Wait for the End. A story

Chapter I. Jack Spraggatt Returns To Morden And Afterwards Visits An Old

ACQUAINTANCE. Whilst Warner and Elliott and other friends were exerting themselves for the discovery of Edward and Florence, Jack Spraggatt had paid a stolen visit to Morden, in the expectation of finding Jasper Jellifer, from whom he hoped to obtain some valuable information respecting the lost ones. There was a railway then to Morden, and as Jack had not the heart to look up any of his old cronies — so anxious was he concerning the fate of his niece and her husband — he took up his quarters at the Station Inn, as a place where he was less likely to be recognised, than at any of his old haunts in the town. He needed not to VOL. III. B have been concerned about himself, for the changes which time had made in him and in the dwellers in Morden would have enabled him to have passed anywhere without question, or even observation.

The railroad had converted Mor den into a busy place, and the presenee of a stranger was not the event it had been twenty years before. He found, as we know, that Jasper had gone to reside in London — although, as Sir Gilbert's collector, he paid occasional visits to the old town ; but as his busmess was to collect money and arrange difficulties, he was not over-w7elcome at any time. His residence in London, Jack learned, was in one of the streets of the City, and at no great distance from the office of Warner's agent. The up mail train passed through Mor den about midnight ■ and therefore Jack, having some time upon his hands, made his way to the churchyard, which stood just outside the town. How many times had he revisited it in his dreams and his waking hours, since he had been away a lonely dweller in the Bush!

It was the only spot which had remained unchanged, it seemed to him, and he was glad that it was so. He made his way through the old lych-gate beneath whose cover ing so many of the dead had halted on the way to their places of rest, leaving behind them for ever the busy world, iu which they had played their parts for good or evil. Ou one side of the churchyard was a row of almshouses, their doors opening into it, as though the poverty of the indwellers had made death and its memories no longer terrible. As Jack Spraggatt approached the graves of bis parents he was moved almost to tears (poor Jack ! his woman's heart was always ready to well forth) to see that some friendly hands had been employed upon them during the day, and had clipped away the long grass and weeds. The pious task was not completed, and the worker's basket and well-worn shears were left behind, to be again employed before the sun went down.

Jack felt interested to learn who had such grateful remembrances of the departed • but being desirous of keeping his visit to Morden unknown, he placed a bright new sovereign B on the blade of the shears, and withdrew to another part of the churchyard. He had scarcely done so, when an old woman came from one of the almshouses to resume her self-imposed em ployment; and he was gratified to observe that her wonder and delight were extreme when she discovered Jack Spraggatt's gift. As she turned her face about in search of the good fairy that had made her so rich and happy, Jack recognised in her his nurse, whom he had left a buxom woman of forty. Pleased with what he had observed, but still desirous of keeping his visit unknown, and remembering that a footpath in the adjoining field led nearly to the Elms, he felt himself impelled to take it, and visit, as it were, another burial-place, where so many of his young hopes were lying.

The dear old home was changed indeed ! It had followed the fortunes of many other yeomen's dwellings when the temptation of higher rents added farm to farm, dispersing their happy households to seek fresh fields and pas tures new, or compelling them to exchange their free out-door country lives for the monotonous toil of the pent-up city. The Elms farm, by Jasper's advice, had been united to an adjoining one, and the house was now let to labourers, who had neither time nor inclination to keep the once trim garden in decent order, but were content to grow there potatoe patches aud cabbage rows where Jack remembered only flowers. Many graver sorrows give no sharper pang than such a sight, so witnessed. Jack cared to see no more of Morden and its neighbourhood, so hastening back to the Station Inn he endeavoured to smoke himself into a happier state of mind; but the experiment was not successful, as he could not avoid remembering that the time had been when he could not have visited the old town without having a score of good friends to keep him com pany.

There are many lonely vigils passed in inn parlours, made more lonely from the associa tions with which such places are beset; and the recollection of old days giving Jack the heart-ache, he was glad when the railway-bell summoned him to take his seat in the train for London. On the following day, Jack started on a visit AVAIT FOR THE END. to Jasper Jellifer, and had nearly reached the house of our old acquaintance, before he remembered the letter which Raymond had confided to him. It was some time before he could recollect where he had deposited it, but as he had given a promise to deliver it, he was sure he had it safely somewhere. After rummaging certain boxes, which had not been disturbed since his return to England, he came upon the forgotten letter No. 1 ; but as No. 2 principally concerned himself, he did not continue the search.

