CHAPTER XII.
Then this slip of a girl had outwitted him after all, and had hired a lawyer without his knowledge or consent.
“You cannot mean what you say, Helen,” he said presently.
“Every word,” was her short answer.
“Then I shall have to make arrangements to-night. You will have to excuse me.”
While he was saying this, Nathans was ushered into the room as the girl went out by another door.
“I was just wanting you, Nathans. The girl has stepped over the traces, and has asked me to leave here to-morrow, when she becomes of age, and asks for control of her property.”
“Then she dies to-night,” decided the Jew. “You cannot give her any statement or I will be without the money you have borrowed of me. Now is the time to get rid of her.”
“I don’t know how.”
“I do. You send for her, and let me teach you a thing or two.”
As Nellie went out she heard the bell give a long ring, and waited in the hall to see who it might be. Arkwright, the detective, walked in.
“Miss Standish, Miss Helen, wait, I want to speak with you particularly. Is Tom Cooper here?”
Nellie staggered back against the wall.
“He has escaped from the prison, and is being traced toward here. He went as far as the sailor’s boathouse, and then further track of him was lost. Now then, little girl, if he is here tell me, for it will be better for him. I have been working upon his case for a long time; in fact, ever since you became fond of him, and it may be that he will be released. Don’t keep him hidden, Miss Standish.”
“He is not here; honestly he is not,” answered the girl.
“I believe you, child,” replied the detective, “and will say this much: Lately I have had reason to believe that the Jew who keeps the pawnshop in which your lover was arrested is a fraud, and he was the one who lodged a complaint against Cooper. But I cannot buy him over. Now my idea was that you were to listen and hear anything that might be said between your cousin and the Jew which would lead to the discovery of the man who stole the jewels.”
“I shall be too glad,” breathed the girl. “I believe that my lover is suffering for another’s crime. What you can do for me I will gladly pay for.”
“Then help yourself by listening.”
“Oh, won’t you stay here to-night, Mr. Arkwright? I think something is going to happen, and if it does I shall need you.”
“Then I shall stay,” said he, for what man could withstand such eyes and such pleading?
“I shall hide in here, then,” said he, “and ifTom Cooper comes here will you trust me with his future?”
And the girl promised.
It was Biddy’s business to put the family silver away in the vault every night, and this evening Benson could not get her out soon enough.
“Will you hurry, Irish?” said he insultingly, as he and the Jew laughed.
“I am hurrying,” said she, “as fast as I can.”
“And I want to tell you another thing, Biddy,” commanded Benson, “I saw your cousin Jim about here this evening, and if I see him again I shall hand him over to the police.”
The woman started visibly.
“It isn’t my fault that he comes,” said she, shoving one after another of the heavy plates inside. “Here, I will get the rest.”
“No,” replied Benson, “not now; I am in a hurry to finish with Mr. Nathans. You can come in later.”
As the woman went into the dining-room she came upon her cousin.
“Jim,” commenced she, “you’d better not letMr. Benson see you about here, for he said he would give you over to the police if he did.”
“I’d like to see him,” replied the man sneeringly.
“Well, youse know that he can, for he is strong and mighty. Now, for the sake of your mother, straighten up and be a good man.”
“Too much trouble, Biddy,” was the answer.
Then his eyes fell upon the heavy silver upon the table.
“Plated?” asked he, lifting one up.
“No, and you put it down,” commanded Biddy, “your fingers are light enough to even let that heavy dish stick to ’em.”
With this she went out with another load and deposited it near the library, grumbling that a woman was not allowed to do her work in any season at all.
Jim, with a sudden thought, hid in the pantry.
“I’ll get into the safe to-night,” whispered he to himself, “and get even with that cove by lugging away the best of the plates.”
Saying this, he subsided like a thief while waitinguntil the lights were turned out, and then to set about his work.
In the meantime Nellie was listening to the murmured conversation in the library.
The voice of her cousin came clear to the girl’s ear.
“I say we are ruined, and there’s no use sending for her and arguing the matter, and she simply hates me, and you can’t take a girl like her and marry her against her will.”
“I will not listen to such a thing as giving her a statement of her account,” said the Jew.
“We will have to,” said Benson again.
“Another thing,” and by close peeking Nellie could see Nathans lean over toward her cousin to see the effect of his words, “they have gotten onto the fact that there was something crooked about that jewel story which we trumped up against Tom Cooper, and that little minx had all the police force upon the trail. Even Arkwright came to me about it.”
