EDITOR'S WALLET.

Otago Witness, Issue 2727, 20 June 1906, Page 79

EDITOR'S WALLET.

Br Daniel Cox.

WIILIE WEST.

CHAPTER V.

— Justice Justified. — A police station, however inviting its appe-araiice, is -rarely accounted a pleasant harbourage by the anchorites from time to time, concerned. Even the lady who is credited witli having formed a familiar acquaintance on the strength of I*s visits has been hoard to declaie that she has failed to conjure up any love for the place ; end thus it is not too much to believe that

a night's sojourn in the Dunedin Police "Station produced in the bosom of Willie West thoughts tie reverse of pleasant. Having placed Willie in safe confinement, the constable who had disturbed his midnight slumbers iiad left him with a brief good-nighr ; and the cold, bare-looking-walls of the station room, the prevailing silence within the "building, and the deeper silence within Willies bosom were altogether factors jiot conducive to peace of mind. And multitudinous "became the repentant thoughts of Mr William We»t. Why had ho left home? Why had he -forsaken the loving-, tender care of Aunt Jeanie ?• The becoming a great man, the building of a great house, the great triumphant vengeance upon sister Mary assumed the -'appearance of a hideous nightmare —

x boil that stung its owner. Why had he joined -the great 6ecret society, the Bluegum Dodgers? Now he had time to recollect, he appeared to have joined it without any definite- desire in the matter. But, oh,

how he wished he was at home again with •Aunt Jeanie asking him to say grace, and Mary teasing him about the creases in his trousers. How mean he had been about these creases ! Now he came to think of it, it was the simplest thing in the world to place his trousers upon the chair and avoid the creasing. Then why had he not done it? And the waters rolled fast and furious down the smooth cheek area of Willies face. If — how that "if" frightened ■Willie^ — if he evej: got home again — well, he would be the kindest, decentest little fellow in the world Never again would he crease his trousers or answer Aunt ■Jeanie back. Never again would he turn the collars of his jacket inside out. The chaps at school could barrack him as they liked, but he wouldn't give a fig for them. And as for Mary— well, he would forgive her entirely, and every time she told tales on him he would simply' give her a kiss. But would he -ever get the chance again? "Well, Mir West, how aro you? and a law officer, with a white embroidered coat, smiled benignly upon Willie. "Quite well, thank you," responded Willie. "Quite well, are you, my b.oy? Ha, ha! ■Whose clothes have you got on, by the. wa"y?" "His Honor's, sir," responded Willie. "Who's his Honor, my boy?" "His'Honox!" replied "Willie, slightly surprised at the law officer's ignorance. "So you said, ,my boy ; but wno is his Honor?" "His Honor, .sir!"' repealed Willie. ■ The law officer got a trifle r«d. "You've already told me that twice, my lad : but I want to know who his Honor is? What is his real name?" "Why, his Honor, sir !" responded Willie again, his confidence increasing at his interlocutor's evident ignorance. The law officer got redder. Then, stroking his moustache, be laughed quietly. . "I see, my boy. You don't know his real name, but I have an idea that I do, and the "police force of "the Oity of l>uxi«<Jin will lay their hands upon his Honor before he is many days older. Ha, ha 1" And tapping Willie benevolently upon the shoulder, the officer took out his handkerchief from bis -pocket, blew his nose, and departed. "William West! William West! William West !" echoed and re-echoed 'through the corridor adjacent to the Juvenile Court, and disturbed the tranquillity of a peaceful Mar morning. Immediately upon the sound of his -name, Willie received a thrust that sent him head first into the handsome court room, to become an object for the closest scrutiny of 30 pairs of inquisitive eye 6. Perpendicularly, upon a sort of raised platform, sat a gentleman of- a superior order, who, happening to be a magistrate, stared hard at Willie as he made his appearance in tho court. Immediately lelow the magistrate . c at a less important gentleman, who, happening to be a clerk, stared particularly hard at Willie. Around the table and beneath the clerk sat several law officers of more or less importance, and two or three thin gentlemen who wrote thin hieroglyphic characters for thin salaries, and who all wheeled round their chairs to stareat Willie; while at the far end of the court an' expressman, two old-age pensioners, three gentlemen out of employment, two constables, a casual l&hourer. and a 'Chinaman all craned their necks and bulged their ej-es in one great collective stare at Willie. And feeling that staring was the general occupation, Willie stared and trembled alternately. "William West," said the clerk sternly, "you are hereby charged with having been ' found at midnight, in a state of somnolence, without reasonable excuse, on the steps of certain business premises— 10 wit, Messrs A. and 8., warehousemen, general merchants, and direct importers. Moray place. How do you plead — ' Guilty ' or 'Not guilty? ' " Willie stared, gathered optical water, and staired again. "How do you plead — 'Guilty' or 'Not guilty?'" repeated the rlerk, staring at Willie with a ferocity altogether law- like, though slightly at variance with the owner's humility of position. "Beg pardon?" stammered "Willie, his optical reservoirs overflowing. The clerk sniffed hie disgust at this very apparent prevarication, while the law officers folded their arms and smiled smiles of immense depth. "Guilty?" called out one of these latter gentlemen, looking at Willie, and then nodding to the clerk. "Guilty!" repeated the clerk, snatching up his pen with a flourish, and dropping three distinct blots of ink on to the blue paper beneath his ncee. "Did the boy plead 'Guilty?'" inquired the magistrate, straightening and looking fixedly at the law officer. "I think so, your Worship," stammered the law officer. The magistrate looked at the law officer again, and then, turning quietly to Willie, said, "How do you plead, my boy? Have you a home, fi lends, or any means of support?" "Aunt Jeanie,'' stammered Willie. "Beg pardon, my boy?'' "Aunt Jeanie," repeated Willie, with a gurg'e. "Don't cry, my lad,"' said the magistrate kindly. "Come here a moment." Willie did as bidden, and at the kindly magistrate's request poured into his ear the tale of distr-esa with which tho roader is already acquainted, and received in jeturn from the magistrate a kindly pat on the hack. "The. boy pleads ' Not guilty,' " he said, looking- at tho law ofiicer, and then bendinar over the clerk. The clerk sniffed, dropped two more blots of ink, and scribbled hastily on the paper. The law officer bit his lip, and intimated that he wouli' like to expla.in matters a little. He would direct, very respectfully, his Worship's attention to the boy's apparel, (o the fact that at midnight the boy had Leon found sleeping on the doorstep of one of the business houses in the c^ty; to t-he further fact that, according to liis aunt's or guardian's statement, the boy had been away from home a day and two nights. In consideration of these facts he /the law offices) would respectfully sug-ge-t to his Worship that the accused boy was of vasjabondish instincts, and likely to develop if he were not at thiE, an early aae, restrained. However, he would call the boy's aunt to give evidence it his Worship desired it. His Worship desired it, certainly. A slight commotion at the court door. aJid Miss Jemima Thompson, handkerchief in hand, appeared in the witm-s3 box In after da.y3 Aunt Jeanie was. wont to pay that she never couid understand haw, at that critical moment, she managed to

