CHAPTER XLII.THE SECOND TRIAL.
The broken bars to the window of the jail had been repaired, and Paul was in his old quarters, to which a part of the furniture carried there before from the Ralston House had been returned. Tom did not show so much anxiety to fit up the room as he had done, nor was he as often there during the short time which elapsed between Paul’s surrender and his trial. His negligence, however, was in a measure made up by Sherry, who regularly every morning trotted through the town to the jail, giving first a loud bark as a greeting and then scratching on the door for admittance, and when that was refused lying down under the window from which Paul occasionally spoke to him. At noon he would go home for his dinner, play a little while with Beauty, the pug, whom Paul had bought in the early summer,—then going to Mrs. Ralston, who was now ill in bed with dread and apprehension, he would look at her with beseeching eyes, as if asking what had happened to take his master away and lick the hand with which she patted his head. This done he would trot back to the jail, bark to let Paul know he was there and stretch himself again under the window, growling if any one came near, as many did come, from curiosity to see the animal growing nearly as famous as Paul himself. At night he went homeand staid there, but was back in the morning. Stevens tried two or three times to feed him and save him his long walks, but Sherry disdained the offered fare, preferring the exercise, which was not prolonged for any length of time.
The court was to be in session very soon after Paul’s return to prison, and, if the excitement was great before, it was greater now, with a desire to see again the man who had voluntarily given himself up, and to see Elithe, whose part in his escape had become known and was commented upon differently by different people. Some called her bold,—some plucky,—some that she did it to atone for her damaging testimony, and others that she was in love with Paul, and this had influenced her actions. Through whatever lens she was looked at, she was an object of great interest, and the people were eager to know if she would tell exactly the same story as before, and if Miss Hansford would treat them to a circus similar to the one at the first trial. Neither she nor Elithe shrank from meeting people, and the latter was quite ready to talk of Paul’s escape, keeping her own part in it in the background as much as possible, and dwelling upon Tom’s bravery and devotion. She was doing all she could for him by way of enlisting public opinion in his behalf. He tried to be cheerful and natural, but sometimes failed utterly, and there was a look on his face different from anything seen there before Paul’s second arrest.
“I ain’t going back on my word. I couldn’t, if I wanted to, with you and Miss Hansford both knowing it,” he said to Elithe; “but you can’t guess how homesick I am when I look round on the places I like so well and think how soon I’ll be shut away from them all.”
It was Elithe’s mission to comfort him just as he hadcomforted and encouraged Paul. The court would be very lenient, she said, and, possibly, take no action at all.
“I don’t know. I’ve been so cowardly mean that I ought to have a few years, any way,” Tom would say, wishing the time would come, and when it did, feeling tempted to drown himself and leave the clearing up to Miss Hansford and Elithe. “I could make my confession and leave it in my room,” he thought, as he busied himself with his usual duties before starting for the Court House.
It was a lovely November morning, warm and bright, with the Indian summer brightness, and as he looked out upon the water, smooth as glass, with white sails here and there and a big steamer passing in the distance, he changed his mind with regard to the confession and drowning.
“No, by jing!” he said; “this world’s too good to leave that way. A few years will soon pass and I know the Ralstons will take me back. I’ll face it. Hello, Sherry! you here? Why ain’t you at the jail?” he continued, as the dog came bounding towards him.
Contrary to his custom, Sherry had not started on his usual walk that morning. Possibly, his instinct told him there was something amiss with Tom, who had some difficulty in shaking him off while he harnessed the horses, which were to take the judge to the Court House. Mrs. Ralston was too ill to go.
“Tell Paul I shall pray for him every moment,” she said to her husband when he left her.
Neither of them now had any hope of an acquittal, and the judge’s face was very sad when he reached the jail, where Paul was waiting for him, dressed in the suit he had worn at the first trial.
“I want you to do me a favor,” Tom said, undoing abundle he had brought with him. “Wear this coat to-day and vest and trousers. I have a reason for it.”
