THE JEW'S HOUSE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 25 August 1909, Page 77

THE JEW'S HOUSE.

By Fergus Hwme.

CHAPTER in.— "GIVE A DOG A BAD NAME, AND- — " ; When the proprietor of the Midndghfc Sun requested his editor to send a smart journalist to Bruntlea to report on the beauties of the place and dilate on the same in the paper, he little knew what eort of an article would appear in print. ' In fact, he need not have troubled — as it appeared later— about going to the f expense of employing one of the Mid- , night Sun's staff, for next day every news- ' paper in London had reporters all over the place, prepared to advertise Bruntlea for nothing. On "the night of the murder | Wain wae the sole member of the Fourth • Estate in the dull little suburb ; but next j afternoon there were at least 50. That | same evening Bruntlea leaped into, fame, j and by the end of the week it was known , sensationally throughout the length and breadth of the three kingdoms. But all j this time Wain did not put pen to paper. I Of course, as a journalist he was keen ~ upon sanding in a flaming article as written by an eye-witness ; but in the ' first pla«e*Ben-Ezra could scarcely be prejudged in his own newspaper, and in the second Waur was not satisfied — after hear- j ing the Jew's defence — that the man was t as guilty as appeared at first. Being a J cautious "»am by* reason of foreign travel and • tihe tumbling in and out of many . scrapes, Wain concluded to wait events, having Napoleon's opinion as regards th» value of time. Lying in bed the next day he drank the tea which he had ordered, and considered the statement made by Ben-Ezra to Inspector Quill. That the officer had treated the whole statement as a lie - was no business of Wain's. "Sir Giles Dove" — this was the statement, as far as Wain's brain could recall details heard by a weary man — "Sir Giles Dove wished to buy Tan buck Hall ' from me as a family seat. He offered a good price 12 months ago, but "or i reasons which I don'.t feel called upon to explain, I declined to sell. ■ Sir Giles, fcerng -a pertinacious man, only became the more determined to buy- as i refused ( to deal with him. For 11 months he pestered me with offers, and finally, be- ! cause he dtid not get what he wanted, | became my. deadly enemy, amd spread soamdalous reports about me." | "(V'hai were the reports?" Inspector ( Quill • had asked. ' "Anyone in Bruntlea will tell you," Ben-Ezra had 1 replied. "However, I took , no notice of ill talk, as we Jews are ' used to harah judgments. Then last ' J weelc Sir' Giles wrote requesting me to Tecedve bim at .Tambuck Hall on Wednea- J day evening «t 7 o'clock, as he had some- •' thing particular to tell me I received lrim, hoping to ask him to hold his scan- j ' dalous tongue. He • then told^ me that' he knew something about my past- •wtuch j I would not like to be flsnowm, and ' etated that unless I' sold him Taubuck j Hall at his. own price he would make ' things so hot for' me ■ that I would have to leave Bruntlea." * {

At this gojnit Wain, recollected that BenEzra bad refused to explain the partic.ilar scandal which the deceased hoped to spread unless he got his own -way. The Jew kept closely to the' point? which -was to explain has .innocence. He died-ared thiat Sir Giles left him shortly after 8 o'clock, swearing to ruin him. Ben-Ezra — as he sta-t«d — then closed the French window, out of which Sir Giles had stepped on to. the > terrace, and", leaving the drawing room still lighted up, had gone to Mb study ja.t the back of the house

"I was there for at least half an hour," •went on the Jew, so far as Wain remembered, "and then heard a shot, apparently coming from the direction of the drawing room. I ran hastily back, but found the j room empty and the windows still closed. As I ran I heard two other efhots. I j went to the French window and opened j it, only- Jbo find Sir Giles lying dead and or revolver,' which I saw to' be mine, , placed beside him. I picked up the re- i volver,- after ascertaining that Sir ' Giles ' ■was dead, and while ho-ldimg it* and- won- | dering who had used it I heard voices. I I called out for help at once, and Mr Wain ! came* up the steps along with Dawkius, ' the policeman, whom, I know. That is all I have to say " . I

And, as Wain reflected, that was all j the Jew did say or would say, although Inspector Quill plied him with questions, i Beyond a constant reiteration thai he was innocent, and d«d not know who had killed his enemy, Ben-Ezra would say nothing. Quill, therefore, took him in _ charge and marched- him to t<bs police j station. . While the master of the Hall ', passed the night in a cell the great man- | «ion was looked after by 'four constables, i who took care, that none of the three , ■women living therein should leave the place. As for Warn, aiter he had explained why he came to be with Dawkins, | and had given his cai'd and address, he was permitted to return to the Prinoess Hotel. Now he was considering the facts of the stransre case '

