subjected in 1889. He was a very remarkable man. To great personal charm he added sterling integrity. And he was one of the most truthfully accurate men I have ever known. Even men holding high Government offices may indulge in "terminological inexactitudes," and very few people are capable of repeating truthfully a conversation of yesterday; but I never detected Le Caron in a serious inaccuracy. Nor had I ever to complain of either concealment or exaggeration in his communications to me. But all this is merely a preface to my personal story. There is no better way of disorganising & conspiracy than by turning the light upon it. I played this game with marked success forty years ago, when, with the express sanction of Mr Gladstone's Government, I published the secret history of the Fenian movement up to date. And many times afterwards, especially during Sir William Harcourt's reign at the Home Office, plots were thwarted and crimes prevented by similar exposures in the press. When, therefore, 'The Times' set itself to render a great national service by exposing the new phase which the Irish conspiracy had assumed in Parnellism, the question was raised of resorting to the same tactios. My friend, H. O. Arnold Forster, had some knowledge of action of that kind, taken in Mr Forster's time, and he it was who pressed the matter upon me. I willingly responded; but as Mr Monro was then responsible for the conduct of secret service work, I conferred with him before taking action, and we decided to use 'The Times' in the public interest. "Spread the light" was long a favourite aphorism of the conspirators, and with excellent effect I enabled 'The Times' to "spread the light" at that important juncture. The next step in this antiFenian conspiracy was an appeal from Mr Macdonald to find a witness for 'The Times,' who would substantiate the information thus given them. But as I was then Assistant Commissioner of Police I would not move in such a business without directions from the Secretary of State: 'The Times' could bring its great influence to bear on the Government in the matter. I may here give expression to the judgment I then formed, and have held ever since, that the refusal of the Government to render any assistance to 'The Times' in its chivalrous crusade was both a scandal and a failure of public duty. Step number three was the receipt of a letter from Le Caron telling me that he wished to testify at the Special Commission, and asking me introduce him to The Times.' I had a sincere regard for the man, and I tried to prevent his taking such a step. I informed him of the attitude of the Government, and that he would gain nothing by coming forward. He would not be dissuaded, however, and he his purpose. came to London to carry out the House of Commons. For I then insisted that, before his identity was disclosed, his statement should be taken on behalf of 'The Times,' and submitted to their lawyers to decide whether his evidence was vital. Thus it was that Mr E. C. Houston came upon the scene, he being The Times' nominee for this duty. Then came Le Caron's request to have his letters, and they were at once returned to him. In pursuance of the bargain made with him twenty years before, all his letters were treated by me as private, kept at my residence, and held at his disposal whenever he chose to ask for them. The foolish things said on this subject in Parliament showed deplorable ignorance of secret service work. Another of my correspondents claimed the return of every letter within a week of its reaching my hands. Not a single line in the handwriting of any informant of this class was ever filed at the Home Office. The fact of my having returned his letters was elicited in Le Caron's cross-examination at the Commission, and some unpleasant things were said about my action. I immediately appealed to Sir Richard Webster to call me as his next witness, telling him that I desired at once to put myself right about the letters, and that I was prepared to confirm Le Caron's evidence on the vital point of his interview with Parnell at within half an hour of his leaving the Irish leader he was seated in the room where I am now writing, and then and there I jotted down the particulars of the interview. That document I was prepared to produce in evidence. The Attorney - General was keenly appreciative of my proposal, but Sir Henry James refused to permit me to appear. Appeal and remonstrance, urged on two different occasions, were unavailing. Such was his regard for me, he said, that he would not allow me to be subjected to the ordeal of a cross-examination by Sir Charles Russell. His kindness was cruel. The results which I expected followed. It was on Feb. 7 (1889) that Le Caron disclosed my action in returning his letters. On March 19 Sir William Harcourt attacked me fiercely at a political meeting in London, and on the following day he renewed the attack in the House of Commons. And the Opposition as a body demanded my scalp. Acting on advice which I had reason to suppose emanated from the Secretary of State-a supposition which proved quite unfounded-I wrote a letter to 'The Times,' in which I carried the war into the camp of my enemies, and made a covert appeal to my chief assailant. That letter appeared next day (March 21), and its success was complete. From that day Sir William Harcourt never uttered & word to my hurt, and he afterwards gave proofs of his regard. me many I then directed that the officer should be brought before me on the serious charge above indicated. In my disciplinary action I was accustomed to carry with me the public opinion of my department; but in this case I was deemed harsh and unjust, for I refused to accept the assurances of the inspector, confirmed by his superintendent, and insisted that he must publicly clear his character. Mr Labouchere was left to carry on the attack upon me; but, to use an old legal phrase, he "took nothing by his motion." He was shrewd enough to guess that I was studiously concealing the purpose with which an officer of my department had recently been sent to America. The C.I.D. habitually tries to conceal its action in dealing with crime, and in this instance it was a serious fraud to the prejudice of the L. & N.