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been rather overburdened with Patagonians. The secretary comforted inquirers. "The bears are at work," he said. "They were bringing down Seringapatams last week; now it is our turn. We must expect that sort of thing to happen now and then. It's a conspiracy, that's what it is. They've determined on a fall. I'm bound to say they're doing it cleverly, and we can't stop them. But they'll be sold, you see if they won't. There'll be a sudden recovery, they'll overdo the thing, and then you'll find a lot of bears going about with sore heads. That will be the end of it."

He laughed pleasantly. Yet many people fancied-it might only have been fancythat Mr. Peck had lost something of his old ease and light-heartedness of manner, that his mirth had now rather an artificial ring about it, that he was in truth anxious and nervously excited.

Still Mr. Peck, harassed as he was, found time to visit the Morses. And now he first let fall, in reference to Josiah's case, the word "asylum."

"You wouldn't take him from me, sir," cried poor Mrs. Morse, imploringly.

Mr. Peck spoke of "his directors," and their views and wishes. They could not be expected to go on as they had been going on. They were inclined to be liberal, but still, out of regard for the interest of those they represented, they were bound not to be extravagant. They were anxious for the restoration to perfect health of their official. Now, if this could be the sooner and the more economically effected by his brief sojourn in an asylum, under the care of the most competent physicians in the land, was it surprising, were they to be blamed, if they insisted upon some such course being adopted? Mr. Peck put it to Mrs. Morse, as a wife, a mother, a sensible woman, would not this be really the best thing to do for Josiah's, for her own, and the children's sake?

She burst into tears. "To think of my poor Josh being locked up in Bedlam!" she cried.

No, no; not Bedlam, he explained. Nothing of the kind. A strictly private and most comfortable asylum. Less an asylum, indeed, as the word was generally understood, than a home, the bosom of a peaceful and affectionate family, where every care and attention would be lavished upon him, where the best advisers were always at hand. Surely Mrs. Morse would not hesitate ? But she did.

Could her husband, she

demanded, find a home and a family, or care and attention, were she was not? She would not believe it. For the first time she began to think Mr. Peck was hard and inconsiderate, cruel, and even ungentlemanly. He persisted, always as the representative of his directors' views in the matter. "An asylum is really the best, the only place for him now, Mrs. Morse,' he said at length. And then he hinted, in the gentlest way possible, that there would be danger of the company's generosity, in regard to the payment of Josh's salary, suddenly ceasing, if the course advised was not followed.

Still, with the obstinacy of despair, Mrs. Morse held out. Her husband should never, she said, with her consent, be torn from her side. She was persuaded ultimately, indeed she could scarcely decline, to consult Doctor Block upon the question, and to be guided in a great measure by his advice. On his side Mr. Peck undertook to bring down the company's consulting physician to consider the case of Josiah Morse.

To Mrs. Morse's extreme pain and horror, Doctor Block offered no objection to the measure proposed. He spoke with hesitation, he was without confidence in his opinion, still he was far from presenting any obstacle to the removal of his patient to an asylum. He even thought the step might be advantageous in "rousing" Josiah. In truth, perhaps, the doctor felt that the case was beyond him-out of the radius of his usual practice and comprehension. Naturally loth to lose a patient, yet, as a man of sense and feeling, it was clear to him that he could not resist a proposition in itself reasonable, which might be of real advantage to the invalid. Asylums were for the demented. Or why asylums at all? And was not Mr. Morse demented?

Mr. Peck brought down the consulting physician: he was called Doctor Blissett, a much younger man than Mrs. Morse had expected to see. He had a round, smooth face, was rather smartly dressed, and habitually wore a glass sustained in its place before his eye by the muscular action of his right cheek and brow. The two gentlemen had evidently smoked cigars in the cab that carried them to Pleasant-terrace. Moreover, Mrs. Morse was afterwards prepared to affirm that they smelt of spirits when they entered the house. They had possibly paused in the course of their journey, finding it a long one, to obtain refreshments. They were hilarious, and noisy,

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"Dear gentlemen, you won't do anything so cruel," pleaded Mrs. Morse, piteously. "My good woman, it will be for his benefit. It's his only chance. You don't know how ill he is."

"I know he's not quite himself." "Not quite himself? He's mad, quite mad, mad as a hatter," said the physician. "No I ain't." Josiah was the speaker. He had entered the room with ghostly noiselessness. A bright-hued shawl hung about him like the robes of a peer, or of a stage king. He was very pale, but his eyes were now strangely bright. Still his face had lost its wild expression. He was excited and tremulous, but yet there was an air of intelligent resolution about him. He spoke in firm and decided tones, amid the solemn silence of his auditors.

