A SHOCK FOR MR. ANDREWS
A FEW days after Mrs. Murray's walk to Brading's stores, as Arthur was
on his way there in the morning, a respectable-looking man touched him
on the shoulder and said, rather sharply, "Your name is Arthur Murray,
I think?"
"Yes," answered Arthur, "but if you want to speak to me, I must ask you
to walk my way, for I am in a hurry this morning."
"Plenty of time, young man. You are going to Brading's, I suppose? But
they must wait, for you are my prisoner."
And as he spoke, he laid his hand upon Arthur's shoulder in a fashion
that was more energetic than pleasant.
"What do you mean?" demanded Arthur, stopping short and facing round to
the man.
"Oh, it's all regular! I have got the warrant here. It's for a cheque
and a letter."
"There must be some mistake about this!" And Arthur looked up into the
man's face so fearlessly and frankly that, instead of slipping the
handcuffs on him as he had intended, he said:
"Well, now, look here. You go with me to the station quietly, and I
dare say it can soon be put right, if you know you haven't handled it.
But if you try any monkey tricks with me, why, I've got the bracelets
here, and I'll soon have them on you."
"I give you my word of honour that, if you let me walk quietly by your
side, I will not attempt to run away. Why should I? I tell you I know
nothing of the cheque!"
"All right! And I tell you this, I hope you will be able to prove it,"
said the man in a more friendly tone.
And the two walked on together, the few people who passed them little
thinking that Arthur was a prisoner and the stranger a detective.
It was not a very long walk to the police station, and as soon as
Arthur reached it, the warrant for his arrest was read over to him, and
the inspector in charge asked him if he wished to send a message to his
friends.
"I should like to send a note to Mr. Andrews, the lawyer, to ask him to
come and see me, and also to Mr. Brading's, to tell them why I cannot
go there this morning. But I would rather not let my mother know what
has happened just yet."
Arthur spoke very calmly, but he had turned deathly pale while he
was speaking, for after all, it would not be so easy to prove his
innocence, he feared.
The inspector told him he could come to the desk and write the notes
himself, and a messenger should take them at once, and possibly the
lawyer might be able to see him before the magistrate arrived, who
would hear the case about twelve o'clock.
So Arthur wrote to the lawyer, stating what had happened, and at the
same time, saying he knew nothing of the cheque. He wrote the other
note to Mr. Bristow, saying he had been arrested and had sent for Mr.
Andrews. Of course, this gentleman knew all about the affair, but was
none the less astonished at the turn the business had taken.
"That Lady Mary has let her temper blind her!" he exclaimed half-aloud,
as he commenced Arthur's task of sorting the letters.
When Mr. Andrews received Arthur's note, which was placed on the table
of his own private room in the office, he was dumfoundered. He had
heard from Mr. Brading something about a letter being lost, but he
had not thought much of it. And to hear that the lad in whom he had
begun to take so deep an interest had been arrested for the theft, was
something so unexpected, so bewildering, that at first he could only
sit and stare at Arthur's note, and wonder what his first step in the
matter ought to be.
At last he sprang to his feet. "I shall know in a moment whether the
lad is guilty or innocent," he said half-aloud. "It will be time enough
to think what I shall do after I have seen him." And leaving word with
Phillips in the outer office, as he passed through, that he should be
back in an hour, he walked quickly to the police station.
"Good-morning, Rawlins! I hear you have Mr. Arthur Murray here. What
idiot has done this?"
"You can see the warrant, sir," answered the inspector.
"I'll see that afterwards. I want you to let me see your prisoner here,
in the full light of day."
"All right, sir! I will send for him from the cells."
And in a minute or two, Arthur came into the room, but he was looking
so pale and woebegone that for a moment the old man's heart almost died
within him, until Arthur lifted his eyes and looked straight into the
old man's fearlessly and frankly.
Then Mr. Andrews stepped forward and grasped his hand.
"This is a nice kettle of fish!" he said cheerily.
"I don't want my mother to know, Mr. Andrews," said Arthur anxiously.
"Have you heard that she is getting better, and able to come downstairs
every day?"
"Glad to hear it," said Mr. Andrews, somewhat indifferently, for he had
no great liking for Mrs. Murray. "The thing we have to consider is, how
we are to get you out of this ugly business. Now tell me all you know
about it. Mind, every bit! No keeping anything back!"
And Mr. Andrews led the way to the farther end of the room, where they
could discuss the matter without being overheard by anybody.
