Under False Colours Read Online Free

poppin' up, as it were. Like jack-in-the-box, if you take my meaning-'
    'D'you know him well, then?'
    'Well enough, Cap'n,' replied Davey, coaxing the candle into life. 'He takes his lodging in the room yonder. When I gets word I tell the one-legged gennelman.'
    'I see. And the customer you received late this afternoon? What was his business?'
    Davey winked and tapped the side of his nose. 'A gennelman in a spot o' trouble, Cap'n Waters,' he said, using Drinkwater's assumed name. 'Word gets round, d'ye see, that I sell paregoric elixir ...' Davey enunciated the words with a certain proprietorial hauteur. 'He's afeared o' visiting a quack or a 'pothecary, but mostly o'Job's Dock.'
    ' Who's dock?' asked Drinkwater, biting into the gristle that seemed the chief constituent of the meat pie Davey had brought him.
    'Job's Dock, Cap'n, the venereal ward at St Bartholomew's. He's got himself burnt, d'ye see ...'
    'Yes, yes ...' Drinkwater was losing his appetite.
    'I stock a supply for the benefit of the seamen ...'
    'I understand, Mr Davey, though I did not know tincture of opium was effective against the pox.'
    'Ah, but it clears the distemper of the mind, Cap'n, it relieves the conscience ...'
    When a man has a bad conscience, Drinkwater thought, the most trivial remarks and events serve to remind him of it. Perhaps Davey's paregoric elixir would remove the distemper of his own mind. He visited the privy and turned instead to the replenished jug of gin. An hour later he fell asleep.
    He had no idea how long he had slept when he felt himself being shaken violently.
    'Cap'n, sir! Cap'n! Wake ye up, d'ye hear! Wake up!'
    Snatched from the depths of slumber Drinkwater was at first uncertain of his whereabouts, but then, suddenly alarmed, he thrust Davey aside to reach for his pistol. 'What the devil is it, Davey? Damn it, take your hands off me!'
    "Tis him, sir, Fagan ... !'
    Drinkwater was on his feet in an instant and had crossed the room to stare out over the dark gutway of the alley. No light betrayed any new arrival over the pie shop opposite. There were noises from the ginnel below, but there always were as the patrons of the adjacent bordello came and went.
    'He's next door, sir, in Mrs Hockley's establishment, Cap'n.'
    'How the deuce d'you know?' asked Drinkwater, drawing on the borrowed boots.
    'She sent word, Cap'n. She keeps her ears and eyes open when I asks her.'
    'You didn't mention me?' Drinkwater asked, relieved when Davey shook his head.
    He wondered how many other people knew that Fagan was expected in the Alsatia of Wapping. It was too late for speculation now. His moment had come and he must act without hesitation. He pulled on his coat and took a swig of the watered gin, swilling it round his mouth and spitting it out again, allowing some of it to dribble on to his soiled neckcloth.
    'I wouldn't take your pistol, Cap'n, Ma Hockley don't allow even the gentry to carry arms in her house ... here, take the cane.'
    Drinkwater took the proffered malacca, twisted the silver knob to check the blade was loose inside, clapped his hat on his head and left the darkened room. 'Obliged to you, Mr Davey,' he said over his shoulder as he clattered down the stairs with Davey behind him. Davey pushed past him at their foot and led him through the store, opening the street door with a jangle of keys and tumbling of locks.
    To Drinkwater, even the air of the alley smelled sweet after the stifling confinement of his room. Despite the slime beneath his feet and the sulphurous stink of sea-coal smoke, the wind brought with it a tang of salt, blown from the exposed mudflats of the Thames. He caught himself from marching along the alley and walked slowly towards the door of Mrs Hockley's. It was open, and spilled a lozenge of welcoming yellow lamplight on to the ground.
    He turned into the doorway to be confronted by a tall ugly man.
    'Yeah? What d'you want then?'
    Drinkwater leaned heavily on his cane. He hoped his nervousness gave some