The Evil Genius: A Domestic Story — page 31: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

20 THE EVIL GENIUS. stead of answering one way or another, James asked how the expert was getting on. ‘* Has your old man found out where the diamonds are ®” ‘‘ Not yet.” “Then we'll wait till he does.” ‘‘ Do you believe my word?” Mrs. Westerfield asked, curtly. James Bellbridge answered, with Roman brevity, ‘‘ No.” This was an insult; Mrs. Westerfield expressed her sense of it. She rose, and pointed to the door. ‘‘Go back to America, as soon as you please,” she said; ‘‘and find the money you want— if you can.” Asa proof that she was in earnest she took her copy of the cipher out of the bosom of her dress, and threw it into the fire, “The original is safe in my old man’s keeping,” she added. ‘* Leave the room.” James rose with suspicious docility, and walked out, having his own private ends in view. Half an hour later Mrs. Westerfield’s old man was interrupted over his work by a person of bulky and blackguard appearance, whom he had never seen before. The stranger introduced himself as a gentleman who was en- gaged to marry Mrs. Westerfield; he requested (not at all po- litely) to be permitted to look at the cipher. He was asked if he had brought a written order to that effect, signed by the lady herself. Mr. Bellbridge, resting his fists on the writing-table, answered that he had come to look at the cipher, on his own sole responsibility, and that he insisted on seeing it immediately. ‘** Allow me to show you something else first,” was the reply he received to this assertion of his will and pleasure. ‘‘ Do you know a loaded pistol, sir, when you see it?” The barrel of the pistol approached within three inches of the barman’s big head, as he leaned over the writing-table. For once in his life he was’ taken by surprise. [It had never occurred to him that a pro- fessed interpreter of ciphers might sometimes be trusted with secrets which placed him in a position of danger, and might therefore have wisely taken measures to protect himself. No poe. of persuasion is comparable to the power possessed by a oaded pistol. James left the room; and expressed his senti- | ments in language which has not yet found its way into any English dictionary. But he had two merits, when his temper was in a state of repose. He knew when he was beaten; and he thoroughly ap- preciated the value of the diamonds. When Mrs. Westerfield saw him again, on the next day, he appeared with undeniable claims on her mercy. Notice of the marriage had been received at the church, and a cabin had been secured for her on board the steamer. Her prospects being thus settled to her own satisfaction, Mrs, Westerfield was at liberty to make her arrangements for the desertion of poor little Syd. The person on whose assistance she could rely was an unmar- ried elder sister, distinguished as proprietor of a cheap girls’ school in one of the suburbs of London. The lady—known to m COMmMicloooks.co