John Kirkwood Leys

“ The sun was not visible at all. In every street and building gas was flaming, as if it had been midnight. Rain or snow would have been a relief from the stifling yellow vapour; but neither fell. The cold, clammy, omnipresent fog reigned supreme.
As it happened, Hubert Blake had slept at his uncle’s the night before. He had, of course, determined to be present at the trial; and when he came down to breakfast, an hour [Pg 108] earlier than usual, he was surprised to see that both Sophy Meredith and Miss Elmwood were dressed ready to go out. ”

“ As Alec had been speaking, Mr. Corker kept looking at him with a curious, half-amused, half-admiring expression in his beady black eyes; and when the young man ended his speech he turned slowly away, without answering a word, and began to tell an interesting story to the counsel on the other side. This was Mr. Champneys, a middle-aged man, with a hard, keen face, finely-cut features, and firmly-set thin lips. Mr. Champneys wore well-made clothes and fine linen, and looked like a gentleman. ”

“ How dare you ask an honest girl to marry you! Do you think I would have accepted you as you were the other day? As little would I listen to you now!’
He shrank back amazed, angry, insulted—cowering before the girl’s scorn.
‘You think that because I pitied you and gave you money to save you from starvation that I forgot what a vile being you are. You helped to lay a snare for your cousin, who never so much as lifted a finger against you. You would have seen him sent into penal servitude innocent, that you might get this money. I never heard of such baseness. ”

“ Take humility, the power of self-sacrifice, kindness to the sick, to the aged, to dumb animals, and so on. Self-sacrifice does not naturally tend to the survival of the fittest, say what you like. Do stags become less fit to survive because they butt a wounded deer out of the herd, or leave it to die of starvation? Why should men who nurse the sick and tend the aged become stronger than those who do not?’
‘There’s sense in what you say, Alec; and of course, if we find a fact that natural principles won’t explain, and religious principles will explain, that is a great matter. ”

“ But Laura was not satisfied with this. If he would only turn and look at her! But he stood there, gazing at the red embers without seeing them.
‘Surely,’ thought Laura, ‘he has not ceased to love me? He is not one who easily forgets.’
‘Won’t you sit down?’ she said gently. But he did not seem to hear her. She was determined that he should speak.
‘Miss Lindsay is going north sooner than she intended,’ she said, almost sharply. ”

“ But fate had decreed that in both of these points Laura was to be disappointed.
The girl’s heart sank within her as the cab stopped at ‘Richmond Villa,’ which was, in fact, nothing more than a shabby, stucco-fronted cottage. The crying of a baby reached her ears before she had time to raise the knocker; and no sooner had she done so than she became conscious that two dirty children were peering at her from the window at her left hand.
Mrs. Crosby was a large, flabby, good-natured woman, who seemed incapable of being injuriously affected by any domestic troubles whatever. ”

“ Beattie was congratulating himself already on his success, when the news that Mr. Lindsay specially desired that his nephew should prepare his will fell on him like a thunderbolt. Should he abandon the scheme? Abandon a hundred thousand pounds! It was not to be thought of. Was there any other method of carrying out the fraud? Beattie could think of none. On the spur of the moment he told Alec Lindsay not to send the draft to be settled by counsel, and not to send it to the law-stationers, hoping that some change in the old man’s plans might yet enable him to carry out his scheme. ”

“ Blake, you are very good, but you may as well let me alone. To tell the truth, I don’t care much what happens. I feel as if my life were ended. I don’t consider,’ he went on, speaking rapidly, as if he were anxious to finish what he had to say, ‘that my name can ever be cleared of the taint of the Old Bailey. I fancy men look askance at me. I have no desire to begin life again. My ambitions are dead, and I don’t want them to come to life again. ”

“ Blake’s face became serious in a moment.
‘You know I am entirely at your service, Alec. If I had known you were so ill, I would have been with you. I can’t ask you to come [Pg 30] upstairs, for there is no fire there, and the one in the library is very low. But in a minute or two Miss Elmwood will go to sit with my uncle; she always does so at this hour; and I will tell Miss Meredith that we want to be left alone.’
‘Oh, I don’t mind her hearing what I have to say,’ said Alec; ‘I would rather she did. The whole world will know soon enough, I fancy,’ he added bitterly. ”

