“I accidentally heard, yesterday morning,” said Wemmick,“being in a certain place where I once took you,—even between you and me,it’s as well not to mention names when avoidable—”
“Much better not,” said I. “I understand you.”
“I heard there by chance, yesterday morning,” said Wemmick, “that a certain person not altogether of uncolonial pursuits,and not unpossessed of portable property,—I don’t know who it may really be,—we won’t name this person—”
“Not necessary,” said I.
“—Had made some little stir in a certain part of the world where a good many people go, not always in gratification of their own inclinations, and not quite irrespective of the government expense—”
In watching his face,I made quite a firework of the Aged’s sausage,and greatly discomposed both my own attention and Wemmick’s;for which I apologised.
“—By disappearing from such place,and being no more heard of thereabouts. From which,” said Wemmick, “conjectures had been raised and theories formed.I also heard that you at your chambers in Garden Court,Temple, had been watched, and might be watched again.”
“By whom?” said I.
“I wouldn’t go into that,” said Wemmick, evasively,“it might clash with official responsibilities.I heard it, as I have in my time heard other curious things in the same place.I don’t tell it you on information received. I heard it.”
He took the toasting-fork and sausage from me as he spoke,and set forth the Aged’s breakfast neatly on a little tray.Previous to placing it before him,he went into the Aged’s room with a clean white cloth,and tied the same under the old gentleman’s chin,and propped him up, and put his nightcap on one side,and gave him quite a rakish air.Then he placed his breakfast before him with great care,and said, “All right, ain’t you, Aged P.?” To which the cheerful Aged replied, “All right, John, my boy, all right!” As there seemed to be a tacit understanding that the Aged was not in a presentable state, and was therefore to be considered invisible, I made a pretence of being in complete ignorance of these proceedings.
“This watching of me at my chambers (which I have once had reason to suspect),” I said to Wemmick when he came back,“is inseparable from the person to whom you have adverted; is it?”
Wemmick looked very serious.“I couldn’t undertake to say that, of my own knowledge.I mean, I couldn’t undertake to say it was at first.But it either is, or it will be,or it’s in great danger of being.”
As I saw that he was restrained by fealty to Little Britain from saying as much as he could, and as I knew with thankfulness to him how far out of his way he went to say what he did, I could not press him. But I told him, after a little meditation over the fire, that I would like to ask him a question, subject to his answering or not answering, as he deemed right, and sure that his course would be right. He paused in his breakfast, and crossing his arms, and pinching his shirt-sleeves (his notion of in-door comfort was to sit without any coat), he nodded to me once, to put my question.
“You have heard of a man of bad character,whose true name is Compeyson?”
He answered with one other nod.
“Is he living?”
One other nod.
“Is he in London?”
He gave me one other nod,compressed the post-office exceedingly,gave me one last nod, and went on with his breakfast.
“Now,” said Wemmick, “questioning being over,” which he emphasised and repeated for my guidance,“I come to what I did, after hearing what I heard.I went to Garden Court to find you; not finding you,I went to Clarriker’s to find Mr. Herbert.”
“And him you found?” said I, with great anxiety.
“And him I found. Without mentioning any names or going into any details,I gave him to understand that if he was aware of anybody—Tom,Jack, or Richard—being about the chambers,or about the immediate neighbourhood,he had better get Tom, Jack,or Richard out of the way while you were out of the way. ”
“He would be greatly puzzled what to do?”
“He _was_ puzzled what to do; not the less,because I gave him my opinion that it was not safe to try to get Tom,Jack, or Richard too far out of the way at present. Mr.Pip, I’ll tell you something.Under existing circumstances,there is no place like a great city when you are once in it.Don’t break cover too soon. Lie close.Wait till things slacken, before you try the open,even for foreign air.”
I thanked him for his valuable advice,and asked him what Herbert had done?
“Mr. Herbert,” said Wemmick,“after being all of a heap for half an hour,struck out a plan. He mentioned to me as a secret,that he is courting a young lady who has,as no doubt you are aware, a bedridden Pa. Which Pa,having been in the Purser line of life,lies a-bed in a bow-window where he can see the ships sail up and down the river. You are acquainted with the young lady, most probably?”
“Not personally,” said I.
The truth was, that she had objected to me as an expensive companion who did Herbert no good, and that, when Herbert had first proposed to present me to her, she had received the proposal with such very moderate warmth, that Herbert had felt himself obliged to confide the state of the case to me, with a view to the lapse of a little time before I made her acquaintance. When I had begun to advance Herbert’s prospects by stealth, I had been able to bear this with cheerful philosophy: he and his affianced, for their part, had naturally not been very anxious to introduce a third person into their interviews; and thus, although I was assured that I had risen in Clara’s esteem, and although the young lady and I had long regularly interchanged messages and remembrances by Herbert, I had never seen her. However, I did not trouble Wemmick with these particulars.
“The house with the bow-window,” said Wemmick,“being by the river-side,down the Pool there between Limehouse and Greenwich,and being kept, it seems,by a very respectable widow who has a furnished upper floor to let,Mr. Herbert put it to me,what did I think of that as a temporary tenement for Tom, Jack, or Richard?Now, I thought very well of it,for three reasons I’ll give you. That is to say:_Firstly_. It’s altogether out of all your beats,and is well away from the usual heap of streets great and small._Secondly_. Without going near it yourself,you could always hear of the safety of Tom, Jack,or Richard, through Mr. Herbert. _Thirdly_.After a while and when it might be prudent,if you should want to slip Tom, Jack,or Richard on board a foreign packet-boat, there he is—ready.”
Much comforted by these considerations,I thanked Wemmick again and again,and begged him to proceed.
“Well, sir!Mr. Herbert threw himself into the business with a will,and by nine o’clock last night he housed Tom, Jack,or Richard,—whichever it may be,—you and I don’t want to know,—quite successfully.At the old lodgings it was understood that he was summoned to Dover,and, in fact, he was taken down the Dover road and cornered out of it.Now, another great advantage of all this is,that it was done without you, and when,if any one was concerning himself about your movements,you must be known to be ever so many miles off and quite otherwise engaged.This diverts suspicion and confuses it;and for the same reason I recommended that,even if you came back last night,you should not go home. It brings in more confusion,and you want confusion.”
Wemmick, having finished his breakfast,here looked at his watch, and began to get his coat on.