The Strange Adventures of Mr. Middleton Page 5

  _What Befell Mr. Middleton Because of the Third Gift of the Emir._

  Putting the scarabaeus in his left trousers pocket, Mr. Middletondeparted, and as he went about his affairs during the next severaldays, he ceased to think of the talisman, but on the fourth day hisattention was recalled to it in a way that indeed seemed to prove thatit was a charm possessed of the powers the emir of the tribe of Al-Yamhad attributed to it. He was faring northward in a street car ateleven of the morning, diverting himself with the study of thepassengers sitting opposite, when he became aware that the scarabaeusin his left trousers pocket was slowly traveling up his leg. Had thetalisman been other than the heavy object it was, he would not havenoticed it, but it was of too considerable weight to travel over hisperson without making its progress felt. Deterred by none of thesuperstitious tremors which the unaccountable peregrinations of thegold beetle would have excited in one less intrepid, he quickly thrusthis hand into his pocket to close it over another hand already there,a hand which beyond a first little start to escape, lay passive andunresisting, a hand soft and delicate, yet well-muscled withal,long-fingered and finely formed. At the same time, a well-modulatedvoice at his side exclaimed:

  "Why, I did not recognize you at first. I was not looking when youcame and you evidently did not notice me."

  "No, I did not," said Mr. Middleton, composedly, still retaining hisgrasp upon the hand in his pocket. "I cannot see that you have changedany," he continued, scrutinizing the young woman at his side, for shewas young and, moreover, of a very pleasing presence, and he did notaltogether rebel against the circumstances that allowed him to fondlethe hand of one so comely. The day, which had begun with a slightchill, had turned off warm and she had removed her cloak, which, lyingacross her own lap and partially across Mr. Middleton's, had been theblind behind which she had introduced her hand into the pocket wherereposed the fateful talisman.

  The persons in the car seemed to take an interest in this suddenrecognition on the part of a pair who had been riding side by side forso long, oblivious of each other's identity. Moreover, the young womanwas tastefully gowned and of a very smart appearance, while Mr.Middleton's new suit became him and fitted him nicely and altogetherthey were a couple nearly any one would find pleasure in looking upon.A slight movement to withdraw the hand lying within his own, causedMr. Middleton's grasp to tighten and almost simultaneously, the youngwoman at his side leaned forward and with a look in which sorrow andpain were mingled, said in a lowered voice:

  "Oh, I have such a dreadful thing to tell you about our friend Amy. Ihate to tell you, but as I wish to bespeak your kind offices, I mustdo so. I am going to ask you to be the agent of a restitution. Shehas, oh, she has become a kleptomaniac. With every luxury, with herfine home on the Lake Shore Drive, with all her father's wealth, withno want money can gratify, she takes things. In her circumstances itis out of the question to call it stealing. It is a mania, a form ofinsanity. When she is doing it, she seems to be in the grasp of someother mind, to be another person, and her actions are involuntary,unconscious. Then she seems to come to herself, when her agony isdreadful to behold."

  The young woman's voice broke a little here, she paused a moment toresume control of herself, and perceiving her eyes swimming with tearsand her lips quivering with unhappiness, Mr. Middleton was penetratedwith pity and pressed most tenderly and sympathetically the delicatehand of which he was temporarily custodian.

  "She took things in stores, trumpery, cheap things. She took magazinesand penny papers from news stands. But oh, she descended to thedreadful depths of--oh, I can hardly tell it--she was detected intrying to pick a man's pocket. It is here that I wish to employ you asan agent of restitution, or rather retribution, I should say. Will youplease take this ring off my left hand and take it to the man shetried to rob? I cannot use the fingers of my right hand owing totemporary incapacitation," and she held out to Mr. Middleton her lefthand, upon the third finger of which gleamed a splendid ring ofdiamonds and emeralds. Mr. Middleton possessed himself of this secondhand, but paused, and regarding the sweet face turned up to his sobeseechingly, so piteously, said:

  "But that would be compounding a felony. And how do you know the manwill not have her arrested anyway?"

  "The man is a gentleman and having heard her story, will not think ofsuch a thing. You are to ask him to accept the ring not as a price forimmunity from arrest, but as a punishment, a retribution to Amy. Theloss of the ring, which she has commissioned me to get to thisgentleman in some manner, will be a lesson she is only too anxious togive herself, a forcible reminder, as it were. Let me beg of you toundertake this commission."

