THE TEMPTATION OF JOHN BELTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12002, 26 June 1902, Page 3

THE TEMPTATION OF JOHN BELTER.

It was a hand-to-hand fight with starvation now. The wolf was no longer at the door, but in the room itself, waiting, so it seemed to John Belter and his wife, for the child to die. And the child lay so near death that a breath of wind might blow him away. His little white face lay turned up to the light, his eyes closed, his thin fingers stretched lifelessly upon the counterpane. John Belter stared at them with blinking eyes before he went to his cab. It was getting lata in the afternoon, and the dim light in the garret was dimmer than ever, and the boy s face looked terribly gray. /'ls he all right?" John whispered hurriedly to his wife. "You don't think he's any worse, do you, Jenny?" Mrs. Belter hurried forward to the bedside and peered down at the tiny face, white above the sheets. -" No, no ' John. Go to your cab," she cried, " and bring me some money directly you get a fare. If we can only buy him a few things to-night he'll be all right, and perhaps you'll have some luck." John Belter hurried awaydown the grimy, narrow stairs, and out into the street, where his cab was waiting. He jumped on to his box and drove out into the wider streets which lay close beside his own narrow one, and then it seemed that his luck had turned at last. He was hailed almost immediately. A young man, in evening dress, with a diamond flashing in his shirt front and another on his finger, looked up at him as ho stopped, and shouted his directions. He got in, and John whipped up his horse. Here at least was a shilling, and if the fare was generous, perhaps two. He drew up with a jerk when he reached his destination, and waited for him to get out. He did so quickly, almost stumbling in his haste. He stood on the pavem-mt for an instant, and in that instant John noticed two —that he had an oddshaped package under his arm,, and that he looked strangely white and shaken and nervous. He thrust up a coin, and a choking feeling rose in John's throat when he saw that it was half-a-crown. He touched his cap, but the faro lad turned abruptly and was busy letting himself in to the chambers at which they had stopped. "Good-night, sir, and thank you, sir," cried John, huskily; but the man did not turn, and John, anxious to get home, drove away quickly. He had reached the street and had just dismounted when a man, lounging against the railings, looked at him curiously, and came forward. He was an ex-convict, living in the house next door, as John knew. "There's something in your cab," he .-aid, gruffly. John turned' again, and looking, saw that on the seat was something small and red. He picked it up, and the next instant faced the man on the pavement with a red leather case in his hands.

"They're jewels," the man cried eagerly. His eyes were glistening, and a shrewd, hard, cunning look had come into his face. "You'd better let me got rid of 'em for you," he whispered. "I know how to do it. and it'll be quite safe, and I'll get more than you'll get." John stared. " But—they'll have to go to Scotland Yard," he said. The man laughed. "Tho more fool you if you take them there," he cried. "They'll give yer nothing, worth having, and if you come with ma and get rid of 'em, who'll be any the wiser? And perhaps they're worth £50. Let's look at 'em." John hesitated. "No, no," he began; and then somehow he opened the case. He had not meant to do it, but he was curious, and the jewels lay bare to the air almost before ho knew it. The colour went from, his face when he saw them.. It was a small, hollow, silklined case, and lying loosely together was what seemed to be a blinding mass of diamond and emerald brooches and necklaces.

He looked at them dazedly. They gleamed at him mockingly—wicked stones full of an evil light. The man at his side swore under Ins breath.

"Why, they're worth £10,000, I'll Let," he said, hoarsely. "They're real 'nns. I know enough to know that, and they'll make us rich if we work it properly. By Jove, you're a lucky man, you are. _ But you'll let me work it, and have a bib out of it, won't you? Why, there's at _ least £500 apiece out of this, and that'll give us both a start in life. Why, it is a bit of luck." John shut up the case and put it in bis breast pocket. "No, no," he said, "I can't do it." He turned away sharply and went indoors, \ leaving the thief on the paJvement. He ■went up to the room in which tho boy lay . All and pushed open the door gently. ' He held his breath and went forward, and Ms wife held up her hand to silence him. Lfer face was white and set and desperate, ai;.d her lips were twitching;. Ho drew a sharp breath, and the case goi'W heavier against his chest. He fell bark and beckoned his wife outside the door. The dirty, narrow landing struck him with its wretchedness anew, and a sob broke from his lips as he caught his wife's arm. "Ijfenny, Jenny," ho cried, "I can save the lad. Look here

He* dragged the case from his pocket and tore id open, and, in spite of tho darkness of tho landing, the jewels gleamed and flashed. ■

JennjV* drew back with a cry. " Johrt John, whore did you get them?" she cried. He looked round nervously. "Hush,'' he said, in a whisper. "Be quiet about it., They were left in the cab, and there's a ttnan downstairs who can sell them for me. .Only nobody must know. I'll go with him now, and when I come back" Jenny caught his arm. "John, .Tic\hn, no!" she cried, vehemently. "You mustn't do it. Oh, John! Oh, John

She. dropped her head on his shoulders, sobbing convulsively. John stood motionless, suddenly dazed and struck with honor and terror, with Akie case still open in his outstretched hand"Ten thousav *1 pounds," he repeated, mechancially. ' ".'they're worth £10,000!" Jenny held him a little tighter. John, you rm istn't," she cried. " Oh, take them back'at once. Get rid of them, John. We're not thieves • We've been unfortunate, but we've never clone any wrong, and, God help us, John, wo won't be thieves." .John shut the case with a snap and thrust it back into his pot iket. "We won't, we won't," he cried, " and God will look after the little lad."

