KENT HAMPDEN.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VIII, Issue 49, 5 December 1891, Page 666

KENT HAMPDEN.

BY

REBECCA HARDING DAVIS.

lx Seven Chapters.—Chapter VII.

AT HOME AGAIN. I-o’LL take heart, Sarah,' Mr Hampden had said, after Kent started on his search. ‘ I will go down street, and talk this matter over openly with my friends.' The resolute energy of the boy had given him strength. He set out hopefully, as he had said ; but he found that bis friends shunned the - subject. There was no direct charge against him, no open enmity shown ; but a mildew of suspicion, a dead blight, seemed to be at work upon - his reputation and his life. He went about his daily business, carrying himself, perhaps, with more

reserve and pride than was his wont. He met Colonel Congdon and Mr Jarret. They both greeted him warmly, pausing to look after him as he walked away. He was a tall, erect man, and the dark, curling hair, the picturesque, wide-rimmed hat then in vogue, the frogged surtout, with its high, rolling collar, and the delicate cambric ruffles at his breast and wrists set off well the noble, finely cut face. Jarret. who was a slovenly little man, laughed. ‘ Our friend,’ lie said, ‘ walks as if he owned the earth to its centre.’ • He walks like an honest man who fears nobody,’ said the Colonel, curtly. Two days later Mr Hampden met, by appointment, several of the leading men of the town, and told them that he was resolved to have an investigation of the charges against him. ‘ There are no charges, my dear fellow,' said Jarret, quickly. ‘ There is nothing to investigate.’ • I can bear this no longer !’ exclaimed Mr Hampden. ‘ I am being smothered under suspicion and doubts which no man dares to put into words. If there is anything to fight, let me fight it'.’ ‘ I fear you are making a mis-step,' said Congdon, gravely. • The money is lost. You propose—what neither the law nor honour requires—to beggar yourself to replace it. What more can you do !’ ‘ I must give some shape to this formless suspicion. I will force my fellow citizens to pronounce me innocent or guilty!’ returned Hampden, vehemently. ‘This is the way I shall do it. 1 have been nominated for Mayor. It is an honourable oilice. I have put forth a call for a public meeting tomorrow to decide whether I am the candidate or not. If my name has been withdrawn, I shall force those who have withdrawn it to state upon what charge they have done so, and produce the proofs of that charge.’ • Better let sleeping dogs lie !’ muttered Jarret, whose jaws were working ominously. Even Colonel Congdon advised Mr Hampden to give up this new project ; but the placards calling the meeting had already been posted.

On the next morning while Kent and his friends were on their way home after their raid upon Wetzel’s cave, nearly all the men and boys in Wheeling were making an effort to get into the town-hall, which was packed to overflowing. Wild rumours were afloat.

• The offlcers of the bank are going to prove that Hampden has the stolen money now in his possession,’said one. • Hampden gambled the money away in Cumberland, sail! another.

‘He can prove his innocence !’ still another insisted. While these and many other reports circulated in the ciowd, Mr Jarret went about whispering his opinion. ‘ I am Ralph’s most intimate friend, and I warned him it was madness to force this exposure ! “ Never stir up muddy water,” say I. He has not been put on trial. He took the money away, and can give no account of it. The bank did not prosecute him. Any other man would think lie had got off easily in such a ease, without forcing the town to elect him to its most honourable office. If Ralph’s past history were only known '.’ Jarret sighed. * But there’s the rub ; it’s all a mystery !’ So he went from one to another, sometimes convincing his hearer that he was trying to shield his friend, who was a scoundrel, sometimes followed by suspicious and contemptuous looks. The meeting was called to order by Judge Morris. Colonel Congdon was made chaiiman. * Mr Hampden,’ he said, ‘ who has been your friend and