Jasper Jellifer's place of business was gloomy enough, in all conscience. The street itself was narrow, having no outlet at one end, as though to exclude half the daylight that struggled into it, for the sun only had a fair chance for about an hour during the day. Jasper's lower windows were carefully whitewashed, so that he might have been engaged in forging bank-notes, or sweat ing sovereigns, or distilling without a licence, or some other illicit proceeding, without detection from any passer-by. His name was written in a fair black letter, on each side of the doorway, and beneath it he was described as "Commission Agent, &c," whatever that ambiguous desig nation might have signified. Jack, however, entered boldly, and was received by a rough straight-haired head and a pair of spectacles, which popped up, like a Jack-in-the-box — it was quite as ugly — from behind a square curtained desk.

"Your pleasure, sir?" asked the head. " I want to speak with Mr. Jellifer, sir," replied Jack. " On business, sir ? " " Of course on business, sir. " That is quite sufficient, sir," said the head. " Mr. J. is at dinner, but if it is on business, he doesn't mind being disturbed in the least. Oblige me with your name, sir." " Mr. John Spraggatt," replied Jack " Mr. John — Spiggott, did you say ? " asked the head, again bobbing up. " S-p-r-a-g-g-a double t," replied Jack, not in any way disconcerted by the mistake in his name. The head disappeared like a flash, — the simile being suggested by the glitter of the descend ing spectacles. In another minute the whole of the Jack-inthe-box came forth, and it was not surprising that he should have contented himself, generally, with exhibiting the only part which nature had clothed, as some experimentalist had been evi dently trying to ventilate him, so cracked and seam-broken were his garments.

Jack Spraggatt put his salary at six shillings a week, remembering Jasper's character for liberality. The clerk's message soon brought Jellifer down-stairs — as he lived in the house, to be ready for any job on an emergency, he said, and had not invited Jack Spraggatt up, until he — with commendable prudence — had satisfied himself that he was in good case, and not likely to require assistance of a kind which would not pay a commission. As Jack looked well to-do, Jasper received him with the utmost cordiality, and expressed his regret that his visit had not been made an hour earlier, and in time for dinner. The truth was that Jellifer had had instructions to detain Jack in the office, until Mrs. Jellifer could clear away the fragments of their very limited meal, in case hunger might have tempted him to covet the uninviting morsel which remained.

The Jellifers had grown rich, and loved their money-hoards so well, that they cared even for the farthings. Mrs. Jellifer was, of course, delighted to see Mr. Spraggatt, as he had come upon business, nnd, therefore, as there was no necessity for any hospitable display, she considerately placed upon the table a bottle of ink, pens and writing paper, and, then having a due regard for commercial proprieties, withdrew into au inner chamber. Jack knew Jasper well enough, to be certain that unless his own interests were to be served in some way, he was not likely to trouble him self with the affairs of other people ; aud Mr. Spraggatt, after briefly referring to his colonial experiences, inquired how far Jasper was in a position to dispose of certain produce which had accompanied him to England, and as to the rate WAIT FOR THE EM). of commission to be charged for agency.

Jasper was tickled at once, and after a few pertinent questions, he formed very enlarged opinions of Mr. Spraggatt's wealth, and saw such a profit able accession of business, that he even invited Jack to take a glass of wine, a proposal which was respectfully declined. "And, now, a word or two about old acquaint ance," said Jack, who then inquired after many of the old burghers of Morden, and learned how some had died, how some had left the place, and how others had become bankrupt, whilst a few lived and thrived, as Jasper had done. " The Norwolds," • said Jack, carelessly — " they have almost deserted the old place, have they not ? " " Entirely, you may say," replied Jasper. " I never can persuade Sir Gilbert to pay his people there a visit, and, consequently, I have to see to everything."

" His second marriage brought him a large accession of property, did it not ? " asked Jack. " Some ten or twelve thousand pounds at first," replied Jasper, " and her ladyship succeeded after her marriage to about £3000 a-year, which she had cleverly secured to herself by her marriage settlement. This money she spends." " And not quite to Sir Gilbert's satisfaction, I conclude, from your tone, Mr. Jellifer ?" said Jack. " I do not say that," answered Jellifer, cau tiously ; " of course, her ladyship spends her own as she pleases; but I have reason to think that she does not confine herself to that amount." Jack was rather surprised at this confidence on the part of Jasper, and felt satisfied he had a motive in giving it. " Now, here," said Jasper, taking a paper from his side-pecket — " here is a note from her lady ship, and not the first I have received, asking for money — for an immediate loan, in fact, of three thousand pounds, as though I had three thousand pounds !

