Penny Dreadful Multipack Vol. 1 (Illustrated. Annotated. 'Wagner The Wehr-Wolf,' 'Varney The Vampire,' 'The Mysteries of London Vol. 1' + Bonus Features) (Penny Dreadful Multipacks) (198 page)

CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE

LET us now return to Mr. Whittingham, whom we left in serious
and unfeigned tribulation at the moment when his young master
 
was taken into custody upon the charge of passing a forged note.
   
 
The Bow Street runner whom the
officer had left behind to search the house, first possessed himself of the two
letters which were lying upon the table in Markham's library, and which were
addressed respectively to Mrs. Arlington and Mr. Monroe. The functionary then
commenced a strict investigation of the entire premises; and, at the end,
appeared marvellously surprised that he had not found a complete apparatus for
printing forged notes, together with a quantity of the false articles
themselves. This search, nevertheless, occupied three hours; and, when it was
over, he took his departure, quite sulky because he had nothing to offer as
evidence save the two sealed letters, which might be valuable in that point of
view, or might not.
    The moment this unwelcome guest had quitted the house, the
butler, notwithstanding the lateness of the hour - for it was now dusk -
ordered the market cart to be got ready; and, with the least possible delay, he
proceeded into town.
    Upon his arrival in Bow Street, he found the police-office
closed: but upon enquiry he learnt that the investigation of Richard Markham's
case had been postponed until the following morning at eleven o'clock, the
prisoner having declared that he could produce a witness who would
satisfactorily show his (the prisoner's) entire innocence in the transaction. 
    In the meantime, he had been removed to Clerkenwell Prison.
    Without asking another question, Whittingham mounted his
cart once more, and drove away at a rattling pace to Clerkenwell Prison. There
he began to thunder like a madman at the knocker of the governor's private
entrance, and could hardly believe his senses when a servant-girl informed him
that it was past the hours to see the prisoners. Whittingham would have
remonstrated; but the girl slammed the door in his face. He accordingly bad no
alternative save to drive direct home again.
    The very next morning at nine o'clock Mr. Whittingham
entered the
 
Servants' Arms
 
Tavern; and with but little of his usual circumlocution and
verbosity, enquired the address of Mr. Mac Chizzle, the lawyer, who had been
one of the party at that house the evening but one before.
    "Here is his card," said the landlord. "He
uses my house reglar, and is a out-and-out practitioner."
    Whittingham did not wait to hear any further eulogium upon
the attorney. It had struck him that his young master might require a
"professional adviser:"
 
and having the supreme felicity
of being totally unacquainted with the entire fraternity, he had felt himself
somewhat puzzled how to supply the
 
desideratum.
 
In this dilemma, he had suddenly bethought himself of Mac Chizzle;
and, without waiting to ponder upon the propriety of the step he was taking, he
rushed off in the manner described to procure that individual's address.
    "Well, what do you want?" cried the lawyer, who
was astonished at the unceremonious manner in which Whittingham suddenly rushed
into his office: "what do you want?"
    "Law," was the laconic answer.
    "Well, you can have plenty of that here," said Mr.
.
 
Mac Chizzle. "But - I think you are the gentleman with whom I
had the pleasure of passing a pleasant evening at the
 
Servants' Arms,
 
a day or two ago."
    "The indentical same," returned Whittinghain,
flinging his hat upon the floor and himself into a chair.
    "Take time to breathe, sir," said the lawyer.
    "If you're come for advice you couldn't have selected a
better shop; but I must tell you before-hand that mine is quite a ready money
business."
   
 
"Very good, sir. I'll tell
you my story first and foremost; and you can then explain the most legible
means of preceeding. I want law and justice."
   
