SAVERNE’S DOUBLE

Northland Age, Volume IV, Issue 48, 20 July 1908, Page 7

SAVERNE’S DOUBLE

(Copyright.)

THE ANVILS OF THE ALMIGHTY*

By J. Monk Foster.

PART 14. CHAPTER XXXII. Another week or two passed away at Moor Green. Nothing of moment happened, or seemed to happen, to any one there, and with the passage of the days the high hopes of the master of Saverne’s Mills grew ever stronger and more roseate. That the daring adventurer's great schemes were to prosper all along the line appeared most probable and Aaron Saverne was in the seventh heaven of jubilitation. The missing bank-note had not turned up ; neither Mrs. Fell’s daughter. Philio RufTord nor the Thurston-Saverne* seemed to suspect anything wrong, and to udd to his joy and fending of security, the woman he loved was daily growing more complaisant.

And yet, had he but known It, tho storm clouds wore gathering about the head of tho man who was playing for such high stakes. A whisf»er of the truth respecting the unknown forces then at work would have struck terror into the clever rascal’s soul and thus forewarned he might have cleared oil with a few thousands of spoil. It wan however, to be "ordered otherwise, for even at that moment a 9trong and decisive and carefully considered step was about to be taken which was to open the eyes of a most generous and trusting gentleman.

Shortly alter eight ono fine evening early in Juno a man made his appearance at Moor Hall, and asked to see the master. His name was a ready passport to Mr. Thurston-Sa-verne's presence, and in a few minutes two very handsome men were shaking each other by the hand. “My dear RufTord, this is indeed a pleasure. We have not seen much of you here lately, you know, and I had begun to imagine that you avokled the place. Well, I’m glad to have you here now, and I suppose you’ve come for a smoke, chat, and drink, eh ? ”

“Of course, I object to none of the three, sir.” the manager replied, gravely. “Still my business is not exactly pleasure.” “Well, try a cigar. Now, what's your poison ? That’s it. And now we can talk."

“I have been thinking, Mr. Thur-ston-Saverne,” RufTord remarked, after lighting a cigar, “very seriously of late that you and your sister may have been the innocent victims of a very daring and unscrupulous rogue.”

“Rullord whatever and whom can you allude to now ? ” “The man who calls himself Aaron Baverne,” was the astonishing reply, deliberately made. "And I want to Impress it upon you, sir. that such a serious statement is only made by me after the gravest and most careful consideration,”

“But in the name of common Justice, whatever led you to form such a monstrous conclusion, sir ?*t the master demanded. "What seems monstrous to one man and especially a generous and trusting one, may seem reasonable to another who is suspicious as well as critical. At all events lam here to tell you why I believe that the man to whom you made over a big slice of your estate ma}*. be a scoundrel pure and simple.'* “But, my dear RufTord," ThurstonSaverne retorted, “need I tell a man of your common-sense that before I handed over a penny, I satisfied myself absolutely that the man was what ho protended to be ? He furnished me with indisputable proofs of his identity, and his photograph was recognizod at once by people at the other end of the world.”

“I believo myself, sir, that the man who first come here might have been—must have been—what he declared ; but the real man's place may have been assumed by another man afterwards,” was the manager's •dogged reply. “However could that be ? "

“I am going to show you, Mr. Thurston-Saverne. Now, do you happen to know that when the man Alfred Lyndon came to Moor Greon, he haa a friend with him ? "

“I do. He even asked lhat a place be found for that friend, and Baldwin gave instructions that places be found for both. Later, lam sorry to say that Lyndon's friend, whose name was Mat Rainford or Dick Fell was smothered down the old Four Feet Pit.”

“But did you ever know, sir,” RufTord went on, "that Lyndon and Rainford were as like as two peas ?”

“Certainly not. But was it so?” “It was, and a matter of common talk in the village. And besides resembling each other, there were other matters I ask you to take note of now. The men lodged at the same house, worked down the same shaft, were both present that night when the man supposed to be Dick Fell Was smothered by the outbreak of gas. Now, do you see my drift ? ”

“I do ! This i 9 amazing, my. dear RufTord."

