An Odd Adventure.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4685, 12 January 1884, Page 1

An Odd Adventure.

Tom Moicambe was in lore and in debt —two circumstances which considerably disturbed his equanimity. His pecuniary embarrassments were less serious than his lore affair, for the former were of a temporary nature, while the latter threatened to be permanent. The combinationfmade him restless and anxious to avoid the society of his fellow-men, so he packed up bis portmanteaux and started off to refresh bis weary soul by a week's solitude by the sad sea waves. Slocum-super-Mare was his destination, but when he arrived there be found, to his intense disgust, that the quiet seaport town was in a state of turmoil, being on the eve of a contested election. Not being pleased with this state of things, he moved on the next day to Morriston, a small fishing village a few miles further up the coast. , Tom was in an unsociable frame of mind, and he never even looked at his fellow-passengers. The compartment in. which he travelled was full, but he resolutely buried his face in the newspaper, and read steadily on till he reached his station. When the train slackened speed at Morriston, be dragged his portmanteau off the rack and alighted on the platform with a blessed sense of relief at the prospect of a few days absolute quietude. The aspect of Morriston was eminently calculated to sooth his nerves; for at that period of the year he. had the place all to himself. There was no other guest at the little inn where he took up bis quarters; the native population was represented by a few stray children and old men; the bathiog machines were drawn up high and dry above the deserted beach; and the most complete" desolation prevailed. Tom dreamily wandered fur an hour or two along the seashore with perfect satis* faction, and then returned to the inn. He undid the straps of his portmanteau and unlocked it in an absent frame of mind, bat without any misgivings. He ev.eri began to throw the contents, pellmell, upon the bed, when suddenly be awoke to: the: fact that there was something wrong. A gaudy pair of worked slippers first aroused his suspicions, and, upon further inspection, he perceived that the portmanteau, though it was the very counterpart of bis own, evidently belonged to some one else. It immediately occurred to him that, in his hurried exit from the train, he had appropriated a strange portmanteau by mistake. At first he was disposed to blame his own carelessness, but he was no! in a mood for self-abasement. He therefore soon commenced to launch hearty imprecations at the head of the other fellow, and to speculate what had become of his .own property. From the the point of view of equality of exchange there was not much to choose between the two portmanteaux and their respective contents; but when Tom reflected that his own contained, among other things a precious photograph and a lock of golden hair, he became angrily convinced that he had the worst of the, bargain. He was seized with feverish anxiety to recover his property, and finding among the stranger's luggage a sealed letter addressed to a Mr Burrows, of Bilchester, a town about thirty miles off, he resolved to go on there immediately. Doubtless be would succeed, with the assistacce of Mr Burrows, in tracing the person who was the bearer of the letter. lie accordingly travelled to Bilchester by the afternoon trainy which improved hi 3 temper by taking the long* est time on record in doing the journey. When he reached his destination he found

