CHAPTER XLVIII.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1636, 30 December 1882, Page 5

CHAPTER XLVIII.

A letter addressed in a bold, sweeping handwriting which was strange to inc. I tore it open when I reached my room, and looked at the signature — it wa3 a curious one, truly"Jolia Crawford, Burglar," I repeated' in astonishment. " Who can lie be ? Can it be Derrick ? Yes, it is 1 Confoundedly cool of the fellow, too, I must say I" "You will be surprised at receiving this communication from me," began the letter, • " but, as it cannot hurt you to read it, I advise you for your own sake to do so. You have several times remarked that there was a .mystery about me, and, though that mystery has been partly explained by the discovery that I am a professional burglar, I am much mistaken if you do not desire to have a little more light thrown on the subject. Before I come to what concerns you, therefore, I will say a few words of myself, <r< First, then, I have signed this letter by my real name, and I have added thereto my real profession, I call it a profession, because, in my hands, it attains to that .dignity, and, as I am in no way ashamed of it, you may please understand that I ■•am not writing in any apologetic spirit. am I going to enter on a defence jrf my calling — a defence which would pj/obafoly not convince you, even if you took the trouble to read it ; but, as you have been good i.'tfiough to display some interest in my opinions", J feel impelled to mention to you a few of tlit? circumstances which have helped to form thc'W' ft you do not wish to learn anything of xay history, you can turn at once to the end of the letter, and leave this part unread it is a matter of perfect indifference to me. " I am the son of a well-known seed merchant in Belfast, and, as a young man, I was employed in my father's counting-house. There waa also in the office a cousin of mine, who was as staid and formal as I was the reverse, and my father, who was a man, of the very strictest religious views, came by degrees •to look with greater favor upon him than mpon me. I will not particularise the various tarts by which this crafty hound encouraged * Esrg in a course which he hoped would eventually lead to my being disinherited in his favor ; suffice it to shortly describe the way in which the climax- was brought about. There was — as there generally is— a young woman in the case. She was the daughter of a clergyman of the Church of Ireland— a communion which my fa&er, as a rigid Presby.terian, regarded with* me, utmost disfavor; in :asditiomt^|nich he haa'jfl personal dislike to '.the'elelgjialk in "questidna" „ f4'#<3p^uainted. '^bMhews *> facts, my tislh ca^^d io'm^it Known; that I had .an my possession aminiatureipainting of the tsjte*ig' , ladfci x have mentioned^ This my /.^^r^emOTgd * from , my room, ,and, , vrherfrl ', fc l oM§je4ion him about it, he replied '/^thafsternliefuke, and spoke of^the girl „ fin' a, way to opejn. rebellion.. /There was a violent quarrel, which/ ended/in

