Strange Clients, and other tales

Front matter

And ofktR Tales J Saumarez oe Haviimnd. LONDON ILIFFE & SON 3, ST BRIDE ST, LUDGATE CIRCUS ADVERTISEMFN-TS. Crown 8vo., cloth. Price 3s. 6d. ; post -free, 3s. 9d. HlflTS TO LADY THstVELiIiE^S AT HOME AND ABROAD. By LILLIAS CAMPBELL DAVIDSON The above work, which has been in preparation for some considerable time, is the production of a laily who has travelled extensively in the United Kingdom, Europe and America, and who, from the experience gained during a number of years, now provides practical hints aud information wliich cannot fail to be of considerable value to those who wish to travel with comfort and pleasure. "Hints to Lady Travellers" is the only book of the kind to be had, and the practical information which every page contains renders it the most approved companion for every journey. i complete Table oj I will be forwarded post free on applicatio London : lliffe & Son, 3, St. Bride St., E.C. AND ALL BOOKBTALLS AND BOOKSELLERS.

Photography for All Ali Elementary Text-book and Introduction to the Art of taking Photographs, by W. Jerome Harrison, F.G.S. A clear and practical Handbook, embodying the very latest processes and improvements. No beginner should fail to get this work. Con tents : — Introduction. Choice of Apparatus. Taking a Negative. Developing the Negative. Preparing the N egative for Printing. Print ing a Positive. Toning Positives. Fixing Positives. The Finished Print. In the Field — Landscape Taking. Home Portraiture. Printing by Development on Bromide Paper ; and Lantern Slide Making PRICE Is., POSTAGE 2d. London : lliffe & Son, 3, St, Bride St., E.C. Strange Clients AND OTHER TALES. BV SAUMAREZ DE HAVILLAND (Of the Inner Temple). London ILIFFE AND SON, 3, ST. BRIDE STREET, E.C. 1890. TO CHARLES F. M. MUNDY, B.A. (Barrister-at-Law, Inner Timfle), THIS COLLECTION OF TALES IS DEDICATED BY HIS SINCERE FRIEND THE AUTHOR.

AUTHOR'S NOTE. In submitting these tales to the public, I desire to express my thanks to Messrs. Chatto & Windus for their kind permission to reprint those that have appeared in various English and American Magazines. SAUMAREZ DE HAVILLAND. CONTENTS. PAGE Strange Clients ... ... ... ... ... ... 9 A Day and a Night . ... ... ... 26 Sporting Joe ... ... .. ... ... ... 39 The Message from the Desert ... ... ... 47 A Ten-Rupee Fortune ... ... ... ... ... 86 A Little Maid ... ... ... ... ... ... 92 My Luncheon Party ... ... .. ... ... 98 Tom Thorpe's Fairy . . ... ... .. ... 125 " When Doctors Differ — " ... ... ... ... 132 Married Without Knowing it ... ... ... 153 Caged — With a Vengeance ... ... ... ... 161 Tin Warning Bells ... ... ... ... ...

Part I. In Manchester

ONE afternoon in the May of 1862, shortly after I was admitted to be a solicitor, I was sitting in my office in George Street, Manchester, when my clerk brought me in a card which bore the name of Miss Ada Constable. " Constable — Constable ! " I said to myself. " I don't know anybody of that name." Then I said aloud to the clerk, "Do you know her?" " No, sir," he replied. My practice was not very large at the time, and it would have been rather odd if he knew any client of mine who was not personally known to me. The question was, therefore, in all probability, an indirect expression of surprise at the prospect of a new client. "Very well," I said, "show her in, please;" and in a few seconds a tall young lady, who might have been two or three-and-twenty years of age, came into the room. She was neatly but plainly dressed, and a glance at her countenance and bearing was sufficient to tell me that she was a lady, in the sense of being an educated gentlewoman.

Perhaps her face was rather thin, but her features were very regular, and altogether, with her dark hair and eyes and erect carriage, she had a rather commanding aspect. " Will you sit down ? " I said, when the door was closed, motioning her to a chair as I spoke. " I hardly know how to explain the matter to you," she said, when she was seated, " but I am in a very difficult and painful position, and I require the services of a solicitor at once. I am afraid you will think I have taken a very extraordinary way of selecting one ; but I am an artist by profession, and do not know anyone connected with the law, and the matter I wish to consult you about is of such a nature that you will see, when I mention it, why I do not wish to talk about it to my friends." I bowed, and she continued — " Well, I took a law list, and said to myself, I shall open it at random, and go to the first solicitor whose name is at the top of the left-hand page.