he could uot get back to Morrisloo that night, so that he had 1, to put up at an hotel. .: " - Without a moment's delay he called at Mr Burrows' residence, a modest house ia the suburbs of the town. When the servant opened the door-he handed her the letter rather ufaceremoniously, and re* quested to see her master; but the girl explained that Mr Burrows was not within, and that she did not know when he would return, so Tom had to content himself with-writing*the name of his hotel on one of bis cards and leaving a message that he would call in the evening. He returned to his hotel in an unanaiablemood. Just as. he was thinking of - going upstairs to bed,' the 1 waiter came and handed him a small parcel and a visiting card. The parcel was neatly done up in brown paper, and bore no name or inscription. The accompanying .card, to his great surprise was his own—the one he had.left at Mr Burrows' house. . "What the deuce is the meaning of this ?" excliamed Tom, as the waiter prepared to leave the room. •; " A young person called just now and left the parcel for tho gentleman whose name was on the card." said the man lingering. " Was there na message ?" inquired Tom. "No, sir; only the parcel was to be given into your hand directly," returned- . the waiter. Tom began to perceive "that there had; been a misunderstanding. No doubt the' parcel had been sent by Mr Burrows in! consequence of the letter he had de-J livered, and was. intended for some one else. It was rather a strange proceeding to return a visitor's card, but probably; the messenger had bungled over his mission. The most likely explanation seemed ? to be that Mr Burrows, imagining that the bearer;of the letter had left the:wrong card by mistake, bad sent it back with the: parcel. At all events, Tom was too tired and sleepy to speculate much over tne matter, and he therefore carried the parcel up to his room intending to return it when he came upon Mr Burrows in the morning. He was rather surprised at the weight of the. package, which was out of all proportion" to its' size, and when he got upstairs he was seized with curiosity to know what it- contained- As it bore no address -..he felt under the circumstances, justified in opening it, and he therefore cautiously undid the wrapper. Inside the brown paper covering was a neat deal box, *also without address or inscription It was nailed down, but the fastening was by no means formidable. After a'few minutes hesitation Tom whipped out bis pocket* knife and prised open the lid sufficient to be able to take a peep inside. Another covering—tissue paper this time—baffled his curiosity, but on lifting the edge of this he beheld a gleam of gold. His amazement now overcame his scruples, and without more ado he wrenched off the lid completely. . " Sovereigns, by Jove ! The box is literally full of them," he muttered below his breathi , „ Tom conld hardly believe his eyes, but he soon convinced himself that he was not mistaken. The sovereigns were neatly arranged iv closely packed layers, and, as far as he could judge, the box contained £500 at least. He proceeded to do up the parcel again in an absent-minded manner, while he speculated upon the meaning of Mr Burrow's conduct. Even assuming the box was intended' for someone else, it seemed an extraordinary proceeding to leave a large sum of money in gold at an hotel in such a reckless way. He had previously ascertained that Mr Burrows was a retired tradesman of very good repute, and from all accounts he appeared to be the last person to commit such a -jash'and unbusinesslike action. This singular incident somewhat disturbed Tom's night's rest, for it seemed as though fate had placed in his hands the means of freeing himself from bis pecuniary embarrassments. There was nothing r to prevent his appropriating the money land making off with it, and as it was all in gold there would be little risk of detection. Of course, he was too honorable to seriously entertain such a project; still; the temptation was so unpleasantly vivid that he quite longed to disembarrass himself of his treasure.

Accordingly he set forlh as early as possible the next moruing to Mr Burrows' house with the parcel under his arm. Ho sent in his card, and was ushered into a small sitting room; but, after a short interval, the servant returned, with a message that her master was too unwell to see him. •

''J. called about this parcel," said Tom; "It was left at my hotel last night, and I think there must be some mistake. Will you ask Mr Burrows ?" The serrant disappeared again, but presently brought back word that Mr Burrows did not understand what he was alluding to, and knew nothing about any parcel. ; .■?* What P.": exclaimed Tom in amaze- * ment. "Why, if was left at my hotel last night with the card which I delivered into your hands at the door yesterday afternoon. Of course I imagined it must Jiate come from Mr Burrows."

11 Mr Burrows says he don't know anythibg about it," said the girl, looking mystified; . ' ; 4M!ou.gave him my card, I suppose, < and the note P" said Tom, after a pause of astonishment. - - "'Ses, sir! directly he came iD,", said the servant. .'J This is most extraordinary," said Tom- " Just go up to your master again, my girl, and repeat what I hate told you. You might also ask him if he would kindly.let me know the contents of the .note I delivered,',' he added as an afterthought. . > Before Tom had time to collect his scattered ideas, the servant came hack again, looking rather scared, with an envelope in her hand, which he recognised, as the note he had brought the day .before. " Master has forbidden me to go near him again, said the girl, as she laid the note on the table. "He is in a dreadful passion. Hs says it's a cock and bull story, but you're welcome to see the letter." " A cock and-bull.story, is it ? growled Tom, snatching up the letter. "It strikes me. I'm being made a fool of, any way. Hallo! what does this mean?" - He bad opened the envelope, and found .. it contained nothing bnt a plain sheet of letter-paper and a card. The latter bore :• the name of— Mb A. C. Sthawbbibge, ' Solicitor, SLOOUM.

aDd beneath was written in pencil : " Bearer susp. cts nothing." 11 Well, I'm —-. Listen, my girl, i tbis is all nonsense," broke forth Tom, impetuously. " Here am I landed with a confounded parcel that,l know nothing about. Go and tell your master I must see. him—or,, at all events, ask him what I'm to do with this thing ? " "I dursn't go near him again, sir," said the girl, shrinking back. " Besides, he particularly said I wasn't to take the parcel. He says he knows nothing about it." ... "Very well, then," said Tom, in desperation, "It's all a mistake, but if he won't see me, I shan't take any more trouble."