The money would be safe enough, and the interest would be considerable, and some of the old family jewellery would be lodged as security. So the^ investment would be safe enough — if I had the money." Jack could not quite see his way through this labyrinth of words ; and so he said, " Very true." Jasper paused for a few moments, and then continued : " I have just been thinking that, possibly, Mr. Spraggatt, it might suit you to make this advance until such times as you can find a permanent investment for your capital. You see her ladyship would give 20 per cent. for the loan, and — does it seem feasible, Mr. Spraggatt ? " Jack was not a quick thinker, but a vague notion came into his mind that some advantage to Warner, or Florence, or her husband, might come out of such a connection with Lady Norwold, and he resolved not to decline entertaining the proposal without consultation with his brother in-law.

" Your proposition," he said, " is unexpected, and I hardly know what answer to make." Three thousand pounds on Lady Norwold's security, and your own. Hum ! " " Not my own," replied Jasper, quickly. " I make it a rule never to become security for any client, however responsible, as I might be tempted by the practice to involve myself with a bad one. No. The jewels — diamonds, I believe — are valuable, I am certain, and Lady Norwold dare not risk the consequences of non-payment. The interest, remember, is larger than it would be if the transaction were an ordinary commercial one." "Very true," said Jack, looking profoundly usurious. " I had forgotten that. You must give me until to-morrow to decide." " That will do," replied Jasper ; " and as it is as well to be clear upon all matters of business, I shall look for a commission of, say one per cent., from you, and so we will leave the affair for the present."

" Certainly," said Jack. " And now tell me what has become of Sir Gilbert's son, Edward. He has married, I hear, against his father's con sent, and been discarded. Is it not so? " " It is, I believe," replied Jasper. " " All I know of the matter is this : Sir Gilbert, before he went away to Rome, three months ago, desired me to stop his son's allowance, which I had formerly paid. That is all I know of the matter." "And you have never heard from young Nor wold ? " asked Jack, earnestly. "Yes; I think I did once," replied Jasper, looking furtively at Jack. "Why do you ask ? " " Because I am anxious to see him," said Jack. "On business to his advantage?" asked Jasper, peering from under his eyebrows. " Yes ; I have no doubt but it would prove so." As Jack said this, Jasper stroked his chin, and then rubbed his nose with his hand, as though he could say something more than he had done, and was considering the prudence of doing so.

The two men sat silent for a few minutes, and then Jasper spoke. "It is not altogether impossible that I might be able to find a clue to the young gentleman ; but it would take time and trouble to accomplish, it.'" Jack thought quickly enough now. " Mr. Jasper, if you will furnish me with any address of Mr. Norwold after he left his father's house, I will give you fifty pounds." The offer almost took away Jasper's breath, and its magnitude made him hesitate to accept it, not on account of the amount, but because he thought that information so valuable might pos sibly be turned to better account. As he did not see how it could be at the moment, he followed Jack's example, aud promised to see what could be clone by the next day. " Having disposed of those two matters of business, I have another communication which I should wish to make in the presence of Mrs. Jellifer, as it refers to one who died at my loca tion in the Bush — Raymond Ray, the miller."

Jasper turned deadly pale, and placing his finger on his lip, glanced anxiously at the door through which his wife had left the room. " I think we had better speak on this subject first in the office, if you please," said Jasper, rising ; but the moment he had done so the chamber door opened, and Mrs. Jellifer entered the room. It was her custom to mix in all business trans actions, and consequently, when absent as a matter of form, her ear was at a hole iu the wall, and nothing which was said escaped her. " Didn't I hear you call me, Jasper ? " she asked ; " I thought I heard my name." " I was about to call you," said Jasper, forcing a grim smile, " as Mr. Spraggatt had requested to see you." Mrs. Jellifer muttered some w7ords in reply, and then sat down with her back to the window, whilst Jasper endeavoured to appear as uncon cerned as possible.

Jack Spraggatt, then, with more than his usual circumstantiality, narrated his meeting with Raymond Ray, and as he de scribed the wretchedness of the convict's appearance, the miseries he had known, the unceasing suffering which ended only in death, Mrs. Jellifer sobbed aloud. Jasper's features became so rigid and dark, they seemed to have turned to iron. " A day or two before Raymond's death," con tinued Jack, "he made me promise that should I return to England, I would look you up, Mr. Jellifer, and place this letter in your hands. I do so now. Please read it while I am here." He rose, and walked to the window, in order that Jasper might not feel himself observed. The letter was rather a long one, and Jasper read it over to himself rapidly. When he had ended, he folded it again, and put it away in his pocket, saying: " You know the contents of this letter, I presume, Mr. Spraggatt ?

