CHAPTERCXXXII.PEACE HAS A FEW FRIENDS—A MUSICAL AND ANECDOTAL EVENING.It was arranged between the two confederates, or companions, in crime, that Charles Peace was not to run any further risk by endeavouring to dispose of the property he had acquired by his various burglaries.There was nothing he dreaded, at this time, so much as falling in with a Sheffield or Manchester policeman or detective.To the members of the London constabulary force he was not known, and certainly not one of them had at this time the faintest notion that he was Peace. Had this not been the case he never could have escaped detection for so long a period.So Bill Rawton, who appeared to be a handy man to many, agreed to undertake the disposal of the goods, which he carried out after his own fashion.Some of the articles Miss Stanbridge agreed to take at a given price, which was perhaps a trifle more than the Whitechapel or Petticoat-lane receivers were likely to offer.Bill struck a bargain with Laura, who selected the goods which she said would suit her; the rest of the stock she did not care about, so these the gipsy took to Isaac, who, as usual, offered a ridiculously low price, but Bill, like his friend Peace, was very well used to the ways of the Israelite.Bill haggled with him for some time, and even went so far as gathering the things together, avowing his intention at the same time of going to another shop. Upon this the Jew made an advance in his price, and after a little more conversation a bargain was struck, and the goods were purchased.Bandy-legged Bill was perfectly well satisfied with his day’s work, and upon returning to the Evalina-road he found Peace in close converse with a strange gentleman whom he had never remembered to have seen before.He came to the conclusion that the party in question was on friendly terms with our hero, for there was a degree of cordiality between the two which caused him to be assured of this.Peace withdrew to an adjoining room, where the gipsy handed him over the proceeds.“You have done well, Bill. Indeed, I don’t know what I should do without you,” cried Peace. “Nothing could be better. We’ve made a regular clearance, and I am greatly relieved.”“Who is your friend?” said the gipsy, nodding significantly towards the door of the front parlour.“He is in the engineering line, and has taken in hand one or two of my inventions. Oh, he is a clever fellow—a most genial, agreeable companion, who thoroughly believes in me. He is coming to-morrow evening to spend a few hours with me, and I shall, therefore, be glad of your company, you old sinner; but don’t you launch out or say any more than may be needful; let my guests do the talking. Do you understand?”“I won’t say more than is necessary—trust me for that.”Bill and Peace returned to the front parlour. The gentleman who was its only occupant was introduced by our hero to the gipsy as a Mr. Whittock.He bowed courteously to Rawton, and then resumed his conversation with Peace.The conversation was confined chiefly to engineering matters, and a long discussion took place upon Peace’s various inventions.It was evident that Mr. Whittock had a great opinion of Mr. Thompson, whom he frequently complimented. Bill listened, but said nothing.Presently the gentleman rose to take his departure.“I shall expect to see you to-morrow evening, Whittock,” said Peace. We will have a little music, supper, and a friendly game.”“I shall be most delighted, I’m sure,” returned Whittock. “I have a friend stopping with me at present whose acquaintance I am sure you will be pleased to make. He has a son who is a beautiful singer. May I bring them with me?”“Certainly; nothing would please me better. What is your friend’s name?”“Mr. Harker. He is a capital fellow—knows almost everything, has been in all parts of the world, and is excellent company.”“Bring him, by all means, then,” said Peace.On the following day preparations were made atNo.4 for the reception of guests.The owner of the establishment was overjoyed at the sale of the articles which he had been for a long time most anxious to get rid of, that he was disposed to make merry over the bargain.He had ample funds at his disposal, and his friend Whittock was a special favourite with him, albeit the friendship between the two was not of very long standing.It was arranged that Mrs. Thompson should be the hostess on this occasion—the elder female was to attend to the culinary department, and prepare the supper for the guests.Peace arrayed himself in his best attire; William Ward was got up in a perfectly satisfactory manner, and Mrs. Thompson was carefully watched, so that she might be in a fit state to receive the company.Some of Peace’s immediate neighbours had been invited; these were the first to arrive, after which Mr. Whittock presented himself. He brought with him Mr. and Master Harker, who were introduced in due form.“I am greatly pleased to see you, and am glad to have an opportunity of making your acquaintance, sir,” said Peace, addressing himself to Mr. Harker. “As a friend of Mr. Whittock, you are specially welcome. Mr. Whittock and I understand each other.”“You will shortly astonish the world with some excellent inventions, I expect,” returned Harker. “Well, this is not altogether a country for the inventor; America is the place.”No.70.Illustration: AN EVENING PARTY AT EVALINA-ROAD.AN EVENING PARTY AT EVALINA-ROAD.“The people are not so prejudiced in America,” continued Harker, “and a man has greater chances. The English, as a rule, are slow to perceive the value of any new power of machinery.”“That is true enough,” remarked Peace. “They are rather dense, it must be admitted, and are, as you observe, prejudiced. All we can do is to persevere and hope for the best.”Here he called the attention of his guests to several drafts of machinery he proposed to patent.Those present were duly impressed with the ability of their host—none of them at this time being at all aware of the character of the man who was so modest, so urbane, and so hospitable.“I look upon my friend, Thompson, as a remarkably ingenious and clever man,” remarked Whittock; “and the more you know of him the more impressed you will be with this fact.”“Ah, no doubt; we all agree upon that,” exclaimed several.The social glass was filled, and the company began to settle themselves down for a pleasant evening, which, to say the truth, was an agreeable one to all.Peace was in the best of spirits.He had shaken off the dismal forebodings he had felt some three or four days before, and at the request of a neighbour played a duet with Willie Ward.This was the commencement of the musical portion of the entertainment.A violin solo followed, after which Mr. Harker said his son gave promise of musical ability, since he had been complimented by the master of the choir to which he belonged. The lad was asked to give a specimen of his vocal powers, when after a little hesitation he sang the following:—HOPE’S LIFE IS SHINING YET.’Tis true that time may swiftly passAnd years as quickly fly,And every hope that springs to birthMay wither, fade, and die.And oh! ’tis true that all our dreamsMay in life’s darkness set,But in the chambers of my soul,Hope’s life is shining yet.Thine was not love that could be cooledBy words or looks of scorn,Ah, no, it was as pure and deepAs if of angels born.Thine was that love which sorrows, storms,Nor cruel fate could sever;It burns on brightly—and it willKeep burning on for ever.To think thee faithless would, indeed,Be casting doubts on high—Would throw a dark suspicious shadeO’er angels in the sky.But, oh, within my trusting heart,No doubts there are as yet—The lights of faith and hope are stillWithin its portals set.The music to which these words were set was simple and plaintive, and well adapted for the voice of a young female or a boy.The singer had evidently been well trained, for he sang in good time and tune, Peace playing the accompaniment.Mr. Harker, the lad’s father, was greatly pleased at the performance, and passed flattering encomiums on Peace’s skill as an accompanist: indeed, it was in every way creditable, and there was a general murmur of applause as the song was brought to a conclusion.“Your son has got a beautiful voice,” said our hero, addressing himself to Mr. Harker. “If he perseveres he’ll be a very accomplished vocalist.”“I am glad to hear you say so, Thompson,” observed Whittock, “for I know you are a competent judge of these matters.”The conversation was carried on in an animated manner for some little time, after which Peace and Willie Ward played another piece together. Several of the company expressed a wish to hear Mr. Thompson sing. He was in no very good voice, but chanted the following quaint ditty:—I’ve been thinking—I’ve been thinkingWhat a world we might possessDid folks mind their business more,And mind their neighbours’ less.For instance, you and I, my friend.Are sadly prone to talkOf matters that concern us notAnd others’ follies mock.I’ve been thinking if we wereTo mind our own affairs,That possibly our neighbours mightContrive to manage theirs.We’ve faults enough at home to mend—It may be so of others;It would seem strange if it were notSince all mankind are brothers.Oh, would that we had charityFor every man and woman:Forgiveness is the mark of those—We know “to err is human.”Then let us banish jealousy,Let’s lift our fallen brother,And as we journey down life’s roadDo good to one another.“Excellent—admirable!” cried several voices.“I call that a fine sentiment,” said Mr. Whittock. “I wish men and women would act up to it. There’s a great deal too much meddling in this world.”“Yes,” said a Mr. Newnham, who was one of Peace’s neighbours. “We’ve quite enough of that sort of thing here in our locality. It’s a capital song. I never remember to have heard it before, but I admire it immensely.”Peace glanced at Mrs. Thompson, and made a wry face, at which the company laughed.Soon after this supper was served, after which a game of whist was proposed, and two sets of partners sat down to cards.Mr. Harker, who was not included in either of the parties of players, sat down by the chimney-corner, and entered into a lively discourse with some of those who were disengaged.He was a man who had at his disposal a whole fund of anecdote, and was therefore a great acquisition to the visitors.He gave a running commentary on the great detective case, which was the general topic of conversation at this time, and cited instances of the mistakes made by the Scotland yard officials.“As far as mistakes are concerned,” said Harker, “their name is legion, and I, for one, should be very careful in delivering a verdict without the clearest and most unmistakable evidence, for, from my own personal experience, I am able to testify as to the unreliability of suspicious circumstances, which may, by the merest accident, be brought to bear upon a man.”“There is no doubt about that, sir,” said Peace; “mistakes are frequent enough.”“Well,” observed Harker, “as I am only a looker-on now, and am not engaged to play, I’ll, with your permission, first narrate to you what I may term a ‘Romance of a Counting-house.’ The whole of the incidents came under my immediate knowledge. In short, I was the leading actor in as pretty a little drama as ever man had the misfortune to play in.”“I shall be most delighted to hear it,” said Peace, “and so will our friends, I’m sure.”“It came about in this way. I had married and was going to make my fortune, and therefore (having that laudable end in view) left a good situation in Yorkshire to settle down in Liverpool as a merchant ‘on my own account,’ and commence to make it without delay. I had not much capital, and so I resolved to economise at first.“In course of time I imagined the tidy brougham and the country house across the Mersey would certainly come; and one serene September evening, many years ago, I was walking up and downSt.George’s landing-stage, building castles in the air, wondering whether rents were high at New Brighton, and whether Kate would prefer a pony phaeton to a brougham.“I am not sorry to add that I still reside in a modest house up Edge-hill way, and that I come to business as Cæsar went to Rome, according to Joe Miller,summa diligentia, on the top of an omnibus.“I was waiting for Mr. Moses Moss to return at eight p.m. to his office in a street hard by—call it Mersey-street—and for the reason that Moses Moss had a furnished place to let which his advertisement called ‘two spacious counting-rooms’—goodness knows, I never counted much in the shape of coin; and I did not like the situation; nor the narrow, dark staircase; nor the look of the boy of Hebrew extraction who howled ‘Cub id,’ when I knocked, and told me ‘Mr. Boses would be in at eight o’clock;’ but twenty pounds a year was very cheap, so I told my young friend I would call at that time, and look at the ‘counting-room.’“How well I remember that night! The ferry-boats from the Cheshire shore gliding along with their lights twinkling like glow-worms, the vast hull of the ‘Great Eastern’ just visible in the Sloyne, the squared yards and all-a-taut look of a seventy-four of the old school, showing black and distinct against the daffodil sky, and the lap of the swell against the under timber of the stage—I was inclined to be sentimental; but Mr. Moses Moss claimed my attention, and once more I entered his office and found him awaiting me. He was a little, fat, good-tempered Jew, who spoke decent English, and who, I afterwards found out, was constantly affirming, in season and out of season, that he was no descendant of Abraham.“‘Hillo, Brunton!’ he cried, jumping from the chair. ‘My lad told me you’d been here. Where have you been these two months and more? Look here, old fellow, I’ve advertised your place; but you can have it on the old terms.’“‘Some mistake, sir, I believe,’ and I handed him a card bearing the inscription, ‘Charles Harker.’“He took it and held it to the gaslight, looked at the back, considered it endways, and pondered over it upside down. Then taking the candle his clerk had brought, he held it close to my face.“‘If you are not disposed to proceed to business, I will bid you good-night,’ said I, greatly annoyed at his manner.’“‘It’s him, and it ain’t him,” he said aloud. ‘Carl could never look a man in the face as this one does. And yet I don’t see my way through the features.’“‘There’s no necessity for you to trouble yourself about my features!’ I exclaimed, opening the door—‘good night.’“‘Stop, stop, my dear sir! and don’t be offended. It was all a mistake. All Isaac’s mistake, upon my honour.’“‘All a mistake,’ echoed young Isaac.“My curiosity was excited, and, besides, I really wanted the offices; and I therefore allowed myself to be persuaded into mounting the narrow staircase, until we faced a door bearing the name of Brunton on it in white letters, and having the two upper panels glazed, more, I should imagine, to supply light to the staircase than for admission of light to the office.“Mr. Moss produced a key, and turning to me with a good-natured smile, said: ‘I’d have sworn you were Brunton five minutes ago, but I’m sure now that I was wrong. Carl always swore when he came upstairs, and you haven’t. It’s Brunton’s face all but the eyes, and I’d swear to the eyes anywhere. That is, to the twinkle of ’em, you know.’“And he unlocked the door and invited me within.“Walking to the table on which he had placed the light, I took a chair and produced my pocket-book.