The Man in the Check Suit. A novel

Front matter

fHE MAN IN THE CHECK SUI JARROLDS' POPULAR 3/6 NOVELS The Rejuvenation of Miss Semaphore. A Farcical Novel. By Hal Godfrey. Seventh Edition. " The story is very funny and very well told, almost as good as was ' Vice Versa.' " — Glasgow Herald. The Mystery of Landy Court. By Fergus Hume. Second Edition. " We think that this is the best book Mr. Fergus Hume has yet written." — Daily Chronicle. The Lone Inn. A Mystery. By Fergus Hume. Second Edition. " Mr. Hume's clever story fully sustains his reputation for originality and sustained interest. The mystery is most cleverly maintained throughout." — The Idler. The Expedition of Captain Flick. By Fergus Hume. Sixth Thousand. It is a romance of the 'Westward Ho' type and abounds in startling adventures. . . . May be heartily commended." — Newcastle Daily Leader.

The Mystery of a Hansom Cab. By Fergus Hume. Revised Edition. 400th Thousand. By Order of the Brotherhood. A Thrilling Story of Russian Intrigue ! By Le Voleur. Sixth Thousand. "A very strong story of mystery, adventure, and intrigue — The Speaker. His Double Self: or, the Transformation of Keith Winstanley. By E. Curtis, Author of " Dr. Malchi," " Queen or Bondwoman," " Tamar, the Witch," etc. " The story is excellently told and vividly interesting drawn with keen analysis of character ... a singular and exciting book."— Pall Mall Gazette. The Man in the Check Suit. EyT. W. H. Delf. Dainty Dick Stan ton. By Percv de Lisle. Others in Preparation. London: Jarrold and Sons, io and n, Warwick Lemt. E.C. and o/all Booksellers. THE MAN IN THE CHECK SUIT * * A NOVEL By T. W. H. DELF LONDON JARROLD AND SONS WARWICK LANE E.C. AU Rights Reserved CONTENTS.

Introduction

Part I

29 i. THE PERVERSENESS OF MR. JONATHAN BOBBIN MRS. BOBBIN CONSULTS THE FAMILY DOCTOR - MR. JONATHAN BOBBIN MAKES HIS WILL - JONATHAN BOBBIN LEAVES " ALKALI LODGE " - IMPENDING TROUBLE AT " ALKALI LODGE " MR. BUTLER RECEIVES A COMMUNICATION OF ii. 36 HI. rv. 47 56 v. 61 VI. MR. BUTLER RECEIVES A COMMUNICATK AN ALARMING NATURE FROM PARIS 7IL. THE WILL IS READ 66 VII. VIII. 73 JACOB BOBBIN ARRIVES AT "ALKALI LODGE " THE LAWYER IS PUZZLED - 82 IX. 92 x. MRS. BOBBIN PREPARES TO LEAVE " ALKALI LODGE" - 102

Part II

i. THE MAN IN THE CHECK SUIT GOES TO BURSTONLEIGH - 113 II. PETER SPARKS KEEPS HIS APPOINTMENT CONTENTS, 6 PAGS CUAPTER 131 PETER SPARKS INVITES MR. BLUNT TO DINNER MR. BLUNT AGAIN MEETS HERBERT GODFREY - PETER SPARKS AT HOME - HI. IV. 139 148 V. 154 MR. BLUNT MEETS JACOB BOBBIN VI. vn. MR. BLUNT TAKES AN INTEREST IN MONSIEUH CHICOT - - " " 161 herbert godfrey's " kite " - jacob bobbin and tne codicil - mr. blunt and his guests - " silly John's " brother turns up 167 VIII. 177 IX. 189 X. 193 XI. events shape themselves favourably to his plans jacob bobbin thinks XII. 207 214 REFERS TO THE FUNERAL OF PETER SPARKS XIII.

Part III

221 i. A STRANGE VISITOR AT " ALKALI LODGE " 227 ii. WENTWORTH GOES TO BURSTONLEIGH WITH DICK - in. 240 IV. ALFRED WENTWORTH MAKES A STARTLING DISCOVERY BEFORE LEAVING BURSTONLEIGH 248 V HOW JACOB DISPOSED OF WENTWORTH HOW MRS. BOBBIN DISPOSED OF JACOB NO REST FOR JACOB - 264 275 VI vn. VIII. 286 NEMESIS l'envoi 296 314

INTRODUCTION.