Arthur related the story of the missing letter once more, and then told
the lawyer what had happened the evening they had met, and what Adrian
had said by way of accusation, and also that he had disposed of the
cheque.
"You mean to say that he took the cheque out of the letter, and then
sent it on empty?" demanded Mr. Andrews.
"He didn't say so," answered Arthur. "What he said, as nearly as I can
remember, was this: 'If I had the cheque, you had the letter!' But no
letter came to us, so far as we can discover."
While he was speaking, Mr. Brading came into the room, and Mr. Andrews
went to meet him.
"This is a nice state of things," said the lawyer, in a tone of
vexation.
"I can assure you, I have had no hand in it," said Mr. Brading. "I
would willingly give fifty pounds to have the matter satisfactorily
cleared up, and I wrote a few days ago to Lady Mary Murray and told her
I would bear the loss of the money, although I did not believe that the
letter had ever reached us. Still, rather than have any more annoyance
over the matter, I intended to let it drop and be forgotten, unless
some further development in the future made it necessary to enquire
further."
Mr. Brading sighed as he thought of all the worry and vexation this had
already cost him, but he walked over and shook hands with Arthur. "You
must keep up your courage, you know," he said heartily. "Circumstances
may seem to be against you, but we shall get at the truth some day. By
the way, it was a cheque Lady Mary received from you that was stolen!"
suddenly exclaimed Mr. Brading. "Lady Mary told me all about it the
last time she called. She says she could not find her own cheque-book
just when she wanted it, and having received a cheque from you for five
pounds, she endorsed it, enclosed it in the letter she had written, and
gave it to her son to post!"
"Was there ever such a fool!" exclaimed the lawyer. "Why, she must
know that her lad has been the town talk for months! Ever since that
new billiard saloon has opened its doors, he has haunted the place.
Morning, noon, and night, I am told, he might be seen there. Don't you
think she must have known it? Where did she suppose he spent his time?"
exclaimed the lawyer, in an exasperated tone.
"Well, it might be worse," said Mr. Brading. "For, being your cheque,
there will be the less difficulty in tracing it," he continued
soothingly.
So it was arranged that when Arthur was brought before the magistrate,
he should be asked to adjourn the case until the next day and accept
bail for Arthur, that he might be released at once.
This arrangement they were fortunately able to carry out, so that at
dinner-time Arthur was on his way home, having made arrangements with
Mr. Andrews to be at his office by three o'clock that afternoon.
Molly was helping Alice, the maid, to set the dinner-table when he
arrived, and as she saw him going to the door she ran and opened it.
"Whatever is the matter, Arthur? Are you ill? Have you got the
headache?" asked Molly, without waiting for one question to be answered
before another was asked.
"I don't feel very well, and so I have come home to dinner," answered
Arthur, with a smile at his sister's curiosity.
"But that isn't all," she answered quickly. "You need not think you can
deceive me, Mr. Arthur," she whispered. "I know there is something the
matter, but I won't tell."
This was said because Mrs. Murray and Annie were coming downstairs, and
the next minute they came into the room.
"You had better lie down and have a sleep for an hour," said Mrs.
Murray, looking across at Arthur.
"I have to call at Mr. Andrews' office at three o'clock," said Arthur.
"Did you meet him again?" asked Molly.
But Arthur was giving all his attention to his mother just now, and
would not hear what Molly was saying, until she insisted upon his
giving his opinion upon a question she had to propose.
"Arthur, don't you remember what we used to say when we were little
children about finding a thing giving the right to keep it?"
"Oh, never mind about that now!" said Arthur. "If you have found that
sixpence I lost upstairs last night, you may keep it."
"But suppose somebody else found it?" proposed Molly.
"Oh well, if Alice found it, she may keep it!" said Arthur in a weary
tone.
"Molly, do let him have a little peace," put in Annie. "You can see
he looks tired. Have your dinner, Arthur, and go and lie down until a
quarter to three; that will give you time to reach Mr. Andrews' office
by three o'clock."
And Annie took care to serve her brother first.
Arthur was glad to take the hint and have a quiet hour in his own room.
At three o'clock he was at Mr. Andrews' place of business, and was
about to pass quickly through the outer office, as there were several
people sitting on the bench waiting, when the senior clerk, Phillips,
stopped him.
"Wait one minute, Mr. Arthur," he said. "The governor has something
to finish for the next post, and he asked me to detain you here for
a moment until his bell was rung. Do you know any of those people?"
whispered Phillips, glancing in the direction of the bench. "Look round
in a minute, as though you were looking at the picture on the wall
opposite," said the old clerk.
