Litchfield enquirer., 1881-05-19

sad business this sad business i'' he eiac- alated, as he came forward to shake hands. Sad changes, indeed, since you were last under my roof, and who would have believed it of Cox, of all men in the world ?"
 But you dop't mean to tell me that you be- Iieve it, MT. Prior,-you who must know him as intimately as anybody. Why, if his father nose out of the grave to assure me ot it, I should tell his father he was liar and cal Imniator.''
 The rector, like Lurcher. looked rather alarmed, and perhaps it was because of that he waived the compliment had paid indirect ly to his sagacity and charity.
 My good sir, 1 honour your fervour, and would willingly have excused it, had excuse been necessary. The more so that, in differ. ent circumstances, should have felt at least as strongly as you"
 And now?"
 And now, most painful as my conviction is, it is being forced upon me by evidence that is almost irresistible. You may believe how strong that evidence is. when I tell you that in spite of the primo .facie imprebablity of the charge, and the natural leanings of the bench to the prisoner, he has been formally and bail has been refused Ihave iest come back from the court house at Guild ford"
 s I sank back in chair; felt as if in a dfeaaa, that grim reality seemed so wildly ex- travagant. The rector rung for wine; and when the servant left the room, had recov- cred composure enough to ask about the evil dence. Mir. Prior was quite ready to be ex- plicit. He appeared to think that he was be- ing put on his defence in his turn.
 ..'The case lies in small compass Cox and l, as you know, were joint trustees of that unlucky Friendly Society. 1 told him, when he insisted on starting it, that he was brewing trouble for both of us, though I little thought what shape the trouble was to take. To my shame be it spoken, and very foolishly, left it to him to do all the work. trusted him as other day for walking tour; he told me he should be from home for less than week, and that he had put the society's money mat lers in train during his absence. The very next day received au anonymous letter. It simply warned me to see to the funds, for my partner had been playing fast and loose with them, and the books would not bear ballan- cling.
 Fl set it down as. the stupid joke of some man. 1 never gave the matter 3 second thought, when that afternoon our head policeman called on me- Then he show ed me another communication couched in al- most identical terms. Still 1 would have pooh-p -poohed one and the other; but he insist ed, for his own sake, on some notice being taken of them. So to satisfy him 1 got Cox's probable address from his servant, and the policeman was quite content that in the first place we should communicate with him by letter. He really doubted him as little as did. There was no reply. As it turned out Afterwards, Cox had sprained his ankle, and was laid up short of his intended destina- tion. Meanwhile reports had got abroad, and depositors in the Society were excited. The police became uneasy too. Sc, chiefly to satisfy them, used my duplicate key to open the safe at the Society's rooms. The books appeared to balance satisfactorily; but on sending to the bankers in London-Cox had we found that considerable sums had been in three separate cheques. There was no note of these drafts in the account books at Hazlehurst, and the cheqIe book was missing
 ''Some one has been tampering with them in Mir. Cox's absence"
 ESQ imagined. But we discovered from the bankers that the three cheques had been previous to the date of Cox's de- parture-the last by himself in person on the very day that he had passed through town. I need not add that my signature must have been forged to all the three. Whereupon the police insisted that it became their duty to apply for an arrest warrant forthwith. had nothing to urge to the contrary, and'that was done; but as derasier ressort. and to prevent the scandal obtaining publicity, proposed that we should break into our friends reposi tories and make search for the missing It might have afforded such negative presumption of his innocence as to justify delay, and prevent exposure. We found it, and, unfortunately to all appear ance, it contained conclusive evidence of the triple offence. Since the last draft to which had really set my name, three cheques had been tom from the commercials, and on each in Mir. Cox's handwriting, was a pencilled memorandum of the sums that have been abstradted"
 ''He would never have been ass enough to make entries of the kind"
 ''Who knows? How do you explain it It seems that a gold key which opens his 6ureGu hangs at his watch chain. Experienced criminals have committed greater Dversights; and, moreover, even according to the theory of the authorities, he may have taken the money with the intention of re- placing it-naving no reason to apprehend speedy detection"
 Abraham never took the money" be- gan.
 Pardon me, Mir. Hooper You forget the cashier who asserts positively that Mir. Cox came to the bank in person. It would be all unlikely enough with any ordinary person, grant; but perhaps hardly so much so in the case of one 80 decidedly eccentric as our ac- luaintance especially. on the presumption hat he intended repayment.
 hra ahaS never did it: and yet the money has been Who drew it The obvious al- suggests the informer; otherwise, now can you explain his having penetrated he secret?"
 'It may be difficult to suggest an explana- ion; andyet explanations are possible and conceivable. It has occurred to me as quite ineligible that Cox might have been borrow ng from Peter to give to Paul that. in his. circumstances, he might have been levylng forced loan to forward some of lis works of benevolence. Then supposing 'ophistry that quieted his conscience, taken in with the cogent evidence against i'm, we may plainly infer his culpability, with no great want of charity either.''
 s'He never drew those cheques" persisted though my apprehensions for his ate had grown decidedly graver since saw iow circumstances arrayed themselves against Jim. By the way,-that rascally anony nous denunciation-youh haven't got it by you, suppose 2' <.
 "Oh yes. The magistrates, after examin- ng it, returned it to my custody. You are 'ery welcome to see what you can make of t."
 A suspicion had crossed my mind but here was nothing in that sheet of note- paper Q confirm it,-except that, in my opinion, rot being an expert, there was no attempt at iisguise in the handwriting, which seemed to prove that the writer had no fear of being raced !; or else. and more probably. was in- different on the subject.
 bade the rector ceol goodbye and yet, perhaps, it was unreasonable to blame him. He was never friendly with Abraham, as I lad been; indeed there had been something ike an antipathy between the two; the pssnaG acie evidence of guilt, as he had said, was certainly strong; and after all, his softened heories of the offence brought it more nearly within the limits of the credible. The Rec- or's nnfavOurable opinion would have weight, 10 doubt, as of course he would figure for the prosecution. But what tan ~~~sA l. Il f --l IT