T. W. Speight

“ You know that I am innocent; your brother knows it; that is enough. Perhaps you won't mind my telling my sister--I have no secrets from her--but not another creature shall hear it from me. Let the world continue to suspect me if it thinks well to do so. I can afford to appraise its doubts and suspicions at their proper value, which is no value at all. Henceforth I shall despise them, and I think, Mr. Clement, a man can always afford to live down a thing that he holds in contempt."
Clem drew a deep breath. The relief which John's words had given him no one but himself could estimate. ”

“ The world can hardly believe me guilty when it knows that you have faith in my innocence."
At this moment Clement Hazeldine came pushing his way through the crowd. He had been unable to get there before. He was inexpressibly shocked at the news which had just been told him. He, too, grasped John by the hand, and assured him in warm terms of his thorough confidence in his innocence.
"Now I can face whatever has yet to come," said John, with the ghost of a smile on his quivering lips. "But who is to break the news to my sister, and--and to Hermia?" ”

“ In the brain behind that withered mask of a face lay hidden the secret of her birth and parentage; those pinched lips, had they but so willed, could doubtless have told her something about the mother of whom she retained no faintest recollection, if it were only her name and whether she was living or dead. But no question on the subject should ever escape her; the knowledge must come to her unsought if it were ever to come at all.
Presently a timid ring at the front door made itself heard. "It is Mrs. Nokes," said Aunt Charlotte to Hermia. ”

“ Brancker, what my reasons were for telling you this," said Clem, whose brief burst of emotion had left him pale and calm. "Your career in life has been to a great extent compromised. A certain amount of suspicion in connection with what the world, in its ignorance of the facts of the case, naturally regards as a great crime, still clings to you, and to all seeming will continue to do so for years to come, if not as long as you live. It is now in your power to dispel that suspicion once and forever, and to clear away the dark cloud which has lowered over you for so many months. ”

“ She had known and had liked Frank for years, and would fain have had the relationship between them continue the same in the future as it had been in the past; but if it made Frank happy to love her, and if he was really sincere in wishing her to become his wife, why, in that case, she would try to love him a little in return. Yes, she actually told herself that she would try to love. Foolish girl! As if love comes by trying for! But she was soon to be made wiser, after that sweet old fashion which yet seems such a surprising fashion when first it makes itself felt and known. ”

“ John with his flute, and Clement with his fiddle, play as if they had one soul between them, while Hermia at the piano with deft fingers blends the whole into one rich, full, harmonious volume of sound. Dear Aunt Charlotte with a kitten on her lap and a piece of crewel-work in her hands, which, however, progresses but slowly, listens and looks on, placidly happy in the happiness of those she loves. ”

“ On the other hand, the thought of John Brancker slowly wearing out his life under the shadow of a crime which a dozen words from him or his brother would clear away for ever, was altogether intolerable to him. "Right is right, and wrong, wrong all the world over," he said to himself more than once. "There can be no wrong without suffering; but to knowingly let the innocent suffer for the guilty is worse than the commission of the wrong itself." ”

“ Edward Hazeldine strode across the room and grasped John by the hand. "Mr. Brancker," he said, "I am profoundly grieved at what has happened here to-day. From the bottom of my heart I believe you to be an innocent man. This verdict seems to me a most monstrous one--one which will never be sustained by that higher tribunal to which your case will now be relegated. Believe me, I would stake my life on your innocence." ”

“ It was not merely words, but ideas that for the time being had taken wing and deserted him: and yet Clement Hazeldine was a man not usually lacking in either one or the other. Clear-headed and resolute of purpose in all the ordinary concerns of life, with a mind that was in the habit of marshalling its ideas with an almost mathematical precision, and a not unfluent tongue, he yet found himself in the presence of this April-eyed girl, in whose cheeks tender flushes of color came and went fitfully, without a word to say for himself. ”

“ Hazeldine was a lady of fifty, who, in the small circles of Ashdown society, had at one time been accounted a beauty, and who sometimes found it difficult to forget that she was one no longer. On her delicate, clear-cut features there rested habitually a pinched and careworn expression. She was a woman who, never having known any real trouble, made her life a perpetual worry with those small, everyday grievances which we all have to contend against in a greater or lesser degree. ”

“ It was Uncle John and Aunt Charlotte's gift to their godson.
Should you chance to walk past Nairn Cottage almost any Friday evening between eight and ten o'clock, the strains of music proceeding therefrom will be pretty sure to greet your ears, for the old quartete parties have by no means been allowed to fall into desuetude. There, as of old, Mr. Kittaway's puckered face stares at you over his high cravat, what time, with an antiquated flourish of his bow arm, he evokes the resonant accents of his beloved 'cello, which at his bidding seems to do everything but speak. ”

“ Avison, and my employer himself must never learn how his most trusted servant has betrayed the confidence reposed in him. The shame, disgrace, and misery in which such knowledge would involve those I leave behind me must be avoided at every risk. There is only one way by which such consequences can be averted, and that is by making my death seem to have resulted, not from my own act, but from the act of another. In brief, the world must be led to believe, not that I have committed suicide, but that I have been murdered! ”

“ It is the portrait of Miss Hermia Rivers."
Clement had nothing to go upon as to whether the mention of the name would wake any dormant echo in Barney's memory. He could only trust to chance that it might do so. As it proved, his hit was a fortunate one.
"Of Miss Hermia Rivers!" repeated the old man, in a sort of awed whisper. "Can the dead come back to life?" Then his eyes went again to the portrait. "But you say that she isn't dead--that she is alive and well; is it the truth you are telling me?"
"I was in the company of Miss Rivers less than a fortnight ago." ”

