Show 11 1 go y OR z ait oit 00 em f INNOCENT P N CENT 01 4 e by AMY BRAZIER CHAPTER IX continued you will find it very hard to get any one to believe your story in the face of the cashier cashiers s sworn testimony he says coolly my dear barbara bouverie was proved guilty he was tried for drugging the cashier and rob bing the bank and he committed the crime without a shadow of doubt I 1 dare say you were weak enough to hand him over a hundred pounds but he robbed the bank as well he did not breathes barbara des pera tely and it was I 1 who begged and prayed him to take the money I 1 was to be his wife there was no barm harm in it and it saved him from dis honor mrs saville takes barbara s hand my dear don t make a fool of your self we don t doubt that he took your money it was exactly the kind of thing a man like george Bou Bouver verle fe would do but he was guilty of the bank robbery as well it is bard hard on you barbara but he Is not worth a regret barbaras barbara s breath comes fast her eyes fill suddenly with tears at the re rembrance mem brance of an interview between herself and george that aad had been sol dmn and almost sacred he had knelt beside her with his face sorely trou brou bled and she had prayed to god to give him strength to begin a new life and give up the poison of the mania tor for gambling was it likely after that he would have committed the sin he was found guilty of she draws her hand from her aunt aunts s clasp you on are all against him you and sebastian most of all but I 1 will save him barbara carries her point and starts on her journey alone sebastian shrugs his shoulders what a high flown piece of busl bust ness but I 1 see now why she went out to tasmania second class barbara Is an idiot responds mrs saville irritably 1 I would like to lock her up I 1 suppose we may as well go back to the court till she comes to her senses not so you can settle anywhere you like and when barbara finds that her tragic explanation of george bou verle and the hundred pounds wont won t get him out of prison III fetch her over myself but let her do all she can now barbara goes straight 10 0 o the grange who should she go to with her news but to georges mother and never for a moment has she the slightest doubt that her stor will unbar the prison doors and let george tree free it was her money he had she had brought it to him in a little bag and made him take it and now with her pretty face full of sympathy and hope rhe he gathers poor sorrowful mrs aou ou verie in her arms and half weeping halt laughing tells the whole story and no doubt crosses the mother mothers mind trembling with joy and ex cit ement she clings to barbara and the two women weep together drawn to each other by the link of love that Is between them god bless you sobs mrs bou verle verie I 1 knew my boy was innocent but what shall we do I 1 am so ig borant ought we not go to the law yer who defended his case come Bax barbara baral oh darling you love him too do not let us lose a moment we can go to dublin this evening and then oh surely tomorrow they will set him free I 1 either neither mrs bouverie Bou Dou verle verie nor barbara have the slightest idea of the red tape and the endless formalities that can keep even an innocent man under lock and key upon this tearful scene of excite ment doctor carter enters he pays many a visit to cheer up tip his old friend and he alone knows of the calendar that is so full of sorrowful interest as across each day a trembling line Is drawn one twenty four hours nearer the end of the time that is only begin ning now he is fully as much excited as mrs bouverie and barbara and like them sees no difficulties in the way it is only when in answer to an urgent ap peal mr jarvis pays a late litte visit to the hotel where mrs bou verie engages rooms that a little doubt damps the ardor of their hopes the man of law looks at barbara s flushed eager face with a dawning of comprehension quixotic he thinks now I 1 know why bouverie Bou verle held his tongue I 1 thought there was something behind the scenes to mrs bouverie Bou verle he says this Is most important evidence I 1 wish it had been produced irod at the time of the trial it accounts for the money but how are we to get over the facts swarn to by mr grey when he identified bouverie as the man who wilo drugged him that Is the nut we have to crack the look ol 01 joy died out of mrs Dou bouvine verie s eyes tears roll down her cheeks I 1 thought this would have set him free she murmurs pressing her hands together and barbara s face Is full of sor anxiety he must be set free she cries looking eagerly at mr jarvis mr jarvis I 1 am to be his wile wife and how proudly she says it as though she were glorying in the tact fact and I 1 want to work tor for him the color flooding her cheeks I 1 have money oh more than I 1 know what to do with you will know what hat to do I 1 oh you will help us won wont t you youa miss saville I 1 will do all that I 1 can the lawyer says earnestly if you wish to leave the case in my hands I 1 will do my very best you may de pend upon me after that the days go by in an agonized time of suspense and anxiety it seems so hard to sit still and wait so cruel not to be able to rush to george and tell him to hope