. I. "ACT A EST FAB UL A." AN evening iu October ; away back iu the middle of the present century. A dreary, autumn night. The half bare branches of the old elms in the Parsonage grounds swayed to and fro restlessly. The wind sighed and soughed, in the distance, as if nature were mourning the departed summer. A gloomy scene. Out-doors, the moaning of the autumn wind ; in-doors, the moaning of a dying man. " I should be so thankful if the dear Lord would take me to Himself," said the dying man. " Pray God take us both, dear master," replied the solitary watcher by his bedside. It was the old parson of Malton who lay upon his death bed — the Reverend Joshua Sparks. His old housekeeper, Martha, was the only other person in the death-chamber. He had already received the merciful deadening touch, which the Death Angel bestows ere launching the fatal dart ; and the longing for rest, which is the result of that touch, was upou him.

He had long been waiting to die. He had nothing further to do in this life, and wished to be at rest. The scene in the death-chamber was a strangely uncommon one. There were no weeping relatives around the bed. No doctor was present. Not even a brother clergyman was in attendance. The Reverend Joshua Sparks had long made all his arrangements to die. There was absolutely nothing further to be done. No arrears of work, no longings for life, no regrets, no terror, no pain — save the pain of weakness ; one desire only left, the longing to be evermore at rest. The aged woman, who sat holding one nerveless hand between both her own trembling ones, was herself apparently on the verge of the grave. It seemed like Death looking down upon Death. And, hour after hour, old Martha sat by the bedside holding her master's hand ; and the silence was unbroken in the death-chamber save at long intervals.

Poor old Martha ! She was suffering more than was the old parson, for she was in a state of great fear for herself. She feared she might live longer than her master. For more than forty years the Parsonage had been her home ; and she had often said she hoped to leave its shelter only for that other home her master was wont to preach about on Sundays, in his old-fashioned way. To-night she feared she should yet be compelled to end her days in some strange abode. So long accustomed to the old parson's ways — aud he to hers — she had fallen even into his manner of speaking, through long and constant companionship. So quiet and uneventful had the old age of herself and her master been, that of late years they had both been only waiting to die — she hoping that it might be permitted them to die both in the same hour.

Slowly they had descended the hill in company ; iu company they had almost reached its base ; yet, at the very last, one was called away before the other. It all appeared so solemn and so strange to old Martha. "ACTA EST FABTJLA." 9 "I should be so thankful if the good Lord would take me to Himself," repeated the old man in a feeble whisper. "Poor dear!" murmured old Martha, in sympathetic response ; " pray God take us both ! " And the wind still moaned and sighed outside the Parsonage, and its wailing harmonized with the scene within ; and the rain drove pitilessly against the windows, and the hours sped on. There was a light, however, in the library downstairs, where sat a young man complacently smoking a cigar, with bottles and glasses upon the table beside him. He glauced occasion ally around him upon the well-filled bookshelves, whereon reposed in goodly muster the grave works of the old divines, whose time-worn covers had seldom undergone such a baptism of tobacco-smoke, as they had that evening received.

The fumigation of them seemed almost a profane action — a kind of sacrilege. Two or three volumes were lying untidily about, as though they had been pulled dowu from their shelves, only to be idly looked into by unsympathetic eyes and as lightly thrown aside. Upon the cover of Bishop Jewell there rested a meerschaum pipe. There was cigar ash upon the judicious Dr. Hooker, a box of fusees upon the venerable Archdeacon Paley, and a cigar case upon Arch bishop Leighton. The youug man was evidently not one who relished the study of theology, nor one who respected the associations by which he was temporarily surrounded. Indeed, a close observer might have detected traces of a dissipated life, already beginning to register themselves upon the fleshly index. It was Peter Sparks who sat there ; the nephew of the old parson, and heir expectant to the old man's money.