“‘Before we go further, Mr. Moss, let us quite understand each other, I have no wish to derive any benefits from any virtues Mr. Brunton may possess; and I am going to convince you that I am what I represent myself to be. Be good enough to read that letter.’“It was from a merchant in the North, only received that morning, and mentioned circumstances which were sufficient to settle any doubts as to my identity.“Mr. Moss read it, folded it up briskly, and presented it to me with a bow.“‘Sir, I apologise. I confess that up to this moment I fancied it was Carl; but what puzzled me was, that such a surly fellow should take to larking and playing the fool. You are very much like my last tenant, sir, that is all.’“‘Very well; now that matter is settled, let us look at the rooms.’“The lighted gas showed me a large one, and very barely furnished. There was a large leather-covered table with a desk on it, four chairs, an inkstand, and a partially filled waste-paper basket, and that was all.“‘Rather meagre, Mr. Moss.’“‘Now, my dear sir, what more could you want? Would you like a safe? I’ve got one to spare downstairs, and you shall have it, and a new mat for your feet—I hate haggling.’“‘Let me see the other room, please.’“It was one which a person sitting at the table would have right opposite to him, and it had no door.“‘It was a clerk’s office,’ Mr. Moss said, ‘and you wanted your eye on such chaps.’ I suggested that the principal might sometimes want privacy, whereupon he said ‘he had the door downstairs, and it should be hung at once if I wished it.’ But having no intention of engaging a clerk at present, I told him it was of no consequence.“The room was about half the size of the outer one, and contained a desk and stool. There was a large closet for coals and such like matters, and a good allowance of dust and cobwebs all over.“‘I’ll have it cleaned up to-morrow,’ said Mr. Moss. ‘It looks beautiful when clean, and you will find the desk to be real Spanish mahogany.’“They would suit me well enough, and I told Mr. Moss so; paid him a quarter’s rent in advance, and rose to depart.“‘Oh, by the way, Mr. Moss,’ I exclaimed, a sudden thought striking me; ‘I will send a man to paint my name on the wall downstairs.’“‘Very good, sir. I would do it at once if I were you. Carl was a loose fish, and if you delayed it until you got here, you might be annoyed.’“‘How so? What was he?’“‘Take a cigar first, Mr. Harker, you’ll find no better in Liverpool. Lord! how like him you do look when I don’t see your eyes!’“‘And yet I have not been thought to resemble a loose fish before, Mr. Moss.’“‘I didn’t mean that. Have you never seen an ugly person resemble a very handsome one? I have many a time. Well, about Carl. He was here about two years, and call me a Jew if I could reckon him up. He used to come here about noon and work up to eight or nine o’clock at night; but what business he worked at I could never find out. I know he had a big ledger, and two or three such books; but a big ledger won’t make a business any more than a big carpet bag will, and he always carried one. He would come and smoke a cigar with me now and then; but I never came up here all that time, and he kept his door locked. He always seemed to be expecting a blow, did poor Carl; more like a rat in a corner than anything else, poor beggar. Well, sir, one morning I found the key on my mat, and found the place just as you see it, and have never seen Carl since. One or two queer-looking men have inquired for him, and asked if he was coming back, and I said most likely he would, and likely enough he will.’”“‘Not at all an interesting story,’ I thought, and felt inclined to yawn in Mr. Moss’s face; but I thanked him for his information, and promised to take possession in three days, which I spent in presenting my letters of introduction, and making other arrangements for the prosecution of my plans.“At length the eventful day arrived, and I stood in my own office, with my name emblazoned on the door and passage wall. I was waiting for a friend to call on me (who, by the way, had promised to put me in the way of doing some business that very day), and felt impatient for his arrival in consequence.“The office was clean and tidy, and the floors had been well scrubbed.“Why hadn’t they emptied the waste-paper basket of all that lumber?“The office-keeper had lighted a fire, and I took up the basket to perform the operation myself; but from some cause or other I placed it on the table and began idly to burn the scraps one by one.“I had nearly disposed of them all when a scrap attracted my attention, and I read it; It was torn so as to leave a few words intact, and it ran thus—“‘Louise has given your description, and you may rely on our finding you. Forward the plates at once, or——’“Then another piece was mysterious, apparently a plan of some place or other.“What did this mean?“But I had no time to consider, for my friend entered, and, putting the two pieces of paper in my drawer, I emptied the basket in the fire, and went out with him to do a good day’s work.“Returning late in the evening, I relit the fire, and addressed myself to the writing of two important letters to be posted by half-past eleven that night, in order to be in time for the Cunard steamer, which sailed early in the morning; and then it was that the black darkness of the doorless room opposite me began to trouble me most.“It had troubled me before, but on this night it troubled me tenfold. From childhood I have been imaginative, and knowing this, I stirred the fire, called myself a fool, and went on with my letter; but not for long. My eyes wandered to the black darkness of the doorway, and I began to ransack my memory for statistics of men who could tell by some occult power if any one were hidden in the room they entered; and I laughed aloud when I remembered that I had read of one sensitive gentleman who by this same occult power had found that a surgeon’s skeleton was in the closet behind him.“I own I dislike being in the dark, but I will do myself the justice to say that I have resolution enough to overcome the dislike.“Therefore I proposed to myself to very quietly walk into the dark room which troubled me, and (without a light) look out of the windows, and slowly return.”“I shouldn’t have liked the office myself,” ejaculated Peace. “You may well call it a romance.”“As for the matter of that, I confess it sounds like one,” returned Mr. Harker, “and I assure you every word I am saying is strictly correct. Romance and reality are much more intimately interwoven together than people generally suppose.”“You are quite right there, sir,” cried one of the cardplayers, who had been listening so attentively to the narrative that he revoked.Mr. Harker continued—“I went. The very first step beyond the threshold dispelled my fears. I could see the glimmer of the stars through the glass, hear the rattle of the cabs outside. Why, it was quite a cheerful place, after all.“Ha! there was a shuffling noise there by the closet! and then my fears returned and overpowered me. I strove to walk out like a tragedy hero; but my pace quickened as I neared the door and heard the shuffling noise close to me. The next moment a powerful hand was at my throat, and I lay helpless on the floor with the cold muzzle of a pistol to my head.“I was bound, and dragged into the outer office, thrust into my chair, and confronted by two quiet-looking men, one of whom laid his revolver on the table, saying at the same time, with an ugly sneer—“‘So, Brunton, we have caught you at last.’“The speaker was a mild, intelligent looking man of about thirty-five. In a proper dress he would have looked like a High Church clergyman.“His companion was evidently a foreigner, and I imagine a German.“He was about fifty years of age, and wore spectacles, and a profusion of beard and whiskers covered more than half his face; but he had a winning smile and good teeth, which he often took an opportunity to show.“‘We have found you at last.’“I am thankful to say that I am not nervous when I see danger, and I boldly replied—“‘My name is Harker, and not Brunton; Mr. Moss, the landlord of these premises, has noticed my resemblance to his late tenant, and is satisfied that I am not the same. Depend upon it that I shall make you repent this outrage.’“I tried to rise to call for help from the street, but the pistol was cocked and pointed at me, and there was that in the man’s face which cautioned me against rashness in my helpless position.“‘Well, I never,’ cried Whittock. ‘That was a nice pickle to be in.’“‘It was,’ observed Harker.“‘I will sit down,’ I replied, ‘and hear what you have to say; but if I choose to do it, I shall do my best to raise an alarm in spite of your revolver.’“‘Vel spoke, Carl,’ said the foreigner; ‘Louise always says he’s a plucky one.’“‘Now then, Brunton,’ whispered the other, ‘let us have no nonsense. We have not met before, it is true, but Louie has so well described you, that putting another name on your door was simply idiotic. Besides, one of our friends has watched for your return, and we communicated with him as soon as we landed. Go free if you like, but we will have the plates.’“‘Dat’s de matter vid us,’ echoed the German; ’ve vill have de plates.’“‘I know nothing of any plates,’ I cried, ‘nor of Louise, nor of you. All I know is that you will see the inside of a prison very shortly.’“‘And you think you can throw us, throw me over in this way? Dou you think you deal with children?’“‘I think I deal with a burglar. Most certainly with a rascal of some sort or other.’“Here my two friends held a whispered conference. Then he of the revolver turned sharply towards me.“‘Will you marry Louise? Will you give up the plates and marry my sister?’“‘She lofe you like old boots,’ added the German; and from which I opine that he prided himself on a knowledge of English idiom.“In spite of my serious position I was getting thoroughly amused.“The dark doorway held unknown terrors to my excited imagination; but two commonplace fellows who had made a mistake caused a feeling of merriment, even in spite of the revolver.“‘I am sorry I cannot oblige you,’ I replied. ‘I am flattered by the lady’s preference, but having one wife already, I fear I must decline taking a second; and as for the plates, please explain what you mean.’“The answer to this flippant speech was a blow on the face, which immediately sent the blood streaming on the floor.“‘You’ll remember insulting the sister of Louis Orloff! Here, baron, let us gag him, and search; he will be raising an alarm presently.’“They thrust a piece of rope between my teeth, compressing my windpipe to make me open my mouth; and there I sat helpless, whilst they turned out the contents of my desk and drawers, not forgetting my cash box, which was opened by a key taken from my vest pocket, and the contents appropriated.“Knowing that the two scraps of paper I had found in the waste-paper basket and placed in my drawer must have reference to their visit, I watched very anxiously when they opened it.“But they escaped notice, and I felt that I had got some clue to the mystery, even if these men escaped; and I had quite determined that they should not escape, for I was insecurely bound, and had been working hard to get my right hand free, and, thanks to having a very narrow one, I now found myself able to slip it through the loop which encircled the wrist; but I ’bided my time,’ for I saw that a false move might bring a bullet through my head.“‘De plates is in ze oder room, Carl Brunton, mon ami,’ said the baron, smiling, and patting my shoulder. ‘Vy not say? Vy shoot we you? You do dem so well, ve no get any like dem. And you use dem yourself, and den, Ach Gott, you upset de cart of de apple.’“‘Yes,’ I thought, ‘and it’s odd to me if I don’t upset your cart of de apple before long.’“‘In dere; in back room?’ asked the Baron, with another amiable smile.“I said ‘yes,’ with my eyes.“‘See now, my Louis, you were too rough. You into him pitch like dam. So see him amiable.’ Then to me:—“‘And you will marry Louise, who lofe you like old boots?”“My other hand was free now. I tried to speak, and implored with my eyes for the gag to be removed.“The baron removed it, and while doing so I resolved on a plan of operation.“‘You will marry Louise, and give us the plates?’“‘I will give you every satisfaction.’“‘That is business,’ said Louis Orloff, coming forward. ‘First the plates; then you return with us to New York, and keep your promise to Louise. Why give us the trouble? I tell you frankly that the expense will be deducted from your share, and that you will be strictly watched in future. I should have cut your throat but for my promise to Louise. Now, where are the plates?’“‘Look in the closet in the next room, rake out the coals and take what you find.’“‘Good! Come, baron.’“And they left me to operate on the coals. Springing up, I seized the revolver, darted to the door, and in a moment had locked them in.“But my triumph was of short duration, for Orloff was on the other side like lightning, the rotten woodwork torn out under his vigorous wrench, and his hand was on my throat before I could grope my way to the stairs.“Then I knew that life depended on the struggle, and I fought like one possessed, for the revolver. The baron came to his friend’s help; but I found time and opportunity to send him reeling to the ground.“Orloff was the weaker man, but he outdid me in skill, and a dextrous feint threw me off my guard, leaving the revolver in his hand.“Purple with passion, he fired instantly, and I felt a sharp sting in the left shoulder; and then all earthly things seemed to be fading away, and a world beyond opening to view.“When I recovered I found myself laid on a mattress on the office table, and my wife tearfully bending over me. There was a calm-faced surgeon too, who showed me the ball he had extracted, and told me to cheer up, for I should be better in a few days, for no harm was done.“Mr. Moss was there too, and came to my bedside—I mean my table-side—and whispered how he had been called up by the police, who, hearing a pistol-shot, had come upstairs and arrested Orloff and the baron, and finding me on the ground bleeding, had sent for a surgeon and my wife, having found my private address from a letter in my pocket.“I was only faint from loss of blood; the bullet did little damage, and I preferred getting up, and then gave an account of the evening’s adventure, not noticing at the time that a tall inspector of police was in the room.“‘Will you kindly show me those pieces of paper?’ he said, advancing. “I have the men in Mr. Moss’s office; but beyond the assault on you, I have no evidence against them; but I know them well.’“I produced them, and the inspector fastened on the one which seemed to be a plan; then looking around, he said:“‘This is a plan of your office.’“‘Call me a Jew if it aint!’ exclaimed Mr. Moss, taking it.“‘Yes, it is certainly a plan of your office. See, here is the doorway, and there comes the other room. Then there is a cross against the fireplace in this room, on what I judge from the lines to mean the fourth board from the hearthstone, and another cross against the sixth from the hearthstone in the other room. Get a crowbar, Mr. Moss.’“‘There’s one downstairs.’“I do believe that if you’d asked for a crocodile, he’d have got one ‘downstairs.’“Crowbar and a policeman to wield it were soon procured, and then the mystery was unravelled.“Close to where I sat, were unearthed several copper-plates for the forging of Russian rouble notes of various amounts; and in the back room, under the flooring, were found several hundreds of well-executed forgeries carefully soldered up in a tin case, together with correspondence implicating Orloff and the baron.