The Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Hume Fergus W

Author:Hume, Fergus W. [Hume, Fergus W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction Classics, Classics, Mystery, Historical, Crime
ISBN: 9781921961816
Amazon: 1921961813
Goodreads: 17019113
Publisher: Text Publishing
Published: 1886-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

SAL RAWLINS TELLS ALL SHE KNOWS

And, indeed, such was the case. Sal Rawlins had made her appearance at the eleventh hour, to the heartfelt thankfulness of Calton, who saw in her an angel from heaven, sent to save the life of an innocent man.

It was at the conclusion of the trial, and, together with Madge, he had gone down to his office, when his clerk entered with a telegram. The lawyer tore it open, and with a silent look of pleasure on his face, handed the telegram to Madge. She, womanlike, being more impulsive, gave a cry when she read it, and falling on her knees, thanked God for having heard her prayers, and saved her lover’s life.

‘Take me to her at once,’ she implored the lawyer, being anxious to hear from Sal Rawlins’ own lips the joyful words which would save Brian from a felon’s death.

‘No, my dear,’ answered Calton, firmly, but kindly. ‘I can hardly take a lady to where Sal Rawlins lives. You will know all tomorrow, but, meanwhile, you must go home and get some sleep.’

‘And you will tell him?’ she whispered, clasping her hands on Calton’s arm.

‘At once,’ he answered, promptly. ‘And I will see Sal Rawlins tonight, and hear what she has to say. Rest content, my dear,’ he added, as he placed her in the carriage, ‘he is perfectly safe now.’

Brian heard the good news with a deep feeling of gratitude, knowing that his life was safe, and that he could still keep his secret. It was the natural revulsion of feeling, after the unnatural life he had been leading since his arrest. When one is young and healthy, and has all the world before him, it is a terrible thing to contemplate with serenity a sudden death. And yet, in spite of his joy at being delivered from the hangman’s rope, there mingled with his delight the horror of that secret which the dead woman had told him with such malignant joy.

‘Why did she tell me? Oh, why did she tell me?’ he cried, wringing his hands, as he paced restlessly up and down his dark cell. ‘It would have been better for her to have died in silence, and not bequeathed me this legacy of sorrow.’

He was so greatly disturbed over the matter, that the gaoler, seeing his haggard face next morning, muttered to himself, that ‘He war blest if the swell warn’t sorry he war safe.’

So while Brian was pacing up and down his cell during the weary watches of the night, Madge, in her own room, was kneeling beside her bed and thanking God for his great mercy; while Calton, the good fairy of the two lovers, was hurrying towards the humble abode of Mrs Rawlins, familiarly known as Mother Guttersnipe. Kilsip was beside him, and they were talking eagerly about the providential appearance of the invaluable witness.

‘What I like,’ observed Kilsip, in his soft, purring tones, ‘is the sell it will be for that Gorby. He was so certain that Mr Fitzgerald was the man, and when he gets off tomorrow he will be in a rage.

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