"I have been mad, perhaps. I ain't sure about that. But I'm clear enough about most things now. I've been nearly driven crazy, may be. But I'm my own man again. Mr. Peck, you should know better. I told you of it before; the last time I was in the City; before my illness came on me. I warned you." Here Josiah pointed a gaunt denouncing forefinger at the secretary. "I told you I'd found out how things had been going on. You're a forger and a thief! That's what you are. You've robbed the company, you know you have. I'm sorry enough to say it. I wouldn't say it if I could help it. But it's true; you know it is. It's turned my brain thinking of it, and it's breaking my heart to say it Because I've respected you, because

now.

I couldn't believe it of you, because I felt myself grateful to you and to those before you as was in the old firm where first I had employment. I thought it as likely as I'd robbed the shareholders myself as that you had. But the truth must be spoke. You're a wicked thief, and you know it; and I'm bound to expose you, and to give you in charge. As an honest man, I can't do less, though, God knows, I don't care to do it. Where's a policeman ?"

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'Hush, Josh, bush!" cried his wife, endeavouring to pacify him. She thought him raving. "Go up-stairs again, and lie down, there's a dear. Don't mind him, gentlemen."

"How dare he say these things to me?” demanded the secretary. His face was very white, and he was trembling in every limb.

"Be quiet, Peck. He's as mad as a hatter, of course. This proves it convinc-! ingly," urged the physician.

"Let go of me," said Josiah to his wife. "You've no cause to be frightened. It's true, every word, what I said, true as you're standing there. And I'll go before the Lord Mayor the first thing in the morning, and say it all over again. There's no mistake. Give me the company's books, and I can make good my words. There's been swindling going on, embezzlement, and forgery, and the shareholders have been plundered. Call me mad if you like, and lock me up out of sight in an asylum, away from my wife and children, but I'll prove these things first to the very letter, and then there'll be some one else as will be locked up besides me, Mr. Peck."

"You libellous scoundrel," cried the secretary. "You shall suffer for this. How dare you insult me like this? But | it's actionable. You shall pay for it." "Yes, it's actionable, and you shall pay for it, Mr. Peck. You shall appear at

You shall

the Mansion House to-morrow. answer my charge if you can. I gave you a chance. It was wrong of me, perhaps, but I couldn't help it. I thought of old times, and the credit of the firm, and of poor old Mr. Piper, my first benefactor, as is in his grave now, if he can stay there, poor soul, and these shameful things going on above ground. I warned you. You might have been off long ago. But you've stayed, to brazen it out, or to steal more money. But no, it shan't be. I won't have it. I'm a poor man, but I've been honest hitherto, and, please God, I'll keep so still, and these frauds shan't go on. I'll be a dupe and a tool no longer; nor I won't be

locked up as a madman because you're a thief. Get out of my house, or I'll have a policeman in, and give you in charge straight off."

Mad, quite mad. I said so. Who can doubt it after this? Come away, Peck, or we shall go mad too, listening to these ravings."

So saying, the physician led away the secretary, the latter, with much agitation of manner, muttering threats and expostulations. For Mr. Peck seemed now much less convinced than his companion that Josiah Morse was mad.

Mad or sane, however, he pursued the secretary to his cab-door with repetitions, vehemently uttered, of the charge of forgery and fraud.

Mrs. Morse was in an agony of fear. What would the poor creature do next? He had turned upon his best friend, insulted and abused him shamefully, cruelly. Was she safe? Might he not now mistake her also for an enemy? He had even, she thought, gone near to striking the secretary. Would he strike her?

But, the visitors departed in their cab, Josh grew calm. He was weak and fatigued, and his eyes filled with tears. But he was quite rational. He kissed his wife tenderly, and inquired after the children. He soothed her fears, and bade her be of good heart, for now the worst was over. He was himself again. "Don't cry," he said; "they shan't part us."

Doctor Block had said of his patient that he needed "rousing." Well, apparently he had been now sufficiently roused, and with unmistakably good results. Later in the day the doctor called, and expressed gratification and surprise at Josh's improved condition. He tried to look as though he had been prepared all along for the disorder suddenly ameliorating in this way. "We must guard against a relapse, however," he thought it prudent to add. "And about the asylum?" whispered Mrs. Morse, timorously.

"Well, at any rate the matter doesn't press. We'll talk of it some other day." And may he have what he likes?" "Well, yes. Why not? Anything in

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reason.

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"He's been asking for his pipe."

and no sugar, or only one small lump if he seems to wish it very much. You'll be particular about that ?"

CHAPTER VIII.

