THE MAN WHO WAS SUS PENDED. A Tale of a Long Drop.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 192, 19 February 1887, Page 5

THE MAN WHO WAS SUS PENDED. A Tale of a Long Drop.

It was just before Christmas, but it did not promise to be a very merry Christinas for poor Fiotberry Park. He was a middle-aged man, and clerk to Messrs Mincing and Mark, of EC. Twenty odd years ago his father had died inteetattd, leaving real property of a moderate valuation ; and as Finsberry's elder brother, the legal heir, had disappeared in the wilds and could not be found, the property had remained in F.s hands to be | held in reserve until his brother's return. Finsberry had kept every penny faithfully for twelve yeirs, making every effort to find the heir ; afrer which, strong evidences pointing to the latter'a death, tke proper formalities had been gone through, and Ifint-berrv had enjoyed the little income rom tne property until a week before our story. But a week ago hi 3 elder brother had suddenly at rived in London. Thus Finsberry had suddenly found himself confronted by the fact that he was, without notice, to lose three fourths of his income (a very moderate one to keep a Lvge family on) ; and just at the same moment he had heard from a friend of a wonderful certainty of making a large fortune by putting a thousand pounds into a Company for Manufacturing New Laid Eggs out of Cotton Waste, which the friend was just getting up ; so, in his dilemma and desperation, he had borrowed the thousand pounds from the cash-box of his employers, fully intending to replace it in seven days, by which time, his friend had solemnly aesuied him, a first dividend of fifty per cent, larger than the original capital would be paid. When the dividend day came, however, the friend wa* overwhelmed with grief because iliQ Fecretary of the new company had absconded with the capital subscribed — seventeen hundied thoueand pounds, in forty-live million, three hundred and thirty-three thniuand, three hundred and thiity-three and a third share" of ninepence euch— in a bag ; and more would havo to be called iii 'it onco Meanwhile Uorper, an innocent, i^ood young man, and Finsbeiry's fellow- clerk, had bscn suspected of tho theft, and dismissed ; and this preyed upon F.s mind too. Now, the litMo fact of tho borrowed thousand notwithstanding, Finsbcrry was a good fellow and an bone?t fellow ; &o, on the Sunday morning m which our account opens, he had mado up his mind to do hia duty all round atuj face tho con^oqm-ncos. There was no chance of his delinquency in the matter of the cash box boine found out, and Gorper \U3 more than likely to £et penal servitude ; but Finsberry had resolved to go to Messrs Mincing and Mark and make a clean breast of it ; ho had re polved to set ape together the little capital he possessed, and pay that call rather than cheat the conapwy's creditors by turning bankrupt ; he hid resolved to go and welcome his bi other (who had behaved in tho worst manner towards him in long-past years, and wai a horribly bad lot), and hand over hi-" capital, together with all the money which remained over fiom the call ; and ho hid resolved to then return horn** and conduct his wife and children to tho female =ido of tho woikhouse and retiie to the male tide himself. Thero wa* a thick brown fog tint Sunday mornintr, and, while on the way, Fmsbarry happened to nii-take a parapet; for tho pavement, aivt fed down ion feet on to the top of hi? head When ho legainod consciousness ho felt ns though he hid no body— no weightnothing whatever m the solid way to carry, lie had started fmra his houee at 9 a.m. to walk to the re-Hiince of Messrs Mincing and Mark, a \til.c for him (a slow walker) of fully ore hour and three-quarters. He had fallen on his head about five minutes past nine, and when he found himself before his emrjlojuiV door, his watch indicated n-bout five minutes past nine. He decided that it must have stopped, -and a*ked tho time of a policeman. It was very strange, but poor Fin^b-rry'a heart was too full of other matter ■» f>r that to make a lasting impression, or he would also have noticed than the poiicstnan had turned deadly p*le on seeing him He found Mincing and Mark in the study nt Muscovados Villa, ; and another strange thing happonfd. As he entered both Mincing and Mark glared at him as though he had been a mad tiger coming in, and turned ghaetlv pale, and sank into their chairs with drop=i upon their foreheads. As Finsberry told the tale of his guiltiness 1 , they sat with straining eyes ; and w hen ho had finished their eyes met, and Mincing murmured to Mark :-"M — Mark, lam not a f uperstitiouv. man, and always scoffed at the&e things until now, but, He was a faithful servant to us all along, and we must never let the world know of his one act — now. Hi-* memory shall not be blackened by us." And Mark shuddered and said -"olemnly, " Amen !" Then Finfberry found himself at the houee of his friend Skroul, the promoter of the Company ; and as he entered his room, the first object which caught his eye was a clock on the mantelpiece ; it indicated five minutes past nine. Skroul was bending over papers and did not appear to hear him enter, but Skrnul moved uneasily, shivered, passed hie hand across his forehead, turned rowardß him as if drawn in some way, then uttered an awful yell, and fell on his knees with clasped bands. " Oh, forgive me, forgive me !" he gasped ; " I see— l know— l caused it ! I drove you to it ! Oh, do not come to me, and I swear that your family shall have every farthing back, and more ! I have not lost the money ; I told you that to swindle you. I invested it for myself and have made a lucky bit with it— quadrupled it in two days. I have sold out, and shall realise at once ; and I will write a cheque for the whole four thousand now — now I See ! it i is here— here ; and I will send it at once to your poor family. Ob, apare me— leave me — do not come to me again 1" J<insberry was bewildered; but, almost before ho knew it, he was on his way to his brother, the heir. His brother was not up yet ; as Finsberry entered, he was in the act of replaomg the watch in the pocket over the pillow.