sustain herself. Providence, she knew, had had something to do with it, though had she lost hfer presence of mind and looked, for ever so brief a moment -at "Willie, Providence's kindly intentions might have been frustrated. "You-swear-to-speak-the-truth, the-whole-truth, ond-nothing-but-thc-truth," etc., was the first noise that assailed Aunt Jeanie's ears. The second and subsequent batches were of more intelligible nature. — Had the accused, William West, given her much trouble in the bringing up? — None whatever ; a deairerv boy had never brexthed. ■ Could she explain his present position? — No, not exactly ; but she thought it was a little of that animal spirit that Dr Brown had often told her about. It was in Willia, but he would grow out of it, so the doctor had said. Had she, Jemima Thompson, treated the accused in any manner such as would cause a. boy — an ordin"a*-y, naturaJ boy, with the animal spirits thrown in — to leave home? — "God forbid." and Aunt Jemima found relief in a burst of tears. Did she think that in the future she would be capable of restraining the boy's adventuresome spirit and keep him off the streets? — With the help of God, she believed . ehe could. Good! The boy we 3 discharged with a caution to the effect that should he appear in court again he would bo birched. The clerk smiled, and dropped a third allotment of blot - forming tne fixst letter of the word "birched." The law officers - smiled in a manner clearly indicative of birching anticipations. A constable seized Willie by tho arm and led him from the court in a zig-zag path that bore a close I resemblance to the constable's homely handI writing of the word "birched" ; while the J Chinamen in the corner slapped his knee and ambled out of the court with a bearing that admitted of no ambiguous eonJ struction whatever. But once outside- Aunt Jemima flung her arms around Willies neck and gave vent to a number of unintelligible «ounds that signified the distinct Gj>fx^«it^ -of Ijijrcrtfcing ; -wrkile Mary, emerging from the end of the passage, thrust a small piece of paper into Willies hand, the very feel of which demonstrated i it to te brown eaigar. Of Willies retuirn to his home nothing need be said beyond the simple recording of the fact that it was a veritable triumpH, sufficient to make the late Admiral Tom Rodney stir uneasily in hi 6 grave. Even Mrs Hannigan joined in the general rejoicing, adding, however, that she hoped it wouldn't occur <acain; "though there -was no knowin' what them poor children, deprived of the nateral fove of a nateral ' mother, would be takin' into their poor heads to do next." To which semi -prop h-scy the neighbours, though they bore nothing but the friendliest goodwill towards Miss Thompson herself, felt that they > ought to give concurrency, as .Mrs Hannigan. being a mother o**ll children, and having brought them all up respectablfe and well, _s a mother should,, ought to know. WTiat Master Thomas Hannigan thought on the 1 subject we prefer to leave to conjecture ; for at the precise "moment of Mrs Hannigan'B declaration, he was -ejjg-aged in oooling in the gutter a certain injured portion of his anatomy, that a few brief moments before had been in occupancy of a prominent position on the maternal lap, in receipt of a few evidences of that natural love so essential to the proper bringing up of children — particularly when the odds j against the "natural" are 11 to 1. [The End.]