“It appeared that Brunton was engaged by a New York gang to engrave the plates, and that he had never seen his employers, the agent between them being the Louise before mentioned, whose fair hand I had been compelled to decline.“Brunton had evidently become frightened, and had fled.“He was no traitor, or he would have decamped with the plates.“Perhaps the dread of having to espouse Louise may have had something to do with his flight.“She was a very handsome woman, if I may judge from a photograph of her found in the tin case, but looked like one accustomed to rule, and who would not hesitate to administer wholesome correction to her spouse.“Assisted into a carriage which was waiting, I had the satisfaction of seeing the baron and Orloff brought down in handcuffs, the baron regarding me with a sweet smile, and Orloff scowling on me like a fiend. I did not prosecute, for they were so well known to the police as forgers that there was evidence enough for the Russian Embassy to procure a conviction and a sentence of ten years’ penal servitude; and in due time I recovered, and dismissed the matter from my mind.“But I had not heard the last of it. About twelve months after the trial and condemnation of the baron and his friend, there came one night a timid knock at my office door, and my clerk (for I had such a luxury then) ushered in what, at first sight, seemed to be a moving bundle of rags.“Strictly speaking, the bundle of rags insisted on seeing me, and ushered itself in, in spite of all remonstrances.“It came and stood before me, and resolved itself into the semblance of a man—a man lean, haggard, sunken-eyed, ragged, and dirty, but with a face something like my own; and without putting a question I knew that I stood face to face with Carl Brunton, and I addressed the rags by that name.“‘I took that name,’ the poor shivering thing replied, ‘but my name is—but no matter. May I speak to you?”“‘Yes, go on.’“‘Will you give me some drink first? I have had none to-day, and feel delirium tremens coming on. Oh, how cold it is, and how I shiver!’“I sent the clerk for some brandy, which he took raw, and with shaking hand held out the glass for more.“I imagine it is Mr. Moss you want to see, is it not? If so, you will find him to-morrow, at ten o’clock.’“‘No, no, you, I want—I—I am very poor, very poor. Will you give me sixpence?’“I gave him half a crown.“‘Now, what can I do for you?’“‘I—left some property here when I went away. You won’t refuse to give it up? I seem poor, but am rich—ah! so rich!—and I will pay you well.’“‘You mean the forged rouble notes and the plate you engraved them from?’“‘Ah! Who told you that? Then you have found them and used them? I ran away from them, and wished to lead a better life, but they drew me back; and now you have robbed me, and I shall starve.’“I explained to the poor wretch what had become of his possessions, and how they were found, and inquired if he had not heard of the fate of his accomplices.“‘No; I have been wandering about the country, living in hospitals, because they hunt me down from place to place. They will kill me as they did the Posen Jew and the engraver at Stockholm, all because they demanded a fair share. They are dogging me to-night; one of them is outside now. Let me see, what did I come here for? Oh, sixpence. Lend me sixpence; I’ll give you a hundred pounds for it to-morrow.’“I made a further donation, and, as the man was evidently in a state of delirium, I told my clerk to fetch a medical man. But before he could execute the order the bundle of rags crept down the narrow stairs, sitting on each step, and wriggling by aid of his hands to the next below, whilst we, unable to pass him, looked on, wondering how it would all end.“The street gained, he stood upright, and, casting a terrified glance around, fled away into the darkness, and we, following the direction he had taken, learned shortly afterwards that a beggar had thrown himself into the Mersey fromSt.George’s landing-stage, and had sunk to rise no more.“His body was never found, and I, having had enough of Mersey-street, moved my quarters, much to the regret of Mr. Moss, for, quoth he, ‘Two of ’em are at Portland, and another at the bottom of the river—so you may call me a Jew if any one troubles you again.’“But I went; and the office is still without a tenant, and I shudder when I pass through the street at night, and, looking up, see the two black shining windows, like two great eyes watching me, and fancy I can see a shadowy form in rags pressing his face to the glass, and gibbering and bowing at the busy stream of human life which surges to and fro for ever.”When the narrator had brought his story to a conclusion, there was a dead silence for a brief period. The cardplayers had been so interested that their game had been carried on in a loose, desultory manner, and the whole of Peace’s guests were more or less wonder-struck.“You know how to enchain your hearers’ attention, sir,” observed our hero.“What I have been telling you is simply a narrative of facts, and, as I before observed, it proves the truth of the old adage that ‘truth is strange—stranger than fiction;’ but I have to apologise for so rudely interrupting the game.”“There is no occasion for apologies, sir,” said a Peckham tradesman, who formed one of the party, “for the account you have given is one which, I think, all of us would have been sorry to have missed.”“I think we shall all of us agree in that,” observed Peace.“But this is a social evening, and all I desire is to see everyone enjoy themselves.”“You might vary the entertainment with a little music, Mr. Thompson,” said Bandy-legged Bill. “After this perhaps some other gentleman will tell us another story.”“I am at your disposal, gentlemen,” returned our hero. “If you desire to hear a little music, so be it; but with your permission I will just put some of my pets through their paces.”Having made this observation, he opened the door of the room, and whistled to his dogs.Two docile animals came bounding into the apartment; they skipped about, wagged their tails, and demonstrated the greatest possible affection for their master.Peace played a tune on his violin, and made them dance on their hind legs, and go through a variety of difficult and diverting feats, to the infinite delight of the assembly.“You have a wonderful power over the brute creation,” said Mr. Whittock. “Why, you might pull in a lot of money as a public entertainer.”“It has always been a hobby of mine, sir. I take great delight in teaching those faithful creatures—I say faithful advisedly, for the most fortunate of us will acknowledge that they are more faithful, and I may add less selfish than man.”It is not very complimentary of you to say so,” observed Mrs. Thompson, who was at this time on her best behaviour.“You are right, my dear,” returned Peace. “It is not complimentary, but our friends will excuse it. Present company is, of course, excepted.”At this there was a roar of laughter, after which Peace and Willie Ward played another duet.To see our hero at this time it would have been impossible for any one to guess that he was anything else than a genial, good-natured, kind-hearted, old gentleman, who took a delight in making everybody happy and comfortable around him.The old adage, “that appearances are oftentimes deceptive,” was specially applicable in his case, for he would have deceived the Prince of Darkness himself, his power of dissimulation being perfectly marvellous. In the course of conversation he expressed himself in such a gentle unobtrusive way—assumed for the nonce such a moral tone, and reprobated wrong doing so earnestly, and at the same time so naturally, that it would have been impossible for any one who did not know his manner and mode of life, to imagine him to be the hardened, callous, unscrupulous criminal whose nefarious career we have endeavoured to shadow forth.“Now, gentlemen,” cried Peace, after a pause, “make yourselves at home—do just as you like. Whittock, see to your friends, and help them to all they require. Possibly you know more of their habits than I do.”“They are very well able to take care of themselves,” said Mr. Whittock. “If they don’t have all they want it’s their own fault.”One of the personages introduced by Whittock has been already introduced to the reader; the other was a Mr. Corbet, who had been a captain to one of the American steamers.He was a weather-beaten, self-reliant man, who, albeit mixing with the company, had not as yet spoken a great deal.His friend, Whittock, however, was anxious to draw him out, for when once Mr. Corbet did let loose the jawing tackle, he went in for a “pelter.”“This old pirate could spin a few yarns if he chose,” said Whittock, nodding towards the party to whom he was alluding.“Anyone can see that,” observed one of the company. “Hang it, Jenkins, you’ve trumped my trick,” he added, in a petulant tone, addressing himself to his partner.“I beg your pardon, I’m sure,” returned Jenkins, apologetically. “How very foolish of me to be sure, I don’t know what I could have been thinking about.”“Spin us a yarn, Corbet, and stop this wrangling,” cried Whittock.“I aint up to it,” said the captain. “Besides, my experience is chiefly confined to foreign parts, as people are apt to observe.”“All the better, sir,” said Peace, “all the more interesting. We lead in this country such a monotonous, hum-drum sort of life that there are positively no incidents worth recording.”“I don’t know that,” observed Corbet. “None of us can pass through life, I expect, without meeting with some strange adventure, without gaining some experience.”“Oh, we gain experience without doubt, Corbet,” said Whittock. “It is hardly possible for it to be otherwise.”“Well,” said Corbet, “as our friend has given you a little of his own experience, I don’t mind following suit. I don’t mean with cards, for that’s not much in my line, but I’ll just give you another narrative of facts.”“Hear, hear. Fire away, cap’en,” cried Whittock and one or two others. “Anything to keep the game alive.”“During the milder months of the twelve constituting a year I occupied myself in running a small steamer from Puntsville to B——, carrying the mails, such as they were, freight, and any chance passengers, which, I assure you, were exceedingly scarce.“These trips were generally of a monotonous character to the crew of the ‘Silver Arrow,’ consisting of the engineer, myself, and an Ethiopian deck-hand.“Once, however, something extraordinary out of the general routine of rounding points, making fast to the long, straggling, desolate wooden piers of the intermediate landings, or the thousand and one little nothings, peculiar to the voyage, occurred, which came near resulting in my death, besides putting me to serious inconvenience, and in a not very reputable predicament.“One bright June afternoon the ‘Silver Arrow’ backed from her wharfage at B——, sped gallantly down the sunny channel, lined on either side by rows of carved, lettered, gilt dingy sterns of all nations, and soon, with her bright new paint reflecting in her wake, and her streamers flying, was going down the wide river.“In high good humour was I, for besides an unusual quantity of freight, three passengers had booked themselves for Puntsville, full fare paid, intending, as they remarked, to participate in a hunting expedition in the game-abounding district of the lower river.“We had proceeded some twenty miles, darkness was beginning to succeed twilight, when giving the wheel in charge of Dick, the deck-hand, I descended to ascertain if all was in readiness for the passengers in their allotted cabins.“The ‘Silver Arrow’ was run on stringent bachelor principles, and no charmingfemme de chambreenlivened us by her silvery vocalisation, or by her clever manipulation administered to our comfort.“After seeing all correct, I went into my own little cabin, and perceiving the mail-bags in the centre of the floor, where I had carelessly thrown them when the post-office messenger had brought them down, I proceeded to place them in a more secure location, when, as I raised the leathern sacks up, the bottom of one gave away, and out in a thick-spreading torrent rolled a mass of letters and packages.“Dropping on my knees I raked them in, and then examining the bag found that the mischief was occasioned by the receptacle being charged beyond its capacity, the bottom bursting out from the severe pressure of more letters and packages than to my knowledge had ever at any one previous time constituted the Puntsville mail.“There I was on my knees with an immense pile of mail matters heaped before me; and I was mentally deliberating what to do with the matter, when softly behind me creaked the door, and in a second a strong set of fingers grasped my throat, bending me back to the floor, and the cold, icy muzzle of a pistol pressed fearfully against my temple.“He who held me thus I recognised as one of the three passengers—a slightly built, extremely muscular, quick-eyed sort of a man. Physically he was a far better man than I, and the position in which he seized me, rendered me perfectly helpless.“‘Ho, ho! my old bird; robbing the mail, eh? Twenty years in the penitentiary!’ said he, in a low, clear whisper, with a peculiarly triumphant sparkle in his sharp eyes.“I tried to speak, but his grasp on my throat prevented me; he pressed harder, and continued in the same cautious undertone:“‘Lie still, my beauty, or out go your thievish cerebrals; however, I’ll let go your throat; but if for a fraction of a second you open your lips, I’ll let daylight into your aged anatomy, my venerable, but ungodly purloiner,’ and he indulged in a moderate laugh at his own quaint style of expression, as keeping his weapon in a straight line with my forehead, he crept toward the door and gently closed it; coming quickly back, he placed the muzzle against my forehead, saying, mockingly—“‘You are a pretty one to be robbing the President’s mail at your time of life, you virtuous old sinner!’“‘You infernal villain,’ I broke out, however, not very loudly, because at the first movement of my lips he clapped his hand on my throat, and the revolver pressed harder, and now at half cock, a hair breadth’s space between me and eternity.“By some great effort, however, I managed to blurt out in spasmodic whispers, that the mail had burst; had not been robbed, as could be proved by inspection, and that I wanted to ascertain by what authority he came the detective over me in so forcible a manner.“Laughingly he took from his pocket a scrap of written paper, held it out of reach, but near enough to be legible, whereon was stated that so-and-so was commissioned by so-and-so to investigate the cause of the numerous losses that had recently occurred on the Puntsville mail route,&c.“‘No use palaverin’, my renowned skinflint; you’ve been caught squarely and fairly in the deed, and you’re booked certain for Sing Sing, or some other institution conducted on the same charitable system, and you won’t get out for a period—no, not at least till you get the Presidential pardon.’“The affair was growing more strangely serious than I had anticipated, and still I lay on the cabin floor with the contents of the mail-bag strewn over and around me, the detective keeping rigid surveillance over my every movement, however slight.