Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-09-24
ENGAGED IN HASTE.
aY MISS VI. Y. BRNDDON.
CContb1cd from last ,rcchJ

was Il lals'nOod-and lie stopped drinking
at the Coach aud Horses till after
IL o'clock-the landlord had to run 'em
out, him an some others The other man
lived in the Village, so Jaker had to come
home alone. It's good two mile from the
VILLAGE, and he'd have to pass the park, as
you know. sir. There's a right of way in
the daytime, sir, but none after the gates
are shat"
"Yc, yes, know"
"l}ut Jaker was never one to stop for
gate, 80 he got over the fence and crossed
the park 1t would save him a good half
mile. He had got nearly over to the other
side-Whcre there's Il gate into the narrow
lane that leads right on to the Marlborough
road, close against our own lane, when he
heard some one groaning. 1t was so dark
that he couldn't tell at first where the
groans came from. but when he had CROPPED
about bit he found man lying under
tree. dying as he Thought. He had a little
bottle of spirits in his pocket that he was
bringing home for my rheumatic shoulder,
and he forced some of that down the mans
throat. 1t brought him to life, and he
asked .Iaker if he could find him shelter
for the night anywhere, he didn't mind
how humble, and he could agord to pay for
it, as he'd got some money about him. poor
as he looked He had a wild sort of way
of talking, Ja!ier said, and was all of a
tremble. Jaker offered to take him 10 the
Coach and Horses and knock the landlord
up and yet him bed, but the man would
not have that he wanted to 90 where
nobody would know anything about him.
oh, says my husband, i understand
You're hiding He didn't say yes, nor he
didn't say no So then Jaker offers to take
him 20 our own cottage, and he says, Yes,
that would do very well, and | can get off
by the rail early tomorrow SO .Jaller
helps him over the gate and brings him
home. and we makes him up Il bed in the
room upstairs. But when the bed was
made !, was hard work to- get him to go to
ii. l. sat over the fire and talked, talked.
talked so fast and so wild like. And he
offered my husband sovereign to go and
get him bottle of brandy and we could
hardly make him understand thaC it was
the middle Of the night, and that the
public-nuuscs were shut. He was dread
fully wild, but Jaker got him up to bed at
last, almost carried him, as if he had been
a child"
Sand when did Jaler find out about the
money asked the colonel.
at was the next day. The young man
was in a very low way till he got the
brandy He cried, and said he wished he
was dead, and took on drca fully. But
when my husband had fetched q bottle of
brandy from the village, and he had drunk
the best part OF it, he cheered NJ little. |
made some broth for him in the afternoon,
but he would hardly touch it. and he
wouldn't take tea or anything | offered
him except brandy. He finished the bottle
before night, and he was very abusive
when my husband refused to get him
another. In the evening he went off INTO
wild state, and raved about something
he had under his pillow-a treasure, he
called it-ani he laughed and said his
mother had been very mean to him, but
that he had got the best of the bargain"
His mother" repeated the colonel,
wondcringly. what could he mean by
that
And then he reflected that in a paroxysm
of delirium tremens all mans words are
alike meaningless and unworthy of con
sideraton.
"While my husband was sitting and
smoking his pipe beside the bed the young
man took the packet from under his pillow,
and Jaker saw that it was a roll of bank
notes. The young man counted them
over and talked about the money, and
what he was going TO do with it. as wild
as any mailman, and it seemed as if, for
half a farthing, he'd have put the notes in
the candle and burned them all. DO you
think care for money for it's own sake2
said he Not a bit. | shall drink and
game 1t away dare s"Y, before am three
months older and then Jaker thought
what a shame it was that this mailman
should have all that money to spend in
drink and cards, or perhaps to set a light
10 II when the wild fit was on him-money
enough to take us all to Canada, where
we'd been planning to go for the last ten
years, and TO buy us bit OF land, and
start us in an honest life-and 50, late that
night When the young man had gone off
into restless sleep-he never sleeps above
a quarter OF an hour al a time-,Jalier puts
his hand softly under the pillow"
"And stole the notes"
az, sir He took out the packet, and
looked through the notes, and took
half Of them, leaving most of the
small ones. He took two fifties
and five twenties-just enough for
our passage money. and to buy lit
tie land over there-and he went off early
next morning"
"Did he know of any ship sailing for
Canada asked the colonel.
Yes. there was one that was to sail from
plymouth yesterday, and he was in fever
to star by it,"
plymouth and yesterday. Mr.. Penwen
will be day after the fair" thought the
coLnrl.
DID your lodger find out that he had
beer robbedY he asked presently.
a. 3D. no, sir. He counted over and
over gain next day in stupid way, like
a m II half sleep, and seemed at first to
thlnH that there was something wrong.
he Kissed my husband, too, but when |
letc'"d him his little bottle of brandy he
was lite content Your husband is dead,
he SAL J believe / shot him. Late at
night lie had IA wild fit, and thought the
police were after him, and raved and went
on dreadful, crying out that he should be
hung for murder-just as his father was
hung for murder before him. No. he
says, they didn't hang my father. He was
mad and they locked him up"
This fairly startled the colonel Why,
this was Stuart Mackenzies story What