As Berry and I Were Saying Read Online Free PDF Page B

bricks without straw. So he made a most admirable speech – but his peroration included a comparison which I would give much to forget. No English paper printed it, so that only those who heard it can repeat what he said. It was, to be frank, sheer blasphemy of the most atrocious sort. Had I not heard it, I never would have believed that any Christian would have spoken a sentence so shocking in open court. It was by no means a question of taste: it was a question of instinct. The effect of his words was most painful. Incredulous horror was reflected by every face. The Magistrate, Curtis Bennett, went white to the lips: Muskett turned red as fire: I thought the Magistrate’s Clerk was going to faint: Wells, who was sitting beside me, went purple: and everyone present seemed to have stopped breathing, as though they were expecting the hand of God to strike. Their demeanour shook—. He faltered in his speech, and his voice, so to speak, tailed off. Then he recovered, added a word or two, asking for his clients’ discharge, and resumed his seat. Had the matter been brought to the notice of the Bar Council, I sometimes think that he would have been disbarred. But the blasphemy was so shocking that nobody, I suppose, was minded to repeat it. I know I wouldn’t have repeated it for any money.
    “Superintendent Cresswell Wells of ‘A’ Division of the Metropolitan Police was a first-rate officer, a well-known and popular figure and a very nice man. To me, he was always kindness itself. On one of the days on which we were dealing with the militant suffragists at Bow Street, when the Magistrate adjourned for luncheon, Muskett and I hastened to the old Gaiety Restaurant, which did you very well. We had hardly taken our seats, when I noticed that I had forgotten to replace my wrist-watch, which I had laid on the pile of towels before me, before I washed my hands.”
    “Even,” said Berry, “even a blue-based baboon—”
    “I know,” said I. “It was the act of a fool. I never did it again.”
    “Go on, Boy,” said Jill.
    “Well, I went straight back to the lavatory, to find the watch gone: and the liveried attendant swore that he had not seen it. I’d no time to pursue the matter, but, as you may remember, it was a very nice watch. We got back to Bow Street a few minutes before two o’clock and I took my usual place between Muskett and Wells. Naturally enough, I told Wells about my loss. He listened to me. Then he beckoned to Jarvis, another friend of mine. He spoke with him for a moment and added ‘Go yourself’. Twenty minutes later he laid my wristwatch beside me with a quiet smile.”
    “What had happened?” said Daphne.
    “I never asked. When the Court rose, of course I thanked them both. But as neither offered any explanation, I left it there.”
    “Oh, I couldn’t have borne it,” said Jill.
    “My sweet,” said Berry, “your husband’s not always a fool. Two of the biggest shots in ‘A’ Division had, between them, effected the return of some stolen property. Had Boy inquired how they had done it, his stock would have fallen very low.”
    “Look here,” I said, “I’m afraid we’re breaking our rule.”
    “No, we’re not,” said Berry. “Let’s have some more about stolen property. Why is it so seldom recovered?”
    “You mean, in robberies of consequence?”
    “Yes.”
    “Because in all such robberies the disposal of the swag is arranged before the robbery is done. The fence is all ready to receive it and pass it on. (At least, this is how it was in 1909.) A big receiver will have his own appraiser, waiting to value the stuff. Then someone else picks it up… Twenty-four hours later it’s lying in Amsterdam. Or, if there’s a hitch, it may go into a Safe Deposit. It is the fence that matters. If there were no receivers, there wouldn’t be any thefts. No big ones, I mean. Now here’s a simple, illuminating case. On a wet autumn evening, three men were standing in a row, regarding a