Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

A WORKMAN'S SECRET.

PART VII.

The Monday night came on which Mr. Jacob Rope- | a bright fire blazing on the hearth, the table set worthy was to serve humanity by stealing a secret that the owner would not sell. But the owner was prepared for him.

When the hour of lecture came Robert Makinnon went out as if nothing was further from his thoughts than the possibility of being robbed. When he reached the end of the street in which he lived he stopped, however, and turning the corner, there he found Mr. Robertson waiting for him.

All right?" inquired the latter.

"Yes, all right."

daintily by Katie for supper when they should return from the lecture, and the gas lit, so that he had only to turn it up and go on with his business.

[ocr errors]

Now," said Mr. Ropeworthy to himself, "this is burglary made easy."

Then he went coolly to the cupboard where the little engine was placed. There it was in its box, and--surely never did fortune so shine upon a burglar-it was unlocked. Slowly he opened the box, and was just about to lay his hand upon the machine when the sound of a pleasant voice made him start as if a pistol had

I saw a man skulking opposite, and he was built been fired at his ear. like Ropeworthy."

"Well, we are ready, too."

"Yes. Look here, Katie, you must walk on, and leave Mr. Robertson and me alone."

But you won't get into danger, will you?" "No, lass, there is no danger about Ropeworthy. Once he is found out he is too much a political philosopher to make matters worse by struggling,"

The two men, after taking leave of Katie, entered a house in the street turning at right angles from that in which Makinnon lived. Now, in Scotland most houses of any position are built in squares, fronting four streets and having behind them a large portion of ground laid cut in greens for the drying of clothes. Thus each house has a back door and a front door, the latter leading to the street, the former to the greens. From the doors flights of stairs lead to the three, four, and sometimes six flats into which the houses are divided. Now, as the greens-the plots of grass-in this inner square are divided from each other other only by small palings, it was easy for Makinnon and Robertson to get back into Makinnon's house unperceived by anyone watching in the street.

As soon as they got inside they cautiously approached the window, and, surely enough, under the gas lamp on the opposite side of the way they saw a man loitering and looking fixedly at the house.

Suddenly he moved away, and they asked themselves if they had been mistaken. Was that not the right man, or, if it were, had he lost courage and dared not do the deed which he had come to do? They were wrong. It was the man, and his purpose was fixed and firm. But he was too clever, after loitering opposite a house and watching it, to try to enter it. There are always people who watch watchers and stop themselves to see what causes a man to loiter.

Mr. Ropeworthy walked away, and as he went took off a black beard that he had on. Thus, if anyone had noticed the loiterer they would proceed to give, after the robbery, a false description of the robber.

Having done this, Mr. Ropeworthy walked back hastily and with an air of business, putting his foot on the ground with that firm and ringing tread that is supposed to denote an honest and a prosperous man. He even whistled. Not Policeman X would suspect that this bustling, musical citizen was hurrying along to put an evil design into execution.

When he reached the house he did not pause or hesitate, but entered as one who was at home. None were on the stairs or the landings. He put a key into the door and the lock turned, he used another key and the door opened. Then he shut it behind him. He even knew the room where the little engine was kept. Entering it, he found the blinds drawn, the shutters shut

"Good evening, Mr. Burglar!"

Mr. Ropeworthy turned. At the open door of the room stood Makinnon and Robertson. Each of them had a cigar in his mouth, and were observing the burglar's proceedings with an air of the deepest interest.

"Good evening. Mr. Burglar!"

Ropeworthy gasped as he looked from one to the other of the absolutely grave faces before him.

Makinnon, entering the room, shut the door behind him, but did not take the trouble to lock it. Robertson then took a chair and Makinnon another.

"Sit down, Mr. Thief," said Makinnon quietly, and Ropeworthy, still not quite sure if he dreamed or not, also took a chair.

"Now, Mr. Thief, we have met before. Outside the house just now you wore a black beard. At present you wear red hair. Your own hair is much prettier." And, leaning forward, Makinnon snatched off the wig with which Ropeworthy had covered his own scanty locks.

"Ah! do my eyes deceive me! can it be Mr. Ropeworthy, honest Ropeworthy - Mr. Ropeworthy, the Conservative champion ?"

