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

n written evidence of the forgery now in ex
Q teDce .
o Yes, | did think directly of asking h,
P that says he and she told me she WI
quite certain that there was no written ev
t dence of the forgery, except that ono letter
..Will you give Mr. Davager his price ft
: it i"saysT.
, Yes says Mr.. Frank as quick as light
ming.
Mr.. Frank says I, you came here t
, get my help and advice in this extrcmcl
ticklish business, and you are ready as
} know. without asking, to remunerate me fo
all and any of my services at'the usual pro
fcssional rate, Now, I've made up my min
to act boldly-dcspcrately if you like-o
the hit or miss-win-al-or-lo lose all princpl
in dealing with this matter. Here is N,
proposal I'm going to try ii cant do Mr.
Davager out of his letter. If don't succec,
before tomorrow aftern on, you hand hin
the money, and charge you nothing for pro
fcssional services. II do succeed. han,
you the letter instead Of Mr.. Davager anc
you give me the money, instead Of given it t,
him. It's precious risk for me, but In
ready to run it. You must pay your fv,
hundred any way What do You say to m,
plan Is it, Yes-Mr. Frank-or, NOT
Hang your questions = cries Mr.. Frank
jumping up you know it's Yes, ten thou
sand times over. Only you earn the money
and
And you will be too glad to give it to me
Very good. Now 20 home. Comfort the
youhg lady-don't let Mr.. Davagcr SO much
as set eyes on you--keep quiet-leave every
thing to me-and feel as certain as YOU
please that all the letters in the world can t
stop your being married on Wednesday
With these words hustled him off out of
the Office for wanted to be left alone to
make my mind up about what should do
The first thing, Of course, was to have a
looh at the enemy. | wrote to Mr.. Davager,
telling him that / was privately appointed to
arrange the little business-nutter between
himself and another party (no names y on
friendly terms and begging him to call on
me at his earliest convenience. At the very
beginning Of the case, Mr.. Davager bothered
me. His answer was that it would not be
convenient to him to call till be ween six and
seven in the evening. In this way you see,
he contrivcd to make me lose several precious
hours, at a time when minutes almost were
OF Importance. had nothing for it, but to
he patient, and to give certain instructions,
before Mr.. Davager came, to my boy Tom.
There was never such sharp boy of four
teen before, and there never will be again, as
wager was, Of codrsG;;" tie 'ff5stt fttfr Me- 4a
case of this kind and Tom was the smallest,
quickest, quietest, sharpest, stealthicst little
snake OF chap that ever dogged gentle
mans steps and kept clevery out of range of
genslenan's S eyes. settled it with the boy
that he was not to show at all, when Mr..
Davager came and that he was to wait to
hear me ring the bell when Mr.. Davager left.
Ii rang twice he was to show the gentle
man out. Ii rang once. he was to keep out
OF the way and follow the gentleman where
yer he went, till he got back To the inn.
Those were the only preparations | could
make to begin with being Obliged to wait,
and let myself be guided by what turned up.
About a quarter to seven my gentleman
came. In the profession Of the law we get
somehow quite remarkably mixed up with
ugly people, bhckguard people, and dirty
people: But far away the ugliest and dir
uest blackgutrd | ever saw in my life was
MIR. Alfred Dayager. He had greasy white
hair and II notified face. He was low in the
voice, and weak III tny legs:h bopEse in the
were bloodshot, and one was fixed in his
head He snclt Of spirits, and carried a
toothpck in his mouth. How are you
I've just done dinner, says he-and he lights
"A cigar. sits down with his legs crossed, and
winks at me.
| tried at first to take the measure Of lin
in wheedlng, confidential way; but it was
no good. | asked him in II iacetious smiling
manner, how he had got hold oi the letter
He only told Inc in answer that lie had been
i'll thc coGidentill empl Iyment OF the writer
oi it, and that he had always been famous
since infancy, Tor Il sharp eye to his own in-
tertsts. paid him some compliments; but
lie WAS not to be illttored. | tried to make
him lose his temper but he kept it in spite
OF me. 1t ended in his driving me to my
last r1sOurce-l made an attempt to trighten
hln.
Before we say word about the money
began, let me put case. Mr.. D4vagcr.
The pull you have On Mr.. Francis GatiitIt is,
that you can hinder his marriage on Wed-
nesday Now, suppose | have got magis-
trate's warrant to apprehend you IN my
pocket Suppose have constable to ex-
ecute it in the next room Suppose bring
you up to-mOrrow-the day before the mar
riage-charge you only generally with an
attempt to extort money, and apply for
days remand to complete the case Suppose,
as suspicious stranger, you can't get bail
in this town Suppose-'
'Stopa bit, says Mr.. Dayager; Suppose
| should not be the greenest fool that ever
stood in shoes! Suppose should not carry
the letter about me Suppose should have
given certain envelope to u certain friend of
mine in Il certain place IN this town. Sup
pose the letter should be inside that envelope,
directed to old Gatlifie, side by side with Il
copy of the letter, directed to the editor of
the local paper Suppose my friend should
be instructed to open the envelope, and take
the letters to their right addresses, if don't
appear to claim them from him this evening 7
In short, my dear sir, suppose you were born
yesterday, and suppose wasn't Says Mr.
Davager, and winks at me again.
lie didn t take me by surprise, for | never
expected that he had the letter about him.
| made pretencc of being very much taken
aback, and of being quite ready to give in
We settled our business about delivering the
letter and handing over the money, in no
time. | was to draw out document, which
he was to sign. lie knew the document was
stuff and nonsense just as well rs did and
told me | was only proposing it to swell my
client bill. Sharpas he was, Lie was wrong
there. The document was not to be drawn
out to gain money from Mr.. Frank, but to
gain time from Mr. Davager. 1t served Inc
an excuse to put off the payment of the
five hundred pounds till three clock on the
Tuesday afternoon. The Tuesday morning
Mr.. Duvager said he should devote to his
amusement, and asked me what sights were
to be seen in the neighborhood of the town.
When had told him, he pitched his tooth-
| pick into my grate-yawned-and went out
! | rang the bell once; waited till he had
passed the window and then looked alter
Tom. there was my jewel of boy on the
opposite side of the street. just setting his
top going in the most playful manner posi-
BILE. Mr.. Davager walked away up the street,
towards the market place. Tom whipped his
top up the street towards the market-place
too.
In a quarter Of an hour he came back
with all his evidence collected in a beautifully
clear and compact state. Mr., Davager had
walked to a public-house, just outside the
town, in lane leading to the high road On
bench outside the public-house there sat a
man smoking. He said San right" and
walked back to the inn. In the hall he or
dered hot rum and water. cigars. SINNERS and