“Well, here I am,” I said to myself, “thirty-three years old, and alone in the world.  Nobody knows me in England, but it won’t be my fault if they don’t hear of George Fairfax before very long.  I’ll be off to London and try my fortune there.”

Next day I made my way to the Great Metropolis, and installed myself at a small private hotel, while I looked about me preparatory to commencing business.  To talk of gaining a footing in London is all very well in its way, but it is by no means so easy a task to accomplish as it might appear.  Doubtless it can be done fairly quickly if one is prepared to spend large sums of money in advertising, and is not afraid to blow one’s own trumpet on every possible occasion, but that is not my line, and besides, even had I so wished, I had not the money to do it.  For a multitude of reasons I did not feel inclined to embark my hard-earned savings on such a risky enterprise.  I preferred to make my way by my own diligence, and with that end in view I rented an office in a convenient quarter, furnished it, put a small advertisement in a few of the papers, and then awaited the coming of my clients.

As I have a long and curious story to tell, and this book is only intended to be the narration of a certain episode in my life, a detailed description of my first three years in London would not only be superfluous, but in every way a waste of time.  Let it suffice that my first case was that of the now notorious Pilchard Street Diamond Robbery, my success in which brought me business from a well known firm in Hatton Gardens.  As the public will doubtless remember, they had been robbed of some valuable gems between London and Amsterdam in a singularly audacious manner.  My second was the case of the celebrated Russian swindler, who called herself the Countess Demikoff.  This case alone took me nearly six months to unravel, but I did not grudge the time, seeing that I was well paid for my labours, and that I managed to succeed where the police had failed.  From that time forward I think I may say without boasting that I have been as successful as any man of my age has a right to expect to be.  What is better still, I am now in the happy position of being able to accept or decline business as I choose.  It is in many respects a hard life, and at all times is attended with a fair amount of risk, but you cannot make omelets without breaking eggs, and if any one chooses to spend his life running to earth men who are waging war against Society, well, he must not grumble if he receives some hard knocks in return.

After these preliminaries I will proceed to show how I came to be mixed up in the most curious case it has ever been my good, or evil, fortune to encounter.  It showed me a side of human nature I had not met before, and it brought me the greatest happiness a man can ever hope to find.

CHAPTER II