“Leaning forward, with his foot he pushed the door partially ajar, pursed up his moustached lips, whistled a bar of some current popular music, and directly footsteps sounded without, and soon another one of the passengers entered the cabin.“Exchanging a significant look with my captor, he looked around the room with a quick glance, and coming close to my head, dropped down suddenly on his knees, and almost before I was aware of it, had inserted a gag in my mouth, and there I lay, speechless.“Without losing any time, they seized me by neck and heels and plunged me, without the least effort, into the bunk. Then a heavy cloth, deeply saturated with chloroform, was thrown over my face, and after that, if you except for an instant a confused sound of rumbling machinery and a rushing of waters, I remember nothing.“When I regained my senses all the cabin was dark, my brain was confused and obfusticated. I managed to get out of the bunk, looked out the narrow window, and saw that surging black water and heavy, threatening, driving thunder-clouds were the only things visible.“The waves were rising fearfully, the huge white-capped, black-bodied monsters rushed against the boat’s side with thuds that made every timber rattle; the paddle wheels were idly beating to and fro; the wind shrieked through the chains that held the smokeless stack, and the ‘Silver Arrow’ rocked enough to throw nine out of ten fresh-water sailors off their feet. A hundred thoughts sprang up.“Why had the boat stopped? Where were the passengers? Passengers! Oh, now the whole series of events occurred to my remembrance. Perhaps the engineer and the negro had suspected foul play and resisted the rascals, and had been disabled if not murdered.“With fearful misgivings I groped along the passage, reached the engine-room, and, stepping across the sill, fell over a human body. I knew where the lamps usually were kept, and after great difficulty succeeded in getting one alight.“On the floor, lying on his face, was the engineer, but on examination I could discover no traces of violent treatment. However, the odour of chloroform pervaded the room, and I was persuaded that that forcible agent had been brought to operate upon other systems besides my own.“The engineer was stupefied by the combined influences of chloroform and whiskey, for the odour of the latter was nauseously prevalent; but whether the liquor had been imbibed from voluntary self-indulgence, or from forcible application, the individual upon whom the potent influence was now in operation was in no condition to inform me, and I had no means of ascertaining the fact.“Then I went upon deck, examining every nook for signs of my quondam passengers.“I entered the pilot-house, and there on the bench, with his huge hands on the spokes of the wheel, sat the negro deck-hand, and a cloth swathed about his head of a faint chloroformic odour told how he had been rendered non-combatant.“The storm was fearfully violent now; the boat seemed to be drifting rapidly, and rocked so that I experienced great difficulty in going below.“The engineer seemed to be reviving, and a bucket of cold water dashed over him brought him quickly to his senses.“With his assistance I pumped the boiler full, and started the fire, while he told me how one of the three passengers came in the engine room and threw a cloth over his face, and he remembered no more.No.71.Illustration: ETHALWOOD CONDUCTS MONPRESLORD ETHALWOOD CONDUCTS CHEVALIER MONPRES THROUGH THE PICTURE GALLERY OF BROXBRIDGE HALL.“These facts were somewhat mysterious, but danger was all around us, and no time could be spared for discussion, and necessarily we were compelled to direct all our energies towards saving the boat from wreck and ourselves from destruction.“Despite our danger, however, I could not help thinking of what had occurred, and suddenly it struck me—the mails.“Leaving the engineer in charge, I rushed with my lamp to the cabin, and there, strewn about, as before, lay the postal contents.“I examined them eagerly, and in the heap saw a thick packet directed to the officer of the Puntsville and RocktownR. R. Co., marked on the outside ‘No.5,’ and in small caligraphy in the left-hand corner, ‘6000 dollars.’“‘No.5!’ And where were the remaining four? I now remembered I had heard that 25,000 dollars worth of endorsed and signed railroad bonds were to be put up for sale in Puntsville.“There was one package—one-fifth of the total amount—and the other four were stolen! This was what had brought my three gentlemen passengers on a hunting expedition. Yes, for game worth 20,000 dollars, and never a shot fired.“As I stood in amazement at the daring and cleverness exhibited, and in alarm from the reflection of the responsibility I might incur from the robbery, a huge wave struck the boat, and she almost capsized.“Hastily collecting the mail contents in the old bag, I shouted to the engineer to turn on all steam, while I ran to the pilot-house and grasped the wheel.“Slowly the paddles went round, then faster, then the ‘Silver Arrow’ tore through the black waves under a dangerous pressure of steam.“Hardly had we attained speed ere a great mountain wave struck her amidships, carrying away the larboard paddle-box and the greater portion of the aft bulwarks.“The boat rocked and plunged, almost stopped, then the wheels crashed through the splintered timbers that had become inserted in the paddles, and again we bore on, until a loud snap echoed through the boat, the wheels stopped, the ‘Silver Arrow,’ caught up by the rushing waters, drifted helplessly.“The engineer, breathless, came up and said the piston-lever had broken, and still we drifted on—to death.“Another giant wave struck—three feet of water below, and fast filling—still raged the storm and warred the water.“Two miles from shore, and the black, ghastly, whitened waves roared over the rocky bar, two hundred yards distant.“In an instant we were close on it.“I rushed below, seized the mail bags, and unscrewing the cylinder-head, thrust them in, and closed it up. Then they were in a water-tight compartment, safe and recoverable, even if the luckless ‘Silver Arrow’ went to the bottom.“As I secured the mails the water was waist high. When I reached deck the waves were beginning to roll over it, and the engineer and negro, whom, it seemed, the terror of the situation had suddenly roused, were launching the remaining boat.“The starboard boat, I forgot to mention, had been discovered gone when I examined the deck, on recovering from the chloroform’s somnolent effects.“I shouted to them to save themselves by some other means, as no boat could live in such a storm; and then, grasping the chain stays, hauled myself, hand over hand, to the top of the stack, which had not yet cooled, though the fires had been extinguished twenty minutes, and the spray was continually dashing over and around, causing jets of steam to emanate from every spot it touched on the black cylinder.“I hung there for life, though it scorched my hands dreadfully; and at last I managed to lash myself fast by a bit of rope, which, providentially, I had found in my pocket. The boat sank no deeper. It had grounded on the bar, and I was temporarily safe.“Then I looked amid the turmoil of waters for the engineer and his companion. Of them I could see nothing. Half a furlong to leeward tossed the boat, bottom upward. The unfortunate men had gone to the bottom.“The ‘Silver Arrow’ rocked fearfully, and jarred and shocked me through every limb, as I hung lashed to the smoke-stack.“I was fast being spent, when, the storm abating, a boat put out from shore, and without detailing the difficulty of getting aboard, suffice it to say that, half dead, I was rescued, and after a couple of day’s recuperation on shore, I got aboard a schooner bound up, and arriving at Puntsville, related what had happened.“In a few days calm weather returned, the ‘Silver Arrow’ was raised, the mails were secured, intact, and I mentally resolved to give up steam-boating for a lengthy interval, at least, and measures were taken to recover the stolen railroad bonds through the city detectives.“Finally it was rumoured that the bonds had been recovered from a city firm, who had purchased them two days after they were stolen; that the party who had sold them could not be found, but his arrest was very probable from the descriptive clues which the authorities had received from a member of the victimised firm.“And now I became involved in a predicament equalling in unpleasantness that of the clinging to the smoke-stack of the sinking ‘Silver Arrow.’“One day, about a week after the robbery, a gentleman called at the Puntsville Hotel and expressed a wish for a private interview, and when we were alone, produced a warrant for my arrest for mail robbery. Remonstrance was useless.“He said it was a very unpleasant duty, but the law must be enforced,&c., and as the document was in proper form and legally made out, I could do nothing but accompany him.“To be brief, I was tried and convicted on the sworn and positive evidence of the senior partner of the firm who had purchased the stolen bonds. He identified me as the man who brought the stolen paper into their office, and to whom he had paid the money for the same.“In detail his evidence went to the effect that the man had grey mutton-chop whiskers and moustache, brown eyes, red face, and a mole on the left cheek, all of which answered my description exactly.“In vain my lawyer argued and argued—the evidence was point blank against me, and an alibi could not be proved; for unfortunately the very day on which the bonds had been offered for sale I had gone, starting at sunrise, on a solitary fishing excursion to a little frequented part of the river, and had not met a single person until I came home late at night.“The trial lasted but one day, and the next I was on my way to the Albany Penitentiary for a term of three years.“The prison became unusually crowded, and I was compelled to occupy a cell in companionship of another convict.“We lived together very pleasantly for some weeks, became as intimate as our diverse social station would permit, and in a communicative mood one night my companion related how once on a steamboat he with two other companions had robbed the mail, and after drugging the crew had escaped in a small boat, and he wondered if the old captain was drowned, as he had heard afterwards that the boat had sunk.“You may know what were my reflections when I heard this, and, to be sure of a witness, I informed the turnkey, and next night he stationed himself immediately outside the door, and in the course of our nightly conversation my fellow-convict repeated his confession, with an addition that he and his two pals had heard that the bonds were to be sent to Puntsville, and had laid their plans as they carried them out; and what was of more immediate consequence to me, how one of them had imitated my appearance, even to the mole upon my cheek, and thus turned the attention of the authorities towards me, and gave them time to get out of the country; and, moreover, that when he succeeded in selling the purloined bonds he had decamped with the proceeds, and had never been heard from.“He (the prisoner) was incarcerated at the present time for another offence entirely different.“With the turnkey as my witness I speedily obtained a hearing, and after a series of legal formalities was released from durance vile; and, of course, if I had not then been in comfortable circumstances, very likely I would have instituted an action for false imprisonment, and thereby put sums of money in the pockets of the lawyers and a pittance into my own.“However, I waived all right to compensation for my injured liberty, having had quite enough of legal experience, and this is what happened to me thirty years ago, when I was a young man.”“I said Corbet could tell you a tough yarn or two,” remarked Whittock. “Why, Lord bless you, he’d keep you amused the whole evening. He has tales about all sorts of things, and, what is better, they are every one of them true.”“This one is, that I’ll vow for,” returned the captain, “but I don’t say all I tell are.”“We don’t ask whether they are true or not,” observed Peace, with a smile. “It is enough for us to know that we are entertained. So long as the hours pass pleasantly away, and we all enjoy ourselves, what more is needed?”Everybody appeared to coincide in this opinion, and so, after some more music, both vocal and instrumental, one of the guests, who it appeared, had been at one time a station-master in the United States, told the following tale, which we reserve for another chapter.
It was arranged between the two confederates, or companions, in crime, that Charles Peace was not to run any further risk by endeavouring to dispose of the property he had acquired by his various burglaries.
There was nothing he dreaded, at this time, so much as falling in with a Sheffield or Manchester policeman or detective.
To the members of the London constabulary force he was not known, and certainly not one of them had at this time the faintest notion that he was Peace. Had this not been the case he never could have escaped detection for so long a period.
So Bill Rawton, who appeared to be a handy man to many, agreed to undertake the disposal of the goods, which he carried out after his own fashion.
Some of the articles Miss Stanbridge agreed to take at a given price, which was perhaps a trifle more than the Whitechapel or Petticoat-lane receivers were likely to offer.
Bill struck a bargain with Laura, who selected the goods which she said would suit her; the rest of the stock she did not care about, so these the gipsy took to Isaac, who, as usual, offered a ridiculously low price, but Bill, like his friend Peace, was very well used to the ways of the Israelite.
Bill haggled with him for some time, and even went so far as gathering the things together, avowing his intention at the same time of going to another shop. Upon this the Jew made an advance in his price, and after a little more conversation a bargain was struck, and the goods were purchased.
Bandy-legged Bill was perfectly well satisfied with his day’s work, and upon returning to the Evalina-road he found Peace in close converse with a strange gentleman whom he had never remembered to have seen before.
He came to the conclusion that the party in question was on friendly terms with our hero, for there was a degree of cordiality between the two which caused him to be assured of this.
Peace withdrew to an adjoining room, where the gipsy handed him over the proceeds.
“You have done well, Bill. Indeed, I don’t know what I should do without you,” cried Peace. “Nothing could be better. We’ve made a regular clearance, and I am greatly relieved.”
“Who is your friend?” said the gipsy, nodding significantly towards the door of the front parlour.
“He is in the engineering line, and has taken in hand one or two of my inventions. Oh, he is a clever fellow—a most genial, agreeable companion, who thoroughly believes in me. He is coming to-morrow evening to spend a few hours with me, and I shall, therefore, be glad of your company, you old sinner; but don’t you launch out or say any more than may be needful; let my guests do the talking. Do you understand?”
“I won’t say more than is necessary—trust me for that.”
Bill and Peace returned to the front parlour. The gentleman who was its only occupant was introduced by our hero to the gipsy as a Mr. Whittock.
He bowed courteously to Rawton, and then resumed his conversation with Peace.
The conversation was confined chiefly to engineering matters, and a long discussion took place upon Peace’s various inventions.
