Litchfield enquirer., 1858-02-25
LrcHFIELD, THURsDAY, FEBRUARY as, 1858.
the mosacnt the bell clashei out it's warning

|
 note And this oue passenger A slim gen tleman, sty!islly dressed Young, without wh'skers, but with long, fair moastache. which he was fond of 4stroklng with his exqui- sItelygloved thumb and finger. He alighted jauutiy from a first class carriage, smiled ami
 cably on the porter, who touched his cap took
 up his small black portmanteau, gave one hur-
 ricd, anxious glance round, broke into smile
 again, swaggercd slowly down the platform,
 aud pushing through the heavy folding doors,
 emerged into the street. Some swell from
 London come to spend Christmas with his friends said to myself But where can he
 be going at this time in the morning? None
 of the inns Will be open for above an hour
 Without waiting to consider whether it was any business of mine, l pushed through the folding doors after the traveller. He was
 walking slowly across the little square in front Of the station, looking from sde to side, as if not knowing which road to take Suddenly
 dark figure glided ont from behind some pro- Jection, and advanced towards him. I could hear the mnrmnr Of few words. Then the ST 'nger took the hand and they went on ogeth- CT at rapid pace iato the town. All this l saw hy the light of the station lamps. When { the two figures got beyond their influence, and 1 passed out of view in the denser darkness be- yond, impelled by vague feeling of curiosity,
 l drew my coat closer round me, and set off af- ter them at stealthy pace, taking the darker side of the square as l w,nt. 1 had not far to follow. They passed into High street and stopped opposite rumber thirty-uine. A mo- ment more, and they were both inside the honse, and the door was shut another mo- 'ment, asd saw the light shining from Mir. Darke's room in the second floor front. ~ Having no expectation of seeing anything more, l turned back to the office, and there, bending over jovial fire, fell gradually into a doze, in which Mr. Darke, the traveller, uary, black dwarf, and Binks the draper, were all mingled in a fantastic drama, revolving end lessy in my weary brain. What had the tel egraphic message to do with the handsome traveller :? l sleepily kept asking myself, at in- t"rvals of few minutes but without troub- ling myself to find an answer. Suddenly, a new light burst upon me. I started up, thor- oughly awake and, tearing open the despatch book, read over again the first part of the message Lemon6ngers starts by the mail
 tonight" Well, what has that to do w.th the handsome traveller? Why, this dcu't
 the traveller wear pair of tightly fitting lem on-coored gloves and wasn't the outside seam of the first finger of the righthald glove
 burst open This had noticed as he st ok.d
 his moustache. But, even supposing the trav- eller to be the Lemonfngers of the message, what about the black dwarf ? There was no black dwarf He was alone Alone? Y,s; but had be not with him small black 70 t. manteau, of which he seemed to take particu- lar care refusing to let the port so much as take it out of the carriage for him A the ory, ingenious, but improbable I remarked to myself, as put out the gas and drew up the blind, to admit tue struggling day.
 My duty was over at eight o'clock. The London train was about to start as 1 went up the platform on nay way home. Passing group of people standing near carrage-door, l was suddenly startled by deep gruff voice excaiming to some one " We shall be off in half a minute more" II would pick that voice from thousand as Mr. Durke's r ex- claimed under my breath, as glanced quickly round. The group had dispersed. except two persons, man and woman, who We're pre- pairing to take their places ih the train The person whom took for Mr. Darke was a bull Ky maddle-aged man, dressed in good suit of black clothes He had black hair, and thick black eyebrows his whiskers were black. meeting full and bushy under the chin; his face was pale, and marked by the small -pox, and his eyes were black, bold and cunning al- together fierce fellow, whom it would be un- wise to enrage. His companions face could not see, it being concealed by thick veil ]; but judging from her figure, she could not be much above twenty years old. She was we'll but rather conspicuously attrcd having over her silk dress voluminous scarlet shawl, comfort acle looking enough certainly, on Q cold Christ mas morning. But see As l live, she has got on the very pair of lemon-colored gloves that were worn by the young dandy who arri- we'd by the night-mail the same pair of gloves without doubt, having the outside seam of the first finger of the right haud little torn. There, too, is the identical little black port nlantean, carefully carried, this time by Mir. 1 Darke himself. What can it all mean
 Under ordinary circumstances l should at 1 once have gone to bed and slept, till two or three o'clock in the afternoon but on Christ | rnas-day, such proceeding was not to be | thought of So, having breakfasted, put on | my Sunday shit, and left home with the inten- tion of taking long stroll into the country Before setting out, weut to the station to | see if could not induce certain friend to ac- company me when whom should 1 meet on the platform but Mr. Choop. the chief con- stable of Ncwstone.
 Mir Choop is small, wiry, active-looking man, with a sauntering and negligent air, as if | he were in want of something to do Mir l Cboop has a smiling open .conntenance he wears his hat very much ut tlle back of his head, and generally displays an ample amour, of shirt bosom seeming, in his quiet way, to | invite the confidence of every one. But, tell him something that interests him; excite him bring him out of the passive into the active 1 mood, and you will see his eyes b. cone keen ait, piercing, his features sharpen, aud his teeth l giisten. He looks at such moment as dan | gerous and full of mischief as tiger-cat 1 erouchins for spring. Mr. Choop is dis