“ But Alec would not stop. He would be more comfortable at home, he said. They all three went into the hall together.
‘Alec, old fellow,’ said Blake, putting his hand on the young man’s shoulder, ‘I’m afraid there’s a hard trial in store for you. You will meet it like a man. Don’t get excited and lose your head, and don’t allow yourself to be too much cast down. Hope for the best. Men have had to face worse things, and have lived through them.’
Alec grasped his friend’s hand in silence. Sophy took his left hand between her own. ”

“ What a good thing it was that she had not committed [Pg 89] herself definitely to Semple! But Alec—would he ever come back to her? She remembered only too well the look in his face when he met her outside Mr. Lindsay’s bedroom door with the will in her hand.
Yet, if he were the victim of a plot, and if she were to deliver him from the snare in which he had been taken, surely gratitude would make him turn to her then! And she would be a good wife to him; faithful, and true, and loving. How happy they might be! And the girl’s eyes softened as the idea crossed her mind. ”

“ The will speaks for itself.’
‘I cannot understand it.’
‘But if Dr. Mackenzie, or any stranger, comes to ask you questions, say not one word—not one word, as you value your reputation. Refer them to me, or to Mr. Hatchett. Say nothing to anybody, either of what you thought were your uncle’s intentions, or anything else. It is your only safe course. If the danger passes by, well and good. If it comes to your door, I am ready to stand by you. Can I say more?’
‘No. You are very good, Beattie,’ said Alec half absently. ”

“ Mackenzie had the satisfaction of telling his story in the witness-box.
His evidence was evidently that of an honest man, and it told fatally against Alec. Mr. Corker fairly earned his fresh fee, bullying the witness, the counsel for the prosecution, and the magistrate impartially, and loudly contending that as the draft was lost, the evidence was totally insufficient to convict the defendant.
But Mr. Mallison, like many men who have no great strength of mind, was obstinate. He was convinced that a gigantic fraud had been attempted, and he was resolved that the case should go before a jury. ”

“ Lindsay’s house was already for her a thing of the past. What the future had in store for her she had no means of guessing. A cousin of her mother’s, who had married a Mr. Crosby, had offered her a home, and she had accepted the offer. Of Mr. Crosby she only knew that he was a coal merchant, and that he lived at Richmond Villa, Brighton. He might be a poor man, or he might be well-to-do; though from the fact that Mrs. Crosby had accepted Laura’s proposal to pay her sixty pounds a year for her board and lodging, it might be supposed that the Crosbys were not rich. ”

“ The girl stared at him without saying a word.
‘It does not belong to me. My uncle never meant that I should have it. I have no more right to that money, morally, than you have.’
‘And you mean that you will give it up!’ ejaculated Laura.
‘What else could I do? If you said to me, “Give that sovereign to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and keep that shilling for yourself.” And if by mistake you gave me the shilling instead of the sovereign, and the sovereign for the shilling, would I be entitled to keep the sovereign and hand over the shilling? ”

“ Corker used before the magistrate. They may be sound or unsound; it doesn’t matter one straw. How far does an acquittal of that kind go to clear one’s character?’
Blake murmured something vague and deprecatory.
‘Or it may be that the jury may “give me the benefit of the doubt.” Will that set me right with the world? No, Blake. My life is ended, almost before it has begun.’
‘Don’t say that, Lindsay. At the worst you can emigrate, and——’
‘And hide myself. Yes, to be sure. I could do that.’
‘I’ll tell you what I wish you would do for me,’ said Alec, after a pause. ”

“ Every man looked at his neighbour and smiled, and then looked at the prisoner.
Alec’s pale face was set, and his eyes fixed on the minister.
Sophy shuddered, and felt bewildered. She was not surprised that a girl sitting beside her whom she did not know gave a half-hysterical sob. The girl was Laura Mowbray. She was at that moment suffering something like agony. She saw that Alec was about to be condemned. She believed that her evidence [Pg 133] might save him. Yet she dared not speak. She knew not what the consequences might be to herself, if she confessed that she had meddled with the will. ”