"Now, look here, Makinnon," said Ropeworthy, who had by this time recovered the splendid audacity that makes a thief or a politician successful, and which made Mr. Rope worthy successful in both capacities -"you can get me ten years if you like; do you mean to do it ?"

"That depends. I may and I may not. But tell me who put you up to this? You would never have thought of it yourself."

"Well, look here, Makinnon, you can get me ten years if I don't tell you, and the man who put me up to it can get me ten years if I do tell you. Now, what is a poor fellow to do?"

"Well, if you won't tell me, I can tell you. It was Mr. Norman Firebrace."

"That is a clever guess, but you are wrong." "No, I am right, and he promised you two hundred pounds for doing it."

"The devil!"

[ocr errors]

No, it was no friend of yours that told me this." "Well, if you know that, what more do you want?' "I am going with you to meet Mr. Norman Firebrace."

"I can't-I won't. I would rather meet the devil.' "Time enough for the latter. But would you rather meet Mr. Firebrace or a policeman ?" "Ab, Mr. Makinnon, nobody can resist your arguments."

"Well, yes; the policeman is the strongest argument that can be used to men like you."

In a few minutes Makinnon and Ropeworthy entered a cab and drove to the house of Mr. Norman Firebrace. It may be imagined that they did not speak much to one another. Makinnon was deeply absorbed with the question how far he ought to be severe to one who had meditated him a great wrong and how far he could be merciful to Helen's father. Mr. Ropeworthy was meditating whether Mr. Firebrace would not turn upon him and rend him. Among rogues there are orders and degrees, and the rogue in a small way has a profound dread for the rogue in a big way. Jacob Ropeworthy stood in absolute terror of Norman Firebrace.

The cab stopped, and the two men walked up the steps that led to Mr. Firebrace's house.

"Announce Mr. Ropeworthy," said Makinnon to the

servant.

Mr. Firebrace was walking up and down his room in that restless state of mind which afflicts those who have to wait while others are doing. Every minute his eye sought the clock, and never, it seemed to him, did minutes go so slow. They absolutely seemed to crawl. At last it struck nine, a cab drove up to the door, he heard the house-bell ring, and a minute after he rushed to the door of the room to meet face to face with Robert Makinnon.

Involuntarily Mr. Firebrace started back, and for a moment his flushed face grew pale. Then it reddened again as he darted an angry glance at Ropeworthy, whose bent head and sneaking form he just observed. Only a moment his agitation lasted, and then he turned to Makinnon quietly, authoritatively, as any master might turn to any servant, "Well, Makinnon," he said, "what do you want, and who have you got with you?" "Answer, Ropeworthy," said Makinnon.

"Guv'nor," said that worthy, "it's no use, we're found out."

"Found out in what, and by whom, and who are we?"

"Come, guv'nor, Mr. Makinnon here knows all about our little game."

"Our little game?"

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

"Really?" said Mr. Firebrace with a slight sneer, thinking that this was another proof of how extraordinary was Makinnon's mind and his notion of things. "Yes, he can go."

"Is that quite fair to society?" asked Mr. Firebrace, still continuing his sneer.

"Perhaps not," said Makinnon, looking thoughtfully from one to the other, "but I do not think in this case it would be right to punish the little rogue and let the big rogue go."

[ocr errors]

Mr. Firebrace found it convenient not to hear this speech.

"And so," said Makinnon, "I will wish you both good night." and without another word he went out, leaving the two men together staring at one another.

Then the calm broke that had hung over Mr. Firebrace. Curses and oaths poured from his lips in one sulphurous stream.

Ropeworthy hung back abashed at the profane torrent. At length he succeeded in making Mr. Firebrace understand how little he had been to blame.

"But who could have told him?" asked that gentleman as he again grew calm.

"I don't know," said Ropeworthy.

"I told him, father,' said a sweet, quiet, clear voice, and the men, turning, saw that the door had opened and Helen Firebrace stood listening to what they said. "You told him?"

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

A YOUNG MAN in this city, having a little capital and intending to open a store, found a suitable place and offered to rent it, but the landlord would not let the premises unless the tenant would take a lease for three years. The store project was given up, for, said the young man, "If my business does not pay, I will be loaded for three years with a lease at high rent, and if it succeeds my rent will be raised as soon as the lease expires. In either case I am likely to be ruined."-The Standard, New York.