They were the same Paul had worn on the Sunday when Jack was killed, and, at first, he demurred, as he had an aversion to them. But Tom was so persistent that he yielded, noticing that Tom was wearing the coat he had given him that day and thinking, as they stood together for a moment, how much their clothes were alike in color and fit. He had no idea what Tom meant and wondered why he seemed so excited and unlike himself. He forgot it, however, when he was again in the court room, facing as dense a crowd as had been there nearly two months before. Sherry, who had come with the carriage, was with him, lying at his feet, wagging his tail as if he knew the aspect of matters was changed. Miss Hansford was in her place, straight and prim and even smiling, as she nodded to some of her acquaintances. Elithe was without her veil, with a brightness in her eyes amounting almost to gladness as she sat unmoved by the gaze of the multitude. Paul saw how unconcerned she seemed and marvelled at it just as he had at her changed manner ever since he told her of his fixed intention to give himself up. Didn’t she care, or had she become callous to the proceedings? He felt callous himself and wished it were over and he knew the worst. He would know it soon, and he stood up very readily to plead, “Not guilty!”
There was a new jury and the evidence had to be repeated as far as practicable. Some of the former witnesses could not be found, and those who were said as little as possible and were soon dismissed. Then Miss Hansford was called, and the interest began to increase, but soon flagged, as, without any flings at the prosecuting attorney,or going back to Paul’s boyhood, she told very rapidly all she knew of the matter and then sat down.
Elithe came next, her face flushed and her eyes shining like stars as she took the oath. She was first questioned about the escape, and told the story unhesitatingly, leaving herself out as much as possible and putting Tom to the front. Some thought she brought him in unnecessarily often and volunteered too much information with regard to his fidelity to Paul. They did not know she was working for Tom, who heard her with an occasional thought of the ocean not far away, and how easily it would be to bury himself in it. When Elithe began to speak of the Sunday night when the shooting occurred, there was no hesitancy in her manner and her voice was clear and distinct as she told what shethoughtshe saw. She laid great stress on the rustling sound in the bushes and the firing low of the man shethoughtwas Mr. Ralston.
“Aren’t yousurehe was Mr. Ralston?” she was asked.
“I thought so then,” she replied.
“Do you think so now?” was the next question.
“I do not,” she answered, while a thrill of excitement ran through the room, and Paul started from his seat.
Thinking something was amiss, Sherry got up, licked Paul’s hands, shook his sides and lay down again, while the proceedings continued.
It was useless to question Elithe as to her meaning.
“You will know later,” she said, and was dismissed without cross-questioning.
Tom had said to the leading lawyer for the defense, “Don’t ask any questions of anybody. I know something which will knock all they can say into a cocked hat. The man has been found, and when I am on the stand I shall tell who he was. Get me there as quick as you can.”
This communication had circulated rapidly among the lawyers for the defense, who were as anxious for Tom to be sworn as he was himself. Matters had been hurried so fast and with so short a recess that there would be just time for Tom before the day’s session closed, and, when the prosecution was ended, he was called at once. There was a last look at the ocean, with a wonder how deep it was near the shore where the waves were tumbling in. Then he walked forward and stood before the people, a fine specimen of young manhood and as popular in a way as Paul himself. Everybody liked him, even those he had sworn at for maligning Paul, and they were wondering what he had to say. Sherry gave a little bark of welcome, and, getting upon his feet, stood watching Tom, who was very white around his mouth as he went through the preliminaries. Then, clenching his hands tightly together and drawing a long breath, he began:
“You needn’t question me. I am going to tell it right along as it is. I shot Jack Percy! though, God knows, I did not mean to do it. I did not know he was within a mile of me. I thought I was firing at a rabbit, which I saw running through the bushes. You remember Miss Elithe heard the same noise and said I fired low. I was wearing this coat I have on. It’s the one Mr. Paul wore that morning at the hotel when he was knocked down. He got a stain of tobacco juice on it,—here it is; you can see it, if you like,—and he gave it to me when he got home and put on another the same make and almost the same color. He has it on now. I wore the hat he had given me the week before. Here it is,” and he held up his hat, which he had kept in his hand.
No one stirred as he took from his pocket another hat,which he straightened into shape and held by the side of his own.
“This is the one he wore,” he said. “They are alike, and we are alike in height and figure. It is not strange that, having seen him not long before, Miss Elithe should make a mistake. I wonder none of you smart fellers ever thought of that. Look at him.”