The first time I opened the book it was amongst the barristers ; but the second time your name came up at the top of the solicitors." " Rather a haphazard way of choosing a solicitor," I said, smiling, " but I shall be very happy if I can be of any use to you." " Oh, thank you," she replied. " Now I can tell you what my business is. I have been engaged for the last three years to be married to Mr. John Eustis, who was, until very recently, a commander in the Royal Navy. We were to have been married in about a month's time, but this morning I received that letter ; if you will read it, it will explain to you as much as 1 can." She took a letter out of her pocket, and handed it to me. As I took it from her I could not help thinking that she had come to the point in a very businesslike manner indeed, for a lady.

The letter was as follows : — "The Saddle Hotel, Liverpool, May, 1S62. " Dear Miss Constable, — You will be surprised at my ad dressing you in this way, but I deeply regret to say that circumstances have occurred which make it absolutely necessary that our marriage should be broken off. This is the hard and bitter truth, and it is, perhaps, a kindness to state such a truth as plainly and quickly as possible. The nature of the circumstances I cannot tell you ; they must for ever remain untold. On two points, however, I wish to speak most emphatically. The circumstances which render it im possible for us to be united have nothing whatever to do with the honour or character of either of us ; they are such as you could not possibly imagine. Secondly, 1 love and respect you as deeply as before, and never shall I marry any other woman.

How grieved I am to have to act in this way I cannot say ; it is my fate, and I must bear with it ; only, believe me, that if you knew the anguish it gives me to write this letter, and the reason (which must remain untold) why I write it, you would forgive me. " As you know, I have not much money, but what I have is yours ; and if you will let me know what sum you will require to support you while you are making your way in your profession I shall send it to you if I possibly can. Believe that I shall ever be your sincere friend, and that I remain now, as I have always been, " Yours devotedly, " John Eustis." " Have you written to him ?" I asked, when I had read this letter. "No," she replied. "That is just what I was afraid to do. I am very poor, and want some money, of course ; but I want much more to find out what has happened, and where he is going — for that he is leaving the country I feel sure, though I cannot say why.

I was afraid that if I wrote he would merely send me what I asked for and go." " Then, it was with a view to my trying to find out what has made him write this letter that you consulted me ?" I said. " Exactly." " I am afraid I could only do that by going to Liverpool to see him," I remarked, after a minute's reflection. " But you could do that almost as well, if not perhaps better, yourself." " I don't think so," she answered. " But, even if I could, I should certainly not go. It would not be very dignified of me to go all the way to Liverpool to force myself upon him after receiving such a letter as that." " I beg your pardon," I interrupted, " I quite appreciate your objection. What had occurred to me was that he may get suspicious and reticent if he finds that he is dealing with a lawyer, while he might speak more frankly with anybody else."

" No, no," was her reply. " You do not know him, of course, but he is always the same. He means what he says, and his speaking to a lawyer would not make any difference. He would be just as outspoken." " Then I had better write him a friendly letter, saying that I propose to go down to Liverpool to-morrow afternoon to consult with him as to the provision he intends to make for STRANGE CLIE4VTS. you. That will, perhaps, be the best way to put it to him," I said meditatively. "HI can see him, you may depend I shall do all I can to find out what the mystery connected with this letter is." The result of some further conversation was that we arranged that I was to write to Mr. Eustis at once, and to go by a midday train next day to Liverpool to see him if possible. I gathered from Miss Constable that a few hundred pounds was, probably, as much as he had, apart from his pension ; while she was at the time almost entirely dependent on her earnings as a teacher of painting in water colours for a living.

Three hundred pounds was as much, she thought, as he could possibly give her. As she had now to depend altogether on her own resources, she would require at least two or three hundred pounds to make a start in her profession. So I said that I would get her five hundred, if possible, but that in any case I would do my best to find out what was the real cause of his having broken off the engagement as he had done. I state all this as briefly as possible to let the reader see the position in which she was placed. As a solicitor, I naturally looked to the tangible benefits which I might secure for her by my journey to Liverpool ; but I must do Miss Constable the justice to say that the monetary aspect of the matter was the one of which she thought least. She had not come to me as a solicitor who might be able to obtain a favourable settlement from Mr. Eustis, but because, woman like, she thought that, being a lawyer, I had some occult power of unravelling the mystery which was not possessed by ordinary people.

