MISTAKEN IDENTITY
An eminently respectable tradesman was seated in his cosy littleparlour, or counting-house, at the back of his shop, within a mile ofthe Mansion House in the City of London, one summer afternoon in theyear 1861. His wife was the only other person present on this occasion.It was an unusual circumstance for this lady to be there, as Mr. Delmaralso occupied, for purposes of residence, a neat little house in aneastern suburb of the metropolis. He was, moreover, the father of afamily. He had four sons and three daughters, whose ages varied betweenseven and twenty-two. He was churchwarden of the parish in which hecarried on business. He was regarded as the very pattern of domesticvirtue, and a model of rectitude in business. Few men, indeed, in thewhole world enjoyed a better reputation than Mr. Delmar. Nobody had everbreathed a word against his character, and nobody had a right to do so.His fireside was as cheerful as moderate prosperity, a good wife, anddutiful children could render it.
These particulars about Mr. Delmar, his family, his connexions, hiscircumstances, and his reputation, are necessary to enable the reader toappreciate the incidents I have to describe.
Mrs. Delmar had come to town, on the present occasion, for thelegitimate purpose of shopping. She was giving her prudent spouse anestimate of the call she needed--or considered that she needed--to makeupon his purse for a variety of domestic necessities, from littlechild's-shoes to her own and her eldest daughter's bonnets. Mr. Delmarwas checking off the anticipated outlay, or, as I may put it, revisingthe domestic estimates, with a prudence quite commendable and, I alsothink, consistent with a good husband and father's affection for thosedependent on him.
An assistant of Mr. Delmar's entered the parlour, or counting-house, andobserved, "A gentleman wishes to see you, sir, in the shop."
"Show him in, Williams."
"He says he wishes to see you privately, sir."
"Privately!" exclaimed Mr. Delmar, in tones of surprise; "show him in;"and the speaker glanced at his better half as he finished the sentence.
Williams left the room and informed the gentleman, who was standing inthe shop, that his master wished him to walk in.
"You told me," observed the unknown visitor to the shopman, "that Mrs.Delmar was with her husband?"
"Yes, sir," was the reply.
"I would rather Mr. Delmar should step out to me."
"He will not do it, sir. He says you are to go in to him."
"Well, I will see him."
The unknown visitor advanced to the apartment in which the worthy andhappy couple were closeted; he cautiously, not to say nervously, openedthe door, and seemed to halt in the execution of his purpose.
"I would very much rather see you alone, sir, for a moment."
"You cannot see me alone, sir; this lady is my wife."
"My business is private."
"I have no private business or secrets unknown to my wife, sir,"exclaimed Mr. Delmar, growing a little irritated.
"Well, sir, you will oblige me if you will step out a moment."
"I tell you, sir, I have no secrets from my wife. What is yourbusiness?"
"You really, sir----"
"What do you mean, sir? I insist upon your telling me immediately whatbrings you here. And if you do not, I will kick you into the street."
Mr. Delmar uttered these words in a tone which alarmed his visitor, who,perhaps, apprehended the fulfilment of the threat which his delicacy hadelicited; but, summoning his courage, he advanced towards the desk andtook from his pocket a paper, which he handed in silence to theastonished and indignant husband.
It was a summons to show cause why he should not maintain a female childwhich one Selina Wilkins, chambermaid at the Griffin's Head Hotel (anexcellent hostelry, well known to commercial travellers on the midlandroad who call at the town of ----), was the mother of.
Mr. Delmar was a man who had seen much of the world, although he had,happily for himself, not known many of its vicissitudes, or itswickednesses and perils. His knowledge and experience were, however, atfault on the present occasion. During two or three minutes of perfectsilence, in which the three persons glanced at one another alternately,Mr. Delmar was a prey to conflicting emotions and cross purposes. Atfirst he was disposed, without warning, to enforce the threat he had notlong ago made, and punish the agent of the infamous practical joke nowbeing practised at his expense, as he conceived it, by inflicting uponhim an ignominious and severe chastisement. Next, he trembled before avague apprehension that some foul conspiracy might have been devised forthe ruin of his own and his family's domestic peace. The inquiry passedthrough his mind. Had he acted prudently in compelling the disguisedofficer to serve the process in the presence of Mrs. Delmar? Should hetreat the messenger who brought this scandalous official libel withcivility? Should he take him into confidence? What, indeed, should hedo?