Ho pushed the half-crown into her hand and turned.

" I'll see if I can give thorn back," he said, " and I'll come -IVack again as soon as I can and see what /he doctor says, and perhaps—perhaps by I .hen there will be a change." John turned away aril wont downstairs. He would bo all right !\ Yes; but if afterwards they coudn't provide him with necessary nourishment, what tli*m '! He drove back to the chambers whore he had left his fare and rang < the bell. Before anyone had time to answer it the door was opened by the man himself, with the diamond still flashing in his , and his face still white and set. \ John touched his cap, and ,tho man drew back into tho hall. "You—you want to see my?" he asked, hurriedly. \ John put his hand in his poeAet. "About something you left i'l my cab, if you please, sir," he said; and' the gentleman looked round with a sudden, sharp movement, as if he was afraid. " All right," he said, quickly. " Come upstairs." John followed him, and in a si Win groom they faced each other. " I know what it is," the man sal d, in a quick, nervous way. " I know exact V why you've come and what you've brought, and 1 want you to help mo to do some thing. I'm a dishonest coward. You can he 1.,0 me to be brave and honest to-night. l|on't give me that case ! Keep it in your pot 'ket, and drive me to Lord Rica's house in Piccadilly. I am Lord Gerald, his eldest son. Go along, and don't give me time to alter v.ny mind." John stared at him for a moment. Then something strange in Lord Geralds facv) made him obey, and he drove as sharply a^>; he could to Lord Rica's house. J When he stopped Lord Gerald got out ij and beckoned him down. "You're to come in, loo," ho said. f Be quick. Tf I go in by myself I may-- - He broke off, and John got down. lie saw that "he was trembling as they stood on the steps together, and when the butler opened the door he half hesitated. "Am I to come in, sir?" said John, and Lord Gerald went forward. John was told to wait in the hall, and 10 minutes later he was summoned into one ot the rooms which led away from it. It was a long evidently a library, and an old man, with a gray face stood by the mantelpiece, and seated at the centre table, with his face in his hands, was Lord Gerald. He turned as John entered. "Will you please give Lord Rica the case you found in your cab ?" ho said; and John held it out in a shaking hand. *

Lord Rioa looked at him keenly and opened the case. The jewels flashed and gleamed once more— far brighter than they shone in his dismal roomand he breathed a sigh of relief. He was freed from the temptation now. "You found these in your cab?" Lord Rica asked.

John touched his cap. "I did, sir—my lord, I mean," he said. "Left—left by one of your fares, I suppose V" he added. John hesitated a moment. " Yes, sir," he said. "I suppose youyou would not remember the man if you saw him again '(" John looked doubtfully at Lord Gerald. He did not move, and John grew red and hot. "I—l—don't know, my lord,' he stammered. The old man's brows came down sharply upon his gray eyes, and then he took a step forward. " Well, you look honest, and I'll trust you, he said. "Perhaps you know what it is to face trouble yourself?" John's lips twitched, and Lord Rica's eyes softened. _ .

"Well," he said, "to-night we are giving a ball, and this afternoon Lady Rica's jewels were brought from the bank and deposited in my private safe. An hour afterwards nearly thirty thousand pounds' worth of them had disappeared. Some of them were in the case in'your cab. The others—l— I have managed to get back. Tomorrow you will see in the papers an account of the loss and of the recovery, bit no explanation of how they were returned, Can you keep the secret?" .John caught his breath. He did not dare., to look at Lord Gerald, but he faced Lord Rica squarely. . "That I can, my lord." he said, and Lord Rica took out a'handful of gold and dropped it without counting into John's palm. ( " Now give me your name and address, he said, " and come and see. me at eleven o'clock to-morrow." In the papers the next day following the account of the sensational loss of Lacy Rica's jewels was a small paragraph:— _ "Lord Rica informed a reporter last incut that the jewels had all been recovered, and that the matter was at an end so far as he was concerned." That was all, and that was all Lord Rica ever informed anybody. A week later John Belter became coachman to Lord Rica, and a little later Lead Rica's eldest son went abroad. There were many rumours about him before he went— of racing debts and gambling and dissipation: but not a word leaked out about the jewels, and to this day only two people guess who stole them. John Belter guesses, but he was very near stealing them himself. Mrs. Belter guesses, but as Lord Rica saved the life of her little lad, she would rather die than utter a word. As for Lord Gerald, he long ago wiped out tho sins of his youth, and even his father has almost forgotten that he ever had anything to wipe out.