" " Not a word," replied Jack, " although I remember he said that it might concern me in some way. Does it ?" "Not in the least !" said Jasper. "It merely relates to his unfortunate condition, and contains his remembrances to me and my wife. I am sure we are greatly obliged by the trouble you have taken to bring it so far, and for your kindness to— him!" " Yes — very grateful, Mr. Spraggatt," added Mrs. Jellifer, her voice full of tears. " He deserved a better fate, poor fellow ! poor Ray mond !" VOL. III. Jack' had no desire to continue his visit and remain a spectator of the grief of Mrs. Jellifer, as it was evidently sincere — and therefore he took his leave, promising to see Jasper on the morrow. As Jasper did not return up-stairs, after showing Jack out through the office, Mrs. Jellifer went in search of her husband, and found him in his little room, again reading Ray's letter, which he folded up at her approach, and replaced in his pocket.

" Let me see that letter, Jasper, please," said Mrs. Jellifer, her voice made almost musical by her grief. "You had better not read it, my dear. Its contents I have told you — only omitting one matter, and which, I am sure, you w ill not blame me for concealing. The poor fellow, no doubt, was very weak before he died, aud was thankful for Spraggatt's kindness, and all that, and so he requests me to give that gentleman £200. Why, Mr. Spraggatt would have felt insulted had I offered such a thing ; for, as you heard, he has made an enormous fortune ! — an enormous fortune ! " What a strange conflict went ou in the mind of Mrs. Jellifer ! Her love of money contended with her love for the dead man, and a desire to fulfil his last request; but Jasper continuing to set before her their own interests against the sentimentalism of Ray's letter, Mammon prevailed, and she gave a silent consent to her husband's reticence.

" It is strange that he never wrote to us before, Jasper, is it not ? So often, too, as you urged him to do so. Poor Raymond ! I should like to read the letter — the last I shall ever see of my only brother !" " Not now, Barbara — not now ! You had better not — indeed " — continued Jasper, as his wife urged her request. " I shall not let you read it now. I am going out this evening, at eight o'clock, on business, so let us have tea as soon as you can, as I have accounts to prepare before I go." Mrs. Jellifer merely replied " Very well," but it was apparent from her look and manner that her purpose was unchanged, and that she would see that letter, as she was now convinced o it contained something which Jasper wished to conceal from her. Such a conviction would have stimulated inquiry in a less unscrupulous woman than Mrs. Jellifer, who had, upon more than one occasion during her married life, resorted to very questionable means to obtain her own ends and gratify her curiosity.

She had as a rule always endeavoured to know " the movements of her husband's various games," and although he professed to conceal nothing from her, she had more than once suspected him of keeping papers and other matters secret, and discovered afterwards that her suspicions were justified. The means she em ployed to obtain information were very simple, and not altogether dangerous ; but Jasper would have protested strongly, most strongly, had he known how frequently the deep sleep which some times overcame him was attributable to a narcotic imbibed in the most innocent of his bibations. When he was rendered thus secure, Mrs. Jellifer did not hesitate to pry into all his secret doings, and Jasper was often surprised at a knowledge which seemed to be intuitive. Jasper's afternoon meal was hastened according to his request, and prepared after a recipe peculiar, let us hope, to Mrs. Jellifer.

The cup neither cheered nor in ebriated Jasper, but induced a sleep both long and sound. When the narcotic had produced this effect, Mrs. Jellifer took from her husband's pocket the letter from Raymond Ray. The sight of her brother's handwriting affected her for some moments, and she could hardly distinguish the characters, but this weakness soon passed away, and then she read as follows : — " In the Bush, Australia, " Near Christmas Day. " My Dear Sister and Brother, " Before these lines can reach you, I shall have found a grave in this great wilderness, and terrible as death is, come when, and where it may, mv present misery will make it almost welcome. Twelve long wretched years of suffering have passed since I came here a convict, and during all that time no word from home has reached me, not one single line of comfort from any one, until M'AIT for the end. hope has often left me, and I have been made so desperate, that I could have braved anything but death to have escaped from my miserable thoughts.

Hope, however, came again, and I went on trust ing that the next mail would bring me some line from you, some means of lightening the load of wretchedness, which left me no rest day or night. None came. Why has this been ? My fellow convicts had letters from home, why was there not one for me through all these miserable years ? I wrote and wrote. Surely one of them must have reached you, unless, as I sometimes thought, you were dead, for I have never believed, after all which has passed between us, that you could have forgotten or abandoned me. If you have, let me tell you what torture you have inflicted upon me, and be your own consciences my avengers ! Jasper, had you received my letters, you would have learned, that by keeping your solemnly sworn faith with me, you would have saved me from living the life of a beast, and given me the means, which were my own, of making myself a place in this country, as hundreds have done before me, wherein I should have held up my head again as a man, and been as happy as my crimes and my remorse would have allowed me to have been.

