Springfield Weekly Republican

A STEP ON THE GRAVEL.

What Came of Harboring a Fenian.

'Just a knob or two more, for it's cold as winter to-night; then one game at chess, and off to bed. By the way, did you send the girl?'

'Half an hour ago,' said my wife. 'It is past eleven.'

'Humph! Time goes so when one is reading,' I said: and then, setting out the men, we prepared for our battle, with the understanding that, as it was late, the moves were to be made quickly and without consideration. And, by the way, these are games in which I generally come off victor, my very near relative being gifted with a long head, in whose depths she concocts abominable schemes, full of checks and discoveries fatal to the existence of my poor queen, against whose reign she is disloyal as any Fenian.

The little timepiece had just struck its single alarm note to say that it was midnight, and I had given check with a bishop in a two-edged way, that insured the loss of my adversary's knight, when she suddenly sat very upright upon her chair, and held up her finger.

'Some one crying?' I said, thinking of kicked off clothes and shivering little limbs somewhere in the upper regions.

'No,' she whispered—'a step on the gravel.'

'Nonsense!' I said, for I hate people of nervous temperament to rouse me out of my easy-chair at night, to go shivering down the garden to try if the front gate is locked, and peep behind the laurels for concealed burglars; or to shake me out of a pleasant dream to get up and dress and go down-stairs to try all the doors, or open the window and shout, 'I see you there,' the same as I did one night, when it was black as Erebus, and a gruff voice from the road answered, 'Then you must have blessed good eyesight, sir;' and the ever-widening rays of a policeman's bull's eye were cast in my face. I was sick of being bothered with imaginary noises, for ours was not the house burglars would attack. Our whole stock of plate, in its neat, baize-lined basket, only cost fifty pounds—a wedding present—and I suppose, if brought to the melting-pot, would not be worth more than half; while as to other valuables, we had each a watch and chain. To be sure my wife had what she called her treasures up-stairs—seven of them I think there were; but who in the name of all that's sensible would in these days of no kidnapping, commit a burglary to steal children? Certainly mine were safe, for they would have proved as noisy booty as pigs of a marketable size. So, under the circumstances, I very naturally and testily exclaimed 'Nonsense!'

'But my dear,' said my wife, 'did you not yourself find a suspicious looking individual lurking about the place early the other morning?'

'Very true, my dear,' I answered. 'But he said he was a cousin of our Jane, John Thompson by name; and though we don't allow followers, you know girls will have sweethearts lurking about at times. Didn't Jane herself half confess it when you asked her about it?'

'There it is again,' exclaimed my wife earnestly, 'I'm sure of it. Depend upon it, it's that fellow come back again;' and as she spoke I certainly did hear what sounded like the gritting of a foot upon the gravel walk. 'There, now,' she exclaimed in a triumphant whisper, 'what's that?'

'Jane has not locked the gate, and it's the policeman.'

'But I locked it myself to-night, dear. Some one has climbed over, I'm sure.'

'Check!' said I.

'But pray, dear—'

'Don't you see?' I said testily, 'check to my queen;' and then I turned sharply round, for there was a light tap upon the window, as if from some one's nail, and, on drawing aside the curtains and moving the blind, I could just detect a man's face close to the glass.

'Hullo!' I exclaimed loudly.

'Hush!' said a voice. 'Can I speak to you a minute? Please open the window.'

Now, that was all very well, and very civilly spoken; but, under the circumstances, I did not feel disposed to do anything of the kind, and, letting fall the blind, I stood hesitating as to what would be best. If I took up the poker, I felt that I should be a match for any one man if he had evil intentions; but then there might be two or three; but 'Pooh—nonsense!' I exclaimed the next moment; 'some one is ill, or something of that kind. Besides,' I said, 'one thing is very certain. It's not John Thompson.'

'Where are you going, Edward?' said my wife anxiously, as I moved towards the door.

'Up stairs, to hold a parley,' I replied.

'But you are never going to leave me here by myself?'

'Not unless you wish it, my dear. Come up with me,' I said.

So, hand in hand, we went up to the little staircase window over the front door, and throwing it up, I looked out to just dimly distinguish a figure by the drawing-room window.

'Now then,' I said, 'what's the matter?'

