The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1830-02-03

e M" WI! not dignity by the name
OF courage, and which nothing but the mos
determined villany could supply; then, put
ting ASIDE the muz91e of the weapon. be
sad, with smile of scorn, 81 were. indeed
put dull pupil of SO bright master, did
learn no safer policy from your instruction:
than to put the evidence of your guilt. az
well as my person, in your power"
Scoundrel % thundered the other
:" where is the deed 2"
be assured, in good keeping" said Gil
bert, whence, if | revoke not NV instrnc.
tlons, 1t will be transferred to those. who
Tor their own sakes, will make sucb nse III
1t as VIII scarcely consist with your safety,
And now, my honored father-in-law, call in
year ennetahle. and away with me to nrison
AN il please YOU" f-''o''
The couatenance of Nightshade fell when
ne found hrnself completely in the power
or the man whom he so lately proposed to
crush: He regarded his hopeful son-in-
law, for few seconds, with a fixed and
searching look, and then SAID, in tone
and manner considerably softened, Gibby.
you have done that which | had not ex-
pected iron your years-you have outwitted
me: l am in my dotage, it is plain, or you
had not thus wreathed upon me. But no
matter, forgive you. With regard to that
same halter, which has somewhat superfiu-
ousy om6ellished our conversation, it would
seem that our claims to it are nearly equal ;
let 1t, therefore, instead of tying us up, tie
us together. You are my partner from this
hour. L am growing old; my labors are
heavy, and you have given me convincing
evidence of your ability to share the bur-
then. AS for your wife, if she be the daugh-
ter OF her mother, you will repent your bar
gain ere your honeymoon be on the wane.
The lot was of your own choosing, and you
must make the best of it. Now, 90 to your
office, and let this mornings conversation
be forgotten as speedily as may be-"
FROM that day the circumstance was nev-
er alluded to by either party, and Gilbert
became an active and useful partner of his
late master. There was but one lawyer
besides themselves, in the town, and he,
being an honest one, could not of course,
interfere with their practice. They might
well be termed the friends of the unfortu-
nate. Did any man, installing, in the dark
ness of the night, gentleman's house for
his own, and unwilling to disturb the family,
find his way into it without knocking did
he, entering the fold, relieve the sleeping
shepherd at once of his duty and his charge |;
or, without an act of Parliament to back
him, did he raise loan upon the highway,
and any little personal Inconvenience con-
H ad uno2 dsbbfsaau fsas5a tba him he
was loophole, either in the law or in his
prison, through which he might escape,
Messieurs Nightshade and Ghrmes were
the men, who for consideration, as Trap
bois would have said, were sure to find it
out.
They prospered, indeed, but theirs was
the uncoveted prosperity of the wicked, who
have been truly said to & flourish as a green
bay tree" for it hath poison and bitterness
in its leaves. The career Of Nightshade
was arrested by sudden and short illness,
and the God whom he had abandoned in
his youth, torsook him in his age. Hard
ened and prot1lgate he was, it is true, but
he was not that tabled monster, an infidel;
like the devils, he believed and trembled,
and the aspen conscience was ever restless
in his bosom. To use his own fearful ex-
preston in his parting moments, he felt the
cold grasp of the demon he had worshipped
upon his heart-strings, dragging him down
to that hell which he had purchased by SO
many ruthless deeds and wasted years
The vengeance of Heaven is sometimes
slow, often sudden, but always sure a
truth which received an awful confirmation
in the death scene of this goddess, gracelcss
man.
The death of Nightshade left Gilbert il
undivided possession of the practice and the
secret of the forged deed. Ghrimes con
tinued to take care Of the main chance
that is, to have one hand on his own pocke
and the other or his neighbours. Genius
however, like his could not remain long
without it, reward. 1t at length attracted
the ncsice of twelve honest gentlemen wht
wisely deeming his own country too circum
, scribed a theatre for his talents, kindly pro
vided him with a more extended one and
accordingly, the last passage which | an
enabled TO record in the life of Gilber
Ghrimes was to Botany Bay. By some un
toward accident the forged deed came t,
light, and although the evidence brough
forward upon the occasion was sufficient t
J procure restitution to the injured party on
of Ghrimes's ill gotten wealth, it did not at
( feet his life. He arrived in his adopte,
country bankrupt in every thing but char
acter, which he could not lose, inasmuch a
he happened to be born without one.