CHAPTER XXVIII.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 163, 31 July 1886, Page 11

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE MEETING, AND WHAT VOULOWSD IT. "A lady and a gentleman come to see me 1" repeated Clarence, as he sprang from his chair and approached the grated door which the sheriff was opening. His heart told him who £he lady was : and before he could ask himself who the gentleman was, the eheriff flung open the door, and stepped back, revealing, in the indistinct light, the hermit and Miriam. " Oh, I thank you~l thank you 1" cried Clarence, as he shook hands with the hermit and then with Miriam, and conducted her to the broken chair from which he had risen. , Overpowered at sight of the suffering in Clarence'a face and the wretchedness of his surroundings, Miriam was unable to utter a word. Not so the hermit, He drew himself up like a 'soldier on parade, and after casting a quick glance about the cell, he turned to the sheriff, who stood in the door, rattling Mb rusty keys. || Who are you, sir?" he sternly demanded. " I'm the sheriff of this county," was the i reply. j *' And also the gaoler here ?" ; " Yes." i " Have you no better cells than this ?" ' "I have." "Are they full?" "No." " Then how dare you place this gentleman here ? ' "It'ain'c a bang-up place, I'll allow," said the eheriff, with a nervous cough, " but j it's too good for a murderer." "You cowardly dog J" thundered the hermit. " The fools who made you a sheriff did nob make you a judge !" " Who— who are you?" stammered the cowering sheriff. "You scoundrel ! lam one well acquainted with the law which you violate. This man is held here only on suspicion. The Grand Jury has found no bill against him, nor has be been tried. But know this, you vulgar dog, that if he were convicted and sentenced to death, that law and custom would require you to give him the best in your gaol. I shall stop at no expense to have you punished ; and if you would have me show what a man of your nature never shows— mercy, you will remove Mr Ashwotth to better quarters at once." Like all bullies, the sheriff wa3 a coward in every fibre of his coarse being. ' He actually shrank and grew shorter in the presence of this towering, soldierly man, as the jackal is said to crouch and flatten on the ground in the presence of the lion, from which fear prevents hi 3 flying. " I'm willin' you shall go up to the office an' talk," the eheriff managed to say at length. Then he added, in an apologetic tone : " I aint uster havin' cases like this." " You moan, you are not accustomed to meeting gentlemen. Come, eir. Don.'t stand there like a lightning-struck idiot Take Mr Ashworths effects* and carry them to your office. We will follow." If the hermit had taken the eheriff by the throafc — as he could easily have done - and flogged him into obedience, his manner could not have been more abject. He looked round shouldered, and his head was etooped as he went in and picked up Clarence's valise and then said, hoarsely : " Foller me. It'll be more lighter in the office." The hermit's manner had hitherto been so reticentj and gentle that Miriam and Clarence, who were most interested listeneis to this conversation, were completely surprised at tho transformation. The three followed the sheriff up to tho office, where another surpiiae awaited that fellow. After seeing the prisoner and his visitors seated, the sheriff must have thought that ie was his duty to listen to what was said, for he took a chair and tried, with very poor success, to look comfortable. " See here, my man," said the hermit, taking a long stride towards the sheriff and reaching out cne band, as if he were about to pick him up and fling him out of the window. " What are you waiting here for?' " Coz I have a right," said the eheriff. "A light to tit here in the presence of your superiors, and without their consent?" " It's my office." " But you gave it to us. We are hero to talk with Mr Aehworth. It is our right, and I do not propose to have you interfere with it. Come, get out." " But, sir— " " But. sir, get out !" thundered the hermit, his long arm pointing to the door that led into the court-house. "You're the crank they calls The Jooko, an' I don't keer to have no fuss witrTyou," said the sheriff, moving away. "Ah, there you show you have enough sense left to make you responsible before a jury." The sheriff went out, and, after seeing that the door was closed behind him, the hermit stopped up the % key hole with a wad of paper, then said, with a grim smile, as he sat down : "It quite reminds me of old times to have the settling of a fellow like that." " He's a miserable wretch,"said Clarence; " and for the time being, at least, you have settled him moat effectively," "And I thall see, before I leave here, that he is permanently settled. But let him go. We have come to show you that theie are people over in Willowemoc who believe in j ou. Comp, Clarence Aehworth, my eon, let me shake your hands again, for the grasp I gave you in that loathsome cell was by no means satisfactory.' There were tears in Clarence's eyes, and he dared not trust his voice to speak, a* he shook the hand of this strange man, who bad come up, like one from the grave, as it were, to defend him. " And now tell us what you have done or thought of doing, and then we'll diecu? s the future," said the hermit, his manner, like his face and form, denoting immense strength. Miriam took but HtHe part in the conversation that followed, for there had come to her a sublime taith in tliis strange man from the mountains. Clarence told of his talk with Wilaon Bly, and he was just siying that he had not heard from his telegrams to his mother and the lawyers, when the sheriff put his head timidly in, and said : " There's two gents, as say they're from York, that wants for to see Mr Ashworth." "Excuse me; I'll go out and ccc who they are, ' said the hermit, springing to the door before it could be closed. There was no cunniugfln this man's nature, yet we can but think that he was glad to give the young people an opportunity to talk without the presence of a third party, In a room adjoining the sheriffs office the hermit found two gentlemen, the one cleanjshayeni "arid middle-aged, and the other a fine-looking man- of Clarence's age.