As if a lawyer has any other faculties for discovering such secrets than those which ought to be common to all people — viz., tact, common sense, knowledge of the world, and a little ingenuity. I could not help feeling a sense of compassion at the implicit confidence she seemed to have that 1 would be able to solve the mystery ; and when, taking out her purse as she spoke, she ventured diffidently to ask what my fee would be, I said that it would be quite time enough to talk about that after I had seen Mr. Eustis. " If," I continued, "he will not see me, or if I cannot see him or do any good with him, I do not propose to charge you anything, unless it be for my railway fare to Liverpool. But, in any case, I shall make my charges as light as possible. And now I shall write to him, saying that I propose to go to Liverpool by the two o'clock train to-morrow afternoon."

While she sat in my office, I wrote as friendly a letter as 1 could write to a stranger, saying that I should have Man chester by the two o'clock train next day, and call at the " Saddle Hotel" at about half-past three o'clock to consult with him about the provision he intended to make for Miss Constable. And then Miss Constable left, saying that she would call at one o'clock on the following day to see me before my departure. When she had gone, I tried for a few minutes to think what could possibly be the solution of the matter. Had Mr. Eustis formed some new attachment ? or had he simply grown tired of Miss Constable ? Somehow, I felt instinctively that neither of these was the true answer to the very curious riddle which his letter presented. What, then, could be the reason of his acting in such a manner ?

With the exception of the above very commonplace explana tions, I could not think of any other way of accounting for his conduct. So I turned to a case on which I had been engaged when she was announced, wondering, as I did so, how Mr. Eustis would receive my letter, and whether he would receive me at all. Telegrams were not as common in 1862 as they are now, and I was a little surprised to find one lying on my table when I arrived at the office next morning. It was from Mr. Eustis, and ran as follows :— " I shall be very glad indeed to see you. Pray come at once." Miss Constable called at one o'clock, when I had a few words of conversation with her, and at two I took my seat in the train for Liverpool.

Part II. In Liverpool

Slowly the train rolled into the terminus at Liverpool, and in a few moments I was a unit in the hurrying crowd of passengers. After the manner of all well-regulated Britons, whether commencing or ending a journey, I repaired to the buffet and partook of that eminently national beverage, "a pint of bitter." That duty accomplished, I hailed a hansom cab. " Do you know the ' Saddle Hotel' ? " " Surely, sir," said the driver with a grin. " Land me there as quick as you can ;" and in a few minutes I grasped the situation and the joke, as he landed me at the hotel some twenty yards lower down the street — one of the best hotels in Liverpool, as I now learned. " Is Mr. Eustis staying here ?" I asked the waiter I found in the vestibule, after dismissing the cabman, with a laugh. " Captain Eustis is in the coffee-room, sir," he replied in a tone and manner that showed the Captain — to give him the rank by which I afterwards found he was universally known — was a time-honoured and welcome guest at the hotel.

" Are you the gentleman he is expecting from Manchester ?" he continued. " I will go and tell him of your arrival at once ; or perhaps you would like to come with me, sir," as I nodded assent, " there is no one in there now but himself," and, while speaking, he led the way to the cosily appointed room . " The gentleman from Manchester, Captain Eustis," lie announced. I looked with some curiosity to the end of the room, where my client's betrothed, or ex-betrothed, stood. He was a handsome young Englishman of the blueeyed, athletic, Saxon type, his sunny hair clustering in curly locks over his shapely head. He was clean-shaven, with the exception of those " mutton-chop" whiskers which are adopted by the officers of H.M. Navy, certain types of barristers, and Stock Exchange brokers. He had a kindly face I felt instinctively I could trust, shrewd solicitor though I considered myself to be, though its ordinarily frank expression was now careworn and anxious.

A transient smile lit it up as he gave up what I might term his quarter-deck walk up and down the room, and came hurriedly forward to meet me. "Glad to see you, Mr. Bostock," he said. ''I got your telegram all right ; it has relieved my mind so. Now, I 'trust, all will be plain sailing, at least, so far" — and he checked himself with a sigh — " as my letter to A Miss Constable is concerned. Now what will you take ?" he went on, with true British sailor hospitality. " Well, thanks," said I, as we shook hands, " a whiskey and seltzer, I think." " No, nonsense," he said. " We will have a bottle of the best champagne they have got. James," he ordered, turning to the bowing waiter, " bring a bottle of the special Pommery and glasses." Ran that waiter without fail, In the coat called swallow-tail.