It was evident that Mr. Whittock had a great opinion of Mr. Thompson, whom he frequently complimented. Bill listened, but said nothing.
Presently the gentleman rose to take his departure.
“I shall expect to see you to-morrow evening, Whittock,” said Peace. We will have a little music, supper, and a friendly game.”
“I shall be most delighted, I’m sure,” returned Whittock. “I have a friend stopping with me at present whose acquaintance I am sure you will be pleased to make. He has a son who is a beautiful singer. May I bring them with me?”
“Certainly; nothing would please me better. What is your friend’s name?”
“Mr. Harker. He is a capital fellow—knows almost everything, has been in all parts of the world, and is excellent company.”
“Bring him, by all means, then,” said Peace.
On the following day preparations were made atNo.4 for the reception of guests.
The owner of the establishment was overjoyed at the sale of the articles which he had been for a long time most anxious to get rid of, that he was disposed to make merry over the bargain.
He had ample funds at his disposal, and his friend Whittock was a special favourite with him, albeit the friendship between the two was not of very long standing.
It was arranged that Mrs. Thompson should be the hostess on this occasion—the elder female was to attend to the culinary department, and prepare the supper for the guests.
Peace arrayed himself in his best attire; William Ward was got up in a perfectly satisfactory manner, and Mrs. Thompson was carefully watched, so that she might be in a fit state to receive the company.
Some of Peace’s immediate neighbours had been invited; these were the first to arrive, after which Mr. Whittock presented himself. He brought with him Mr. and Master Harker, who were introduced in due form.
“I am greatly pleased to see you, and am glad to have an opportunity of making your acquaintance, sir,” said Peace, addressing himself to Mr. Harker. “As a friend of Mr. Whittock, you are specially welcome. Mr. Whittock and I understand each other.”
“You will shortly astonish the world with some excellent inventions, I expect,” returned Harker. “Well, this is not altogether a country for the inventor; America is the place.”
No.70.
Illustration: AN EVENING PARTY AT EVALINA-ROAD.AN EVENING PARTY AT EVALINA-ROAD.
AN EVENING PARTY AT EVALINA-ROAD.
“The people are not so prejudiced in America,” continued Harker, “and a man has greater chances. The English, as a rule, are slow to perceive the value of any new power of machinery.”
“That is true enough,” remarked Peace. “They are rather dense, it must be admitted, and are, as you observe, prejudiced. All we can do is to persevere and hope for the best.”
Here he called the attention of his guests to several drafts of machinery he proposed to patent.
Those present were duly impressed with the ability of their host—none of them at this time being at all aware of the character of the man who was so modest, so urbane, and so hospitable.
“I look upon my friend, Thompson, as a remarkably ingenious and clever man,” remarked Whittock; “and the more you know of him the more impressed you will be with this fact.”
“Ah, no doubt; we all agree upon that,” exclaimed several.
The social glass was filled, and the company began to settle themselves down for a pleasant evening, which, to say the truth, was an agreeable one to all.
Peace was in the best of spirits.
He had shaken off the dismal forebodings he had felt some three or four days before, and at the request of a neighbour played a duet with Willie Ward.
This was the commencement of the musical portion of the entertainment.
A violin solo followed, after which Mr. Harker said his son gave promise of musical ability, since he had been complimented by the master of the choir to which he belonged. The lad was asked to give a specimen of his vocal powers, when after a little hesitation he sang the following:—
HOPE’S LIFE IS SHINING YET.
’Tis true that time may swiftly passAnd years as quickly fly,And every hope that springs to birthMay wither, fade, and die.And oh! ’tis true that all our dreamsMay in life’s darkness set,But in the chambers of my soul,Hope’s life is shining yet.Thine was not love that could be cooledBy words or looks of scorn,Ah, no, it was as pure and deepAs if of angels born.Thine was that love which sorrows, storms,Nor cruel fate could sever;It burns on brightly—and it willKeep burning on for ever.To think thee faithless would, indeed,Be casting doubts on high—Would throw a dark suspicious shadeO’er angels in the sky.But, oh, within my trusting heart,No doubts there are as yet—The lights of faith and hope are stillWithin its portals set.
’Tis true that time may swiftly passAnd years as quickly fly,And every hope that springs to birthMay wither, fade, and die.And oh! ’tis true that all our dreamsMay in life’s darkness set,But in the chambers of my soul,Hope’s life is shining yet.Thine was not love that could be cooledBy words or looks of scorn,Ah, no, it was as pure and deepAs if of angels born.Thine was that love which sorrows, storms,Nor cruel fate could sever;It burns on brightly—and it willKeep burning on for ever.To think thee faithless would, indeed,Be casting doubts on high—Would throw a dark suspicious shadeO’er angels in the sky.But, oh, within my trusting heart,No doubts there are as yet—The lights of faith and hope are stillWithin its portals set.
’Tis true that time may swiftly passAnd years as quickly fly,And every hope that springs to birthMay wither, fade, and die.
’Tis true that time may swiftly pass
And years as quickly fly,
And every hope that springs to birth
May wither, fade, and die.
And oh! ’tis true that all our dreamsMay in life’s darkness set,But in the chambers of my soul,Hope’s life is shining yet.
And oh! ’tis true that all our dreams
May in life’s darkness set,
But in the chambers of my soul,
Hope’s life is shining yet.
Thine was not love that could be cooledBy words or looks of scorn,Ah, no, it was as pure and deepAs if of angels born.
Thine was not love that could be cooled
By words or looks of scorn,
Ah, no, it was as pure and deep
As if of angels born.
Thine was that love which sorrows, storms,Nor cruel fate could sever;It burns on brightly—and it willKeep burning on for ever.
Thine was that love which sorrows, storms,
Nor cruel fate could sever;
It burns on brightly—and it will
Keep burning on for ever.
To think thee faithless would, indeed,Be casting doubts on high—Would throw a dark suspicious shadeO’er angels in the sky.
To think thee faithless would, indeed,
Be casting doubts on high—
Would throw a dark suspicious shade
O’er angels in the sky.
But, oh, within my trusting heart,No doubts there are as yet—The lights of faith and hope are stillWithin its portals set.
But, oh, within my trusting heart,
No doubts there are as yet—
The lights of faith and hope are still
Within its portals set.
The music to which these words were set was simple and plaintive, and well adapted for the voice of a young female or a boy.
The singer had evidently been well trained, for he sang in good time and tune, Peace playing the accompaniment.
Mr. Harker, the lad’s father, was greatly pleased at the performance, and passed flattering encomiums on Peace’s skill as an accompanist: indeed, it was in every way creditable, and there was a general murmur of applause as the song was brought to a conclusion.
“Your son has got a beautiful voice,” said our hero, addressing himself to Mr. Harker. “If he perseveres he’ll be a very accomplished vocalist.”
“I am glad to hear you say so, Thompson,” observed Whittock, “for I know you are a competent judge of these matters.”
The conversation was carried on in an animated manner for some little time, after which Peace and Willie Ward played another piece together. Several of the company expressed a wish to hear Mr. Thompson sing. He was in no very good voice, but chanted the following quaint ditty:—
I’ve been thinking—I’ve been thinkingWhat a world we might possessDid folks mind their business more,And mind their neighbours’ less.For instance, you and I, my friend.Are sadly prone to talkOf matters that concern us notAnd others’ follies mock.I’ve been thinking if we wereTo mind our own affairs,That possibly our neighbours mightContrive to manage theirs.We’ve faults enough at home to mend—It may be so of others;It would seem strange if it were notSince all mankind are brothers.Oh, would that we had charityFor every man and woman:Forgiveness is the mark of those—We know “to err is human.”Then let us banish jealousy,Let’s lift our fallen brother,And as we journey down life’s roadDo good to one another.
I’ve been thinking—I’ve been thinkingWhat a world we might possessDid folks mind their business more,And mind their neighbours’ less.For instance, you and I, my friend.Are sadly prone to talkOf matters that concern us notAnd others’ follies mock.I’ve been thinking if we wereTo mind our own affairs,That possibly our neighbours mightContrive to manage theirs.We’ve faults enough at home to mend—It may be so of others;It would seem strange if it were notSince all mankind are brothers.Oh, would that we had charityFor every man and woman:Forgiveness is the mark of those—We know “to err is human.”Then let us banish jealousy,Let’s lift our fallen brother,And as we journey down life’s roadDo good to one another.
I’ve been thinking—I’ve been thinkingWhat a world we might possessDid folks mind their business more,And mind their neighbours’ less.For instance, you and I, my friend.Are sadly prone to talkOf matters that concern us notAnd others’ follies mock.
I’ve been thinking—I’ve been thinking
What a world we might possess
Did folks mind their business more,
And mind their neighbours’ less.
For instance, you and I, my friend.
Are sadly prone to talk
Of matters that concern us not
And others’ follies mock.
I’ve been thinking if we wereTo mind our own affairs,That possibly our neighbours mightContrive to manage theirs.We’ve faults enough at home to mend—It may be so of others;It would seem strange if it were notSince all mankind are brothers.
I’ve been thinking if we were
To mind our own affairs,
That possibly our neighbours might
Contrive to manage theirs.
We’ve faults enough at home to mend—
It may be so of others;
It would seem strange if it were not
Since all mankind are brothers.
Oh, would that we had charityFor every man and woman:Forgiveness is the mark of those—We know “to err is human.”Then let us banish jealousy,Let’s lift our fallen brother,And as we journey down life’s roadDo good to one another.
Oh, would that we had charity
For every man and woman:
Forgiveness is the mark of those—
We know “to err is human.”
Then let us banish jealousy,
Let’s lift our fallen brother,
And as we journey down life’s road
Do good to one another.
“Excellent—admirable!” cried several voices.
“I call that a fine sentiment,” said Mr. Whittock. “I wish men and women would act up to it. There’s a great deal too much meddling in this world.”
“Yes,” said a Mr. Newnham, who was one of Peace’s neighbours. “We’ve quite enough of that sort of thing here in our locality. It’s a capital song. I never remember to have heard it before, but I admire it immensely.”
Peace glanced at Mrs. Thompson, and made a wry face, at which the company laughed.
Soon after this supper was served, after which a game of whist was proposed, and two sets of partners sat down to cards.
Mr. Harker, who was not included in either of the parties of players, sat down by the chimney-corner, and entered into a lively discourse with some of those who were disengaged.
He was a man who had at his disposal a whole fund of anecdote, and was therefore a great acquisition to the visitors.
He gave a running commentary on the great detective case, which was the general topic of conversation at this time, and cited instances of the mistakes made by the Scotland yard officials.
“As far as mistakes are concerned,” said Harker, “their name is legion, and I, for one, should be very careful in delivering a verdict without the clearest and most unmistakable evidence, for, from my own personal experience, I am able to testify as to the unreliability of suspicious circumstances, which may, by the merest accident, be brought to bear upon a man.”
“There is no doubt about that, sir,” said Peace; “mistakes are frequent enough.”
“Well,” observed Harker, “as I am only a looker-on now, and am not engaged to play, I’ll, with your permission, first narrate to you what I may term a ‘Romance of a Counting-house.’ The whole of the incidents came under my immediate knowledge. In short, I was the leading actor in as pretty a little drama as ever man had the misfortune to play in.”
“I shall be most delighted to hear it,” said Peace, “and so will our friends, I’m sure.”
“It came about in this way. I had married and was going to make my fortune, and therefore (having that laudable end in view) left a good situation in Yorkshire to settle down in Liverpool as a merchant ‘on my own account,’ and commence to make it without delay. I had not much capital, and so I resolved to economise at first.
“In course of time I imagined the tidy brougham and the country house across the Mersey would certainly come; and one serene September evening, many years ago, I was walking up and downSt.George’s landing-stage, building castles in the air, wondering whether rents were high at New Brighton, and whether Kate would prefer a pony phaeton to a brougham.
“I am not sorry to add that I still reside in a modest house up Edge-hill way, and that I come to business as Cæsar went to Rome, according to Joe Miller,summa diligentia, on the top of an omnibus.
“I was waiting for Mr. Moses Moss to return at eight p.m. to his office in a street hard by—call it Mersey-street—and for the reason that Moses Moss had a furnished place to let which his advertisement called ‘two spacious counting-rooms’—goodness knows, I never counted much in the shape of coin; and I did not like the situation; nor the narrow, dark staircase; nor the look of the boy of Hebrew extraction who howled ‘Cub id,’ when I knocked, and told me ‘Mr. Boses would be in at eight o’clock;’ but twenty pounds a year was very cheap, so I told my young friend I would call at that time, and look at the ‘counting-room.’
“How well I remember that night! The ferry-boats from the Cheshire shore gliding along with their lights twinkling like glow-worms, the vast hull of the ‘Great Eastern’ just visible in the Sloyne, the squared yards and all-a-taut look of a seventy-four of the old school, showing black and distinct against the daffodil sky, and the lap of the swell against the under timber of the stage—I was inclined to be sentimental; but Mr. Moses Moss claimed my attention, and once more I entered his office and found him awaiting me. He was a little, fat, good-tempered Jew, who spoke decent English, and who, I afterwards found out, was constantly affirming, in season and out of season, that he was no descendant of Abraham.