Of that twelve hundred pounds of mine which you had in trust for such a chance as befel me, if you had sent me even a half — a quarter, I could have rescued myself from the misery I have undergone. You would have done so, would you not, if my letters had reached you ? I will not believe otherwise, even now, when I should have died like a beast in the forest, but for one Christian man. I will not believe that either of you would have kept back what was mine by right and solemn swearing, had you known that it could have bought me a release from cold and huuger, blows and bitter words, which have done their work at last, and begotten disease which is eating away my life minute by minute, and has to be borne under the hardest toil that degraded men are driven to do. At times the thought has beset me, that I have been sold — yes, sold by you for the money yrou obtained by the deed of sale, and I dare not write what I said then— no, Jasper; no, Barbara!

I am going to my grave, and I will try to forget all my savage anger. "Barbara, dear sister, the only one I ever loved, except my mother, you would not have left me to this misery, I am certain. Our lives have been unhappy— guilty and unhappy — and we alone in all the world can find excuses for each other's errors, for we only know who were our early teachers, and to what privations and tempta tions we were exposed. All the good that was in us was crushed out long before we knew its value ; no, not all, one true feeling was left in us — our love for each other. That has never gone from me — and at this last]^day, perhaps, of my miserable life, I will not believe that it has left you ! Dear Barbara ! I kiss you with my heart. * * * * * "It was a happy chance that made me resolve to go to Mr. Spraggatt, hoping to hear some news of home.

He will tell you the wretched being that crawled to his door, and whom he has sheltered, and fed, and taught to die like a human creature. If ever this letter reaches you, he will bring it, and it is my dying wish that you give to him £200 of my money, to buy some trifle which shall remind him of my gratitude, and, perhaps, induce other honest men to remember that the wretched convict — outcast as he is — is still a man. * * * " The letter then went on to describe much more that Spraggatt had done for him, and con cluded with earnest words, and loft\7 hopes, which had too solemn a meaning to be lightly read. They were unregarded by the worldly woman to whom they were in part addressed, although the rest of the letter was not. As Mrs. Jellifer looked upon her sleeping husband, it is truth to own that she would not have grieved if his slumber had been eternal, so bitterly did she resent his treachery to herself, aud to her brother Raymond.

Jasper had told her, again and again, that no letter had reached him from Raj7, and that he concluded her brother was dead, as one of his (Jellifer's) letters, had been returned to him unopened. It was clear to her now, that she had been deceived, and much as she had loved money, living only to heap it up for no defined end, but to reckon its increase, she resented her brother's wrong and suffering as though she had been the victim. From that hour Jasper became to her an object of mistrust and loathing, which needed only one other confirmation of his treachery, to be con verted into hatred, that was strong enough to evoke revenge.

Chapter II. Captain Elmsley Has His Rent Audit

When London was busy migrating northward, covering the country and pleasant fields with villas of every denomination, certain long-standing houses, deprived of their gardens and little meadows, became tenantless, or, until the builders razed them, were let to persons who set a low rent against the many discomforts of young streets growing to maturity around them. Many of those condemned houses had been occupied formerly by wealthy people, and commanded a certain respect by the evidences of their former condition, which could be traced on their walls and ceilings, displaying gilded cornices and florid mouldings, whilst without, the weed-grown carriage drives, and lofty iron gates and railings, showed their decadence from a former respectability. In the dining-room of one of these houses, a neat, plainly-attired woman, of between thirty and forty, was ironing what are termed, we believe, " light things."

Seated by the open window was her husband, reading a newspaper, borrowed from the neighbouring public-house, and smoking at the same time a meerschaum, almost black, its owner said, " with its burnt offerings of the nicotian weed." He wore slippers, and a dressing gown, carefully patched in many parts, but free from stain everywhere, and altogether his appearance and employment were those of a person who might have lived in the old house in its better days, and decayed with it. As the ironer paused for a moment to test the temperature of her iron, by holding it near her cheek, she said, in a sweet, pleasant voice, " I wish, Joe, you would step into the next street, and buy the potatoes." " Elizabeth, my love," replied Captain Elmsley — for it was he, — " Elizabeth, my love, how often am I to request you not to call me Joe ?