THE NOVELIST

Observer, Volume 1, Issue 16, 25 December 1880, Page 138

THE NOVELIST

HUNTED DOWN.

A NOVEL. By Adolphe Belot,

CHAPTER VII. (continued.)

The little man took up a packet of papers from the table, and slowly read the report of which we have already given extracts. The reading over, Mr. Trail asked Brownpath if the report was correct. " Entirely so," replied the prisoner. " Then you admit that in consequence of your altercation with Hardcastle, you gave him bills to the amount of five thousand pounds." "I did." " What has become of these bills?" quickly asked the magistrate. " They should have been found at my lodgings, since, I understand, they have been searched." "Yes, they were so found, but how came they there?" "Ina very simple way. I met them, and they were handed over to me." j "By whom?" " By Maurice Hardcastle himself." "When?" "The afternoon before his death, which was was the morrow of the date when my bills became due." " That is impossible ; you went to St. John's Wood, and nobody was at home." " Yes, I was told that Mr. Hardcastle had gone out, and would not be home again until evening. But I was anxious to discharge my obligations to him. I knew that he regarded me with but little favour after our quarrel, and I feared the expense which might result, so I went in search of him, and found him." "Where?" "In Oxford-street, along which he was in the daily habit of walking when he left the Exchange. It must have been about half -past three." "And it was there, in the street, that you paid him ? That is scarcely probable." "Why? Securities of importance change hands every moment amongst men on the 'Change, on the staircase perhaps, or in the neighbouring streets. Five thousand pounds don't take up much space." "And I suppose you will say too that Hardcastle had about him your bills ?" " I do. He must have had them about him, seeing that he gave them up tome on the spot." ' ' That is hardly credible. " "Allow me to observe that my creditor, when I handed him the bills, warned me that he should proceed against me at once if they were not met on the day they became due. The day following that date had arrived without his having heard a word from me, and he had no doubt gone out with the bills in his pocket for the purpose of carrying out his threat." Sir Henry, evidently rendered impatient by these replies of Brownpath, reflected for a moment, and then resumed. "This account, which, I admit, has been cleverly concocted by you, fails in one essential particular. Hardcastle told several persons that he had no expectation of being repaid by you. If that had happened, as you say it did, surely he would have lost no time in informing his friends of the pleasant intelligence." " He would not have paid them a visit for that express purpose, and accident no doubt prevented his meeting them." " There you are wrong. He dined with one of them on the 19th October." "Well," replied Brownpart, without being in the least disconcerted, " he must have been preoccupied with some other matter, or possibly he had his reasons for not publicly stating what had happened. It is sometimes prudent to avoid mentioning to a friend that you have just received an unexpected sum of money. That friend might attempt to borrow from you, and so put you to inconvenience or embarrassment. " " The latter feeling will never trouble you — you have always a reply, more or less happy, at command," replied the magistrate, this time visibly put out. " What answer will you make to this question ? How did you come by the the five thousand pounds which you pretend you repaid?" The accused, who so far had replied without hesitation, was silent. " Did you hear me ?" asked Sir Henry, "or are you under the necessity of arranging your reply?" "Oh ! sir," said Brownpath, with a smile, "if I needed to prepare my reply, 1 should have had, you must allow, time enough since the commencement of this long examination to do so. The question you have put is one of great importance, and I certainly anticipated it. My hesitation, however, proceeded from the fear that my reply may not satisfy you." " It will not, then, be entirely satisfactory ?" "No, not to you, a practical man leading a regular life, and not disposed to allow of certain eccentric methods of raising money." " Let us hear about these methods." After having thus skilfully prepared the magistrate for what lie was about to say, Brownpath proceeded— "l was for two months very much worried with respect of discharging my debt to Hardcastle. I knew that he was sufficiently illdisposed towards me and I dreaded proceedings, the least result of which would have been the loss of my credit. I had then recourse to one of those methods, neither novel nor unusual with young men in desperate cases, but which, as a rule, fail of success. At the beginning of October I sold some articles of jewellery and art treasures which I had contrived to save from the wreck of my effects at various times. I boiTOwed five-and-twenty pounds from one friend and thirty from another, and thus managed to scrape together three thousand five hundred pounds, with which I betook myself to Crockford, where "roulette" and " trente et quarante " flourish. I hazarded a thousand pounds there, and, thanks to a new system on which I had long been bent, I succeeded in winning nearly three thousand in a couple of days." The magistrate looked as if he did not believe

