THE GENTLEMAN BEGGAR.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1077, 24 August 1883, Page 4

THE GENTLEMAN BEGGAR.

Xjl!f e r at u re.

One morning, many years ago, I called by appointment, on Mr 'Jacob Balance, the fashionable pawnbroker, to accompany him - to Liverpool, in pursuit of a levanting customer, for Balance, in addition to pawning, does a little business in the 60 per cent line. It rained in torrents when the cab stopped at the passage which leads past the pawning boxes to his private door. The cabman rang twice, and at length Balance appeared, looming through the mist and rain in the entry, illuminated by his .-perpetual cigar. As I eyed him rat her impatiently, remembering that trains wait for no man, something like a hairy dog or bundle of rags rose up at bis feet and barred his passage fora moment' Then Balance cried out with an exclamation, in answer . apparently to a something I could not hear, What, man alive I slept-in ,lire passage ? there, take that and get some breakfast, for heaven’s salt'’.’” So sayitig, hje l jumped info the “ hnVisohr,” and we bowled away at ten milfe nri hour, just catching the express ” as the doors of the station were closing. ’ My, curio.sity was full -set; for although Balance can he free with his money, it .is not exactly to.beggars that his generosity is' usually displayed ; so, when 'comfortably, •enscouscct! in a coupe, 1 "finished"with : ’ /’** You are liberal frith your money this morning; pray, how often do you •give silver to street, cadgers? because I shall (know- what walk .to take when flats and sharp's leave off buying law.” • Balance, ;who would have made an Excellent parsoii if he had hot been bred to baserhardening trade,, and has, still soft bit left in his heart, that is always lighting with his hard heart, did not smile at all, bnt looked as grim as if •Spneezing' a lemon into his Saturday ‘night’s punch. He answers slowly : “ A badger—-yes, a beggar—a miserable wretch, he is now; but. let me tell you, .Master : David, that - that miserable bundle of. rags • was < born and: bred a gentleman p /tho son of ainobleman/tlie hnsbaiid of ‘a n heiress, a mi has sat a nd ■dined at tabM where you and I, Master David, are only allowed to view the plate; by iavoni: of the bqtter. I have lent; him thousands, and keen well paid. The Jast thing: I had from him was his court suit, and I hold now his hill for £100,; thht =W H be paid, I expect, when he dis.” . ' ’//-,'///'//."/~ ” Why, what nonsense yon are talk*, ingi : Yon must be dreaming this morning.. However, we.are,alone,; ;-Xll light.a weed in defiance of railway- law’; yon shall spin that yarn ; for, true or nhtriie, it will fill up the time to Liverpboi.”'■ •//; /" v ; v “ As for yarn,” replied Balance, “ the whole story is short enough; and as for truth, that you may easily find out if yon taki the, trouble. . I. thought the poor, wretch was dead,' and I own it put meont meeting him this morning, for I had-a curious dream last night.’” “ Oh’, 'hang - y bur dreams, /'' Tell ns.' abdht.this gentleman beggar. that,.bleeds yon pf half-crow n s' —■ th a I m el t s, th e heart even of a pawnbroker:’’ ~ ~ -. v . Well, then, .that, beggar is the illesguiniate. son 'of the late Marquis of Hoopborough by a Spanish' lady 6f rank. He receivcd/a'first-rate education' and washrbaght up’ in hisTather’s liouse,,. At. .p” vely. jsa.rjy ‘ [ ‘/qhfaihed' aii appointment' in a phbjip office, ’was presented by the Marquis at court and; received intc the first ?spciety, where his‘ handsome person andagreeable manners; made him a great favourite./ ’ Soon after: cPtriiri'g -of age lie 1 married. theflaughter 1 of Sir E. Bumper,,who* b/pnght him a very 'handsome fortune, / which was. strictly settled oh her self. They lived in splendid ; kept several carriages, a hp.nse^4n/tpw» ( /ph(i' a place in the cpnnlfy,.! ' Fqfn spme reason or other, idleness,-or to please his-lady’s pride, he resigned hia. appointment. His father died and left him nothing ; indeed, he seemed aMhat time v.ery-handsomely provided for. ,r “Very ihonMr and Mrs Molinos Fitz Roy began tq .disagree, tJ She was coldf was boPahd fafidom. He was quite .dependent on her, and she made him feel it. - When he began target: into debt he oame ;to rrie/ *Ajb length some shocking 'quarrel occurred ; some cash of jealousy Pn the wife’s .side/ not without reasbh, I believe, apd the end of -it ivas ’Mr Fitz Rofrfras Wrned out of floors- The house was bis wife’s, tlje-/furniture/was his,,wife’s, and the fortune was his wife’s—he was, in fact; 1 her r pensioner* • He ; left> with a few hundredhpounds .ready money and some personal: jewellery” and'wenf to an hotel. Ohflhese'arid s credit ;ho’lived.'; Being, illegitimate he had no relations ; being a fool, when he, spent his money he lost his/friends. . The world took his wife’spart when they found she had the fortune, and the only parties who interfered were her relatives; who did the best- to make the quarrel incurable. To crown all, one night he was run over by a cab, was carried to . a hospital .and lay fbr rhpnfha| add' was,' during several weeks of the time, unconscious. A message to the wife, by the hands of one of his debauched companions, sent by a humane surgeon, obtained an intimation that * if he died, Mr Croak, the undertaker to the. family, had orders to see to the funeral,’and that Mrs-Molinos was on the point of starting for the Continen', not to return for some years. When Fitz Roy was discharged he came to me, limping on two slicks, to pawn his court; suit, and told me his story. I was really sorry for the fellow, such a handsome, thoroughbred-looking man. He was going into the West somewhere to try to hunt out a friend. * What to do, .Balance,’ he said, ‘ I don’t know. I can’t dig, ;and unless somebody will make me their gamekeeper I must starve, or beg, ns my Jezebel bade me when we ported.’ ■ “ I lost sight of Molinos for a longtime, and when I next-came upon kirn it was in the Rookery of Westminster, in a low lodging house, 'where, I was searching’with' an officer , for stolen

