Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1855-02-16

blcK 10 the period OF Il certain transaction
winch her late father was engaged sou
years agoP (ile mods, and cut in on,
more) There is II party who turned Il
r after seeing the announcement of your ma
,, rage in the paper, who is cognisant of VIII;
; he oughtnt to know, and who is prepared /
/ use his knowledge of the same, to the preit
dice OF the young lady and of your marriage
unless he receives II sum of money to auir
him Very well. Now, first OF ALL MI
Frank, state what you have been told by tn
young Lady herself about the transaction c
her latt father. How did you first come t
. have any knowledge of it,
She was talking to me about her fatbe
one day, SO tcndcrly and prettily, that sh
quite excited my interest about him begin
Mr.. Frank; and asked her, among othe
things, what hnd occasioned his death Sh
said she believed it was distress of mind il
the iirst instance; and added that this dis
tress was connected with shocking secret
which she and her mother had kept from
everybody, but which she could not keep from
me, because she was determined to begin he
married life by having no secrets from he,
hus s1and. Here Mr.. Frank began to ge
sentimental again and pulled him up shor
once more with the papcrkniie.
She told me- MIR. Frank went on, that
the great mistake of her fathers life Wi,
his s-lling out of the army and taking to tn,
wine trade lie had no talent for business
things went wrong with him from the first
His clerk, 1t was strongly suspected, chea ted
| him
stop bit, says l. What was that sus.
| pected clerks name .
! 'Dayager. says he.
Davagor,' says |, making q note of it.
! Go on, Mr.. Frank
nj mi aJ
says Mr. Frank he was pressed for money
IN all directions bankruptcy, and conso-
| quent dlshonour Gas he considered t) stared
him in the face. His mind was SO ffected bv
his troubles that both his wife and daughter.
towards the last, considered him to be hardly
responsible for his own acts. In this state of
desperation and misery, he Here Mr..
Frank began to hesitate.
We have two ways in the law, of drawing
evidence of nice and clear from an unwilling
client or witness. We give him a fright or
we treat him to joke. treated Mr.. Frank
to joke.
All :. says |. Il know what he did. He
had signature to write and, by the most
natural mistake in the world, he wrote
another gentloman's name instead of his own
ell . Wv"
very crestGalen, instead Of taking the ,oke
could raise the money, or the greater part of
It, But he was resolved If he sold off every
thing, to get the amount and repay"
OF course +! says |. Drop that The
forgery was discovered. Whcnl'
Before even the first attempt was made to
negotiate the bill. lie had done the whole
thing in the most absurdly and innocently
wrong way The person whose name he had
used was II staunch friend of his. and a rela
tion of his wifes: Il good man as well as a
rich one. lie had influence with the chief
creditor, and he used it nobly He had Il real
affection for the unfortunate mans wife, and
he proved il Scnorouoly.'
Come to the point says l. What did
he do In a business way, what did he do =
lie put the false bill into the fire. drew a
plil OF ms own to replace it, and thcn-only
then-told my dear girl and her mother ali
tl,;n t,iI, .i.,u opened Can you imagine any
can't imagine ANYTHING rreener - saws |.
Where was the father : OF, | suppose =
IN in bed, said Mr.. Frank, colouring
Rnt he mustered strength enough to write
contrite grateful letter the same day, pro-
missing to prove himself worthy of the noble
moderation and forgiveness extended to him.
by selling off everything he possessed to repay
his money debt He did sell Of everything,
down to some old family pictures that were
heirooms down to the little plate he had
down to the very tables and chairs that fur
n!shcd his drawing room. Every larthing of
the debt was paid and he was left to begin
the world again, with the kindcst promises
oi help from the generous man who had for
given him. 1t was too Late His crime o {
one rash moment-Itoned for though it had
bten-preyel upon his mind. He became
possess d with the idea that he had lowered
himself forever in the estimation of his wife
and daughter, and
lie died, | cut in. Yes, yes, we know
that. Let's go back for minute to the con-
tritc and grateful letter that he wrote. My
experience in the law Mr.. Frank, has CON
yincen me that if everybody burnt everybody
else letters, half the Courts Of Justice in this
country might shut up shop. Do you hap
pen to know whether the letter we are now
speaking of contained anything like an
avowal or confession of the forgery =
'Of course it did says he Could the
writer express his contrition properly with
out making some such cunfessioni
Quite easy, if he had been a lawyer
says |. But never mind that I'm going to
make a guess,-a desperate guess, mind.
Should be altogether in error says |, ifI
thought that this letter had been stolen !;
and that the fingers Of Mr.. Davager, of sus-
picious commercial celebrity, might possibly
be the fingers which took it = says I.
That is exactly what | tried to make you
understand cried Mr.. Frank.
do" q. .c 'mmunicatc that interesting
fact to you
-, lie has not vcntured into my presence
The scOundrel actually had the audacity-'
Aha = says |. The young lady herself !
Sharp practitioner, Mr.. Davagcr.'
Early this morning when she was walk
ing alone in the shrubbery,' Mr., Frank goes
ON, he had the assurance to approach her,
and to say that he had been watching his
opportunity OF getting private interview
for days past. lie then showed her-actually
showed her-her unfortunate fathers letter ;
put into her hands another letter directed to
me bowed, and walked off leaving her half
ueaa with astOnishment and terror =
1t was much better for YOU that Won were
not says Have you got that other
letter -
| lie handed it to me. II was so extremely
| humorous and short, that remember every
word of it at this distance of time 1t began
III this way,
"To Francis GatliiTe, ESQ, Jun.-Sir,-I have an
extremely curious autograph letter to sell. The
! price is Five hundred pound note. The Young
lady to whom you are to be married on Wedne sda '
will inform you Of the nature of the letter and the
genuinoness Of the autograph. If you refuse to
deal, | shall send a copy to the local paper and
shall wait on your highly respected father with the
original curiosity, on the afternoon of Tuesday ne
Having come down here on family business I have
put up at the family hotel-being to be heard of at
the Gatlife Arms.
Your very obedient servant,
"ALFRED DAvAGER."
a clever fellow, that says I, putting the
letter into my private drawer.
Clever cries Mr. Frank he ought TO
be horsewhipped within an inch of his life
would have done it myself but she made me
promise, before she told me word of the
matter, to come straight to you
That was one of the wisest promises YOU
ever made, says |. We can't afford tc
bully this fellow, whatever else we NAV dc