'Hush, pray,' whispered a voice that was quite strange to me; and there was again the grating upon the gravel, as the figure came beneath where I was.

'Are you a Christian, sir?' whispered the voice.

Well, that was rather a poser. I go to the church in the morning and to church in the afternoon, pay my rates regularly, and never put less than sixpence in the plate on collection days; so under the circumstances I thought I was, and said so.

Then pray help a fellow creature in distress, sir. Give me your help.

Oh, that's it, is it?' I muttered gruffly, 'a new dodge;' and my friend must have heard the rattling of a few coppers, for he exclaimed hastily:

'No, sir, not that—not that. I am no beggar. Listen, I have money.' And true enough I heard the clinking of what sounded like three or four half-crowns in a person's hand. 'I want help, for I am hunted from place to place, and all for patriotism.'

'Whew!' I whistled; 'the mystery thickens,' and I felt my wife clutching my shoulder tightly as she came forward and leaned out.

'If you have the feeling of a man for a fellow creature, give me shelter for the night, and a crust of bread, and I will bless you; my wife and little ones shall pray for you, and thank the generous man who protected the hunted fugitive.'

That last bit did it; my wife enlisted upon his side in a moment. Wife and children to pray for me, and so on; she was taken in directly.

'Oh, Edward,' she whispered, 'it is one of those poor misguided Fenians,' and she leaned farther out of the window, so that the visitor could just see her.

There is a heavy price set upon my head, whispered the voice, and even now the blood hounds of the law are upon my track. Let me not ask in vain. But for the sake of those at home, I would not keep up the struggle, for I am faint, and weak, and unmanned,' and there came up something uncommonly like a sob.

'Oh, Edward,' whispered my wife, 'pray help the poor creature.'

All very fine,' I whispered again; 'but if his story is true, he has broken the laws; and why should I mix myself up by sheltering one of the mad-brained party? And besides, who's going to let a stranger in at this time of night? How do I know that he is not a thief?'

'Edward!' exclaimed my wife, indignantly, 'for shame. Suppose you were in the same position?' and then a great deal more passed between myself and my better half, terminating in another parley out of the window.

'Well,' I said, 'what do you wish me to do?'

'Only give me rest for the night, sir,' whispered the voice; 'concealment till some time on the morrow, for I am tracked;' and I could not help noticing the peculiar Irish-American nasal twang with which he spoke; and, besides, that sounded American, 'tracked.'

But are you alone?' I said.

Quite, on my honor,' whispered the man.

'But really, you know,' I said, 'it don't seem reasonable for me to admit you, a stranger, in the middle of the night. Perhaps you are armed?'

'Yes, yes,' whispered the voice earnestly. 'I am armed; I have a revolver; but I am willing to put my trust in you in every way, if you will not betray me.'

'If I wanted to betray you,' I said, 'I should shout for the police;' and then leaving the window for a moment, thought to myself, 'I'll test you now, my fine fellow.'

On the landing was a small closet, devoted to my foibles, and in a few seconds I returned with my brass multiplying winch, and the silk twist with which I had landed more than one pike during my fishing expeditions; and then, throwing down a few yards, I said:

'It is not likely that I can admit an armed man; so if you are what you profess to be, fasten your pistol to that line and let me draw it up.'

The line was caught in a moment, and then I felt a few jerks, followed by a voice whispering, 'Be careful, for it is loaded,' when I drew up and held in my hand what felt in the dark like a revolver.

Well, that seemed conclusive enough; so, closing the window, my wife and I descended to the drawing-room, where by the light I could see that I had hold of a rusty-looking pistol, capped and, I presumed, loaded; but, to make sure, I tested it with the ramrod, and then removed a cap to see if I could detect the powder in the nipple. All right, loaded, not a doubt of it. And now, feeling prepared in case of wrong, and pretty well satisfied as to my visitor's character, I drew up the blind, and opened the French window.

Of course I know how wrong it was, but really, when a poor hunted wretch appealed to you for help, who could think of betraying him? The very thought of it seemed repugnant; and then I hesitated, for this might be Col. Kelly himself, for whose capture three hundred pounds were offered.

