No policeman ever detects
a desperate ruffian in a demure black-coated gentleman who day after day
turns an iron gate upon its rusty hinge. And thus, wrapt in a cloak
of suburban piety, Peace waged a pitiless and effective war upon his
neighbours.
He pillaged Blackheath, Greenwich, Peckham, and many another home of
honest worth, with a noiselessness and a precision that were the envy of
the whole family. The unknown and intrepid burglar was a terror to all
the clerkdom of the City, and though he was as secret and secluded as
Peace, the two heroes were never identified. At the time of his true
eminence he 'resided' in Evelina Road, Peckham, and none was more
sensible than he how well the address became his provincial refinement.
There he installed himself with his wife and Mrs. Thompson. His
drawing-room suite was the envy of the neighbourhood; his pony-trap
proclaimed him a man of substance; his gentle manners won the respect of
all Peckham. Hither he would invite his friends to such entertainments
as the suburb expected. His musical evenings were recorded in the local
paper, while on Sundays he chanted the songs of Zion with a zeal which
Clapham herself might envy.
The house in Evelina Road was no mere haunt of quiet gentility. It
was chosen with admirable forethought and with a stern eye upon the
necessities of business. Beyond the garden wall frowned a railway
embankment, which enabled the cracksman to escape from his house without
opening the front door.
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