The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-22

1 court, prevented Dy the law rom BOlnB ou l the stand and telling his own story, Rob
 ert Penfold was as a man with a sealed | mouth, forced to let the prosecution pile l evidence aginst him. All that his counsel succeeded in doing was to put famous
 expert on the stand, who proved to the
 satisfaction of all that the forgery of John 1 Wardlaws name could not have been
 done by Penfold. The government as-
 sented to the dropping of the forgery
 charge, but pressed for conviction on the
 second charge of uttering forged note'
 knowing 1t to be forged.
 His defense that he did not know it was
 forged was quite uneonvincing. Who
 could have any object in forging a note
 bv which another was to benefit? Of , course nobody even dreamed of suspect | ing Arthur Wardlaw, whose illness was l generally understood to be due to grief | over his friends trouble. Not even Pen 1 fold himself suspected the young man. l though he was angry against him for not | having hurried at once to his aid. l The jury found him guilty and he was l sentenced to penal servitude. He gave ! one frightful cry and then permitted him
  ' For one long year he was herded With
 miscreants of every type in convict | hulk His associates could not anect
 his brilliant mind or degrade his strong
 nature, but the wrong that had been done him made him doubt even his Bible, and when he was sent at last to the penal
 colony of New South Wales he was bit ter against all the world and hopeless
 of justice from his selfish, ignoble human | kind.
 This bitterness of thought and soul was 1 fast robbing him of all incentive and
 sinking him into a condition where he was unable to hope for better things, unable
 to do aught but brood on the black past
 when he was lifted from it by obtaining l a ticket-of-leave and being appointed gar
 dener for the governor of the colony
 General Rolleston.
 1 Amid the flowers and plants that he l loved something of the old Robert Pen f fold aWoke in him. He spent his days, i from dawn till night in simple, indefatig- ] able labor He took up his reading again. He applied to the General for leave to
 change his name to James Seaton, and completed the change from his hated past
 bv growing a wonderful silky beard that
 changed him utterly
 Soon a new interest was added to his
 life-a hopeless one, but sweet despite it's
 pain. He fell in love with the General 1 daughter, Helen, although she was quite 1 unconscious of the existence of such a
 humble creature as James Seaton, ticket
 of-leave man. He gazed at her day after l day from distance. He cut the choicest | of flowers for her. It was madness, as | he we'll knew, but it was heavenly mad
 ness, and his nature was like all strong
 natures-when they yield they do so like
 giants. The flood gates break and there
 is no compromise.
 One night he discovered that gang of
 convicts was plotting to rob the house.
 Thereafter he slept in the garden with a
 pistol His vigil was rewarded. He beat
 off the attack. He shot one of the gang
 and wounded two others, but he himself
 was so badly hurt that he lay in the hos
 pital for weeks
 Each day Helen's maid arrived with
 flowers and delicacies for him. One morn
 ing when he was almost well the young
 woman told him that her mistress's fiance
 had arrived from England for visit, and she mentioned his name.
 On learning that Helen was engaged to
 be married the unfortunate man could
 not resist groan though his own love
 was so hopeless, but when he heard the name of the man the knowledge became | insupportabe to him and he felt as If he would go mad. The man was Arthur l Wardlaw.
 In his two years of breeding Penfold | gradually had gained the conviction that 1 Wardlaw had been guilty of some deep 1 though unimaginable treachery toward ! him. The conviction had grown till he hated his former pupil with the concen- trated hatred that had formed in his l heart against the fate that had over l whelmed him.
 He disappeared from the hospital and | kept himself out of sight till the hated man had again returned to England. Then he was found by detective who gave
 him a. little note from Helen. in return | for his services she had obtained for him l the office of shipping clerk with the great l Sidney firm of White & Go.
 | That firm soon felt that it had obtained 1 a treasure in James Seaton. He had nothing left but work, and he threw him ] self into it with all his great energy and intelligence. Before long he was in al most full charge of a great part of the business.
 One day White & Co. were employed to | ship an enormously valuable cargo on two vessels that belonged to Wardlaw & Son. l On one vessel, the Proserpine, IS inn mense cases of gold dust and ingots, in sured for G160,000, were to. be carried to | the London house. The other, the Shan non, was to carry 40 eases of exactly equal dimensions, containing ingots of | lead and copper. This cargo was insured | for only eSOO0. The chief reason for l Wardlaw's visit to Sydney had been to l arrange for this shipment and to provide {. elaborate safeguards to insure the, safety 1 of the metal. t-N | Penfold, or Seaton, had charge of the 1 shipment. Knowing the, Valuable nature l of the cargo of the Proserpine, he watch | ed over the cases while they were in the | custody of White & Co.,, and even took | pains to see them safe aboard the ves- | sel. There was something about the l actions of the mate, Wylie, that he did | not like The man had loitered suspic- l iously about the warehouses, and he more | than suspected the sailor of having at tempted D tamper with the eases. He bre&thed more freely when they were saA aboard the Proserpine, and re- turned ito the office to find that Miss RollesNbn had presented letter from Ward} hw, directing that the ladies' cabin m tAe Shannon be placed at her dis