And soon Brightly glowed the golden rain, In those glasses of good champagne " James," he added, " order the best room vacant for Mr. Bostock, and dinner as quickly as possible ; he is my guest here to-night." I was overcome by the evidently genuine hospitality of his manner, and could only bow and murmur my thanks. As soon as we were comfortably seated he turned to me and commenced — " You have seen my letter to Miss Constable. I assure you there is no woman in the world I love or shall ever care for but her ; but circumstances have, as I told her, made it imperative our engagement should cease. Whatever I can do I will, and in whatever way you advise me, acting for us both, to her advantage." Miss Constable and I had agreed on three hundred guineas, but I thought I would say five hundred guineas, as a feeler.

" Well, Captain Eustis,'" I said, " you have met me very straightforwardly ; could you sa}' five hundred guineas ?" He looked thoughtfully down for a minute or two, while he absently traced the pattern of the carpet with his foot, and I could see he was earnestly thinking. "Yes," he said, and his face brightened as he evidently thought he could see his way to a solution of the problem I had propounded, " I can just manage that and a few pounds over, I think. Do not think," he continued earnestly, " that I am haggling with you ; it can just be managed. I wish for her dear sake" — and it was with the tones of evident sincerity that he spoke — " that it were fifty thousand instead of five hundred pounds. You shall have it before twelve p.m. to morrow. What are your fees ?" he asked. " Well," I said, " I was to have the odd shillings in the guineas.

" Oh, don't take anything from her. 1 can spring the other twenty-five pounds as well, and that and my hotel bill will just finish me. Sailors do not want money when starting on a long cruise," he continued laughingly. " So be it, that is settled, and a load is off my mind ; give me your hand. To-morrow," he added, as we warmly shook hands, for he had quite fascinated me in spite of the mystery attending the whole affair, " we will go round to the banks where I have accounts, and get the money. To-night is my last night in England for many a long day ; we will dine and go to the theatre, and talk no more business." This proposal meeting my ready assent, we strolled out to the post office for me to send Miss Constable a telegram with a precis of what had taken place. A shadow of deep sorrow occasionally spiead over his face, but he soon recovered him self with an effort, and I could see he had a severe struggle to restrain his feelings.

After a perfect little dinner we started for the theatre. forgot to mention that during our conversation in the coffee room, which, of course, had been carried on in low tones, several gentlemen had come in at various intervals, to some of whom he had hurriedly nodded, and some had returned his greeting with that wistful, kindly look I have seen in dear friends parting with one who they knew was about to undergo danger and difficulty. I caught the waiter, too, who had met me in the vestibule, and who afterwards waited on us in the private room during dinner, once or twice looking at him with what I could almost have termed glances of admiring awe, and I could have sworn I once heard him mutter, " The saints preserve you, Captain Jack !" but, turning sharply round, I found him standing as impassive as a statue.

Several times, too, while we strolled out between the acts at the theatre, gentlemen came up to him, and impressively wished him, invariably in bumpers of champagne, " Success, dear lad !" and to all he modestly responded, " We will do our best." When the performance was over we went back to the hotel, and as I saw he was thoughtful and distrait, though, with the true instincts of a gentleman, he was always courteous and kindly to me as his guest, I forbore to tease him by making conversation, and after a cheery good-night we repaired to our respective rooms. Early next morning James knocked at my door and entered. "The Captain has sent you a brandy and soda, sir," he said. And, indeed, it was very thoughtful of him, for I felt my unwonted libations of the night before. " Breakfast is ready, sir ; it is nearly ten o'clock."

" Very good, James, I will be down directly ;" and by ten o'clock I was in the morning-room, where Captain Eustis and a substantial Lancashire breakfast-table were waiting my appearance. We chatted gaily through the meal, and we were the best of friends." " We will now go to the banks at once," he said, on receiving my affirmative reply as to whether I had finished. " Just a toothful before starting, and we will be off." About five minutes' walking brought us to Westgate and Co.'s bank. " I am Captain Eustis," he said to the cashier. " A certain amount has been paid by a stockbroker in London to my credit here ; here is the letter and references." " Quite correct, sir," answered the cashier after reading the letters " Very well, I see the amount is £152 ios. ; please give me a cheque or order on my own bankers, Messrs. Chisholm, Eraser and Co., of this town, for the amount.

