Aunt Jane's Nieces Out West
You have
scarcely done justice to his character in your description, sir. To us he
appears diffident, retiring, and rather weak, in a way, while in his
intercourse with Goldstein he shows a mailed fist. He can be hard as
nails, on occasion, as we know, and at times he displays a surprising
knowledge of the world and its ways--for one who has been brought up on
an out-of-the-way island. What do we know about him, anyway? He tells a
tale no one can disprove, for the South Seas are full of small islands,
some of which are probably unrecorded on the charts. All this might
possibly be explained by remembering that a man like Jack Andrews is
undoubtedly a clever actor."
"Exactly!" said a jubilant voice behind them, and Mr. Isidore Le Drieux
stepped forward and calmly drew up a chair, in which he seated himself.
"You will pardon me, gentlemen, for eavesdropping, but I was curious to
know what you thought of this remarkable young man who calls himself
'A. Jones.'"
Arthur faced the intruder with a frown. He objected to being startled in
this manner. "You are a detective?" he asked.
"Oh, scarcely that, sir," Le Drieux replied in a deprecating way. "My
printed card indicates that I am a merchant, but in truth I am a special
agent, employed by the largest pearl and gem dealers in the world, a firm
with branches in every large European and American city. My name is Le
Drieux, sir, at your service," and with a flourish he presented his card.
The young rancher preferred to study the man's face.
"I am a sort of messenger," he continued, placidly. "When valuable
consignments of jewels are to be delivered, I am the carrier instead of
the express companies. The method is safer. In twenty-six years of this
work I have never lost a single jewel."
"One firm employs you exclusively, then?"
"One firm. But it has many branches."
"It is a trust?"
"Oh, no; we have many competitors; but none very important. Our closest
rival, for instance, has headquarters on this very coast--in San
Francisco--but spreads, as we do, over the civilized world.
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There was once a king who was very powerful. He had great influence over the wild beasts and animals. Now the tortoise was looked upon as the wisest of all beasts and men. This king had a son named Ekpenyon, to whom he gave fifty young girls as wives, but the prince did not like any of them. The king was very angry at this, and made a law that if any man had a daughter who was finer than the prince's wives, and who found favour in his son's eyes, the girl herself and her father and mother should be killed.
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