a word of all this, but Brownpath did not appear to notice the effect which his tale had produced, and went on — "From Crockford I proceeded to the Rag and Famish, playing with unbroken success. In short, I returned with a sum of five thousand pounds, which I devoted to paying off my creditor in full. Such is my story— a very simple one in reality, but, unluckily for me, like anything truly simple, it appears at first sight exceedingly complicated." "And how will you prove that you won three thousand pounds ?" " That is more difficult, I admit. Nevertheless, several people saw me both play and win." " Strangers or people unknown ; where will you find them again ?" " Good heavens ! sir," cried Brownpath, with a certain amount of excitement as if he were annoyed at his word being so persistently doubted, "when I was seated at the gambling tables, I could not forsee I should be charged with murder, and that, in defence of my life and liberty, I should have to account for my luck in play. If I had forseen any such thing, I should have taken care to forward every evening a declaration in form signed by those who held the bank and the croupiers." Without replying to this outburst of sarcasm, during which the prisoner, for the first time since the commencement of thelengthy interview lost some of his habitual calm, Sir Henry rose, and, turning towards Brownpath, said to him — "My clerk will read over to you your examination, and will then ask you to sign it." "Very well, sir, I am at your orders." He brought his chair close to the desk of Mr. Trail, and appeared to listen with unremitting attention. Whilst this reading, Avhich occupied more than half an hour and was not interrupted by a single remark from Brownpath, was going on, Sir Henry, seated at his desk, was plunged in a deep reverie. He could not conceal from himself that, in spite of his efforts, he had utterly failed in penetrating the darkness surrounding the tragedy in St. John's Wood. Nay more, this darkness grew more and more dense. It Avas on Brownpath that his suspicions had fallen ; of all the persons connected with this affair he was the only one on whom any possibility of guilt could be fixed, and he was escaping him. Yes, he was escaping him, or would very shortly do so, as it was evident that nothing, so to speak, but negative suspicions had been brought to bear against him. To the questions put to him he had not always replied in a thoroughly satisfactory manner, but none of his answers condemned him. If he had not given certain proof of his innocence, neither could any serious evidence of his guilt be discovered. Sir Henry, without going beyond the bounds of legality, and without laying himself open to any reproaches of conscience, could still make use of rigorous measures with regard to Brownpath and could prolong his arrest, but he was fully conscious that no evidence had been brought against him sufficient to allow of his actually being committed for trial to an assize court. "Sir," said Brownpath to the clerk, when the reading of the examination was over, " the replies winch I have had the honour of making to the magistrate have been transcribed by you with the most perfect exactness. I have nothing to stiy against these minutes of the proceedings, and I would sign them with both hands, if that Avere necessary." He then rose, took the hat which he had put on the mantel-piece, and turned to Sir Henry as if aAvaiting his orders. "Mr. BroAvnpath, " said the magistrate, evidently ill at ease and slightly put out by the polite manners of the accused, ' ' I foresee that I shall have to put some further questions to you, and, ponding that, I shall be obliged to keep you in arrest." Brownpath did not reply, contenting himself Avith a silent boAv. "But," added Sir Henry, "I may in some degree render your position less unpleasant ; for instance, you will not be in solitary confinement." "Oil ! solitary confinement does not frighten me. When one arrives at my age and has lived the life I haA T e, isolation and the opportunity of recalling and reflecting on the past ought to be a matter for rejoicing. There is not much leisure in this existence — it is an incessant whirlpool of business or pleasure with time only to act, not to muse. My captivity Avill be of advantage in that it Avill give my mind an interval of repose, and I shall emerge from prison, I hope, less excited, less feverish, and having gained in strength. So, whilst thanking you for your good intentions toAvards me, I beg of you most earnestly not to give them effect. Besides, I can assure you that I expect no Adsits ; I haA'e not a single intimate friend, and none of the companions of my pleasures Avill put themselves out, I knoAV, to come and see me. If I could gain access for them to my prison, they might be tempted by curiosity, but au intervieAV m a waiting room, Avith Avhich they doubtless Avould haA'e to content themselves, would not be sufficiently attractive." "As you please," replied the magistrate, boAving in his turn to BroAvnpath in token of their interview being at an end. Then turning to the registrar, he said, "Tell the persons Avho are in waiting outside that this prisoner is about to AvithdraAV." BroAvnpath comprehended the courtesy extended to him. He Avas to be alloAved to lestvji the magistrate's office in the same way that he entered it, as a visitor and a man at large, not •as a prisoner ; he would only find his escort in the corridor. Bowing once more in acknoAvledgment of this piece of politeness, he opened the door himself and disappeared. Then Eleanor, who had loyally kept her promise and had not interrupted the proceedings, so deeply interesting to her, by a word _ or a gesture, got up from her seat, pushed aside the screen which had concealed her, and advanced, looking pale and stern, towards Sir Henry. When she Avas within tAvo paces of him she stopped, and, stretching out her arm in the direction of the door through Avhich Brownpath had passed, said Avich fierce energy : " The man Avho has just gone out through that door, the man you have just had under examination, is my husband's murderer !" [To be continued,."]

