Litchfield enquirer., 1881-05-19

It was evidently the occasion for plous fraud Abraham would rather have been sen fenced to Portland than thrust his proteqe in the way of temptation. So must own that, though results might have given me reason forrepentance, seethed the kid in it's moth- CTS milk. Itook sAbraham'by his finer feel. ings-not making Miss Molyneux participa- tor in the intrigue-and warned him that James, left in charge of his cottage, seemed exceedingly likely to go straight to the devil. 1 o5aa 9,.5 7a7 sr'
 ''Ah, yes, poor fellow! ought to have thought of that. He will be terribly cut up by all this trouble of mine, and may be taking to evil company or drink for distraction.
 That's just what fear, remarked. jesu ltlcally. "ln ever way he would be safer in town" And that 1 may be acquitted of play ing the part of a Judas-the thought of Miss Molyneux's interest in Jim would have made that impossible to mel may explain the ar- seen a common friend who was in the business as a solicitor-told him the whole story, and prevailed on him to offer MT. Lurcher an en- gagement. If the object of our suspicious acted honestly and behaved decently, he would be only galner. If, on the contrary, he were really the criminal believed, in all probability we should catch him tripping.
 His habits as had sHrmised, bore super vision but indlfferently. Mir. Quickett, when met him again, had an exceedingly unfavour. able report to make.
 ''He is always hanging about public house bars, and smoking and drinking in public house parlOurs he is hand-in-giove with very shady lot, but the. circle of his acquaint- ance is so extensive that it is hard to spot any man of them ia particular They are mostly the sort of broken-down soamps that would be quite capable of writing creditable letter, but then none of them could ever be mistaken for MT. Cox; and if he never presented that cheque at the bank, of course we must prove mistaken identity" -f
 "You have seen the clerk, by the way ?"
 ''Yes; and so far it is all straight forward enough, worse luck. He honestly believes what he is ready to swear He can recall the circumstances distinctly. It tells somewhat in favour of your view, that the cheque was presented on dark afternoon, when the clouds were working up for a thunderstorm in fact it is the flashes of the lightning that impresses it sll on the clerks memory But then, notwithstanding the unlikelihood of the offence. he maintains that there was DO possi- bility of his being mistaken"
 ''He recognized the voice?"
 ''The very question l asked. No; as to that he remembers nothing. But then, as he says, if he did inquire, How will you have it P the answer is mumbled more often than uot, so that the voice goes for very little. You may reckon, at any rate. that the man IS honest, and will take his oath positively to what he believes"
 was nonplussed, and l showed it. By way of comforting me, suppose, Mir. Quickett re rumed-''After all, you did us good turn, sir. In keeping my eye on Lurcher and his dropped down upon another gen. tleman that we wanted"
 'lndeed!"
 ''Tom Oliver his name is, and quite bird of a feather with Lnrcher. Bu: though they are always treQuenting the same houseof cali, 1 can't find out that they had any aequaint- ance. Otherwise Mir. Oliver, who has half-a- dozen of GliGses might have we'll been mixed up in matter of the kind. The warrant we have against him was for passing himself off among the old ladies at Hampton Court Pal ace as a missionary from the Sandwich Is lands, come home for subscriptions; and as his offence was committed in Surrey, we've sent him to keep Mir. Cox company at Guil- ford"
 Quickett had nothing else to say about the pseude-missionarY but, somehow, 1 fancied he might be thinking all the more. If it were coS AAS oAUoS4NSAs AANOctAEoGAOd ACO OO uObu1uS and the day of the trial was drawing near We had demonstrated Mir. Lurcher to be 8 dissipated scoundrel, but we had done nothing to turn our suspicious even into presumption 1; so 1 spared Abraham's feelings by keeping silence on the subject. Everything had been done that could be done. We had retained eminent counsel, instructed by an experienced criminal solicitor; and we had the satisfaction besides, of believing that these gentlemen were persuaded of the innocence of their unfortu- nate chent,-a considerable point in his fa- vour, no doubt. But then we had to convince a judge and jury. and unless he were dis missed from the bar ''without a stain upon his character, verdict of acquittal would be lit tie better than conviction.
 It promised to be most sensational cause celebre Being the height of summer, it was the dul season in politics, and the public were delighted to have something to talk about The scandal l-mongers might have been busy, but scandal had nothing to lay hold of The worst they could say of my unlucky friend, was that he had always been extreme ly singular and eccentric and his eccentrici- ties were ingeniously exaggerated and distort- ed. London correspondents of country papers related remarkable anecdotes without the slightest foundation in fact. Minute biograph- ical studies of his career were industriOusly worked up and disseminated. Some of these did him justice, and were calculatedto to height en the very general sympathy. Others, with and excessive affectation of candour did their best to turn his benevolence against him. And it seemed odd that not few of the seri- ous journals appeared most inclined to be hard on the erring brother. For, though from char ity, and fear of actions for libel, they de- clined to prejudge his guilt and condemn him, yet all the same, they hastened to draw morals from his case which were inconsistent with any theory of his innocence. In short, when Guilford assizes came on, public excitement had been wrought up to the highest pitch. The court house was crowded to the doors with a galaxy of philanthropy and fashion noblemen, magistrates, members of the Parlia- ment, and magnates of the Lombard Street aristocracy were accommodated with seats on the judicial bench; crack staff of reporters had been commissioned by the metropo Titan press; and ladies provided with luncheon bas- kets and embroidered pocket-handkerchiefs, had been early admitted by special orders.
 To me, while awaiting the appearance of the accused, the interest centred in a single figure She sat in a simple dress of sombre colour, by the side of her father; her face was covered with a thick veil, Sd that could only guess at the strain she was supporting and, with characteristic thoughtfulness, she had chosen to place herself where she could not catch the eye of the prisoner. He would need all his self control, and she would do nothing to unman him. When he was guarded to the dock by the officer, saw her shrink and draw together. As for him, he cast one rapid glance backwards to the spot where he knew she .Aust be sitting; then he drew himself'up. and looked round the courthouse with perfect compesure. His appearance provoked mur- mur of sympathy; and it was repeated, not the remonstrances of the judge, when, in the clearest and most unshaken words, he uttered his ''Not guilty, my lord"
 It promised tc be remarkable cause cele- bre; and so it proved. The counsel for the Crown, although they did their duty, invelv- ing the accused in chain of circumstautial evidence tliat was only too artistically welded, clenchei the successive links almost apologet- cally. Neglecting nothing that could make against the prisoner, they appeared ss if for once they would have welcomed defeat. The earned gentleman who conducted the defence decided to dispense with witnesses to charac-