acquainted with my violent and daring disposition, he well knew what would follow; I broke into the counting-house that very night, and, after vainly forcing drawer after drawer, was arrested in the act of making my escape. You can^guess the rest. Money was missing — money which I had never handled, but for the theft of which I was tried, convicted, and transported. I believe my cousin to have been the real thief, and you will understand another circumstance, which puzzled you at the time, when I tell you that his name ia Samuel Sleekie ! " That unjust punishment did the business. I came out of prison in Western Australia with the fixed resolve to become a burglar. My place in society was lost, and, of the various arls which make war upon that society, housebreaking was the one which I selected as mine, and for which, by unusual strength, perfect presence of mind, and extraordinary mechanical dexterity, I was peculiarly fitted. You may remember that I told you on one occasion, that I was a mechanician ; so lam ! —and an accomplished one, as many a socalled burglar-proof safe might testify. But to house-broaking I confine myself ; it has, as I say,, become almost a high art in my hands, and with the petty pilferings of the common thief, I have nothing to do. It is to this fact that you arc to attribute my interference between you and the roughs, who would otherwise have assaulted and robbed you. "As regards the attempt on Count Giustiniani's house, I made a mistake in associating with a man, who, though a clever burglar, possesses a savage temper, and would that night have committed murder if I had not prevented him. lam sorry for the fright to the young lady — sorry for the severe fall I was obliged to give you — and, as a matter of business, extremely sorry that I failed to carry off the plunder. lam now, as you may well believe, in hiding. I have long used a plan of concealment, which, while it is simple in the extreme, almost precludes discovery, and it is solely owing to my advice, that Brummagem Ike ha 3 not — like most men of his stamp — fallen long ere this, info the hands of the detectives. And now, in conclusion, I have to say, that it has come to my knowledge that a certain Reuben Harrison is in possession of a manu-script-book, containing statements supposed to be important to you. Ike, it would seem, upon returning to his house after the affair at Cintra, had a quarrel with a foreign woman who lodged there. He accused her of giving information to the Count, of the intended robbery, and, after knocking her down, rifled her but, making off in great haste, did not find out until afterwards, that what he had taken for a pocket-book, was only a small and closely-written note-book. 11 Harrison and Ike have since been associated in an enterprise with which I have nothing to do, and at one of their interviews my attention was attracted by hearing your name mentioned. Harrison had chanced to look into the book, and no sooner did he become aware of its contents than he eagerly asked Lee to give it to him. The other consented, saying that he didn't see how it could be of any value. ' Not to you,' replied Harrison, ' but I owe a grudge to this Eaymond who is mentioned here, and I'm much mistaken if this book won't help me to serve him out.' Although within hearing of this conversation, I was not visible to the parties, and, consequently had no oppportunity of examining the book. As to what it contains you may yourself have some idea, and I have written to place you on your guard against what I suspect will bo an attempt to extort money. If I have thereby done you a service — well, if not, there is no harm done." " This, then, is the Jack Crawford otwhom Mucldebody spoke that night at M'Phun's," I thought, as I came to the end of this unique epistle, " His story agrees with the Scotchman's too ; and according to it he has been vilely used. Well might Sleekie slink off that day at Cintra, when he found himself face to face with the man he had ruined. But I don't understand this matter of the book, unless it is — why, of course, that's it ! — the one Glika Nasilovitch spoke of having Uost. And now this fellow Harrison has got hold of it, with the view, no doubt, of squeezing money out of me for its surrender. Well, I would give anything in roason to have my doubts finally set at rest. I shall be hearing from the scoundrel before long, I suppose ; he is in close hiding, too, I imagine, for the ' enterprise' Derrick, or, rather, Crawford speaks of can be no other than the robbery at Stone's. The Brummagem Ike, I suppose, supplied the professional element, while Harrison figured as an amateur. Well, they are sure to be caught, sooner or later, but Crawford appears to have none of that childish incaution which renders the generality of criminals such an easy prey to the detectives. He is evidently a man of brains and nerve; pity he doesn't employ them in a more legitimate direction." Going downstairs to seek the Count, I found him on the terrace— stretched on three chairs, with a magazine hi his hand, and a cigar in his mouth. '< " What, Count," I exclaimed — " the dolce far nientc so early in the day ! We English would think that disgraceful !" " You English," he returned, letting fall 'the book, are welcome to your opinion — which is. more than you are in the habit of saying; toi the rest of the world. But, as far as the dolce^ far niente, you mistake ; I have been working hard — trying to understand a writer who ha^got nothing to say, and doesn't know how tp say it." „ ' „ " Ah, well, just read that," I said, handitfg. him the burglar's letter. " That is a writer who has something to say, and knows how $o say it, too." ' ■'*' L' The Count read the letter carefully thro]jglv and then smiled his caustic, cynical smiled "£•- "What an exquisitively impudent f ttjfuoh' that is," he said, "about the plunder he failed to carry off. And that is a ver^ pfettjy little story about his early life — v^ry^'praiify indeed. 1" IV' 1 -'"^f' : "I happen to have heard somepiijig 1 off 1 it before, Count ; and I have reason .jto ■' that it is true." ' "V,2f ' ' « Well, I don't say it isn't ; and |||§;Mlow certainly interfered to prevent imMf&a&ie from stabbing Paola. Sleekie-^wt^the man who came here with ' Miss fsJno|>ia — what's her name — isn't it ? ' I!*!*! " The same. . I saw Derrick ammzf® him 'that day, as he was leaving the and Sleekie slunk off like a whipped ''And so .this Mr. Derrick, 1 or /Crawford, cerns you, and which' was fou'n<||jffi'ißfe' possession of 'the Russian. Thaf^^ipoprse, is the book she spoke "of having o.™^|™iat do you imagine' Harrison meanljj>|of||o with i The ' Count [thoughtfully trafSaJlSjiis'. ntoustache f fdrisbme moments. 1 '.^jS^B^^pt so'< sure young scoundrel, if j I his',s.facp f

measures ; and your accomplished . co-re-spondent is certainly a great niah in-s^his way!" '$#*-•' J'uU,'