Stone's Fall

'I'm a book-keeper, you know,' he said. 'My dad here didn't like it, because he's a shipbuilder, a boilermaker, and didn't like the idea of me working in a suit. He reckoned I'd get grand ideas, and get above myself. But I was clever at school. I always got high marks in arithmetic and spelling, and my hand was good, copperplate when I wanted. My teacher liked me, and put in a word with the yard, and got me taken on in the offices. I began there about eight years ago, and learned the business of book-keeping. I went on courses even, to improve myself, and did well. I was promoted, and paid more, and I didn't get above myself, I don't think.'

His father scowled amiably, as though to concede the point.

'Anyway, my job was to make payments out for bills that came in. Not the big ones, you understand. Miscellaneous and sundries is my department, and there's no rhyme nor reason to a lot of it. So, when I got in this bill for twenty-five pounds, I paid it, cash in an envelope, posted to the address on the docket. A couple of weeks later, all that remained was a twenty-five-pound deficit, and enough evidence that I must have been the one to have taken it; all the other pieces of paper had vanished. I was asked to explain. No one believed me, and I was fired, and told I was lucky I wasn't going to gaol.

'I was that upset I could have cried. I did, in fact. I couldn't believe it had happened to me, and even wondered whether I had made some mistake. But there couldn't have been. There were only two possible explanations – either I'd stolen the money, or the request for payment had been real. I knew I hadn't stolen anything, so that meant the dockets must have been removed. I don't make mistakes, you see. But I was in a right way; there was no chance now of ever getting another job again, not in Newcastle. Pretty soon everyone would hear something, that's the way it works. I was going to go to live with my second cousin in Liverpool, start again, and hope no one would find anything out. I was even acting as though I was guilty. Only this lot,' he gestured at the people sitting round the table, who nodded,'stood by me. Not even the union would help. They didn't help thieves, they told me. Not worth their time; they had enough to do with deserving cases.'

He snorted bitterly as he sipped his tea. His father looked uncomfortable.

'And then I got this short letter, asking me – ordering me, more like – to come to the Royal. No signature, nothing. I almost didn't go, but I thought – why not? I was wondering, you see, what it was about, and I had nothing else to do. So I went, and knocked on the door, and there was His Lord . . . Ravenscliff, I mean. All alone.

'I was terrified, I don't mind telling you. Just the room was frightening enough; I'd never seen the like before, even grander than the music hall, with its velvet curtains and golden furniture. And Ravenscliff . . .'

He paused to shift uncomfortably in his chair, and stirred some more sugar into his cup. 'You never met him, you say? If you had I would have to say no more. He was a frightening man. Bulky, not fat, and he never moved much. Didn't have to; just looked at you, and that was enough. Didn't speak loud either; he made you listen to him. Did nothing to make you comfortable or at ease. Just told me to sit, and then looked at me, for ages. Didn't move a muscle all the while, and me getting hotter under the collar, and more and more upset.

'"I didn't do it," I blurted out when I could stand no more. "And if you want to put the police on me, then go ahead . . ."

'"Have I said anything about the police?"

'"So why am I here?"

'"Well, not for the police," he said quietly. "I could have you arrested and thrown into gaol without even leaving London, you know. You are here because I want to ask you questions."

'"What sort of questions?"

'"Not why you did it. That is of no interest to me at all. How you did it does concern me, though. The controls should be proof against people like you, and they weren't. So, in return for your freedom, I want to know how you did it."

'So I sat down again. "Will you, for the last time, listen to what I am saying? I didn't do anything. I did not steal anything. Not a penny. Not even half a penny." '

'That's right,' his mother interrupted, nodding her head in approval. 'And when he told me that, I was so proud of him . . .'

'Ravenscliff stared at me, with no expression on his face at all. I couldn't tell what he was thinking. That was frightening, you know. Normally, you say something, and you know how well it's gone down. Not with him. You couldn't tell a thing.

'"Prove it," he said.

' "I can't," I said bitterly. "That's the trouble." And I told him what had happened. Everything I've told you, and more. He nodded as I spoke; it was clear he knew the procedures perfectly well. Then he asked me questions.

'"Every bill is stamped with a number, which runs in sequence. If one was removed, it should have been obvious. The same goes for payment slips."