General Well'ngone In Love (6 page)

“
Is the hermit still
living on Lord Liverwood’s estate?”

“
I wouldn’t know. I’ve
never been there.”

After leaving the solicitor’s rooms, Mr.
Melamed instructed his coachman to take him to the Thames. The
Frost Fair was still in progress, and it took Mr. Melamed some time
to find General Well’ngone in the throng.

“
Any luck, General?” he
asked, when he finally did see the owner of the familiar bicorne
hat.

The General shook his head. “No one
remembers seeing Mr. Krinkle.”

“
I suppose there were many
boys about yesterday, just as there are today.” Mr. Melamed glanced
about the hastily set up fair grounds. It would be highly unlikely
that anyone would take note of a boy like Berel. “Was there no one
else that the two of you spoke to, other than Mr. Lyon?”

“
Only the gentleman who
gave us the pencil. He spoke to us.”

“
Do you know who he
was?”

“
I never saw him before in
my life.”

“
You did not remove
anything from his pockets, something by which we could identify him
by?”

The General was about to protest his
innocence when he suddenly smote his hand against his forehead.
“His was the fob that got me in trouble with Earl. I relieved the
gentleman of his seal yesterday.”

“
Where is the fob
now?”

“
At the pawnbroker’s,
unless it’s already been sold.”

Mr. Melamed removed a banknote from his
pocketbook. “Get it back, General.”

General Well’ngone hurried off—and in his
hurry his feet flew out from underneath him, causing him to fall
face first upon the ice. A crowd quickly gathered around him and
began to point and laugh, which only added to his embarrassment.
His mortification increased when he looked up and saw, standing in
the circle of bystanders, Miss Sarah Krinkle.

Gathering up what was left of his wounded
pride, the General reached for his hat, which had landed nearby,
and placed it upon his head, before rising to his feet. He then
broke through the circle and went on his way, without giving the
laughing young person a second look.

“
Perhaps we should not
have laughed,” said Miss Lyon, who had accompanied Miss Krinkle to
the Frost Fair. Miss Krinkle had not been able to sit at home and
do nothing, and so the two young ladies, who were being chaperoned
by Meshullen Mendel, had come to the river to make their own
investigation.

“
General Well’ngone is
helping Mr. Melamed find your brother,” Rebecca added.

“
Oh!” Sarah Krinkle looked
round. “I’ll just say a word to him.”

When she caught up with the young man, she
said, “I hope you are not hurt, General Well’ngone.”

The General gave her a look of disdain and
continued to walk on.

“
I am most grateful for
all you are doing to help find my brother,” said Miss Krinkle,
following after him. “Truly I am.”

“
You have a strange way of
showing it.”

“
Please forgive me for
laughing. It was childish of me, and wrong.” When General
Well’ngone continued to walk, she said, “Have you never done
anything wrong, General, something that you later
regretted?”

At last he stopped and turned to look at
her. “Miss Krinkle, my entire life I have been doing things that
are wrong. Now, when I am trying to do something right, what do I
get? Laughed at.”

“
And if I were to tell you
that I promise I will never laugh at you again, would you forgive
me?”

General Well’ngone shrugged and stuck his
hands deeper into the pockets of his greatcoat. “I suppose so. Good
day, Miss Krinkle. ”

Mr. Melamed did not linger
at the Frost Fair. Instead, he drove to Mayfair and the home of his
friend and business associate, Mr.
Arthur Powell, the younger son of Lord
James Powell.

“
Liverwood? I know him, of course, though I cannot say he is
a great friend of mine.”
Mr.
Powell cast a
knowing glance at his visitor. He knew that
Mr.
Melamed never asked about members of the English
aristocracy, unless he had a good reason.

“
Would you be agreeable to paying him a visit?” asked Mr.
Melamed.

“
What has he done?”

“
Bought an elephant.”

Mr.
Powell laughed. “Yes, that sounds like Liverwood. Still, I do not
see why his latest antic concerns you or me.”

Mr.
Melamed explained about the missing boy. “Lord Liverwood was one of
the last people to speak with the child, at least that we know of.
There is a chance he might have seen the boy afterward. It is a
slender chance, I know. But, frankly, I am at a loss.”

Mr. Powell had no objection to the proposed visit. Lord
Liverwood’s London home was not far from his own
residence, and so
he and Mr. Melamed set out on foot. A short while later they were
informed that Lord Liverwood was at home and would be pleased to
receive them, and they were shown into a drawing room.

Lord
Liverwood was seated at a table upon which sat a Chinese puzzle
box. He was happily pushing at various panels upon the sides of the
box, hoping to discover the secret of how to open the
object.

“
Join me, do,” he said, motioning to his visitors to come to
the table. “I have been trying to discover the correct sequence of
movements since breakfast. Perhaps you, Powell, will have better
luck.”

“
It is a pretty thing,” said Mr. Powell, admiring the
various patterns of inlaid work. After sliding a few panels in and
out, he said, “I hope you have not stored anything valuable inside
the box, Liverwood. You may never see it again, if you
have.”

Lord
Liverwood laughed with delight. “What about you, sir? Would you
care to test your wits against this devil?”

Mr.
Melamed took the box and duly began to try to discover the box’s
secret.

“
My friend has a bigger puzzle to solve,” said Mr. Powell. “A
Jewish boy, a member of his community, has gone
missing.”

Lord
Liverwood clucked his tongue to show his sympathy.

“
I believe you saw the boy yesterday at Mr. Barnstock’s
rooms, and later at the Frost Fair. You gave him I
pencil.”

“
Did I? It is very possible.”

A young
gentleman entered the room. Lord Liverwood called out to him,
“Lennox, do you remember seeing a boy at the Fair?”

“
There must have been dozens of boys on the river,
Uncle.”

