Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1906-01-19
THE SIGNATURE

| ToWnley rushed down the platform and
| flung himself on to the seat OF first
class smoker purple in the face and al
most bursting with heat and want Of
breath For a mile and a half he had
kept UP a fast trot and for the last two
or three hundred yards he had gallop-
ed. This on a warm and muggy October
| day, in a heavy Newmarket overcoat, and
carrying a large Gladstone bag. Nature
had made him a thin, austere-loolxing
man, but at this moment he felt as swol-
| len as publican.
He was facing the engineer; and. I'M
der the frown of the man opposite he
flung down the window. The air came
In with a steady smut-bearing blast
But, though the man opposite ostenta-
| tiously turned up his coat collar, George
| Townley only found himself growing hot
ter. He pitched his silk hat into the
rack above him, and, leaning back against
the cushions, mopped his face and neck.
The word Smoking" on the window
caught his eye. and he fumbled for his
cigarette case. But his hands trembled
so that he could scarcely open 1t, and
when at last he got a cigarette between
his quivering lips he had to leave 1t there
unlighted, for his fingers could not strike
a match.
AS the heat subsidized, George Townley
began to collect his thoughts. Though he
was a man of middle age. II was the first
time In his life that he had Travelled
| first-class. Even now he had not got a
! firse- class ticket, but he realized with sat
lsfactlon that at last, II he chose, he
could offer to pay for one at the other end
| He determined that. even II the tickets
| were not collected till the train got to
| London. he would be honest and saw
| first instead of third" or season"
For now he could afford to be honest
Complacently he stroked his full black
beard His beard it was. not by the gift
! aN 70 l.naN 1.mwa r..
| Complacently he regarded the new russia
| leather Gladstone bag. with the Initials
| G. T. neatly printed on II. George Town
| ley was his name, not by baptism and
inheritance. but by chance selection and
| fraud.
Up to the last Tuesday Josiah Broad
| hurst, though only in a small way of
business, had been a highly respected
citizen I'm large country town; a church
warden, and the treasurer OF half a dozen
charitable institutions and mutual in
surance societies. Now the rector Of that
country town was bemoaning the loss
OF the church roof: many OF his flock were
staring vacantly before them, wondering
why thieves and hypocrites should prosper.
while honest and pious men suddenly lost
their savings OF ten, thirty. or fifty years
hard work; the widows and orphans and
the aged poor were beginning to realize
that, after ALL the workhouse must be
I
ly, were praying for the return of that
long-faced. clean shaven hypocrite Josiah
Broadhurst And George Townley laugh
ing In his great black beard over the
thought OF their angry helpncssness, was
travelling up to London In JOSHUA Broad
bursts stead.
The train was an express. due to ar
rive In just over an hour. Before ten
minutes had passed George Townley had
grown cool. He put up the window; and
the man opposite, smiling grimly. turned
down his coat collar again. George Town
ley shivered and buttoned up his New
market; then he opened his Gladstone
bag. took out cloth cap, and damned
II tightly over his iron-gray wig. From
cool he rapidly grew to cold. The reaction
had set In.
But cold though he was. his running
had tired him. The motion OF the train
was soothing, the cushions were soft.
Presently he dozed. Only for minute
or two. Then he awoke; and when he
awoke he was afraid.
Afraid-horribly afraid! For the last
six years, he had had only one object
In life-to be rich; and in order to OBJ
tain that object he had decided to defy
all powers. human and divine. He had
attained IL; about his person, and In his
bag, he carried thirty thousand pounds.
his by right OF scheming., energy. and
tony-heartedness. And now that he had
obtained 1t, he was afraid horribly afraid.
Not Of being caught and being punished;
he had planned too carefully for that.
No, he was afraid that he was going to
die.
He was a man OF some Imagination.
with a strong sense OF dramatic Justice
Successfully had he defied the human
power-his fellow-men. But the power
divine was so different; so incalcuiable
so impossible TO provide against. He had
made up his mind to defy IL: he had
defied 1t. And now that he had got his
souls desire, he had a terrifying over
towering feeling that all his scheming
was about 20 be brought to nought He
would die.
1t might happen so easily in so many
ways. His fellow travellers might be
thieves and murderers. Furtively he
glanced round at their faces. There were
three of them; and they all looked re-
spectacle. But one never knew He
himself had always looked intensely re-
spectacle: yet he had no doubt that at
that moment hundreds were calling him
worse than murderer Then there might
be n railway accident. What scores of lit
tie things there were, any one of which
might cause an accident A railway ac-
cident was such a hopeless thing to strug-
gle against; 1t came so suddenly, and
stretched so far True. the odds were
enormously against 1t; but dramatic ius-
tice delights to win against long odds.
yes II would be railway accident.
The idea rooted itself In his mind. Be-
fore the train reached London there
would be an accident; and in that acci-
dent he would be killed He was terribly
afraid OF dying, even Of the physical pain
OF death. He wondered whether all would
be over in an instant. or whether he would
linger on some time. Where would the
blow strike him? How would the acct
cent occur?
He thought Of crawling under the seat,
and lying there face downwaTds. Then
he half jumped up, with the intention Of
pulling the communication cord; but stop
ped as the idea occurred to him that this
might he the very means by which the
accident would be caused No, Fate
should do its own work. and not in any
way be helpeu by him.
The train was going very fast now
ana the carriage rocked from side to
side. The view from the windows slid
rapidly from dusk to dark. George Town
ley huddled himself up in his corner and,
with heavy beads OF Precipitation gather
Ing on his forehead, gazed classify at his
fellow-travellers He wondered II they,
too, were going to be killed. One was a
very old man, with slSull-cap and an in
termittent cough; he. at any rate. looked
ripe for the harvest. Another was a
bloated. middle-aged man. smoking a
long cigar; obviously a person OF no value
to any one but himself, whom a discrimi-