Murray Murgatroyd, Journalist

Front matter

Hurray Murgatroyd. Journalist IBY CHARLES MORICE LAWRC. ICE *7BUt.L TEQ Murray Murgatroyd, Journalist "Where the marvel comes in is in knowledge that so momentous a step, involving as the event proved the expenditure of millions of money and thousands of lives, should have been settled, not in Cabinet Council, but upon the authority of the Minister within whose department the question fell." — From Behind the Speakers Chair. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. A STARTLING COMMISSION ... ... ... I II. JEMMY JORDAN ... ... ... ... 14 III. ANGLOPHOBIA ... 33 IV. DOUBTS ... ... ... ... ... 44 V. COUNTER-PLOT ... ... ... ... 54 VI. WHAT THE NIGHT HID ... ... ... 69 VII. A HOT PURSUIT ... ... ... ... 84 VIII. IN THE TRAIN ... ... ... ... QO IX. A FRESH ALLY ... ... ... ... 101 X. WAITING ... ... ... ... ... 109 XI.

RUN TO EARTH ... ... ... ... Il6 XII. CHECKMATED... ... ... ... ... 124 XIII. THOMPSON-HALLIDAY ... ... ... 131 XIV. JORDAN MAKES HIS BOW ... ... ... 138 XV. 'IN THE HOUSE' ... ... ... ...

Chapter I

A STARTLING COMMISSION " Is Sir Richard Hanley at home ? " " No, sir ! but, excuse me, are you Mr. Murgatroyd ?" " I am." " Then, sir, would you be pleased to wait ? Sir Richard will be home in a few minutes." And the footman showed the way across the wide hall, to the small sanctum set apart for the master. Murgatroyd was a barrister by profession ; a journalist by choice ; a man of the world by the attrition of multiple experience — and still young ; and Sir Richard Hanley's study interested him because he peopled it with fancies, which could not be widely divergent from facts. Within these four walls history had been shaped during these last few throbbing weeks. From it had gone forth decisions which had affected the B markets in Capel Court and Wall Street ; cable grams in which the selection of a word meant war or peace.

Murgatroyd had never met Sir Richard Hanley. He had seen him scores of times in crushes at political receptions, in the great studios on Show Sunday, at meetings where he had been cheered to the echo, and where he had been howled down and almost hustled ; — in the House of Com mons shaping a policy from the corner seat of the front bench on the Government side, or with masterly analysis picking one to pieces, when in the cold shade of Opposition. Murgatroyd, who had never shaken him by the hand, was not aware that the great man — greater than ever to-day — even knew his name. Yet in his pocket lay a letter of three lines — "Sir Richard Hanley will be much obliged if Mr. Murray Murgatroyd will kindly call upon him between the hours of 6 and 7 p.m. to-morrow — Jan. 1 6th. "21 Cur 2 on Street, May fair."

No reason was given. Sir Richard was a man who habitually anticipated obedience, and generally got it. Like a street block before a skilful driver, engagements had a trick of vanishing away, before his nod. He had nodded — the nod of a nineteenth-century Jove — at Murgatroyd ; and Murgatroyd had come. The door opened, and the visitor rose, expecting to meet his host and learn the reason of his sum mons, when a young girl hastily entered. " I beg your pardon. I thought my father was here ; I want him particularly." But Murgatroyd was paying little attention to what she said. He was not insensible to beauty which ran on ordinary lines ; but this face impressed him because of its rarity. However, he managed to stammer out — " I am waiting for Sir Richard — by appointment. I was told he would be home shortly."

