The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1874-07-23
THEFOUR-FIFTEEN EX-
PRESS.
BY AMELIA B. EDWARDS.
PART II.

= AAAsA IL
John Dwerrihouse had absconded
three months ago,-and I had seen
him only few hours back. John
Dwerrihouse had embezzled seventy
five thousand pounds ofthe Company's
money,-yet told me that he carried
that sum upon his person. Were ev-
er facts so strangely incongruous, so
difficult to reconcile ? How should he
have ventured again into the light OF
day? How dare he show himself
along the liner Above all, what had
he been doing throughout those mys-
terious three months of disappear
ance?
Perplexing questions these. Ques.
tions which at once suggested them
selves to the minds of all concerned,
but which admitted of no easy solu-
tion. I could find no reply to them
Captain Prendergast had not even q
suggestion to offer. Jonathan Jelf
who seized the first opportunity Of
drawing me aside and learning all
that had to tell, was more amazed
and bewildered than either of us.
He came to my room that night,
when all the guests were gone, and
we talked the thing over from every
point of view,-without, it must be
confessed, arriving at any kind Of
conclusion.
II do not ask you,", he said, "wheth-
er you can have mistaken your man.
That is impossible"
"As impossible as that I should
mistake some stranger for yourself:
ut is not a question of looks OF
voice, but of facts. That he should
have alluded to the fire in the blue
room is proof enough of John DIVER.
rihouse's identity. How did he
look 2"
colder, I thought. Considerable
older, paler, and more anxious"
"He has had enough to make him
look anxious, anyhow" said my
friend, gloomily; ''be he innocent o,
guilty"
II am inclined to believe he is in
nocent," I replied. HE showed nc
embarrassment when I addressed him
and no uneasiness when the guard
came round. His conversation was
open to q fault. I might almost say
that he talked too freely of the bust
ness which he had in hand"
''That again is strange; for I know
no one more reticent on such subjects
He actually told you that he hac
seventy-fve thousand pounds in hi
pocket p
"He did,"
"Humph! My wife has an ide.
about it, and she may be right"
"What idea p
"Well, she fancies,-women are 81
clever; you know, at putting them
selves inside peoples motives sh
fancies that he was tempted; that h
did actually take the money; AM
that he has been concealing himsel
these three months in some wild par
of the struggling possibl..
with his conscience all the time, an,
daring neither to abscond with hi
booty, nor to come back and restor
it."
"But now that he has come back =?
"That is the point. She conceive
that he has probably thrown himse]
upon the Company's mercy; mad
restitution of the money; and, bein
forgiven, is permitted to carry tn
business through as if nothing what
ever had happened"
"The last" I replied, "is an impo'
sible case. Mrs. jeff thinks like
generous and delicate-minded woman
but not in the least like a board {
railway directors. They would ne1
er carry forgiveness so far"
II fear not; and yet it Is the onl
conjecture that bears a semblance {
likelihood. However, we can ru
over to Clayborough tomorrow, an
see if anything is to be learned. B
the way, Prendergast tells me 70
picked up his cigar-case."
Il did so, and here it is."
! jeff took the cigar-case, examine
it by the light of the lamp, and sal
st once that it was beyond doubt M
Dwerrihouse's property, and that h
remembered to have seen him use
1 "Here, too, is his monogram q
the side," he added. "A big j tran
fixing capital D. He used to ca
ry the same on his note-paper."
ut offers, at all events, a pro
!, that I was not dreaming.'
"Ay; but it is time you were asle'
and dreaming now. I am asham