Year: 1871

| lHE 6ldFIn IIOm Sult1u OutDICdhs - W


recent to require any description her'


even if / were capable OF writing one; bu


as plain widow woman-which l am


have no pretension to write history.


only know that down at Weymouth, a


well as everywhere else, we were Away


being startled by some fresh reports G


what the Fenians had done, or were goin


to do, generally the latter. This was CON


mon TO all places but we had special in


terest in them at Weymouth, because mos


of the men when convicted, were sent t


Portland, and we sometimes caught sigh


of them on the platform of our station


when they were changed to the littl


branch line. suppose almost everybod,


who reads these words knows that Port


land Island is only two or three miles from


our town, and that there are nearly TIVE


thousand conEicts there. They have bull


the breakwater, and made a regular castlt


on the island, and so have done grea


deal of work there, if they never did an


before they came.


Now and then one escapes, but he |.


nearly always retaken directly, or get
drowned in trying to swim OH to som'


boat. My hu.band, who was a master
fishe men, saw one drowned. Although


he was a convict, my husband tried to SAVE


him, but he went down like stone, no


twenty yards from his skif My husband


was very much upset by it, for, instead o.


being a forJldding- looking ruffian, like Bill


Skies in "Oliver Twist, he was mild


looking, fair-haired young fellow, who
didn't seem to be above one or two-and


twenty. However, NY poor husband was


drowned himself not very long after this


and have lived ever since on a very little
income he left me, and by letting fur
nished apartments in the season.


In the winter, Weymouth is very dull,
and /. living alone, would almost have
been glad to accommodate anyone for
nothing, in order to have company in the
house; SO was very much pleased to have
chance of letting my first floor rooms to
a very respectable young man who wanted
them at reduced rate. l had been, with
many others, to the station, to see batch
of Fenians change for Portland, but we
were obliged to come back unsatisfed, be-
cause the railway companies would not
allow any strangers in; this was the more
annoying, as we all wanted to see Colo
mel La Trouble, a Fenian from New Or
leans, who had fought desperately when
taken, and he had been terribly hurt about
the head and rendered senseless before he
would surrender. As it happened, we
were not able to see him; so we all went
back as we came.


/ had been at home about ten minutes,
and was warming my cocoa for my sup
per, when heard a knock at the street.
door, and, on opening it, l saw very
goodlooking young fellow-very slight,
very dark, with black mustache, and al
together foreign air. He spoke English,
however, and said he had been advised to
apply to me for cheap apartments; that he
was not very rich; he had come to Wey-
mouth believing he should have an ap-
pointment in one of the hotels-he looked
as if he would have made capital waiter
but was disappointed for the present
He wished to remain in the town, to be in
readiness, and so had applied to me. l
was glad he had done SO, and offered him
my rooms cheap. He agreed to take them,
and sent for his boxes from the station at
once. He had a great deal of luggage
more than most young men possess.


never had quieter, gentler lodger in
my life than he was; no trouble, no noise,
never out of an evening by any chance;
and his manner was always so soft and
quiet, that, as used to tell him, it was
more like having girl in the house than
man. He would laugh at this, and say the
same thing had often been remarked be-
fore. At first he seemed to make no in
quiries after any situation, or to visit his
friends at all ; but, after he had been with
me about a fortnight, he went out nearly
every day, and all day long. I was glad
to see that he did so, for really he mewed
himself up in his room so constantly that
that l began to fear he would injure his
health.


What puzzled me not little was the
finding that he spent great part of his
time on the island-not that Portland is
really an island. only everybody calls it so.
In the winter time there cannot be a more
dreary place in the world than Portland;
the storms seem to rage there oftener and
fiercer than they do anywhere else; the
roads are bad, the houses are small and
mean, and, except for the wild, romantic
sea view which lies all around you, and
the awful Race of Portland, which no YES
sci can cross, there is nothing to be seen.
My niece paid me visit about this time,
and nothing would do but that must go
with her to the island; I did so, and, to
my surprise, l saw Mr.. Lewiston such
was my lodger's name-leaning against
one of the huge blocks of stone which lie
about the quarries, and gazing so thought
fully ont to sea, that he never noticed us
driving by. Then my niece's husband
came to fetch her home, and as he had
never been to Weymouth before, he, too,
must see the island, and 1 must go with
him and his wife. So, second time
went, and second time, to my great sur
prise, saw Mr.. Lewis. To-day he was
talking to a tall man in plain clothes, who
had lust the look of a warder out of his
uniform; they were in the middle of the
road, so Mr.. Lewis might have been ask
ing his way; but / was confident, from
their eager hurried manner, that he was
not. Yet, when he recognized me, he
raised his cap, and the warder-I am sure
it was warder-pointed along a path, as
though he was giving some direction. and
then we lest sight of them; but did not
forget the incident.


A few nights after this 1 was surprised,
on answering knock at the door, to find
some one inquiring for Mr.. Lewis, for he
had never had a visitor before. The
stranger gave the name of Brown, and
was at once invited up stairs. After a
visit of half an hour, he left, and then my
lodger, who had seemed, l fancied, to avoid
me of late, came into my little kitchen,
and began, in a chatty manner, to talk
about the gentleman who had just left.
He said he was connected with one of the
chief hatels, and had called to speak about
an apfEntment Now, l had lived in
Weymouth, maid, wife, and widow, for
thirty-two years, and knew by sight every
gentleman connected with every hotel
there, and this was none of them. And,
if my Judgment was worth anything, this
man was warder from Portland, and,
what was more. was the very warder l had
seen Mr. Lewis speaking with on the
island. I was quite sure of this, and
knew, therefore, that for some purpose
my lodger was deceiving me; but | re-
fected that every family has its secrets, so
supposed he had his reasons for trying to
mislead me. .a.r


Just now a complete change took place
in my lodger's habits, for whereas he had
previously been the most retiring of crea-
lures, keeping himself so totally within
doors that scarcely soul in the street
knew him, he now seemed to be never
tired of hanging about the front door. He
cleaned my windows twice as often as /
had ever cleaned them; he painted my
shutters; he painted my flower boxes, and
was frequently trimming the flowers in
them: while he actually went two