my friend for many years, has something to say upon a subject which is of interest to us all.’ The audience greeted the suspected man with a hearty round of applause. He was under a cloud, but the people liked him. ‘ Rafe Hampden is a good fellow, thief or not !’ said a river pilot at the door ; and the men about him laughed and cheered. ‘ I thank you,’ Hampden said, gravely, as the people applauded him. ‘ You encourage me to believe you will be just to me. ‘ Recently you nominated me for an office which is given in this town as an expression of the trust and confidence of the people. Since that nomination I have fallen under grave suspicion, which has never yet been formulated or taken tangible shape. I call upon you to give it shape ! ‘ If the nomination is to be withdrawn from me, I eall upon you to state why it is withdrawn. Put me on trial before my fellow-citizens ; let them hear the story of the lost package, and of my offers to refund the money. ‘ I have lived among you for many years an honest, clean life. I will not be trampled out of sight now, unaccused, undefended !’ An impressive silence followed his words. It was broken by Mr Jarret’s shrill, rasping voice. ‘ Mr Hampden,’ he said, ‘ I warned you as a friend not to open up this subject publicly. Now that you have done it, I warn you that you must go to the bottom of it. There is a mystery’ over your past life. Explain it ! Prove that your youth was honest and honourable !’ Mr Hampden leaned over the rail of the platform where he stood, his eyes fixed upon his accuser ; but he answered not a word. The silence grew painful ; there was a shuffling of feet and a faint clap to encourage him ; but he stood dumb with defeat written on his face. While he had been speaking, Judge Morris, Colonel Congdon, and tw’o or three others had been called from the room. They soon returjjgd, followed by several newcomers. Colonel Congdon stepped forward to his place on the platform. ‘ We will go to the bottom of this affair,’ he said, ‘ as I understand Mr Jarret desires. But we must go over some things which have but just now come to light. Henry Doty, come forward, and tell us what you know of this matter, beginning at the beginning.’ Doty, a quiet, diffident country boy, stepped out, and with much hesitation, told of the thefts committed on the society to which his cousin Joe belonged, and of the resolve of the boys to find and punish the thief.

‘ About two months ago,’ he said, gaining courage, ‘ Kent Hampden came out to the farm to spend the day with me.’ Mr Jarret nudged his neighbour. ‘ Pay attention,’ he said. ‘ I heard this hinted before. Kent took the traps and powder. “Like father, like son,” I fear !’ ‘ I took him out among the hills,’ continued young Doty, ‘ to show him some hiding-places of game that he did notknow. At last we came to Wetzel’s cave. We found there —the thief ! He was in the midst of his booty, and did not try’ to deny that he had stolen it.’ There was a stir in the audience, as the boys and their fathers all knew’ that Kent had been charged with these thefts. ‘ His name ! His name !’ shouted a dozen voices. ‘Be patient !’ said Congdon. • You shall hear it.’ ‘We both knew him,’said Doty, flushing painfully. ‘I

was for thrashing him and exposing him to the town, but Kent was sorry for him. He begged hard :he said the fellow had never stolen a penny’s worth before, and that the shame would kill his father. He promised, if we would keep his secret, he would be a different boy for the rest of his life.’