“What I have yet to say will amaze you more, sir. I have the whole thing clear in my mind qnd desire you to allow me now to state the rest in my own way.” "Then do ! ”

And the last speaker sat back in his chair, a picture of thoughtful astonishment and expectancy. In a few minutes after sipping at his drink and taking a pull at his smoke Philip RufTord resumed. “As you already know, sir, my father was working a colliery in the Burnley district a dozen years back, and among his miners there was one Dick Fell, a big, handsome smart fellow of four or five-and-twenty, with a dark-brown beard. He was Injured rather seriously by a fall of roof, and on his recovery circumstances took him towards Blackburn. “My father's brother retired from the coal trade, took a hotel in Blackburn, and died there shortly afterwards, leaving a widow, one thiid. and a considerable fortune.

Well, later, 1 heard that this very Dick Fell had married my uncle Ned’s widow and at one time I went to see them. Very soon after that, Fell had squandered all his wife’s fortune, was a ruined and discredited man and had vanished. “When next heard of, Dick Fell, alias Mat Rainford, was lying dead at Moor Green. Here Mrs. Fell came, saw the deceased in his coffin, identified him as her runaway, husband, buried him, and later received a widow’s pay from the friends of the Relief Society. And, later still she decided to come a»d live in tho place where she was found dead a little time since.

“Then I came on the scene, sir, and I shall never forget the shock. I received that morning when you introduced to me your cousin, Mr. Aaron Saverne, a man who was the speaking picture of the dead Dick Fell. I contrived to hide my astonishment, and) when Mrs. Fell came to the village I made a point of telling her that in the owner of the local cotton mills she would find the very living image of the rascal who had married lfer, wasted her substance, and then deserted her. “So Mrs. Fell was on her guard, and so went to tho Woodlands to face Dick Fell's double. She saw Aaron Saverne, her curiosity was aroused, her suspicions excited, and communicated to me. I laughed at her fears then, but later became suspicious myself that something was wrong. “Before coming to this neighbourhood at all I heard of the remarkable manner in which Aaron Saverne otherwise Alfred Lyndon had come into his fortune ; the making of his acquaintance had given rise to further intorest in him, and the various odds and ends I was soon to pick up in the village and underground, caused me to play a part I otherwise should not have taken. “And. meanwhile, I had discovered one thing which stirred all my suspicions. When that fall of roof and outburst of gas and black-damp occurred in the Four Feet Seam, both the fireman and the dataller rushed away. But Rainford fell, lost his life, though he was afterwards dragged out. Now it is curious that tne lamp afterwards discovered in tho place of the accident was L} r ndon’s, and not that of his friend.”

RufTord paused significantly there ; and stared at his master.

“That fact may mean much, Rufford,” Thurston-Saverne said slowly, “or nothing. The men may have changed lamps.”*

“They may have done,” was the dry response; "but firemen, as a rule don’t care to change their light and dainty lamps for those ponderous ones the common pitmen use at the collieries, sir.”

“True, but that proves nothing.” “Certainly not, but something else does prove much, I think. Now, listen, sir,” tho manager wont on, earnestly. “When I last spoke to Mrs. Fell, only a few days before her death, she pointed out one thing I had overlooked. Serious accidents in mines when men arc crushed and cut, leave blue-black scars on the victims, and she knew well that Dick Fell was so marked. “This, then, was what the sorelytroubled woman resolved to do. She resolved to see Aaron Saverne again, and tell him that she believed him to be her husband. But if she did see him it was to be inside her own house. If he consented and submitted himself to the simple test she had in mind, then the sight of an unscarred calf or arm woula satisfy her for ever of her own mistake. If he refused that test, then she resolved to expose him to the world without any mercy. You follow me Mr. Thurston-Saverne ? ”

"I do ; but in heaven's name you cannot mean that he killed the poor woman found dead that night at Lane End Cottage ? ”