Then, seeing her disappointment and underlying distress — " Can I be of any service ? Has anything hap pened to distress you ? " Miss Hanley choked down a sob. " Yes, I'm dreadfully put out ; but I don't know whether you can help me — or even father," she added. " I've been robbed in St. James's Park. Oh, not violently! A man brushed against me as I was running after my dog Charley — a dachshund ; he apologized for a moment before he passed on ; and I thought he was a gentleman. When I caught Charley — I always take him for a walk every day, unless I am riding or driving with father — I wanted to see what time it was ; and my watch was gone." Here Miss Hanley began to cry in earnest. " It was given me by my mother just before she died," she sobbed. Murgatroyd would like to have taken her into his arms and comforted her ; but the situation would hardly have justified the proceeding.

Besides, it might not have produced the desired effect, rather the reverse. " I am so sorry ! Are you sure it was stolen ? The watch might have dropped, in the grass, when you picked up the dog." For answer, Miss Hanley held up the chain. While Murgatroyd was examining it, perhaps with unnecessary care, for it was evident, at a glance, that the links had been snapped with a sharp instrument of some kind, Sir Richard came into the room. Neither of them heard him open the door. He naturally seemed surprised to see his daughter and the stranger in such close juxtaposition. Miss Hanley threw her arms round Sir Richard's neck ; and then rapidly related the circumstances. So it came about that the journalist was the third person in an interesting personal interview between Sir Richard Hanley and his daughter, which was not exactly the purpose for which he had been summoned.

" We must of course communicate with the police at once ; but I am afraid, my dear, the chances of recovery are small. Was there any thing by which you could identify the man who brushed against you ? " "Yes, father, even in that second I could not help noticing how deep-set his eyes were — his brows overhung them ; his eyebrows were very thick. I am sure I should know him again." A quick glance passed over Murgatroyd's face. As a journalist he was brought into contact with all sorts and conditions of men. He thought he could put a name to this one. He interposed diffidently. " Will you leave it to me, Sir Richard ? I know the Scotland Yard people pretty well ; I fancy I can give them a shrewd idea of the culprit." Miss Hanky's face brightened up. The smiles chased away the tears. " Oh, thank you ; I shall be grateful if you succeed."

"You can't expect gratitude if you fail, Mr. Murgatroyd. It rewards successful effort — some times ; never failure." The statesman had spoken in his clear-cut tones, with marked emphasis. " Oh, I didn't mean that. I shall appreciate your kindness and trouble just the same." Murgatroyd bowed and smiled. " Now, my dear, you must leave us. Mr. Mur gatroyd has come for a few minutes' conversation with me." Miss Hanley took her conge, with a little pout, shaking hands with Murgatroyd. " Don't keep him too long ; I want him. Besides, I want you to find my watch for me." " I will do my best." And there was something about him which implied that when Murgatroyd tried hard, he not unfrequently succeeded. Sir Richard was standing watching him through his pince-nez, while he was looking at Maud Hanley.

It was a glance that read men with remarkable accuracy. Hanley was not to be deceived. His look cut to the quick like a scalpel. On this occasion he did not look dissatisfied. " You wonder naturally why I sent for you ! " " I could hardly think you knew of my existence, Sir Richard." The statesman smiled. " You have been known to me for some time through your work. A year ago," — Sir Richard was by this time sitting at his table ; he re freshed his memory from a memorandum pinned to a standing desk, — " it was on January 7 last year, an article appeared on the front page of the Pioneer on the Tonquin difficulty. I was struck by it. The writer could not have known what I did ; but intuition had helped him. He had divined the course diplomacy was taking. In this respect the article was singular.

Journalism, as a rule, unless it is inspired, is content with a limited vision. I thought little of it at the time ; but as foreign complications ensued, I noticed again and again the same hand — recognizing it more by the bold ness of its outlook, than by any peculiar turns of phraseology. I wished to know whose pen had raised the Pioneer into prominence — and my notice. My secretary found out from your chief. The name given me was, ' Mr. Murray Murgatroyd.' " Sir Richard paused to note the effect of his words. There was an unmistakable glow of pleasure beneath the journalist's clear skin, suffusing his olive complexion with a warmer hue than its wont. " You are very kind." " I am just. That is all. I have little time to be kind." Sir Richard went on : " But I did not send for you to tell you this, or to waste your time.