“‘Hillo, Brunton!’ he cried, jumping from the chair. ‘My lad told me you’d been here. Where have you been these two months and more? Look here, old fellow, I’ve advertised your place; but you can have it on the old terms.’
“‘Some mistake, sir, I believe,’ and I handed him a card bearing the inscription, ‘Charles Harker.’
“He took it and held it to the gaslight, looked at the back, considered it endways, and pondered over it upside down. Then taking the candle his clerk had brought, he held it close to my face.
“‘If you are not disposed to proceed to business, I will bid you good-night,’ said I, greatly annoyed at his manner.’
“‘It’s him, and it ain’t him,” he said aloud. ‘Carl could never look a man in the face as this one does. And yet I don’t see my way through the features.’
“‘There’s no necessity for you to trouble yourself about my features!’ I exclaimed, opening the door—‘good night.’
“‘Stop, stop, my dear sir! and don’t be offended. It was all a mistake. All Isaac’s mistake, upon my honour.’
“‘All a mistake,’ echoed young Isaac.
“My curiosity was excited, and, besides, I really wanted the offices; and I therefore allowed myself to be persuaded into mounting the narrow staircase, until we faced a door bearing the name of Brunton on it in white letters, and having the two upper panels glazed, more, I should imagine, to supply light to the staircase than for admission of light to the office.
“Mr. Moss produced a key, and turning to me with a good-natured smile, said: ‘I’d have sworn you were Brunton five minutes ago, but I’m sure now that I was wrong. Carl always swore when he came upstairs, and you haven’t. It’s Brunton’s face all but the eyes, and I’d swear to the eyes anywhere. That is, to the twinkle of ’em, you know.’
“And he unlocked the door and invited me within.
“Walking to the table on which he had placed the light, I took a chair and produced my pocket-book.
“‘Before we go further, Mr. Moss, let us quite understand each other, I have no wish to derive any benefits from any virtues Mr. Brunton may possess; and I am going to convince you that I am what I represent myself to be. Be good enough to read that letter.’
“It was from a merchant in the North, only received that morning, and mentioned circumstances which were sufficient to settle any doubts as to my identity.
“Mr. Moss read it, folded it up briskly, and presented it to me with a bow.
“‘Sir, I apologise. I confess that up to this moment I fancied it was Carl; but what puzzled me was, that such a surly fellow should take to larking and playing the fool. You are very much like my last tenant, sir, that is all.’
“‘Very well; now that matter is settled, let us look at the rooms.’
“The lighted gas showed me a large one, and very barely furnished. There was a large leather-covered table with a desk on it, four chairs, an inkstand, and a partially filled waste-paper basket, and that was all.
“‘Rather meagre, Mr. Moss.’
“‘Now, my dear sir, what more could you want? Would you like a safe? I’ve got one to spare downstairs, and you shall have it, and a new mat for your feet—I hate haggling.’
“‘Let me see the other room, please.’
“It was one which a person sitting at the table would have right opposite to him, and it had no door.
“‘It was a clerk’s office,’ Mr. Moss said, ‘and you wanted your eye on such chaps.’ I suggested that the principal might sometimes want privacy, whereupon he said ‘he had the door downstairs, and it should be hung at once if I wished it.’ But having no intention of engaging a clerk at present, I told him it was of no consequence.
“The room was about half the size of the outer one, and contained a desk and stool. There was a large closet for coals and such like matters, and a good allowance of dust and cobwebs all over.
“‘I’ll have it cleaned up to-morrow,’ said Mr. Moss. ‘It looks beautiful when clean, and you will find the desk to be real Spanish mahogany.’
“They would suit me well enough, and I told Mr. Moss so; paid him a quarter’s rent in advance, and rose to depart.
“‘Oh, by the way, Mr. Moss,’ I exclaimed, a sudden thought striking me; ‘I will send a man to paint my name on the wall downstairs.’
“‘Very good, sir. I would do it at once if I were you. Carl was a loose fish, and if you delayed it until you got here, you might be annoyed.’
“‘How so? What was he?’
“‘Take a cigar first, Mr. Harker, you’ll find no better in Liverpool. Lord! how like him you do look when I don’t see your eyes!’
“‘And yet I have not been thought to resemble a loose fish before, Mr. Moss.’
“‘I didn’t mean that. Have you never seen an ugly person resemble a very handsome one? I have many a time. Well, about Carl. He was here about two years, and call me a Jew if I could reckon him up. He used to come here about noon and work up to eight or nine o’clock at night; but what business he worked at I could never find out. I know he had a big ledger, and two or three such books; but a big ledger won’t make a business any more than a big carpet bag will, and he always carried one. He would come and smoke a cigar with me now and then; but I never came up here all that time, and he kept his door locked. He always seemed to be expecting a blow, did poor Carl; more like a rat in a corner than anything else, poor beggar. Well, sir, one morning I found the key on my mat, and found the place just as you see it, and have never seen Carl since. One or two queer-looking men have inquired for him, and asked if he was coming back, and I said most likely he would, and likely enough he will.’”
“‘Not at all an interesting story,’ I thought, and felt inclined to yawn in Mr. Moss’s face; but I thanked him for his information, and promised to take possession in three days, which I spent in presenting my letters of introduction, and making other arrangements for the prosecution of my plans.
“At length the eventful day arrived, and I stood in my own office, with my name emblazoned on the door and passage wall. I was waiting for a friend to call on me (who, by the way, had promised to put me in the way of doing some business that very day), and felt impatient for his arrival in consequence.
“The office was clean and tidy, and the floors had been well scrubbed.
“Why hadn’t they emptied the waste-paper basket of all that lumber?
“The office-keeper had lighted a fire, and I took up the basket to perform the operation myself; but from some cause or other I placed it on the table and began idly to burn the scraps one by one.
“I had nearly disposed of them all when a scrap attracted my attention, and I read it; It was torn so as to leave a few words intact, and it ran thus—
“‘Louise has given your description, and you may rely on our finding you. Forward the plates at once, or——’
“Then another piece was mysterious, apparently a plan of some place or other.
“What did this mean?
“But I had no time to consider, for my friend entered, and, putting the two pieces of paper in my drawer, I emptied the basket in the fire, and went out with him to do a good day’s work.
“Returning late in the evening, I relit the fire, and addressed myself to the writing of two important letters to be posted by half-past eleven that night, in order to be in time for the Cunard steamer, which sailed early in the morning; and then it was that the black darkness of the doorless room opposite me began to trouble me most.
“It had troubled me before, but on this night it troubled me tenfold. From childhood I have been imaginative, and knowing this, I stirred the fire, called myself a fool, and went on with my letter; but not for long. My eyes wandered to the black darkness of the doorway, and I began to ransack my memory for statistics of men who could tell by some occult power if any one were hidden in the room they entered; and I laughed aloud when I remembered that I had read of one sensitive gentleman who by this same occult power had found that a surgeon’s skeleton was in the closet behind him.
“I own I dislike being in the dark, but I will do myself the justice to say that I have resolution enough to overcome the dislike.
“Therefore I proposed to myself to very quietly walk into the dark room which troubled me, and (without a light) look out of the windows, and slowly return.”
“I shouldn’t have liked the office myself,” ejaculated Peace. “You may well call it a romance.”
“As for the matter of that, I confess it sounds like one,” returned Mr. Harker, “and I assure you every word I am saying is strictly correct. Romance and reality are much more intimately interwoven together than people generally suppose.”
“You are quite right there, sir,” cried one of the cardplayers, who had been listening so attentively to the narrative that he revoked.
Mr. Harker continued—
“I went. The very first step beyond the threshold dispelled my fears. I could see the glimmer of the stars through the glass, hear the rattle of the cabs outside. Why, it was quite a cheerful place, after all.
“Ha! there was a shuffling noise there by the closet! and then my fears returned and overpowered me. I strove to walk out like a tragedy hero; but my pace quickened as I neared the door and heard the shuffling noise close to me. The next moment a powerful hand was at my throat, and I lay helpless on the floor with the cold muzzle of a pistol to my head.
“I was bound, and dragged into the outer office, thrust into my chair, and confronted by two quiet-looking men, one of whom laid his revolver on the table, saying at the same time, with an ugly sneer—
“‘So, Brunton, we have caught you at last.’
“The speaker was a mild, intelligent looking man of about thirty-five. In a proper dress he would have looked like a High Church clergyman.
“His companion was evidently a foreigner, and I imagine a German.
“He was about fifty years of age, and wore spectacles, and a profusion of beard and whiskers covered more than half his face; but he had a winning smile and good teeth, which he often took an opportunity to show.
“‘We have found you at last.’
“I am thankful to say that I am not nervous when I see danger, and I boldly replied—
“‘My name is Harker, and not Brunton; Mr. Moss, the landlord of these premises, has noticed my resemblance to his late tenant, and is satisfied that I am not the same. Depend upon it that I shall make you repent this outrage.’
“I tried to rise to call for help from the street, but the pistol was cocked and pointed at me, and there was that in the man’s face which cautioned me against rashness in my helpless position.
“‘Well, I never,’ cried Whittock. ‘That was a nice pickle to be in.’
“‘It was,’ observed Harker.
“‘I will sit down,’ I replied, ‘and hear what you have to say; but if I choose to do it, I shall do my best to raise an alarm in spite of your revolver.’
“‘Vel spoke, Carl,’ said the foreigner; ‘Louise always says he’s a plucky one.’
“‘Now then, Brunton,’ whispered the other, ‘let us have no nonsense. We have not met before, it is true, but Louie has so well described you, that putting another name on your door was simply idiotic. Besides, one of our friends has watched for your return, and we communicated with him as soon as we landed. Go free if you like, but we will have the plates.’
“‘Dat’s de matter vid us,’ echoed the German; ’ve vill have de plates.’
“‘I know nothing of any plates,’ I cried, ‘nor of Louise, nor of you. All I know is that you will see the inside of a prison very shortly.’
“‘And you think you can throw us, throw me over in this way? Dou you think you deal with children?’
“‘I think I deal with a burglar. Most certainly with a rascal of some sort or other.’
“Here my two friends held a whispered conference. Then he of the revolver turned sharply towards me.
“‘Will you marry Louise? Will you give up the plates and marry my sister?’
“‘She lofe you like old boots,’ added the German; and from which I opine that he prided himself on a knowledge of English idiom.
“In spite of my serious position I was getting thoroughly amused.
“The dark doorway held unknown terrors to my excited imagination; but two commonplace fellows who had made a mistake caused a feeling of merriment, even in spite of the revolver.
“‘I am sorry I cannot oblige you,’ I replied. ‘I am flattered by the lady’s preference, but having one wife already, I fear I must decline taking a second; and as for the plates, please explain what you mean.’
“The answer to this flippant speech was a blow on the face, which immediately sent the blood streaming on the floor.
“‘You’ll remember insulting the sister of Louis Orloff! Here, baron, let us gag him, and search; he will be raising an alarm presently.’
“They thrust a piece of rope between my teeth, compressing my windpipe to make me open my mouth; and there I sat helpless, whilst they turned out the contents of my desk and drawers, not forgetting my cash box, which was opened by a key taken from my vest pocket, and the contents appropriated.
“Knowing that the two scraps of paper I had found in the waste-paper basket and placed in my drawer must have reference to their visit, I watched very anxiously when they opened it.
“But they escaped notice, and I felt that I had got some clue to the mystery, even if these men escaped; and I had quite determined that they should not escape, for I was insecurely bound, and had been working hard to get my right hand free, and, thanks to having a very narrow one, I now found myself able to slip it through the loop which encircled the wrist; but I ’bided my time,’ for I saw that a false move might bring a bullet through my head.
“‘De plates is in ze oder room, Carl Brunton, mon ami,’ said the baron, smiling, and patting my shoulder. ‘Vy not say? Vy shoot we you? You do dem so well, ve no get any like dem. And you use dem yourself, and den, Ach Gott, you upset de cart of de apple.’
“‘Yes,’ I thought, ‘and it’s odd to me if I don’t upset your cart of de apple before long.’
“‘In dere; in back room?’ asked the Baron, with another amiable smile.
“I said ‘yes,’ with my eyes.
“‘See now, my Louis, you were too rough. You into him pitch like dam. So see him amiable.’ Then to me:—
“‘And you will marry Louise, who lofe you like old boots?”
“My other hand was free now. I tried to speak, and implored with my eyes for the gag to be removed.
“The baron removed it, and while doing so I resolved on a plan of operation.
“‘You will marry Louise, and give us the plates?’
“‘I will give you every satisfaction.’
“‘That is business,’ said Louis Orloff, coming forward. ‘First the plates; then you return with us to New York, and keep your promise to Louise. Why give us the trouble? I tell you frankly that the expense will be deducted from your share, and that you will be strictly watched in future. I should have cut your throat but for my promise to Louise. Now, where are the plates?’
“‘Look in the closet in the next room, rake out the coals and take what you find.’
“‘Good! Come, baron.’
“And they left me to operate on the coals. Springing up, I seized the revolver, darted to the door, and in a moment had locked them in.
