CHAPTER XLVII.

EXIT MR. GLOVER.

Turk regarded me with surprise.

'An early visitor, Chris,' he said.

'Yes,' I answered; 'I have come on some very particular business. When do you pay the balance of your debt to Mr. Glover?'

'I expect him here at twelve o'clock. I shall pay him then.'

'Can you give me half an hour or so of your undivided attention, Turk?'

'Certainly I can: a couple of hours, if you want them.'

'Then sit down, and read this quietly,' I said, handing him the Remarkable Confession, 'and don't make a remark upon it until you have finished.'

He read it attentively, and returned it to me with a thoughtful look.

'It is cut from an old newspaper, printed a good many years ago, Turk. Do you find anything singular in it?'

'I do; something very singular indeed; but how on earth did you come across it, Chris?'

'I will tell you another time. First, I want to know what it is that strikes you as singular in the account.'

'Well, Chris, there's the knob in this Bullpit's head----'

'Yes, Turk.'

'Mr. Glover has one precisely similar on his head.'

I could scarcely restrain the expression of my satisfaction at this proof that, without prompting, his thoughts were taking the same direction as mine.

'Yes, you told me so, Turk; and that sort of thing runs in families, you said.'

'I did say so, and I think so.'

'Mr. Glover said he was born with it.'

'Yes, he told me so distinctly,' said Turk, with a puzzled look.

'That's all right, then. What else do you find singular in it, Turk?'

'Well, there's that habit of Anthony Bullpit's of biting his nails. Mr. Glover does the same.'

'Yes; anything else?' I asked eagerly.

'Well, Chris, the teeth. Mr. Glover's two middle teeth in his top jaw have just the kind of slit between them that caused the detective to discover Anthony Bullpit, for all his disguise.'

I uttered an exclamation of triumph.

'Now, what do you make of all this, Turk? Do you think it possible that such remarkable peculiarities can exist in two men without there being a relationship between them? Turk, as sure as I stand here, Mr. Glover is Anthony Bullpit's son. Don't interrupt me. If he is a convict's son, what becomes of his good character and his unblemished name, of which he is always preaching, as you know? He trades upon it, Turk--he trades upon it; and if it were made public that his father was a forger and a convicted thief, it would be the greatest blow he could receive. This man is a scoundrel, Turk; a scoundrel and a hypocrite.'

I believe he is, Chris,' said Turk, carried away probably by my hot words; but what good can come of exposure--what good to you, I mean?

'Why, Turk, are you blind? Can't you see that I can make the best use in the world of this strange discovery?'

I told him rapidly what had passed between old Mac and me, and the opinion which the old actor entertained of Mr. Glover, and then I developed my own plan of action.

'It is very simple, Turk. I want Mr. Glover immediately to cease his attentions to Jessie, whose eyes, according to old Mac's account, have only lately been opened to his real character. Jessie, I have no doubt, is under obligations to him; and he may take advantage of this to persecute her. If he does this, I shall expose him; but I shall first give him a chance of withdrawing himself voluntarily. I think there will be no reason to fear that he will prove an active enemy; the proof that I hold will take the sting out of him----'

'But,' interposed Turk, 'what if these personal marks should be mere coincidences, and no relationship exists between Anthony Bullpit and Mr. Glover?'

'We shall learn that very soon,' I replied. 'I shall send him this copy of the Remarkable Discovery with a few words of my own. If he is quiet after their receipt, we may be sure that our suspicions are correct. I know that he is a scoundrel--I have been convinced of that all along, Turk, notwithstanding your defence of him--and I believe him to be a coward. We shall see. Will you let me be present while you are paying him the balance you owe him?'

'I have no objection, Chris.'

'And if I happen to say something to him--something to the point--you'll not mind, perhaps.'

'Say whatever you like, Chris, my boy.'

'I want a promise from you, Turk. Not a word of all this to Jessie.'

'All right, Chris.'

Exactly at twelve o'clock Mr. Glover entered the shop. I was in the back-room, and I listened quietly to the few words that passed, in the course of which Turk told Mr. Glover that he was enabled to pay him the balance of the account between them. Mr. Glover said that it might stand, if Turk wished, but Turk insisted on paying him, and produced the money. As Mr. Glover was signing the receipt to the bond, Turk threw open the door of the room in which I was sitting, and said,

'Chris, perhaps you would not mind witnessing Mr. Glover's signature.'

Mr. Glover looked up with anger in his face, and our eyes met. I quietly placed my name on the paper as a witness, and then, with a glance at Mr. Glover's signature, I handed the paper to Turk.

'So now, Turk,' I said, with a smile, 'I am your creditor instead of Mr. Glover.'

I saw that Turk did not understand why I made this apparently unnecessary statement.

'Oh,' said Mr. Glover, with a sneer, 'it is your money, then, with which Turk West has paid his debt!'

'Yes,' I replied. 'Turk is safer in my hands than in the hands of a moneylender who charges sixty per cent. What was it you said yesterday, Turk? Curse all professional moneylenders, wasn't it? So say I.'

Mr. Glover glanced from me to Turk, and from Turk to me, while his face grew dark with passion.

'I have been thinking, Turk,' I continued, regarding Mr. Glover steadily, what would be the value of a receipt for money paid, supposing the name of the person at the foot of the paper is not his own. How would it stand in law, Mr. Glover? Supposing a person whose real name was Bullpit----'

I saw instantly that the shot had taken effect The dark shade of passion disappeared from Mr. Glover's face, which was now quite white. Added to this, the startled exclamation which escaped him was a sufficient confirmation.

'You shall hear from me,' he said, in a thick voice, as he turned to leave the shop.

'You shall hear from me first,' I replied; within two hours I will leave a letter for you at your house.'

I wrote my letter at once in Turk's shop. The substance of it was that I enclosed a copy of an account of the arrest and conviction of a criminal well known in Hertford many years ago; that this criminal had on his person peculiar marks which were almost certain to be transmitted to his children; that the history of this criminal was known only to me and Turk West; that the secret of it would be faithfully kept if the person to whom my letter was addressed would immediately cease to honour with his attentions any of the lady friends of the writer; and that if this condition were not accepted and carried out in its full letter and spirit, means would be immediately adopted for making public the Remarkable Discovery, and the subsequent history of the forger and thief. I did not mention any names, but Turk West said that Mr. Glover would understand my meaning. I left the letter with its enclosure at Mr. Glover's house, and received no answer. Three days afterwards Turk came to tell me that Mr. Glover had left on a tour to Germany.

'I have other news for you as well,' he said; the theatre in which Jessie was to have appeared is let to a French Company for three months.'

I asked Turk no questions, remembering what he had said as to his being on his parole, but I worked that day with a heart less sad than it had been for many a long month past.