He was well dressed in the fashion of the period, aud wore a diamond ring. His still handsome features had a determined expression, and he appeared ill at ease, judging from the impatient exclamations which occasionally broke from him in THE MAN IN THE CHECK SUTf. 10 the intervals of pulling his cigar and sipping his grog._ Most likely the quiet of a country parsonage did not suit him. It could only have been a strong motive that induced him to sit alone, hour after hour, in the library of the Reverend Joshua Sparks so patiently as he had done hitherto. It was almost midnight when a gentle tap at the door aroused him to something like animation. " The poor master wished to see him," was the message of the servant who appeared frightened at the sound of her own voice in the stillness. Then the young man rose with alacrity, threw his unfinished cigar into the grate, and whistled softly to himself.

Low as was the sound he uttered, the whistle sounded out of place in the library of the Parsonage at midnight when the old parson lay a-dying. "So," he muttered, as he turned to follow the servant, "it has come at last ! " " Peter," said the old parson, speaking, or rather whisper ing, in a very, very feeble voice, as his nephew approached the bedside, "I am dying — almost gone." " I am truly sorry to find you so ill, uncle " Na3r, I am an old man. I have no wish to live. Listen — to my last words." The young man spoke again, striving to modulate his voice so as to be as much as possible in harmony with the solemn occasion, and leaned above the old man's pillow in order the more easily to hear every word the latter might utter. " Promise — once more — to carry out my last wishes." "I do promise, uncle."

" I don't know whether I have done — quite right. You were always my favourite — but remember you have my wishes written down." " Your wishes shall be carried out to the letter, uncle." " Then that is all." The old man closed his eyes and ceased speaking. A look " A CTA EST FABULA." 11 of perfect peace composed his features. He breathed and that was all ; the light of life was flickering in its socket, and silence reigned in the death-chamber. The young man stood for a few minutes overcome with the awe which the scene inspired. But he soon turned away with the intention of once more retiring to the library, when an exclamation of old Martha's caused him to pause. Old Martha still held one of the old parson's hands between both her own. The sense of touch was all that now remained, and that was going fast.

His lips moved as though he were about to speak but could not. " He wants to say something, poor dear," muttered old Martha ; and the young man again approached the bedside and listened intently. "Ada estfabula !" The words were unintelligible to the old housekeeper, but the young man understood their meaning. " Acta estfabula 1 " And, as at a signal, the Death Angel entered the chamber. The hand old Martha held grew ice-cold, and chilled her own feeble frame by its contact. The jaws of the old man fell apart. The eyes opened. " Take me too, good Lord ! I am so weary. Don't leave me here alone, I am so weary," prayed old Martha, and bowed her own aged head upon the dead man's pillow. Was the Death Angel lingering in the room ? Would old Martha's prayer be heard ? The young man neither spoke nor moved.

He gazed upon the two figures beside him as in a dream. And, even as Peter Sparks stood there, trembling with involuntary awe at the sight he was witnessing, Martha's prayer was heard. The old housekeeper did not lift her head again from the dead man's pillow. In a few minutes there were two corpses in the young man's presence ; and, quite unnerved by what he had witnessed, he hurriedly left the apartment. Once back in the library, Peter Sparks poured himself out some brandy, and put the glass hastily to his lips. " Death is a most disagreeable thing," he muttered, "two lifeless bodies up there ! Bah ! The old must die to make room for the younger generation." But, like a refrain, the last words of the old parson passed and repassed through his mind. He could not forget them. He roused himself to action, and summoned the servants and gave the necessary directions.

When he at length retired to bed, however, the last words of the dying man haunted him iu his dreams. The Reverend Joshua Sparks was at rest at last. His nephew intended to " enjoy life " with the money the old man had so carefully saved. But if the dead know and grieve at what is done with their savings, no voice ever comes from them again to remonstrate or complain. With them the turmoil is ended, and the wherewithal to continue the struggle of existence unheeded. Their part is played out and they retire from the stage for ever. No call will they ever respond to, and the living continue to play their parts until, upon them, too, the curtain falls. "Ada estfabula!" " CARPE DIEM." THE Rev. Joshua Sparks was laid to rest in the village -1- churchyard and his old housekeeper, Martha, was buried beside him.

