The record-union., 1896-04-26
THE ACE OF HEARTS.

was just starting my professional
career, and it was necessary to secure
a convenient office. did not want any
thing pretentious-an office for myself
and a small ante-chamber for the boy
whom 1 had engaged as clerk of all
work would amply suit my require
| ments. I had served my articles with
an old-established firm of solicitors in
the city, and had been accustomed to
great rooms filled with calf-bound vol
umes and shelves of ancient parchment,
and laughed to think of the difference
there must be between the little Office
l had in my minds eye and the big
| place where I had learned my law.
| Nevertheless I was we'll content to
| make a small beginning, and to trust
| to the future for bringing me an in
crease of business and fortune
Perhaps because I had two or three
professional friends Whereabouts, I Sc
! lected Holborn as being a likely spot
| wherein to pitch my tent. After a good
| deal of looking about me, / decided to
apply to an agent, with whom I went
to inspect a place he recommended, a
third floor Of Parchment Buildings.
l,
| unlocking the door of the office on the
third floor. This is sort of clerk S
| office; the principal room is beyond it,
and looks out into Parchment Passage.
! as l told you. Nice situation this,
amt it?''
I walked in and inspected both rooms
before answering him. AS regarded
size and situation they We're certainly
all that 1 wanted. The outer office
! would do very we'll for my boy clerk,
and the inner would suit me- Never
| theless 1t was evident that a good deal
Of cleaning would have to be done be-
fore anybody could tenant either room.
Two years at least had passed since
| the rooms were placed in the agent S
book.
1 said that the rooms would suit me
providing that the rent was not excess
sive. Herewith we fell a-bargaining,
and eventually hit up on terms which
met my approval. A week later I was
in full occupancy Of my Office. My boy
clerk sat at a little desk in the outer
office and pretended to work very hard,
while I sat at a big desk in my own
sanctum and read law. There was
really little else to do in those early
days. I sent in my own office appoint
| ments, and spent two or three days in
seeing them put straight. Wanting
some place in which to store a quantity
of old books and papers, I had a cup
| board cleared of quantity of rubbish
evidently left there by the last tenant
1t contained a vast amount of old let
| ters, invoices and papers, but these had
| been torn into small scraps and thrown
| into corner. The woman who cleaned
my rooms complained a good deal about
the mess caused by these scraps of
paper.
In reply to my inquiries, the woman
told me that it would be about three
years since the rooms had been occu-
pied. Further Intercepted, she said
that she could not remember the last
tenants name; it was something for
eign, and she did not know how to pro-
nounce it. She did-not know what his
business was. He was always writing,
she said, and sometimes had other for
eigners to see him. His name was never
painted upon the door of his rooms, nor
on the Intel down below, and it was her
belief that he was no good because he
kept himself so quiet. While the woman
talked she was engaged in removing the
mass of torn and scattered paper from
the cupboard. Suddenly she detached
something from the contents of her
basket and handed it to me.
He got that the very day he went
away said she. For 1 remember go
ing down and fetching his letters from
the box in the hall below. The first
thing he took out Of 'em was that there
card, and he laid it down on his desk
and stared at it like as if he couldn't
make it out. That's it, sure enough;
though / amt never set eyes on it since.
'Spect he chucked it away with this
here heap O. letters and papers,
1 took the thing from her and looked
at it. 1t was one Of a pack of cards, the
ace of hearts, and would have attracted
no attention from anybody but for one
slight fact. Through the crimson heart
in the center of the white card some
hand had drawn a stiletto with scru-
pulous fidelity. I had to look at it mar
rowly to make sure that the stiletto had
not been engraved with the red heart.
Engraved, however, it had not been;
the trace Of the artists pencil was clear
enough.
1 took possession Of the card and put
it aside During the somewhat lazy
time which followed I often looked at
it and wondered what it Signified. l
could not help fancying that it had con-
veyed some sinister message to the man
vino had occupied my rooms three years
previously Certainly he had left his
chambers hurriedly Immediately after
the receipt of it. l came to the conclu-
sion that my predecessor in the offices in
Parchment Passage had been engaged
in some mysterious transactions of a
rot altogether safe nature, and had
been warned to go elsewhere by the
transfiXed ace of hearts.
1t was spring when I entered into oc-
cupancy of my office, and the year went
by very quietly until winter set in. My
practice had been remarkably limited
at first, but as the months went by l
obtained an increase of work, and had
less time to spend in reading my calf
bound volumes. The first day of De-
cember brought me case which prom
Used to produce something considerable,
and / remained late and went on read
ing until a slight sound on the landing
outside made me look up, only to catch
sight of the clock, which indicated a late
hour of the evening.
Lifting the lamp from my desk, I
made my way to the door and suddenly
flung it open. Then 1 started with
amazement, for there on the landing
before me, his face and figure clearly
seen in the lamp-light, stood a man,
| tattered, sickly looking, and more dis
concerted than myself. A man of mid
die age apparently, and showing more
than usual signs of wear and tear at