“But my triumph was of short duration, for Orloff was on the other side like lightning, the rotten woodwork torn out under his vigorous wrench, and his hand was on my throat before I could grope my way to the stairs.
“Then I knew that life depended on the struggle, and I fought like one possessed, for the revolver. The baron came to his friend’s help; but I found time and opportunity to send him reeling to the ground.
“Orloff was the weaker man, but he outdid me in skill, and a dextrous feint threw me off my guard, leaving the revolver in his hand.
“Purple with passion, he fired instantly, and I felt a sharp sting in the left shoulder; and then all earthly things seemed to be fading away, and a world beyond opening to view.
“When I recovered I found myself laid on a mattress on the office table, and my wife tearfully bending over me. There was a calm-faced surgeon too, who showed me the ball he had extracted, and told me to cheer up, for I should be better in a few days, for no harm was done.
“Mr. Moss was there too, and came to my bedside—I mean my table-side—and whispered how he had been called up by the police, who, hearing a pistol-shot, had come upstairs and arrested Orloff and the baron, and finding me on the ground bleeding, had sent for a surgeon and my wife, having found my private address from a letter in my pocket.
“I was only faint from loss of blood; the bullet did little damage, and I preferred getting up, and then gave an account of the evening’s adventure, not noticing at the time that a tall inspector of police was in the room.
“‘Will you kindly show me those pieces of paper?’ he said, advancing. “I have the men in Mr. Moss’s office; but beyond the assault on you, I have no evidence against them; but I know them well.’
“I produced them, and the inspector fastened on the one which seemed to be a plan; then looking around, he said:
“‘This is a plan of your office.’
“‘Call me a Jew if it aint!’ exclaimed Mr. Moss, taking it.
“‘Yes, it is certainly a plan of your office. See, here is the doorway, and there comes the other room. Then there is a cross against the fireplace in this room, on what I judge from the lines to mean the fourth board from the hearthstone, and another cross against the sixth from the hearthstone in the other room. Get a crowbar, Mr. Moss.’
“‘There’s one downstairs.’
“I do believe that if you’d asked for a crocodile, he’d have got one ‘downstairs.’
“Crowbar and a policeman to wield it were soon procured, and then the mystery was unravelled.
“Close to where I sat, were unearthed several copper-plates for the forging of Russian rouble notes of various amounts; and in the back room, under the flooring, were found several hundreds of well-executed forgeries carefully soldered up in a tin case, together with correspondence implicating Orloff and the baron.
“It appeared that Brunton was engaged by a New York gang to engrave the plates, and that he had never seen his employers, the agent between them being the Louise before mentioned, whose fair hand I had been compelled to decline.
“Brunton had evidently become frightened, and had fled.
“He was no traitor, or he would have decamped with the plates.
“Perhaps the dread of having to espouse Louise may have had something to do with his flight.
“She was a very handsome woman, if I may judge from a photograph of her found in the tin case, but looked like one accustomed to rule, and who would not hesitate to administer wholesome correction to her spouse.
“Assisted into a carriage which was waiting, I had the satisfaction of seeing the baron and Orloff brought down in handcuffs, the baron regarding me with a sweet smile, and Orloff scowling on me like a fiend. I did not prosecute, for they were so well known to the police as forgers that there was evidence enough for the Russian Embassy to procure a conviction and a sentence of ten years’ penal servitude; and in due time I recovered, and dismissed the matter from my mind.
“But I had not heard the last of it. About twelve months after the trial and condemnation of the baron and his friend, there came one night a timid knock at my office door, and my clerk (for I had such a luxury then) ushered in what, at first sight, seemed to be a moving bundle of rags.
“Strictly speaking, the bundle of rags insisted on seeing me, and ushered itself in, in spite of all remonstrances.
“It came and stood before me, and resolved itself into the semblance of a man—a man lean, haggard, sunken-eyed, ragged, and dirty, but with a face something like my own; and without putting a question I knew that I stood face to face with Carl Brunton, and I addressed the rags by that name.
“‘I took that name,’ the poor shivering thing replied, ‘but my name is—but no matter. May I speak to you?”
“‘Yes, go on.’
“‘Will you give me some drink first? I have had none to-day, and feel delirium tremens coming on. Oh, how cold it is, and how I shiver!’
“I sent the clerk for some brandy, which he took raw, and with shaking hand held out the glass for more.
“I imagine it is Mr. Moss you want to see, is it not? If so, you will find him to-morrow, at ten o’clock.’
“‘No, no, you, I want—I—I am very poor, very poor. Will you give me sixpence?’
“I gave him half a crown.
“‘Now, what can I do for you?’
“‘I—left some property here when I went away. You won’t refuse to give it up? I seem poor, but am rich—ah! so rich!—and I will pay you well.’
“‘You mean the forged rouble notes and the plate you engraved them from?’
“‘Ah! Who told you that? Then you have found them and used them? I ran away from them, and wished to lead a better life, but they drew me back; and now you have robbed me, and I shall starve.’
“I explained to the poor wretch what had become of his possessions, and how they were found, and inquired if he had not heard of the fate of his accomplices.
“‘No; I have been wandering about the country, living in hospitals, because they hunt me down from place to place. They will kill me as they did the Posen Jew and the engraver at Stockholm, all because they demanded a fair share. They are dogging me to-night; one of them is outside now. Let me see, what did I come here for? Oh, sixpence. Lend me sixpence; I’ll give you a hundred pounds for it to-morrow.’
“I made a further donation, and, as the man was evidently in a state of delirium, I told my clerk to fetch a medical man. But before he could execute the order the bundle of rags crept down the narrow stairs, sitting on each step, and wriggling by aid of his hands to the next below, whilst we, unable to pass him, looked on, wondering how it would all end.
“The street gained, he stood upright, and, casting a terrified glance around, fled away into the darkness, and we, following the direction he had taken, learned shortly afterwards that a beggar had thrown himself into the Mersey fromSt.George’s landing-stage, and had sunk to rise no more.
“His body was never found, and I, having had enough of Mersey-street, moved my quarters, much to the regret of Mr. Moss, for, quoth he, ‘Two of ’em are at Portland, and another at the bottom of the river—so you may call me a Jew if any one troubles you again.’
“But I went; and the office is still without a tenant, and I shudder when I pass through the street at night, and, looking up, see the two black shining windows, like two great eyes watching me, and fancy I can see a shadowy form in rags pressing his face to the glass, and gibbering and bowing at the busy stream of human life which surges to and fro for ever.”
When the narrator had brought his story to a conclusion, there was a dead silence for a brief period. The cardplayers had been so interested that their game had been carried on in a loose, desultory manner, and the whole of Peace’s guests were more or less wonder-struck.
“You know how to enchain your hearers’ attention, sir,” observed our hero.
“What I have been telling you is simply a narrative of facts, and, as I before observed, it proves the truth of the old adage that ‘truth is strange—stranger than fiction;’ but I have to apologise for so rudely interrupting the game.”
“There is no occasion for apologies, sir,” said a Peckham tradesman, who formed one of the party, “for the account you have given is one which, I think, all of us would have been sorry to have missed.”
“I think we shall all of us agree in that,” observed Peace.
“But this is a social evening, and all I desire is to see everyone enjoy themselves.”
“You might vary the entertainment with a little music, Mr. Thompson,” said Bandy-legged Bill. “After this perhaps some other gentleman will tell us another story.”
“I am at your disposal, gentlemen,” returned our hero. “If you desire to hear a little music, so be it; but with your permission I will just put some of my pets through their paces.”
Having made this observation, he opened the door of the room, and whistled to his dogs.
Two docile animals came bounding into the apartment; they skipped about, wagged their tails, and demonstrated the greatest possible affection for their master.
Peace played a tune on his violin, and made them dance on their hind legs, and go through a variety of difficult and diverting feats, to the infinite delight of the assembly.
“You have a wonderful power over the brute creation,” said Mr. Whittock. “Why, you might pull in a lot of money as a public entertainer.”
“It has always been a hobby of mine, sir. I take great delight in teaching those faithful creatures—I say faithful advisedly, for the most fortunate of us will acknowledge that they are more faithful, and I may add less selfish than man.”
It is not very complimentary of you to say so,” observed Mrs. Thompson, who was at this time on her best behaviour.
“You are right, my dear,” returned Peace. “It is not complimentary, but our friends will excuse it. Present company is, of course, excepted.”
At this there was a roar of laughter, after which Peace and Willie Ward played another duet.
To see our hero at this time it would have been impossible for any one to guess that he was anything else than a genial, good-natured, kind-hearted, old gentleman, who took a delight in making everybody happy and comfortable around him.
The old adage, “that appearances are oftentimes deceptive,” was specially applicable in his case, for he would have deceived the Prince of Darkness himself, his power of dissimulation being perfectly marvellous. In the course of conversation he expressed himself in such a gentle unobtrusive way—assumed for the nonce such a moral tone, and reprobated wrong doing so earnestly, and at the same time so naturally, that it would have been impossible for any one who did not know his manner and mode of life, to imagine him to be the hardened, callous, unscrupulous criminal whose nefarious career we have endeavoured to shadow forth.
“Now, gentlemen,” cried Peace, after a pause, “make yourselves at home—do just as you like. Whittock, see to your friends, and help them to all they require. Possibly you know more of their habits than I do.”
“They are very well able to take care of themselves,” said Mr. Whittock. “If they don’t have all they want it’s their own fault.”
One of the personages introduced by Whittock has been already introduced to the reader; the other was a Mr. Corbet, who had been a captain to one of the American steamers.
He was a weather-beaten, self-reliant man, who, albeit mixing with the company, had not as yet spoken a great deal.
His friend, Whittock, however, was anxious to draw him out, for when once Mr. Corbet did let loose the jawing tackle, he went in for a “pelter.”
“This old pirate could spin a few yarns if he chose,” said Whittock, nodding towards the party to whom he was alluding.
“Anyone can see that,” observed one of the company. “Hang it, Jenkins, you’ve trumped my trick,” he added, in a petulant tone, addressing himself to his partner.
“I beg your pardon, I’m sure,” returned Jenkins, apologetically. “How very foolish of me to be sure, I don’t know what I could have been thinking about.”
“Spin us a yarn, Corbet, and stop this wrangling,” cried Whittock.
“I aint up to it,” said the captain. “Besides, my experience is chiefly confined to foreign parts, as people are apt to observe.”
“All the better, sir,” said Peace, “all the more interesting. We lead in this country such a monotonous, hum-drum sort of life that there are positively no incidents worth recording.”
“I don’t know that,” observed Corbet. “None of us can pass through life, I expect, without meeting with some strange adventure, without gaining some experience.”
“Oh, we gain experience without doubt, Corbet,” said Whittock. “It is hardly possible for it to be otherwise.”
“Well,” said Corbet, “as our friend has given you a little of his own experience, I don’t mind following suit. I don’t mean with cards, for that’s not much in my line, but I’ll just give you another narrative of facts.”
“Hear, hear. Fire away, cap’en,” cried Whittock and one or two others. “Anything to keep the game alive.”
“During the milder months of the twelve constituting a year I occupied myself in running a small steamer from Puntsville to B——, carrying the mails, such as they were, freight, and any chance passengers, which, I assure you, were exceedingly scarce.
“These trips were generally of a monotonous character to the crew of the ‘Silver Arrow,’ consisting of the engineer, myself, and an Ethiopian deck-hand.
“Once, however, something extraordinary out of the general routine of rounding points, making fast to the long, straggling, desolate wooden piers of the intermediate landings, or the thousand and one little nothings, peculiar to the voyage, occurred, which came near resulting in my death, besides putting me to serious inconvenience, and in a not very reputable predicament.
“One bright June afternoon the ‘Silver Arrow’ backed from her wharfage at B——, sped gallantly down the sunny channel, lined on either side by rows of carved, lettered, gilt dingy sterns of all nations, and soon, with her bright new paint reflecting in her wake, and her streamers flying, was going down the wide river.
“In high good humour was I, for besides an unusual quantity of freight, three passengers had booked themselves for Puntsville, full fare paid, intending, as they remarked, to participate in a hunting expedition in the game-abounding district of the lower river.
“We had proceeded some twenty miles, darkness was beginning to succeed twilight, when giving the wheel in charge of Dick, the deck-hand, I descended to ascertain if all was in readiness for the passengers in their allotted cabins.
“The ‘Silver Arrow’ was run on stringent bachelor principles, and no charmingfemme de chambreenlivened us by her silvery vocalisation, or by her clever manipulation administered to our comfort.
“After seeing all correct, I went into my own little cabin, and perceiving the mail-bags in the centre of the floor, where I had carelessly thrown them when the post-office messenger had brought them down, I proceeded to place them in a more secure location, when, as I raised the leathern sacks up, the bottom of one gave away, and out in a thick-spreading torrent rolled a mass of letters and packages.
“Dropping on my knees I raked them in, and then examining the bag found that the mischief was occasioned by the receptacle being charged beyond its capacity, the bottom bursting out from the severe pressure of more letters and packages than to my knowledge had ever at any one previous time constituted the Puntsville mail.
