, sir, but - '
'Johnny, you worked for Adam Brunn? Do you remember the O'Hara case?'
'Of course, sir. It was the last case on which I was employed. One of the O'Haras, the last of that line, I believe, was a friend of Mr. Brunn. It seems the first of their family had been beholden to Barnabas Sackett, and very close to Barnabas's son, Kin. Several times over the years there was contact between the families, but the last O'Hara willed what was left to the last descendant of Kin Sackett.'
'The sum?'
'Something over three thousand dollars. Nowadays that's quite a sum, but the money was the least of it. There was an iron cube, some sort of a Chinese puzzle. He opened it and showed us what was inside. It was a sapphire, a big one, couldn't have weighed less than twenty carats. He showed it to Mr. Brunn and me and then returned it to the box, made a few deft twists concealed by his palms, and handed it over to Brunn.
'When Adam Brunn died, his widow turned his business over to White. I protested, but Mrs. Brunn listened to this woman who worked for her who was always telling her what a wonderful man White was.
'I had given my notice before the old man died, as I wanted to set up for myself, and she would not listen to me. She resented the fact that I was going on my own, although Mr. Brunn did not. You see, I did not want to practice the kind of law he did. He had a very quiet, secure sort of business, but I wanted to be where things were happening. And I wished to write.'
'Thank you. I believe you have told me what I need to know. I think we should go now.'
'May I come with you? I've noticed, sir, some very rough characters have been watching you. You dress too well to be walking around down here.'
'Come, if you will. It is only a few blocks to where my carriage waits, and I have Archie with me.'
As they left the Dutchman's, Finian saw a side door back of the bar open and close, and he smiled a little to himself. You are an old fool, Finian, he told himself, to be thinking such thoughts at your age!
When they reached the corner a block from the Dutchman's, they saw three men under the gaslight. The three glanced their way, then turned and walked along ahead of them.
'Did you see them, Archie?'
'I did, sir. There may be trouble.'
'It has been a long time since I have had that kind of trouble, Archie. I have often wondered how I would react.'
'Sir?' Gibbons said. 'One of those men up ahead is Bully Benson - he's a thug and a murderer. If I am not mistaken, there will be others behind us.'
'Of course, Johnny. Be careful, now. I grew up on this sort of thing. There was that night in Bombay - '
'There they are, sir. They are waiting for us.'
'Johnny, you and Archie take care of those behind us. Leave the three in front to me. I shall take it as a favor.'
'Sir, you are eighty-six years old! Please, sir - '
'Years of experience, Johnny. I think we shall surprise them.'
'He fences every day at the club,' Archie said. 'There's nobody there can handle him. Not even those young naval officers.'
They rounded the corner and three rough-looking characters were spread across the walk before them.
Finian smiled. 'Good evening, gentlemen! Is there something we can do for you?'
'You can hand over d' gelt, d' coin! An' quick!'
Finian Chantry held his cane in two hands and smiled. 'Ah? You hear him, Johnny? The man's threatening me!' His eyes went from one to the other. 'And if I don't choose to?'