If I had had a doubt before of my visitor's being a genuine case, it left me as I opened the window, and stood with presented pistol while he came in: a handsome, pale, bearded fellow, just in accordance with the descriptions I had read of Kelly; while his first act was to listen for a moment at the window, close it hastily, and then run to my wife, and kiss her hand.

'For the sake of my wife and children,' he said, 'save me.'

'Why,' I exclaimed, 'you must be—'

'Hush,' he whispered, turning to me with a faint smile; 'mention no names for your conscience' sake. There is a heavy reward offered for my apprehension, but I feel sure you would not wish to gain it?'

'Oh no, oh no!' exclaimed my wife, who was affected even to tears, while really the poor fellow's state appeared pitiable; worn, jaded, and hunted looking, he seemed to start at every sound, while his eyes wandered restlessly from side to side, as if seeing danger. We gave him some wine, which he drank with avidity, while some cold chicken and bread seemed to be quite devoured; though he apologized again and again in the most gentlemanly way for his intrusion.

'I have been too anxious and hard-pressed even to eat,' he said, 'for days past. Every exit seems watched, and how to take a passage I hardly know. Money I am pretty well provided with; and now, if I could only once get clear, though my heart might still be with my cause, I would run no more risks, for the sake of those at home.'

I forbore to question him, thinking that the less I knew the better: while from similar feelings, no doubt, the poor fellow said little except upon indifferent subjects, until he seemed to be unable to hold up, but kept on dozing off to sleep, and starting up.

'I cannot help it,' he said at last; 'for two nights I have not closed my eyes. If I am taken, I am taken, for nature will hold out no more,' and he sank back in his chair.

'Lie on the sofa,' said my wife gently: and he rose with a grateful smile and lay down, while she arranged the pillows for his head.

'You will not play the part of Jael,' he said, 'and treat me as she did Sisera?'

'No, indeed,' exclaimed my wife, smiling while he kissed her hand again, too tenderly, I thought, and she blushed. She sticks out to the present moment that she did not; but I am sure she did, and I didn't like it a bit. Why couldn't he have said 'Thank you,' without kissing hands? He had only to have done it once more, and, Fenian or no Fenian, I should have turned informer.

Five minutes after he was breathing heavily, in the deep, heavy sleep of a man utterly worn out; and after a whispered consultation, we agreed to leave him where he was, locking the drawing-room door for our own protection, of course, and so that the housemaid should not come in and see him in the morning.

'I mean to take your revolver,' I said, aloud; but there came no answer, and—accidentally, of course,—I kicked over the poker, which rattled loudly on the fender, when our visitor started up.

'Oh, Edward!' exclaimed my wife.

'We shall lock you in,' I said, as I turned down the gas a little way, 'and I shall take your revolver away, but we mean no treachery.'

'I am weak, faint and utterly worn out,' he replied, in his slightly American intonation. 'I am in your hands, and if you betray me, the curse of my wife and children will cling to you. But there,' he said hastily, 'I do not doubt you; the sight of your dear lady's candid face would give me faith.'

We left him and retired to bed, after carefully locking the drawing-room and passage doors; and in spite of the adventure, I slept pretty soundly, though I must own to having been rather gruff when we went up stairs, and not quite satisfied. But I remember no more till I was in the midst of a dream, wherein half a score of police were breaking into my drawing-room with sledge hammers, to get at the Fenian; while all the time it was not the police but the Fenians themselves breaking upon the police van, and I could not make out how it was till I woke to find that it was neither, but the housemaid Jane hammering at our bedroom door, because she could get neither into dining-room nor drawing-room.

Of course, there was nothing for it but to get up and go down, which I did, feeling very tired and cross at being roused out of bed soon after six; while my wife must hurry up too, and somehow she managed to be down as soon as I did; though I never knew her to be dressed so quickly before. However, I must say that I was not surprised to find the poor fellow gone, and the French window left just ajar.

'Poor creature,' said my wife; 'I hope he will escape. Of course we can do no more, Edward.'

'Yes, we can,' I said.

'What, dear?' said my wife.

'Go to bed again,' said I: which, by the way, we did not do, but went up to dress again more comfortably, Jane looking very hard at us, as I told her to let us have breakfast as soon as possible.

I was just ready to descend, and was examining the revolver our visitor seemed to have left me for a keepsake, when there was another knock at the bedroom door.