“I do not believe for a moment that the man had a direct hand in Mrs. Fell’s death,” RufTord replied,

“for her weak heart was of old standing. I do believe, however, that her death was due to some great oxcitement, and who so likely as this Aaron Saverne to caush it ? As sure as we are here together now the man I speak of was at Lane End Cottage that night Mrs. Fell died!” “How dare you say that, man ?'* “Hear me out, sir, and then judge. That night, when my cousin, Susie RufTord found her mother sitting in her chair, her first thought was to send her friend to the nearest cottage for assistance, and then seeing the bodice of her parent open, she had thrust her hand inside to feel if the heart were really still. The woman was dead enough, but what the lass did discover was of priceless value, sir,” the manager added, with deep significance in his voice. “What did Miss Rufford find ? the other asked.

“A rustling slip of paper which on being examined, turned out to be a Bank of England note for flftj’i pounds ! ” “Indeed ! But I fail to see the significance of that discovery.” “It was most significant, sir, as you will see later. That little de-~ tail was not mentioned at the inquest, but the daughter of the dead woman told me—gave me the note—and I have it now in my pocket when you wish to see it. Now, only a little while before this Mrs. Fell had sent her lass to me for a few pounds, and I was curious to know where that new Bank of England note of so comparatively large a sum ns fifty pounds could have come from.’* “And did you discover its source, RufTord ? ” Thurston-Saverne asked, for his companion had paused. “Ultimately I did, and in this way: You know, of course the Mr. Ralph Thornbury who is first cashier at the Liverpool and County Branch Bank of Moorclough ? Well since I came here I have transferred my own small banking account to that house and so have become acquainted with Mr. Thornbury. We are rather friendly now, and meet occasionally at the chief hotel in town to chat and smoke as we are now doing. “Well, two or three evenings after the inquest was held on Mrs. Fell, I and Mr. Thornbury chanced to see each other at the Royal, and in the course of conversation I askod him in a casual way if it was at all common for bank-notes to pass through local banks. He assured me that it was common enough for notes of the value of fifty, a hundred and even two hundred and fifty pounds to pass through his own hands and as an instance of that he mentioned the fact that only the previous week he had himself paid to Mr. Aaron Saverne the sugpof one thousand

pounds lh a diock oi nrty Ban k oi Eneiand notes." “The devil ! ” burst from Thurston Saverne's lips. “Now that is a singular thing, Rufford, eh ? ” and then the master waited in expectancy, feeling assured that more remained behind.

“So far I had learned nothing definite as to where Mrs. Fell’s note had come from. Still, I had got to know that a man I suspected had been paid over the counter of his bank no fewer than twenty fiftypound notes at one time—a couple of days, in fact before that note was found on Mrs. Fell."

“And what did you do then?” the master queried, in considerable excitement.

“Made a plunge, sir, and yet a careful one. I was playing a deep game—a game that might cost me one of the finest appointments I ever had the good luck to hold—and I dared not show my hand till I was certain of making no mistake.” “But you are showing your hand now, sir, with a vengeance, in daring to say and in attempting to prove that a supposed kinsman of my own, and one to whom I freely gave a country house, and all the cotton mills, is one of the most consummate of modern impostors.” These words were spoken in no unkind tone, and the manager did not take them ill. Very quietly, and with a pleasant smile he responded : “I feel absolutely certain of my ground, you see, sir, and besides I do not forget that I am trying my best to save one of the best men living from being swindled out of some scores of thousands.” “Go on ! Go on !” the master made answer impatiently. “Having heard so much I am hot for the rest."

“Well, I thought it best to put the matter to Mr. Thornbury in this way ; I had, I said, found a new Bank of England note for fifty pounds, and was desirous of returning it to its rightful owner without unnecessary fuss or delay. As t Mr. Aaron Saverne had so recently received twenty notes of that denomination I thought it might prove to belong to him. “In that case I would myself restore it, but I must be the judge. So I asked Mr. Thornbury to supply me with the numbers of the notes handed over to their customer, so that I might compare them with the number on the one I held. Well, he did, and I had to admit that mine was not one of Mr. Aaron Savernc's.”