I sent for you because I was in need of some one with bright intelligence, a gentleman, and at the same time not connected with the Government." Sir Richard paused and then proceeded. "Whether you accept my sug gestions or not, you will regard them as absolutely confidential." " Certainly, Sir Richard." " I may say that I have obtained the permission of your chief to make use of your services for a time, if you are agreeable." " There is nothing I should like better." " Wait a little ! Mr. Gillray, the editor of the Pioneer, does not know the details of the work I have in view for you ; but he is willing to be responsible for it, if necessary. You are aware of all the particulars of the Transalpian controversy which have reached the public. In fact, an article you wrote in the Pioneer a couple of nights ago shows that you have mastered the somewhat diffi cult points of the triangular duel with your usual accuracy and judgment.

What you do not know I am about to tell you." Sir Richard fixed his pince-nez on the bridge of his nose, and was watching Murgatroyd with his usual concentrated attention. " I am very much interested." " As you have gathered, the whole crux of the situation lies in a narrow neck of land, not more than a few thousand acres. If eighty years ago there was documentary evidence that those acres were recognized by the Transalpian Government as within the sphere of British influence, the rest follows." Sir Richard unfolded a map which was lying before him, with other documents, and indi cated the place with his finger. Murgatroyd had drawn his chair close. He scanned the map with intelligent interest. "Yes, of course, that would settle the matter. They would not have a leg to stand on." " That evidence is in existence," the great states man went on in the same cold, calm tones.

" We know it for a fact." " But surely it can be obtained. It must be obtained." Murgatroyd was deeply excited, and his eyes glowed with the fire of which his mind supplied the fuel. In this respect he was a great contrast to his vis-a-vis, who had infinitely more at stake. " That depends upon yourself." " Upon me ? " Yet the statement did not take the listener by surprise. For he had felt the preface had been leading up to the commission. "Yes, I have fixed upon you — after long de liberation. It is not altogether a pleasant task apart from its difficulty ; but I think, if I read you right, you will shirk neither the difficulty nor the unpleasantness." " That I certainly will not." " The papers are in the possession of a certain Mr. Muller, who lives in a remote Devonshire village called Tormouth.

It lies out of the beaten track, four miles from a railway station — Bishops Monkland ; the last part of the way is covered by a coach. Bishops Monkland, as probably you know, is on the main line of the S.W.R." " I have heard of it ; although Devonshire is a terra incognita to me." " WTe have tried to get at Mr. Muller by every means in our power, without directly approaching him ourselves ; but he has proved obdurate. He is a German by extraction, and in politics he is opposed to us." " Most men have a price: " We cannot find his. Perhaps you can. He is rich, and has only two weaknesses, I am told — horses and whist. If you are willing to go west, you will have -to make his acquaintance through one of these channels. You ride, I am informed, remarkably well, and most men play whist." " The ' Celestials ' require it as one of the thirty nine articles of membership."

"A proof of their discretion. I want you to understand that we do not care about the originals, as long as we can speak with absolute confidence of the exact expressions used in the parchments. In fact, if we can show our trumps there will be no necessity to play the hand out. Our opponents abroad and our critics at home — the debate, as you know, will come on with the Address in about a fortnight's time — will cave in if these documents contain what we feel assured they do; but some one must see them and make a copy. That some one is yourself. You understand, Mr. Murgatroyd ? " " Perfectly." " In any case the Government knows nothing of you if you fail — and only indirectly if you succeed — unless the papers are handed to you voluntarily for our use." " Which you do not anticipate ? " " Which I do not anticipate.