In recalling the soliloquy of the dead • man when in the avenue Wain was certain that he did not expect to be murdered by the Jew. although he had muttered " something about Ben-Ezra having been ready to kill him when reminded of the fhady past. _ Besides, if Sir Giles had been afraid that Ben-Ezra's temper would get the better of him, he certainly ' would not have gone tack to the Hall. ; Of- course, be might have, so exasperated j Ben-Ezra" that the Jew might have shot ' him in blind rage. ' "But in that case the man would not have been such a fool as to be found; holding the very weapon with which the crime had been committted. Between the time of -hearing their voices amd the arrival of Wain and Dawkine there was plenty of .time to fling away the incriminating -weapo'a."" " " j

Moreover, were Ben-Ezra guilty, he assuredly woulld not have tried to weave a rape for his . otto hanging by -stating that be alone had the key of the ga>tes, small and large. Finally, seeing that Ben-Ezra oauild harve secured' the silence of Sir Giles about his past, and have made a profit on ©elling Taaxbuck Hall, it was ridiculous to think that be would close the old millionaire's mouth by death. From what Wain had 1 seen of his employer he judged the Jew to be i singularly level-headed man, -who did not act rashly. Yet what "could have been more rash than to ha<ve shot a man he was known to dislike, on the very threshold of his home? — thatjs, if Tan-buck. Hall could be called BenEzra's home, which Wain doubted. So far as he could learn the Jew kept it as a kind of show place, and, although he paid weekly visits to it, certainly did not live there.

But however much Wain might doubt the guilt of Ben-Ezra the hard facts of the case were undeniable. The Jew had been found standing over the corpse with the revolver in his hand. Three shots had been heard, and three chambers of the revolver .proved to be empty. Moreover, Sir Giles and Ben-Ezra were bitter enemies, and, by the Jew's own confession, the dead man knew of something likely to prejudice him still further in the eyes of the world, which he had threatened «ti make pubKc. The evidence — as Wain admitted to himself — was dead against the Hebrew. The sole thing to be done, if Wain wished to prove his faint belief — and it -was faint — that, the Jew was innocent, was to go Cut and learn all he could of the usurer's past life. After a good breakfast tihe journalist sallied forth in quest of dnformaition, and found that the fog of the previous night had rolled up like a curtain to reveal the beauties of Bruwtlea. One of those, sudden changes in the weather characteristic of England had taken place, and where there had been greyness and mist and gloom were now blue skies, bright sunshine, and balmy air. Bat the unfortunate man who would have enjoyed the change as much as man did •was in a prison cell, while his name was being vilified in street and house. Many people openly rejoiced over the catastrophe which had overtaken their declared enemy, and few seemed to think of the bereaved Dove family, wihose head had suddenly and violenrtly been removed. All that day Wain travelled from pothouee to market, .. f rom market to shop, from shop to various street corners, until he fetched up at the police station. That he drank more liquor than hi? stomach approved of mattered very little in the face of the wonderful information he acquired, for Wain knew how strong drink oils the hinges of tine tongue. o But in this especial instance alcoholic bribery was scarcely aeceesairy, as everyone -was ready to expose Ben-Ezra's rascalities. These were many and deliberate.

The Jew was looked upon as a sort of pound-of-flesh Shylock in the suburb he had created, and was regarded more as a vampire than as a benefactor. It seemed, from the veracious tales of tile inhabitants, that Ben-Ezra bad appeared from nowhere 30 years before, and had been received in the then village in anything but an amiable manner. The unsophisticated villagers, said tradition, did not approve of Jews, being too good Christians to do so. Ben-Ezra, it was rumoured, came from some outlandish country (beyond the Channel. It was certain, at leaet, thait he could scarcely speak the Queen's English, aaid, moreover, was an ugly, black-visaged creature, made to be the sport of puittyrcomplexioned beings. He brought a pretty girl twifch him, whom he declared to be his sia'er, but as she was foreign also the villagers treated her as badly as they did her brother.

"We'd ha' tarred an' feathered 'em both," said an aged survival from the original Bruntlea to Wain, "but that General Ashton got soft on them beastly furrein folk. H« lived at Tanbuck Hall, did the General, and was our squire, as his family had bin there for hundred's of years. But the General, he horse-whipped them as wanted to oh-uck the furreiners from the village, and gave em a r.otioge on his land, -where 'obey pigged it for a year."

