A RAILWAY ADVENTURE.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 575, 13 November 1871, Page 2

A RAILWAY ADVENTURE.

(Concluded.) Next morning I started off to complete the business which bad brought me down ; but first I called at Messrs. Musgrave's bank to cash the cheque, as we could not ask the vendor to take our cheque. On presenting the cheque at the counter, I fancied the cashier looked somewhat surprised, hut that.l attributed to the largeness of the amountfor which it was drawn. After asking one or two questions about it, he took the cheque into tlie private room of one ol the partners, and in a few moments he returned and requested me to walk into Mr. \ usgrave's room, as he wished to speak to me about it. I found the partner holding the cheque in his hand, and looking rather grave, and I began.to fear that the batik was in a bad way, and that thej' were unable to meet the payment. The . banker desired his clerk to leave; and having carefully closed the door, he asked me some questions as to the drawer of the chequewhere I had received it, and so on ; which, of course. I had no difficulty in answering. Still he did not seem satisfied, and continued to question me in a manner which was fast making me angry, when the door opined, and a quiet, gentlemanlylooking man of middle age entered the room and wished Mr. Musgrave "good morning." . " This is 'tlie young man," said the banker to him. and proceeded to repeat my answers to the newcomer. By this time I was getting very uneasy, and asked Mr. Musgrave somewhat impatiently what was wrong about the cheque. "Well, young man," said the newcomer quietly, " the fact is the genuine cheque was presented yesterday and cashed, and this is a forgery, for which i shall have to detain you until we have communicated with the drawer. I was utterly stunned at this statement, and declared vehemently that it was impossible ; that the cheque had never left my possession since it was handed over, to me; and that the'whole story was some villanons conspiracy to xuin me, or to avoid paying the money. The banker seemed somewhat nettled at this remark, aud was beginning an angry reply, when the stranger stopped him, saying the less said the better. He then said that he was Superintendent of Police at Dedborough, ami that I must consider myself iv custody; but if 1 would give my word to go quietly with him, no fu-*s or scandal need he made about it. I felt like a person in a dream. Could it really be possible that I was arrested on a charge of forgery ? My head swam at the thought, and I sank fainting on to a chair behind me. Mr. Musgrave, who seemed a humane, fatherly sort of a man, appeared to be greatly shocked at the whole affair, and persuaded my custodian to let me have some wine before we left which brought, back my scattered senses. He then told mo that the cheque had been presented about two o'clock on the previous day, and had been paid in notes all but the sixty odd pounds, which was cashed in gold. The person presenting it was a youngish man with moustache and dark hair, who had answered with perfect correctness several questions about my employers which had been put to him to test his identity. " And now, young man," said the police officer, " the less yon ■*•■*"- the hotter, because, you know, it w.Y u|ed against you. I must trouble y-^u to come with me ; but first I must take you back to your hotel to search your room. By thi* time I was so eutirely crushed by the whole affair, that I seemed to have lost even the power of speech, and had he proposed to cut off my head there and then, I think I should hardly have offered objection. I walked mechanically by his side through the streets of Dedborough, but they did not look like the same streets "which I had passed through full of hope and confidence but some half-hour before. I fancied that every one we met looked askance at me, and that the guilt of the crime which I had not committed was. branded like Cain's upon my brow. "No. 21, sir; yes, sir, certainly. This way, if you please, Mr. Brace-let," said the obsequious chambermaid of the Crocodile to the great man who had me in his gripe, preceding us upstairs to my. bedroom My bedroom I Where would be my next bedroom? I wondered. . " This is the room, if you p'U a-..\ sir," and she threw. ■open'the d'-mv o.iN'o. 21. "Thanks, my dear; that'll do—you needn't, star," to tlie girl, whose eyes were, dilating with wonder to see what was coming next. '* This your bag, young man? Uulock it please. Ah! clean collar, shavingtackle, night-gown,' socks—quite so. Anything in this pocket? I thought so; silent matches, wax candles, skeleton keys, blank cheques. Yes, yes; now we shall do. We'll take this handy little bag with us, please." ' * Was that my bag ? Was I dreaming ? I rubbed my eyes with a vague hope that I might be in an accursed nightmare ; but no! my vision remained the same, aud there stood Mr. - uperiritendent Bracelet, prepared to attend me, with my bag in his hand, and a complacent comfortable smile upon his face. By this time my faculty of surprise was utterly exhausted ; aud if he had again thrust bis baud into my bag and pulled forth a snake or a dodo, it would have appeared to me the most natural thing in the world., 1 brgged him to grant me o.ie favour, which was to telegraph to my employer.* in Lovdon before making auy charge' before a magistrate*; and this he agreed to j do. Meanwhile, ho conducted me to the j police station in Dedborough, and left me ! to my own meditations, which wore i sorrowful enough. I flung myself down i on the bench of my cell, hardly caring what should come next. 1 must have I fallen, I suppose into a troubled sleep, j for it was past three o'clock when 1 was j aroused by some one entering the room, and I found myself face to face with Mr. ' Catohem. His arrival gave mo courage I to tell my story minutely from the moment of my leaving Loudon; and I was greatly relieved to find that he seemed to give credit to it, and that his anxiety was mu'h.more to recover the money than to bring home the crime to inc. He undertook to be responsible for my appearance if required ; and employed "Mr. Bracelet to see if he could gain any trace of my too fascinating fellow-travel-ler whom he made me describe most, minutely.. ,VV c could learn nothing of any such person at Ded! orough Station ; but

