General Well'ngone In Love (7 page)

“
We’re lucky we don’t have
to go looking for Mr. Krinkle in Africa.”

“
Yes, I suppose you are
right. Did you find the fob?”

General Well’ngone handed over the fob seal.
Mr. Melamed glanced at it for a moment, before putting it in his
pocket.

“
What is your opinion,
General Well’ngone? Shall we find Berel Krinkle?”

“
Between you and me, Mr.
Melamed, it doesn’t look good. It’s not as though he is one of my
boys and hiding from the law. A boy like that would know of a dozen
places where he could safely hide for a few days.”

“
Yet he must be somewhere.
And since the Thames is frozen solid, at least we know he cannot be
at the bottom of the river, thank God.”

“
I don’t like to say it,
but it looks like he must have been snatched away. I’ve heard tales
about boys being snatched and then sold to people who don’t have
any children of their own, or being sold to a chimney sweeper who
needs a climbing boy. Though I suppose that happens usually to the
younger boys. Mr. Krinkle is already too big to climb up a
chimney.”

Mr. Melamed agreed, but this was cold
comfort. A boy might also be sold to a shoemaker or taken out of
London and sold as a farm laborer.

The entrance of his butler interrupted these
unhappy thoughts.

“
A Mr. Lennox wishes to
see you, sir.”

Mr. Melamed was surprised, but not
displeased. “Bring him in.”

“
Shall I leave?” asked
General Well’ngone.

“
No, but stay by the
globe. And do not say anything, unless I speak to you.”

Mr. Melamed was standing by the hearth when
Mr. Lennox entered the library.

“
I am sorry to disturb
you, Mr. Melamed.”

“
Not at all. May I offer
you some refreshments?”

“
I am afraid this is not a
social visit. I am afraid ...” Mr. Lennox glanced down at the small
hatbox he was holding in his hands. “I am afraid I have rather bad
news for you, sir.”

“
Won’t you at least sit
down?”

Mr. Lennox shook his head. “I prefer not to.
What I have to say is ... Well, let me just say it. As you may have
noticed, my uncle is not quite right in the head. In fact, I was
forced to have him put under lock and key this afternoon in a
private lunatic asylum. That was the physician’s appointment I
mentioned during your visit. Of course, my uncle did not know the
true nature of the appointment. Otherwise, he would not have gone
there willingly.”

“
I am very sorry to hear
this, Mr. Lennox. But ...”

“
But you do not yet
understand what this has to do with you?”

“
That is correct,
sir.”

“
Mr. Melamed, I was not
entirely honest with you this morning. I do remember the boy you
referred to, and I do know ... or at least I am quite certain I
know what has happened to him.”

Mr. Melamed stared in amazement as Mr.
Lennox placed the hatbox on a table and removed the cover. When Mr.
Lennox took out a boy’s coat, General Well’ngone gave a gasp and
rushed forward.

“
Here, where did you get
that? That belongs to Mr. Krinkle.”

“
Are you sure?” asked Mr.
Melamed.

General Well’ngone grabbed the coat and
rifled through its pockets. He removed a slim volume from one of
them and quickly opened it. There he saw Berel Krinkle’s
handwriting, in pencil, on the page. The General handed the book to
Mr. Melamed, who read over the message. There could be no mistake
about the book. It therefore followed that the coat did, indeed,
belong to the child.

“
Where is the boy, Mr.
Lennox?” asked Mr. Melamed.

“
I am afraid he is
dead.”

Mr. Melamed winced, too stunned to say a
word. He had known there was a possibility that the child had come
to harm, yet having his worst fears confirmed was almost too much
for him to bear. He had to force himself to pay attention to Mr.
Lennox, who had continued speaking.

“
Most of the time my uncle
is harmless. It is only when his madness overwhelms him that ...”
Mr. Lennox appeared to be overcome himself by what he felt must
say.

“
This has happened
before?” asked Mr. Melamed, barely able to contain his sense of
outrage.

