The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-11

got into the wrong train on the return jour
ney and found himself some distance down
the line When he got back to the city 1t
was o'clock, and he remembered that ne
had left in his desk at the office a present
which he had purchased for his wire, ana
which he particularly wished to give her
that night.
He thought he would go back to the Office
and get the housekeepeF to let him in, and
take the present-a pair Of earrings-from
his desk. He rang the bell of the front door
and the old ex-sergeant came down ana
opened it. He explained his errand, and the
old man told him TO come upstairs and ne
would give him the keys TO the Offices. Har-
bord followed him to the top of the house,
received the keys, and promised to bring
them back again.
Then he went down, taking the candle
which had been lent TO him, and opening
the door of the clerks office went in. All
was still. The men in Mr.. Ramsden's pri-
vate room where the ssafe was had just
commenced their work when they heard the
bell and ascending footsteps. They held
their breath and were as silent as death.
TO have made q sound would have been
to have given alarm.
Harbord searched his desk but could not
find the earrings, and yet he felt sure he
had slipped them in there when he came
in from lunch. He turned over everything
in the desk, and after quarter of an hours
search he found them. They had slipped
into a big empty envelope. He put them in
his pocket, and suddenly his attention was
attracted by a sound in the private office.
He thought perhaps the cat had got locked
up there, and opening the doors passed
through communicating once ana came
to the door of Mr.. Ramsden's private room.
He opened it and instantly his candle was
blown out.
AT that very moment the old police SER
geant, wondering why Hartford was so long,
came down stairs, went into the empty
office, and was astonished to hear a
scuffling noise in the private room. He
ran in. and in the moonlight streaming
through the open window he Hartford
and Laxton standing by the safe and some
one else disappearing through the window.
another moment received a, hedVV
blow the head He staggered out of the
room, ran iown the stairs. and called for
. help at the top of his voice. When the
police came they found him lying at the
front door. where he had fallen, fainting
from loss of blood. At that moment Har-
bord, looking white and scared, dashed
down the stairs, and was instantly seized
by the crowd who had gathered: His in
coherent attempts at explanation were
was seized by the police.
In the meantime q constable had been
round to the back and had discovered the
rope hanging from the window there, but
I4axton and his accomplices had got clear
away with their booty the value of which
it was afterwards shown was nearly &5,000.
At the trial all John Harbords eXplana-
lions were swept aside. His friendship with
Laxton and their constant companionship
after business was proved. The earrings
were looked upon as an excuse to gam al
mission, and 1t was supposed that the whole
thing had been put up by the two men ana
the gang who had been with them. The
receiver of a portion of the stolen goods
saved himself by turning queens evidence,
and confessed that LaXton had admitted
them but Laxton was not prisoner, and
the informer wanted to make his evidence
worth a free pardon, so he did what the
who was already in the clutches of the law,
and swore that Harbord was in the con-
spiracy and had come in order to receive
the diamonds and take them down boldly
by the front way in the event of the other
thieves finding a difficulty in getting away
through the window or any OF them being
ST questioned back street
the police
During the progress of the trial the old
sergeant of police succumbed to the injuries
he had received and though there was no
direct evidence that Hartford struck the
blow. the crime in which he was supposed
to have been concerned having now the fur
Their element of manslaughter in it, he was
sentenced to twenty years penal servitude.
Laxton in the meantime had fled the coun-
day day; ''''N 80 W y w
This was briefly the story which John
Helston was brooding over as he sat until
the darkness fell on the riverside lawn OF
Iaburnum Villa.
He sat absorbed in gloomy thought, for
getting everything but the past, until
gentle hand was placed upon his shoulder
and a soft voice whispered in his ear
Father" Then he rose, and STOPPING
down pressed his lips to the forehead OF his
daughter, and prayed God silently that for
her sake he might yet prove his Innocence
and wipe the shameful stair. from his name
Two years went by, and John Helston had
divided his time between his home" by the
river and his lodgings in London and in
the happiness he found in his daughters So
cety had managed to put the great grief OF
his life his wife's deserton, in the back
ground No shadow of suspicion as to the
real cause of her fathers long absence ever
crossed Miram's mind. and he hoped now
that he might carry his secret with him to
the grave
But one night, standing watching the peo-
pie coming from the opera at Covent Garden
John Helston had a shock. A carriage and
drove entrance,
tendant shouted out Colonel Dexter's car
riage stops the way" There was move
ment among the crowd which took HelstonS
attention for moment. When he looked
round again the footman had the door OPEN
and lady beautifully dressed and wearing
magnificent diamonds was getting into the
carriage. She turned her face for a mo-
merit to give some directions to the footman,
and John HelstOn uttered cry. 1t was six
teen years since they had parted, but John
Helston knew the woman again instantly
1t was his wife.
him. He was unable to move. But he was
close enough to the carriage to hear the foot
man saw to the coachman as he got on to the
box. Home.
There was block of traffic. and the car
riage could not get out of it for moment
or two. Helston, nerving himself to an ef-
fort followed it until it was out of the po-
lice lines. and finding hanson at the corner
of a side street, jumped into it and told the
man to follow the carriage in front of him.
The carriage stopped at q large mansion in
Grosvenor Square and Helston jumping out
of the cab, gave the man his fare, and
crossed the road. standing against the rail-
ings of the square inclosure to watch He
saw the front door open and his wife enter
a spacious hall in which several men serv-
ants received her.
When the door was closed he went across
and took the number, and then-his brain on
fire-he went back to his lodgings to think
it all out.
He was sure it was his wife. But she was
evidently passing as the wife OF Colonel
Dexter What should he do? To make
scene or create a. scandal would only be to
reveal his identity John Harbord, the con-
vict. and for the sake of Miriam he wished
to avoid that
His wife he supposed had imposed on the
man. She might have represented herself as
a single woman, and he might have married
her.
The next morning when looking over the
papers the advertisements of the Private
Enquiry Agents caught his eye. He copied
the address of one firm and went to the
office paid the fee. and requested to be fur
nished with particulars Of Colonel and Mrs.
Dexter of No. -. GrOSvenor Square.
He received the information in couple of
DAYS Colonel Dexter was wealthy gentle
man who had lately come from abroad with
his wife and taken a house in London. He
was understood to be an Englishman who
had gone out sixteen years ago and had be-
come millionaire by successful business OPP
erations in South Africa. Beyond the fact
that he was an exceedingly wealthy man and
entertained on very grand scale nothing
was known of him.
That morning Helston was to have gone TO
his riverside villa and spent the rest of the
dav with his sister and Miriam. but he sent