“ A brisk walk of half-an-hour brought him to Beecham.
He found Edward sitting in slippered ease over a volume of Montesquieu--as one who hoped some day to help in framing the laws of his country--and a cigar. Ten minutes sufficed him to give his brother the pith of Hermia's narrative. He had brought Varrel's confession, and he finished his recital by producing it and handing it to the other.
Never was a man more astounded than Edward Hazeldine was at the news told him by his brother. To think, to realize as a fact that, after all, his father's death was not due to his own act! ”

“ Then he said, sneeringly:
"Old people when they lie dying often get strange fancies into their heads, and give expression to all manner of ridiculous things. Sensible people take no heed of their ravings at such times."
"On the contrary, it is at such times that secrets long hidden come unexpectedly to light."
He bit his lip as if to restrain himself from saying something which he might afterwards have regretted. Having glanced at the seal, he was about to put the envelope into his pocket unopened, when Hermia said:
"Mr. Varrel, have you noticed what is written outside that packet?" ”

“ From the corridor she passed into the entrance-hall, strange, weird shadows seeming to start into life from wall and ceiling, as though they had been suddenly disturbed in their sleep, as she crossed it with her feeble light. Before her was the great door, iron clamped, and fastened with bolt and chain. Putting down her candle on a side table, Miss Pengarvon went up to the door and laid her hand on one of the bolts. Then she hesitated. She knew not who might be outside, and she was but one lonely woman. ”

“ Hermia waited till the silence became all but unbearable.
"I am quite at a loss, Miss Rivers," he began at length, speaking in a hard, dry voice, "to know why you should address so singular an appeal to me, or assume that I know anything more about Mr. Hazeldine's tragical end than is known to the world at large. A certain remark made by an old woman--a certain coincidence of date in connection with a parcel of banknotes--such is the flimsy superstructure round which you choose to build an imaginary theory, and then appeal to me for facts to enable you to substantiate it. ”

“ Hazeldine, sotto voce, with the air of a martyr.
"Going already?" asked Mr. Hazeldine.
"Yes; I've a couple more calls to make before going home. What a scamp that fellow must be!" Edward could not forget his twenty pounds. Money was very dear to his soul.
Mr. Hazeldine took one of his son's hands in both his. "Good-bye--good-bye, and God bless you!" he said, in a low voice. Edward looked surprised, but said nothing. "I would not let this loss worry you overmuch, if I were you. After all, the sum is not a large one, and there are worse things in life to endure than the loss of a few pounds." ”

“ To Fanny Hazeldine the first three or four months after her father's death were the dreariest she had ever known. The dreadful nature of the tragedy which had overshadowed her own and her mother's life had the effect of intensifying their bereavement in the eyes of the world, and, for the time, of isolating them more completely than if Mr. Hazeldine's death had resulted from natural causes.
That Fanny doffed her "horrid crape" at the earliest possible date goes without saying. She was fully alive to the fact that the soft semi-tones of half-mourning became her admirably ”

“ A swarm of children watched her every movement, and presently, as if by some preconcerted signal, windows were thrown up, and the doorways near at hand began to fill with the shapes of slatternly women, and frowsy, disreputable-looking men.
Hermia began to feel far from comfortable, and she was just considering whether she had not better go back to Mr. Wingate, when the door was suddenly opened from within, and she found herself face to face with Richard Varrel. ”

“ If you do think so, you must indeed have a contemptible opinion of me."
"No, no," protested Hermia; "indeed I have no such opinion of you. You know differently from that. If such were the case, is is likely that I should have given you"---- A blush finished the sentence.
"The greatest treasure a woman can bestow on a man," said Clem, as if he knew exactly what she would have said. "No, it is not likely--indeed, quite the reverse. All which merely brings us round to the point we started from. ”

“ In such a business as we have been discussing it is only a part of the selfishness of human nature that we should think of ourselves first, but I hope you'll believe me when I say that not the least portion of the happiness your news has caused me is due to the fact that the last shred of suspicion, which for so long a time has clung to that noble-hearted creature, John Brancker, will now be torn away, and his good name be given back to him as pure and unsullied as, in reality, it has been from the first! ”

“ Sweet put his head into the office where the two men were at work. "Mr. Hazeldine has come, sir," he said, addressing himself to Mr. Brancker. "I thought you might perhaps have something you wanted to see him about."
"I don't think I shall trouble him to-night," answered John; "he will be tired, and what matters I have to see him about will keep till morning."
Sweet disappeared and shut the door.
"If I were in Mr. H.'s place, I'd take care not to work as hard as he does," remarked Ephraim.
"When a man's heart is in what he does, as Mr. Hazeldine's is, hard work becomes a pleasure." ”

“ He was there just long enough to enable him to find his umbrella, but not long enough to commit either murder or robbery, much less both, even supposing him to have been wishful of doing so.
"But what was your object in thus perjuring yourself?" demanded Clement, with an air of stupefaction. "What end had you to gain by not speaking the truth?"
"By telling the truth I should have brought about my own ruin. Mr. Avison would never have forgiven me had I confessed to opening John Brancker's drawer with a false key. ”

“ A grave suspicion was taking root in his mind, that no one but a man thoroughly acquainted with the inner working of the Bank could be at the bottom of the mystery. It troubled him more even than the loss of the money troubled him, to think that his faith in human nature should be so rudely shaken. But Mr. Avison was by nature a very reticent man, a man who thought much but said little, and John had not the faintest notion of the feelings at work in his employer's mind. ”

“ Avison had read the evidence taken at the inquest, he had hitherto attached no importance to the fact that certain portions of it seemed to point the finger of suspicion at John Brancker. John was such an old and tried servant, and he had such implicit confidence in his integrity, that he had only smiled to himself, as he thought how wide of the truth people are often led by circumstantial evidence. ”