for after all there seems to be T very ry little hope tor for how are they to prove that george Bou bouverie verle did not rob rol the bank as well as take barbaras hundred pounds barbara stays at the grange and she Is all energy and excitement bhe bile will never rest till the whole gase is brought to trial again and mr jar vis policy of waiting Is just what Bar bara cannot bear to do the great lawyer has come to port raven hoping to find out some clue but there seems nothing to find out nobody can throw any light on the mystery till chance discloses the brains of men have failed to find out mr jarvis down the street of Por traven puzzling out the case that occupies all his thoughts meets a sharp faced looking lad who accosts him you tie be the gentleman who Is tor for mr bouverie Bou verle Nerle he says touching his cap I 1 es my boy I 1 was his counsel re turns mr jarvis alert in a second the boy looks at him I 1 don t believe it were he took the money I 1 air the bank messenger sir and I 1 see mr grey taking a bag out of the chimney in the bank it was this way sir mr kelly was out and I 1 in fond of reading and there was a book mr grey had and I 1 bid hid to get a chance to nab it and I 1 saw him with my own eye taking down a wash leather bag the day before he left the office for good and where Is mr grey now nowa mr jarvis asked sharply gone to queenstown Queens town today to catch the steamer for america the boy says with a glance of cunning I 1 told him I 1 saw him take the bag and I 1 thought he might give me a fiver to say nothing about it but he kicked me down stairs and I 1 don t care now it if I 1 tell on him or not mr jarvis puts his hand on the boy s shoulder come and tell mr kelly what you have told me but take care you tell the truth the whole case seems full of per mr grey may have robbed the bank a second time that remains to be seen it is a mystery indeed you cant can t get over the chloroform business thinks mr jarvis and the fellow positively swore it was bou verle verie who did it still there seems to be a glimmer ot of daylight somewhere 0 the lucania Is getting up steam the tender is alongside and the sun is shining brilliantly across the dazzling sparkling water mr grey the cashier who had been the victim of the Por traven tragedy stands on board with a grey anxious face his wife Is beside him a loud flashy looking young woman we re just off she is saying when she catches sight of a look of horror on her husband husbands s face A police officer and a private detective are coming to wards them the late cashier is seized with trembling and remains as if fa fas S ciliated an arrest on board one of the out going american steamers ts is not a very uncommon occurrence mr grey and his wife are conducted conduct eh on board the tender and the Luca lucania illa steams on her way there is guilt on the face of the man who sits staring with wild desperate eyes before h in deaf to the angry piotr protestations stations of bis his wife oaly once he speaks as he turns to her hold your tongue you brought me to this it la is all your lanill thea be he loots looks at the officer tn in charge of d him I 1 will mabe make a clean breast ot of it 11 there Is nothing else to be done and it Is before sebastian saville he makes bis his confession aa as he stands a shrinking craven object walling tot for mercy ercy leased mr jarvis listens with a well P pleased smile on his face I 1 took the hundred pounds mr grey says with sullen composure my wife thought of the plan I 1 was a tool in her hands I 1 stole the money and that day after I 1 had cashed mr bouleries bouveries Bou veries verles check I 1 tossed all the things about and myself stuffed the handkerchief soaked in chloroform into my mouth I 1 sn swear ear I 1 am telling the truth I 1 swore it was george bou boru verle who had attacked me I 1 did aid not care who red for my sin but gentlemen he cries his agonized glance wandering round I 1 am happier today than I 1 have been tor for months I 1 have never known a mo ments peace remorse has been my curse day and night when I 1 used to think of the man suffering lu it my place and his eyes as they looked me through and through have haunted me mr jarvis smiles at barbara s tear wet face I 1 think george bouverie will find a sweet compensation tor for all his tr troubles he says as he promises her to hurry on all legal formalities george bouverie Is innocent after all who can measure the mad anger in the mind of sebastian Savl lle in his rage and disappointment he says hard bitter things but barbara does not care before long she meets her lover again and in the sunshine of her love he forgets all the sorrow and shame and desperation that had been his lot with rare delicacy barbara has div wred d that his mother shall be with his hi first that they two shall go to sonic haven till the first trouble shall haie passed away afterwards she will go to him herself and so those two who have suffered and sorrowed meet together again and barbara once more looks into the face that still bears the shadows of the trouble I 1 am not fit lor for ou the man groans but her eyes are full of smiles there Is a great estate at tasmania to be looked after and it is waiting tor for its manager she says THE END |