Litchfield enquirer., 1872-01-25

ssSo are most people that do business with our establishment" responded the. impertnrbalole official, as he shut and fastened the door, eHere IS my card. sir, he added, addressing the attorney, who now came up. 'tYou see where to find the lady, if her friends wish to give bail to the sheriff, or, what is always more satisfactory, pay the debtand costs. He then jumped on the box, his follower got up behind and aSsay drove the coach, leaving the discomiited major and his iie- " better half in state of the blankest bewilderment!
 "Why, what 5s the meaning of this ?" at length gasped Mrs. Brandon, fercely addressing the attorney, as if he were a particeps crinaiais in the affair.
 '"The meaning, my dear madame, is, that Miss Clara Brandon Is arrested for debt, and carried off to sponging- house; and unless you pay the money, or file bail, she will tomorrow be lodged in jail" '" re- piled the unmoved man of law.
 Bail money! How are we to do ei ther in London, away from home ?" de- manled the major with, for him, much emotion.
 I did not wait to hear more, but, almost suffocated with laughter at the success of Ferret's audacious rsse, hastened over to the Temple. I was just leaving chambers for the 11ight-about ten o'clock think it must have been-when Ferret, in exuber- ant spirits, burst into the room.
 ssWel, sir, what do you think saoa0 of writ ad su6?"
 ''Why, think, Mir. Ferret" replied I, looking as serious as could, 'that yours is very sharp practice; that the purpose 1 | o1~ oR |. that the arrest is consequentlyillega and that judge would, upon motion, quash it with costs" Let him, and welcome In the meantime, all the judges or chancellors that ever wore horsehair, and that everlasting sim pleton of major and his harridan wife roaming the metropolis like distracted creatures; and that | take to be the real kernel of the thing, whatever the bigwigs may decide about the shells P
 ''I suppose the plaintiffsoon discharged her debtor. out of custody?"
 ''Without loss of time, you may be sure. Miss Brandon, may tell you, is with the Rev. MT. Derwent at Brompton. You know him; the newly married curate of St. Margaret's that was examined in that will case. We'll for him: he is an intelli- gent, high- -principled man; and have no doubt that, under his and Mrs. Derwent' s care, all trace of Miss Brandon's mental infirmity will disappear long before she attains her majority next June twelve month; whilst the liberal sum per month which Lady Compton will advance, will be of great service to him."
 ''That appears all very good. But are you sure you can effectually conceal the place of her retreat?' p
 ''1 have no feear; the twigs that will en- tangle her precious guardians in the lab yrinths of a false clue are already set and lined. Before tomorrow night they will have discovered, by means of their own wonderfully penetrative sagacity, that Clara has been spirited over to France: and before three months are past, the same surprising intelligence will rejoice in the discovery that she expired in a nadisOn de sdate-fine comfortable repose, in which fools paradise I hope to have the honor of awakening them about next June twelvemonth, and not as at present advised beforer
 Everything fortunately turned out as MT. Ferret anticipated; and when q few months had glided by, Clara Brandon was a memory only, save of course to the few entrusted with the secret.
 The whirhgig of time continued as ever to speed on its course, and bring round in due season its destined revenges. The health, mental and bodily, of Miss Bran don rapidly improved under the kind and judicious treatment of MT. and Mrs. Der went; and, long before the attainment of her majority, were pronounced by com potent authority to be thoroughly re-es- tablished. The day following that which completed her twenty-first year, Mr. Fer ret, armed with the necessary authority, had the pleasure of announcing to the rel jet of Major Brandon (he had been dead some months), and to her brutal son, that they must forthwith depart from the home in which they, to the very moment of this announcement, thought themselves se- cure, and surrender every shilling of the property they had so long dreamt was their own. They were prostrated by the intelligence, and proved as mean and ser vile in the hour of diversity as they had been insolent and cruel in the day of fan cied success and prosperity. Thepension of three hundred pounds year for both their lives, proffered by Miss Brandon, was eagerly accepted; and they returned to the obseurity from which they had by accident emerged.
 About six months afterwards, had the pleasure of drawing up the marriage set clement between Clara Brandon and Her bert Burford; and twelvemonth after, that of standing sponsor to one of the lus- tiest brats ever sprinkled at font: none of which delightful results, if we are to believe MT. Ferret, would have ever been arrived at had not he, at very critical moment, refused to take the counsel's opinion upon the virtues, capabilities, and powers contained in the great writ of ha- 6eas corpus cd sutyiciendans.