He was oue of three children whose parents had removed from Yorkshire about the time of the great French revolution to a village in the eastern midlands. On the death of their parents, the three inherited a small estate, the proceeds of which were equally divided. Joshua became a clergyman of the Established Church, Peter entered the army, and their sister Lydia married and removed to London. Joshua was fortunate enough to obtain the living of Malton when he was not more than thirty-five years of age, and he held it for the long period of fifty years. His career, so far as we have been able to trace it, proved an uneventful one. The living of Malton, although not very rich, was one which had yielded him an income far more than sufficient to provide for his simple mode of living, seeing that he was of quiet, studious habits, and remained a bachelor all his life.

It is not sur prising, therefore, to find that in the course of a long life he had amassed a considerable sum of money. He seems to have been one of those old-fashioned individuals, who pray daily to be guided aright in the management of their " secular " affairs ; and certainly, the record states, he evinced a shrewd ness in dealing with his savings, that mauy a more worldlyminded, and altogether prayerless man, might well have admired and envied. But, although the career of the Rev. Joshua Sparks was what we should call an uneventful one, it was not altogether devoid of incident. In his younger days, he appears to have made the " grand tour " — a great undertaking in those early times when Cook and Gaze were unknown. Then, too, he was the author of a book of a polemical character, in which he claimed to have completely demolished the arguments of the famous author of the Age of Reason, although his controversial methods might not be appreciated in these days.

But certain it is, whatever we may think about it now, the Rev. Joshua Sparks was in his day considered a very solid controversialist of the old " high and dry " school. What is far more important to note, his life appears to have been a blameless one. He is recorded to have lived amongst his parishioners in the days when absentee parsons were numerous ; to have preached to them, advised them, and indeed, generally assisted them, to the best of his ability, both as to their temporal and spiritual necessities. He is further declared to have exhibited, in his daily life, an unostentatious piety, equally removed from cant and from sensationalism, and to have been a simple-minded christian gentleman ; an old-fashioned churchman, whose word was his bond — a kind neighbour, and a good friend to the poor of his parish.

Someone, indeed, has left it on record that he used to preach a trifle above the heads of his not very intellectual congregation ; but, if this was so, his parishioners freely forgave him ; indeed, they generally enjoyed a quiet nap during the sermon. In short, all respected the old parson of Malton ; and some were wont to say, that when he passed away, they should miss him much. His brother Peter entered the army and became Captain Sparks. He served iu the Peninsula war with credit, and on " CABPE DIEM." 15 more than one occasion received favourable mention in the despatches of the great Duke. Marrying somewhat late in life, he died some years before Joshua, leaving an only sou, named after himself, to inherit his small patrimony. The brothers met only on rare occasions, for they resided in different counties ; but, whenever Captain Sparks visited the Malton Rectory during the later years of his life, he brought his son with him, and commended him to his brother's consideration.

Thus young Peter became early imbued with the idea that he had "great expectations" from his Uncle Joshua. Probably the said expectations had a deleterious effect upon the youth's character. At any rate, his waywardness gave his father much uneasiness before the latter's death. Captain Sparks was himself every inch a gentleman, but he was power less to restrain his son. He admonished him oftentimes, and to the last hoped he would reform ; not forgetting on such occasions to point out to the young man, the necessity he was under of cultivating the good opinion of his uncle, the parson. Young Peter certainly heeded his father's advice thus far, for he omitted no opportunity of ingratiating himself with his uncle, and after his father's death he continued to pay frequent visits to the Malton Rectory, and, as we have seen, was present when the old man died.

He lost no time in making his preparations for realizing his uncle's effects, and taking possession of his estate. But way ward as he was, he would probably have carried out the old parson's testamentary directions faithfully enough had he not come across an acquaintance at this critical time, whose suggestions led him to deviate far more than he originally intended from his duty as a faithful executor. As matters stood, there was an injunction laid upon him to search out the descendants of his Aunt Lydia (the old parson's sister), and to distribute amongst them, if more than one survived, a sum of £15,000. Failing any such descendants living, Peter would have the whole of his uncle's money. As it was, he was sole executor and residuary legatee. Peter Sparks was wayward and reckless, but not altogether bad.

