The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-09-22

Lady Morland hastily tore open the
recovered dressing cuse n consulted
an address book.
'Oh, here it isr' she cried triumphant
". mo. 8 Johnson's News, Mile End
road, e. What a horrid smelling place.
However, Messrs. Sharpe & Smith will
now be able to obtain some definite in
telligence for me. Julie! My carriage
in ten minutes"
Thus it happened that during the aft
ernoon a dapper little clerk descended
from an omnibus in the neighborhood
of Johnson's News and began his in
quiries, as all Londoners do, by con-
sulting q policeman. Certain facts
were forthcoming.
"A Mrs. Arson, a widow, who lived
in Johnson's News? Yes, l think a
woman Of hat name died a few weeks
ago. I remember seeing a funeral leave
the news. 1 don't know anything
about the boy. Sometimes when I pass
through there at night I have seen a
light in the house. However, here it is.
Let's have a look at it."
The pair entered the news and ap-
preached the deserted house. The So
licitor's clerk knocked and then tried
the door. 1t was locked. They botn
went to the window and looked In.
Had Philip hanged himself, as he in.
tended, they would have been some
what surprised by the spectacle that
would have met their eyes. AS II was,
they only saw a small of utmost
wretchedness, with a mattress lying IN
the floor in front of the fireplace. An
empty tin and a bundle OF old letters
rested on a rickety chair, and a piece
of sacking was thrust through two
broken. panes in the small window op-
posite. .... ,-
"Not much there. ehT" laughed the
policeman. ..s
Not much. indeed. The floor is all
covered with dirt, and if it were not
for the bed n would imagine that
the house was entirely deserted. Are
you sure Mrs. Arson is deady"
"Oh, quite sure. Hers was rather i
hard ase some one told me. I remem-
Der now. 1t was the undertaken. He
lives near here"
And the boy. Has he gone away"
Il don't know. l haven't seen hiIu
lately"
Each of these men had read all the
reports concerning Philip and his dia-
monds. Large numbers of tiny, white
pebbles were lying on the door beneath
their eyes, but the window was not
clean, and the light was far from good,
as the sky was clouded. Yet they were
visible enough. The clerk noticed them
at once, but neither he nor the police
man paid more heed to the treasures
almost at their feet than was given by
generations of men to the outcrop of
the main reef at Johannesburg. At last
they turned away. The clerk gave the
policeman a cigar with the remark:
Il will just ask the undertaken to
give me a letter, stating the facts about
Mrs. Anson's death. I suppose the boy
Is in the workhouse?
who knows? 1t often beats me to
tell what becomes of the kids who are
left alone In London. Poor little dew
lis, they mostly go to b bad. There
should be some means of looking after
them. 1 think"
AhuS uiu AlA1p, oTdfSls SustdiuiHS
his heart in the solitude of a prison,
escape the greatest danger that threat
ened the preservation of his secret, and
all because a scheming woman was toe
clever to tell her solicitors the exact
reason for her anxiety concerning the
whereabouts of Mrs. Arson and her
son.
The boy passed a dolorous Saturday
night and Sunday. Nevertheless the
order, the cleanliness, the comparative
comfort of a prison were not wholly
ungrateful to him. His meals, though
crude, were wholesome, luxurious
even, compared with the privations he
had endured during the previous fort
night. The enforced rest. too, did him
good, and, being under remand, he
had nothing to do but eat, take exer
else, read a few books. provided fol
him and sleep.
With Monday came a remarkable
change in his fare. A pint of first rate
cocoa and some excellent bread AND
butter for breakfast evoked no com
ment on his part, but a dinner of roast
beef, potatoes, cabbage and rice pud
ding was SO extremely unlike prison
diet that he questioned the turnkey.
Its all right, kid" came the brie1
answer. ITS paid for. Eat while
you can and ask no questions"
But
The door slammed, and at the mex
meal Philip received in silence a cul
of tea and a nice tea cake. This wen
on during three days. The good foot
and rest had already worked a mar
velous change in his appearance. H.
entered the prison looking like a starv
ed dog. When he rose on the Thurs
day morning and washed himself, NJ
one would have recognized him as thu
same boy were it not for his clothes.
After dinner he was tidying his eel
and replacing the plates and the res
on a tin tray when the door was sud
denly flung open, and a warder cried:
"Come along, Morland. You're want
ed at the court"
AT the court!' he could not hell
saying. This is only Thursday"
what a boy you are for arguing