V The sformer "introduced bimeelf as Mr 8 Edwards,^ a Jdtfyer from New York, who I had come on in response to Clareuce/fl i telegram. 3 "And," he said, pointing to bis companion, " this is' my .friend, Mr Charles i Spencer, Clarence Ashwbrth's cousin, wRo. ha 3 come straight from Philadelphia with a message from his prostrated mother." "I am heartily glad to Bee you here,. gentlemen," eaid the hermit, as he shook handa with them, "Clarence is now eont ) suiting with his cousin, Miss Berisford; t but as I know, perhaps, more about tfiia . case than he does, I will prepare you for what .he may have to cay by giving, you an outline of the circumstances that led to b» arrest." , Lawyer Id wards and his companion gladly accepted this arrangement, and " with no useless' words, but like a soldier'sreport," as Charles Spencer afterwards said* he told -hie story. "And now," he said, in conclusion, "let us go in and see our unfortunate young friend." The sheriff, who had not yet recovered his senses, put in his head trom time to time, and on catching the hermit's eye he would suddenly withdraw, like a timid boy dogging a miseile. Clarence ivas delighted to gee his friends, whom he introduced to Miriam, and 1 he,eagerly asked after his mother. " And now," said the hermit, " weshall leave you here with these gentlemen, who, if they remain here till to-morrow, shall see me again." Feeling how inadequate worda were to express his thanks, Clarence did not attempt it, but silently pressed the hands of Miriam and the hermit. As they were passing out of the building the latter caught sight of the sheriff* and beckoning for him to approach, he eaid, in fetern tones : "See-here, you, sir, I shall be back tomorrow, and if I find that your treatment of Mr Ashworth is not everything it should be, I shall court-martial you as surely as the eun rices." Without/ waiting for an answer, the hermit helped Miriam into the carriage, and told Hans to drive back to the Manor. The hermit bade Miriam good-bye at the gate, and he went off in the direction of his mountain home. " He's gone off for a walk, Mies," said Minnie, in raply to Miriam's question as to where her father was ; " but Mr Bensen's . in the library. And Mary bid me say that she's kept your lunch warm ; and how's Mr Aphworth?' "Mr Ashworth is well. Thank Mary, and say I do not wish any lunch." Miriam went to her room, and after taking off her hat and wrap, Bhe joined Shirley Benson. There was a look of dogged determination in his manner, and an odour in the roam that suggested the way in which he fortified his resolution. "Miriam," be began, "I'm glad you've come, for i want to have a serious talk, if you don't object." '• I don't object," she replied, " You have been to Sterling? "lhave." "And you saw Ashworth ?" "I did.' " Why did you go to see him ?" "Mr Benson," she said, with a dignity that made him very uncomfortable, " there is nothing in our relations to warrant the air of authoiity you assume." " Are you not pledged to be my wife?" "Ye?," she Bighed. " And does not that give me the authority to demand why you degrade yourself by visiting this criminal, and goiiig, too, in fie company of an acknowledged lunatic ?' J said Shirley, with returning courage. '"What my father agreed to," she saic^ rising, "I cannot permit you to call in * question." "You did not treat me so before Clarence Ashworth came." "And you, I am sure, did not behave so before that time. Have you anything moreto cay ?" she asked, moving towards the door. "I have!" he cried our, as he strode befero her 11 What wit?" " You must promise me not to go near this man again." "Must?" " Yes, must. Look at that diamondring; on your finger ; it is the pledge of an engagement nnd tho badge of my authority. I have claims on you as well as this fellow wbo is charged wifeh murder and I propo&e to enforce them." "But is this the badge of the authority you propose to exercise over mo ?" she said; holding up the fiDger on which glittered the brilliant solitaire. "It, is," he replied. " Miriam Berisford wears no badgo that implies her servitude to any man. We have been mistaken in each other. You certainly have mistaken your own needs. You want a slave and not a wife." As Miriam said this eha pulled the ring* from her finger and let it fall at his feet. 1 ' Miriam ! ( Miriam !" he- cried. " Listen to me il'i 1 ' At the fall of the rin 3; ehe turned, and without another word ox sign she left the room, in the centre of which he etood crushed and dumbfounded. {To be Continued.)