News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-08-02
no faith in him; and he told me after
ward that he had decided to take my ad-

| NdIu bLIUL uS lluu GlSClIt6u 10 Jake MY 1T
vice"
81 should think it was very unlikel
r that your father would have borrowed S
large sum without letting you kno'
l and without leaving any trace of
among his p-pers? [ suppose you hay
been through his books and papers2"
eyes, sir; [ went through them a.
at the time probate of the will was grant
ed, and there is not trace among ther
of any such sum having been boz
rowed."
"WelI," I said, 81 think the bes
thing will be for me to call on Messrs
Crawley & Fox, Mr.. Flints solicitors
and see what they have to say about tn
matter, and if possible, get then
to show me the bond on which the,
claim"
''Yes, think that would be the bes
way, replied Mr.. jackson; and accord
1ngiy it was SO arranged.
called on Messrs. Crawley & Fo7
the next morning as arranged, and wa1
shown into the Office of Mr.. Crawley
the senior partner.
Mr.. Crawley, withered little gentle
man, was sitting at table Uttered will
deeds, briefs, drafts, and the miscella
neOUs papers which usually cucumber q
solicitors table. As entered he looked
up.
Good morning, Mr.. Crawley," ]
said, 81 have called to see you about
that matter of Flint VS.. Jackson"
"Oh. yes," said Mr.. Crawley, leaning
back in his chair and pushing his spec
tacles on to his forehead. "You are
acting for the defendant, aren't you?"
"1es," l said, land we are naturally
very much astonished at the proceedings
which you have commenced My client
informs me that he never heard of there
being such a claim until he was served
with the writ
''You don't say sol" exclaimed Mr..
/ Crawley, opening his eyes with real or
well feigned astonishment. "Now, That's S
very extraordinary"
/ eyes," l said, ''and before taking any
steps in the matter my client wishes to
make thorough Investigation into the
! affair, and have called to know if you
will let me see the bond.
"Oh, certainly, certainly" said Mr..
Crawley-''no objections whatever" and
going to the safe, he took the document
out and handed it to me.
1t was formal bond drawn up in the
usual words, by which "the said Will
liam Jackson bound himself, his heirs,
executors and administrators to pay the
said Sharper Flint, his executors or adj
m1nlstratOrs, on demand, the sum of
Fl, 200, with interest at five per cent"
and was signed and sealed by Mr.. Will
liam Jackson and witnessed by Mr..
Winter, his solicitor. l examined the
stamp and looked at the date of the
Watermark on the paper, but could find
no flaw in the document at all.
You will admit, [ said, ''that it is q
very suspicious circumstance that Mr..
Flint should never have mentioned the
fact of his having any such bond, and
should not even have applied for the in
terest''
"Well, said Mr.. CrawIey, sit is un-
fortunate that it has been left SO long;
but my client informs me that it was
only intended to be a temporary loan,
and he therefore did not include it
among the amounts he had out on
mortgage, and on which interest was
payable regularly. In fact it was over
looked till the other day, when he had a
thorough stock taking"
1 could not succeed in getting any
further information, and therefore took
my leave. l did not believe that Mr..
Sharper Flint was the man to forget
that he had an amount of thousand
pounds due to him.
Mr.. Jackson called upon me in the
afternoon, and reported to him what [
had done.
"I must say" I said, "that so far do
not see that we have any defense. The
bond purports to be witnessed by Mr..
Winter, your fathers solicitor, and on
the face of it appears to be perfectly
genuine document"
"Never mind that, ;" said Mr.. Jackson,
bringing his fist down upon the table
'I feel certain that my father never had
that money, and [ mean to fight him,
and make him prove his claim in court. "
"Well, [ said, 81 think it is too large
an amount to pay without strict in
yestigation, especially considering the
suspicious circumstance of the case; and
1 think it would be wiser to defend the
action and let it go to trial; and in the
meantime we must make n strict investi-
aation and get all the information we
can."
''You are right, sir" said Mr.. Jack
son; land you need not be particular
about the expenses. l shan't mind pay
ing the money so much, if they win it
after fair fight"
Shortly after the action commenced,
happened to want n cupboard in my
room altered. Accordingly one afternoon
Mr.. Jolly, carpenter, made his appear
ance and set to work to make the ne
cessary alterations. He seemed to be of
talkatiye disposition, and after
relating some of the gossip of the neigh
borhood, he remarked: 'It's curious in
what queer places lawyers papers get
slowed away sometimes, amt it, sir"
"Well, yes" I replied, 81 suppose
they do get into unlikely places some
times.
eyes, sir, you are right" said Mr..
Jolly. ''FOr instance, l was doing n Job
ut Mr.. Flint's the other day, land found
a document in the most unlikely place
you would think of-a very important
document, too-in fact bond for pref
ty large amount.
l gave start, as the recollection of
the bond in the case of Flint VS.. jackson
flashed across my mind. Controlling
my feelings, L said, in as calm voice as
could command: go, yes, suppose
you mean Farmer Jackson's bond for
81, ,OOO."
"Why, sir, how in the world did you
come to know anything about it," asked
Mr.. Jolly in surprise. ''NIr. Flint told
me not to mention the matter to any
body" !
"Oh, I dare say" I said; "but you see
we do know about it, and we have reason
to believe that an attempt is being made
to obtain money from Mr.. jackson
by false Dretenses and unless Won tell
me all you know about the matter, [
shall consider you as aiding in the at
tempt; L must ask you, therefore, to tell
me what you know about it.
81 am sure 1 don't wish to harm Mr..
Jackson in any way" said Mr.. jolly. 81
thought the only reason for keeping it
secret was that it was private matter;
and If it will do Mr.. JACKSON any good,
I am willing to tell you all L know about
it,"
eyes" / said, SIT is most important to
Mr.. jackson, and must ask you to tell
me all you know"
"Well, sir" said Mr.. Jolly, "you see
Mr.. Flint wanted some alterations made
to a desk he has in his office, and among
other things he wanted the drawers dl-
vided into different sized partitions, so
rs to hold papers of various sizes; and
went there one morning before anyone
had come to the office, to do the work.
Well, 1 took one of the drawers out OF
the desk to put the divisions in, and
after l had done SO, happened to look
into the compartment from which had
taken it, and there [ saw docu-
ment crushed up against the back.
which had evidently fallen over