AN EXPENSIVE PRESCRIPTION"I WISH I’D KNOWED LATIN.”

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1130, 27 December 1883, Page 4

AN EXPENSIVE PRESCRIPTION"I WISH I’D KNOWED LATIN.”

LITERATURE.

Many of my readers (says M’Govan, the Edinburgh detective) may remember n shabbily dressed man, in snnff brown coat and spectacles, who used to stioll in by Newington nearly every forenoon at the sunny part of tlie day. He was it seedy looking customer,-who snuffed n deal, and did not keep his face and hands over clean, and used to spend most of his time during this daily stroll in hanging about second hand bookstalls and brokers’ shops. Theophilns Brownings was the brother of an Edinburgh merchant owning one of those large, old-fashioned houses in a sidestreet off Newington. The old man was a great scholar, hut as he'had been a dreamer all his days, he had never developed to anything, and was now a kind of harmless pensioner in the house of the aforesaid. He had an allow >ncc of £SO a year from his brother ; but as he spent every penny of it on books and curiosities, his clothes remained seedy and unchanged for years. I daresay Philip Brownings lost nothing by making this allowance to his eccentric brother, for the articles so jacked nj> worth! probably he worth a great deal more when they were sold as a collection. However, that lias little to do with the remarkable ease in which the doited looking obi book-worm ployed the hero, and which lam about to recall. Regularly us the holiday season came round, Philip Brownings and ; his family wen t off *6 the Highlands or seaside fur a couple. of months, taking the servants with them, and leaving the great place in charge o( this old man. They would .gladly have taken him with thorn, but ho could never be persuaded to leave Edinburgh even for a single u>ght. Edinbergh . and its bookstalls • and brokers’ shops was his life, his world—and to deprive him of that would have been to destroy his happiness. This arrangement proved very satisfactory for many years, for the plate an 1 valuables never needed removing to n Bank, and, the bouse being never empty, was less liable to nttraot thieves.

It chanced, however, that in nn evil moment, during one July, the honse fell under the evil eye of one of my “bairns,” named William Pike. Pike was not a trained or professional thief; he was only a brutalised and cowardly labourer, who was so eaten up with laziness and love of drink that he ha-* taken-to the life as the handiest at the moment. Pike noticed the house, its size, and promising look; but as it was enclosed in a high wall, he could not get quite near enough to decide upon the easiest Way of getting inside. He discovered, however, that the family were absent, and that no one looked after the place but an old and stupid looking man. The windows were all shattered and secured, with the exception of one of the attics, far beyond bis reach, which was occupied by the old book-worm; and the doors were probably as safely guarded. All this meant bard work lor the boosebreakers, and tools of the ha.idling of which William knew nothing, added to to which was the fact that the old man was never out of'the house at night, and the robbery could not safely be attempted by day. ‘ Ifdt bad been the dark nights now, and he was late of getting back, how easy it would be for me to tush on him just as he gets the garden door open, knock in his head with a noddy, and then take the keys and go through the place comfortable?’ reflected the benevolent William; * nobody would notice anything in this quiet place, and ii would all be inside the door. But it’s ho use thinking of it, for if it Wits winter the place wouldn’t be empty.’ William took to following the old man, and was often sorely tempted in doing so. It was the custom of Brownings, after locking the garden gate, to keep the key of that door on his finger during the whole of his walk—that is, with the forefinger of the left hand thrust through the ring of the key, and the barrel lying in the palm of bis hand.

* A good grab at it when he’s looking nt some o’ them old books would do the trick/ William often greedily reflected ; bat then the ‘ good grab ’ was just what ho lacked conrage to make, though he was in hope that the actual door of the house might bo left either open or simply on the latch.

Had William been certain as to how or where the old man carried the actual keys of the house, he would have employed some of his distinguished acquaintances to pick his pocket; bnt thongh he watched the unconcions ‘ plant ’ well and narrowly, lie never could get at that knowledge. ‘lf I could get in tow with the old bloke and make him drnnk, that would be the plan/ he feverishly thought one forenoon, after following him over half of the city; bnt he hardly ever drinks, and might be suspicious. Wai* 1 by gum I I think I have it; that would be the plan, and he would jump at the bait like winking.’ William’s new inspiration did not take long to develop and arrange ; and the next day he managed to get into conversation with Brownings at one of the bookstalls.

1 1 wouldn’t give a shilling for the whole lot,’ he said, with a commendable contempt for fnstiness and age, in allusion to the books on the stall; *in fact, sir. I’ve got a whole room down at my place choke full of old books, and swords, and nick-nacks, hundreds of years old, and as mouldy ns old cheese anil I’d give the lot to anybody for five shillings, just to get rid of lliem.’ * Old books, say you ? hundreds of years old’ cried the old man with roused interest; * I should like to see them.’ * Tuts, they’re not worth looking at,’ said William, with great modesty ; * the print is mostly the old-fashioned kind, and lots of them are in Latin, and other foreign languages. ' {To he Continued.)