Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-02-08
" quiet, 50 to speak, for three horrible

~ feAoes ~ W cPeaht iof eurcc norrioie
days.
had never earned the reputation Of cow
ardice, yet the immediate result Of that I'M
happy fight was my transformation into an
abject craven. l started violently at the
Iandlady's tap at my door, at a strange step
ON the stair. With the example of another
case before me, a case which short time
before had greatly reused the public mind,
I was afraid to keep entirely TO the house,
lest my landlady should suspect roy identity
aud hand me over TO the police. On the
other hand, ran great risk in going out,
Tor ON every blank wall my own likeness
confronted me- A thousand times I cursed
my folly in acting as l did. And each day,
Zach new edition Of the papers, increased the
difficulty OF retrieving that folly.
read them an-that the police had an i'm
oortant clew, that two or three unlucky men
had been arrested, to be promptly discharged
when they proved their non-identity with
my unhappy self I read distorted accounts
Of my mode Of life, full of faulty family his
tories. l was hiding in the East End; I had
evaded the detectives and had reached Spain.
Fortunately, / was not in Porter street,
Kentish Town. And on the third night an
evening paper mentioned that ''the young
lady 20 whom Mr.. Bligh had been engaged
was rendered PROSTATE by the blow which
had fallen on her, and that her friends pro-
posed taking her abroad"
The paper dropped from my hands. All,
my bright Betty What would not give for
q sight Of her dear face
And why should not see heri wrote an
advertisement and sent it for insertion in the
agency column Of The Times"
In the old happy days my pet name for
Betty was my maiden aunt This sobri-
quet she earned from a certain sage way she
had of giving me counsel and prettily advis-
ing in an elderly relative way on business
matters, etc, which she did not understand
in the least. So my message ran thus: If
Maiden Aunt will call at No Porter street,
Kentish Town, on Thursday, she will see her
nephew, who is in London for the day"
About 8 o'clock on Thursday the door of
my sitting room was thrown open and Betty,
thickly yelled, ran in. Poor little grill
When had bid her farewell at her fathers
house fortnight before, she had been rosy
and radiant; daintily dressed Now her
clothes were carelessly huddled on, her
cheeks were thin aud pale, her great blue
eyes dimmed and mournful.
Our conversation would not be of general
interest, lovers dialogues rarely are, but be-
fore my sweetheart left me had decided,
come what might, 10 make clean breast of
the matter.
Betty, who was of the nervous, not the
heroic type of woman, vainly tried to dis
suade me.
They will hang you" she sobbed, and
kissed me wildly, ''or sentence you 10 penal
servitude for life. know they will"
'Nonsense," said, and tried 10 soothe her
ssfThav nj
on such evidence / was fool, a madman.
ever to shirk facing an inquiry. That is the
blacklist thing they have against me-"
YES" cried the poor child vehemently.
and it Is just black enough, combined with
other things, TO make them send YOU to
prison or" with strong shudder, "worse."
They have really strong case. There is
the evidence OF the porter, who saw you with
the pistol In your hand, pointed at Andrews,
50 he says, ouly you tried TO hide it when he
came TO the door. And the medical men say
that though the suicide theory is possible, it
is most unlikely, as when man attempts
self destruction he invariably places the
weapon at his temple or in his mouth Not
as Andrew did, in the middle of his forehead
II all reads very convincing, my poor boy, to
people who do not know that you are inno-
cent, as do"
'Stay here, Horace, and / will come and
see you when | can. We are not going
abroad"
at Is impossible" cried, lit Is cowardly,
and Heaven knows lhave been coward enough
already. Betty, must be tracked Ii Is only
question OF time. Do you know they are
offering reward for my apprehension"
"Yes, she whispered, turning deadly white
II saw the placards as | came along There
Is one on a wall at the other end of this very
street"
BE brave, Betty" I whispered, and wrung
her trembling hands till she WINGED. IAN
will come right, and our wedding bells will
ring before the New Year yet"
She shook her head sadly and pulled down
her veil
II must go now, )" she said IL shall hardly
be home In time for dinner, and mamma did
not know was coming to you"
Then she went away alone. She trembled
% violently when proposed TO come part of
the way with her that | was obliged To de-
sist
She asked wistfully when she should come
again. l replied, almost jauntily, that Great
Porter street would not contain me another
day; that next time we met it would be with
all our troubles at our back
Dub NY lctlllSS were nDl 81 sbuRulu0
my words. l was obliged, gloomily, TO ad-
init that the outlook was bad one. Still,
nothing was to DO gained by hanging on at
Kentish Town, waiting to be- caught like
rat In hole.
After my O'Clock tea / went off for a long
walk 10 cool my brain and arrange my
thoughts. by Jovel" 1 reasoned, as /
neared a police station, why not take the
plunge to-nightf' But passed on aud pres
emily turned into a music hall
Serio-comic songs and marvellous acrobatic
feats were not very much In touch with my
mood, 50 was soon out OF doors again, and
on the top of Hampstead omnibus, en-
route for my lodgings Beside me sat
working man. He was coutemplatively
sucking a short clay, and from time to time
he cast looks Of interest In my direction.
The idea occurred that he was thinking of
becoming a candidate for the thousand
pounds reward. 1t had been a matter of
grim wonder TO me where peoples eyes had
been during the past two days; for, with the
exception of shaving my upper lip, I had
made no change in my personal appearance
And the features which stared from every
boarding In London were very much like
mine
was mistaken, however, in my omnibus
companion. He had no suspicion of the prize
20 near him. He spoke at last, and he said
what ten men Of his class would have said
on that particular night:
Strange affair, that or the Liverpool
line. Do you think they'll catch hint
III hope" he went on, not waiting for my
answer, they won't, because that would
make It rather unpleasant for me. Lord bless
you'll i could tell 'em something about that
affair, l could let daylight in. But what I
says is this-so long rs that chaps at large
why should mix up with police courts OF
course, IL they catches him it's a different
matfar II lud be nv duty than as an honest