“
Not murder, you
understand. But his condition has been deteriorating, and there was
one incident where a tragedy was prevented only in the nick of
time. I know I should have taken action sooner. And I shall never
forgive myself for what has happened. But the physicians ... they
told me there was hope of a cure and ... What can I say, sir,
except that I am truly sorry.” He removed a pocketbook from his
coat pocket and started to pull out a banknote. “If this will help
... the family ...”

“
We have no need of your
money, Mr. Lennox,” said Mr. Melamed. “Only tell me where the boy’s
body is, so we may give him a proper Jewish burial.”

“
I am afraid I cannot do
that.”

“
Why not?”

“
The body is no longer in
the house. I assume my uncle’s valet had it taken away sometime
during the night, probably to some pauper’s grave. It was only a
matter of chance that this coat was left behind.”

“
And you knew nothing? You
did not hear a struggle?”

“
No, after I parted from
my uncle at the Frost Fair, I went to dine with friends. I did not
return to my uncle’s home until rather late at night. The ... the
event must have occurred while I was out.”

“
The valet will not tell
you?”

“
The valet has been with
the family since my uncle was a child. His first loyalty is to my
uncle. He will not say a word about anything that happened
yesterday—not to me, not to you and not to anyone else.”

Mr. Lennox left. Mr. Melamed stared silently
into the fire for a very long while. It was only when he heard a
choked sob coming from behind him that he recalled that General
Well’ngone was still in the room.

The General had taken up the little book
again and was staring down at the written page. His tears had
blurred the penciled writing a little bit. He hurriedly wiped his
face with his sleeve when he noticed that Mr. Melamed was looking
at him.

“
Do not be ashamed of your
tears, General. It only shows that you are human, and not a
monster, and there is no shame in that.”

“
What are we going to tell
Miss Krinkle?”

“
We must tell her the
truth.”

Mr. Melamed picked up the coat and was about
to fold it, when he noticed there was still something in an inside
pocket. He removed the package and saw it was the document about
the purchase of the elephant. A further search revealed a coin, and
something else that slipped out and fell upon the floor.

The General’s quick eyes spotted gold and he
reached for the object. “It’s another one of those fob seals,” he
said, showing it to Mr. Melamed. “I wonder where he got it.”

“
You did not show Berel
any of the tricks of your trade, General?”

“
Honest, Mr. Melamed.
Besides, there wasn’t time. We never let a new boy try taking a fob
seal. There’s an art to cutting a chain and see here ...” The
General pointed to a few chain links that were still attached to
the fob. “This looks like it was yanked off the chain. Anyone can
see that it’s not a professional job.”

Mr. Melamed was listening, but he was also
looking at the seal. Unlike the fob that had belonged to Lord
Liverwood, this seal was much simpler. There was no heraldic crest,
just a monogram that read ABC.

“
Do you suppose Mr.
Krinkle yanked it off when he was struggling with Lord Liverwood?”
asked the General.

“
They are the wrong
initials. But you may be correct about how this got into Berel’s
possession. If he was struggling with someone, he might have torn
off the end of that person’s pocket watch chain. Then I suppose
this fob could have fallen into his pocket.”

“
But Mr. Lennox said ...”
An idea came to the General, but he quickly discarded it. “It’s the
same problem, isn’t it? Mr. Lennox can’t be ABC either.”

Mr. Melamed thrust the fob into his pocket.
“General, how quickly can you and a dozen of your boys meet me in
Mayfair?”

“
We’re already halfway
there!”

VIII.

If the butler was surprised to see Mr.
Arthur Powell return so quickly to the residence of Lord Liverwood,
his expression did not show it. He merely said, “Lord Liverwood is
not at home, sir.”

Mr. Powell took out one of his calling cards
and replied, “My compliments to Mr. Lennox.”

A few minutes later the butler returned and
escorted Mr. Powell into the drawing room.

“
You wished to see me,
sir?”

“
Yes, I happened to find a
fob seal that I believe belongs to you or your uncle.” Mr. Powell
noted that Mr. Lennox’s face had gone a bit pale.