I am going abroad, and closing my accounts." The cashier bowed, and handed him the cheque. We then went to one other bank in the town, where much the same transaction took place, the amount he received being £s20o. His brow clouded. " There was a heavy fall in the value of the stock," the cashier explained, "just as the broker sold ; but your orders were peremptory." " Yes, yes," he said. " I am going abroad, and it does not matter." " I know you are, Captain Eustis," said the cashier. " May every success attend you !" He gave a shght start and looked at the cashier, and then smiled and held out his hand, which the other warmly grasped. " You may trust us to do all we can," he replied ; and after a lingering pressure of his hand the cashier turned abruptly away. " Your patience is being sorely taxed, I am afraid," he said, turning to me, " but we have only one visit more to make, and our business will be finished."

I assured him that I was pleased to be with him, and in a short while we reached the offices of Chisholm, Eraser and Co. I could see at once that here he was a well-known and valued customer. " The partners are in the private room, Captain Eustis, and will be most pleased to see you," said the greyheaded chief clerk. " Thank you," he answered. " I will go in at once. This gentleman is my friend, and will accompany me." " Well, my dear friends," he said, " this is my last visit," as he shook hands warmly with two elderly gentlemen. " Not a bit, dear lad ; you will come back safe and sound,' said one heartilv. "What can we do for you?" said the other gentleman cheerily. " Well, the fact is, I have been selling some stock, and it has not fetched as much as I expected. I find I want, in round numbers, £250.

I am sure I do not know how my account stands with you," he added in a parenthesis. " What is the amount to Captain Eustis' s credit ? " said one of the partners to a clerk who appeared in response to the " ting" of a handbell he had touched. "Just £160, sir," replied the clerk. I made a rapid mental calculation, and then said — " Pray do not trouble about the whole of the money now, Captain Eustis ; your note of hand will be, I am sure, quite sufficient." "No, no," said the partner smiling: " I only asked the clerk as a matter of business. Captain Eustis can have what he wants, sink or swim." " That is so," responded the other partner heartilv, while the Captain bowed his thanks. The partner then hande4l him a bundle of notes to the amount of £250. " We had better finish the business now," Captain Eustis said, turning to me.

" These gentlemen know all about it." He then handed to me the £525 for Miss Constable, and the £25 he had offered me as my fees. I then gave him a formal receipt, which he handed to the firm to place with his other papers in their keeping. " I will join you in half an hour," he said to me. " I have a little further business. Can you wait so long ?" " Certainly," I said. " I will go round to the paying-in department of the bank here and have this money credited to my account at my bankers at Manchester, and send Miss Constable a telegram." " Very good," said he ; " by the time you have done so I shall be ready." After shaking hands with the partners I left, and soon finished doing what I had suggested, and on returning I met him coming out of the bank to look for me. Taking my arm, he said, " I sail in about three hours' time.

I should be glad if you would stay with me till I start. Let us get back to the hotel as quickly as we can," and in a few minutes we arrived there. While I had a cigar in the coffee-room he settled his hotel bill, while James packed and brought down his luggage. " Would you like to see a man-o'-war ? " he said, as he came into the coffee-room. "We have just time for some lunch, and then I am going on board." "Very much," I replied. " Then that is settled," he said ; and after lunch, bidding a warm farewell to the landlord and the waiter James, who came to the door to see him off, we jumped into a cab, and soon reached the docks and stairs leading down to the water. He was evidently expected ; a boat with a crew of four man o'-war's men and a coxswain was lying-to a little way out in the stream.

In response to a whistle from him they promptly pulled into the landing-stage, while the coxswain saluted and the men respectfully took off their caps. Two of the men sprang out of the boat, and the luggage was quickly placed in the stern-sheets. " All ready and all well on board ?" he asked. " Ay, ay, sir." " Then give way, men," and the oars splashed in the water. After we had gone about a quarter of a mile I could dimly discern in the fast gathering gloom the long, low black hull of a steamer. She was a rakish-looking craft, and I at once guessed the nature of her duties. We were at war with China at the time, and the British Government were fitting out a series of fast cruisers to follow and destroy the flat built Chinese war junks up the shallow estuaries along the coast, and crush out the remnants of piracy in the Malay Archipelago.

The steamer we had now reached was evidently one of the class. When we got on board I could see that all preparations were completed, except that the guns had not as jet been placed in position ; but as they would not be required till the voyage was nearly completed I was not surprised. After a few moments' conversation with the captain — a reserved, austere-looking commander — he intro duced me to him, and then took me on a tour of inspection round the vessel. One fast cruiser is very like another, so I need not trouble my reader with the details of what I saw, the more so as the night which had now fallen rendered most objects on board indistinct. "The Captain's compliments, sir, and we shall start almost immediately — steam is up ; will you join him in a parting glass ?" said a steward coming up.