Year: 1860

Baron Thrashem was one of the very


wisest ard profoundest lawyers on the judicial


bench; to say nothing of his extraordinary re-
search amidst such ethic doctrines as relate to


the origin of evil; to say nothing that these
doctrines were always stated by him so precise
ly a4d logically, that the minutest link in his
chain of causatfon never showed a flaw; to say
nothing that he had espied the very topmost
bough of the goodly tree of sin, and dug down
Gin his eWn opinion) nearer to its far-hidden
and obscure root than any other pan; to say
nothing of these things, he SO viewed all refor-
matory law for crime as twaddle from the hu-
name school of philosophy, that, had he had
his oEn stern will, every statute and every
law against the criminal should have been
burnt, and replaced by those two very tangi-


bic and summary processes for curing evil
the halter and the gibbet.


Thirteen years ago, this very Lentterm,
the Baron had gone circuit to the north. His
old clerk, Rednot, had gone circuit too, and
old Joe Bottle, who prided himself upon hay


ing been the judges servant fort-two years,
had taken coach that very morning to visit
some country relatives No one was left in
the old dull house, in the old dull square, but
that most useful person, the maid-of-all- work,
and the cook, and the housekeeper, summed
up in the person of Becky; for the judge had
neither grand equipage, (for an old jobbing
coach had taken him down to Westminster and
on circuit for the last twenty years,) nor many
servants; but simply a very grand library, ey-
cry BOOK in withdrawing to the fully
united opinions of Rednot, Bottle and Becky
-he knew by heart, from its first letter to its
colophon'; excepting certain books on GER
tain right hand shelf of the large book
case, at which he had been seen to smile
SO satirically and so often, that they were
supposed to contain ppinions not worth far
thing to the great mintage of the judges mind,
but were donbtlesss simple, irreyerent, and
untrue. Be this as it may, upon this certain
morning, Becky, whose simple heart knew no
bounds in its reverence and duty to her stern
master, was busy in the library, when her ear
was caught by the low voice of child outside
the area rails. She had at that moment lifted
up from the library table On old fashioned,
massive silver inkstand, and turning roand,
saw that it was a wretched, sharp faced child,
who, probably attracted by her cap as seen
above the window blinds, had stopped to beg.
Her kindly thoughts in a moment were travel
ing fast between the tEo-pence in her pocket,
and the hot roll left In the oyen from Joe's
breakfast, when the postman's quick rap was
heard at the hall door. 1t was letter from
her master, Beck was sure, and all in an anx-
ious tremor-for Thrashem wrote but seldom
when from home, and then only on some ur-
SeuG pOlQI"S4c DIcdIultSSlJ " ANSWER
the door, with the duster and inkstand in her
hand.


Recognizing her masters stiff, straight char
acters on the letter, and as the postage was to
pay, she in the anxious absence of the moment,
set down the duster and the inkstand on the
step, while she dived down for her purse
into the hidden mysteries of her capacious
pocket The postman was leaning carelessly
on the area ratings, looking down the street;
and when she had gone to him, given him the
money and come back again, the inkstand was
gone--the silver inkstand that the judge
priced SO highly! In the first moment of
doubt and astonishment, she knew not what
to think; but recollecting the keen-faced child,
who but the instant before had been in sight,
she hurried from the door, and looking down the
street, and calling upon the postman to follow
her, saw the child running onward with breath
less speed The postman's quick step was,
however, match; he seized upon the thief
inst as she had thrust the inkstand beneath
the ragged strip of shawl that hung about
girl some year or two older than herself To
half cry with joy was Becky's first impulse
when the inkstand was again -safs--to tremble
at the bare thought of the judges stern dis
pleasure, had it been lost-to almost sink in
heart at the idea of one doubt upon her long
tried honesty-all these for the instant were
param cunt, but all sunk into mere nothing
ness, or rather were merged into one feeling