There are two sides to every question, and of course there are two sides to all the questions affecting the settlement of the problem of how Labour shall obtain all the results of its industry. The right of Labour to this is not a question: it is a truth; and there are not and cannot be two sides to the truth.-The Canadian Labour Reformer.

THE DEMOCRAT.

"THEY HAVE RIGHTS WHO DARE MAINTAIN THEM."

VOL. IV.-No. 104.

NO LIBERTY, NO RENT.

JULY, 1887.

On the day that the Coercion Act comes into operation in Ireland the payment of land rent should cease. This Act substitutes might for right; it is an appeal to the law of force. Let it be accepted as such. To force the landlords have appealed; by their standard let the issue be decided. The power of the Government to collect rents will depend solely on the attitude of the 2,500,000 occupiers of land in Ireland. Let them, or the great majority of them, determine to pay no more rent, and the Government would be powerless. By their utmost efforts, with great difficulty and amidst the execrations of the whole world, the Government have evicted five thousand occupiers during the present year. Could they evict five hundred times that number? They could not. The task is obviously impossible. Not a tenth part of the present occupiers could be evicted before the plan of eviction would break down, and the tenants would remain masters of the situation.

In all cases let the degree of resistance be, in accordance with Davitt's recommendation, as much as is "reasonable;" but the success of this action would depend upon numbers, rather than upon force. Let tenants combine in sufficient numbers and they will win. The unpaid rent should be expended or sent to friends in America. National leagues and other combinations may become impossible, and therefore the policy adopted must be of a character to permit of individuals acting. For such a campaign leaders would be unnecessary. Let the people once be imbued with the spirit of individual responsibility, they would know their duty and they would do it.

GLADSTONE'S OPPORTUNITY. IN his Welsh campaign, Mr. Gladstone enjoyed what may be his last opportunity of uniting the Liberal party. The manner in which he used it is a source of great disappointment to

PRICE TWOpence.

his friends and of triumph to his opponents. He actually re-opens, instead of closing, the question of excluding the Irish Members from Westminster. To say that this may be left an open question to be probably settled by excluding them for a time is to throw once more the whole subject into confusion.

A lady may as well leave it open to consideration whether she shall be virtuous, as a Liberal politician recognise the possibility of separating government and representation. This separation, whether for a time or for ever, involves the denial of the first principle of Liberal government. There are not twenty members of the House of Commons who do not see this. Mr. Gladstone's first lieutenant, Lord Rosebery, ridiculed, at Plymouth, the idea of excluding the Irish members, even partially, from the House of Commons, and we, therefore, expected at Swansea a clear and definite statement to the effect that no suggestion of exclusion should be allowed any longer to paralyse the Liberal party. Until that statement is made the Liberal party will be merely a rope of sand.

MICHAEL DAVITT'S ADVICE. MICHAEL DAVITT advises Irish tenants to offer all reasonable resistance to eviction. It is difficult to see how any humane and sensible person can quarrel with this advice. If a man should ever resist, he ought to do so in defence of his home, of his wife, and of his children. No one disputes the fact that these evictions are unjust, the only plea for them is that they are legal. The fact that they are legal increases the wrong and does not lessen the suffering. All experience shows that so long as people submit to legal injustice it will be continued. Michael Davitt has learned this lesson and has the courage to teach it. Would any one desire that the Bodyke evictions should have been allowed to fling women and children from the homes which their husbands had erected

without any resistance? For fifty years the people have quietly submitted to eviction until a total of three and a half millions have been evicted. Has not brutality and injustice been allowed sufficient rope? The introduction of the Crimes Act when there is comparatively little crime in Ireland, and the repeated announcement of the Government that they intend to collect rents whether earned or not, shows that nothing can be gained by passive submission.

LANDLORDS' RIGHTS.