  All the while, Mr. Middleton was retaining hold of both the hands ofthe sorrowful young woman. Had they been other than the soft andshapely hands they were, had they been hard and gnarled and large,long before would he, melted by compassion at the young woman's tale,have released her. But her very charms had been her undoing andbecause of her perfect hands, this tale has grown long. That he mighthave excuse in the eyes of the other passengers for holding the youngwoman's hand, Mr. Middleton removed the ring as he had been bidden,planning to return it shortly. As he removed the ring, he released thehand in his pocket and his plan was frustrated by the young womanstarting up with the exclamation that she had passed her corner, andspringing from the car. She was so far in advance of him, when hesucceeded in getting off the car and was walking so rapidly, that hecould not overtake her except by running, and he was averse toattracting the attention that this would occasion. So he determined toshadow her and ascertaining her residence, find some means ofrestoring the ring without the knowledge of her friends, as he had nodesire to do anything which might cause them to learn of herunfortunate infirmity, especially, as this last experience might haveworked a cure. She did indeed enter a stately mansion of the LakeShore Drive--but by the back door.

  Pondering upon this episode, Mr. Middleton went to an acquaintance whokept a large loan bank on Madison Street, who, after discovering thathe had no desire to pawn the ring, appraised it at seven hundreddollars.

  On the following evening, Mr. Middleton was replacing his new suit byhis old, as was his custom when he intended to remain in his room ofan evening. This example cannot be too highly commended to all youngmen. The amount which would be saved in this nation were all toeconomize in this way, would be sufficient to buy beer for all theTeutonic citizens of the large state of Illinois. As Mr. Middleton waschanging his clothes, the scarabaeus dropped from his pocket and as hepicked it up, a collar button fell from his neckband, and scramblingfor it as it rolled toward the unexplored regions under his bed, hetripped and sprawled at full length, his nose coming in sharp contactwith an evening paper lying on the floor. He was about to rise fromhis recumbent position, when his eyes, glancing along his nose todiscover if it had sustained any injury, observed that said memberrested upon a notice which read:

  "Lost, a diamond and emerald ring. $800 will be paid for its return and no questions asked. David O. Crecelius."

  The address was that of the house on the Lake Shore Drive which thekleptomaniac had entered! Once more did the scarabaeus seem to beexerting its influence. But for the talisman, he would never have seenthe notice, and a little shiver ran through him as he thought of this.Immediately he reclothed himself in his new suit.

  "There is time for me to think out a course of action between here andmy destination," said he. "The walking so conducive to reflection canbe much better employed in taking me toward the Lake Shore Drive, thanin uselessly pacing my room, and I'll be there when I get through."

  As he traveled eastward, he engaged in a series of ratiocinativeprocesses and the result of the deductive and inductive reasoningwhich he applied to the case in hand, was as follows:

  The kleptomaniac could hardly be a daughter of the house. She wouldhave entered by the front door. If she were the daughter of the house,she would not have had the ring advertised for, counting herselffortunate to get out of the difficu
lty so cheaply. However, if herparents had noted the absence of the ring, she might have said it waslost and so they advertised, but nothing could have been further fromher wishes, for there would be the great danger that the outcome ofthe advertisement would be a complete exposure. She could easilyprevent her parents noticing the ring was gone, at least makingsatisfactory explanations for not wearing it. With her wealth, shecould have it duplicated inside of a few days and her friends neverknow the original was lost. As this is what the daughter of the housein all probability would have done, the kleptomaniac could hardly havebeen the daughter of the house. He suspected that she was a lady'smaid, who, wearing her mistress's jewelry, had purchased her way outof one difficulty at the risk of getting into another. Theadvertisement would seem to indicate that she was trusted. Thedisappearance of the ring was apparently not connected with her. Thematter was very simple. He would hand over the ring and take the eighthundred dollars and need say nothing that would implicate the youngwoman, be she daughter of the house and kleptomaniac, or serving-maidand common thief. But one thing puzzled him. Why was the rewardgreater than the value of the ring?

  Eight hundred dollars. The young lady in Englewood was getting nearer.

  A bitter east wind was blowing as he walked up to the entrance of themansion of Mr. David Crecelius. Behind him the street lay all desertedand the melancholy voice of the waves filled the air. Nowhere could hesee a light about the house and he was oppressed by a feeling ofundefinable apprehension as he pressed the bell. A considerableinterval elapsing without any one appearing and a second and a thirdringing failing to elicit any response from within the silent pile, hewas about to depart, feeling greatly relieved that it was notnecessary to hold parley with any one within the gloomy and forbiddingedifice, when he heard a sudden light thud at his feet and discoveredthat the scarabaeus had dropped through a hole in his trousers' pocketwhich had at that moment reached a size large enough to allow it toescape. After a hurried search, he had possessed himself of thetalisman and was about to depart, when the door swung open before himand a venerable white-haired man stood in a dim green glow. Boldly didMr. Middleton enter, for had not the talisman delayed him until thevenerable man opened the door?

  "Come in, sir, come in," said the venerable man, whom Mr. Middletonsaw was none other than David O. Crecelius, the capitalist, whoseportraits he had seen again and again in the Sunday papers and theweekly papers of a moral and entertaining nature, accompanyingaccounts of his life and achievements, with exhortations to the youthof the land to imitate them, advice which Mr. Middleton then and thereresolved to follow, reflecting upon the impeccable sources from whichit emanated.

