The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-11-05 00:00:00

CHAPTER XLII.
TIDINGS.

'Stand not upon the order of your going.
But go at 011C0.-SIIAKESPEAIK.
WHAT is he going to do ?' Horace Gayford said to
himself, as the door closed after Mr. Jarvis. What
evidence has he but his own suspicions? Why does
he accuse me of— Ah ! it won't bear thinking of.
There is no evidence—none—not a shadow of proof to
support such a monstrous charge. Take care, Mr.
Jarvis. I have the whip hand of you, even if you de-
nounce me to the police to-morrow. You shall pay me
a hundredfold for all you lay upon my shoulders.
There is only one thing I must do, and then you may
do your worst,. Is it safe to-night, I wonder? Is the
light sufficient, and not too much? Let me see.'
He rose and went to the window, and looked out
into the grey light; that was sufficient to show him
the different objects in the street pretty plainly and
yet not enoLgh to call attention to anyone passing
casually along. Every time I have tried to go there
I have been !Oiled,' he said, as he let the curtain drop
again; and that it has been accident, lam sure of.
What no one knows, no one can spy into. Once let
me get there and away again unseen, and Mr. Jarvis
may send all Scotland Yard to arrest me, if he likes.
I almost wish he would. I should like to rite what he
would say to the sequel.'
He fortified himself with a glass of brandy, Un-
diluted, and proceeded to attire himself for goinc, out.
The night was cold And dark, but there was
enough to see pre-ty well, and he provided himself
with a small lanthorn tpad some matches, and seemed
to disguise himself somewha6—that is, he put on his
oldest overcoat and a soft hat. Ast ff beaver was
hardly the headgear for a night expedition.
He listened for any sound in the house before, he
went out. There oyes none, for the sinir le reason
that Mrs. Brown was t ossipping with a neighbour,
and her husband was also out. The place was
empty, and Horace Gayford smiled to himself as he
put his boots outside his bed room door and took out
the key.
'They will think I have gone early to bed,' he said
to himself. They never do more than latch the
front door. Nothing
,could be better. If by aey
chance they do discover that I am absent, I can make
some excuse; if they don't they will be ready to swear
that I was not out. Only let ire get bank saf,ly, and
I can defy Jarvis and all his myrmidons. They can do
their worst.'
He made no noise going out. He had always been
very fastidious, and so easily disturbed, in his preach-
ing days, and had made a groat fuss about creaking
doors and noisy locks; and Mrs. Brown had been
loyally anxious to have everythingtoh(irsliking. Her
husband had oiled and attended th
t o ovy lock in e
place, and, from doing it to oblige a good lodger, he
had come to do it on his own ac( ount ; and the
practice stood Horace Gayford in good stead now.
No one heard Mrs. Brown's door open or shut as he
left the hbuse, and he could come back as quietly.
As he stepped out of the el( ep shadow into the
lighter part of the str,set, he came face to face with a
man. He was not quite sure who it was, but he
thought, from the general appearance, that it was the
eccentric person who had been pointed out to him,
but whom he had never encountered till now.
It's that fellow Stone,' he said to himself. lam
sure of it. Can Mrs. Brown's surmise be correct? Is
he a detective? If so, who sends him here, and what
does he want? If he is seeking to find anything out
about me, I will show him that I can be a match for
him. If he comes near me to night, I am afraid I
shall strangle him. Ile had better take care.'
It was Mr. Stone, and he was not interesting him-
self in the proceedings of Mr. Gayf ard in the least. Ile
was on his way to the Ferry-house; he had something
to talk to Barney Grubb about; and the late evening
was a time when the boatman was sure of being un-
interrupted. Mr. Gayford watched him as ha went
slowly down the street, and then took an exactly
opposite direction himself. He was going across the
river, by the way of the bridge, and once out of sight
of the man, whose face he had not yetseen, he walked
briskly enough.