THERE was grave uneasiness in the City great alarm, and then absolute consternation. The secretary of the Great Company was missing. He had been seen by several persons late in the afternoon cashing cheques of large amount in Lombardstreet and its precincts. Afterwards, at eleven o'clock at night, a witness, present by the merest accident, had perceived a man, much muffled up, but whom he identified as no other than Mr. Adolphus Peck, stepping on board the Ostend steamboat at London Bridge Wharf. Important evidence had been adduced before the Lord Mayor at the Mansion House, and a warrant had been issued for the apprehension of the absconding official.

It avails little to dwell much more particularly on this portion of the narrative. The frauds with which the name of Peck is identified were not entirely unprecedented even in his time, and they have been frequently repeated, and even surpassed, by subsequent criminals. But for a considerable period the Great Patagonian Swindle, as it came to be called, absorbed attention and distressed society. It involved many in ruin. It disturbed credit and destroyed faith.

The shareholders, of course, suffered terribly, and after the swindler Peck had done his worst in the way of dealing vampire-fashion with their property, came that duly qualified and most reputable leech the Court of Chancery, to breathe more veins, and even to pick the bones of what was fitly called the corpus of their estate. Chancery, bankruptcy, liquidators, accountants, and the irrepressible and inevitable "gentlemen of the long robe" banqueted richly upon the body of the Great Company. They regarded the affair something in the light of a charity dinner, and, thoroughly gorged, and singing in chorus Non nobis, &c., they tendered at last a small contribution in the shape of a twopenny halfpenny dividend to the hungry swarm of proprietors.

Still the ill wind, though it blew a prolonged gale, had its favourable gust for a

"Then let him have it. It can't hurt few. Among these was Josiah Morse. He

him."

"And his gin-and-water."

"I see no objection," said the doctor. Then with a sudden resumption of a professional air, he added, "Only-cold water,

prospered more, perhaps, by the adversity of the Great Company than he had profited in its flourishing times. He was of great service to the liquidator and to the proprietors. His acquaintance with the concern

matter. Certainly Josiah was never further afflicted with hallucinations, unless his firm convictions that he had the best wife, and was father to the finest family of chil dren discoverable on the whole face of the habitable globe, are so to be considered. And if these be delusions, happy and enviable indeed is the husband who entertains them.

was intimate, and he afforded most valuable
information in regard to it. It was, of
course, upon his evidence that the Lord
Mayor issued his warrant for the appre-
hension of Mr. Peck. Josiah, indeed, spared
himself in no way; laboured most indefati-
gably to serve the interest of the creditors
and shareholders. There was at one time
even a talk of presenting him with a
testimonial of some kind in recognition
of his admirable exertions. This design
-if it ever existed-was not carried into
execution, however. It was held, per-
haps, that inasmuch as Josiah had really
done something to merit a testimonial, it
was as well to depart from the prevail-
ing rule, to make an exception in his case,
and to give him-nothing. Still, this much
was done for him, or rather effected by
his own merits: he secured a good situa-
tion in the office of a City accountant of
good standing and repute. There, hard-
working, but fairly rewarded for his toil,
and therefore happy, we will leave him,
just noting that the baby was not christened
Adolphus, as Mrs. Morse had at one time
planned, and that that estimable woman
has long ceased desiring that her sons
should follow in the footsteps of Mr. Peck.
Doctor Block's experiences in regard
to dementia were no doubt enlarged by
his attendance upon Josiah Morse, during
his grave illness. But it may be doubted
whether the good doctor was ever thoroughly
satisfied in relation to the peculiarities of
the case.
He decided at last that his
patient had undergone an attack of tem-
porary monomania or partial hallucination.
He had perceived with perfect justice that
much wrong-doing had been in progress
about him in his official life, but, his mind
being overbalanced by the sudden shock of
this discovery, he had for a time attributed
to himself the misdeeds of another, to whom
he had been long accustomed to look up with
inordinate reverence. Moreover, at this
period his health had been much enfeebled by
incessant labour and neglect of sanitary pre-
cautions; his overtaxed brain was predis-
posed to entertain delusions. Gradually,
however, he had regained bodily strength,
and his reason had in every respect been
permanently restored. This view of Josiah's
case, if not absolutely complete, will perhaps ALL
sufficiently meet the requirements of non-
medical readers for explanation of the