on using the wires, we found that a 1 A answering to her description, with gentleman, had taken tickets for Swini, * by the 3.5 train of the previous day f a station on a loop-hole ten mil es "iJ^ the country from Dedbcroudh. We^r course, proceeded by the first train f . windon, and there again we got scent f the supposed fugitive as having aligV there and taken the first _aia-r~ ro g 8 j, Liverpool. This was hopeful njSrs t 0 m and 1 breathed a sigh of reify atth possibiliy of success. No time/ was 1 8 in followinir up the trail; and by t^ o'clock that night we saw the forests^ raasts of the western port taperin" sk wards out of the smoke and mist. " '"

We learnt that the American steamer .Albatross had gone out with the flord tide two hours before, and drove {_ |, 0 » haste to the offices of the company but it was past business hours, and the office was closed. On We went siill—found the lodgings of the cash-clerk, and hunted him from them to a cafe-chautant in t ne town, where he was vigorously applaud, ing an imatation of Mademoiselle Schneb ders Bullott in Barbe Bleu. l-'athcr sulky at first at the interuption, m* found means to mollify him, and—

Yes, there were a lady and gentleraat] who had secured berths only that morn, ing—didn't seem particular whereabouts in the vessel, so that they could do.

"Widow?"

No, the lady was certainly not a widow, Young, pretty, and dressed in coloursblue, he thought. Gentleman tall, dark, with moustache. The name, he thought, was Colonel and Mrs. White, but couldn't be sure till he saw his book.

" Did they pay in notes ?"

No, in gold ; because he remembered thinking it was strange that they should pay all in gold. At nine o'clock in the morning the offices would be open, but he would be there, say 8.30.

Early in the morning Mr. Bracelet sought the assistance of the local bloodhounds, with whose aid we commenced a systematic visitation of all the hotels in the place, each one taking a certain district. We met at luncheon to report progress —but, alas ! there was nothing to report. No trace of our gatne cbaVd be hit upon, and I began to fear that we must have overrun the scent. One coffeehouse of doubtful repute near the quay still remained to be explored; and here we found that a lady and gentleman had slept on the night in question. . " Did they pay there bill with a note?" "JSot they—no such luck. The bill were only 7s 6d, and the gent paid that out of a half squid. But what might be the matter, if not making too bold?". The " matter " was soon explained, and I fancied from the woman's manner she was keeping something back.

"Well, what might it be worth to you to get hold o' some trace on 'cm —say such a thing as a handkerchief, now P" " One pound — two—. Well Jive pounds, if it turned out to be a genuine article."

" Certainly, the lady bad left one under her pillow—and a real beauty it was." A real beauty, indeed! It was the very handkerchief, with the embroidered " Marie" in the corner, which I had seen Madame de Fontanges use at Dedborough. My heart leaped with deh'gli** to see that we had again hit the trail. How I blest the woman for having kept it back as an addendum to her "little bill!"

Mr. Bracelet lost no time in working the wires of the cable, and desiring his brethren in New York to board the steamer before she touched land, and secure our friends, sending them, back by the first return packet. And the lightning soon flashed back their reply to assure us of their readiness to do so. 1 went back with my chief to the Eoyal Swan, worn out with excitement, and glad to rest my wea>*y limbs; but, before doing so, I humbly thanked the God of all mercy for my escape from the net which had been spread for me. In less than four weeks time the fugitives were.brought back from $ew York, and safely deposited in the prison at Dedborough. and then the whole affair was explained. A clerk of Messrs. U. & 1., had been leaving their employ just about the time of my ill-fated journey ; but as it was in pursuance of the usual notice, it excited no suspicion. This lad (for he was but eighteen) had seen Marie de Fcnta-nges, whose real name was Mary Fountain, at the Royal Pandemonium Music Hall in street, where she was engaged as * singer, and here.the siren had sung away the poor boy's heart and senses. He fell madly in love with her and wanted to marry her; but Miss Fountain did not exactly see the use of that, unless he bad something to offer. She allowed him, however, to visit her at her lodging near Leicester Square, and here she riveted his fetters more tightly, and gradually moulded him to her will. He told her everything about the office affairs; and she it was who put it into his head to get a copy. of the cheque, and to supply her with all necessary details for carrying out her little scheme.

All but about £100 of the money was recovered; the two culprits were tried and convicted at the next assizes heldat Dedborough, the heaviest sentence falling on Mary Fouutain, as she was the prims mover in the whole affair.