Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-03-26

perhaps he Wore slippers = which
wculd be a little unusual OH a cola
afternoon in December. Anyway, b"
WIS totally iIaulible, and, gliding
like Il vision, he passed under an arch
way III the direction of Little Dcaii's
yard.
"Did You see that man?" I aske,..
my friend.
He looked not little disturbed;
then he said, hurIie,ily, and with oh
vious effort:
"No; what man? l was thinking
ut the instant Of this interesting pas
sage which led to little Deans yard.
1t was one of the oldest bits OF the
Abbey. 1t has Of course been spoiled
by modernism = whitewashed, like
the cathedral picty; but you cannot
efface the real. Do you know, | be-
lieve, if you can detach the beauties
Of London from the mass Of modern
ism and money and place them in one
spot by themselves you would make
resort compared to which Rome
would be dustbin and Athens
Ramsgate and Margaret"
l thought this absurd, but did not
say so. My friend wa. obviously
mad. But then his white hair-his
very white hair-seemed to give him
excuse for being exceptional; since
age has the right to he dogmatic with
youth, and l was but youth in his
presence.
We were now in the passage which
my friend had panegyrized as one of
the most ancient of the Abbey. An
cient or not, it was certainly dark,
and could scarcely see where l was
going. Hardly conscious Of what
was doing, or why should feel very
anxious, ! looked over my shoulder
behind me. perceived iii the dark
ness the same strange figure which
had passed us three minutes before
Not a sound-not Il muffied one; the
human being alone-its form = its
very dark form.
X
Now here I might descend from
these very lofty heights of aesthetic
disquisition and lore, with which my
friend had instructed me, and tell
plainly, exactly what happened. l
was garrotel; but since the sensation
was quite enough for myself, and |
have no wish to live it over again, the
reader will be so kind as to supply
his imagination with whatever par
ticulars he pleases. l lost my bank
notes. I never recovered them. But
let that fact suffice as to detail. |
hate garroting, both the reading of it
and the suffering of it myself; and |
shall not allude farther to the sub
ject.
/ So soon as recovered l passed
through Deans yard and made for
the cloisters. hailed a policeman
and informed him of my WRONGS
He stationed himself jnst outside the
gate, and we two waited future re-
suits.
We stood perhaps five minutes;
nobody passed. But just as was
despairing of any success gentle
man, aged perhaps thirty, with very
black hair and black whnskers, and a
iaunty and juvenile mien, came out
of the yard through the archway.-
He was not my friend. My friend
was sixty, was white, was aged; this
man was exuberant with youth.
l scarcely bestowed even one
glance on this gentleman: but my
surprise was intense on seeing the
policeman instantly collar and hand
cuff him. He was the man. BY a
singular coincidence he had been
watched the night before round the
cloisters of Westminster Abbey. He
was "known to the police" He had
been tracked more than once in these
lairs by detective dressed in plain
clothes. He WAS a ti'nquenter of in.
| teresting places. in toilets more OF
less grave. He had even been known
to be Bishop of the Crystal Palace
at Sydenham. He was fond Of as
suming dignifed character, with q
leaning toward venerable old age
Pity that society misunderstood him.
With such versatility Of talent he
might have risen very high in some
Of the branches Of "lcgitimate
felony"
Briefly, my friend was a fir t-class
thief; he had graduated IN the klepto
maniac college. Not precisely a,
Oxford nor accurately at Dublin, he
had nevertheless taken his degree
NJ. A., he was, though the GA" Nigh,
be equivocal in the moral Of it's range
while doubtless difficult to "master.'
He had been at very good school
and, as it tlanspired not many days
aiterward when his story was told be-
fore magistrate, he had once gained
a prize for Latin composition and
had been second for IN exhibition a1
Oxford. His boast was therefore
we'll founded. He had merely direct
ed into tclomiouS channels the abil.
ltics which were meant tor conven
tional.