“By Jove, what a relief ! " the excited master cried. “I was fully anticipating that the note was going to prove one of Saverne’s twenty.” “And so it was,” was the smiling response, “but I was not going to tell my friend that. That course would not have suited my plans at all.”

“And you are certain of all this, Rufford ? ”

“I am positive, sir. See, here are the numbers given me by Mr. Thornbury, and here is the note taken from Mrs Fell’s breast and so saying the manager laid a slip of paper containing the numbers and the identical bank-note in his master's hands.

Eagerly, anxiously, Thurston-Sa- 1 verne scanned both slips, comparing the respective numbers carefully, and then with a cry of astonishment he sprang to his feet. “By the Lord above us, Rufford, you are right !” he said. “In all this there is more than I could have believed possible. That man, whoever he may be, must have given Mrs Fell that note. Can it all mean what you fear ? " “Not what I fear, sir, but what I hope and trust is true ! " was the stern reply. “From" the very first moment I set eyes on the man here I felt he feared me. There is no doubt in m3*, mind that Mrs. «Fell obtained that note from the man who calls himself Aaron Saverne. And I ask why he should give it to her if he is what he pretends to be ? *s “In Heaven's name, how am I to say ? "

“And if he gave her that note alone, why did he draw another nineteen like it ? In my deeply-rooted opinion that thousand pounds was drawn from the bank for the purpose of bribing the dead woman to silence. That, of course, I cannot prove, nor can I even imagine why so small a portion only of the money was found upon her.’’ “So that, smart detective, as I admit you have shown yourself, you are at a standstill now ?"

“Not at all, my dear Mr. Th’urstonSaverne !’* was the manager's confident rejoinder. “If I cannot demonstrate that your Aaron Saverne gave Mrs. Fell the bank-note, I can prove something a thousand times more important still to you and me, and your sister.’* “And what may that be, Rufford?" Simon asked, as keen on the scent now as his workman had ever been. “Listen a moment, sir, and you will understand. Now, it is certain that one of the two men who came to Moor Green last year must have been Dick Fell, and I am able to prove to any sane man on earth that it was not Fell, alias Rainford, who was buried after being smothered in the mine.’*

“By Heaven, if you can make me believe that I am ready to swallow all tho rest without further talk!'* the master said. “But how are you going to do that ? ’* “I have done it already and in this way : By, making cautious inquiries in the village, I discovered the two women who were paid to 'lay out'— that is prepare for interment—the body of the so-called Dick Fell, and each of them solemnly assured me that there were no traces of mining scars on either arms or legs. “That was satisfactory in every way, and just what I expected. But I meant to leave no room for doubt or mistake on that head, and so I went to the medical gentleman who made the post-mortem examination, and attended the inquest.” “Good ! Now, that was a most wise move, Rufford. And what did Dr. Bimson tell you ? ” ThurstonSaverne demanded.

“His statement agreed in every particular with what the two women had told me. Save in one small matter, the body of the dead miner had been absolutely without scar or blemish.” “And that matier? ”■

“The doad man had had the little toe of his left foot taken off. So the doctor told me, so the women had said, and so there is no longer room for doubt. The man buriod was certainly not Dick Fell, and I ask you .who he could be ?

"By heavens you are rignt * ’lie man posing as Aaron Saverne must be Dick Fell. What an infernal swindler he must be ! And to think of such a scoundrel daring to raise his eyes to Leah. But when could the gross imposture have commenced ? '<

"That night down the pit after the accident. With his friend dead, and the course clear, Dick Fell saw his chance and seized it. The wonder is, sir, that his exposure ever should have come about at all." "True ! Nor would it ever have been discovered had you and Mrs. Fell not come to Moor Green. But what Is to be our next step, Rufford? Am Ito have the man arrested at once ?

