A Railway Adventure.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 142, 17 November 1871, Page 6

A Railway Adventure.

• (Continued from our last.) On presenting the cheque at the counter, I fancied the cashier looked somewhat surprised, but that I attributed to the largeness of the amount for which it was drawn. After asking me one or two questions about it, he took the cheque into the private room of one of the partners, and in a few moments he returned and requested me to walk into Mr. Musgrave'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 bank was in a bad way, and that they 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 cheque—where I had received it, and so on; which, of course, I had no difficulty in answering. Still he did hot seem satisfied, and continued to qnestion me in a manner which was fast making me angry, when the door opened, and a quiet, gentlemanly-looking man of lriiddle, age entered the room and wished Mr. Musgrave good morning, '' This is the 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 wDI 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, niy possession since it was handed over to me ; and that the whole story was some villanous conspiracy to ruin me, or to avoid paying the money. The banker seemed somewhat nettled at this remark, and was beginning an angry reply, when the stranger stopped him, saying the less said the better. He then said that he was the Superintendent of Police at Dedborough, and that I must consider myself in custody ; but if I would give my word to go quietly with him, no fuss or scandal need be. 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 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 me that the cheque had been presented about two o'clock on the previous day, and had been paid in notes all but the odd sixty 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 iny employers which had been put to him to test his identity. " And now, young man," said the police officer, " the less you say the better, because, you know, it will only be used against you. I must trouble you to come with me; but first I must take you back to your hotel to search your room,"

By this time X was so entirely 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 any objection, I walked mechanically by bis side through the streets of Dedboroughjinit they did not look like the same

streets which 1 had passed tlirougli full of liope and confidence but a short 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. Bracelet," 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 ! Where would be my next bedroom ? I wondered.

" This is the room, if you please, sir,' she said, as she threw open the door of No. 21.

" Thanks, my dear; that'll dp—you needn't stay," to the girl, whose eyes were dilating with wonder to see what was coming next.

" This your bag, young man ? Unlock it, please. Ah! clean collar, shaving tackle, nightgown, socks —quite so. Anything in this pocket ? I thought so; silent matches, wax candle, skeleton keys, blank cheques. Yes, yes; novo 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, and there stood Mr. Superintendent 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 ; and if he had again thrust his hand into my bag and pulled forth a snake or a dodo, it would have appeared to me the most natural thing in the world.

I begged him to fc *rant me one favor, which was to telegraph to my employers in London before making any charge before a magistrate ; and this he agreed to do. Meanwhile, he conducted me to the police station in Dedborough, and left me to my own meditations, which were sorrowful enough. I flung myself down on the bench of my cell, hardly caring what should come next. I must have fallen, I suppose, into a troubled sleep, for it was past three o'clock when I was aroused by some one entering the room, and I found myself face to face with Mr. Catchem. His arrival gave me courage to tell my story minutely from the moment of my leaving London; and I was greatly relieved to find that he seemed to give credit to it, and that his anxiety was much more to recover the money than to bring home the crime to me. 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-traveller, whom he made me describe most minutely. "We could learn nothing of any such person at Dedborough station; but on using the wires we found that a lady answering to her description, with a gentleman, had taken tickets for Swindon by the 3.5 train of the previous day, from a station on a loop-line ten miles across the country from Dedborough. We, of course, proceeded by the first train to Swindon, and there again we got scent of the supposed fugitive as having alighted there and taken the first train across to Liverpool. This was hopeful news to me, and I breathed a sigh of relief at the possibility of success. No time was lost in following up the trail; and by ten o'clock that night we saw the forest of masts of the great western ports tapering skywards out of the smoke and mist.

We learned that the American steamer Albatross had gone out with the flood tide two hours before, and drove in hot haste to the olfieps of the company; but it was past business hours and the office was closed. On we went still—found the lodgings of the cash clerk, and hunted him from them to a caferchataut in the town,

where lie was vigorously applauding an imitation of Mademoiselle Schneider's Bulotte in JBarbe-JBleu. Hatlier sulky at first at the interruption, we found means to mollify him, and—

Yes, there were a lady and gentleman, who had secured berths only that morning

didn t seem particular whereabouts in the vessel, so that they could go.

" Widow ?"

No, the lady was certainly not a widow. Young, pretty, and dressed in colors — blue, 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 P"

No, in gold; because he remembered thinking it strange that they should pay all gold. At nine o'clock in the morning the offices would be open, but he would be there, say, by 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 game could be hit upon, and I began to fear that we must have overrun the scent. One coffee-house 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 their bill with a note P" "Not 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 'em —say such a thing as a handkercher, now P" "One pound —two : —. Well, five pounds, if it turned out to be a genuine article."

" Certingly, the lady had 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 delight to see that we had again hit the trail. How I blessed the woman for haying 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 breth. ren 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. I went back with my chief to the Hoyal Swan, worn out with excitement, and glad to rest my weary 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 hack from New York, and safely deposited in the prison at Dedborough, and then the whole affair was explained.

A clerk of Messrs. C. & E.'s 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 Fontanges, whose real name was Mary Fountain, at the Royal Pandemonium Music Hall in street, where she was engaged as a 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 had something to offer. She allowed him, how-

ever, to visit her at her lodging near Leicester Square, and here she riveted his fetters more tightly, and gradaally moulded him to her will. He told her everything about the office affairs ; and she it was who put it into his head to forge a copy of the cheque, and to supply her with all necessary details for carrying out her little scheme.

All but about £IOO of the money was recovered; the three culprits were tried and convicted at the next assizes held at Dedborough, the heaviest sentence falling upon Mary Fountain, as she was the prime mover in the whole affair.