Part 45 (2/2)
”This is a singular piece of news, if it is to be credited,” Isaac said. ”For years it has been a.s.sumed, by many at Court, that de Gex-who spends much time in London-was an agent of the King of France. And many rumors have reached my ears that he was entangled, somehow, with Jack the Coiner. I had a.s.sumed that de Gex and Shaftoe operated hand-in-glove.” He nodded at the place where Arlanc had just been sitting. ”But this talk of a warning that went unheeded hints at a conflict of fourteen years' standing between the two of them.”
”It hints at something else, too,” Orney said. ”If it is true that this de Gex survived the destruction of a s.h.i.+p on the open ocean, and stayed afloat long enough to be rescued, it implies that he knows how to swim-which means we cannot simply a.s.sume that he drowned in the Thames yesterday.”
”Let us continue the interview,” Isaac said.
”WHEN J JACK FIRST RETURNED to London, the war had resumed under its new name of the War of the Spanish Succession. But the armies had not yet been fully mobilized, and so many unemployed soldiers and sailors were still about, making the city infamously perilous. Jack had the wit to see that these men would presently be called back into service, and so he recruited as many as he could during his first months back. His interview with me was partly with an eye towards getting me to work for him.” to London, the war had resumed under its new name of the War of the Spanish Succession. But the armies had not yet been fully mobilized, and so many unemployed soldiers and sailors were still about, making the city infamously perilous. Jack had the wit to see that these men would presently be called back into service, and so he recruited as many as he could during his first months back. His interview with me was partly with an eye towards getting me to work for him.”
”In what capacity? And did he succeed?” asked Isaac.
”Anyone who has paid the least notice to the newspapers, and to the discourse of Parliament, during the last decade, will know that war breeds corruption as flesh breeds maggots. The vast movements of men and materiel entailed by the maneuvers of the Allied Powers afforded Jack opportunities for profit that were almost inconceivably vast. For every case of peculation that was talked about openly in London, you may be certain there were a hundred others that went unremarked upon-and of those, Jack was probably involved, somehow, in fifty. His method was simple: he recruited soldiers and sailors before the Crown did, and he treated them better.”
”You have answered my first question,” Isaac said, ”namely, in what capacity did Jack wish to hire you. But you have not touched on the second.”
”Only because the answer is obvious,” Arlanc said, and held up his manacles. ”Oh, I did not do terrible things. But I am ashamed to say that I did look the other way when my regiment's deliveries of gunpowder, and other commodities, came up a bit short. This I did less out of a desire for profit than fear of a certain suttler who I'm sure would not have hesitated to cut my throat, or arrange for me to be shot in the back, had I raised any objection. G.o.d in his mercy took me out of this peril, for in ought-five I suffered a wound that forced me to retire from Her Majesty's service. I came back to London and, after I recovered, went to work as a porter for Monsieur Nevers, the horologist-”
”Which led in due course to your knowing several Fellows of the Royal Society, who hired Monsieur Nevers to make instruments,” said Daniel.
”Yes, sir, and that is how I ended up working here.”
”But you were also working for Jack,” Isaac pointed out.
”Yes, sir, after a fas.h.i.+on,” Arlanc admitted. ”Though it hardly seemed like work. From time to time-perhaps once or twice a year-I was invited to go and meet a certain gentleman at a certain pub, and have a chat with him.”
”If the work was all that trivial, why did you bother bother?” Isaac asked.
”Jack had power over me, as a result of our previous dealings,” said Arlanc. ”With a word he could destroy my marriage or blacken the reputation of my brother Calvin. What he asked of me seemed harmless-so I did it.”
”What did you and this man talk about when you met in the pub?” asked Orney.
”He was an educated Frenchman. He professed to be a sort of Enthusiast, an amateur amateur of Natural Philosophy. He simply wanted to know what the Royal Society was like. He asked all sorts of questions about what happened during the meetings, and what the Fellows were like-Sir Christopher Wren, Edmund Halley, and especially Sir Isaac Newton.” of Natural Philosophy. He simply wanted to know what the Royal Society was like. He asked all sorts of questions about what happened during the meetings, and what the Fellows were like-Sir Christopher Wren, Edmund Halley, and especially Sir Isaac Newton.”
