, 1896-04-07
Who had saved me-who mud screened

Who had saved me-who mud screened
me from justice!
Without a moments pause / quilted
my Alpine retreat. l had plenty of
money still.
Oh. that horrible journey through tie
continent of Europe. The rafting, roar
ing OF the trains sounded like the voices
of demons rushing through my brain.
80 slow. SO slow! Should l ever reach
there!
All! Paris at last. the gay city that
/ had once so dearly loved, but the looks
of all things were changed to me now.
l was speeding Onto my death!
h channel, Dover, London; bus
Ting, noisy. smoky Charing Cross, an
other spot fraught with pleasant mem
cries.
Eyes, cabman, the Old Bailey! Drive
like wildtire, and you shall have a SOW
ereign!'
l rush wildly into the gloomy, sol
m old court, where the sensation low
ing crowd are gazing at the prisoner.
whom they think the guilty one And
now that l have come TO the end of my
fearful journey l feel sick, dizzy the
place, the sea of faces swim round about
me.
What shall l do: What shall l say: If
l come forward and tell my strange
story, | shall surely be put down as a
mailman, but it must be done. Sudden
ly my attention is arrested by the man
III the witness box. He is a short, thick
set fellow, with Il GINNING face. l fancy
l remember dimly to have seen him
somewhere before. He is answering
questions. making Il statement, and his
evidence is creating Il profound sensa.
ton. OF so much | am conscious.
my name is Ebenezer Startup," he
is saying. Il was u publican by trade
and kept the Fighting Cocks ut Rother-
hithe. l have known the prisoner for
some time, and he knowed my 'ist'ry. l
remember Mr.. Lesson too. He were u
young gent in some sorter trouble. His
right lame was Clayton" l started.
This was my wife's maiden name.
Prisoner came Il night with another
gent, a Mr.. Lestrange, who was mad
drunk. They was i'll the clubroom. Then
Mr.. Lesson comes, and there was Ugh
words tween i'm and Mr.. Lestrange-
leastways Mr.. Lestrange did most o. the
talk. T'other Il seemed surprised like.
They locked themselves in, but there
was u ole il tine door for Buff meetin's,
and saw all that passed Prisoner knows
l did and paid me to keep quiet, but oof
became Irregular, and my conscience
prompted me to turn queens evidence.
l was Il heyewitness o. the crime. Pris-
oner KEEP i'll he background and 'ardly
opened his mouth, but he showed a barker
into L~estrange's and, and Lestrange
didn't use it. Ib'lievo e were too drunk
and too wild with passion to notice, and
Grimsion fired it over his shoulder and
shot Lesson deadu'
What happened after this l cannot
tell. | was innocent, thank God, limo.
cent, and SO overwhelming was the Joy
that l swooned.
y
When l returned to consciousness, ]
found myself i'll u strange room, being
watched over by-my own wife, who
gazed down a~nxiously and tenderly into
my face. 1t was as though the last three
yOoAo Iuu hSNCl b6tu anu tnut We lluu
simply taken up ugain the broken
threads of our lives.
There were yet more discoveries in
store for me. My suspicious Of my wife
had been utterly g%roundless. The hap
less Lesson, or Clayton. was her own
brother, who, fleeing from justice for
forgery. l believe, had sought for help
from his sister.
Clement Grimston had beer an arch
enemy from the first under the guise of
friendship. There had been some old
family quarrel between him and Clay.
ton aud while numbering him he had
made me the victim of his crime.
"Oh, Adela."I said, ''how l have
wronged you! Will you ever forgive
me-? Toward you l am guilty"
But l knew l was already forgiven.
My wrongs and sutferings had pleaded
for me, and the past was wiped out