"No ; before doing that we must make assurance doubly sure. There are those relatives of the real man abroad. You *'-*•

"I have it, my dear boy ! " Thur-ston-Saverne burst out. ‘-‘To-mor-; row I will cable to both Aaron Saverne's uncles in New Zealand and Vancouver Island, preparing full answers to a simple but very significant question I shall ask.” “The very thing, my dear sir. And when the answers come it will be time enough to decide on our next step.”

“Right. Well so it shall be. But there is one thing I must put a foot on at once,” Simon cried in a harder tone. .“A swindler, wife deserter, and who knows what besides, must look at my sister no more. He shall be forbidden the house." “Would that be wise ? Rufford asked, “Might it not alarm him—suggest some possible danger—drive him away ? If I might dare to advise, I would suggest that you and Miss Thurston-Saverne make no change in your apparent relationship. But your sister should know all at once, I think, sir.” “Leah shall. My dear friend, both as a detective and a logician, you would have made your mark.”* CHAPTER XXXIII. “AS PROOFS OF HOLY WRIT.’* It had been after ten o’clock when the master of Moor Hall and Philip Rufford had said good-night to each other, and after that it had been quite after midnight when brother and sister had said all they had to say respecting the astounding disclosures and discoveries the acute manager had made regarding the man then living at tho Moorlands, and pwner of the village mills. But early next morning ThurstonSaverne was astir, and after breakfast he retired to his own private room to consider those cablegrams to James and Frank Lesford.

As he sat down at his writingtable there lay before him the memorandum scribbled by the bank clerk as well as tho bank-note found on Mrs. Fell, Rufford having left both in his master's keeping on the understanding that later, when the present trouble was settled somehow, the fifty-pound note was to bo returned to the lass of the dead woman.

While considering tho best form his cabled message could take, Simon recollected that it was months since he had last been in communication, with the uncles of Aaron Savejrne. That was at the time when he had appointed his supposed relative to the chief managership ; and he had assumed that since then James and Frank Lesford would have heard directly from their nephew of the unexpected fortune he had come into. Ultimately his cablegrams to the widely-separated brothers assumed this shape :

“Does vour nephew. A. S., bear any distinguishing birth mark or other feature ? Reply at once. Answer prepaid. Thurston-Saverne.

The message drafted, he left the Hall, drove to Moorclough, took train thence to Liverpool, and despatched his wires from that city. Until he was certain one way or the other, as to the real identity of the man then in possession of the mill and Woodlands, his desire was to avoid all publicity and hence his care to cover his own movements and act. The first response to his cabled inquiry reached Moor Hall that very evening while the master and mistress were at dinner alone, a telegraph messenger from the adjacent town having brought tho message. In a fever of anxiety then, Simon tore open tho envelope, and this is what James Lesford had to say to him from Vancouver :

“My nephew, A. S., had no birthmark I remember, but had lost the little too of his left foot in a mining accident when young. “James Lesford.*' l *

Rising from the table at once, with the telegram clenched in his hand, Thurston-Saperne said, as quietly as he could, “Please come to my room, Leah.” She followed him at once, and not before brother and sister were alone in his den did she speak.

“Well, Simon ? ” she asked then, her own sweet voice rather unsteady. “You have news of—of this man? Good *or bad ?” “Who shall say ? That’s as one may read it, you see. But, as certain as death, the man at the Woodlands is no kinsman of ours. Aaron Saverne lost his life underground, and was buried in the name of Dick Fell. You remember all I told you last night ? You read this.” He handed the telegram to her, and she read. He watched her closely, saw the muscles of her rare face harden, while she grew a little paler, but she made no outcry. “Are you sorry or pleased, my dear Leah ? ” “Pleased !” she cried then. “By Heaven ! What a narrow escape I seem to have had ! And to think, Simon, that I should owe my good fortune to your friend, Mr. Rufford ! How am I to thank him for saving me from: such a vile man ? ” “I had an idea, Leah, a short time ago, that Mr. Rufford was your friend, too, as well as mine,” he said drily. “But we will say nothing of that now. We have yet to wait for the answer from New Zealand. When that arrives I shall have to consider what other steps are to be taken. But remaM’ber, for heeven’s sake, that, in case o?i»* z ntlcoan from the Woodlands should happen to call you give him no hint of what is brewing.** She promised to be on her guard. On the morrow the other cabled message came from New Zealand ; it was brief, yet pregnant, and only less conclusive than the first response It ran so :

