The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1891-05-24

He had left the rooms. a. be said. At 3
o'clock. pondering how he might raise
money for the book on which ms heart
was set. His feet had taken him., haif IN
consciously. to
Adismal court,
Place OF Israelite resort
where dwelt and dealt one Isaacs. from
~hom ne had, at various times. borrowed
money on usury. The name of Isaacs was
over q bel, one of many at the door, and.
opened of his own accord like that Of
the little tobacco-and-talk club which used
70 exist In an alley off Pail Mall Allen
rang the bell. the outer door opene1t
Isaacs's chambers. before he had Knocked.
mat portal also opened. and the ofiice-boy.
. young Jew. skunk cautiously out On see
ing Alien, be had seemed at once sur
prisea ana alarmed Allen asked if his mas
ter was IN; the lad answered. NO" in
hesitsting way; but. Oh second
thoughts. averred that Isaacs would
De back immediately and requested
Allen to go In and wait. He did so. but
Isaacs never came, and Allen fell asleep.
de had q very distinct and singular dream,
ne SAID, OF being II Messrs. Blocksby's
rooms, of handling the Longepierre. and of
seeing wentworth there. and Lord Tarras.
When he Weakened he was very cold, and.
of course. it was pitch dark. He did
not remember where he Was: he lit n
match and q candle on the chimney piece.
Then slowly his memory came back TO HIM.
and not only his memcry. but his conscious
ness. of What he had wholly forgotten
namely that this was Saturday. the Sabbath
OF the jews. and that there was not the
falntest chance of lsaacs's arrival at his
place OF business. In the same moment
the embarrassment and confusion of the
young lsraelite flashed wildly across his
mlnd, and he saw that he was IN q very
awkward position. If that fair Hebrew
boy had been robbing. or trying TO rob. the
deed. as here he was, alone. at an untimely
hour. IN the Office. So he blew the candle
out. and went down the dingy stairs as
quietly as possible, took the first cab he
met, drove 20 Paddington, and went up 20
Oxford.
1t is probable that the young child of
Israel, II he had been attempting any mis-
chief, did not succeed in it. Had there
beer any trouble, 1t is likely enough that
he would have involved Allen in the grief.
Then Allen would have been in a. per-
haps, unprecedented position. He
could have established an alibi. as
far as the jews affairs went, by proving
that he had been at Blocksby's sc the hour
when the boy would truthfully nave sworn
that he had let him into Isaacs's chambers
And, as far as the charge against him at
blocksby's went. the evidence of the young
at 1~saacs's, where he had no business to be.
when we saw hin at Blocksby'sL But. IN
happily, each alibi would have been
almost equally compromising. The diff
fculty. never arose, but the reason
why Allen refused TO give any account of
what he had been doing, and where he had
been, at four o'clock on that Saturday af-
ternoon-a refusal that told so heavily
against hints now sufficiently clear.
His statement would. we may believe.
never have been corroborated by the
youthful Hebrew. who certainly had his
own excellent reasons for silence, and who.
probably, had carefully established an
alibi of his own elsewhere.
The true account of Aliens appearance,
or apparition. at Blocksby's. when 1 and
Tarras Wentworth, aud the attendant rec
oniZed him and Miss Breton did not.
planned. Allen might have appealed to the
presidents In the annals of the PSYCHE
cal Society, where they exist in scores. and
are technically styled collective halluci-
nations" But neither a jury. nor a Judge.
perhaps, would accept the testimony of ex-
ports in psychical research if offered in q
criminal trial. nor acquit O wrath.
Possibly this skepticism has never yet in
1ured the cause of an innocent man. Yet L
know. IN my own personal experience. and
have heard from others. from men of age.
eagacity and acquaintance with the great
est affairs. instances in which persons have
been distinctly seen by sane, healthy and
honorable witnesses, in places and circum-
~ WAOAO AZ zoe Aoo oo say ~ "a
cally impossible that they should have
been, and where they certainly were not
themselves aware of having been. That is
why human testimony seems to me 10 es-
tablish no more, in certain circumstances,
than q highly probable working hypothesis
"a hypothesis on which. of course, we are
bound to act.
There is little more to tell. BY dint of
careful nursing poor Allen was enabled TO
travel; he reached Mentone, and there the
mistrial ended him. Heiwas q lonely man.
with no kinsfolk; his character was cleared
among the people who knew him best;
the others ave forgotten him. Nobody
can be injured by this explanation of
his silence when called on TO prove his in
nocence. and of his unusually successful
vanishing from a society which bad never
tried very hard to discover him in Lis re-
treat. He has lived. and suffered, and died.
and left behind him little but an incident
IN the history Of the unexplained
w. Laidlaw Peel. in Longman's Magazine.