“There I was on my knees with an immense pile of mail matters heaped before me; and I was mentally deliberating what to do with the matter, when softly behind me creaked the door, and in a second a strong set of fingers grasped my throat, bending me back to the floor, and the cold, icy muzzle of a pistol pressed fearfully against my temple.
“He who held me thus I recognised as one of the three passengers—a slightly built, extremely muscular, quick-eyed sort of a man. Physically he was a far better man than I, and the position in which he seized me, rendered me perfectly helpless.
“‘Ho, ho! my old bird; robbing the mail, eh? Twenty years in the penitentiary!’ said he, in a low, clear whisper, with a peculiarly triumphant sparkle in his sharp eyes.
“I tried to speak, but his grasp on my throat prevented me; he pressed harder, and continued in the same cautious undertone:
“‘Lie still, my beauty, or out go your thievish cerebrals; however, I’ll let go your throat; but if for a fraction of a second you open your lips, I’ll let daylight into your aged anatomy, my venerable, but ungodly purloiner,’ and he indulged in a moderate laugh at his own quaint style of expression, as keeping his weapon in a straight line with my forehead, he crept toward the door and gently closed it; coming quickly back, he placed the muzzle against my forehead, saying, mockingly—
“‘You are a pretty one to be robbing the President’s mail at your time of life, you virtuous old sinner!’
“‘You infernal villain,’ I broke out, however, not very loudly, because at the first movement of my lips he clapped his hand on my throat, and the revolver pressed harder, and now at half cock, a hair breadth’s space between me and eternity.
“By some great effort, however, I managed to blurt out in spasmodic whispers, that the mail had burst; had not been robbed, as could be proved by inspection, and that I wanted to ascertain by what authority he came the detective over me in so forcible a manner.
“Laughingly he took from his pocket a scrap of written paper, held it out of reach, but near enough to be legible, whereon was stated that so-and-so was commissioned by so-and-so to investigate the cause of the numerous losses that had recently occurred on the Puntsville mail route,&c.
“‘No use palaverin’, my renowned skinflint; you’ve been caught squarely and fairly in the deed, and you’re booked certain for Sing Sing, or some other institution conducted on the same charitable system, and you won’t get out for a period—no, not at least till you get the Presidential pardon.’
“The affair was growing more strangely serious than I had anticipated, and still I lay on the cabin floor with the contents of the mail-bag strewn over and around me, the detective keeping rigid surveillance over my every movement, however slight.
“Leaning forward, with his foot he pushed the door partially ajar, pursed up his moustached lips, whistled a bar of some current popular music, and directly footsteps sounded without, and soon another one of the passengers entered the cabin.
“Exchanging a significant look with my captor, he looked around the room with a quick glance, and coming close to my head, dropped down suddenly on his knees, and almost before I was aware of it, had inserted a gag in my mouth, and there I lay, speechless.
“Without losing any time, they seized me by neck and heels and plunged me, without the least effort, into the bunk. Then a heavy cloth, deeply saturated with chloroform, was thrown over my face, and after that, if you except for an instant a confused sound of rumbling machinery and a rushing of waters, I remember nothing.
“When I regained my senses all the cabin was dark, my brain was confused and obfusticated. I managed to get out of the bunk, looked out the narrow window, and saw that surging black water and heavy, threatening, driving thunder-clouds were the only things visible.
“The waves were rising fearfully, the huge white-capped, black-bodied monsters rushed against the boat’s side with thuds that made every timber rattle; the paddle wheels were idly beating to and fro; the wind shrieked through the chains that held the smokeless stack, and the ‘Silver Arrow’ rocked enough to throw nine out of ten fresh-water sailors off their feet. A hundred thoughts sprang up.
“Why had the boat stopped? Where were the passengers? Passengers! Oh, now the whole series of events occurred to my remembrance. Perhaps the engineer and the negro had suspected foul play and resisted the rascals, and had been disabled if not murdered.
“With fearful misgivings I groped along the passage, reached the engine-room, and, stepping across the sill, fell over a human body. I knew where the lamps usually were kept, and after great difficulty succeeded in getting one alight.
“On the floor, lying on his face, was the engineer, but on examination I could discover no traces of violent treatment. However, the odour of chloroform pervaded the room, and I was persuaded that that forcible agent had been brought to operate upon other systems besides my own.
“The engineer was stupefied by the combined influences of chloroform and whiskey, for the odour of the latter was nauseously prevalent; but whether the liquor had been imbibed from voluntary self-indulgence, or from forcible application, the individual upon whom the potent influence was now in operation was in no condition to inform me, and I had no means of ascertaining the fact.
“Then I went upon deck, examining every nook for signs of my quondam passengers.
“I entered the pilot-house, and there on the bench, with his huge hands on the spokes of the wheel, sat the negro deck-hand, and a cloth swathed about his head of a faint chloroformic odour told how he had been rendered non-combatant.
“The storm was fearfully violent now; the boat seemed to be drifting rapidly, and rocked so that I experienced great difficulty in going below.
“The engineer seemed to be reviving, and a bucket of cold water dashed over him brought him quickly to his senses.
“With his assistance I pumped the boiler full, and started the fire, while he told me how one of the three passengers came in the engine room and threw a cloth over his face, and he remembered no more.
No.71.
Illustration: ETHALWOOD CONDUCTS MONPRESLORD ETHALWOOD CONDUCTS CHEVALIER MONPRES THROUGH THE PICTURE GALLERY OF BROXBRIDGE HALL.
LORD ETHALWOOD CONDUCTS CHEVALIER MONPRES THROUGH THE PICTURE GALLERY OF BROXBRIDGE HALL.
“These facts were somewhat mysterious, but danger was all around us, and no time could be spared for discussion, and necessarily we were compelled to direct all our energies towards saving the boat from wreck and ourselves from destruction.
“Despite our danger, however, I could not help thinking of what had occurred, and suddenly it struck me—the mails.
“Leaving the engineer in charge, I rushed with my lamp to the cabin, and there, strewn about, as before, lay the postal contents.
“I examined them eagerly, and in the heap saw a thick packet directed to the officer of the Puntsville and RocktownR. R. Co., marked on the outside ‘No.5,’ and in small caligraphy in the left-hand corner, ‘6000 dollars.’
“‘No.5!’ And where were the remaining four? I now remembered I had heard that 25,000 dollars worth of endorsed and signed railroad bonds were to be put up for sale in Puntsville.
“There was one package—one-fifth of the total amount—and the other four were stolen! This was what had brought my three gentlemen passengers on a hunting expedition. Yes, for game worth 20,000 dollars, and never a shot fired.
“As I stood in amazement at the daring and cleverness exhibited, and in alarm from the reflection of the responsibility I might incur from the robbery, a huge wave struck the boat, and she almost capsized.
“Hastily collecting the mail contents in the old bag, I shouted to the engineer to turn on all steam, while I ran to the pilot-house and grasped the wheel.
“Slowly the paddles went round, then faster, then the ‘Silver Arrow’ tore through the black waves under a dangerous pressure of steam.
“Hardly had we attained speed ere a great mountain wave struck her amidships, carrying away the larboard paddle-box and the greater portion of the aft bulwarks.
“The boat rocked and plunged, almost stopped, then the wheels crashed through the splintered timbers that had become inserted in the paddles, and again we bore on, until a loud snap echoed through the boat, the wheels stopped, the ‘Silver Arrow,’ caught up by the rushing waters, drifted helplessly.
“The engineer, breathless, came up and said the piston-lever had broken, and still we drifted on—to death.
“Another giant wave struck—three feet of water below, and fast filling—still raged the storm and warred the water.
“Two miles from shore, and the black, ghastly, whitened waves roared over the rocky bar, two hundred yards distant.
“In an instant we were close on it.
“I rushed below, seized the mail bags, and unscrewing the cylinder-head, thrust them in, and closed it up. Then they were in a water-tight compartment, safe and recoverable, even if the luckless ‘Silver Arrow’ went to the bottom.
“As I secured the mails the water was waist high. When I reached deck the waves were beginning to roll over it, and the engineer and negro, whom, it seemed, the terror of the situation had suddenly roused, were launching the remaining boat.
“The starboard boat, I forgot to mention, had been discovered gone when I examined the deck, on recovering from the chloroform’s somnolent effects.
“I shouted to them to save themselves by some other means, as no boat could live in such a storm; and then, grasping the chain stays, hauled myself, hand over hand, to the top of the stack, which had not yet cooled, though the fires had been extinguished twenty minutes, and the spray was continually dashing over and around, causing jets of steam to emanate from every spot it touched on the black cylinder.
“I hung there for life, though it scorched my hands dreadfully; and at last I managed to lash myself fast by a bit of rope, which, providentially, I had found in my pocket. The boat sank no deeper. It had grounded on the bar, and I was temporarily safe.
“Then I looked amid the turmoil of waters for the engineer and his companion. Of them I could see nothing. Half a furlong to leeward tossed the boat, bottom upward. The unfortunate men had gone to the bottom.
“The ‘Silver Arrow’ rocked fearfully, and jarred and shocked me through every limb, as I hung lashed to the smoke-stack.
“I was fast being spent, when, the storm abating, a boat put out from shore, and without detailing the difficulty of getting aboard, suffice it to say that, half dead, I was rescued, and after a couple of day’s recuperation on shore, I got aboard a schooner bound up, and arriving at Puntsville, related what had happened.
“In a few days calm weather returned, the ‘Silver Arrow’ was raised, the mails were secured, intact, and I mentally resolved to give up steam-boating for a lengthy interval, at least, and measures were taken to recover the stolen railroad bonds through the city detectives.
“Finally it was rumoured that the bonds had been recovered from a city firm, who had purchased them two days after they were stolen; that the party who had sold them could not be found, but his arrest was very probable from the descriptive clues which the authorities had received from a member of the victimised firm.
“And now I became involved in a predicament equalling in unpleasantness that of the clinging to the smoke-stack of the sinking ‘Silver Arrow.’
“One day, about a week after the robbery, a gentleman called at the Puntsville Hotel and expressed a wish for a private interview, and when we were alone, produced a warrant for my arrest for mail robbery. Remonstrance was useless.
“He said it was a very unpleasant duty, but the law must be enforced,&c., and as the document was in proper form and legally made out, I could do nothing but accompany him.
“To be brief, I was tried and convicted on the sworn and positive evidence of the senior partner of the firm who had purchased the stolen bonds. He identified me as the man who brought the stolen paper into their office, and to whom he had paid the money for the same.
“In detail his evidence went to the effect that the man had grey mutton-chop whiskers and moustache, brown eyes, red face, and a mole on the left cheek, all of which answered my description exactly.
“In vain my lawyer argued and argued—the evidence was point blank against me, and an alibi could not be proved; for unfortunately the very day on which the bonds had been offered for sale I had gone, starting at sunrise, on a solitary fishing excursion to a little frequented part of the river, and had not met a single person until I came home late at night.
“The trial lasted but one day, and the next I was on my way to the Albany Penitentiary for a term of three years.
“The prison became unusually crowded, and I was compelled to occupy a cell in companionship of another convict.
“We lived together very pleasantly for some weeks, became as intimate as our diverse social station would permit, and in a communicative mood one night my companion related how once on a steamboat he with two other companions had robbed the mail, and after drugging the crew had escaped in a small boat, and he wondered if the old captain was drowned, as he had heard afterwards that the boat had sunk.
“You may know what were my reflections when I heard this, and, to be sure of a witness, I informed the turnkey, and next night he stationed himself immediately outside the door, and in the course of our nightly conversation my fellow-convict repeated his confession, with an addition that he and his two pals had heard that the bonds were to be sent to Puntsville, and had laid their plans as they carried them out; and what was of more immediate consequence to me, how one of them had imitated my appearance, even to the mole upon my cheek, and thus turned the attention of the authorities towards me, and gave them time to get out of the country; and, moreover, that when he succeeded in selling the purloined bonds he had decamped with the proceeds, and had never been heard from.
“He (the prisoner) was incarcerated at the present time for another offence entirely different.
“With the turnkey as my witness I speedily obtained a hearing, and after a series of legal formalities was released from durance vile; and, of course, if I had not then been in comfortable circumstances, very likely I would have instituted an action for false imprisonment, and thereby put sums of money in the pockets of the lawyers and a pittance into my own.
“However, I waived all right to compensation for my injured liberty, having had quite enough of legal experience, and this is what happened to me thirty years ago, when I was a young man.”
“I said Corbet could tell you a tough yarn or two,” remarked Whittock. “Why, Lord bless you, he’d keep you amused the whole evening. He has tales about all sorts of things, and, what is better, they are every one of them true.”
“This one is, that I’ll vow for,” returned the captain, “but I don’t say all I tell are.”
“We don’t ask whether they are true or not,” observed Peace, with a smile. “It is enough for us to know that we are entertained. So long as the hours pass pleasantly away, and we all enjoy ourselves, what more is needed?”
Everybody appeared to coincide in this opinion, and so, after some more music, both vocal and instrumental, one of the guests, who it appeared, had been at one time a station-master in the United States, told the following tale, which we reserve for another chapter.