“ You must take care of yourself for some time. Those weeks in confinement have injured you more than you think.’
Then Cameron lit his pipe for the fourth time, and smoked awhile in silence.
‘Duncan, what is your religion now?’ asked Alec suddenly.
‘Religio medici; that is, none at all.’
‘I’m sorry to hear you say that,’ said Alec gravely. ‘But I don’t believe you.’
‘I was thinking of definite faith, of dogmas,’ said Cameron. ‘Of course I have religious instincts, emotions, and so on; but I can’t classify them.’
‘“True religion consisteth in great part in the affections,” says Jonathan Edwards. ”

“ You are intrusted with the making of a will. (It would have been better if you had refused point-blank to have anything to do with it; but we can’t help that now.) And you leave out one little word, the effect of which is that you add a quarter of a million sterling to your own share. Who will believe that that was done by inadvertence? Your uncle must have told you himself to let [Pg 12] the Free Church bequest be five thousand pounds. Think, now.’
‘And to avoid the consequences of my blunder—if I did commit a blunder—I am to invent and swear to a lie,’ said Alec, slowly rising to his feet. ”

“ CHAPTER XXXVII. THE FUGITIVE’S RETURN. Before Miss Lindsay left London she accompanied her late cousin’s ward to Victoria, and saw her depart for Brighton. The old lady was by no means sorry that this was the last she was to see of Laura Mowbray. There had been from the first hour of their meeting a natural antipathy between the two women. Miss Lindsay’s ruling idea was that of duty, while Laura’s chief aim in life was to get as much amusement, or, failing that, as much comfort as possible, out of her existence. ”

“ Meantime Cameron had gone back to the [Pg 201] sick-room, and there he sat down to watch by his friend, while Margaret rested.
‘Cameron,’ said Alec, speaking slowly and with pain, ‘when I am gone they may put on my tombstone, “Born a man, died a failure.”’
‘Hold your tongue, man.’
‘I have been a failure in everything I ever tried,’ whispered Alec. ‘I wonder why I was born—it seems to have been such a useless existence.’
‘You say that, and you believe in a God!’ exclaimed Cameron. ‘If you don’t, you may talk about useless existences, and so forth. ”

“ The interview lasted a few minutes longer; but nothing further was said on the subject of Alec’s guilt or innocence, till the visitors were on the point of leaving the cell.
‘Alec,’ said the laird in a softer tone than he had yet spoken in, ‘if you cannot confess to me, you may at least confess to God. If we confess our sins, you know, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. ”

“ I do not remember that, in all my experience, I have had to do with a prosecution in which one’s natural sympathies would be more strongly excited in favour of the prisoner. His youth and his character, hitherto blameless, will naturally and properly tell in his favour. It would only be natural, also, if you found [Pg 122] yourselves sympathizing with the keen feelings of disappointment with which a young man would hear of an intention on the part of an uncle to alienate the greater part of his fortune from those who may reasonably have looked forward to inheriting it. ”

“ Cameron was forced to leave London on the following day, so that it was impossible for [Pg 166] him to accompany the party that was going to visit the Abbey, as Alec wished him to do. His feeling was that Duncan would help him to entertain his father. But Alec soon saw that his father needed no entertaining. From the moment when the old man’s eyes fell on the pile, standing like a heavenly temple reared by angel hands among the haunts of men, he neither spoke nor listened to what was said to him. ”

“ To the gentle woman who had lived in shelter all her days, the sight of this sister-woman’s face, coarse, bloated, distorted by passion and despair, was like a glimpse into a world of which she had never even dreamed—a world in which blessings were exchanged for curses, tender thoughts for the fury of selfish passions, and liberty for bondage. ”

“ It would be very sad if Alec were convicted in consequence of his own obstinacy, but it would be still more sad, it would be a quite intolerable calamity, if anything should happen [Pg 79] to Mr. James Semple. And in spite of Beattie’s assurances, he felt far from secure. He was horrified to find that Alec was actually in prison before he had heard that criminal proceedings had been thought of. If the fraud were discovered, what would be his fate? ”

“ As to the motive for the crime, you must remember that the prisoner is one of the residuary legatees under the will; in other words, the alteration in the legacy would put the sum of two hundred and forty-seven thousand five hundred pounds into the prisoner’s pocket. Crimes much more serious than this have been committed ere now for the tenth part of such a sum, by men who had, up to the moment of temptation, led innocent lives. If you can, after hearing the evidence, entertain a reasonable, a serious doubt of the [Pg 123] prisoner’s guilt, you will, of course, let him have the benefit of it. ”