CHAPTER X.

Observer, Volume 9, Issue 529, 9 February 1889, Page 7

CHAPTER K.

STAII'i.'.IICG ?.!:'■'.■•>. At the inquest on ihe human reavin?, which Arthur attended, through Coppin's ini'ui/neo, a verdict was returned of ' Found dead,' with a rider of, ' but how de'jc;;s?d came by his death there is no evidence to show.' It was proved, however, that the remains belonged to the missing seaman, Rawlings. The shreds of clothing j verc identified, as was also the iron-grey hair I adhering to the skull. The ' severed hand' also [ bore ghastly evidence to the proof, and after voll uminou ■■; testimony was adduced to swell the ' police reports, Arthur and Coppin found themselves back in Hereford-street, the lattor in the personal r;"ue of Senor Ybanes, which became him so well. Consequent upon their arrival came a note from Lucy Falconer, requesting Arthur's attendance at the North Belt. ' Such a startling surprise,' she wrote; 'Frank is alive. Had sent notice of his whereabouts, and Mrs Osbern and her daughter go forthwith to Sydney to be near him. They go to-day, and will be obliged if you j will see them off.' j ' Ah, ! said Ybanes, ' I have a little busim ss 1 down town. It is probable, my iYrthur, that the ; business will bs pressing. I shall not turn up j for six weeks !' The letter which Lucy read \o Arthur was a remarkable one. It had been dictated by Osbern, who it appeared was a patieat in the hospital at Newcastle, New South Wales, where ha had been seriously ill, and the letter hr.d been dictated to and written by a lady, the chaiacters bern;? very neat, angular, and decisive, so much so, that it was easy to infer that the correspondent possessed a" will of her own. It was addressed to 1 Mrs Osbern, Wairuru, near Christchurch, New Zealand,' and" had been sent down to Lucy's address, with the other bi- weakly home letters. 'It is indeed a pleasant surprise for us,' Frank's mother had said to Arthur, as he held her hand in brief farewell near the steamer's gangway. ' I shall be overjoyed to g(-i my boy back again at any price, but it may be some time before we return, as his health is so uncertain.' Ihe letter read by Lucy ran thus : - ' Ward A, ' Newcastle Hospital. ■ 'My dearest Mother and Sistev,— Pending enquiries made by the police, I send you details of the unt'orseen accident which caused nry abrupt, and to you, no doubt, most distressful departure from New Zealand. ' I have been dangerously ill. My kind nurse, Miss Spencer, at my wish, sends you these lines. - 'To be brief— l met a man in the sana-mhs_on the day of the picnic. He said he was a discharged sailor. He was out of work. He asked me for money. '1 supplied him, and went on, recommending him to take to the sea again. ' Shortly afterwards I felt a stunning crash on mv head. <