”Did you ever mention to this amateur amateur that Sir Isaac made a practice of coming to Crane Court on Sunday evenings, and working late?” asked Daniel. that Sir Isaac made a practice of coming to Crane Court on Sunday evenings, and working late?” asked Daniel.
”I don't remember for certain, sir, but it is quite possible-that is the sort of thing this fellow loved to hear about, sir.” Arlanc then paused, for everyone in the room had exhaled, and some who'd been studying his phizz for the last several minutes were now looking at their fingernails or gazing out the window. ”Did I do wrong, sir?” asked Henry Arlanc. He was addressing the question to Daniel. ”Foolish question! I know perfectly well I did wrong. But was it a crime? A crime for which a man can be charged, and brought before a magistrate?”
Daniel, moved by sympathy, looked him in the eye and got ready to say, Of course not! Of course not! but Isaac was quicker: ”You are guilty of Conspiracy, and to prove as much before a judge shall be simple enough. Mr. Partry, you may take this man away to Newgate Prison.” but Isaac was quicker: ”You are guilty of Conspiracy, and to prove as much before a judge shall be simple enough. Mr. Partry, you may take this man away to Newgate Prison.”
With no more ceremony than that, Partry loomed over Arlanc's shoulder and gathered up a fistful of lapel at the nape of the Huguenot's neck, by which he hauled him to his feet. Partry kicked Arlanc's chair aside and began to drag him backwards out of the room, leg-chains raking across the floor-boards. Approaching the exit the pair halted for a moment so that Partry could open the door with his free hand. Arlanc took this opportunity to say: ”Beg pardon, sirs, but if I could add a word or two, concerning the man you seek-?”
”You may,” answered Isaac, with a confirmatory nod at Partry. Partry remained in the doorway, watching over Arlanc's shoulder, while keeping a loose grip on the scruff of the other's neck. It seemed then to Daniel that this pair looked like a ventriloquist at a country fair, and his marionette. Arlanc began to speak. ”I've been a student, you might say, of Jack for some years now-as Mr. Halley watches the movements of comets, and understands their nature without being able to alter their courses, why, so it is with me and Jack Shaftoe. And I say that if you think Jack is a slave of Le Roi, Le Roi, and dreams only of doing the bidding of Louis, why, you are underestimating the man. That hypothesis-if I may borrow a Royal Society word-does not do the man sufficient credit, and does not explain his actions.” and dreams only of doing the bidding of Louis, why, you are underestimating the man. That hypothesis-if I may borrow a Royal Society word-does not do the man sufficient credit, and does not explain his actions.”
”And what is your your hypothesis, Mr. Arlanc?” asked Daniel. hypothesis, Mr. Arlanc?” asked Daniel.
”He's gone around the world, Jack has. He's had a pile of gold, lost it, got it back, and lost it again. He's been a Vagabond, a King, and everything in between. He has more swag now than a man could ever need. You must ask yourselves: what could move move such a man? When Jack gets up in the morning, what does he think of? What does he desire?” such a man? When Jack gets up in the morning, what does he think of? What does he desire?”
”You have been given leave to supply us with answers-not to ply us with questions,” Sir Isaac pointed out.
”Very well then, sir, I'll tell you the answer. It is love that Jack seeks. The love of a woman. A certain particular woman, whom he loved once, and has never forgotten.” Arlanc was looking Daniel in the eye. ”She is known to some of you. Her name is-”
”I know her name,” Daniel said, to cut off Arlanc's maudlin discourse before he could sully the name of some blameless lady or other; but he needn't have bothered, for Partry at the same instant had jerked back on Arlanc's shoulder so violently as to throttle his wind-pipe and draw him back through the door.
