A SCIENTIFIC WIND RAISER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 4519, 6 March 1886, Page 2

A SCIENTIFIC WIND RAISER.

OR THE FINANCING WAITER : CLEVERNESS, CREDULITY, CAUGHT, AND QUOD. [A NOVELETTE. — CONTINUED.] [by a. pudd.] We had brought poor Browne safely out of the witness box where he had given evidence on behalf of hia late fiancee's mother, charged by the bailiff with speaking to him obscenely, the good woman being defended by the terribly prosy lawyer who made all compelled to listen to him curse the day ho was born because he was bo exasperatingly long-winded and kept them going till the stuffy little Court room was like a Turkish bath, and the weary magistrate seemed about to expire of asphyxia. Before this and after the young woman and her mother had developed a tendency to again take Browne to their bosoms, and were willing to forget the lambasting they had given him if he would. Browne appeared willing to do his best to forget and the reconciliation was apparently complete, as Browne was several times seen in the women's company. Some mild festivity was indulged in by the trio and their friends at the women's house, and they devoted several evenings to melodious harmony, a neighbor assisting with his flute and Browne and the women doing the best to make their voices blend. Dancing was even indulged in and kept up till the poor flute player had almost blown himself through his flute and the dancers were ready to drop — indeed, but for liberal refreshments they could not have kept up so long. The ladies seemed to have fully resumed possession of Browne, who kept expressing his conviction that the money " would come," and the women seemed to share his belief. The creditors tried to beliove it, too, but the poor fellows did not seen able to bo very confident. Browne was next called on to give evidence in a horse case arising out of his exploits. In this, however, he was merely a witness and not a principal. There had been a little "diamond cut diamond " between two other parties in regaining possession of a horse ; but the main fact was that Browne had been unable to keep it, the payment for it not being forthcoming. The* carpenters then sued the elder woman for £70 or so f r repairing her house. Both she and Browne deposed that the work had been done for him, but as a cheque of hi 3to the plaintiffs was not honored the men elicited to sue the woman, and as the order had been given through her they won their case, despite all the dreadfully prosy lawyer could do. The plaintiffs 1 jst no time either in taking steps to sell up the defendant, and the necessary formidable looking legal advertisement quickly appeared. When in the witness box and questions of a delicate nature had been°put to him, Browne had plaintively appealed to the Court as to the necessity to answer them. The poor woman found herself ordered to pay for what her prospective son-in-law had in the kvishness of his anticipations caused to be done to the house. The formidable legal notice had just appeared, when one morning there was great commotion in the township. Soon after a mail had arrived Browne was seen rushing about and darting at short intervals into the office of " his legal adviser," and having conferences in the street with his creditors, several of whom tried to look quite jubilant. The town was very dull at the time and any little event was quite a windfall, and everybody was soon agog with the cry " Browne's got his money ! " Everybody began to say " I told you so ! 1 knew it would be all right ! " and everybody began to blame everybody else for daring to hint that there had been any suspicion about the business. When the excitement cooled off a bit there was a disposition to ascertain hard facts if possible, and by degrees it came out that one of the many lawyers in the place had received a copy of a will he had sent all the way to England for, and this will purported to make Browne entitled to several hundred pounds on the death of an elderly lady who had the life use of it. This was very different to the thousands previously talked of, buh still it was somethingassuming it to be all right. The creditors of course began to enquire when they might expect to get anything, and were told that a power of attorney had been ordered instantly to be sent Home to realise on the interest, and that if they would only wait a little longer they would Hee — —what they would see. It was a great day for Browne, He at once placed a man in possession of the furnituro and things to see nobody got at them, and hints were thrown out thai though the creditors had been rather hart"; and had done a little fleecing, yet thai magnanimity would prevail and the.

would be*paid-it would be all right. He was very jubilant and made a hard day ot it, running about, taking oft his hat wiping his forehead and looking generally all importance and bustle. Ho was last seen going home with the ladies, carrying ham and eggs. They were no doubt going to celebrate the event with a good blovy out. Browne had been most familiar with his creditors during tho day, and even walked arm-in-arm with the confiding jeweller. The creditors did not display any eagerness to offer more credit till tho money actually came ; they thought prudtmco the better part of enterprise. Browne, on the other hand, declared that after the way he had boen treated, the suspicions mentioned, and tho epithets applied, he c >uld not think of any longer bestowing hia patronage locally, and declared he would henceforth send to a distant city for hia supplies. In fact Browno was himself again. He even pretended to bj going in for a little law, and said he would indulge in that expensive luxury by suing the local paper for libel and slander, defamation and all the rest of it. He talked very big generally on nearly every subject. Poor Browne ! He deserved his little triumph, such as it was, after all he had gone through. The elder woman, however, did not again revel in her £200 a year, and the tub did not seem likely to be banished, and the execution was still impending. The very sharp trinity pricked up their ears, of course, but became misanthropic when they found that the few hundreds to come at some indefinitely future time would not be half enough to pay for the hotel they had sold Browne. Browne indulged in a little refreshment that evening, which went down all the better after a long period of short commons. He was thoroughly happy perhaps, for a short time at any rate, and if the champagne made him forget care for a period there for a time we will leave him. (To be continued.)