Of Mr. Peck it only remains to be said, that although tracked and pursued all over the Continent, he was not arrested at last, but, having exhausted all his available resources, he quietly surrendered to the officers of justice. He had enjoyed a prolonged foreign tour, which, although it involved much hurrying hither and thither, and incessant change of plan, had otherwise been as pleasant as liberal expendi ture could make it. He was brought home for trial so long after the perpetration of his frauds that animosity had greatly cooled in regard to him, and the majority of people had no very clear recollection or opinion as to who he was, what he had done, or of what punishment, if any, he was deserving. The City has at all times a short memory, and is really so much occupied with the present that it has but a modicum of thought to bestow upon the past. A feeling even sprung up of sympathy with the accused; an inclination to view him as one who had, without doubt, pushed indiscretion to extremes, but who was yet entitled to some respect by reason of his audacity and enterprise. He was but languidly prosecuted. Of the heaviest charge he was acquitted amid general applause. Upon some minor count he was convicted, however, and was sentenced to two years' hard labour. Probably Mr. Peck's knowledge of business, engaging manners, and intrepid nature, may yet obtain for him further distinction and better success in the worlds of commerce and of speculation. One thing is very clear, however, Josiah Morse will never more be officer of his.

The Back Numbers of the PRESENT SERIES of

ALL THE YEAR ROUND,

Also Cases for Binding, are always kept on sale.
The whole of the Numbers of the FIRST SERIES of

THE YEAR ROUND,
CONDUCTED BY CHARLES DICKENS,
Are now in print, and may be obtained at the Office:
Wellington-street, Strand, W.C., and of all Booksellers.

The Right of Translating Articles from ALL THE YEAR ROUND is reserved by the Authors.

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Published at the Office. 26, Wellington St Strand.

Printed by C. WHITING, Beaufort House, Duke St., Lincoln's Inn Fields.

THE STORY OF OUR LIVES FROM YEAR TO YEAR?

YEAR ROUND

ALL THE YEAR

A Weekly Journal

CONDUCTED BY

[graphic]

CHARLES DICKENS, Jun.

WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED

66

HOUSEHOLD WORDS"

No. 151. NEW SERIES. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1871.

CASTAWAY.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "BLACK SHEEP,'

66

PORT," &c. &c.

BOOK II.

""WRECKED IN

CHAPTER V. SCENE: A STREET IN LYONS." SUCH of the good people of Springside as took an interest in the affairs of their neighbours (and they were by no means a small proportion of the population), were both astonished and disappointed at no match being made up between the Reverend Onesiphorus Drage and the pretty widow, to whom the care of his child had been confided during his absence. The story of Mrs. Drage's last request, which was assiduously bruited about immediately after that good lady's death, had been received with a certain amount of discredit, and a large amount of scorn. Virgin noses, brought together in conclave at Dorcas meetings, had sniffed their contempt at Mrs. Pickering's boldness, and wifely lips had laughed in disdain at Mr. Drage's innocence, in thinking that any woman would not merely recommend her husband to fill her place, but would actually nominate her successor. Mr. Drage's temporary absence from Springside, and Mrs. Pickering's quasi-adoption of little Bertha, were regarded by the worthy townspeople as devised by the acuteness of the widow, who, bold as she might be, had not sufficient audacity to permit her courtship by the parson to be carried on "under the noses," as they expressed it, of those who had known his deceased wife. And when the news was spread that Mr. Drage was coming back, the usual amount of teatable hospitality received a great impetus, and all the scandal-mongers of the place were expectant of their prey. The question

PRICE TWOPENCE.

whether Mrs. Pickering would remain at the rectory was for some time debated with the keenest anxiety, until at last it was proved, to the satisfaction of all parties, that, whether she stopped or whether she went, she would be equally wrong. By stopping she would outrage all laws of society, and it would be a question whether a statement of the facts ought not to be submitted to the bishop; by going she would act most artfully, and take the surest step to induce the rector to invite her to come back to the house as its head.

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Even the fact that Mrs. Pickering, immediately after the rector's return, took up quite a new line of life, and entered upon her duties as housekeeper to Sir Geoffry Heriot, the new tenant of Wheatcroft, did not suffice to disabuse the Springsideites of their belief in her ultimate intentions about their rector. Mrs. Pickering had found the parson more difficult to ensnare than she had at first believed, said the worthy townsfolk to each other, and, though they were by no means aware of it, accredited her, as a disciple of Mrs. Peachum's doctrine, "by keeping men off you keep them on.' Over the evening muffit and teacakes (Springside is renowned for its confectionery, and has given its name to a particularly luscious and sticky kind of bun) were breathed rumours that the housekeeper had already constituted herself a great favourite with her new master, whom she was reported to be " playing off" against her former employer. That there were reasons for these rumours was generally believed; even the most incredulous could not help admitting that, during the whole time he had held the living, the rector's visits had never been so frequent to any of his parishioners as they were now to Wheatcroft.

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