The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-09-04
CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER II.
IN DURANGO VILE.
Instead of making any vain attempt at
sleep, George Caulfeld asked for pens. ink
and paper, and a lamp that would last him
| for the best part of the night; and on these
| Injuries being conceded he sat down to
write a long letter to his mother, relating all
| the circumstances of his miserable journey,
| and entreating her not to take alarm at his
situation, whatever she might read about
him in the newspapers. This letter, which
would travel by the morning post, could be
preceded by telegram informing the old
| lady that her son was safe. and detained at
Milldale on business Some hours of anxiety
the son could not spare that beloved mother;
| and it was more painful to him to think of
her trouble, when five o'clock came and
brought no returning traveller, than to con-
template his own position.
Dear old ladyi can fancy her and all
her neat and careful arrangements for nv
comfort" unused Mr.. Caalfeld. 81 know
how distrustful she will be of the maids.
and how she will insist upon getting up at
four o'clock in order to see about nv break
fast. And then when the time comes. and
no hanson drives up to the gate, what
agonies she will suffer, for | have never
accustomed her to disappointments. have
never broken my word to her in my life"
1.-The curate fretted and fumed at the
thought OF his mothers anxiety. He was
an only and an adoring son-at thirty-two
years OF ageS confirmed bachelor, loving no
one on earth as well as he loved the widowed
mother whose cherished companion he had
been from childhood upward Had she not
removed her dearly loved goods and chat
tells to Elton, and lived in small house in
the High street all the time her boy was at
school therel Had she not followed him to
Cambridge as faithfully as a suffer follows
camps And now she had one of the pref
test houses In South Rensington, and her
son was first curate at the most intensely
Gothic church in that locality. George
Caulheld's mother was the love of his life
he haa been assisting at choral festival at
small town near Grandchester, where an
old college friend of his fathers was vicar
and had been only three DAYS away from
the dainty little nest at South Kensington,
where blue china plates had Just broken out,
Ike plmples, on the sage-green walls, and
where the Queen Anne mania showed itself
modsstly in divers inexpensive details
Poor motherF sighed George; "a tele-
gram can hardly reach her before nine
o'clock at the earliest
He read his Tennyson; he dozed a little;
he got rid Of the sight somehow, and at
seven O'Clock he had written and dispatched
two kilograms.
The first was to his mother; the second
was to the vicar, from whom he had parted
at eleven o'clock the previous morning, and
TO whom he was inclined to look for succor,
as one of the cleverest and most energetic
men he knew. This latter message was brief:
From George Caulfield, MiIldale jail, to
Edward LeworthY, FreShmead vicarage:
Come to me at once, for Gods sakel l am
in great difficulty"
Mr. Caulield's janitor brought him a COM
Portable breakfast by and by, and was in
eiined to sympathize, He knew a gentle
man when he saw one, he told the curate
though he had hRd to deal with a tough lot
in this beastly hole He had seen q good
many murderers in his time, and the posi-
bllty OF his prisoners guilt made very little
difference to his feelings. Guilty or not
guilty, man who was free-handed with
haif-crown pieces was entitled to respect
The difference between a half-crown and
form was just the difference between your
real gentleman and the spurious article
The actual amount was not much, but that
odd sixpence marked the distinction.
This fuactionary informed Mr.. Caulfield
that the Inquest was to take place at four
O'clock that afternoon.
w hich gives You time to communicate
with your solicitor" he added, grandly.
Amt I hor-nptt snI
the prisoner. Il never have had any law
business in my life"
$50 much the better for you. sir, responded
the jailsr, sententiously; "but you must have
a lawyer to watch this here case for you"
an wait till my friend the vicar of FRESH
mead comes, and take his advice about it,
said George. Il know he'll come as soon as
the rail can bring him"
His confidence was not ill-placed Soon
after noon Mr.. Leworthy was ushered into
his room. He was between fifty and sixty
man with a cuuntenance full of vivid in
telligence, bright brown eyes and gray hair,
worn longer than the fashion. 1t was alto
gether poetic head, but the mans tempera-
ment fitted him for action and effort as
thoroughly as his intellect gave him mas
terry in brain work.
Such friend as this was verify friend in
need. The two men clasped hands and for
the first minute George Caulfeld was speech
less.
"Tell me all about it, said the vicar, sitting
down by his friends side with as cheerful an
air as if it were a common thing for him to
find friend in prison.
George Garfield related his dreadful adj
venture of the previous night, the vicar lis
tening intent,y, with knitted brows.
at looks like murder" he said at last,
"The poor creature was carried to the sta
ton in dying state. aud that stertorous
breathing you noticed when the train started
was the last struggle. Don't be afraid. my
dear boy; there is not the slightest reason
for uneasiness. Our business is to find out
all about this poor lady, and the man who
placed her in the train. She must have
been brought to the station in some kind of
vehicle-cab, bath chair-something. The
first thing to be done is to have inquiries
made among the cabmen and cab proprie-
tors. The police will do all that; but shall
have to watch your interests in the matter.
You must have a clever lawyer, too, 30
watch the case Brockbank, of Grandches-
ter, will be the man-always about the
criminal court there, up to every move. I'll
telegraph to him instantly The inquest is
10 be at four you say. / must get it put off
till FIVE"
allow good you areF exclaimed George,
"and how cleyerp
II am man of the world, that's all. Some
pious people think that a parson has no
right to be man of the world, forgetting
who it was that told us to be wise as serpents
Pm not the popular idea of q parson,
you know, by any means; but can serve
a friend as well as your straight-laced
specimen of the BREED
He was a man of Astounding cheerfulness
and infinite capacity for work. as prone to
embellish his conversation with occasional
flowers of modern slang now as he had been
forty years ago at Elton. He was just the
man George Caulfied wanted in this crisis
of his life.
lie telegraphed to the Grandchester at
torney, and got the inquest postponed from
four till five. Hs'saw the medical man, he
talked to the police. A police officer had
l.