. With tbis Tom marched out of the | bouse in a great state of virtuous indig- ' nation, but with an odd sensation that I fate had decreed he should keep the , money. He would have left the parcel with the servant, in spite of Mr Barrows' injunctions, if he could only have felt satisfied that he was doing right. It , seemed hardly likely, however, that a person would deny all knowledge of such a valuable consignment if he were really the sender. It is true that Tom was inclined todoubtMrßurrows?■•veracity.on this point, but, after all; he might be mistaken. He hurried back to his hotel, and qjttestioned;the waiter who had taken in the parcel. The man, however, ad--hered to his story, and was quite certain that Mr Burrows' name had never been mentioned. After all, the only circumstance which connected that gentleman with the parcel was the accompanying card which had been left at the house, and Tom had done his best to follow up this clue.

As, there appeared to be no one in the hotel who expected to receive a parcel, Tom resolyed toapply to Mr Strawbridgn, of falocom, to elucidate the mystery. In his' excitement, he had forgotten all about his missing portmanteau; but it now occured to him that Mr Strawbridge could at least inform him who the- bearer of the note had been. Probably, also, Mr Strawbridge could explain the whole affair: for Tom still suspected that the parcel had been intended for the messenger who had carried the letter, and upon reflection he felt more and more convinced that Mr Burrows, for some mysterious reason, had deliberately attempted to deceive him.

Tom therefore travelled to Slocum by the earliest train, revolving these things in his mind, and at the end of .his journey, having recollected the impending election, he had formulated his ideas a little. He waa hardly surprised to learn that Mr Strawbridge was the Conservative agent, and as it had been given out the election was toibe "i conducted :>oii -purity principles, he began to feel a little suspicious. He called upon Mr Strawbridge in his office, but discovered that he was attending a noisy meeting of his party at the assemblyrooms. Tom waited patiently until the proceedings broke up, and then took the earliest opportunity to accost him. Unfortunately, Mr Strawbridge was a fussy, self-important individual, and little suspecting the delicate nature of Tom's communication, he declined to accede to hisjrequestfor a private interview, but roughly requested him to state bis business on the spot. His manner put Tom's back up, and though there were several persons within hearing, Tom did not hesitate to inform him that owing to an accidental circumstance he bad been entrusted with a box of sovereigns to deliver to him. Tom then proceeded to detail the facts of the case, and his story caused a perceptible stir among the bystanders. " Pooh! Pooh ! It's all nonsense, sir, it's all nonsense," interposed Mr Strawbridge, turning very red, and glancing apprehensively around him. "But what did the note mean, then P" cried Tom, not relishing the statement. "The money was sent to me because I was believed to be your messenger."

" Hullo, Strawbridge ! " exclaimed a voice from the crowd, significantly.

" Gentlemen, I assure you this is an unworthy manetuvre of our opponents," said Mr Strawbridge, raising his voice. "It is an attempt t'oconvict me of bribery and corruption. I know nothing about the parcel. This young man has been sent here to prejudice ojir candidate, and to spread damaging rumors." " Shanio ! shame !" burst from the excited ; ; and Tom, who was by no means disposed to take this rebuff calmly, suddenly became an object of popular indignation.^ Before he bad lime or opportunity for remonstrance, his hat was crushed over his eyes, and ho was violently ejected into the street;* But he clung to the precious parcel with dogged determination, and managed to carry it away with him. Tom was a hot tempered fellow, but he had a pretty shrewd eye to his own interest. After what had passed, he guessed that neither Mr Burrows nor Mr Strawbridge would be anxious to claim the box of sovereigns, which he con* sidered.irimself entitled to retain by way of damages for the injuries he had sustained. He took the next train back to town, paid the money into his banking account, and then wrote to both the above-named gentlemen, expressing his willingness to refund the amount to whichever was entitled to it, upon receiving a satisfactory explanation. Strange to relate,-neither of these communications elicited any reply, and from what he afterwards gathered from the local press, Tom is inclined to believe that he will remain in undisputed possession of his Spoil.—-Truth.