' I was dimly conscious 01 a struggle, in which I fought desperately to save my life. ' Then ail was a blank. When I came to I was partially buried with sand. The moon and stars were shining, but they seemed all mixed up, and the earth seemed to be rocking and whirling. It seemed to me to be a convulsion of nature. I thought the end of the world had come suddenly, and rushed away (;o escape destruction. I saw the waves rolling on the beach. They seemed all red, like blood. A black object diiffced in a boat ! Then I remember being seated in it, pulling frantically away from the mad confusion ashore. I lost consciousness again. Then I heard a shout, saw lights, felt a sudden shock, and sank under water. ' When consciousness again returned, I was surrounded by seamen in a ship. Then I became insensible again. There was a doctor on board. The vessel was one of Anderson's colliers, outward bound from Port Lyttelton. Having slipped oft', and dreading st.vt.s3 of weather, they wore anxious to clear the coast oft' which they had picked me up. ' They took me -with them. 'My head was injured. I was only conscious at intervals. The doctors have trepanned the injured part, and removed a bone pressing en the brain. 'I believe I wandered dreadfully in my mind all the time about a hand severed at the wrist. My assailant never robbed me. I remember teeing him rushing oii howling and moaning. My mind is contused, and it will be some time, so say the doctors, before 1 get right. _ Como quickly, motner and sister, to your anxious son and brother, ' Fhajtk.' Not a word of Lucy ! ' Strange !' mused Arthur. 'He forgets her in the thought of self." Lucy herself seemed uneasy and slightly morti lied, bin she said little, and it was not consklertd advisable for he.v to go. However, three weeks afterwards, a letter came from Mrs Osbern, saying that owing to legal enquiries, which were very terrible, involving some suspicion of her son being a murderer, owing to his continued ill health, and hi--, harassing nervousnoos connected with any reference to the subject; of the picnic or Now Brighton, she thought it best, at her son's mines!, to release her t'rum any engagement, ttaiing that travel and removal from all parts connected with the past was absolutely necessary. Frank's mind was unhinged with the shoc-i:, exposure, and injury. When he wafc. a little stronger he would wrUe. By and bye unother iei-ter came. It was from Frank himself. He reloaded Lucy completely j from any promi.-a on her part. She would see it was for the best. He was completely broken down. Any revival of t.ba past made him wor.^e. It wr.3 a hidr-ous dream. They were going to England. V/.iiruru wn. f ; to be sclA. kibe would J always be respected and esteemed by him. and j fch !.•:■« were a i'evv movo lints we need not pry into, but thy made the decision sirrivfed ut unalleri able rmd avA on Lucy's part as well ;i3 his. It j j was almost a tacit admission that Vie had tost his ! heart r.o the nurse, who had been so unremitting! v kind to him. And io the IVuurn'o drifted away i'ven Lucy's 1 kc-n. ! C'riwiltingly, too, her heart wa? estranged. It i had gone to Aithr.r. They had \r..on thrown bo i much together, both on bcrad :-l;ip .me! of late. He wVis so kind-hearted and t!iou«ht:'ul in ! their i!r.-l tiny? of lonelir.'sS and '^ur.ngemeut j both to hoiTvlf and her aiuit, that ho v/:i. ; j esti-f-msd j as a veiy paiagon oi: masculine virtue, much j s.o, lhat'when six months later he risked her if • she could forget all connected with that ' severed j hand ' Uir-.ine-s, and think of him alone, she said ' yes ' with such rc-lvci :\n-l ihankfubiess in her tone, that she betrayed her secret, and they i were very happy. ; The judicial enquiries held in Sydney, where Frank's evidence .substantiated proofs in i\ow Zealand, cleared him from the suspicious of | Coppin, who had gene over to Australia as 'jsnor j Vasquery Ybanes, returning in yroprio prr.-.inr', \ gay &\\S cheevuil, no'i without a passing pang, i perhaps, that ha had nc<t had tho handling of the ' two thousand pounds reward,' as ottered, in ! the newspapers. The lindin-;; of. the Court upon the remain;? was after all, ' Death from injuries inflicted by himself,' probably from loss of blood or iiiortiricalion, as a doctor put it. Tho evidence made out that there hud been a j iiercs struggle for mastery between Osbern and >' his desperate assailant, that in the demoniac j passion of the sailor, a descending blow had been diverted by an impendir.g root, or by a chance and violent effort of his half-stunned victim. Ths sharp weapon had inflicted j augment upon the would-be murderer him^li. It was probable that his hand iior the moment was under tho neck of his victim, exposed on a branch or a stone. The nervous force expended in making such a downward cut wouid facilitate the result, I and the wrist would be severed. The retribution had been swift and horrible. The assassin had fled, a.crhasi; at the bleeding stump ot his own arm; hndmn.de some roughlyimprovised i-ni>it'i([uH to stanch the blood ; had become mad with horror, and the remorse and shame ot' his own misdeeds and mutilation. Pie had fled to the remote place where his remains were found, never doubting but that he would be taken up as a murderer near the haunts of men. There he had probably died from the effects of his wound— inflammation of the part affected. So said the New Zealand court oi inquiry. Even if Frank Osbern himself, instead of being entirely innocent, had so mutilated the man°who tried to kill him— oven if lie had killed him, it would have been ' justiiiabiO homicide.' And on these grounds the mortal remains of the runaway sailor were committed Lo the grave. Tho obnoxious coil of fate was wound up on the windlass of the past, and placed amo:-sgft old police archives— out of sight ; and where the intricate mazes of adversity had stopped the progress of our pair of lovers, a crop of golden promise sprang up, faltering no more with rude blasts of ai'iliction. s; * *'• At the wedding the Senor appeared in full Castilian manner, m a white waistcoat, and j blooming with an extra gorgeous button-hole. 1 After all,' said he to Arthur, ' I have been the means of procuring for you a blushing and j

charming bride, whose health I now drink in this foamina goblst,' emptying his champagne glass as he concluded. • Yes, 1 replied Arthur, ' but your attentions were deuced unpleasant, jvnd intensely annoying t at one time, my friend. However, I reciprocate, and pledge yon in return." And now, reader, to wind up our tale. Frank married his nurse, but owing to the severs injuries he received, he was anything but a cheerful or companionable husband, and required much esrs, which his ' better-half ' was eminently Qualified to give. Coppiii married Polly Winter, and js bringing up his first-born to the 'profession.' We do not, it is noticeable, see no much of the Senor at the present day, but on certain occasions he may be seen walking i:i ';he neighbourhood of Here-ford-street, taking stock of those about him. Albeit there is a grim thoroughness with which he ' shadows ' any suspected person, especially those of the genus dude". He is discovered to give way to melancholy moods at times. The world is getting too moral, he says. There is not enough crime lo fit his category. Absconding gents are getting scarcer, and his heart seems to linger a bit about his gay bachelorhood, but he rallies at times, and becomes gayer as Ooppin, and decidedly stouter in both characters. As time goes on Arthur and Lucy are completely happy and prosperous, and devoted to each other and their children. As they are occupied in such a manner, to the exclusion of other matters, Miss Feathc-rston concentrates her unlimited talents to the entire management and subjugation of their household, which she controls completely to everybody's satisfaction. Fixis.