THE HEROINE OF THE MILL.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXXX, Issue 5734, 27 November 1911, Page 6

THE HEROINE OF THE MILL.

A LANCASHIRE MAN'S ---=r REVENGE. -s=-=*- ' ■ .1. " - .'•-■» All Rights Reserved? PART 34.

There were certain people waiting for this verdict. With difficulty these had pressed through the corridors from the Crown Court until they arrived at the head of the grand flight of steps, flanked with pedestals s>urrounded by granite lions. The first was strong-lunged John Morgan. " The master's discharged !" he cried. ! "There's nothing against him. Chap wi' the red neetcap's the man as is guilty ! Three cheers for Ritchison." The dead silence of surprise fell upon the crowd for the space of fifteen seconds, then there rose up to heaven a mighty cry in which strangers joined as with one accord, and many who kmew the man whose release the cheer commemorated felt a choking sensation in their throats, and the salt tears well up in their usually stern and Careless eyes. 'The cheers rolled like a continuous wave of sound over the sea of heads which were to he seen from the top of the court steps to the right and to the left, covering all the breadth of the square and stopping the traffic on roadway and footpath; while it filled the souls of those within with wonder. Ritchison, or Rathhone, as we will now call him, knew, and Kate o' Fulford's knew, that hundreds of the mill workers were there and the joy arising from her uncle's acquittal died out in its birth ; for was not that her father the cruel deserter of her mother who had worked all this evil ? "Oh, Zulieka, my sister, would that I were dead with you !" she moaned ; and then her eyes fell upon her mother, who seemed prostrate with horror, and the strong spirit oJ protection! rose within her, so that grief was forgotten for a minute. "My learned brother," said the judge to Mr. Edison, the counsel for the defence, "I suppose jpu are prepared to submit proofs of the statements made by your two principal witnesses." "Certainly, my lord." "In that case," the Lord Chiel Justice went on, "it is within my province to order this man, Mark Newman into custody for conspiring to destroy the life-of the prisoner just discharged. This, of course, means the very serious indictment ol attempted murder." " Bah ! this is child's' play," cried the pseudo-Armenian. " This is all *false, and I shall leave the court." "No you don't," said Wills, in a low tone at Newman's (Enumenides) elbow. ' - ; *' Stand hack," the latter cried in a voice of thunder at the same moment producing two'revolvers, one in each hand. "There are twelve lives in my hands and those who attempt t o- impede my passage shall die "— " I don't think," said : Inspector Wills, . retreating from the desperate man's front. There was great excitement, but the Lord Chief Justice never hesitated. He said, " Seize that man, officers of the court." Enumenides was ahout to make one rush for the side door, when his eyes were unconsciously raised to the gallery. They met those of his daughter—he knew her now clearly enough—and that glance paralyzed him. Inspector Wills had given a sign t his brother ' inspector Job, and Sergeant Brice. Those colleagues understood the meaning pf the look. Just as the eyes of father and daughter met, the threV officers were upon the guilty man. One each of the inspectors seized, an arm and its revolver, while Brice had his arm—a la garotte—round his neckl There was a tremendous struggle, but only for a short period, the great number of police present being able to conquer more than one poor demoralised foe. " I protest against this," cried the guilty man, now standing like ati- j ger at bay. "Silence in court,*' cried the ushers. "Silence in court," echoed* the police. "Remove the man in custody," said the Lord Chief Justice, calmly. "You will pardon me, 'my lord,* 1 said Mr. Edison; "but your order Ing the prisoner- now into custody, except for contempt, is not necessary as during the course of the morning and the night before, Mr. Inspector Wills who has been mixed up with this affair for some time, has matured the affairs to such a length that he has produced several warrants for the apprehension of the prisoner, Mark Newman—otherwise Gravene Enumenides." " Let the inspector stand forward," said his lordship. Mr. Inspector Wills advanced with a glowing face and a gleaming eye, several folded documents in his hand. " What have you to say ?" inquired the judge. "I have here, your lordship," replied Mr. Wills. " six warrants ready signed and sealed/which is my gene; rai style, for the apprehension of M.' Gravene Enumenides, whose real name is Mark Newman." " Let me have the particulars and name upon what evidence they ar. procured—these warrants," said th. Lord Chief Justice. "This here, my.lord," said Wills, selecting the first document, " is foi kidnapping and imprisoning Mr. Rowley Elliot and Richard Ritchison now known as Richard Rathbone. iun.— in a lonely house, a scemingl\

