Chapter 15

Lewis could not do anything to fight back against Godfrey. He was lying on the ground with the tip of a rapier on his chest. One single move, he'd be finished.

But because it was Godfrey Irving, the man who had mercilessly killed people, it wouldn't matter whether he moved or not. There was no way of sparing Lewis. He could stab him at any time.

Suddenly, a very long and loud train whistle was heard. Godfrey sensed trouble from that and loudly said, "Now what's going on there?!"

At the same time, the train started to slow down. It was not looking good for him. He looked back to see what was happening while keeping Lewis in check.

"What in the bloody hell..."

Lewis also felt the deceleration and was curious so he looked where Godfrey was looking with his head lifting.

He saw the railroad blocked by the London Police and its barricades, much to his and Godfrey's surprise. The police must have gotten in the part of the railroad which was elevated through an at-grade part.

The train gradually stopped. Because of the blockade, Godfrey had no choice but to leave the train and escape the railroad. "Bastards!"

He quickly took out another smoke from his pocket, faced the lying Lewis and declared, "The police may have gotten in my way but I will be— Ugh!"

A very loud punch unexpectedly flew at Godfrey's face, knocking him down.

"Who dares hit me, Godfrey Irving, without notice— Argh!"

The assailant did not care for Godfrey's words and kicked him in the head. The kick was so powerful he lost consciousness.

Lewis sat up and saw the assailant with a familiar figure. The same figure he saw when he defended the starving children back in the alley.

It was Garrett, coming to rescue once again.

"Garrett?!"

Garrett turned around and asked Lewis, "You alright, mate?"

Lewis looked at his wounds side to side. He looked at Garrett and answered, "More or less."

He noticed the wounds and disagreed with Lewis's response, "You don't look alright to me." Garrett gave Lewis a hand and lifted him up.

"This is nothing. They'll heal up."

Both men looked at the unconscious Godfrey. Lewis commented, "I thought you were hitting a watermelon."

"Button it will you?!" Garrett replied with a laugh and a hold to Lewis's head. The latter had no choice but to smile.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The chase was over, and Godfrey had been arrested. Shackles were put on his wrists while surrounded by many policemen.

Meanwhile, Lewis was sitting down one of few police carriage's step and tending to his wounds with pieces of cloth with Garrett's help.

"There you have it," he uttered in relief.

Garrett gave a friendly suggestion, "You still need to go to the doctor."

Lewis declined, "I can treat the wounds on my own. Father taught me."

"Lewis!" The detective shouted Lewis's name from a distance and approached the men.

"Detective... there he is."

"Didn't expect the big guy to come for you, huh."

Lewis could not understand what Victor was saying so stood up and questioned him , "What are you talking about?"

"Allow me to explain." Victor would begin his explanation.

"Earlier this afternoon, I was able to check on Ms. Thomas and I saw her talking to Garrett in a pub shop."

Lewis immediately looked at Garrett and the latter did the same to see the former's reaction.

Victor carried on with his explanation, "I eavesdropped on their talk with the pretense of drinking and found out that Ms. Thomas asked for your help, forgot to inform you about his fencing experience and told your friend instead. I presumed he did a bit of a show for it in front of her."

"Some man Godfrey is," said Lewis.

"Because of that, I expected we'd get help from him and pretended to ask of his arrival earlier outside that fancy house."

Lewis remembered Victor asking him if Garrett would come earlier when the detective observed the house from the sidewalk.

"Why didn't you tell me all of this, Detective?" he asked.

"I didn't want you to ease up," Victor responded. "Don't worry, Lewis. This is news for Garrett too."

Dismayed, Lewis loudly replied back, "But I almost got killed! And the fact you let me with no fencing experience go while there were barricades set up doesn't make any sense at all! And yes, I knew the barricades were part of your scheme!"

After venting his anger, Lewis sat down again, contemplating the events that happened tonight, from chasing the fugitive to being saved by his fellow flaneur.

He leaned his back on the carriage door, sighed heavily and looked down aimlessly. "Thank goodness you came, Garrett," he mumbled.

"What's with the kerfuffle here?" A man in his coat and bowler came into the scene. And that man happened to be Detective Inspector A. Brooks from Scotland Yard, who mostly consulted Victor on cases.

"Ah, you're here now Brooks," said Victor.

"Course I'm here, Law. Need an eye-to-eye with the runaway."

Brooks then saw the wounded Lewis, whose head was still looking down. As if he did not recognize the inspector.

Brooks, who had known Lewis for a long time, asked Victor, "Did he come with you again? Look at him."

The detective replied, "He had a promise to keep. And besides, he's aware of what was to come. Don't worry about him."

Brooks approached Lewis and bent his knees slightly to talk to him. "Hey, kid."

Lewis came back to his senses when he heard the inspector's voice and quickly looked at him. "Ah! Inspector Brooks!"

"How are your wounds, kid?"

"Oh, this? I'm fine now, Inspector." Lewis switched his stare to Victor and added, "I'm glad I'm not dead..."

Victor noticed Lewis looking at him and teased him by looking away.

Brooks then told Lewis and Garrett, "Well, it's been a long day, boys. You should head home, we'll take care of things here." Both agreed with nods as Lewis stood up.

A couple of policemen dragged the fugitive Godfrey toward Brooks and one informed him, "Here's the man on the run, sir."

Godfrey saw Lewis and Garrett and called, "Oh, it's these gentlemen."

He held his head with his hands bound with shackles. "My head hurts so much. You hit me really hard, big fella."

Garrett couldn't hold back his anger and talked back while being restrained by Lewis. "What you say?! You want more?!"

Lewis used his hands to hold Garrett back and told him, "You don't have to. Let me talk to him."

Garrett gave up and loosened up his torso while stepping back. Lewis faced Godfrey calmly and started to speak to him.

"What you did up to this point, coming to London and causing trouble for your own satisfaction, were unforgivable. So I wish you the best... in prison."

Lewis began walking away from Godfrey and Garrett followed while looking at the fugitive. While walking away, Lewis softly mumbled a foreign word.

"Paalam."

.

.

.

Brooks confronted Godfrey for his crimes. At the same time, Victor was seeing Lewis and Garrett leaving the area and telling jokes to each other.

"You've got a long way to go, Lewis. But I have a good feeling about you."