The papers, we have reason to know, are kept in a safe in Mr. Muller's bedroom. One word more as to getting to know him — for that is essential. I understand he frequently sends over to the hotel — a well-known hunting and fishing centre ; I forget what it is called, but there is only one — for some one to make up his whist-table ; and a hunting stranger well mounted is almost sure of an invitation to dinner, for Mr. Muller is nothing if not hospitable. With these two strings to your bow, the entre'e ought not to be difficult ; it is not the premier but the dernier pas which is the crux this time." " How about the 'well mounted ' ? I have a horse in town which has often carried me with the Queen's Stag-hounds." " Do not trouble, Mr. Murgatroyd. A friend of ours will send you a couple over to the hotel which will stand Mr. Muller's scrutiny."

"Supposing any questions are asked about them." " The best of a question is that it need not be answered. There is always the alternative of asking another." " Especially when a journalist is interrogated ? " " I was thinking of diplomatists." Both men had risen. " Nothing has been said about a reward for your services — if you merit one." Sir Richard was looking at his ally. The latter flushed — this time not with pleasure. " Do not be annoyed. I could not receive, and you could not give — to me — a great service demand ing time, tact, and trouble without a recompense. I have tried to find out what you would like." " I do not know myself." " I do." Murgatroyd looked at him with mute surprise. Sir Richard half smiled. " I have not pried into your private affairs ; but the gossip of the clubs tells me you are a journalist by choice, not necessity, and that ample means leave you independent of the financial rewards of a profession which attracts you from the power at the back of it.

You regard the Press as the pulpit of the State ? " "That is true." " There is another sphere — the House of Com mons. In the Press the individual, however versa tile and accomplished in these days of unsigned philippics, sinks his personality in the paper. To sway the House of Commons, to quicken it to en thusiasm, to win its critical applause — this is an experience, personal and individual, all your own." Then changing his tone and lowering his voice to the confidential pitch — " What do you say, Mr. Murgatroyd, to a seat in the House of Commons ? " " I should like it above all things." " One of our side is only waiting the signal to retire — his seat is perfectly safe, the majority runs well into four figures — there is a delightful buoy ancy and freedom about a four-figure majority. The constituency is a Metropolitan one."

Then after a pause — " I have the absolute disposal of it, although we do not exactly say that — to the constituency; which of course makes an unfettered choice" — the last sentence with a sarcastic in flection well known and valued in the House of Commons. " It will certainly be offered to the man who helps us to circumvent the enemies of our country and of our party." He rang the bell and a footman appeared. The interview was over. As Murgatroyd crossed the hall, a light, quick step passed simultaneously over the linoleum from a room opposite. Maud Hanley was lying in wait for him. She had changed her gown, and was already in evening dress, showing a shapely neck to advantage, re minding Murgatroyd of Shakspeare's phrase, ' Cut in alabaster,' — only with a very different application. Maud, with that indifference alike to convention ality and the possible effect of what she does, which often marks the very young girl brought up without a mother, seized Murgatroyd's hand — " You will get my watch back for me, won't you ? " Murgatroyd assured her he would try his utmost — and he meant it.

Chapter II Jemmy Jordan

Murgatroyd had comfortable bachelor quarters in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. On his return from Mayfair he found his sitting-room on the first floor tenanted by his friend Horace Bagguley, who was lounging in one chair, resting his feet on another, and propitiating solitude with a briar. " Hallo, Bagguley, you back ? " " Yes, safe and sound ; not even a touch of African fever to boast of, by way of a remin iscence." " Well, I'm precious glad to have you back. It would have been a long six months without you, if we had not been as busy as bees at the Pioneer!' " I recognized your fist in a copy I picked up at Southampton. I tell you what, my boy — you sell the Pioneer. People have got to fancy the paper knows a thing or two ; and knowledge is property just now in the Press world. I heard people talking about it in the train."

