THE YOUNG LAWYER EXPERIENCES TWO EXTRAORDINARY SURPRISES.
The next morning, in the matron's room of the Thirtieth street
station-house, a visitor came to see Edith Allandale. The visitor was
Kate O'Brien, who, after announcing the condition of the prisoner's
mother, declared her willingness to aid Edith in any way in her power.
Edith intrusted a letter to her for Mr. Royal Bryant, and early Monday
morning Kate was at the lawyer's office, and placed the missive in his
hands.
The young man instantly recognized the handwriting of his fair
copyist, and flushed to his brow at sight of it.
"Ah! she is ill and has sent me word that she cannot come to the
office to-day!" he said to himself.
"Sit down, madam," he said to his visitor, and he eagerly tore open
the letter and read the following:
"MR. BRYANT:--Dear Sir:--I am sorry to have to tell you that
the five-dollar gold-piece which you gave me on Saturday
evening was a counterfeit coin. I passed it at a grocery,
near which I reside, in payment for necessaries which I
purchased, and, half an hour later, was arrested for the
crime of passing spurious money. I could not appeal to you
at the time, for I did not know your address; but now I beg
that you will come to my aid to-morrow morning, when I shall
have to appear in court to answer the charge, for I do not
know of any one else upon whom to call in my present
extremity. Oh, pray come at once, for my mother is very ill
and needs me.
"Respectfully yours,
"EDITH M. ALLANDALE."
Royal Bryant's face was ghastly white when he finished reading this
brief epistle.
"Good heavens!" he muttered, "to think of that beautiful girl being
arrested and imprisoned for such an offense! Where is Miss Allandale?"
he added, aloud, turning to Mrs. O'Brien, who had been watching him
with a jealous eye ever since entering the room.
"In the Thirtieth street station-house, sir," she briefly responded.
"Infamous!" exclaimed the young man, in great excitement. "And has she
been in that vile place since Saturday evening?"
"She has, sir; but not with the common lot; the matron has been very
good to her, sir, and gave her a bed in her own room," the woman
explained.
"Blessed be the matron!" was Royal Bryant's inward comment. Then,
turning again to his companion, he inquired.
"What is your name, if you please, madam?"
"Kate O'Brien, at your service, sir."
"Thank you; and do you live near Miss Allandale?"
"Jist forninst her, sir--on the same floor, across the hall."
"She writes that her mother is very ill," proceeded the young man,
referring again to the letter.
"Whisht, sir; the poor lady's dyin', sir," said Kate in a tone of awe.
"Dying!" exclaimed Royal Bryant, aghast.
"Yes, sir; she has consumption; and just afther the officer--bad luck
to 'im!--took the young lady away, she had a bad coughin' spell, and
burst a blood-vessel, and she has been failin' ever since," the woman
explained, with trembling lips.
"Who is with Mrs. Allandale now?" questioned Mr. Bryant, with a look
of deep anxiety.
"The docthor, sir; he promised to stay wid her till I come back."
"Well, then, Mrs. O'Brien, if you will be good enough to hurry back
and care for Mrs. Allandale, I will go at once to her daughter; and I
am very sure that I can secure her release within a short time. Tell
her mother so, and that I will send her home immediately upon her
release."
"Bless yer kind heart!" cried the woman, heartily, and she hurried
away to take the blessed news to Edith's fast-failing mother.
The moment the door closed after her, Royal Bryant seized his overcoat
and began to put it on again, his face aflame with mingled indignation
and mortification.
"In a common city lock-up for the crime of passing counterfeit money!"
he muttered, hoarsely. "And to think that I brought such a fate upon
her!--I, who would suffer torture to save her a pang. Two nights and
an endless day, and her mother dying at home!--how she must have
suffered! I could go down upon my knees to ask her pardon, and yet I
cannot understand it. That money came directly from the bank into my
possession."
He was just fastening the last button of his coat when there came a
knock upon his door.
"Come in," he said, but frowning with impatience at the unwelcome
interruption and the probable detention which it portended.
An instant later a rather common-looking man, of perhaps forty years,
entered the room.
"Ah, Mr. Knowles! good-morning, good-morning," said young Bryant, with
his habitual cordiality. "What can I do for you to-day?"
"I--I have called to pay an installment upon what I owe you, Mr.
Bryant," the man responded, flushing slightly beneath the genial
glance of the lawyer.
"Ah, yes; I had forgotten that this was the date for the payment. I
hope, however, that you are not inconveniencing yourself in making it
to-day," remarked the young lawyer, as he observed that his client was
paler than usual and wore an anxious, care-worn expression.
"There is nothing that inconveniences me more than debt," the man
evasively replied, but quickly repressing a sigh, as he drew forth a
well-worn purse, while his companion saw that his lips trembled
slightly as he said it.
Opening the purse, Mr. Knowles produced a small coin and extended it
to the lawyer.
It was a five-dollar gold-piece.
Mr. Bryant took it mechanically, and thanked him; but at the same
time, feeling a strange reluctance in so doing, for he was sure the
man needed the money for his personal necessities, while his small
claim against him for advice rendered a few weeks previous could wait
well enough, and he would never miss the amount.
He experienced a sense of delicacy, however, about giving expression
to the thought, for he knew the gentleman to be both proud and
sensitive, and he did not wish to wound him by assuming that he was
unable to make the payment that had become due.
He stood awkwardly fingering the money and gazing absently down upon
it as these thoughts flitted through his mind, and thinking, too, that
it was somewhat singular that Mr. Knowles should have paid him in gold
coin and of the very same denomination as he had given Edith less than
forty-eight hours previous, and which had been the means of causing
her such deep trouble.
Almost unconsciously, he turned the money over, his glance still
riveted upon it.
As he did so he gave a violent start which caused his companion to
regard him curiously.
"Great Scott!" he exclaimed, in vehement excitement, as he bent to
examine the coin more closely, "this is the strangest thing that ever
happened to me in all my experience!"