-W. Railway Co. that the officer was charged to investigate. But, duped by a satellite of his, Mr Labouchere announced in Parliament that my officer had visited a leading Fenian named Sheridan, and had, in fact, tried to induce him to give evidence for 'The Times'a proceeding that would have been a grave breach of discipline on the officer's part. At one time I was a contributor to 'The World,' and my friend Edmund Yates allowed me to use his pages to trap the editor of 'Truth 'into repeating this statement in its columns. Result: the suit of Jarvis v. Labouchere, which was settled out of court on payment of £100 damages and costs. Moral: the head of the C.I.D. is a nasty man to quarrel with! It is a pleasure to be able to add that Mr Labouchere cherished no malice against me, and the next mention of my name in 'Truth' was of a very flattering kind. An editorial notice of one of my warning letters to the newspapers ended by saying, "Should he ever think of changing the investigation of crime for the less exciting labour of a literary career, I should be proud to open the columns of Truth' to his able pen." (To be continued.) THIS IS TOMMY." ... and when is it to be?" she asked. THERE is no doubt that Miss self - possessed manner still Wynches' way of introducing further upset Lady Massenger. the Hon. Thomas Plantagenet "Not at all I mean Carr Atford to her friends of course savoured of that modern spirit which does little or nothing to forward the claims of personal dignity. I question if anybody else would have been able to bring him on the lawn at Garlocks where there were lots of people gathered and her engagement had been the topic of lively speculationwith quite the same absence of ceremony. She had spotted the Garlocks motor arriving with him from the station, and she brought him over over at once. "This is Tommy," she said casually to a group of us, and then tripped off. The little man at her heels -very high heels they were -trotted forward and said, "How do?" to his hostess in a self-possessed manner. "How do you do?" said Lady Massenger. His tiny figure, most carefully dressed, his smoothlyparted hair, the monocle that made an otherwise shrewd face look foolish, caused such a combination of unromantic ineffectiveness that even she, who has rather a reputation as a hostess, could only get out so much, followed by "We all think you are such a lucky man, Mr Åtford.” "Quite. Pen's great, isn't she?" he said, and his quaint "Well," he said, first shooting his eyeglass on to his chest, an action by which, curiously enough, I recognised him as the little Englishman I had once met by chance and climbed with in the Carpathians, "I asked Pen that the other day myself, and she told me she wouldn't have time to begin thinkin' about it for a couple of months or more.' "Of course Pen is always so busy," said Lady Massenger, fancying her sympathy was required. "You'll have to be patient. "No hurry, no hurry," said Mr Carr Atford agreeably, and began to talk of things without any g's to them, like shootin' and yachtin'. I thought he did it quite modestly and well, but the general opinion at Garlocks about the matter was that Miss Wynches had for once in a way been too casual. "I simply don't believe," said Sir George Massenger to some of us who were gossiping about it, "that Pen means to marry the little fellow. I call it a shame." "What do you call a shame?" asked Mrs Adling. ، "Misleading him into fancying she'll have him. This is Tommy.' What?" Sir George guffawed and became serious again. "Mustn't joke about one of my own guests, though. Good enough name Carr Atford. Suppose he must have money too. We're all Socialists now eh? What do you say, Gaydon ?" That rising politician, who had been exercising his wits at Tommy's expense, acknowledged our host's humour with a patronising smile. "You mean Miss Wynches will take him for his money?" "Oh you fellows are so literal," said Sir George. "I'm not going to say that, you know. Don't want to have you down in the mouth, Gaydon, anyway, by saying she's going to marry anybody." "I confess," said Gaydon, waiving with another of his smiles Sir George's allusion to the fact that Miss Wynches had cast her spell over him as well as most people, "that I stick to your first opinion-that she doesn't mean it. He tickles her fancy." "Rather hard on Tommy, isn't it?" put in Mrs Adling, who had been knitting her brows over the problem. "Good enough for Tommy," said Gaydon, "if he has helped to pass her time.” "Till the appearance of the great right man?" said Mrs Adling. I think Gaydon was aware of the not altogether kind innuendo. "Possibly," he said with calm superiority, which in its turn may have prompted Mrs Adling to say with decision Now Gaydon is a remarkably handsome man, and conscious of that as well as of most of his personal advantages. For the last two days he had been running Miss Wynches for all he was worth in his opinion, a great deal, undeterred by the fact of her engagement. Miss Wynches had not seemed to mind. Gaydon himself had much enjoyed it. And probably the idea of being put on the shelf by Mr Carr Atford-even though the little man had a right to be first with Miss Wyncheswas distasteful to him. Still more distasteful, I take it, was the suggestion conveyed in Mrs Adling's words that even if he bent the whole of his great personality to the job he would still come out second-best. It was the sort of challenge that upset his self-complacency. "I can't agree with you," he said. "I think Tommy is an incident. A duchess doesn't marry her Pom, you know." It was a nasty thing to say, and made me break in hastily "I must tell you people that I've met Carr Atford and found him a very intelligent little man." "Ah, but the substitute Mr Gaydon would like to provide would be a much more intelligent big man," said Mrs Adling. "Thank you," said Gaydon foolishly. "I only said-would 'like.' "I think she does mean to It takes two to agree to a marry him." substitute." |