Horace Bagguley was a tall dark man, with piercing black eyes, and an aquiline nose. He had just returned from a six months' shooting tour in the Veldt. Like Murgatroyd, he was a barrister by profession, but he had been in the House nearly ten years, representing the Cheshire constituency in which his estates lay. " Don't you feel inclined to kick sometimes at hiding your light under a bushel, old chap — for the Pioneer is a bushel to you — especially as the ducats are of no consequence in your case ? " " It is all experience," replied Murgatroyd. He added : " Experience is power of a kind as well as knowledge." " Well, yes, it's experience of a sort; but one is apt to get shoppy. That editorial ' we ' is so impregnable in the office, and so insignificant else where, that the office-coat gets magnified into a toga."

" Really you are getting quite didactic. When did this vein of heavy humour seize you, most potent Horace ? " " Oh, one has time to think on board ship, especially if you don't care about either poker or flirtation. So I took the trouble to think about you a bit." " On the principle that ' the proper study of man kind is man,' eh ? " " There you are shoppy again. I know all those dictionary-of-quotation things by heart, simply from the way they are sneaked into every article, to turn journalism into — what it never can be or ought to be — literature." " Bosh ! " "Very well ; you are running to seed." " All the bigger crop by and by." " Weeds." " You are complimentary." "What are you going to do to-night ? Does the Pioneer claim you, or is it to be a little dinner at Delmonico's, and a theatre afterwards ?

I don't know a bit what's on." " I have some fish of my own to fry to-night, and I am going to give you a commission." " Quite dramatic ! " " You are my executor." " It has not come to that yet, I hope." Bagguley spoke lightly, but was watching his friend keenly all the same, under his dark brows. He recognized serious intention in the tones of Murgatroyd's voice. " I want you to look in here after the play — I advise Dalys. If I am not back, send a note you will find on this table to Inspector Murphy, Scot land Yard ; and see that he attends to it at once." " Alive or dead ? Surely this is not within the four corners of your duty towards your neighbour — -the chief of the Pioneer ? " " No ; for the first time in my life I'm going to do a woman's commission." " Where does it take you ? " " Soho way."

" You hardly look the part, " Oh, I shall dress for it ; I have the costume here. It is not the first time I have been into an opium den or a thieves' kitchen. Only this time I am in pursuit of stolen goods, and that is not always quite safe." " Why not send Murphy in the first instance ? " " Because I want the thief quite as much as the property." " I should have thought the police did too ? " " There is this difference — I want him to come willingly ; they prefer the persuasion of a pair of bracelets." " May I come with you ? " " I'm afraid not. The errand I'm on requires experience of a kind which you do not get even in South Africa." " Shall I wait while you dress ? " " If you like." In twenty minutes the door of the sitting-room opened, and an old man came in, with shaggy eyebrows, straggling beard and whiskers, and a coat patched and stained.

Bagguley stared speechless with amazement ; then he laughed. " By Jove, it's a good thing I knew whom to expect. Why, even a dun wouldn't know you in that get-up." c A wrinkled smile distorted the features of the singularly ugly old man. "Yes, I think it will do — for an opium den. Now I must be off." Murgatroyd threw up the window and whistled twice. After a few minutes a growler drew up at the door. " Better stay here till I'm gone." After summoning the cab, Murgatroyd had scribbled a few lines on a sheet of paper. He now placed this in an envelope, directed it, and threw it into the middle of the table. " That's the note to tell them to look for me." " All right, I'll attend to it, if needs be, which I don't expect ; it will be a wily man who gets the better of you. Have you a knuckle-duster with you ?

" Murgatroyd placed his hand, which was wrinkled like his face, in the deep outside pocket of his coat, and drew out a six-chambered revolver, the daintiest little weapon, with a mother-of-pearl handle, ever fashioned by gunsmith's art. " 'Tis a pretty toy ; would make a hole in a man further than I'm likely to hit him." The friends shook hands. They were real friends and understood one another. Then Murgatroyd went down-stairs, gave a direction to the cabman, and drove away. Bagguley smoked another pipe. " A woman in the case — and anonymous — there is danger there if not here, and I don't know which is the worse of the two." For Bagguley had been bitten once — badly. Murgatroyd's errand was the result of a mental volte face. He had started for Scotland Yard, when he left Curzon Street, but a new thought had struck him.