  "All the servants seem to be gone. My family is abroad and thehousehold force has been cut down, and I have given everybody leave togo out to-night, all but one maid, and she seems to have gone, too,"said Mr. Crecelius, leading Mr. Middleton into a spacious salon andseating him near where great portieres of a funereal purple moveduneasily in the superheated atmosphere of the house. At that moment, avoice from the hallway, a voice he had surely heard before, said:

  "Did some one ring? I am very sorry, but it was impossible for me tocome," and Mr. Middleton was aware that some one was looking hard atthe back of his head.

  "Yes. I let them in. It's no matter. Run away now."

  When Mr. Middleton had finished explaining the reason for his call andhad fished up the ring, Mr. Crecelius did not, as he had expected hewould, arise and make out a check for $800.

  "This ring," said that gentleman after a little pause, "have you itwith you?"

  Mr. Middleton glanced at the hollow of his left hand. He had fished upthe scarabaeus instead of the ring. But his left thumb soon showed himthe ring was safe in his vest pocket. The delay and caution of Mr.Crecelius, and above all, the prevention of the immediate delivery ofthe ring caused by the scarabaeus coming up in its stead caused Mr.Middleton to delay.

  "It can be produced," said he.

  "How did you get it?"

  "It came into my possession innocently enough so far as I wasconcerned. As to the person from whom I received it, that is adifferent matter, but though I made no promises, I feel I am in honorbound not to disclose that person's identity."

  As he uttered these words, Mr. Middleton saw the portiere at his siderustle slightly. It was not the swaying caused by the currents ofoverheated air.

  "I will give you two hundred dollars more to tell me who gave you orsold you the ring."

  "I cannot do that."

  "Very well. I'll only give you four hundred dollars reward."

  "The ring is worth more than that."

  "If you retain it, or sell it, you become a thief."

  "You have advertised eight hundred dollars reward and no questionsasked. I may have found it. Knowing of your loss through reading youradvertisement, I may have gone to great trouble to recover it. At anyrate, I have it. I deliver it. Your advertisement is in effect acontract which I can call upon you to carry out. The ring is not mine,but for my services in getting it, I am entitled to the eight hundreddollars you agree to give. You cannot give less."

  "Do you think it right to take advantage of my necessity in this way?You ought to accept less. The ring is not worth over seven hundreddollars. For returning it, three hundred dollars ought to be enough.It is wrong to drive a hard bargain by taking advantage of mynecessity."

  "You have built your fortune on such principles. You have engineeredcountless schemes and your dollars came from the straits you reducedothers to."

  "But do you think it right? What I may have done, does not justifyyou. I venture to say you and other young chaps have sat with heelscocked up and pipes in mouth and discussed me and called me a villainfor doing what you are trying to do with me."

  "I have indeed. But that was in the past and I have changed my viewsmaterially. At present, I have the exclusive possession of the abilityto secure something you very much want. You offered eight hundreddollars. Intrinsically, the ring is not worth it, but for certainreasons, possession of the ring is worth eight hundred dollars."

  "Possession of the ring! Certain reasons!" said Mr. Crecelius,springing to his feet and pacing up and down the room angrily. As Mr.Middleton was cudgelling his brains to find some reason for thisoutburst of anger, he became cognizant of a small piece of foldedpaper lying near his feet. He was about to pick it up and hand it tothe financier, when he was stayed by the reflection that it might havedropped from his own pocket and examining it, read:

  "It's his wife's ring. I wore it along with some of her other things. Ten years ago, he gave it to another woman, and his wife found it out and he had to buy it back. He is afraid his wife will think he gave the ring away a second time. That is why I dared give it to you. Make him give you a thousand.

  "The One You Didn't Give Away."

  Mr. Middleton put the note in his pocket, and the eminent capitalisthaving ceased pacing and standing gazing at him, he remarked:

  "Certain reasons, such as preventing an altercation with your wifeover her suspicions that you had not lost the ring, but had disposedof it as on a former occasion ten years since."

  "Young man, you cannot blackmail me. My wife knows all about that. Theknowledge of that occurrence is worthless as a piece of blackmail."

  "As blackmail, yes; but not worthless as an indication of the extentyou desire to regain possession of the ring. Your wife knows of yourformer escapade and that is gone and past. But the presentdisappearance of the ring will cause her to think you have repeatedthe escapade. This knowledge of certain conditions causes me to seethat my services in securing and delivering the ring are worth onethousand dollars. Upon the payment of that sum, cash, I hand you thering."