"Arid then?" asked' Wain, wondering at the prejudice against two unfortunate creatures, who apparently bad done 10thing harmful.

"Them Benjamin — we allays called the Jew Benjamin, though he dipped the name hisself," explained the ancient ; "well, sir, Benjamin took his sister away, as she couldn't go into the village without being ston-ed — end sarve her right far being a furrein Hebrew. In -two years Benjamin come back without her, and set up an office to lend money." "You tolerated him then," observed Wain oarcastically.

"Being useful to us we did,"' admitted the oldest inhabitant simply. "There warn't much money aibout in them days, nigh on 30 years ago. Benjamin, he ler<t money out on interest, and cold up them as couldn't pay. In 15 years he held nearly all the laud hereabouts, and none of us dare 6ay words, he halving us under his thumb, as you might say." "Retribution," muttered Wain : then asked' aloud, "Bruntlea is only 15 years old, I understand."

"Aye, the nerw town, that L«, sir. When "Benjamin got the land foe advertised the place in them "Lunnon papers, and built shops and villas and such like. Folk came -to live here, and" — ibhe aged man waved his hand to the four quarters of the world, — "well, you see what's come of Benjamin's roguery, sir." Wain protested. "He seems to have been more a benefactor to the district than a rogue. He has* made your rustic desert to bloom like a rose, and has joined .you to London. To Ben-Ezra is due this flourishing community "We didn't wartt no flourishing," grunted the ancient, "being content with ■wfoat us bad. Nearly all t»be villagers ac I

can remember have died out, and these Lunnon- clerks have took their places. Benjamin's the king of this here place, sir, and we ain't free Englishmen any longer. Blast him, say I, an' may he swing for the dog he is."

"Come! oome! you are too hard on the man. What he did was in the wav

of legitimate business."

"Swisndlin' and crushin' his betters," growled the other savagely, "an' an evil'bearted Jew at that, sir. If you heard the story of how h*. ruined General Aittan now "

"Tell it to me."

"Not I, sir, as my dinners waiting, a>nd I be too old to go -without food. Bub I Miilil say as General Asihton saved his life, a.nd by way of repayonent he sucked the old Square's blood, ruined the family." The ancient retreated to hobble home to dinner, but threw a sentence over his shoulder, "Ask anyone about the Jew's house."

Wain puzzled over this cryptic remark. He had seen the three rooms inhabited by Ben-Ezra which were over a shop in the High street. One room was a bedroom, one a sitting and dining room, and the third was his official sanctum, wherein he conducted his large business. But these three rooms, individually or 'collectively, could scarcely be callecf the Jew's Houee, so Wain .asked the question several times during the afternoon. Finally he received an answer, but dad not get it easily. Even though Ben-Ezra was in prison and in danger of his life everyone appeared- to be afraid to say too much. The Jew was vilified on general grounds, but few people seemed anxious to be , over-explicit. Wain gathered that most of the Bruntlea inhaibdtants were in Ben-Ezra's power, and co felt that it behoved them to be cautious. The outcry against the man was general, but those ■who stated facts were few and far between, perhaps because they thought that Ben-Ezra would win, and when free court them for libel.

However, Wain discovered one free and jovial soul who did not owe money to the Shylock of Bruntlea., and who was therefore ready to bis mind. "The Jew's house," he repealed from behind his counter — he -was a bookseller — "we call Tanbuck Hall the Jew's house, sir. Old Benjamin ruined General AsMon to get that house and land. He's had it for 15 years, and keeps a housekeeper and two servants to look after it, besides a gardener to trim up the grounds. But he never lives there, and only goes once a week- to see that all is in order."

"Rather useless expense," hanited Wain, ptftzled. "l r ou may well say so, sir. The Hall is eating its head off, so to speak, and old Benjamin is thrifty as a rule. But for some reason he keeps uip Tanbuck Hall like the gentleman's establishment it usocf to be. He won't even let visitors see it, though he could make much money by doimi; bo. Then, a^ain, all the land-, acres and acres, is lying waste in the centre of the town, as you m>ay say. -But old Benjamin never build's and never does anything, save kee<D it up and inspect it onoe a week. We call it the Jew's house," ended the bookseller, "though no Jew lives there."

"But Ben- Ezra's reason for beihaving in this eccentric way?" "I can't say, sir, and no moTe can anyone else. " Tanbuck Hall is a white elephant, as you might euy, and yet not exactly, as old Benjamin, sir, could turnover his money at a profit by selling it to Sir Gijes Dove."

"I am afraid he couldn 't do that now," said Wain drily.