The description, brief as it was, Maud Hanley had given fitted to a nicety a character the journalist had come across on more than one occasion. ' Jemmy Jordan,' as his mates called him — it was more than probably far remote from his real name — was one of the best known characters in that manufactory of strange types — Soho. That he was an expert thief, the police were well aware ; and Murgatroyd had met him in the Courts more than once ; but Jemmy had the alertness of an eel, and had invariably escaped conviction. He was addicted to opium in a modified blend with shag — it was his one weakness ; and when Mur gatroyd had occasion to do an opium den in pur suit of copy, Jemmy had been recommended as a guide, and a safe pioneer — when ' on his honour ' ; a qualification unsuspected by his casual acquaint ances, but upon which he prided himself as upon a pearl of great price.

Jemmy had the misfortune to have very bushy brows and the characteristics Maud Hanley had described. Although no one would have suspected it amid the shades of Soho, Jordan could walk the parks dressed in his best with the appearance of a prosperous City man— 'quite the toff,' as he himself ex pressed it. Murgatroyd wanted Jemmy. He thought he knew where he should find him, as the evening closed in. The den was only safe to the pals ; but the revolver in his pocket equalized matters in case of a skirmish. Dismissing his growler at the corner of a street, Murgatroyd plunged into a side alley, which landed him in a court. He hesitated a moment or two, and then went up to a door which had a partially defaced 3 upon it. He knocked twice, paused while one might count fifty, and then knocked again, a loud single knock.

There was a shuffling footstep, and an old man peered out. Apparently satisfied with the appearance of his visitor, the janitor threw the door back. Murgatroyd gave him an order in the words and tone which became his character of a German Jew, and then went on down the passage, opened the end door, and walked in. It was necessary that no suspicions as to his familiarity with the place should be raised in the mind of the doorkeeper. The room had half-a-dozen men in it, all smok ing, although the night was as yet young. The fumes of the opium hung in a dense mass in mid air. A flaring gas-jet, hanging from the low ceiling, failed to light the apartment, which was long enough to accommodate twenty or thirty loungers. not here, and I don't know which is the worse of the two." For Bagguley had been bitten once — badly.

Murgatroyd's errand was the result of a mental volte face. He had started for Scotland Yard, when he left Curzon Street, but a new thought had struck him. The description, brief as it was, Maud Hanley had given fitted to a nicety a character the journalist had come across on more than one occasion. ' Jemmy Jordan,' as his mates called him — it was more than probably far remote from his real name — was one of the best known characters in that manufactory of strange types — Soho. That he was an expert thief, the police were well aware ; and Murgatroyd had met him in the Courts more than once ; but Jemmy had the alertness of an eel, and had invariably escaped conviction. He was addicted to opium in a modified blend with shag — it was his one weakness ; and when Mur gatroyd had occasion to do an opium den in pur suit of copy, Jemmy had been recommended as a guide, and a safe pioneer — when ' on his honour ' ; a qualification unsuspected by his casual acquaint ances, but upon which he prided himself as upon a pearl of great price.

Jemmy had the misfortune to have very bushy brows and the characteristics Maud Hanley had described. Although no one would have suspected it amid the shades of Soho, Jordan could walk the parks dressed in his best with the appearance of a prosperous City man— 'quite the toff,' as he himself ex pressed it. Murgatroyd wanted Jemmy. He thought he knew where he should find him, as the evening closed in. The den was only safe to the pals ; but the revolver in his pocket equalized matters in case of a skirmish. Dismissing his growler at the corner of a street, Murgatroyd plunged into a side alley, which landed him in a court. He hesitated a moment or two, and then went up to a door which had a partially defaced 3 upon it. He knocked twice, paused while one might count fifty, and then knocked again, a loud single knock.