THE Grimsby correspondent of the Eastern Morning News, reports that the "Pastures Committee" have rejected the offer of the Corporation to purchase the Freemen's Estate. The correspondent expresses his opinion that the offer will not be renewed. The reasons upon which this opinion is founded are well worth noting. He says:-

[ocr errors]

In

The estates known as the Freemen's Estates are to all intents and purposes the property of the mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of the borough of Grimsby. In the dim and distant past, by the practice of a bit of low cunning, a section of the community secured to themselves an exclusive interest in these estates, but it was a fraud upon the clear intention of the original charter. common honesty, every burgess of the borough paying scot and lot rates and taxes ought to share equally all the rights, privileges, and emoluments of citizenship. As a matter of fact, the tenure upon which the Freemen hold their property is morally bad, and the time is not far distant when a onesided injustice like this will be swept away, and the property now held by a section of the burgesses will be held and enjoyed by every burgess alike. And, what is more to the point at the present moment, we shall get our right without paying for it."

The description of the action and position of the Grimsby Freemen is exactly that of all landlords.

THE WAY THE WIND BLOWS. THE following sentences close Mr. Walter Besant's able article, extending over thirty pages, in The Graphic Jubilee number, showing that a strong current towards Democracy" has set in. Noting the decay of the agricultural interest, he says:

[ocr errors]

"As for the House of Lords and the English aristocracy, they cannot survive the day when the farms can do no more than support the hands that till the soil.

"All the power that there is we have given to the people, who are now waiting for a prophet to teach them how best to use it. I trust I am under no illusions; Democracy has many dangers and many evils; but, these seem to me not so bad as those others which we have shaken off. I do not

expect a millennium; mistakes will be committed, and those bad ones. There will be the tyranny of the caucus to be faced and trampled down; we must endure the politician whose existence depends on his party; we must expect and fight againstbribery and wholesale corruption when a class of professional politicians, poor, unscrupulous, grasping, will be continually, by every evil act, by every lying statement, by every creeping business, endeavouring to climb into power; we shall have to awaken from apathy those who are anxious to avoid the arena of politics, yet, by education and natural abilities are called upon to lead. Yet, who, even in the face of certain dangers, the certain mistakes, of Democracy, shall say that terrible mistakes have not already been made? There is always hope where there is freedom; let us trust in the common sense of the nation, and remain steadfast in that trust."

A NOBLE BRUTE.

AT one time, when Democrats have spoken true and bitter words against the uselessness of the aristocracy, they have been confronted with the exception of Lord Lytton. "Here, at least," they said, "is a great man sprung from a noble house and one who, having the privileges of nobility, used them all and abused none of them." Democrats admitted the exception. Yet they were fearfully mistaken. A biography has lately been published of Lady Lytton which reveals a tale so ghastly that good men will hardly care, by reading it to their wives and daughters, to hint to them that the world is so bad. This dead scoundrel married a lovely and virtuous girl, only winning her after long and arduous wooing. With her married life began her misery. He kept a perfect harem of mistresses and spent on them her fortune. He kicked her at that time when the very women of the street grow sacred with the claims of coming motherhood. He beat her-this blackguard who disgraced the trade of book-making. At last she spoke out. What then did that society which claims to be society and to rule the manners and morals of the rest? Did it pity her, did it avoid him? It pitied him and avoided her. For him all the sympathy, for her the blame, the hatred, the scorn. Society was against her. Poor, warm-hearted, ruined lady. Can a man be good and an aristocrat? Sometimes, we should say, but seldom.

MODERATION.

THE name of United Ireland has been a bug. bear to the timid. It has meant to them unutterable things. And yet we find United Ireland now speaking of Britain and the British people in tones so warm and so generous that we start

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

I am fond once a year or so of dropping into a music hall. It is the fashion to despise such places. The Prince of Wales never goes to a music hall, therefore music halls must be bad. There are, as a matter of fact, more objectionable things said in a week in a West-End theatre than are said in a month in an EastEnd music hall.

And then an East-End music hall has, for good or bad, real political power. You can judge better, from what there is said and sung, how men think and how they will vote, than by all the political meetings that can be held.

[blocks in formation]

But to my tale. I entered this music hall, and listened with some interest to the young ladies, who sang how their sweethearts had kissed under the rose, or the cabbage, or the oak tree, or any other plant; sweethearts are not particular in that way. Then I waited for the political singers, for politics done into music hall verse have sometimes all and more than all the influence of Times leaders in telling how the wind will blow and the cat will jump.

[blocks in formation]
« НазадПродовжити »