• What did you dot’ • Kent agreed to let him off. He even made a friend of him afterwards, to try to keep him straight. I told Kent ’twas no use,’said Doty, hotly, ‘ and it wasn’t ! We found him in the cave this very morning with fiesh plunder.’ ‘ This is very inteiesting,’ said Jarret, ‘ but what has it to do with the lost money ?’ • You shall hear,’ said Colonel Congdon. ‘Mr Hampden, when you received the money from the offices of the bank, did you carry the package as it was given to you ?’ •No the wrappings were clumsy. My wife removed them, and substituted a lighter covering.’ • Describe it,’ suggested Judge Morris. ‘ It was a Chinese silk paper, soft and tough, in colour grey, flecked with red- I hau never seen any like it. It It was brought from China by a sailor.’ • Is that it ?’ said the Judge, holding out a small roll. Mr Hampden seized it, trembling from head to foot. ‘lt is the paper ! But the money—the money ‘Ah, if we knew !’ said the Colonel. * Officers, guard the door ; a man is trying to escape. Let no one pass out '. Constable Jourdan, will you tell us where you found this paper.’ The constable came to the front of the platform with a lumbering bow, and said : ‘ I was called on this morning by young Hampden. He said he had dropped, two months ago, a note-book in a hole they call Wetzel’s cave. Yesterday it was brought to him, with a bit of this here paper stuck to it. I was given to understand that it was of importance. So I went to the cave with him, and there we found this roll, with a quantity of other stuff. I arrested the boy that had them.’ • Who was he ?’ ‘ Josiah Jarret.’ • It’s a lie!’ Jarret, who had tried to escape from the room, now rushed forward to the platform. ‘My boy steal '.’ he exclaimed. ‘ Colonel Congdon, it is a trumped-up lie !’ Mr Hampden interfered. • Take care, Congdon ! I don't want a boy’s reputation ruined to save mine ! The package was changed on the road. How could Si Jarret be concerned in that T • The package,’ said Congdon, ‘ was changed, I believe in your own house. You left it on the table while you went upstairs. This boy was in the next room alone. It needed but a minute to slip out the bundle of notes from the case, and substitute the bundle of paper which was ready in his hand.’ Jarret sprang forward, bis hair dishevelled, his eyes contracted, his teeth exposed. He appeared, indeed, like an animal driven into a corner, and fighting for his life. ‘ Prove it! Prove it!’ he exclaimed. ‘ What is this trumpery bit of paper ? There may be reams of it in town.’ Judge Morris came forward reluctantly. • Yes, yes,’ he said. ‘ I’ll tell what I know, Congdon. I w’ant to see justice done. I marked the money—yes, every note of it, for my own satisfaction. Jarret had made me uneasy about the money, and I marked it with a little red cross in one corner. I told nobody, not even Jarret.’ He sat down perspiring, and grumbling to himself. A queer dwarfish figure stepped into his place. Some of the audience who knew him began to laugh, and some to protest angrily, expecting some ill-timed antics from the corn-doctor. But Nero was grave and earnest, and went straight to the point. ‘lam a travelling merchant,’ he said. ‘My name is Fife. Last Tuesday I went into the bank to have my small notes changed for larger. Mr Jarret made the exchange. He gave me eleven £lO notes.’ • Show those notes to Judge Morris,’ said the Colonel. ‘ That is my mark,’ muttered the Judge, after he had ex-x. amined them. ‘ I heard the story of the lost money,’ said Nero, ‘ and as soon as I saw the mark on my notes, 1 suspected I had some of it with me. I turned back with it.’

Jarrett by this time had controlled himself. He stood forward, coolly enough, though his mouth worked convulsively, and betrayed the fury and terror in his soul. •It is all a clever schemedevised by Hampden to bide his ciime I’ he called out. *ltis a pity he could find no better tools than his own son and a crazy mountebank ! Take their evidence away, and what does this fine story amount to ?’ •Mr Jarrett,’ said Colonel Congdon, ‘it is too late !’ He spoke with a faltering voice, for he had known the man for many years. ‘ The notes have been identified with which you paid two tradesmen; and your son, since his arrest, has confessed that at your instigation he changed the package. Judge Morris, may I suggest that, as a magisttaie, it is for you to order this man's arrest.’ ‘Yes, yes, I supjtose so I’ said the J udge. •Officer, take Mr Janet into custody.’ As the constables dragged him out of the hall the Judge said, * Well, thank heaven, we can shake hands with Ralph Hampden I’ A loud cheer broke from every man before him. But Hampden was not there to hear it. As

