AN Adventure in the Dark

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 134, 22 September 1871, Page 6

AN Adventure in the Dark

.■*'-■ ♦ , (Concluded from our last.)

Idleness, however, as a rule, is an expensive employment, and as I became gradually cast into the society of youths of greater age and equally idle habits, my views and opinions soon began to assimilate to those of my companions, and the religion and morality which had been taught me by my mother began at the same time to evaporate and fail. Suggestions, at the bare thought of which I, a few years, nay months, since, should have recoiled in disgust and terror, now began to become familiar to my ear, and I could now listen to conversations and propositions which I should formerly have heard with abhorence, and looked upon with alarm. Humanity does not, however, become suddenly depraved, and no one has ever become all at once vicious. As there are gradations in life, and as there are steps on the ladder which eventually to honor and fame, so, in the downward path of life are there steps from bad to worse all of which must be successively passed before the unfortunate victim reaches the bottom—the depth of misery —the abyss of despair. The friends, or rather the companions, with whom I had ■ now for-some time associated, were many < of them of the class in society called gen- j tlemeh, but to many of whom the name of ] blackleg would certainly have been more i applicable. Oh! that I could forget that < first hour when I allowed the Tempter to 1 seduce me from the path of duty and af- < fection to the road which leadeth through 1 sin and depravity to his own dominions, j Would that I could recall the past. But, ( as such is impossible, I may, I trust, hope t that my sad fate may prove a warning to ] all youths about to plunge into a similar i path as that which led to my ruin, and to 1 the commission of the rash act which you> i under Providence, have been this day the i means of frustrating. I have told you < that my companions were many of them 1 older than myself, and the greater part of s them dissolute, and some dishonest. They < lived by their wits, and no opportunity < was allowed to pass without exercising i those wits and reaping as handsome a re- i ward as possible from their unsuspicious '. and unwary victims. Did they play cards, 1 there were the confederates or the marked 1 cards; did they play billiards their play was concealed so as to lead their opponents to destruction and ruin ; was there a ] horse race to come off, their betting-book < was so made up as to render loss almost ] impossible. It must not be imagined that ] I was. free from the charges which I have 1 laid to the door of my companions. Such 1 was not the case, for I drank with them, 1 I gambled with them, and, in most cases, ] with success equal to theirs. On one oc- 1 casion, however, fortune failed me so com- ] pletely that I found myself under heavy engagements without the means of meet- 1 ingthem. My first immediate necessity 1 was a small one, and to meet this I stole ] a sovereign from my confiding father's c cash-box, while to meet my other shame- 1 fully contracted but less pressing liabili- c ties I forged a cheque upon his bank for t the sum of £SO. With this sum I dis- c charged my engagements and felt myself t secure, as the forgery, though discovered, s no one, had thought of imputing to me, 1 and every effort of the detective to disco* t ver the forger had resulted in failure. The i sum for which'l had forged my father's J name was considerably larger than the J amount required to meet my numerous but 1 not large debts, and I felt that I had some- y thing wherewith to woo fickle fortune back e again. But no ; the deed I had commit- h ted left me no peace. Conscience would s<

neither be appeased nor silenced. Day and night the sound rung in my ear — Thief! thief! forger ! forger! My brain became, as it were, on fire—my whole system resembling a burning furnace. I could endure it no longer. I would by some means get rid of at least the remainder of the money of which I had become thus dishonestly possessed. Full of this determination, I left my home, determined to relieve myself of that which was acting upon me as a blight and a curse* But where and how dispose of the accursed gold so that nobody should see and nobody know where. All places were alike to me. I was in the street, and as I proceeded I perceived close at hand a large sewer. The opportunity appeared a good one, and the place one likely to answer my purpose. I approached stealthily and cautiously, and standing immediately over the grating, I forced a hole through the bottom of my pocket, and commenced dropping the coins one by one down the leg of my trousers through the bars into the sewer. An approaching vehicle caused me suddenly to step aside. A soveseign missed its mark and rolled into the road. A drayman picked it up and was making off> when a gentleman, who supposed I had dropped the coin by accident, caught him by the shoulder and demanded its restoration. A struggle ensued, and then a policeman came up. Alarmed almost out of my senses, I turned and fled. I never ceased running till the Borough was gained. Still there were ten sovereigns to be disposed of. Five of them I stuffed into a truss of straw that stood outside a corn-chandler's door, four I dropped down the area of an empty house at the corner of Stamford-street, Blackfriars Road, and the other one I watched my opportunity and restored to the cash-box. I slept more comfortably that night than I had done since committing the theft. The next day I went about my business quite cheerfully, and secretly resolved upon leading a better life, and upon no account havings anything to do with betting. Most unfortunately for my good resolutions, one or two matches upon which I had already laid wagers came off just about this time, and I was a loser. Unable to pay up, my companions began to treat me with that contempt which is so irritating and lowering to any youth of spirit. My good resolutions were not proof against this. Being entrusted to pay accounts, on a particular occasion I had ten pounds to carry to a wholesale druggist in the City, My way lay past the door of the betting-oflice whereat I had so lately backed the winner. I stopped to read the list of races to come off. The old temptation stole upon me stronger than ever, and in a few minutes I had betted every penny. This time luck went against me. By-and-bye the druggist wrote for the money due to him. My father summoned me, and demanded an explanation, and I told him a he—said the amount had been paid, and pretended to go in search of the receipt. Within five minutes I was out of his house for ever. From that day I became a vagabond, living how I could. Having, I suppose, less of the rogue in my looks than older hands, I soon got employed as a lure by a gang of gambling cheats that frequented races and fairs. In process of time, cards, billiards, skittles—nothing came amiss. Fool as I was, I soon saw the terrible mistake I had made, and sought solace and forgetfulness in drink. Twice my father found me out and offered the shelter of his -roof. Thoroughly demoralised, my stubborn nature refused to yield. ' You can never be to him what you have been,' whispered the evil one. True, true, thought I, and so fled the yearning arms that were in love and mercy extended towards me. Year out and year in have I been the associate of rogues sometimes comparatively rich, oftentimes

miserably poor, and it is but a few days since I quitted prison. Almost penniless, I have been wandering abroad since then in search of prey, without success. This afternoon, grown desperate, I spent my last trifle in the purchase of a life-pre-server, resolved to have money at any cost. Coming towards Shooter's Hill, a short time back, I perceived a man on ahead, and finding that his steps took the direction of the wood, managed unobserved to get in advance. Hiding behind a tree, I awaited, and as he came up, sprang out and dealt a heavy blow. To my wonder, my intended victim did not fall, but, with a loud cry, turned and fled. Oh, horror! I could not mistake that voice. I had attempted the life of my own father!" Here the wretched young man buried his face in his hands, and sobbed violently. When he was again able to speak, he continued—- " Sir, I firmly believe that my father recognised me, and has gone away with the horrible impression that I had dogged his footsteps to this wood to murder him. The service I seek at your hands is this —that you go to Mayflower Villa, Eltham, to-morrow. There an aunt of mine has resided many years, and there, I doubt not, you will find my father. Assure him "

My eyes had for an instant wandered from the speaker, hut this abrupt termination drew them back. He had swooned. After vainly endeavoring to restore him I went at last in search of help. "When the unhappy man again revived he was under shelter, with his father, his aunt, and a doctor beside him. After many days, the fever abated, but reason had wandered into a labyrinth whence she was doomed never to escape. Two years later I saw" the poor old man clad in the deepest mourning. His son had died .the week before in a private lunatic asylum. i