" Only five past nine yet," he was saying to himself, when he broke off and dropped the watch ; his jaw fell, and he gradually up in bed stiffly, and as if made of iron ; then he began to jibber wildly, his firgerat Finaberry. Then Finsbeivv found himself at the poticet station, where a policeman waejusteayingto a newspaper reporter, " Fell on his head off a parapet ; middle aged man, atoutish, with no front teeth ; brown whiskers and grey hair; little cut on hie chin with black sticking plaster on it, probably done ia shaving ; dark check tie, tall hat with. 'F. P. 'inside" The description was that of Finsborry's self. He passed in, everybody turning palo as be brushed by ; and there was himself, lying on a shutter, and the police surgeon was saying, " Mu?t have beea killed instantaneously — condition of the brain " Then Fins'erry knew how things etocd ; he was a ghost, and he understood it all. With a desperate effort he wrestled with a power that was drawing him home ; he felt himself begin to glide, or sail, through all objects towards that place, but hestruggled wildly to prevent himself appearing to hi-* wife. It was a desperate struggle, for his lightness told severely against hieo m ; especially as he had always beea a Btoutishv man, and wos unused to the new state of things ; but presently be seemed to be getting heavier, heavier, heavier, until he could not move at all ; his head ached fearfully ; he opened his eyes and stared round ; he wan lying on a shutter in a bare room, with handcuffs and sabres on the; wall above. The surgeon and the station clerk were considerably startled as he walked out., but congratulated him ; and be v. ent homo somewhat dazed, and went to bed, and was nursed by Mw Parker. Within au hour, a cheque for £4,000 arrived, drawn on the account of Mephiatopheles Skroul ; and the next day a lawyer arrived with a deed drawp by E'insberry'S' brother, aligning the whole of his smalt property ro Finaberry, as somo reparation for past ill- treatment ; and with it was a note stating that the assignor would never be heard ot again— and he never was. Fiueberry Park paid back the thousand to Minciug and Mark, and is not a partner in the firm, and is more than contented and comfortable. The whole etory is strange, and perhaps eavours of the romantic, bat the explanation is simple. Why should one wait until one is dead, to have a gho^t ? What right has a temporarily inanimate body to expect its spirit to eit by it, twiddling its thumbs, until ifc (the body) choo?es to invifea it in again ? We don't believe any spirit with any ppirit would do it. — " Fun."