”Thank you, Mr. Partry,” Isaac called out as Arlanc was removed with a fantastic cacophony: sc.r.a.ping and clanking of chains, gagging and coughing of the prisoner, curses from Partry, and above all the wailing and sobbing redux redux of Mrs. Arlanc. Doors up and down the hall were being hauled open, and diverse savants and vertuosos were thrusting their heads out to see what was the meaning of this. Kikin did the Clubb the favor of closing the door on that scene. This m.u.f.fled the sound to the point where it was mere noises off: distracting but ignorable. There was a pause for the Clubb to regain its composure. Then Mr. Orney, who was running the meeting, said: ”Right. Are there any other items of new business?” of Mrs. Arlanc. Doors up and down the hall were being hauled open, and diverse savants and vertuosos were thrusting their heads out to see what was the meaning of this. Kikin did the Clubb the favor of closing the door on that scene. This m.u.f.fled the sound to the point where it was mere noises off: distracting but ignorable. There was a pause for the Clubb to regain its composure. Then Mr. Orney, who was running the meeting, said: ”Right. Are there any other items of new business?”
”I have one,” said Mr. Kikin, ”which is that we all lie down and take a d.a.m.ned nap.”
IF THE OTHERS WENT to sleep, Isaac did not, and neither did Daniel, for Isaac wanted to have words with him. They met in a study off the Library, where Isaac was wont to hold forth as President of the Royal Society. to sleep, Isaac did not, and neither did Daniel, for Isaac wanted to have words with him. They met in a study off the Library, where Isaac was wont to hold forth as President of the Royal Society.
”You will have seen the deficiency in Arlanc's account,” was how Isaac opened the conversation.
”What, that nonsense about a woman?”
Isaac got that queasy look signifying that Daniel was being unforgivably slow. ”For the Infernal Device to have been placed where it was, it was not sufficient simply for Jack to know that I work late here on Sunday evenings. He must have known, futhermore, that you you were coming, in company of Mr. Threader, and that you should arrive on a Sunday evening.” were coming, in company of Mr. Threader, and that you should arrive on a Sunday evening.”
”I sent more than one letter ahead, which Arlanc would have seen, to inform the Royal Society of my intentions...”
”Your intentions in general, in general, yes. But the yes. But the specific specific information that you should arrive on a Sunday evening-the fact that the Device was placed in your trunk on Mr. Threader's wagon-all this points to Threader's involvement.” information that you should arrive on a Sunday evening-the fact that the Device was placed in your trunk on Mr. Threader's wagon-all this points to Threader's involvement.”
”We have been over this before. That Jack has a spy in Threader's retinue I am willing to believe. But to say Mr. Threader himself is a has.h.i.+s.h.i.+n has.h.i.+s.h.i.+n is absurd!” is absurd!”
”Did you mark how quiet he was just now?”
”You call it quiet quiet. I call it asleep asleep. We have all been awake thirty-six hours!”
”You have learned from Arlanc how Jack builds power: he wheedles a small favor from someone, then comes back again asking for a larger one, and so on, until that person is ensnared, and has lost the power to refuse. Is it so difficult to believe that such a thing could have happened to an inveterate Weigher such as Mr. Threader?”
”I will consider it,” Daniel said, ”on the condition that you will entertain another, just as repugnant possibility: that the Royal Society harbors another, of infinitely higher rank than Henry Arlanc, who is working in league with Jack the Coiner.”
Clerkenwell Court 27 JULY 1714.
”I CAME AS SOON AS CAME AS SOON AS I I COULD.” COULD.”
Daniel thought this very like Isaac: to open the conversation by defending himself against imagined allegations of tardiness. Since Daniel was the only man in the room (Saturn's clock-shop along Coppice Row), some might see it as an excess of caution; but when you were him you could never be too sure.
”Stunning alacrity is the phrase I should have used to describe your response to my message,” Daniel a.s.sured him. ”I did not expect you for another hour, and do not expect the rest of the Clubb to show up at all.”
In case Daniel's rea.s.surances were not in good faith, Isaac went on to bolster his reb.u.t.tal. ”Some kind of storm has broken over the Court of St. James today. The Quality are all out in the streets-it is as if, at some moment in the middle of the day, every courtier and politician in London suddenly decided he was in the wrong place.”
”That is not a bad description of what happened.”
”I was at the Royal Society, going over some doc.u.ments relating to Leibniz, and when I received your note, I found it nearly impossible to get out onto Fleet Street. At first I feared the Queen must have died; but the bells do not toll for her.”
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