, 1862-11-13
The Mysterious Robberies.

hesitating manner, and an old, wrinkled, grey
headed man, poorly and shabbily dressed, shut
fed in, and throwing the glance Of what was
still Q keen, restless, suspicious black eye over
my person, said in . subdued and what sounded
like humble tone, that he had called to see
Mr.. George Larkn.
"That is my name, sirl" returned / "pray,
step forward and take q seat"
The old man seemed to hesitate q moment,
eyed me sharply, glanced warily about the apart.
ment and then observed as he walked forward
and sat down near me: 81 hope we are alone,
Mr.. Larkin, for my business concerns only our
two selves"
ave are quite alone, sir, as you see."
"But sometimes, | am told" he continued,
hesitatinglY, these kind Of places-l beg your
pardon mean no offense to you-sometimes,
| say, am told, these places are cOntriVed for
secret listeners"
"But have assured you, sir" replied rather
coldly, "that we are alone here, and if you doubt
my word, perhaps you had better carry your
secret, whatever it is, away with you"
"Well, well, he rejOined, somewhat hastily,
"never mind-I will take your word-I will
trust you. And have good authority for doing
so, toe" be added, partly sOliloquzing and partly
addressing me. "You see, Mr.. Larkin, as there
is to be confidence between Us it is no more than
fair to tell you that have been to q magistrate,
asking for trusty and secret police agent Of su-
pc ior cunning and intelligence, and that Mr..
George Larkin was named as the individual on
whom could rely in every particular"
81 am much obliged to the magistrate, who
ever he is, for his good opinion and recommenda-
tion," answered with q slight bow. And
now, sir, IL you are satisfied, am prepared to
hear your communication"
Again the old man hesitated and eyed me
kaa nd bok . hail a
Of what he was about To dvulge; but at last,
as Il pressed by necessity, he seemed to put his
scruples aside and said I" Mr.. Larkin, l am an
old man, as you see, and perhaps . rather &c.
centric one, as you may discover. Old as I am,
am alone in the world, having neither wife nor
child, and only some d 'tant relations, who do
not care for me, nor for them. Poor as look,
and as everybody believes me-" Qhere be glanced
his keen eyes suspiciously around him, leaned
forward and whispered In my ear) haye gold
much gold-gold enough tO-tO-. Well,
no matter"
looked at the old man as he paused, and
said, while debating IN my own mind xhethsr he
was sane or q monomaniac, /" Well, sir, what has
this gold to do with met"
LET me confess to you" he pursued, "since
have resolved to trust you, what have never
told to mortal ear, that love gold-adore gold
and that am what the world, II Il knew,
would call q miser."
"Then you are to be pitied, said !.
He fastened upon me q strange, startled, search.
ing look, as Il he doubted the sincerity Of my
words, the sentiment Of which was beyond his
comprehension, Il being impossible for him to
understand how miser-a man having actual
heaps Of gold-cOuld be in any degree . subject
Of pity.
GYes," he resumed at length, III never saw
ann hnn,a, hatn0 Nbak llrad az yvall f,,voalf.
but gold, silver money, the coin Of the realm, Of
all realms like It better"
"Wen," returned !, now nearly convinced
that the old man was not in his right mind, al
do not see what this has to do with me-"
"Ay, ay, I am coming to that, Mr.. Larkin-I
am coming to that You see, being alone in the
world, and loving nothing but my gold, natu.
rally live alone with my gold. Years ago-a
great many years ago, you see-I bought an old.
tumble-doWn house on the outskirts, Heavcnsl
what price l had to pay for it, tooi-two hun
dred pounds, Mr.. enthusiastically two hundred
pounds, sir-for that house and bit of land
and all in hard gold, too l-Ah. mel Well, as !
was saying, bought the house, and then went
to work myself and with my own hands, that l
might not pay out any more money and have
anybody know my secret, constructed safe
q fire proof safs-and then had an iron door
made for ii, with bank-lock that no one could
open without the key and secret Of him who bad
locked It This done, l sold all the property
which had inherited, converted II into gold
put the gold in leather bags, (anotheF expensive
luxury y and secretly deposited them in my safe
Since then have dressed like beggar, and
lived alone with my gold, the sight Of which has
given me hours Of rapture, and the jingle Of
which has filled my ears with delight which
cannot express. Well, sir-well, sir" continued
Il 4 - Nk.N
have come 10 the pSinful business which has
brought me here All, me-! ah, me I wonder
il has not driven me mad For years. Mr.. Larkn
for years, sir, lived alone with my gold, and
kept my own secret, and nobody found me out;
but Of late, sir, (heaven be mercifulD ! have
been robbed-robbed, sir-of my gold-of my
gold, Mr.. Larkin"
Then ! suppose you are now q poor man ?"
said J. How was your house broken into 7
Give me the most minute particulars-for it is
often bv the merest trifes that we detectives are
able to get the clue that leads to the greatest re-
suits"
"Ah there 1t is, sir-there is the mystery 7"
groaned the old man. "You are mistaken, Mr.
man, or that my house has been broken into at
all, so far as can discover. No, sir-nol The
money has been taken-several times-a bag at
q time-and yet nothing has been disturbed.
Ny doors and windows, which | have always
bolted as well as locked, I have never found un-
bolted or unlocked, which must have been the
case II any one had come in that way. And
then my safe is always found just as leave 1t,
and the key fastened to my body by the iron
chain. The first bag Of god missed, (oh
heaven be mercifulD was about two months ago,
and could not believe It was gone TN bad
counted the remaining bags over and over, per-
haps fly times. Then tried to believe | had
tAken it out myself and mislaid IT, and spent
twodays in searching the whole hodse-eyery
nook and cranny-every likely aud unlikely
place. We'll, sir, aweek went along, and another
bag was missing Horrible nysteryI Since