He was pointing towards Paul, who had risen to his feet, as had every one in the house. For a few moments there was the greatest confusion and the judge tried in vain to be heard. Everybody talked at once. Tom crossed over to Paul, put the crushed hat on his head, the other on his own, and stood beside him to emphasize the resemblance. Miss Hansford gesticulated frantically, while Sherry barked to show his appreciation of what was going on. Only Elithe sat still, too happy to speak or move.
Order was at last restored. The people resumed their seats and, amid a silence so profound that the dropping of a pin might almost have been heard, Tom told his story, leaving no doubt in the mind of any one that he was telling the truth. His cowardice, which increased as matters grew more complicated, was dwelt upon at length. The particulars of Paul’s escape narrated; his vow on the Bible to give himself up if Paul were convicted; his telling Elithe what he meant to do, and his sorrow that he had not done it in the first instance.
When his story was finished Miss Hansford’s “Glory to God” was lost amid the deafening hurrahs for Tom. With an imperative gesture of both hands he stopped the din and said, “Paul Ralston is innocent. I am the man, so help me Heaven; but I had no intention to kill. I am an infernal sneak and coward and liar,—that’s all,—and enough,too. Arrest me as soon as you please. Handcuff me, if you want to. I deserve it and more.”
“Never, never! we protest,” came like a hoarse roar from a hundred throats, mingled with a savage growl from Sherry, who had gone over to Tom, by whom he stood protestingly, as if knowing he was the one now needing sympathy.
With the “Never! we protest,” a movement was made to close around Tom and screen him from harm, had any been intended. But there was none. He was as free to leave the house as Paul was himself, after a form was gone through by judge and jury, and a verdict of “Not guilty!” returned. Then for a time pandemonium reigned. Had there been a cry of fire the confusion could not have been greater, as those in the rear of the building struggled to get to the front, while those in the front kept them back. They did not trample each other down, but they crowded the aisles until it was impossible to move, and walked over the seats in their eager haste to get to Paul and Tom, whose hands were grasped and shaken until Tom put his behind him, but stood erect, with Sherry beside him. When the “Not guilty!” was pronounced Judge Ralston got up slowly, groping as if he could not see, and saying to those beside him, “Lead me to the door.”
They thought he meant to say, “Lead me to Paul,” and started that way.
“No, no; to the door,” he said. “His mother must know it at once!”
They took him to the door, where some men and boys were standing, who had not been able to get into the house.
“Somebody,—who can drive—my horses—go as fast as they can—and tell Mrs. Ralston Paul is free!” he said.
In an instant a great scramble ensued among the boys,each contending for the honor of driving the spirited blacks. Max Allen had heard the request, and so had the prosecuting attorney, and both entered the carriage together, with a feeling that they had a right to carry the good tidings to the mother, whose every breath that long day had been a prayer for her son, and for strength to bear the worst if it came. With an exclamation of delight, the housemaid, who first received the news, rushed to her mistress’ room.
“Joy, joy! He’s free! He will be home to-night!” she cried, with the result that Mrs. Ralston fainted.
Meanwhile, at the Court House, the wildest excitement still prevailed. Paul was congratulated and shaken up and whirled round until he nearly lost his senses. A few of his young friends from Boston, who, unknown to him, had come from the city that morning, fought their way till they reached him, and, taking him up, carried him into the open air, which he sadly needed.
“We mean to carry you home if you will let us,” they said, keeping their arms around him.
“No, boys, don’t. Please put me down. Kindness and happiness sometimes kill, you know. Where’s father?” Paul said.
They put him down and brought the judge to him, turning their heads away from the meeting between the father and son. Paul was the more composed of the two because the more benumbed and bewildered.
“Paul, Paul,—my little boy. I’m glad to get you back. You’ve been away so long, and your mother is ill,” the judge said, talking as if Paul were a child again just coming home after a long absence.
It was growing dark as the people surged out from thecourt house, judge and jury, lawyers and witnesses, leaving Tom alone with Sherry.
“What amIto do? Arn’t previously you going to arrest me?” he called after them, and some one answered back: “Not by a jug full! Come along with us.”