Indeed, there was an impulsive generosity in his compo sition, and much latent capacity for good ; but, unluckily, in his reckless bravado, he confided to one, Jacob Bobbin, the exact position in which he stood. This Jacob Bobbin was at the time a solicitor's clerk, and Peter Sparks had invited him to help him iu going through his deceased uncle's effects. The two were having a glass of wine together, a few days after the funeral, when their conversation turued upon the necessary steps to be taken in regard to proving the will. " I suppose you have not much chance of making money, Jacob," said Peter, as he lighted a cigar. " No, I have not. I should like to have the chance, though." " Ah ! " remarked Peter Sparks, meditatively pouring out another glass of wine. " Money is a good thing to possess, Jacob.

A grand thing. You were never blessed with an uncle fool enough to save up a fortune for you to spend, were you ? " " If such had been the case, I assure you, I should think more of adding to it than of spending it, Mr. Sparks," replied Jacob, who was very deferential iu his demeanour to the heir. Peter laughed. "You have no soul, Jacob. What is money for but to spend? I intend to enjoy myself. Carpe diem is my motto." " That is all very well," replied the other, " but I wish I had your chance. I would die a rich man." " CJBPE DIEM." 17 " What is the use of dying rich, Jacob ? Live while you may, say I." " And will you go out of your way to find these relatives, whom you have never seen, aud of whose existence you have no proof ? " enquired Jacob suddenly. " Why, what else would you have me do ?

I must carry out the will," replied Peter Sparks. " What are you driving at, Jacob ? " " I was only thinking, that's all," remarked the other, evasively. "Excellent young man!" exclaimed Peter. "I verily believe, Jacob, you wouldn't be very particular how you came by it, if you could get a chance of making some money for yourself, now, would you ? " " You say you never saw this Aunt Lydia, nor do you know whether she has any descendants," pursued the lawyer's clerk. " She died before I was born," said Peter, " so of course I never saw her. But I have heard my father say she married and went to live in London. I don't know any more. I suppose I must advertise in the usual way." " What a pity," mused Jacob. " What's a pity ? " " To throw away £15,000, Mr. Sparks. Now I could help you in this matter, I think.

Let me see what the will does say." " Here it is," said Peter carelessly. " Read it and welcome," and he tossed him a bundle of papers, amongst which was the document in question. Jacob Bobbin undid the bundle and perused the will. But while replacing that document, he noticed another beneath it. " Why, this is the very thing, ready made to our hands, Mr. Sparks ! " he suddenly exclaimed. " If this had only been signed ! " B " What have you got hold of now ? " enquired Peter, laughing. You look as if you expected a fortune yourself." " I could get that document completed for a suitable con sideration. Read it," and Jacob Bobbiu looked meaningly at Peter Sparks, and handed him the paper. Peter Sparks read the document, and, as he read it, became interested. After having carefully perused it, he looked at Jacob Bobbin fixedly for some minutes in silence.

"This document is of later date than the other, too," remarked he at length. " The very thing, Mr. Sparks. Suppose now it were completed and proved, who would know but ourselves ? " " One other at least. There must be two witnesses even if the signature were here. Don't be a fool, Jacob." "Listen. I will put everything in order for £5,000. You will be £10,000 the richer, and I shall get a start and shall make money. Is it a bargain ? " Peter Sparks sat considering a good while. Now he came to think of it, his various sprees and escapades had already exhausted the modest competence his father, the Captain, had left him. Owing to the old parson's living to such a protracted age, he was hard up at thirty. Ten thousand pounds was a lot of money. Why should he not keep it ? " Jacob, you are a genius," he exclaimed at length ; " that is if you can do it without getting me into trouble."

" Nothing easier, if it's a bargain," replied the other. " Let me have all these papers to take home with me, aud I will return them to you in a complete state. When I return them to you, you may bring them to my firm without fear. Of course you will put the business through my office." " Very well," was the careless reply. " I intend to have my 'fling,' I can tell you— live like a fighting cock, my boy. Have another glass of wine, Jacob. It will put spirit into you." " Five thousand pounds will enable me to make £50,000 " CARPE DIEM." 19 Mr. Sparks," replied the lawyer's clerk, with a grim smile. " No more wine, thank you. It is a matter of business with me." " It's a pity a model young man like you should not get a start in life," commented Peterj as he helped himself to another glass. JOHN HUMBER.