Within the brief space of three minutes he had many times doubtedwhether, after all, it was a prudent thing for a man of business, and aman of the world, to let his wife know all his secrets. At last heresolved to pursue in this emergency that frankness and uprightnesstowards his wife, which had been the source of so much comfort to themboth in those various emergencies which even the serene life of aprosperous London tradesman occasionally encounters.
The wife had looked on the previous scene in amazement and fear. Thechanging hues of her husband's countenance, the twitching of the musclesin his face, the spasmodic movement of his limbs, under suppressed rage,disgust, and dread, told her that the document she had seen handed tohim was the premonitory note of something very dreadful. If she had notso well and thoroughly known the rectitude and honourableness of thefather of her children, she might have jumped to the conclusion, in herbewilderment, that he had committed forgery, or murdered some one, andthat the summons was a warrant for his apprehension on a charge thatmight have consigned him to Portland or led him to the gallows.
The officer was the first to break silence.
"It is a painful duty, sir."
"Never mind. But what does this mean?" Mr. Delmar replied, rapidlypassing from affected indifference to painful curiosity.
"You see, sir, what it is," said the officer.
Had Mr. Delmar's leg and boot been slighter than they were, a smilemight have passed from the inner to the outer man of the speaker.
"I know, sir, what it is," retorted Mr. Delmar; and summoning all hismoral resolution, and lifting himself to a height of moral dignity,which perhaps he had never occupied in any one moment of his weddedlife, from the day when in his young and pure manhood he had taken thatwoman, every way worthy, to be his partner and help-meet to the altar,he added:
"I am very glad indeed, sir, for one thing only,--that I did notconsent to see you, or accept at your hand this infamous paper, unknownto my wife."
Still Mrs. Delmar was silent, bewildered, and intensely anxious.
"I have done my duty," said the officer, in an apologetic tone, glancingat the door, as if desirous of withdrawing.
"You may leave," said Mr. Delmar.
I draw a veil over the scene which followed. It is enough, at allevents, the reader should know that Mr. Delmar read the document to hiswife, explained its exact purport, and craved her assistance inpenetrating the mystery. He had no occasion to ask her whether shebelieved him guilty of the offence attributed to him. She volunteered anassurance of her belief in its untruthfulness. She felt and declaredthat it was the result of some awful mistake of personal identity, orsome most foul conspiracy.
It would be incorrect to say that the interchange of confidence did notleave a painful sense of the possible consequences of this mysteriousincident; yet it may be affirmed that the event did not estrange aparticle of that woman's love, nor for a moment excite in her breast oneflimsy or evanescent doubt of the fidelity of her husband.
The unfortunate man who was thus called upon to defend himself against acharge of which he was no more guilty than my reader is, went to hislawyer, who said he could not make it out. This gentleman, Mr.
Drawly,was at a loss to determine whether his client was fool enough to bedeceiving him, or whether he was the victim of what Mrs. Delmar hadcalled a foul conspiracy, or whether an artfully planned scheme ofextortion had been practised against him.
I was now consulted. I should have liked to have been intrusted withfull personal discretion, so that I might have investigated the mysteryin my own way. I think I might have more easily cleared it up, if I hadnot been embarrassed by the definiteness of my instructions. I was,however, told to inquire, in the first place, whether Selina Wilkins hademployed any solicitor, and if so, to put myself in communication withhim. I was told to use my best skill in tracing what I could; at thesame time, if the professional man on the other side were a man ofreputation, to deal frankly with him. I was to explain the position inlife and the character of the defendant, and urge the improbability ofhis having committed any such offence against domestic propriety as thathe was charged with; and I was told to endeavour to get the affaircleared up or settled without scandal or notoriety.
I did as I was requested. My habit, when my instructions from solicitorswere definite, was to follow them implicitly. This commonly saved memuch trouble, and when the result was not unsatisfactory I liked thatcourse all the better; but sometimes the plan a little tantalised andvexed me, because I conceived that through it I missed my aim, and didnot obtain the credit by success I might otherwise have done.
In this case I ascertained that the young woman had, on therecommendation of her former master and mistress, employed a solicitor,who stood very high among the lawyers in that part of the country wherehe dwelt. He received me courteously, and expressed his willingness totell me all about the case. He, however, insisted that the defendantmust be a wily rascal, a consummate hypocrite, a mean-spirited fellow,&c. &c. He told me there could not be the shadow or shade of a doubtabout the case; and he entered into the matter in the spirit of apartisan imbued with the righteousness of the side he was engaged tofight on.
