Litchfield enquirer., 1878-07-25

WorQS: 1O our young nan, Sir, found for
 dead, just below the ;,.hiteways. We can't
 tell horthin' at all about it. My missus and I
 was just going to turn it, when we heerd some-
 thin clanking agin the gate like I goes out, and there bees horse and gig, and neer
 a driver, and on examination 1 find it bees your gig, reins cut or brok, and dragglin' on
 the road there bees bit of fog about, and
 l sings out, but no one answers, so 1 routs my
 youngster out O bed, and sends him off to
 Gray's Farm, the nearest house, fer help, for I
 know'd there must ha' been an accident, for
 let the young gentleman through the gate at
 reglar time, soon after five this afternoon on
 his way home, and he gives me sort of sleepy
 nod like, without speaking and Now where
 bees us i? says to my missus, for it was just
 nine then, and the chaise and he ought to have
 been at Charrendon long ago. This man, Far
 mer Gray's foreman, comes back with my boy
 in about half an hour, and with couple of
 lanterns we goes slowly on to the Whiteways
 leading the horse and gig with us, 'pecting to
 find the young gentleman pitched out, or some thin like that. And, sure enough, just when
 we gets unner that there old chalk-cutting, this
 man here comes upon his body, just above the .eage of the slope, for the fog had lifted then, sard We could see plainly. He seemed quite dead, and we thought the best thing we could do was to take 'un back to the pike, which we done, in the gig, as quick as possible. Then sends my boy to Meresdene for the doctor, and he's with 'un now, and then he fends me on here to tell you. I've spliced the reins up bit, and we got through, and werry sad it all be's, bain't it And now what bees best to
 be done ?"
 This was a puzzling question, truly, but went and woke up the Police and two or three sof our clerks, and then we had some more
 talk with Joe Muzzle. Joe is quite a charac-
 ter in his own way, and if you give him start
 he'll run on, clacking like aclock. did give him start, and then he said, Searching about the place where we found the poor young gen'lman, as we'll as we could with the
 lanterns, we finds the cushions pitched out and lthe whip broke in two-'fraid 1 left that at the pike but here bees some proper mardrous
 weapons" and he produced from his capa- cious pockets pair of small fint-lock pistols; s'there warn't nothin' else to show what had
 happ'd but the off gig step seems to have got
 a twist-like, and the off lamp be stove in that, reckon, was comin' az the pike with
 ne'er driver.'
 Here we adjourned to the stable to examine
 the gig, and you'll understand that all this time my mind was running on the cash. Was |that safe, wondered?
 To my dismay there was not sign of it in
 the driving seat. This led to more questioning
 of Muzzle, but he swore there was nothing else
 found on the road, except what he produced.
 It seemed as if he was about right, for, to cut
 this part of my story short, we could not come on any trace of it, though we knew pretty we'll to penny how much young Chase had
 and what shape it was in. Afterward, a sort of suspicion did fall on MuzZle and the man who helped him; their belongings were all
 overhauled, but with no result need not tell
 you that this affair made great commotion
 for miles round. It got into the London pa
 pers. We had a host of inspectors and de-
 tectives down; our bank offered a reward, and
 so did the Governor, for the apprehension of
 the thief
 Young Chase lay at the little turnpike for
 over fortnight, quite insensble like log.
 He had received a concussion of the brain, the
 doctors said beyond this, there was no injury
 apparant. They couldn't quite make it out;
 no more could anybody, for the matter of that;
 and even when he had shown signs of life and
 opened his eyes, he was for month or two unable to speak coherently or understand
 what was said to him. All this while, you can guess that inquiries and examinations were going on in all directions, but there was <.asc clue to the robbery, for robbery there had
 been, no doubt, or where was the money?
 One of the pistols was discovered to be loaded;
 while the other though the hammer was down, did not appear to have been fired; both pan and barrel were quite empty and clean clear ly, he had not been shot at. Then to whom did the pistols belong? He was never known to possess any, and they bore no makers name; at least there were signs that it had been erased. The keenest wits of Scotland Yard were baff1ed; we could make nothing of it; not person was apprehended, even on suspicion.
 I must now tell you, however, as ill-luck would have it, the news of the poor young fel- lows mischance was such severe shock to his aged mother-the only relative he had, that we knew of-that she died two days after she heard of it. Hence 1 was deputed privately by our Directors to look over young Chases room and keffects. This led to our getting sort of clue-at least, it made a link in the chain, though perhaps on the whole it rather added to the mystery, as you will say when you have read this paper. l found it in an envelope inscribed with these words: ''To be given to my mother if I do not return this night from Meresdene-Novenber 15, 1846." . And this is what the paper contained:
 " ears have passed since the first faint shadow of the dream fell acfoss my life. 1 have put it aside again and again as an idle and vain imagining, but it has always return ed; sooner or later, the vision has always re- visited my pillow. Still, how could I, a sensi- ble man with my faculties about me, conceive that it should mean anything more than one O1 lltOSG CuIlOuS lIcdkS Ol OlI UuCOuGIClIGu sleeping thoughts common to all? How could l imagine that it pointed to a.reality? Yet, | when six months ago, found that circum- l stances beyond my control had brought me in- | to the sort of country that made the back | ground of this dream, 1 marked the strange | ness of the coincidence. When, too, 1 found l with this that the dream was far more frequent 1 in recurrence, and more vivid and circumstan- | tial in detail, l was not the less impressed. | And when at last saw that events were con- l spring to necessitate my making night jour- l ney across the downs alone, the shadow of | the dream oppressed me with a vague dread. used to think of Ham5et's words: o God! I | could be bounded in a nutshell and count my selt king of infinite space, were it not that I | have bad dreams!' was absolutely sure, when starting on that preliminary drive last | week that 1 should see the spot. 1 knew it as a foregone conclusion, so that when we turned the brow of that last big down and came upon what they call the Whiteways and the hill road running past the chalk cutting, lay be- fore me, 1 instantly recognized the place which had for all these years been the one picture of my dream.
 ssThere it was There was the scene, as it first faintly presented itself to my sleeping eyes years ago; as it had ever since continued to come before them at intervals with increas- ing vividness. The effect on the landscape of a Winters twilight, deepening into night, be- gan to suggest itself after awhile. In addition to this, 1 could at times discern, but only in that vague manner belonging to dreams, as horse and gig toiling slowly up the hill: This incident also gradually increased in reality, and by the time 1 had been here at Charrendon month could often see that it was myself that was driving. Almost every night dreamed that saw myself doing this. was alone in the gig, the lamps were lighted, and gave to the white horse, and the chalk cutting under which I was forever passing, spectral as- pect l never seemed to get beyond this spot, untils there first arose talk in the office about the possibility of my having to do our chief clerks MT. Shepfolds] work at Meresdene. After this there was change and confusion in the vision. A frosty fog hung about; the gig lamps gllmmered through it fitfully, giving an unusual phantom-l like look to all I beheld I saw myself for an instant driving as usual, but the next the horse and gig had vanished, and was bending over the form of man pros trate on the road. In one of his hands he held the leather padlockedl bag which contained the