“
A fob seal?”

Mr. Powell handed him the object. Mr. Lennox
looked at the seal and his face relaxed.

“
Yes, this does belong to
my uncle. It must have fallen off his chain without his noticing
it. Thank you for returning it.”

There was a ring of the front door’s
bell.

“
I’ll get that,” said Mr.
Powell, to the other man’s astonishment.

Mr. Powell rushed to the front door,
arriving there ahead of the butler, and opened the door wide for
General Well’ngone and his boys. Mr. Melamed entered after them.
While the General’s boys divided themselves into two groups—half
racing up the stairs to the attic and the other half racing down to
the cellar—Mr. Melamed followed Mr. Powell back into the drawing
room.

They were not terribly surprised to discover
that Mr. Lennox was no longer in the room.

“We’ve found him!”

General Well’ngone raced over to a cupboard
that was standing in a corner of the attic. Sitting all in a heap
was the bound body of Berel Krinkle, who was dazed by the commotion
and the sudden appearance of the light of a candle being thrust
near his eyes, but still very much alive.

The General shook his head sadly and said,
“Berel Krinkle, are you going to get a scolding when you get
home.”

In truth, it was not such a terrible
scolding. When Berel and Mr. Melamed appeared in the doorway of the
Lyon family’s drawing room, Miss Krinkle threw aside her embroidery
and rushed to embrace her brother. It did occur to her to also
include a few stern words of admonishment, for all the bother he
had caused by running off to the Frost Fair without permission. But
no sooner had she said a harsh word than she was so overcome by
relief and happiness that she had to kiss his pale cheeks again and
give him yet another hug—and so Berel was able to accept his
sister’s “scolding” like a man, meaning that he tried to wipe away
those kisses with his sleeve while insisting that there was no need
to make such a fuss.

Then Berel was shown upstairs to a second
guest room, which was quickly called into service. After receiving
a warm bath and eating a bowl of nourishing broth, the physician
who had been summoned, Mr. Gabriel Taylor, gave the child a
sleeping draught, so he could sleep peacefully through the
night.

“
By tomorrow he will be
himself again, God willing,” Mr. Taylor assured Miss Krinkle. “You
must rest, too, since you have also been through an
ordeal.”

After Mr. Melamed had delivered the boy into
the care of his sister and the Lyon family, he directed his steps
to the business establishment of Mr. Horace Barnstock,
solicitor.

As always, Mr. Barnstock’s desk was
cluttered with legal papers, but he did not deny Mr. Melamed an
interview.

“
Do you recognize this
seal?” Mr. Melamed showed the solicitor the fob seal that had the
initials ABC engraved upon it.

“
Where did you get
this?”

“
You will receive an
answer to your question after you have answered mine.”

“
This belongs to my son,
if I am not mistaken.”

“
The C stands
for?”

“
Charles. Arthur Charles
Barnstock.” Mr. Barnstock cast his sternest eye upon Mr. Melamed.
“What is the meaning of this, sir?”

“
Please ask your son to
join us.”

Mr. Barnstock still kept a wary eye upon his
visitor, but he went to the door and ordered his son to come into
the room.

“
Is this not the seal I
gave you for your twentieth birthday, Arthur?”

The young clerk seemed to freeze into a
block of ice at the sight of the seal, for at first he could
neither speak nor move. When he did recover his senses, he glanced
wildly from the seal to Mr. Melamed.

“
Where did you find this?”
he snarled.

“
Your plot to have Lord
Liverwood declared a lunatic and put away, so Mr. Lennox can
inherit the title and the fortune, has been discovered, sir. Mr.
Lennox has run away, leaving you to face the gallows
alone.”

“
Gallows?” exclaimed the
elder Mr. Barnstock. “I am astonished by your accusation, yet I do
not see why this plot against Lord Liverwood is a capital
offense.”

“
The capital offense
involves the kidnapping and murder of the boy Berel
Krinkle.”