 
"Law
 
you can have in welcome; but whether you will obtain
 
justice
 
is another consideration."
    "I'm bewildered in a labyrinth of mazes, sir,"
said the
 
butler. "I always opiniated that law and
justice was the same thing."
    "Quite the reverse, I can assure you. Law is a human
invention: justice is a divine inspiration What is law to-day, is not law
to-morrow, and yet everything is still denominated
 
justice. A
 
creditor salts for justice when he appeals to a tribunal against
his debtor; and how is that justice awarded? Why - if a man can't pay five
pounds, the law immediately makes his debt ten pounds; and if he can't live out
of doors, the law immediately shuts him up in prison by way of helping him out
of his difficulties. That is law, sir; but it is not justice."
    "Right, sir - very right."
   
 
"Law,
 
you see, sir," continued MacChizzle who was particularly fond
of hearing himself talk
 
-"law
 
is omnipotent, and beats
 
justice
 
to such an extreme, that justice would be justified in bringing an
action of assault and battery against law. Law even makes religion, sir; and
gives the attributes of the Deity, for no one dares assert that God possesses a
quality or a characteristic, unless in conformity with the law. And as these
laws are always changing,
 
so of course does the nature of
the deity, as established by the law, vary too; so that men may be said to go
to heaven or to another place by the turnpike roads laid down by the law."
    "I like your reasonable powers amazingly," said
the butler, somewhat impatiently; "and I will now proceed to unfold the
momentary object of my visit."
    "Give yourself breathing time, my dear sir. As I was
observing,
 
Law
 
is more powerful than even
 
Justice
 
and
 
Religion;
 
and I could now show that it exercises the same predominating
influence over
 
Morality
 
also. For instance, Law, and not Conscience, defines virtues and
vices. If I murder you, I commit a crime; but the executioner who puts me to
death for
 
the action, does
 
not
 
commit a crime. Neither does the soldier who kills his fellow
creature in battle. Thus, murder is only a crime when it is not legalised by
human statutes, - or, in plain terms, when it is not according to law."
    "I comprehend, sir," said Whittingham and, seeing
that Mr. Mac Chizzle now paused at length, he narrated the particulars of his
master's arrest upon an accusation of passing a forged note for five hundred
pounds.
    "This is an ugly case, Mr. Whittingham."
    "You must go down to him at Bow-Street his case comes
on at eleven o'clock."
    "Well, there is plenty of time: It is only half-past
nine o'clock. I think we had better instruct counsel."
   
 
"Construct counsel!"
ejaculated Whittingham; "I want you to get him liberated at once."
    "Ah I dare say you do, said the lawyer, coolly.
"That is often more easily said than done. From what you have told me I
should not wonder if your master was committed for trial."
    "But he is innocent, sir - he is innocent - as the
young lamb in the meadows which is unborn!" cried Whittingham.
"Master Richard would no more pass a fictious note than I should endeavour
to pass a race-horse if I was mounted on a donkey."
    Mr. Mac Chizzle smiled, and summoned his clerk by the
euphonious name of "Simcox". Mr. Simcox was somewhat slow in making
his appearance; and when he did, a very comical one it was - for his hair was
red, his eyes were green, his countenance was studded with freckles, and his
eye-lashes were white. 
    "Simcox," said Mr. Mac Chizzle, "I am going
out for a few hours. If the gentleman calls about the thousand pound bill, tell
him that I can get it discounted for him, for fifty pounds in money and eight
hundred in wine - which allows a hundred and fifty for discount and
 