"Know nothing of birthmarks, but ’A. S. was minus a little toe. Cannot say which. -"Frank Lesford"

Five minutes after the foregoing communication had been placed in Thurston-Saverne’s hands —he had purposely remained at home in expectation of its coming—a groom had been hurried off to tho Moor collieries, with* instructions to find Mr. Philip Rufford and not to return without the manager; Yet it was nearly an hour later ere the miner showed himself in his master’s room at the Hall, and he was then clad in his underground clothes —had a little grime off the mills upon him —having been far below when his employer's summons reached him. ‘‘The answers have come from both men, Rufford ! Simon cried. “One last evening, the other at eleven.Here they are." “These seem pretty conclusive, sir'’'the manager remarked in a gratified voice, when he had read the messages. “After such evidence as this can you doubt an}*, longer as to who it was that was buried in the name of another man ? "

“No ! These responses to my inquiry square entirely with what tho doctor and the women said, and I am convinced. But we are not yet absolutely positive that the other man is Dick Fell.' 4

“Right, though everything points to that, sir,” Rufford replied. “And if not Dick Fell, who then ? '-' “He must be Fell ! But how prove that ? "

“In the easiest waj r , sir,” was the prompt reply. “Have him arrested and I will produce in a day or two a score of people ready to swear to those scars on his arm and leg.” “Ah ! There’s the rub, you see. To call in the police now would set all the neighbourhood in a ferment. My own name and my sister’s would be bandied about for weeks, and I desire to avoid all that if possible. Is there no other way ? ” “There is another way—if you care to take it.’’ “Name it, then,’’ Thurston-Saverne cried. “Anything short of violence or baseness I am ripe for.”

“Well, what do j'ou think of a plan that struck me this morning ? Invite the man here this evening betweem eight and nine, have some druggged wines prepared, and when he drinks it we can. satisfy ourselves. If we are mistaken, there will be no harm done, and if wo are not” “Good ! I will do it, Rufford ! But am I to tell him that you will be here ? ’*

“Better not, or he may smell a rat. I must be here, but kept in the backgroundtill the crucial moment arrives."*

“Right. Well, I will write a note now, and send it at once.” That afternoon Mr. Aaron Saverno was the recipient of a most genial message from the master of Moor Hall. Its contents pleased him much, while it piqued him curiosity ; and at the time named in the note ho walked over for “a quiet smoke and chat.” He found Mr. Thurston-Saverne in his own pleasaik den, was welcomed in the usual way, saw cigars and wine l —champagne—on the table, was invited to both, accepted the invitation willingly, and when his cousin poured him out a flowing bumper of the sparkling wine, he tossed it off at once with good wishes for the other’s welfare,

“Mj* dear cousin,”' Simon said, as he lit a cigar, “it was about Leah that I wished to speak to you. But first you must pardon me a moment while I have a word with her. Don't spare the wine while I am away and when I return it will be to congratulate you, I think, on having won the handsomest woman in Lancashire.”

Smiling, and in his most amiable mood, the master refilled his guest's glass, and with a brain thrilling, his pulses a-quiv.er at the other’s words the adventurer again raisod his wine to drink as the other slid from the room.

Five minutes afterwards when Thurston-Saverne re-entered, his guest—whoever he might be—was lying back in his chair, drugged and unconscious. And the next instant Philip Rufford was in the room and bending over the inert, deeply-breath-ing man.

“Now for our work, sir !’* the manager cried. “You stand by while I strip off his coat, and have the chloroform ready should he show anj' signs of arousing. In a few minutes more we shall know who this man is !

To be Continued,