As to the identity of the person, he thought any defence on that headmust break down; for he had obtained, through his agents in London, adescription of Mr. Delmar, which corresponded exactly to the descriptiongiven him by his "unfortunate client." It is true that the poor girl hadnot, he said, seen the fellow since her misfortune, because she had notthe money to pay visits to London; nor, indeed, was her strengthsufficient to enable her to make that journey and back without peril toher life. Grief and shame and bitter mortification had held her tongueuntil the last possible moment; and it was only when material evidenceof her wrong-doing became palpable to her mistress, that she admittedthe injury which had been done her. "Why, sir," observed the provinciallawyer, "even after the poor girl's condition had been ascertained, sherefused to tell who was the author of her misery, and clung to thefoolish belief that, as he was a perfect gentleman, he would one dayredeem his promise by making her his wife. The way it was found out,sir, was this. She went home to be confined. Her mother one nightsearched her little portmonnaie, and there found the blackguard's card.So her friends ascertained his name and address."
When I had obtained these particulars from Selina Wilkins's attorney, itwas almost post-time; so I wrote an account of my interview with thelawyer as rapidly as I could, and sent it to London to the solicitorfrom whom I had received my instructions.
I had an answer by electric telegraph, desiring me to pursue myinquiries, as there could be no doubt the case was one of conspiracy orfraud.
Some of the further particulars of this mysterious case had perhapsbetter be stated in the brief narrative I can furnish of the inquirybefore the magistrates.
On the day appointed for the hearing Mr. Delmar came down from London,attended by his confidential and most respectable solicitor, and by agentleman of the long robe whose name had figured in a thousandOld-Bailey narratives. The young woman was examined. Amid tears and sobsand threatened hysterics, she related her story. It was to the effectthat a gentleman, or "commercial," she styled him, who had visited thetown of ----, and stayed five or six times at the hotel where she hadbeen in service, had paid his addresses to her with great ardour, and,under cover of a promise of marriage, effected her ruin. She had nohesitation in declaring that the defendant was the man. The card onwhich was printed his name and address was produced in Court. A severecross-examination by the defendant's counsel did nothing to shake theseallegations. Although the gentleman had not been many times to the hotelin question, he appeared quite familiar with the town, and she had seenhim enter a rival hostelry before she knew him as one of her master'sguests or customers. The defendant was sworn. He denied that he had everseen the young woman before, or that he had been in the town for severalyears, or that he had ever in his life stayed at the hotel where she hadbeen employed.
The complainant's attorney argued that the case against the defendantwas conclusive. It did not, he said, admit of a shadow of doubt. Heheaped vituperative aspersions upon the head of the defendant, foradding insult to injury by his disreputable defence. The defendant'scounsel, on the other hand, contended that the evidence of thecomplainant was incomplete; that it was in several respects highlyimprobable; and that it should not counterbalance the testimony of themost respectable defendant in his own behalf. The learned gentlemancalled upon the magistrates to dismiss the case, and intimated that, ifthe decision were against his client, he should appeal. The magistratesagreed with the complainant's attorney; expressed an opinion that shewas a much ill-used young woman; and said a few things uncomplimentaryof the defendant, upon whom they expressed their willingness to do what,by the way, they could not help doing, I believe--that is, give him anopportunity of appealing against their decision.
It will occur to the reader that there were several means of rebuttingsome of the special facts upon which the complainant's case must haverested, as it did rest, although I omit them for the sake of brevity, asthey are not necessary to the explanation I have to give of one leadingfact.
The reader will wonder how that card of the defendant's fell into thehands of the complainant. I will say at once, in order to clear awaysome mystery, that the young woman herself was no doubt honestlymistaken, although somewhat rash in the evidence she gave as to theidentity of her undoer.
But, unless some confederate had given her that card, how could she haveobtained it? It must have been palmed off upon her by some unmitigatedvillain, who was content to divert inquiry from his own track into thatof an innocent and right-minded man's household, to the peril of thedestruction of his own and his family's happiness.
To track this miscreant was my special mission. I had not much time toeffect a discovery before the appeal must be heard and decided.
Mr. Delmar could not help me. He had given his card, at various times,to various people; and within a few years a few hundred persons mighthave been the conscious or unconscious media, direct or remote, ofconveying the fatal pasteboard from his hand to that of the complainant.