LYDIA SPARKS married and removed to London, where she died, at a comparatively early age, leaving an only daughter. This daughter had grown up, and was married, before young Peter Sparks was born, also residing in London ; and, strangely enough, she also died, leaving an only daughter, who married one John Humber, who carried on the business of a soap manufacturer in Camberwell. It is to the events which were taking place at Camberwell about the time of the decease of the Rev. Joshua Sparks, that the reader's attention is for a moment directed. John Humber, the husband of the grand-niece of the Rev. Joshua Sparks, was about as unlikely a man to succeed in the business of making soap (or indeed, in any other business, poor fellow), as you could possibly find. Yet he started with a small capital of his own, which was further augmented on his marriage, by the addition of a little money, which had thus far been handed down intact from Lydia Sparks to her grand daughter ; aud John Humber certainly had a better start than a great many other men who have made fortunes.

But he was not born with the money-making faculty in him. He always managed to buy in the dearest market, and to sell in the cheapest, thus perversely reversing the established order of things, to the detriment of his own pecuniary welfare. He seems to have had a soft heart, too, for he is said to have often JOHN HUMBER. 21 gone out of his way to assist other people, while he possessed the means to do so. Moreover, some of the very persons who most pitied him for having such a soft heart, were wont to prove the genuineness of their commiseration by borrowing money from him, which they afterwards forgot to re-pay ; surely a most reprehensible mode of pity. John Humber, once upon a time, it is recorded, took into his employ a young man from the country ; and, when the said young man showed a peculiar aptitude for business, actually advanced him money to start on his own account.

The young man's name was Jonathan Bobbin, an enterprising fellow, and the brother of the lawyer's clerk, Jacob Bobbin, already mentioned. Even in this matter, John Humber proved that he was not born to make money, otherwise he would have perceived, what many au inferior man would have instinctively recognised, namely, that in choosing the right man, and in securing his services, lies the road to success. John Humber ought, had he been wise, to have retained Jonathan Bobbin's services. A money-making man would have utilized the energy and enterprise of Jonathan Bobbin to his own profit, and would certainly never have dreamed of assisting such a one into business on his own account. However, Jonathan Bobbin was not ungrateful or unmindful of John Humber's large heartedness, as he subsequently proved.

John Humber eventually got into difficulties ; and, although his wife might have appealed to her grand-uncle, had she been acquainted with him, no step of that kind was taken. In fact, the existence of grand-uncle and grand-niece was scarcely known to each other. That his sister Lydia might have descendants living, was certainly sometimes in the old parson's thoughts ; that her grandmother's brother might be still alive, occasionally crossed Mrs. Humber's mind. But no advance was made on either side during the old parson's life-time. The duty of search for such possible descendants of Lydia Sparks, was made incumbent upon young Peter Sparks, by the last injunctions of his uncle, both orally, and in writing— that was all. So matters grew from bad to worse with John Humber, until the rumour of his difficulties reached Jonathan Bobbin, who promptly intervened, and arranged the affairs of his former employer to the best of his ability, compounding with the most importunate creditors, and otherwise setting matters in order ; not even hesitating to advance his own money for the purpose.

But John Humber never held up his head again. His failure broke his heart. And commending his daughter Julia, then a little child of two years old (as well as her mother), to the care of Jonathan Bobbin, John Humber incontinently departed this life, without ever struggling to regain his position. A conversation which was held between them, soon after Jonathan Bobbin had smoothed matters over with John Humber's creditors, aptly illustrates the widely differing characters of the two men ; the one born to fail — the other born to succeed ; the one despondent — and the other hopeful. "You have been a true friend to me, Jonathan," said John Humber ; "but I feel I have not long to live ; and, if I did live, I know I should never prosper in business as you do." " Nonsense, man ! " exclaimed the other, in a cheery tone ; " you will make a fortune yet.