Lord
Liverwood introduced his nephew to his visitors. Mr. Melamed noted
that Mr. Lennox appeared to be in his late twenties. Whereas the
uncle was round and jovial, the nephew was lean and
reticent.

“
These gentlemen say we gave the boy a pencil.”

Mr.
Lennox gave a slight smile. “You are always generous to everyone,
Uncle. Perhaps you did.”

After pouring
a glass of sherry for himself, the young man went
to an armchair placed before the fire and began to read a
newspaper.

“
The boy was not alone,” said Mr. Melamed. “He was
accompanied by a young man wearing a military greatcoat and a
bicorne hat.
Perhaps you remember him.”

“
A bicorne hat?” Lord Liverwood thought for a moment. “You
mean, the boy in fancy dress? I do remember him! Did I not say that
I must purchase a bicorne hat, Lennox, for when I am next invited
to a fancy dress ball?”

“
Perhaps you did,” the young man replied
politely, but without
enthusiasm. “Perhaps you did” seemed to be his answer to most
things his uncle said.

“
Did you happen to see the two boys later?” asked Mr.
Melamed.

“
I do not think so. I wanted to show Lennox my elephant.”
Lord Liverwood suddenly raised his hands to his mouth, and then he
burst out laughing. “It was supposed to be a surprise,” he said,
when he had recovered. “Some Indian fellows were parading an
elephant at the Fair, near Blackfriars Bridge. It was quite a
remarkable sight. So I bought it.”

“
The bridge?” Mr. Powell politely inquired.

The question set Lord Liverwood into a
new paroxysm of laughter, which
lasted for several minutes. After wiping the tears from his eyes,
he said, “I do not know when I have laughed so much. I bought the
elephant, sir. I shall be the first to have an elephant, I am
sure.”

“
What do you intend to do with it, sir?” asked Mr.
Melamed.

Lord
Liverwood’s face turned blank. The nephew put aside his newspaper
and came to the older man’s rescue. “My uncle loves nothing more
than to amuse his friends. Is that not so, Uncle?”

“
That is correct,” said Lord Liverwood, his face once again
brightening. “And an elephant will be most amusing.”

“
Now if you will excuse us, gentlemen, in a few minutes my
uncle has an appointment with his physician.”

“Did we
learn anything?” asked Mr. Powell, when he and Mr. Melamed were
once again on the street.

“
It does not seem so,” replied Mr. Melamed.

“
I feel sorry for Liverwood. He has all the money in the
world, his title and estates are among the best in England, and I
suppose he enjoys his life, but he is really just a child. He
cannot make intelligent use of all he has been blessed
with.”

“
Did he ever marry, or have children?”

“
No.”

“
Then Mr. Lennox is his heir?”

“
Yes, I think so.” Mr. Powell glanced over at his friend.
“What are you thinking, Melamed?”

“
I am thinking it must be very hard for Mr. Lennox. His
uncle appears to be in
excellent health. It may be a very long time until
he inherits.”

Mr. Powell
, who was a younger son and therefore knew what it was to
wait, laughed. “Do not start inventing mysteries where there is
none. You have enough to do with finding the boy. What do you
intend to do next?”

“
I wish I knew.”

VII.

Although General Well’ngone and the
pawnbroker had done business together on numerous occasions, it was
part of the charade that when that business took place in the front
of the store they pretended to be only slightly acquainted. The
General therefore took his time examining the cheap trinkets on
display, before he said, as if by afterthought, “It is really a fob
seal I’m after. Have you any, sir?”

The pawnbroker knew perfectly well what the
General was referring to, but he also played his part. “I may have
some in the back. Would you care to come with me and see them? Mind
your head, sir. The doorway is a bit low.”

When they were in the pawnbroker’s back
room, the man’s manner made an abrupt change. “What’s this about,
General? Who’s after the goods?”

“
Calm down. It’s just a
little private business. I need one of them back.”

“
It’s lucky for you I
haven’t yet sent them to be melted down,” said the pawnbroker,
placing a strongbox on the table. “Which one is it?”

The General was about to reach into the box,
when the pawnbroker stopped him. “You keep your fingers to
yourself, General. Just point out the one you want.”

For the second time that day the General
felt it was most unfair that people were still assuming the worst
of him when for once he was trying to do good. But he brushed aside
his hurt feelings and fixed his attention upon the shiny gold
objects sitting in the iron box. “It’s that one, I think,” he said.
“Show me the seal.”

The pawnbroker turned the fob upside down to
reveal the insignia engraved into the carnelian agate stone. Above
the family crest were a half moon and three stars.

“
That’s the one,” said the
General.

Before returning to his own home, Mr.
Melamed stopped by the Krinkle home on Duke’s Street to make sure
that Berel had not turned up in the meantime. One of the Earl’s
boys had been posted there, and he assured Mr. Melamed that the
child had not come home. As Mr. Melamed was descending the stairs,
a door opened and an elderly woman looked out.

“
What has happened, Mr.
Melamed? Where are the Krinkle children?”

“
I shall explain another
time, Mrs. Hutner,” he replied, not wishing to enter into a lengthy
conversation with the woman.

“
I knew this would
happen,” she called after him.

Mr. Melamed stopped and turned back to her.
“You knew what would happen?”

“
I saw the boy with
General Well’ngone. I knew what would happen if those children were
left to run wild. Which prison are they in?”

“
None that I know of. Good
day.”

When he did reach his home, General
Well’ngone was waiting for him.

“
I showed the General into
the library,” said his butler. “I hope that was the right thing to
do, sir.”

Mr. Melamed nodded his assent and then went
to the library, where he found General Well’ngone studying a globe
of the world.

“
It is a big world, is it
not?” he said to the General.