After I had been a week engaged in the effort to track the doubleculprit--having, let me frankly say, no clue by which I hoped todiscover him--I was getting weary of the task, when a ray of lightdawned through the imperfect memory of Mr. Delmar. He recollected that,about ten months before the complaint was laid against him at ----, hehad been obliged to visit Norwich on urgent business. A man who owed hima considerable sum of money was then in embarrassment, and had called ameeting of his creditors, at which Mr. Delmar was invited to attend.After this business had been completed, he intended returning to town bya late train, but allowed himself to be detained in conversation withhis fellow-sufferers until it became necessary to abandon thatintention. He accordingly put up for the night at the Saracen's HeadHotel, and sought to while away the hours which intervened beforebed-time by a social pipe and glass in the commercial room. Here he met,as a stranger of unpretentious manner always does, with a cordialgreeting and good-fellowship. One man, however, Mr. Delmar became verychatty and familiar with. This man, who told him his business--that isto say, what "l
ine" he was in--in the course of conversation took outhis card-case and was about to hand Mr. Delmar his card, whenunfortunately, as he said, he found that he was out of cards, but hetold him his address. Mr. Delmar also took out his card-case, and, veryunfortunately indeed, as the sequel shows, he gave the commercial hisprinted name and address.
I was not long in drawing the inference--nor would any person, Iapprehend, be--that this commercial was the villain of my story.
With a photograph of Mr. Delmar in my pocket, I speedily took my ticketfor Norwich, and had not much doubt about overtaking the rascal.
Would the reader like to know how I got hold of the fellow? It willappear a very simple and easy process when explained, and I don't takemuch credit for it. Give a shrewd man a clue, and I warrant you, if hehave time and opportunity, he will follow it to the end.
Well, then, the way I pursued the clue to its extremity was this. Iconcluded at once in my own mind that this man's "proclivities" had beenmanifested wherever he went, and that at more than one of the hotels andcommercial inns on his road he would have left a clear recollection ofhis name and line on the retina of a pretty chambermaid.
I was right. After making myself agreeable by innocent devices with thechambermaids at the Saracen's Head Hotel, at Norwich, I ventured to letone of them see the picture of the man I wanted. I saw at a glance thatno tender regard for him was felt by this female observer. I noticedsomething like pique, or it might be disgust for him. This was enoughfor me. I frankly told the young woman that I wanted to track and punishhim for a mean and vile crime. I saw that, although chambermaid at aninn, she had a woman's sense of propriety. However, to make doubly sureof her aid, I appealed to her by another argument, which might besupposed to have some influence with a young woman who had to live uponsmall fees and perquisites. I offered her 5_l._ reward if she enabled meto discover him, and in earnest of my sincerity and means of sorewarding her I handed her a sovereign at once. She told me she thoughtmy photograph was a copy of the features of Mr. John Brown, whotravelled in the cigar line, who had been at that inn some time ago,and who might be expected again in a week or a fortnight at most, as thetime for his visit to Norwich must have almost come round. She said shewould show the photograph to the other servants, if I would lend it toher, and as I could easily get another, I did so. The rest of theservants agreed that that portrait was not exactly like Mr. John Brown,but it was something like him too. "Very like him," one said. Nextmorning's delivery brought to the hotel, among other letters forexpected people (which letters where placed in a rack in the commercialroom), two for Mr. John Brown of London. The next day Mr. John Brown ofLondon arrived, and I was struck by the resemblance of the man as heopened the door of the commercial room, in which I was then sitting, alittle anxiously watching for his arrival. It is needless to take thereader through the subsequent steps of my investigation. He will seethat I had almost bagged my game. It is enough to say that a fewinquiries upon the subject elicited the fact that a regular traveller(on the road in which the town of ---- and the Griffin's Head Hotel weresituated) being suddenly taken ill, and many accounts being due to thehouse he travelled for on that line, Mr. John Brown was ordered to dothe midland journey for him a few times. It was on one of these journeysthat he found his evil opportunity for seducing the domestic of the inn,and playing off upon her the mean trick which led to the summons againstMr. Delmar, the reckless testimony the complainant bore as to hisidentity, and his condemnation by the justices. It is only necessary toadd, that the decision against Mr. Delmar was quashed at the QuarterSessions; and that his character as a man of unblemished honour anddomestic virtue was, if possible, strengthened by the ordeal he had topass through.