Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-11-07
CHAPTER IL
IN DURANGO VILE

and paper, and a lamp that would last him
for the best part Of the night; and on these
luxuries being conceded he sat down to
write a long letter to his mother, relating all
the circumstances Of his miserable journey,
and eatreating 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 a telegram informing the old
lady that her son was safe. and detained at
Mlldale 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 l ear fancy her and all
her neat and careful arrangements for my
comfort" unused Mr.. Caulfeld. II 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 my break
fast. Aud then when the time comes, and
no hanson drives up to the gate, what
agonies she will suffer. for l have W
accustomed her to disappointments. / have
never broken my word to her in my life"
The cnrate fretted and fumed aS the
thought of his mothers anxiety. H. was
an only and an adoring son-at thirty-two
years of age a confirmed bachelor. loving no
one on earth as well as he loved the widowed
been from childhood upward. Hal she not
removed her dearly loved goods and chat
tells to Zion, and lived in a small nodao in
the High street all the time her boy WIS ut
school there? Had sho not followed him 10
Cambridge as faithfully as a suite: fo..ows
a campi And now she had one of the pet
test houses in South KensinSton, ana her
son YVES first curate at tho most intensely
Gothic church in that locality. Gorge
Caulfeld's mother was tae nva Of his hfa
lie had been assisting at a choral festival at
a small town near Grandchester, where an
cid 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,
like pimples, on the sage-green walls, and
where the Queen Anne mania showed itself
modastly in divers inexpensive details.
"Poor motherr' sighed George; "a tele-
gram can hardly reach her before min
o'clock at the earliest"
He read his Tennyson; ne dozed a little;
he got rid of the night somehow, and at
seven o'clock he had written and dispatched
two kilograms
The first was to his mother; tho 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 cieverest and most energetic
men he knew. This latter message was brie.:
NIE.a,, Co.,, IN,,lG,ll Milllnla ioil tn
Edward Leworthy, FreShmead vlcarage:
in a great difficulty"
Mr.. Caulfeld's ~janitor brought him a com
Portable breakfast by and by, and was in
clined to sympathize. He knew a gentle
man when he saw one, he told the curate.
though he had had TO deal with n tough lot
in this beastly hole. He had seen a goot
many murderers in his time, and the posi-
bility of his prisoners guilt made very little
difference to his feelings. Guilty or not
guilty, a man who was f~ree-handed with
half-crown pieces was entitled to respect
The difference between a half-crown and n
form was just the difference between your
real gentleman and the spurious article
The actual amount wa not much, but that
odd sixpence marked the distinction.
This functionary informed Nj. Caulield
that the inquest was to taks place at Tour
o'clock that afternoon.
(which gives you time to communicate
with your solicitor" he added, grandly.
@But 1 haven't any solicitor" answered
the prisoner. 81 never have had any law
business in my life"
$50 much the better for you. sir, responded
the jailer, sententiously; shut You must v
lawyer to watch this here case for you"
an wait till my friend the vicar of Fresh
mead comes, and take his advice about 1t,
said George. II 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
a man with a countenance full Of vivid in
teiligence, bright brown eyes and gray hair,
worn longer than the fashion. 1t was alto
gether a 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 a friend as this was verify a friend IN
need. The two men clasped hands, and for
the first minute George Caulfleld was speech
less.
"Tell NEAL about it, said the vicar, sitting
down by his friends side with as cheerful an
air as il it were n common thing for him to
find a friend in prison.
George Caul6el1 related his dreadful adj
venture of the previous night, the vicar lis
tening intently, with knitted browS.
at looks like murder" he said at last
~The poor creature was carried to the sta
ton in a dying state, and 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 u~neasineSS 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
~yehicle-cab, bath chair-Something. The
first thing to be done is to ave inquiries
made among the cabmen and cab proprie-
tors The police will do all that; but l shall
have TO watch your interests in the matter.
You must have a clever lawyer, too, to
watch the case. Brocxtank, Of Grandches-
fer will be the man-always about the
criminal court there, up TO every move. I'll
TELEGRAPH to him instantly. The inquest is
TO be at four, you say. must get it put OIL
till five"
GHow good you arel" exclaimed George,
sand how cleverg
II am a man Of the world, that's all Some
p.ous people think that a parSon has no
right to be a man Of the world, forgetting
who it was that told Us to be wise as serpentS
Pm not the popular idea OF a parson,
YOU know, by any means; but l can serve
a friend as we'll as your s~traight-laced
specimen of the breed"
He was a man of Astounding cheerfulness
and infinite capacity for work, as prone to
embeIlish his conversation with occasional
flowers of modern slang now as he had been
forty wears ago at Etol. He was Just the
man George Caulfeld wanted in this crisis
of his life.
He autographed TO the Grandchester at
torney, and got the inquest postponed from
four TIL five. He saw the medical man, he
talked TO the police. A police officer had
| started for Grandchester by an early train
TO hunt up the owner Of the card, and OBJ
tain as much information as could be gos in
q few hours
The inquest was held at the chief hotel in
NF;uJola In n Iarca dining room. which was