SV - 01 - Sergeant Verity and the Cracksman by Francis Selwyn

like a drum-major. In front of him, Ellen Jacoby stepped out of her black satin skirts and loosened her bodice. The sight of the tall blonde girl, with her thin smile, energetic hips, and long thighs, sent Ned Roper's hat skimming away like a top. His fawn coat and trousers followed it. On the velvet sofa, the girl's white skin shone brightly against the black pile. Roper's tongue flicked her nipples and his fingers played remorselessly between her thighs. Her head thrashed to and fro, eyes closed, teeth clenched on her lower lip. Her legs began to squirm and her hands gripped the sofa edges frantically. Ned Roper watched her for a moment and then grinned.
     
    "And now, my love," he said softly, "here's a reward for a good, clever girl! "
     
    "Why, Mr Verity!" Bella stood in the doorway, regarding her father's lodger with wide blue eyes and her charming mouth open in amazement.
     
    "Leave us, Bella!" said Mr Stringfellow, dabbing a wet flannel over Verity's swollen face.
    "Oh, Mr Verity!" cried the girl, scurrying forward into the room.
    "Clear out, miss!" roared Stringfellow. "Get upstairs this minute, or I'll have the strap off my wooden leg and leave the leather of 'un on your hide!" He pointed meaningly to the thong which secured a wooden stump that had served him as a left leg since the siege of Bhurtpore. The girl looked quickly and longingly at Verity, and then ran from the room, sobbing.
    "They meant you some 'arm, chum!" said Stringfellow, dabbing thoughtfully at Verity's jaw, "no mistaking that"
    "Walked into it," Verity mumbled. "Got took for a gull by a pair of whores, like any yokel from the shires."
    "Not you!" said Stringfellow. "They laid a snare, the whole lot of 'em. Superior numbers, Mr Verity. And what's a military man to do against superior numbers?" He looked at the torn coat, and added cheerfully, "Bella can do something for that."
    "Good of her," muttered Verity.
    "Goodl" said Stringfell ow. "That ain't the word for it! " He helped Verity off with his shirt and regarded his back in silence.
    "However," he said at last, "in the event of an alliance between Verity and Stringfellow, what's to happen when the lord and master of the firm comes home at night in this state?"
    "Rifle Brigade was worse than this a dozen times before Sebastopol," said Verity calmly.
    "Maybe," said Stringfellow, wetting the sponge again, "but Paddington Green ain't Sebastopol and Miss Bella ain't Miss Nightingale. Not by a long chalk."
    "I've half a mind to give it up," said Verity. "They took one of Mr Croaker's letters from my pocket. God knows I couldn't have made a worse mess of it. I've a good mind to giv e up the police, and find a littl e inn somewhere."
    "There again," said Stringfellow philosophically, "little inns have their ups and downs, likewise."
     
    "Why, Mr Verity!" said Sergeant Samson with a broad smile. "You ain't struck it rich, 'ave you?"
    "No," said Verity shortly, "I 'aven't."
    "Special job, then? Coming in your Sunday best, and all?"
    "No."
    "And 'oo changed your face about like that?" "Fell down the stairs."
     
    "I'll say!" Samson thumped him on the back, causing Verity to gasp with pain, even after two days, " 'oo pushed you? Eh?"
    "Mr Inspector Croaker," said Verity grimly, bracing himself for the next comradely thump.
     
    "Why, Mr Verity!" said Bella. "It can't be such a bad thing as all that!" She pressed closer to him on the sofa until he could feel the warmth of her thigh penetrating to his own. He politely drew away a little and she closed on him again.
    "It was a very bad thing," he said, "very bad, Miss Bella."
    "But you didn't mean to do wrong?"
    "No."
    "Oh, Mr Verity, you did what was right! "
    She looked up at him, her eyes shining with admiration.
    "Yes," he said modestly, "I thought I did right."
     
    "Was it like facing the Cossacks?" she asked eagerly. "For Old England and the Queen?"
     
    Verity thought for a moment.
    "Yes," he said, "I suppose it was, after a fashion."
    "There!" she