Arthur looked round for a minute at the picture, and then glanced
at the strangers on the bench. But before he could speak again to
Phillips, Mr. Andrews' bell rang, and the clerk stepped forward to
fetch the letter and announce the arrival of Arthur.
The lawyer's question, when Arthur went into the room, somewhat
startled him. "Do you know any of the people out there?" he asked.
"No, I never saw them that I know of," answered Arthur.
"Very well, sit down here, at the end of the table, for a minute," said
the gentleman.
And he pointed to a chair in which, as he sat, the light of a broad
bay-window fell full upon his face.
Then Mr. Andrews touched his bell again, and one of the strangers
walked in.
"Will you tell me where you saw this gentleman last?" asked the lawyer.
"I never saw him until to-day," answered the young woman promptly.
"But I thought you told the police that you changed a cheque for Mr.
Murray a week or two ago?" said the lawyer.
"Yes, sir! But this is not the Mr. Murray I meant. The one that came
into our shop, and got a post office order for three pounds, and gave
me one of your cheques, was much shorter and thinner—quite a little
man! I changed the cheque at the stationery counter, and then gave him
the post office order."
"What is that about a post office order?" almost roared Mr. Andrews.
"You never said a word about the post office order before!"
"No, sir, I forgot it," said the young woman meekly. "The policeman
flurried me so with the lot of questions he asked, but Father said I
must remember to tell you everything this time."
"I should think so indeed," commented Mr. Andrews. "Then you do not
know this gentleman?"
"No, sir, I don't think I ever saw him before."
"Thank you, that will do! Mr. Phillips will tell you what to do
to-morrow. Good afternoon, Miss Sims! Be sure you get to the court in
good time."
"Yes, sir," answered the meek-voiced woman. And then she went, and
closed the door behind her.
The next minute a young man came in, and he was asked if he knew Arthur.
"Never set eyes on the gent before," replied the young fellow briskly.
"He don't look the sort that comes to our market. Our Mr. Murray was
a little, weazel-like chap. Thought he knew a thing or two more than
most of us, and we let him think so, as it paid the saloon well to. No,
bless you, he isn't a bit like our Mr. Murray," concluded the young
fellow.
"Thank you!" put in Mr. Andrews at this point, for, having got the
evidence he wanted for the next day's examination, he did not wish to
waste his time on gossip.
Then another man came in, and the moment he began to speak, Arthur
recognized the voice of the cabman who had taken his cousin home the
night the roughs were robbing him, and who afterwards took Arthur back
to the town instead of driving the cab there empty. And this he was
prepared to explain to the lawyer first, and to the magistrate the next
day, if it was necessary.
But while Mr. Andrews was questioning this man, Phillips knocked at the
door, and with a whispered word to his master gave him a note.
"It's from Simmons' people, and they want to withdraw the case against
Mr. Arthur Murray."
"What? After having him arrested like a thief in the open street? Do
they suppose we are going to stop the case to please them? No, no! My
lady has insisted upon having this affair fully investigated, and so
do I now. If she had not stirred in it, we should not. But the inquiry
must go on now. Simmons' people may tell the magistrate they want to
withdraw the case, but I shall insist upon my witnesses being heard
before it is done. Charges have been made against my client here, and
now I am fully prepared to disprove them, and clear his character once
and for all; and nothing shall prevent me from doing it either!" added
the lawyer in a determined tone.
"That's only fair and just," commented the cabman. "We can't none of us
afford to lose our characters," he added, with a nod at Arthur.
"No; this lad needs a good character to be his mainstay through life as
much as you or I do, and I mean to defend it," said the lawyer.
There was a little more talk, and then the cabman was dismissed with a
word of advice as to the time he should be at the court the next day.
As the door closed, Mr. Andrews grasped the lad's hand. "It is plain
sailing now, my lad," he said. "You can go home and tell your mother
all about it without the least fear of what will happen to-morrow."
"But there is the post office order to account for. You remember the
young woman said that Cousin Ted changed the cheque for five pounds,
and then had a post office order for three pounds!"
"To be sure she did," answered Mr. Andrews. "But that point can rest
for the present. You are charged, not with stealing a post office
order, but a particular cheque for five pounds. I shall, of course,
bring forward this point, but it will not affect our case. We can prove
your innocence of the charge made against you, and that will be enough
for the present."