goods. He was pointed out to me as the * gentleman cadger,’ because he was so free with his money when ‘in luck.’ He recognized mo, bnt 1 timed away then. I have since seen him and relieved him more than once, although ho never asks for anything. How he lives, heaven knows. Without money, without friends, without ’useful education of any kind, he tramps the country, as yon saw him, perhaps doing a little hoppicking or haymaking, only happy when he obtains the means to get drunk. I have heard through the kitchen whispers that yon know come .to me, that he is entiiled-to some property, and I expect if ho were to die his wife would pay the £IOO bill I bold ; at any rate, what I have told you I know to be true, and the bundle of rags I relieved just now is known in every thieves’ lodging as the ‘ gentleman cadger.’ ” This story produced an impression on me. lam fond of speculation and like the excitement of a legal hunt as some do a fox chase. Ag< nl'lernan, a beggar, a wife rolling iii wealth, rumours of unknown property due to the husband ; it seemed ns if there were pickings for me amidst this carrion of panpeiism. Before returning from Liverpool I had purchased tlie gentleman beggar’s acceptance from Balance. I then inserted in the Times the following advertisement: “ Horace Molinos Fitzßoy., It this gentleman will applj to DavM Discount, Esq., solicitor, St James’, he will hear of something to. his advantage. Any person furnishing Mr P.’s address shall"'receive £ I * s reward. He was Inst seen,” etc. Within twenty-four ‘hounf I had ample proof of the wide circulation of the 2'imes. My office was besieged by beggars of every degreemen and women, lame and blind, Irish, Scotch, and English, some on 'crutches; some in bowls, some in go-carts. They all know him as the “gentleman” no harm.'

‘■/One evening,!about three weeks after the appearance of the advertisement, my clerk announced “ another beggar.” Th ;, ro came in an ‘did man leaning on n staff;;clad in’a.grny coat all patched and torn, ' with a battered hat, from under /which a niass of tangled hair fell over ‘hid ‘shoulders/ arid half concealed his face. The beggar in a weak, wlwezy, hesitating'done, said 1 : “ You have ad--vertised for Molinos Fitz Roy. I' hope; you 'don’t mean him any harm ; he is sunk, I think, too low for enmity now , and surely no one would: sport witlr such misery as his ” These last words frere uttered in Va sort of piteous whisper. I answered quickly: “Heaven forbid I’shpuld/sport with misery ; I mean and hope to do hinr good as wel las myself.” ■■■’’ “ Then, sir, I am 1 Mojinos Fitz Roy.” While ,‘fru .were,/ Conversing, candles had ! 1 been', broifght'in.; I have hot very tender nerves, liiy head ivould'not agree with them, bnt I own I started and shudd.ered when I Saw and knew that the wretched creature before me was under thirty, years of age and Price a gentleman. Sharp, aquiline features, reduced to literal skin and bone, were begrimed and covered frith dry, fair hair ; the white teeth of , the half-open month chattered ”with‘eagerness, and made more hideous the foul pallor of the : rest; of the I countenance.' • As, he stood ; leaning - on--a: I staff half bent, his long, I yellow, bony l 'fingers clasped over ithe crutch bend of his stick, he, indeed q picture of misery, famine, j squalor, and prenrature age too horrible jtpQfflwell upon,... I made him:< sit idown, and then*; senL for spmc refreshiment, which ho rdevouced like a ghoul, land,set -to work to unravel h|S;Story ?j ..It!frai3.difficult to keep to the-point;, jbut i with-pains I learned what convinced me that hesw.as entitled to some property whether great or small thereMs ino evidence. On, I said, “Now Mr F., you...must slay in town,while. I jmrike/ proper iriqitiries./ , allofria'H'ce .will /be enpugh to‘ keep, you comfortably ?” /.. . - > , answered humbly, after much pressing, “ Would you think, ten shillings 100 much.?”'/ . - : : I don’t like, if Ido these thing!? atjail, to do theml shabbily, 'so I/ said 1 :/ ‘‘Gome every Saturday and yon shall have a pound./’ VjHe was profuse in'.lns Ihariks, as all men' are as long as dis-tress-lasts.:;!; i/'i "

| I had previously learned that: .my fagged client’s wife was in England jiving in’ a splendid house in Hyde Park gardens, under her maiden name. On the following day the Earl of Owen called upon me, wanting £5,000 .by ,5 o’clock the same evening. ; It, was a cose of life or death ’with. him, and so I ’made my terms, and took advantage: of his pressure tb execute a coup de main. I proposed, that he should drive me home ip receive /the money, calling at * Mrs Molinos*, lu Hyde Park gardens, on our way. I knew that the coronet and liveries of his father, the marquis, would insure me an audience with Mrs Molinos Fitz Roy, My scheme answered. I was introduced into the lady’s presence. She was, and' probably is,- a very stately, handsome woman, with pale complexion, high, solid’ forehead, tegnlar features, thin, pinched, self-satisfied mouth. My interview was very short. I plunged into the middle of the affair, but had scarcely mentioned the word husband when she interrupted me with, “ I presume you have 1 loaned this , profligate person money, and you want me to pay you.” She .paused, and then said : “ He shall not have a farthing.” As she spoke her white face became scarlet. (To be continued.)