'What is it?' said my wife.

The plate-basket, if you please, ma'am,' said Jane, our house and parlor-maid.

'Oh,' said my wife, 'I did not bring it up last night, Jane.' It being our custom for the maid to bring in the basket every night ready for my wife to take up to our bedroom when we retired.

'Didn't bring it up?' I said, for she had never made such an omission before, and I would as soon have thought of leaving her keys about.

'No, dear,' she said, 'it would have looked so strange and suspicious.'

'I'm—'

I was going to say something very bad, for a strange suspicion had shot across my mind; but I was interrupted by another knock from the returned Jane.

'Please, 'm, 'taint down-stairs,' said Jane.

And it was quite true, the basket was not down-stairs, and we did not see it till the next day, when a boy carried it by the gate, having found it in an unfinished house lower down the road—but it was empty.

'And don't you really think he was a Fenian?' said my wife, 'so gentlemanly and—'

'Fenian!' I exclaimed savagely. 'A common thief?'

On the following day I had caused an advertisement, describing the plate marked with my initials, to be inserted in the Hue and Cry, and had prepared a description of it to be forwarded to every pawnbroker within some miles round. There was not much chance of a thief so adroit falling into so obvious a trap, but to my surprise scarcely a week had elapsed when a police constable brought me information of the missing property. Two spoons had been offered to a silversmith which were undoubtedly mine, although the initials had been carefully filed off. The man had been detained on suspicion, and my wife and I hastened to the shop to identify him.

'Our Fenian friend will look rather chopfallen at the sight of us, I fancy,' said I to my wife as we stepped into our cab.

An artful villain,' exclaimed my wife.

'An impudent scoundrel,' I added.

And what a canting rogue, too,' remarked my wife. 'But I thought he was a hypocrite when he asked you if you were a Christian.'

No doubt you did, my dear,' I replied, for I was in a sarcastic mood; 'but you know you afterward thought he was only 'a poor misguided Fenian,' and implored me to take him in.'

Recriminations of this kind rarely come to a satisfactory ending, and perhaps it was as well that our cab at this point arrived at the silversmith's door, where we alighted with the constable.

'Now for our Fenian hero,' I whispered to my wife: but I looked round the shop, and could see nothing of him. A man was seated on a chair at the further end, guarded, as it seemed, by a stout shopman; but he was not at all like our mysterious visitor. There was not the slightest doubt about it. The stranger was John Thompson, the lurking cousin of our servant Jane.

'I see,' said I: 'one of the gang, no doubt. Where's your accomplice?'

'I had no accomplice, sir,' replied the culprit, falling on his knees. 'I did it all myself. Oh, pray have mercy!'

Do you mean to say,' I asked, 'that you are not in league with that pretended Fenian?'

'Not at all, sir,' said the man. 'I'll confess everything, if you'll have mercy.'

'Go on,' I answered sternly, 'and let me judge whether you deserve any.'

'It was your taking in that stranger, sir, that put it all in my head,' he went on. 'I was waiting about the garden to see Jane that night, and heard it all.'

'But how did that enable you to get at my plate basket?' I asked.

'Ay,' chimed in my wife triumphantly, 'answer that.'

'Why, I was there again waiting about the next morning—I generally did wait about there of a morning—and I saw him escape from the window, and I tapped at the door to tell Jane. But I didn't tell her: for as soon as she let me in I spied that plate-basket, and somehow, I don't know how it was. I think the evil one himself must have put it into my head, but it struck me that if I could carry off those valuables, you'd just lay the blame on your midnight visitor with the revolver, and nothing more be heard of it.'

Circumstances confirmed John Thompson's story. He was afterward convicted. This being a first offence, and the whole of the property having been recovered, he received a comparatively mild sentence. Jane, on hearing the news of her 'follower's' misconduct, went off into hysterics; and, on recovering, received a full pardon on condition of her renouncing followers from that time forward—a promise which she gave, and, I believe, very cheerfully, having, as she said, 'had enough of 'em.' My wife's recollection of having from the first thought our midnight visitor a rogue and a hypocrite has become less distinct; but, on the whole, we have determined not to let in a mysterious stranger again, should we ever happen to hear another step on the gravel.—English Magazine.