“Then she must die,”said Benson, standing up.
“That’s what I have said,” repeated the Jew.
“But how to manage it,” cried the other; “how to manage it.”
“Send for her,” laughed the Jew, “and I will try again to get her life like I did that time fifteen years ago.”
“Yes, and now Tom Cooper is in jail that is some consolation, and if we could fix her that is all we would want.”
Just then there came a sound, and both men turned.
A girl with flashing eyes stood before them.
Nellie Standish, too brave for her own good, was ready to make a strike for her lover.
“You have confessed your crime, and here goes for calling the police.”
She pressed the electric button, but instantly the Jew had her in his arms and had crushed her into the vault and shut the door upon her. Her stifled cry did not reach the ear of anyone.
“Now,” said Nathans, “there is but one thing left. Go to the top of the house. Get the girl’s jewels, and then burn the house about her ears,and no one will ever discover her loss, but will think that she perished in the flames.”
With trembling steps the men went out together, but they did not see a sly figure watching them. Jim ran into the library and tried to open the vault. He succeeded in pulling the heavy door open and a figure panting for breath dropped out upon the floor.
“Oh, somebody give me breath to breathe,” gasped she. “Please, please.”
The two men were running down the steps making their way to the street when they heard Helen’s voice.
“She is not dead, Benson,” cried Nathans; “come, we will finish her with this,” and he waved a revolver over his head.
But when they turned into the library they came face to face with Tom Cooper.
He wrenched the revolver from the Jew’s hand, but Benson drew another.
“You think that you can save her, fool; you shall both go to the Kingdom Come. Now then——”
But Arkwright was there. He put out his hand and drew the weapon from Benson.
“I am here,” said he quietly.
“Oh, Tom, they tried to kill me,” cried the girl, clinging to her lover, “and I heard them say that they put the jewels in your bundle the night you were arrested.”
“It’s a lie,” growled the Jew.
“A deuced lie,” repeated Benson.
“No, ’taint, mister,” said a voice, and Jim Farren wriggled out from behind a large rack where he had crawled when he saw the white figure fall out upon him. He thought that a ghost was in the house.
“’Taint no lie,” he went on leeringly, “I saw them do it that night, cove, in the pawnshop, and ’cause I knowed you was innocent I helped you to get out.”
“What will you do, Mr. Detective, if I turn State’s evidence?” said the cringing Nathans; “I do not want to go to jail.”
“We have enough evidence without yours, myfine Jew,” said Arkwright, “and you will go where you belong.”
Nellie was languishing in her lover’s arms. She looked into his face and whispered:
“Oh, my sweetheart, think of one year ago to-day; what terrible things have happened since then.”
“I know, beloved, but now that the troubles are past, we will be happy.”
Biddy insisted that she be allowed to return to her boathouse, and after many arguings Nellie consented, only stipulating that she should have the house nicely fixed up and a lot of new boats, and that Biddy should take in no more washing.
“Nellie, darlint,” said Biddy the day she was making ready to leave the mansion home, “would you care if I should take Jim to live with me? He promises to be a good man and will give up drinking and being a tough.”
“I have no objections, Biddy, unless he fills your old days with worry. You tell him that Isaid that if he were a good fellow both Tom and I would help him along.”
There was a quiet marriagebetween a man and a very pretty woman. The minister kissed the charming little bride and wished her many happy years. But Nellie noticed that he looked curiously at the bridegroom’s closely-shaven head. Of course, Tom would not wait for his happiness. He persuaded Nellie that the sooner they were married the better. All that the girl wanted before her marriage was to see the two men who had tried to ruin her life, dealt with according to law and then she consented to get married.
Biddy Roan“LOOK AT ME NOW.”
Biddy Roan“LOOK AT ME NOW.”
Biddy Roan“LOOK AT ME NOW.”
As they were driving home through the cool night air, Nellie was resting in the arms of her lover and husband, and he whispered softly: “Beloved, if it had not been for you, I should still have been in prison. But, thanks to my dear sweetheart, I have her now for a dear little wife.”
Slowly they drove along toward home, and suddenlyHelen looked up with a shudder, which was immediately followed by a smile.
“Tom, dear,” murmured she, “if there ever was a man who deserved a good home and wife, it is you, for all your life you have been shrouded by ‘The Shadows of a Great City.’”
THE END.