Litchfield enquirer., 1879-09-11
IFrem a London Magazinel THE MISSING DEED.
CHAPTER I.

EF aEtN T A AAxl x4AA00A4a VI s0Al41Ss -r:'ip haE, ,aalsi3zoaur. ou prrRp i, rsi.~'. ] s sesg9sd 9oassGS ------ N-..- ,. .a,l -s. .-" 1 THREE HUNDRED POUNDS REwARD.-Lost, a parchment document, being an indenture ot mortgage. dated the 17th day of February 1845, and made between Henry Fortess of the first part, Ralph Howard and Frederick Pol lock of the second part, William Henry Aus tin and Fanny Austin, his wife of the thirC part, and Thomas Burt and Sidney Forres Dysart of the fourth part. Whosoever shal bring the same to the office of Messrs. Sharp & Floye, solicitors, of No. 6S Bedford row, shal receive the above reward. ..... ,r-
 bsNo,,1 Mir Mofphet; am sorry to say, nc news whaieYer." .r..,:,3,.> l~,,t.l H., s- ...s. i The speaker. was Mir. Sharpe, the senior partner of the firm of Sharp & Floyd, whose afivertisement, as above, had appeared at ill tervals in all the. leading newspapers during nearly six months. prior to the date: of onl story. Mir. Sharp was seated in his specia sanctunl, to which none but the more import ant clients of the firm were admitted. On tht opposite side of the table sat middle-ageG gentleman, whose look of eager anxiety ant nervous haste was in striking contrast to tho placid self possession of his solicitor Mir Morpeth's impatience scarcely gave him timt to remove his hat or gloves before he broke out with the anxious question: Well MT Sharpe, any news of the missing deed? ant received the reply above quoted. A
 :''But, good heavens my dear sir, in anothe
 fortnight the cause comes on for hearing What on earth is to be done ?" ,-,....- ...
 'We can apply for an adjournment, if yor like; but, of'course, it is only putting off th' evil day. You know my opinion about tht matter -.t...l ....-. ..........5 .i .
 ''That the deed is no longer in existence l can't-I aoon't believe it. At any rate, let u! make another trial. would, willingly give a thousand if it could only be recovered"
 "Quite hopeless, my dear sir. You have already increased the reward from e1OO tt E300. If the deed was still in existence tn, holder would have been only too glad to re store it for fifth part of such reward
 You may make up your mind that it has beer destroyed, either purposely or accidentally I cannot say which, and don't like to con lecture; but in any case you may rest assured that the reason it is not produced is, that it is beyond production; in fact, that it no longer exists. "''+'''." '''
 a'1t is all very we'll for you to talk in tha philosophical manner; but how on earth art we to prove our case without it p.
 i ''It will be uphill work, I grant; but al our leader. MT. Brass, told you in consulta tion last week, the case is by no means hope less, The deed being lost, and no copy il existence parole evidence will be admissible Tine difficulty is (and it is no use mincing tht matter), evidence in question will be exclusive ly that of interested parties and, considering the very large amount there is at stake, that is point the other side will naturally make the most of. if ... ff ...,.'.
 "No doubt they will that is just wha drives me frantic, and you talk of it so calmly as if you were discussing the telephone, or the last new planet. I know, and you know, that my. cause is just and right. To think that and my poor wife, the very soul o1 honor, should have 10 stand up on the witness box and be insulted with insinuations that wt are swearing falsely tor the sake of a few boil to think of it. feel almost inclined tC say that will give up the whole thing rather than face such horrible ordeal"
 May, my dear sir," said MT. Sharpe, alarm ed at the threatened collapse of a promising litigation, ''that would never do. To give ir at this stage would be tantamount to an ad- mission, with most people, at any rate, thai you had no case all along No, no; you must try the fortune of war. The first struggle will not be final in any case. If you are beaten of course you will carry the case to the court of appeals; and 1 know the other side intends to do so if we are fortunate enough to get the best of it"
 IA second chapter of torture," groaned Mr. Morpeth. Fl really believe it will almost kill my wife, tell you what Mir. Sharpe, al any rate we will make one more effort. Put in the advertisement again-every day until the trial comes off, and make the reward 9500" ... ni
 Mir, Sharpe shrugged his shoulders.
 1t won't make any difference, you may rest assured; but as the reward is not at all likely to be clalmed it does not matter wheth. CT you offer three hundred or five"
 He touched the bell and took up the Times which lay upon the table, A smart young fellow entered in answer to his summons, and he continued, handing him the paper: ."Here. Halliday, copy out this advertise ment again, but making the reward e500 in. stead of three and then take it round to the advertising agent and ask him to insert it in all the dailies for the next fortnight. We'll try the experiment, at any rate, MT. Nor. peth; but am afraid I can not encourage you to hope much from the result"
 ''It is forlorn hope, Mir. Sharpe, do ad- init, but I won't lose even a shadow of a chance if I can help it. If it only brings back the deed, 1 shall regard my $500 as ex. tremely we'll invested, can.assure you"
 CHAPTER II. ..+.-...t tsst .
 Tom Halliday was copying clerk and mes. senger in the office of Messrs. Sharp $ Floyd. He was just two and twenty, wrote a capital hand, had capital appetite and earned eight cen ,shillings week, which, till lately had sufficed for his moderate needs We say till lately, for some months previously Tom had in a rash moment, fallen in love, which he found led him into extFavagant outlay in pomatum and neckties, and in various ways to constitute considerable tax on his modest resources. His sweetheart was the daughter of a worthy widow, who was care -taker or 'laundress" of certain house of Chancery Lane, in which Messrs, fss Sharp & Floyd had formerly rented offices. Hence Toms -ac- quaintance with Mrs. Moyse and her daughter. Bessie Moyse worked as d milliner at shop in Regent street, and it was an understood thing that when Tom and she had saved up money enough. to furnish two rooms they were to be married but as in the course of six months their united savings only amounted to five and thirty shillings and some odd dcoppers, their engugernenr appeared likely to be rather "a long one. On Saturday afternoons the young people were in the habit of taking long walk together, followed by tea at Chancery Lane "a festive ceremony which was only marred Oy tHC OLCSCuCC VI . CuCiC hCCWtuSC, du dSCu relative who resided with Mrs Moyse It was family tradition that Uncle Keewidge had been rather fascinating dog in his day but he was now very infrm, not to say child. ish. He was very deaf. and as 8 rule, under stood very little or nothing of what was going on around him but every now and then caught one-haf of sentence, and invariably that half which the rest of the company would have preferred that he should not hear. He had further trying habit of plunging irrelevantly into the conversation, following up some train of ideas of his own, very often of an uncom. fortable personal character.
 The conversation which we have reported between Mir. Morphet and his solicitor took place on Saturday. Tom Halliday copied out the advertisement as directed and duly left it with the agent. By the time he had done this it was three o'clock, and with lighl heart he hung up his well-worn office coat gave his hat an extra polish, and then started of to certain tree in Regents park, where he found Bessie Moyse already awaiting him After some indescribable proceeding on the part Of Tom, which caused Bessie to exelaim Well, never, sirl-! And with so many people looking, toof' they yjoined arm in arm