WAIKATO WHISPERINGS,

— The youthful and killing T continues to ride Ids circus charger. — Flowers are rather scarce in Hamilton. E. M. E., however, appears daily sauntering to his office with a charming button-hole. — R. S. says his necktie is not red but -winecolour. In order to prevent mistakes in future he has purchased a white one. — Mac is much exercised about the par in the Waikato Times referring to an alleged " sweet thing "in family broils. He can't find out anything about it. — The village B. has no chance with the blooming widow, and was given to understand so quite inadvertently the other day atTe Aroha, whither he had driven her. —By the way, his horse didn't bolt with him on this occasion. m — Mrs. and Miss Vialou gave a very nice little bread-and-butter ball to a number of their friends on Friday evening last. The night being magnificently fine the verandah was in great request. His Worship the Mayor of Hamilton, though invited, was unable to be present. — Von is dreadfully cut up about the tract, and says nobody but his friend S. E. G. Smith could have written the par., for the reason that he confided the account of the sell to no one else. Smith peached to me, but is much too pleased to deny the charge, and bears his stolen honors with a most becoming modesty. — There has been a slight disturbance amongst the Cambridge Catholics, owing to the lady who plays the organ at the local church tin-owing Tip the job in a "huff" for a Sunday or so. It appears madame thought the choir were negligent in attending practices, quite overlooking the fact that many liad a long way to come. The Lord Abbott liowever threw oil on the troubled waters and all is now right again. At six a.m. on Saturday Peacock, the indefatigable, carried his threat against Beale into execution, and on the Bridge notice-boards, where formerly shone the words "B. C. Beale, Mayor," there now appears great white daubs of paint. "I have wiped him out," said the Borough workman exultingly to a friend shortly after the performance. — Talking of his "Worship, reminds me that he had great difficulty in getting installed. Not being on the best of terms with the late Mayor, and Councillors Price, Mullions, Jones and Vialou, those gentlemen, naturally enough — being gentlemen — refused to sanction the proceedings, and kept away. Councillor Davis was away at the Aroha, so there remained only McGarrigle, Peat and Hill willing and able to attend. After three attempts to form a quorum, a free entertainment being provided on each occasion, on Thursday Knox got a buggy and went to the diggings for Davis, bringing back his prize in triumph the next day, when the meeting was held and everything necessary done. A seventy -mile race for the Mayorality ! But then a man must do something for his country