The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-04-02
tl Charles Dickens h


posture and the poison made him very
sick and he lay abcd In an Inn for some
days. While he was lying helpless here
the body OF the seaman WAS found by
Hexan. the rivcrman. AS 1t wore tho
clothes of John Harmon, and had y ms
papers in Its pockets, every one supposed
1t was the body OF tho missing heir.
The first thing John Harmon saw when
he was we'll enough to walk, was
printed notice announcing the finding OF
his own dead body, which gave HIN q
very queer sensation. Lying there. he
had had time to think over the adventure,
and he had guessed pretty nearly how 1T
all had happened. He went at once to,
1.-THE police station to look at the corpse,
and saw that 1t was that OF his false
.frici,d. who had tried TO lure him to his
death So i It was the real John Har-s
mon who had so cxcitedly "A ppea red that.
night to the police inspectors. and had
vanished immcdiat cly. and whom they had
searched for so long In vain. under the.
suspicion that he himself was the mur-t
dercr.s # 81
i He had a very good reason for not. 1ett
ting the police find him. TOO. low that
the world considered him dead he had de-.
5tcrrnincd before he came to hfett 10 carry
out his first plan and to find out for
himself Just what kind OF a person the
3
was, and whether Mr.. and Mrs. Boff1n.
who had been so kind to him in his
Childhood. would stiIi be as true to his
memory In their wealth. For this rea- x
son he did not correct the error that had
been made. He took the name OF John
Rokesmtli. and TO get acquainted with
Bella, hired lod gngs In her own fathers
house. Nh 855
BeIla's father, though he was always as
~ ,NN N
he never had been able to sbuya whole
new suit at once. Ills hat was shabby
before he could afford a coat and his
trousers were worn before he got to new
shoes. So he was glad enough to get
ledger. Il 5s ~ is3s III sz
Mr.. and Mrs. Boffin. to be sure, now had
the great fortune. They bought fine
house. and everybody called Mr.. Boffin,,
"the golden .Dustman, because he was
and Mr.. Boffin, assuming that now he
was rich he ought 10 know a great deal
about * books. bought big volume Of
the History Of the Roman Empire" and
hired q man with a wooden leg who kept
a ballad-shop5 nearby to come and read.
to him every evening. s:
But insspite OF all their fine things, Mr..
and Mrs Boffin remained the same good,
kind hearted couple they had always
as he now called 5hinselO soon found this
out, for he cleverly got a position as
Mr.. Boffin's secretary, taking charge of
all his papers and preventing many dis
honest people from cheating him.. and Dir.
and Mrs. Boffin,s never suspecting who he
really was, instead of Secretary" called
him "Our Mutual Friend" and soon grew
fond OF him.
They did not forget. either, Bella Wilfer
n of,fv apf t5,fj- spn$
ting the rich husband she had expected,
they felt very sorry. and soon invited
her to live with them. Bella was n
good -tempered. pretty girl, though in-i
clined to be somewhat selfish and spoil
ed, and she had not been sure after all
that she would have liked a husband that
had been willed to her like a dozen sill
vcr spoons, so she did not grieve greatly,
and accepted Mr.. and Mrs. Boffin's offer
gratefully.st.s tt9. .l5 is
So now the secretary. John sRokesnit h.
besides being constantly with Mr.. and
Mrs. 30 FIN, whom he had always loved,
had a chance to see Bella every day and
he was not long In finding out that It
would be very easy indeed for him to
fall.in love with her.
2.-Lizzie Hexam and the Dolls
Dressmaker.
10 U lgRJ u .
Hexam, the riverman, who had found
the body floating in the Thames. made
living by watching in his boat for
drowned people and getting any rewards
that might BIO offered for finding them.
Flo had two children. daughter Lizzie.
who used to row the boat for him. and
a younger SON. Lizzie was Il beautiful
girl and good daughter, and she never
ceased to beseech her father to quit this
CHASTITY business. She saved every cent
She could get to give her brother some
schooling. and kept urging tho boy until
he left home and became teacher In a
respectable school. For her own part,
she chose to stay by her father, hoping,
In spite Of her hatred Of his calling, to
mnke him sometime something better.
Tho night Iexam found the body the
lawyers who had the Harmon will In
charge came to his house to see aboutfit,
One of them.Sa careless young man, by
the name Of E,ugcite Wryaburn, was
greatly struck with the beauty OF Lizzie,
and pItied her beca use of the life she was
Obliged to i've, and this interest in her
made hin, even more deeply interested in
tho case OF the odd will land the strange.
murder. la 5
Now, Mr.. and Mrs, Boffin, since they
were rich. had offered q great reward for,
Harmon, To set this reward, and at the
same time to revenge himself on his old
partner. Hexam. for casting him on
"Rogue" Riderhood went to the lawyers
aud declared that It was Hexam himself
who had really killed the man whose body
he had found swearing that Hexam had
confessed the crime to him.
Wrayburn, knowing what a shock the
accusation OF her father would be for
Lizzie, went with the officers rent ia
arrest him.. But they made no arrest,
Nor that same night Hexam himself was
drowned by accident by falling from his
tWls boat. n S s.5 ~
But the false charge agalHs him lay
heavily on Llzzie's mind. She hated the
river and all that was connected gWithsit,E
aud soon found herself q decent lodging
In another part OF london, as B.
Here she lived with q weird little
dwarf OF aiy girl. so defolrned that she
could scarcely walk at all s{S"I can't get
up she used q say TO stra gers, I be-
canse my backs had md my less ara
queer. a. She had 81 n odd face. With shRrQ