deserted house, in Cherry Street." ! Half a dozen men were now re straining the prisoner, whose fac< was deadly pale and his eyes emitting fitful flashes of vindictive fire. "Likewise," continued the detec tive, " with surreptitiously entering the offices of Mr. Elliot, and purloin-; ing by means of false keys a deed be; longing to the lately discharged pri' soner, Mr. Ritchison, or Rathbone." " This here," Mr. Wills proceeded— No. 2—is for stealing, in conjunction with his son, called Demetri Enumenides, the insurance policies secured by Mr. Ritchison in his own safe, on the eve of the expiry of their extra days of grace in the counting-house of the lately destroyed mills." " And No. 3." the detective chuckled, "is for feloniously firing and shooting with intent to do bodily; harm to one Henry Wainwright commonly known as Hal Wainwright, in the grounds of Bolton Hall, on the evening of the 10th. September last.'----"No. 4," the inspector said, holding up another paper, "is for conspiring together with his said son, Demetri, two Frenchmen, named Achtlle Daon and Jules Veral, arid two villainous nondescript Englishmen, named Nabal Blackley and Dawsy Howarth, in setting fire to the great mills owned by Mr. Ritchisonl" "This is all a- — conspiracy !'; zried the scoundrel. " Silence in court !" " And this also warrants his, arrest," continued Wills, unctuously, " for conspiring with the said son, Demetri, to murder one Dawsy Howarth, and attempting to murder one Nabal Blackley, his accomplices '.' " Well, proceed !" "This," cried Inspector Wills, producing a fifth - paper, "is for mutilating the dead' body of Randal Elliot, uncle to Rowley Elliot on the night of the 3rd. December, ,18—, and,; for conspiring with one Mary Anne; Riley in placing the. responsibility of| murder upon the shoulders of Mr. Ritchison, just discharged !" " Curses on you," hissed Enumenides. "Silence in court !" cried the ushers. " And this last bit o' paper," said, our friend, complacently, "is for the attempted murder of his late accom-; alice, Mary Ann Riley, who would, bave been dead on the night of Christmas Eve, but for the timely arrival of Mr. Elliot, Mr. Ritchison,. jun., Mr. Wainwright, and a lady, oesides myself." "I have.no doubt you havp sufficient evidence, Mr. Inspector," said the Chief Justice, "or you couldn't bavesprocured those warrants." " I have the evidence of Jules Veral and Achille Duon, now in custody, as this prisoner is ; also that of Nabal Blackley, who can prove being; employed to assist prisoner and his son in most of the above cases." " Those scoundrels have been bribed to destroy me." " The prisoner must he removed," said the judge, "if he interrupts again." " You've heard, ,my lord," the inspector went,on, "the evidence of the old woman, Riley, whom the prisoner attempted to murder. Here is the linen cloth by which the murder was nearly accomplished." " Ah," cried Enumenides (or Newman) retiring in horror. "A woman," said the inspector, ' named Estelle can prove to giving .t to him on Christmas night." "Curses on her !" hissed" the villain. "This is no evidence at ail. A gentleman convicted by such trash as these. Bring me before the magistrates." .-..•• " Time enough," said Wills cheerfully. "Does that complete your._. list, Inspector," said the judge. "No, my lord," replied Inspector Wills, solemnly. "Here I have the leposition and confession of Demetri Enumenides, who died last night in Liverpool from a bullet wound received in a general quarrel in a gambling hell over a disputed game Df cards and this corroborates all the Irst information received from other juarters." "Demetri dead !" cried the prisoner, in a voice that thrilled his every istener. " Then there is a heaven, ifter all, and its Ruler has found me _ut !" -■' . '; A shriek of an unearthly nature j Illed the court echoed by several others, and Mark Newman alias Gravene Enumenides, was borne bleeding and foaming at the mouth from its [precincts to the dismal cells below. i CHAPTER XXIX. MR. BARNETT'S SURPRISES. -** KATE IN THE CELL.—" ONLY A MILL GIRL." The sudden, change from sorrow to lappiness, from suspected guilt to jstablished innocence, was almost coo much fpr the emancipated manuiacturer. The sounds of joy coming irom without made the emotion of :he Rathbone family all the greater. When the court was cleared, all our friends were accommodated with a private room, and the meeting was most touching. Maud Mostyri, yellow-haired and y,oung-looking still, though worn by suffering had now a bright look in aer heavenly eyes. "Maud, my darling," whispered Richard Rathbone, late Ritchison, in the ear of the partner of his joys and sorrows, "the black cloud has broken and is dispersed, and the silver lining is now about to shine brighter than ever I thought ii would in'this life." '■ , Here the merchant's eye fell upor the prostrate form of Mrs. Marryat.. or rather his sister Nelly, and th( blood retreated from his heart as c dreadful thought flashed into his brain. " And that man—the destroyer o; us all, Nelly—he has brought sh/imc upon you—shame never to be efface!.' From the time of the millowner'; arrest, little of the particulars of his sister's history had been conveyed U him. •

