THE NOVELIST

Observer, Volume 2, Issue 29, 2 April 1881, Page 307

THE NOVELIST

HUNTED DOWN.

A NOVEL. By Adolphe Belot

CHAPTER XXII,

They went down the stairs. A cab was passing, and pushing Burritt before him, Cooke said — "Get in first, I beg. Don't stand on ceremony." He told the driver to proceed in the direction of Newgate, and seated himself by the convict. For a moment neither spoke, each giving way to his own reflections without disturbing his companion. {Soon, however, Burritt, whose nerves were being shaken by the forced inaction, gave a vigorous kick at the seat in front of him, and exclaimed — " To betray me thus — me, who have done so much for her ! Have I ever let her want for anything ? Never ? She has had from me all she desired. I was the slave of her every whim. If she had said to me, ' I want that shop full of jewellery,' I would have stripped the place the next night. One day, as we were walking along Oxford-street, slie called out, ' That dress would suit me to perfection.' That same evening it was in her room." "You bought it?" asked Cooke, ironically. " No," replied the convict, proudly, '• I stole it. Did I want money for myself ?" he went on to say. "Nothing of the kind. A glass of wine, a hunch of bread, and a truss ot straw. I asked for no more. It was for her sake that I was bound to have money at all risks. It was to meet her expenses that I first turned thief, and then murderer." "Forsooth," said the detective, sententiously, " take any crime you like, scratch the surface of it, and you will find a woman underneath. That idea is none of mine ; it is as old as the hills. Would Adam have picked the apple if Eve had not hankered after it ?" "The last time I was sent to the hulks," continued Burritt, following out his own train of thought, "it was her doing. Did I ever reproach her?" No, and at Portland I still found means to get hold of money for her to spend. For that 1 made those straw boxes and cocoanut manikins. But that was not enough. One day she wrote to me to say that sne wanted £5, and how was I to find them on the hulks ? I thought of robbing three convict warders of their savings. For that I was condemned to the black hole for a month in double irons, but she got the money to pay her rent." ' ' Men are unjust, " remarked Cooke, ' 'robbing a warder merited a reward." "In short," said Burritt, continuing to soliloquise in his corner, " it is for her sake that I have committed all my crimes, those that have come come to light, as well as those that nobody knows of." Here Cooke started voluntarily. The convict ct's last words, "the crimes which have come to light, as well as that nobody knows," aroused from his listessness. " Bye-the-way, do you know Avhat time it is?" said Cooke, after a momentary pause of reflection. "Hem ! What does it matter to me what o'clock it is ?" "An idea lias just flashed over me." "What?" " It is too early to see Sally." "Ah !" shouted the convict in a threatening tone, "you are already on the look-out for an excuse to break faith with me." "You are a queer customer," said Cooke calmly, " at the slightest provocation you go off for all the world like a squib. What I have had the honour to convey to you is, nevertheless, very simple. I cannot present myself at the prison and say to the jailers, ' Gentlemen, allow me to introduce my friend, Burritt, an escaped convict. He is desirous of a moment's interview with his sweetheart, who at the present time is an inmate of your house; would you have the kindness, gentlemen, either to request the young lady's attendance in her draw-ing-room, or to conduct Burritt to her chamber !" " Well, and what then?" asked Burritt curtly. " Well," replied Cooke, as mildly as ever, "I simply propose to Avhile away two or three hours, where and as you please.. There is a little delay, that is all. You can rely upon me, because I promise you I will not leave you. At 9 a.m., we will betake ourselves to the prison, I shall interview the chief of the detective force for an instant, I will tell him that I have pledged my word to yon, and he will assist me in fulfilling my engagement. At 10 a.m., at the latest, you will be in the presence of the girl. Does that suit you ?" " It must siiit me," said the convert surlily. "Come, now, you are showing yourself amenable to reason. I expected as much from you. The question is, what are we to do with our spare time ? Have you an idea ?" " No." " AVhat say you to a good breakfast ?" " I am not hungry." " Selfish being i That you may not be hungry is quite possible, but as for me, who had to get up at 5 a.m , to call upon you, you don't think of me. And leaning out of the door, he called to the driver to put them down at Quins. On arriving they got out of the cab and were shown into a room. Cooke then ordered an excellent breakfast suitable for the occasion, and seating himself opposite to the convict, said to himself "t am not fit to belong to the police if by the time we have finished breakfast I have not wormed all his secrets out of this fool. I wonder what nice things, in hidden crimes, he has been guilty [To be continued.']