The Secret of the Haunted Mirror - M. V. Carey [39]
“Then Manolos showed his evil. He told one very old man who suffered from the gout that he should take a voyage. The old man went, and while he was away his house was robbed. Manolos told a woman that the money she had should be blessed, that she should take it to her own priest at the church where she always prayed. She did, but on the way to the church her pocket was picked. There were other things. I need not go on. You understand since you seem to have intelligence for ones so young.”
“What a confidence operation!” cried Pete. “But didn’t the Spanish police catch on?”
“In time,” said Santora. “But already, before he started this villainy, Manolos paid special attention to my uncle. Even as a young man my uncle was interested in reform for Ruffino. He talked much of it and Manolos listened. Manolos thought my uncle would become important and that he should have some influence with my uncle.
Also, the Garcías had much money, so Manolos thought of the blackmail. He would use the glass, and he would … how do you say it in the films about gangsters?”
“He would frame your uncle?” suggested Bob.
“Si. Yes. That is it. So Manolos, he had influence on a young girl, a servant in one of the great houses. With his mirror he convinced her that she was being cheated by her employers. He convinced her that she was the victim of an injustice, and that she had the right to avenge herself. He said he knew of a man who would pay a great price for the jewels which belonged to this girl’s employer. He said the girl must take the jewels and put them in a box and wrap the box with red paper, and that he would make the arrangements. The man would meet the girl and give her the money in an envelope, and she would give him the jewels. And so she did it. She stole the jewels and met the man whom Manolos described. He gave her an envelope, and she gave him the box wrapped in red paper. And that man was my uncle!”
“A thief!” snarled Juan Gómez.
“My uncle did not know!” cried Santora. “He thought he was only doing a favour for Manolos. He thought he was delivering a letter to the girl, and that she was giving him a gift for Manolos. He met the girl on a street near a fountain. Manolos was there with a camera. Manolos took a photograph of my uncle and the girl and in the photograph my uncle hands the girl an envelope!”
“Naturally the authorities discovered what had happened,” said Jupe.
“But of course they did. The girl opened the envelope and there was no money, only paper. She was very frightened. When her mistress found that the jewels were gone the police came and the girl cried and told everything. Only by that time my uncle was on his way back to Ruffino. He never learned of it. Not for a long time.
Manolos got away from Madrid with his mirror and his photograph — and the jewels
— just in time. There were stories in the newspapers about him and the evil he had done with that glass.
“So he went to Ruffino and started to blackmail your uncle?” said Pete.
“He went to Ruffino, but he did nothing at first,” Santora told him. “He had money, you see, from his crimes. He waited. He married that poor lady, Isabella, because she was the only child of a wealthy man. And he waited. Then, twelve years ago, when it was the time for the election, and we were almost in a revolution — then he acted. He sent my uncle a print of that photograph and copies of those old stories from the Spanish newspapers. My uncle had been involved in a crime and here was the proof. Never mind that García had not known. Never mind that it was so long ago. Here was the proof, and it would ruin my uncle. Never would he win the election.
“So my uncle gave in to that wretch. He gave him money at first, but soon that was not enough. He gave him power. So Manolos had his big house, and some respect
— not much. Every year, on the anniversary of the election, my uncle received another print