Not at all certain as to what might happen to him, Tom went out and joined Paul, whom many hands were helping into the carriage, which had returned. Everybody wanted to do something for him, and when there was nothing they could do they sent up a shout which made the horses rear upon their hind feet and then plunge forward down the avenue, followed by cheer after cheer, in which Sherry’s bark could be plainly heard as he dashed after the horses, jumping first at their heads, then at Tom, who was driving them, and then at the window from which Paul was leaning to catch sight of the familiar places they were passing and the landmarks which told him he was near home and his mother. No one was present when Mrs. Ralston received her boy as if he had come back to her from the dead, crying over him until too much exhausted to speak or move.
Judge Ralston would have liked to have that evening in quiet with his wife and son, but the people did not will it so. They had done great injustice to Paul, and they could not wait before trying to make some amends. All the available material for a celebration in Oak City and Still Haven was collected;—bonfires were kindled in different parts of the island. The Ralston House was ablaze with light, from the Smuggler’s room in the basement to the look-out on the roof, from which rockets and Roman candles went hissing into the sky, and were seen on the mainland and by fishing boats far out to sea. Tom had but little to do with it all.
“I can’t,” he said. “I’m tuckered out, and feel as if the sand was all taken from me. Go ahead and let me rest.”
They left him to himself, sitting on a box near the stable and looking on, while Max Allen and Seth Walker superintended the fireworks and attended to things generally. Paul was with his mother holding her hand and occasionally kissing her in response to some look in her eyes. No one intruded upon them that night, but the next day hundreds came to congratulate Paul and say a kind word to Tom, assuring him that not a word had been suggested of an arrest, or anything like it.
“We’ve had enough such work to stand us a lifetime, and we don’t want any more,” they said, while Max declared he should resign his office before he would touch Tom.
That day Mrs. Ralston received a short letter from Clarice, who was in New York with her mother and expected to sail for Liverpool the following day. The family, who had occupied their house during the summer, wished to rent it for a year or more, she wrote, and she had decided to go abroad, as both her mother and herself needed an entire change after the sad and exciting scenes through which they had passed. They were to stop a short time in England as guests of Mr. Fenner,—then cross to the Continent and spend the winter in Rome or Naples.
“I have heard of Paul’s giving himself up,” she wrote in conclusion. “It was wise, perhaps, to do so, and I am sure they will be more lenient on account of it. I am so sorry for him. Please tell him so. The past seems to me like a dreadful dream from which I am not yet fully awake. With love,
CLARICE.”
CLARICE.”
CLARICE.”
CLARICE.”
Mrs. Ralston handed this letter to Paul, who read it with scarcely any emotion except to smile when she spoke of visiting Mr. Fenner. Incidentally he had heard that the old earl and young earl were dead and only Ralph’s bachelorbrother stood between him and the title. He was an invalid, and who could tell what possibilities were in store for Clarice? “Lady Fenner would not sound badly, and she would fill the bill well,” Paul thought, as he passed the letter back to his mother. It was all over between him and Clarice. He had known that for some time, and could think of her now without a pang, except as the heart always responds with a quick throb to the memory of one loved and lost.
That day was a hard one for Paul, but, exhilarated with his freedom and innocence proved, he kept up bravely, seeing all who called and declaring himself perfectly well. The next day, however, the reaction came. Nature was clamoring for pay, and she took it with interest, reducing Paul so low that for weeks he never left his room, and when he began to recover, his physician recommended that he be taken away from a place where he had suffered so much. Boston was not to be thought of. He must go farther than that, and about the middle of January the Ralston House was closed, and the family started for Southern California. Tom went with them as Paul’s attendant, and as he stepped on board the boat he looked anxiously round, thinking to himself, “If I am to be arrested it will be now when they know I am leaving.”
But he was not arrested then or ever. People had said they supposed something ought to be done, but no one was willing to do it. They were tired out with the excitement they had gone through, and were not disposed to have another, which could only end in Tom’s acquittal. It was an accident anyway, and no blame could attach to Tom, except allowing the guilt to fall upon Paul. If the Ralstons could forgive him, they could. The Ralstons had forgivenhim, and thought more of him than ever, so they let the matter drop.
“Hanging by the ears,” Tom said, feeling always a little uncertain as to what might befall him yet.
But when the boat moved from the shore and no effort was made to detain him he gave his fears to the winds and felt that he was safe.