The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1864-04-29

Mt the cmlicst; and the next morning,
my esteemed friend informed me, he
would leave the place, probably for
ever. An hour after this interesting
conversation, /, accompanied by the
chief of the Birmingham police, was
closeted with the landlord of the hotel
in New street, highly respectable per-
son, who promised us every assistance
in hispowcr Sir Charles Malvern had,
we found, engaged q private room for
the transaction Of important business
with some persons he expected in the
morning, and our plans were soon fully
matured or agreed upon
slept little that night, and immedi-
ately after breakfast hastened with my
Birmingham colleague to the hotel
The apartment assigned for SirCharles
Malvern's use had been bedroom,
and large wardrobe, with a high
wing at each end, still remained in it.
We tried il it would hold rs, and with
very little stopping and squeezing,
found it would do very well The land
lord soon gave us the signal to be on
the alert, and in we iammed ourselves,
locking the wing doors on th inside.
4 minute or two afterwards Sir Charles
and Mr.. and Mrs Williams entered
and, paper, pens and ink having been
( brought, business commenced in right
earnest. Their conversation it is need
/ less to detail. It Will suffice to say
that it was manifest Sir Charles, by a
/ heavy bride, had induced the accoHch-
eur and his wife to conceal the birth OF
the male child, which, as / suspected,
was that which Williams and his
spouse were bringing up rs their own.
| must do the fictitious baronet the
Justice to say that he had from the first
the utmost anxiety that no harm
should befall the infant Mr. Malvern
nervous dread lest his confederates
should be questioned had induced
( their hurried departure from Chester
and it now appeared that he had be-
come aware Of the suspicious enter
tanned by Mr. Ropton, and could not
rest till the Wilhamses and the child
were safe out of the country it was
now insisted, by the woman more es-
( specially, that the agreement for the
large annual payment to be made by
Sir Charles should be fairly written out
and signed in plain black and white,
I to use Mrs Williams's expression, in
order that no future misunderstand-
! ings might arise. This Mr.. Malvern
strongly objected to; but finding the
woman would accept Of no other terms,
he sullenly complied, and at the same
time reiterated, that if any harm
should befall the boy-to whom he IN
tended, he said, to leave a handsome
fortune-he would cease regardless of
consequences to himself, to pay the
+ Wiliamses q single shilling
A silence Of several minutes followed,
broken only by the scratching of the
pen on the paper The time to me
seem. d IN age. squeezed, crooked, sti-
fled as / was in that narrow box, and
SO l afterwards learned it did to my
fellow-sufferer Atlength Mr. Malvern
said, in the same cautious whisper in
which they had all hitherto spoken,
This viii do, think, and rcad what
[ had written. 8lr. and Mrs Williams
signihed their approval; and as mat
ters were now fully ripe, l gently turn
ed the key, and very softly pushed
open the door The backs OF the ami
able trio were towards me, and as my
boots were of, and the apartment was
thickly calpeted, / approached upper
ceived, and to the inexpressible horror
and establishment of the parties con
cerncd, whose heads were bent eagerly
over the important document, hand,
which belonged to neither of them, was
thrust silently but swiftly forward, and
grasped the precious instrument. A
fierce exclamation from Mr.. Malvern,
rs he started from his seat, and a con-
vulsive scream from Mrs Williams as
she fell back in hers, followed; and to
, add to the animation of the tableauX,
my friend in the opposite wing emerged
, at the same moment from his hiding
5 place,
Mr.. Malvern comprehonded at a
glance the situation of affairs, and
made a furious dash at the paper
was quicker rs well as stronger than he,
and he failed in his object Resistance
Z was of course out of the question; and
, in less than two hours we We're speed
ing on the rail towards London, nc
8 companied by the child, whom we i'll
trusted to Williams servant maid.
Mr. Repton was still in town, and
5 Mrs Ashton, Lady Redwood, and her
= unmarried sister, in their impotence
Of intelligence, had arrived several
days before. had the pleasure of ac-
= companying Mrs. Repton with the
, child and his temporary nurse to Os-
borne's Hotel in the Adelphi; and
really at first feared for the excited
mothers reason, or that she would dc
the infant IA mischief, SO tumultuous,
SO frenzed was her rapturous JOY AT
, the recoyeryof herlost treasure. When
e placed in the cot beside the female in
FAINT, the resemblance of the one to the
other was certainly almost perfect.
: never saw before nor since so complete
a likeness. This was enough for the
mother; but fortunately we had much
more satisfactory evidence, legally
, viewed, to establish the identity of the
! child in court OF law, should the ne
cessity arise for doing SO.