my
 
commission, If the lady calls whose husband has run away from her,
tell her that I've sent to Paris to make enquiries after him, and that if
she'll leave another fifty pounds, I'll send to Vienna. By-the-bye, that
bothering fellow Smith is certain to call: tell him I'm gone into the country,
and shall be away for a fortnight. If Jenkins calls, tell him I shall be home
at five and he must wait, as I want to see him."
    "Very well, sir, said Simcox. "And if the
gentleman calls about the loan."
    "Why, that I shall sees party about it this evening.
The first party declines; but I have another party in view."
    Somehow or another, men of business have always got a
particular "party" in view to accomplish a particular purpose, and
they are always being disappointed by their "parties" - whom,
by-the-bye, they never condescend to name. To be "deceived by a
party;" or "having a party to meet;" or "being engaged so
long with a particular party," are excuses which will last as long as
business itself shall exist, and will continue to be received as apologies as
long as any apologies are received at all. They will wear out every other lie.
    Whittingham was too much occupied by the affairs of his
master, to pay any attention to the orders which the solicitor gave his clerk;
and be was considerably relieved when he found himself by the aide of his
professional adviser, rolling along the streets in a cabriolet.
    At length the lawyer and the faithful domestic were set down
at the Police-Office in Bow Street; and in a few moments they were admitted, in
tin presence of a policeman, to an interview with Markham in one of the cells
attached to the establishment.
    Richard's countenance was pale and care-worn: his hair was
dishevelled; and his attire seemed put on slovenly. But these circumstances
scarcely attracted the eyes of Whittingharn :- a more appalling and monstrous
spectacle engrossed all the attention of that faithful old dependant; and this
was the manacle which confined his revered master's hands together.
    Whittingham wept.
    "Oh! Master Richard," he exclaimed in a voice
broken by sobs, "what an unforseen and perfidious adventure is this! You
surely nevar could - no, I know you didn't!"
    "Do not grieve yourself, my faithful friend," said
Richard, deeply affected: "my innocence will soon be proved. I have sent
for Mr. Chichester, who will be here presently: and he can show to one moment
how I became possessed of the two notes."
    "Two notes!" cried Whittingham.
    "Yes - I had another of fifty pounds value in my purse,
which I also received from Chichester, and which has turned out to be a
spurious one. Doubtless he has been deceived himself —"
    "Oh! that ere Winchester, or Kidderminster - or -
whatever his name may be," interrupted the butler, a strange misgiving
oppressing his mind
 
"
I'm afeard he won't do the thing
that's right. But here is a profound adwiser, Master Richard, that I've brought
with me; and he'll see law done, he says - and I believe him too."
    Markham and Mac Chizzle then entered into conversation together:
but scarcely had the unfortunate young man commenced his account of the
peculiar circumstances in which he was involved, when the jailor entered, to
conduct him into the presence of the magistrate. 
    Markham was placed in the felon's dock, and Mr. Mac Chizzle
intimated to the sitting magistrate, in a simpering tone, that he appeared for
the prisoner.
    Now we must inform our readers that Mac Chizzle was one of
those low pettifoggers, who, without being absolutely the black sheep of the
profession, act upon the principle that all are fish that come to their net,
and practise indiscriminately in the civil and the criminal courts - conduct a
man's insolvency, or defend him before the magistrate - discount bills and
issue no end of write - act for loan societies and tally shops - in a word,
undertake anything that happens to fall in their way, so long as it brings
grist to the mill.
    Mr. MacChizzle was not, therefore, what is termed "a
respectable solicitor;" and the magistrate's countenance assumed an
appearance of austerity - for he had previously been possessed in Markham's
favour - when that individual announced that he appeared for the prisoner. Thus
poor Whittingham, in his anxiety to do his beloved master a great deal of good,
actually prejudiced his case materially at its outset.
    Though unhappy and care-worn, Richard was not downcast.
Conscious innocence supported him. Accordingly when he beheld Mr.
Chichester enter the witness-box, he bowed to him in a friendly and even
grateful manner; but, to his ineffable surprise, that very fashionable
gentleman affected not to notice the salutation.
    It is not necessary to enter into details. The nature of the
evidence against Markham was that he had called at his guardian's bankers the
day but one previously, to receive a sum of money; that he requested the
cashier to change a five hundred pound Bank of England note; that, although an
unusual proceeding, the demand was complied with; that the prisoner wrote his
name at the back of the note, and that in the course of the ensuing morning it
was discovered that the said note was a forgery. The prisoner was arrested; and
upon his person was found a second note, of fifty pounds' value, which was also
a forgery. Two letters were also produced one to Mrs. Arlington, and another to
Mr. Monroe, which not only proved that the, prisoner had intended to leave the
country with strange abruptness, but the contents of which actually appeared to
point at the