“Nothing of the sort!” answered Pratt scornfully. “Don’t be a fool! You’re all right. You listen to me. You write—straight off—to the Royal Atlantic. Tell ’em you had some inquiry made about a man named Parsons, who booked a passage with you for New York last November. Say that on looking up your books you found that you unaccountably forgot to send them the forms for him and his passage money. Make out a form for that date, and crumple it up—as if it had been left lying in a drawer. Enclose the money in it—here, I’ll give you ten pounds to cover it,” he went on, drawing a banknote from his purse. “Get it off at once—you’ve time now—plenty—to catch the night-mail at the General. And then, d’ye see, you’re all right. It’s only a case then—as far as you’re concerned—of forgetfulness. What’s that?—we all forget something in business, now and then. They’ll overlook that—when they get the money.”
“Aye, but you’re forgetting something now!” remarked Murgatroyd. “You’re forgetting this—no such passenger ever went! They’ll know that by their passenger lists.”
“What the devil has that to do with it?” snarled Pratt impatiently. “What the devil do we care whether any such passenger went or not? All that you’re concerned about is to prove that you issued a ticket to Parrawhite, under the name of Parsons. What’s it matter to you where Parrawhite, alias Parsons, went, when he’d once left your shop? You naturally thought he’d go straight to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Station, on his way to Liverpool and New York! But, for aught you know, he may have fallen down a drain pipe in the next street! Don’t you see, man? There’s nothing, there’s nobody, not all the detectives in London and Barford, can prove that you didn’t issue a ticket to Parrawhite on that date? It isn’t up to you to prove that you did!—it’s up to them to prove that you didn’t! And—they can’t. It’s impossible. You get that letter off—at once—to Liverpool, with that money inside it, and you’re as safe as houses—and your hundred pounds as well. Get it done! And if those chaps come asking any more questions, tell ’em you’re not going to answer a single one! Mind you!—do what I tell you, and you’re safe!”
With that Pratt walked out of the shop and went off towards the centre of the town, inwardly raging and disturbed. It was very evident that these people meant to find Parrawhite, alive or dead; evident, too, that they had called in the aid of the Barford police. And in spite of all his assurances to the watchmaker and his suggestion for the next move, Pratt was far from easy about the whole matter. He would have been easier if he had known who Prydale’s companion was—probably he was, as Murgatroyd had suggested, a London detective who might have been making inquiries in the town for some time and knew much more than he, Pratt, could surmise. That was the devil of the whole thing!—in Pratt’s opinion. Adept himself in working underground, he feared people who adopted the same tactics. What was this stranger chap after? What did he know? What was he doing? Had he let Eldrick know anything? Was there a web of detectives already being spun around himself? Was that silly, unfortunate affair with Parrawhite being slowly brought to light—to wreck him on the very beginning of what he meant to be a brilliant career? He cursed Parrawhite again and again as he left Peel Row behind him.
The events of the day had made Pratt cautious as well as anxious. He decided to keep away from his lodgings that night, and when he reached the centre of the town he took a room at a quiet hotel. He was up early next morning; he had breakfasted by eight o’clock; by half-past eight he was at his office. And in his letter-box he found one letter—a thickish package which had not come by post, but had been dropped in by hand, and was merely addressed to Mr. Pratt.
Pratt tore that package open with a conviction of imminent disaster. He pulled out a sheet of cheap notepaper—and a wad of banknotes. His face worked curiously as he read a few lines, scrawled in illiterate, female handwriting.
Mr. Pratt—My husband and me don’t want any more to do with either you or your money which it is enclosed. Been honest up to now though poor, and intending to remain so our purpose is to make a clean breast of everything to the police first thing tomorrow morning for which you have nobody but yourself to blame for wickedness in tempting poor people to do wrong.
XXV
Dry Sherry
Pratt wasted no time in cursing Mrs. Murgatroyd. There would be plenty of opportunity for such relief to his feelings later on. Just then he had other matters to occupy him—fully. He tore the indignant letter to shreds; he hastily thrust the banknotes into one pocket and drew his keys from another. Within five minutes he had taken from his safe a sealed packet, which he placed in an inside pocket of his coat, and had left his office—for the last time, as he knew very well. That part of the game was up—and it was necessary to be smart in entering on another phase of it.
Since Eldrick’s visit of the previous day, Pratt had been prepared for all eventuality. He had made ready for flight. And he was not going empty-handed. He had a considerable amount of Mrs. Mallathorpe’s money in his possession; by obtaining her signature to one or two documents he could easily obtain much more in London, at an hour’s notice. Those documents were all ready, and in the sealed packet which he had just taken from the