"No, sir — quite so, sir. But I daresay the eon, who is nofw Sir Reginald, would be willing to buy the place. These Doves are nobodies, sir, and want to set up as gentry at the Jew's house. But whether old Benjamin lives or dies he won"t sell a stick or fitone of the place. It's just his fancy, sir — just his fancy." "I should think Ben-Ezra was too business- like to have fancies."

"Perhaps he's cracked, sir," said the bookseller genially. "H« must have been to shoot Sir Giles so openly. Well, he'll hang, that's one comfort, and Brunt Lea will be nidi of such rubbish."

"Take care." warned Wain, somewhat disgusted at this speeoh, "that you don't fall out of the frying-pan into the fire, and that Bruntlea doesn't übt Queen Storu in exchange for King Log." Tlie bookseller, notwithstanding hib trade, did not seem to have read fables, go he merely stared, while Wain strolled along the High -treet and down the lane into which .ha had stumbled on ths previous night to look at the Jew's house. He found the gate guarded by two policemen and could not enter, so he skirled the red brick walls of the park, so as to ascertain its extent. The magnitude of the acreage surprised him, ana to his faney — as the bookseller had called it — Ben-Ezra wae sacrificing roods of lands which were invaluable for building purposes.

The park, in the centre of wliich was the Hall, lay like an oaiis of greenery in the middle of the town. All round the red brick wall which girdled the place houses great and small were built, ana stretched out for quite a considerable distance into the country. Tanbuck ParK was the pick of the whole suburb, and, by building amidst its kafy woods, BenEzra could have mad© thousands 01 pounds. Yet this he would not do, ana refused even to sell it when he received an advantageous offer. Wain wondered at this freakish fancy of the Hebrew. Apparently Ben-Ezra Tvas not such a moneygrubber as those whom he oppressed declared.

The journalist no longer marvelled at the strange sensations which had bewildered him on the previous night. Had he gone right or left when wandering down the side-lane, ho would still have been in the middle of houses, even though these were then shrouded by fog. But by striking the open gate, he had entered into a woodland solitude which more

fitly jnight have been placed in the Carpathians. To enter the jealously-guarded gat© was to leave the twentieth century for the times of King Arthur, and adventures, violently fantastical fc in the busy streets of Bruntlea. would have become matter-of-fact romance — if there be such a thing — under the shadow of the Jew's house. It was the Fortet of the Sleeping Beauty, s>et incongruously in the midst of up-to-date civilisation.

By leaving the great gates on the right and by bugging th-e red brick wall, Wain got round in an irregular circle unti 1 he found himself coming from the left on the entrance again. The two policemen were not now visible, but had no doubt gone within to guard the avenue. The gates, great and tmall, were closed,* and a small knot of idlers were collected 7 before them, attracted by the norbid curiosity now prevalent in the town. And every now and then other sight-seers and reporters arrived on foot or on bicycles, or in motor cars and four-wheelers from, the railway station, to take stock of the scene of the tragedy, though that was hidden from them by reason of the brick wall.

And at the gates, like Lazarus on the threshold of Dives dwelling, sat a ragged, pitiful beggar *n the bright sunshine, soliciting alms. Wain, by reason of travel, was -steeled to unpleasant -Sights, but he halted involunatrily to stare at this poor wretch. The man -was a consumptive wreck, bent almost double, and coughed with a violence which threatened to shake him Snto fragments. He was considerably over 60 years of age, and must have been handsome at one time. But his disease had made such inroads on has originally strong constitution that he looked as though he would die then and there. ' But he retained sufficient vitality to implore alms, and the tin box. he held out shook in a trembling hand. "Great heavens, man, why don't jou go home?" asked Wain, shocked, and feeling for sixpence in his none-too-well-lined pockets.

"I've only got a shed to go to," coughed the beggar, "and t must get some money to give my little daughter food to-nigbt." "What, brought you to this?" asked Wain, throwing the rixpenoe. "That dammed Jew," said the man, rising painfully. "1 was well off as a locksmith, and he sold me up. He ruined me, curse him, so I've come here to his very door to laugh at him as he goes to the gallows." "He won't come here again If he is condemned."

"He will be condemned : be must be condemned," said the man, taking another meaning out of the sentence. "flea guilty!" — there was a- murmur of assent from those around. "Everyone says he's guilty. He'lf hang.. Tell Jum that Simon Daxley, whom he ruined, says he'll hang. Then 1 shall die happy." . He might have died then., without seeing his revenge, for its collapsed in a heap on the ground, worn out t>y the vehemence of his hatred and anger.*

(To be continued.)