  The distinguished money-king gave Mr. Middleton a very black look andthen left the room to return almost immediately with a thousanddollars in bills, which Mr. Middleton counted, placed in his vestpocket, and forthwith delivered the ring. As he did so, yielding tothe pr
ide with which the successful outcome of his tilt with the greatcapitalist inflamed him, he remarked with a condescension which thesuavity of his tones could not conceal:

  "Had you, sir, employed in this affair the perspicacity you havedisplayed on so many notable occasions, it would have occurred to youthat this ring, being of a common pattern, could be duplicated forseven hundred dollars and so you be saved both money and worry."

  A look of admiration overspread the face of the eminent manipulator,and grasping Mr. Middleton's hand with great fervor, he exclaimed:

  "A man after my own heart. I am always ready to acknowledge a defeat.You have good stuff in you. I must know you better. You must stay andhave a glass of champagne with me. I will get it myself," and hehurried out of the room.

  In the state of Wisconsin, from which Mr. Middleton hailed, there is agreat deal of the alcoholic beverage, beer, but such champagne as isto be found there is all due to importation, since it is not native tothe soil, but is brought in at great expense from France, La BelleFrance, and New Jersey, La Belle New Jersey. Mr. Middleton had seen,smelled, and tasted beer, but champagne was unknown to him save byhearsay, and his improper curiosity and his readiness to succumb totemptation caused him to linger in the salon of Mr. Crecelius, therebynearly accomplishing his ruin. Suddenly there was a patter of lightsteps across the floor, a hand fell lightly on his shoulder and avoice lightly on his ear.

  "You made him raving mad when you said what you did. He telephoned thepolice. Now he has gone for the wine and will try to hold you untilthey come."

  "But he cannot arrest me. I have done nothing," said Mr. Middleton,his heart going pit-a-pat, in spite of the boldness of his words.

  "He can make all sorts of trouble for you. Even if you did come outall right in the end, think of the trouble. Come, come quick!"

  A soft hand had grasped one of his and he was up and away, followinghis fair guide up stairs, through the house, and down into thekitchen.

  "I have recovered my wits a bit," said Mr. Middleton. "He is so angrythat he has no thought but immediate vengeance, and so accordinglytelephones the police, and if they were to catch me here, it certainlywould be bad. But to-morrow he will be in a mood to appreciate thegood sense of the letter I shall send him, calling his attention tothe fact that if he arrests me, in the trial there must come out thereason why I demanded one thousand dollars, the story of his domesticindiscretion, and so he will not think of pursuing the matterfurther."

  "It was very kind and very noble of you not to expose me," said theyoung woman in a voice in which gratitude and sadness were mingled;"and all the admiration and gratitude a woman can feel under suchcircumstances, I feel toward you. To you I owe my continued good nameand even my very freedom. I know that marriage with such as you, isnot for such as me. I am going to ask you to give to her who wouldhave all, but expects and deserves nothing, the consolation of a kiss.Whatever happy maiden may be so fortunate as to receive your love, Ishall have treasured in memory the golden remembrance that once mypreserver bestowed on me the symbol of love."

  Mr. Middleton looked down at the girl, supplicating for the favor hersex is wont to deny, and he said to himself that seldom had he seen amore flower-like face. Her lovely lips were already puckered in a rosypout, her hands raised ready to rest on his shoulders as he shouldencircle her with his arms, when he noted with a start that her eyes,snapping, alert, and eager, were bent not upon his face, but upon hisupper left hand vest pocket, where bulged the one thousand dollars inbills.

  "I am more than honored and I shall be ravished with delight tocomply. But here, where we stand, we are exposed to view from threesides. If Mr. Crecelius were to look in and see you being kissed byme, whom he so dislikes, in what a bad plight you would be. Not evenfor the exquisite pleasure of kissing you would I subject you to sucha danger. But in the shadow by the outer door, we would not be seen."

  As he said these words, Mr. Middleton placed the money in his insidevest pocket, buttoned his vest, buttoned his inner coat, and buttonedhis overcoat, moving toward the outer door as he did so, the youngwoman following him more and more slowly, the light in her eyes dyingwith each successive buttoning. In fact, she did not enter into theshadow at all, and Mr. Middleton stepped back a bit when he threw hisarms about her and pressed her to his bosom. Perfunctorily and coldlydid she yield to his embrace, but whatever ardor was lacking on herpart, was compensated for by Mr. Middleton, who clasped her withexceeding tightness and showered kisses upon her pouting lips untilshe pushed him from her, exclaiming with annoyance:

  "You've kissed me quite enough, you great big softy."

  Mr. Middleton said nothing of these transactions when on the ensuingevening he sat in the presence of the young lady of Englewood, nor didhe, when on the evening thereafter he once more sat in the presence ofthe urbane prince of the tribe of Al-Yam. Having handed him a bowl ofdelicately flavored sherbet, Achmed began to narrate The Adventure ofNora Sullivan and the Student of Heredity.