Th.B speech of the bereaved brother; * i steeled the sister to an effort. She raised her tall, slight slender form, from the chair in which she had beec reclining and drawing Kate to her breast said, with dignity : ■ «_■ ■ " You are mistaken, Richard. Mark, Newman was my husband when we; left Oldchester together thirty yearn ago. I knew that he had denied; this to my family, but this trial has,; cleared up many things to me. We were nearly six years travelling to-j gether in America, ere this dear] child "— kissdng our heroine—" was; born, and it is only within the lastj few days that I have discovered that!. it was more than twenty-four yearsj ago since you were accused of mur-; der." " How so?" asked everyone in a-* maze-neat. " Because twenty-four years ago; my husband fled from New York, and j I was assisted to Liverpool with my j child by a captain, an old friend of j our grandfather's. I naturally went; to the apartments we occupied six; years before; and you may imagine j my horror when I found that my: cruel tyrannic husband had arrived in, England before me. I fled the spot,: and after toiling in Scotland for two! years returned to Liverpool full of; yearning for a sight of home." " My poor Nelly !" " Then I fell ill, and all my means being exhausted, I determined to walk to Oldchester and see the old. home. I arrived at Cheetham, poor, . cold, footsore, and homeless^ the, ; first person I asked, told me you had j murdered my husband. I.could not| ask when, the news being so horrible, \ and naturally concluded that you . bad met and quarrelled after our return from America. A kind lady, then took me to Australia ; but my heart was always in the dear old, city and it was my duty to seek my lost* child." The reader already knows how Nelly Rathbone by accident met her child—our heroine—at the cathedral. " I knew Maud from the beginning" said Nelly (Mrs. Newman); "but although there was something about you, brother, familiar, time and; trouble prevented me from recognising jou. Besides I believed you to be in India." "And did you never suspect Enumenides of being your husband ?" "There was always something, about him that haunted me fbut sup-; posing him dead the fancies passed away." "Now," said Mr. Barnett, "it seems to me that if you, Mrs. Mar-; ryat—or Mrs. Newman, rather—had. kno^n the exact date of the murder j —or rather supposed murder, of your; unhappy husband by your brother, you could at once have settled the ■ difficulty by proving your husband a-> live at least six years after the supposed murder." " Exactly,so." " Well, the matter is cleared up at j last," went on the old lawyer. "Tomorrow," he continued, "you must, come to my office for, the purpose of ■ settling up accounts." " Settling accounts !" cried everyone in amazement, all but the millowner. "Yes," replied the jolly old solicitor. " Rawdon Ritchison, a citizen : of New York, not wishing to let the; world know that Richard Rathbone was alive, actually purchased old Cromwell Rathbone's mills, and the money he sent is now, of course, ; payable back to himself, since he is his grandfather's sole heir, and- was; actually the owner at time of purchase. I confess I always suspected something." "I always thought you did, Mr. Barnett," said Rathbone—"particularly when you kept hinting of a probable verdict of justifiable homicide." The following day the whole family were seated in the spacious sanctum of the eminent solicitor. . Mr. Barnett handed securities for over forty thousand to the ruined, millowner. " You will find the purchase money; of the mill," the old 'man said, "thirty-two thousand pouids plus nearly nine thousand pounds realisedby investments I fancied and which. have turned out profitable." "I am entitled to nothing but the net sum," said Mr. Rathbon .. "Pooh, pooh !" interrupted Mr. Barnett. "I have used your money as was my duty, not being a banker,, to your*advantage, and have deducted my legitimate charges out of the funds ; therefore the matter is only business. I never recognise friendship in business." " Then why have you not deducted your fees and costs for your admirable defence of my dear father ?" asked Merry Maud who had been surreptitiously glancing over her lather's papers. t " Young ladies know nothing about ( business," retorted Mr. Barnett. "Besides I'm not done with your father yet. The fact is that with the help ( of his son-in-law Elliot—eh, Rowley— < we intend fleecing the head of the house yet a bit." * "Of course we do," replied the shameless Elliot. " Rowley, I'm surprised at you," said the stately, but unimaginative Marion, his wife. "Marion, don't be a fool," interrupted .the clearer-discerning Maui. "This dear, good, quite-too-aW-'ully nice Mr. Barnett is up" 1 to some morr brilliant actions of beneficence. T know if anyone would trust me with thirty thousand pounds for a fe years I'd purchase a nice n^n-ron'r-dictory husband and then buy rvman Grand Duchj,'mak?n~ iiy non- p tit'y a noble noodle and, myself - most despotic Grand Duchess." Here the merry girl sam:, " Oi"'' - me the sabre of my sires "'at wh'r ebullition the mother looked shoc,'e rl £ while Marion blushed from sheer hor . ror. However, the other., laughed and Mr. Barnett asked : j " How shall I do for ycur noodh Grand Duke ?"