soon as his innocence was proved, he had left the hall by a door near the platform, unseen by the crowd. The people, disappointed of their hero, grew impatient as a thin dark man, in the long black coat of a minister, rapped on the rail of the platform to command attention. ‘ My friends, I am not going to give you a sermon, I want to tell you a story.’ He paused until the confusion died down into silence. ‘lt is a short story, an interesting story, and I can vouch that it is a true one. * More than thirty years ago, there lived in Southland an obstinate, wrong-headed, wicked old planter, whose name was Stoughton. He adopted a nephew—an orphan boy. Soon afterwards he married a widow with one chdd. This widow had wealth, but she was a meek little woman, whom he could drive and bully as he chose. ‘He drove and bullied her into her grave. Her child, a crippled daughter, remained in his house. Although the larger part of his property had belonged to her mother, her step-father bad got possession of it. He treated the girl brutally, and when he died, left every shilling to his adopted son. ‘ The boy, a hot headed, generous fellow, went to Trenton, transferred the whole estate to the poor cripple, and to stop all action on her part, disappeared. He ran away, gentlemen ; went to seek his fortune, without a penny or a friend. ‘ The woman tried in vain for years to find him. She died a few months ago, leaving the whole property, which has largely increased in value, to him. I am one of the executors of her will, and have been searching for him for a long time in vain. * I have found him, here. He dropped the name of his uncle, and kept only bis own. It is Ralph Hampden. You have the mystery of his life, now !’ Mr Hampden, meanwhile, was at home. He was too much excited to sit down, or be quiet for a moment. He caught Carey to his breast, thanking God that the stain was gone from her name, and then set her down nervously, and went to the table where Kent was eating his supper. * Take care, my son 1 Tom told me you had scarcely eaten for two days. You ought to eat a very light meal. Carey, cut your brother another piece of meet! You ought to be proud to wait on him ; he lias saved us all from ruin. He has given me more than life —more than life !’ Then be stopped to scold his wife, who was crying softly by the tire. ‘ What are you crying for, Sarah? Because you have such a son ? Because God has brought us up out of the depths—the depths ?’ Then he went to the window and looked up to the clear heavens, his heart throbbing, and his eyes wet with hot tears. The next minute the silence was broken by the sound of drums and cornets and tremendous cheering. Then Tom Congdon burst in. ‘ I'hey’re coming, Kent. The town’s coming ! They’ve put your father in nomination again for Mayor, and there won’t be a single vote against him when election day comes. Mr Kaimes told his story, Mrs Hampden, of when Mr Hampden was a boy in Southland and you would have thought the root would come off with the shouting ! They nominated him then by a rising vote, and—oh, I beg your pardon, sir '. 1 did not know you were here !’ Tom rushed out to the door again. Mrs Hampden stood up, tremoling. ‘ Your story, Ralph ! When you were a boy ?’ ‘ 1 am thankful that you are to hear it at last, Sarah. But I am glad you trusted me—you and Kent. ’ Kent looked after them as they passed into the hall. *1 am glad I trusted him ana God,’ he thought. In all his alter life, he never forgot the lesson of that hour. Tne noise grew more deafening without. Drums beat, trumpets brayed, and the advancing mass of people shouted. Kent saw the little pedlar at the door, and dragged him in. * Father, this is our friend to whom we owe so much !’ All Nero’s swagger had disappeared. * 1 knew you as a boy, sir,’ he said. ‘ I kept track of you all these years ; but Nero Fife can hold his tongue ! If a man has a mind to do a noble, generous deed, Nero Fife is not the one to balk him ! The boys saved my life, sir. More than that, they treated me like a man, not like a clown, as most folks do 1’ The tears stood in the little man’s eyes.

Colonel Congdon entered hastily. ‘ They are calling for you, Hampden '. You must show yourself. Don’t ask for ray place, old fellow ! They’ll give you anything you want to-night.’ The colonel stood inside, laughing, as he heard Tom and Nero join madly in the thunder of welcome. A shrill shout of ‘ Kent! Kent 1’ followed.

‘ The Beast Slayers are calling you, Kent,’ Colonel Congdon said. ‘ 1 told them just now that you would represent this part in West Point.’ Kent came quickly up to him. His lips moved, but he could say nothing. ‘ Yes, yes, 1 understand ! You deserve it. Go out to your friends, my boy.’ Carey had the woman’s part of the triumph. She looked through the window of the dark, quiet parlour at the tumult and rejoicing outside, halt-inghiened and half-indignant. Had these people only found out just now what manner of man her father was ? She had known it always ! For her, she was most glad that they could keep the dear old home now, and the garden and her trees, into which she climbed every day to look out into the wide world, and think what she would do there, some time. THE END.