The Victorian Villains MEGAPACK ™: 31 Villainous Tales by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: mystery, rogue, suspense, thief, crime
ISBN: 9781479406067
Publisher: Wildside Press LLC
Published: 2015-06-03T16:00:00+00:00

Pringle rose in obedience to the upward lift upon his arm, and as the two men faced each other the stranger started, exclaiming: “So it’s you, is it! I thought we should meet again some day.”

“Meet again?” repeated Pringle stupidly, as for about the second or third time in his life his presence of mind deserted him.

“Don’t say you’ve forgotten me at Wurzleford last summer! Let’s see—what was your name? I ought to remember it, too—ah, yes, Courtley! Have you left the Church, Mr. Courtley? Seem rather down on your luck now. Why, Solomon in all his glory wasn’t in it with you at Wurzleford? And you don’t seem to need your glasses, either. Has your sight improved?”

Pringle remembered him before he had got half way through his string of sarcasms. He had not altered in the least; the shell might be rough, but the voice and manner of the gentleman-burglar were as Chesterfieldian as ever. Of all people in the world, he was the one whom Pringle would have least desired to see at that moment, and he prepared himself for a very bad quarter of an hour.

“It’s lucky for you we haven’t met before,” continued the other. “If I could have got at you that night, it would have been your life or mine! Don’t think I’ve forgiven you. I must say, though, you did it very neatly; it’s something, I can tell you, to get the better of me. Why, I’ve never dared to breathe a word of it since; I should be a laughing-stock for the rest of my days. I, the ‘Toff,’ as they call me!

“But I can see a joke, even if it’s against myself, and I’ve laughed several times since when I’ve thought of it. Fancy locking me in that room while you coolly walked off with the stuff that I’d been working for for months. And such stuff too! I think you’d have done better to act squarely with me. Those rubies don’t seem to have done you much good. I never thought you’d do much with them at the time. It needs a man with capital to plant such stuff as that. But what’s the game now? Who put you up to this?”

He had been taking short steps up and down the beach, half soliloquising as he walked, and now he broke off abruptly and fronted Pringle.

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