The Stone Vault

I had been with Morris and Giinby five-and-tbirty years come tha first of ' nest month. I was forty wben I carne hore, and so I havo the habit of biing exact about dates ; aud am now witbin a fetv weeks of seventy-five. But, a ' for being old, bless yu, I'm youog ir tlitui the youngest chrk, Torn Colgeis wlio, what wiih late slippers and had drinking, has a liund that fhakes lik) those old ledger leaves blow'ng in llio wind by the open window jouuur. Cold water, early hours, and temper anee iu all thinga keep a man hale bis life tbrough. If you c'on'i beüeve that, look at me, I'm an example, sir. I!ve eeen chantres here. The firra was "Morris, Grinby & Bloorn," wh"u I came, though young Bloom died Ihreo months atter the young Grinby was taken into partneiship. We had a fire liere, too, and the offioes have been rcbuilt on a diffeieut plan. Ah, yes - ohanges enough, s:id and pleasant ; bat the 8trañgest and sad'lest of all was what happened to poor Ben Wade. Ah, dear me ! It did seem hard, looking at it with human eyes, and forgettiiifi, as we are apt to, that God does ererytbing for the beet. Perliaps you don't know thia house is built. It's an old place, although the front and offices are new, and those great balustrades weie only put up lnst year Down below you ea-j judge liow very old it is. Such a cellar, .sir, euch massive walls, paved with stono, and be low the cellar is a sinaü ttoue vault, whieh Codgers, who laughs at serioue things, says the old firm built to be burried in. 3Iy own opinión is it waa iotended to couceal valuabh'S, for it Las a grate and paiuted door, nnd tho locks euch fusteucd with a diíícrent key - tb al i-, it they were ever fastened at all. - The vwiilt was disuscd long I efore my time. Wel!, eir, I hadn't been here six months, when oue day, or rather on e evening, for it was nearly six - morchauts kept later hours in those days - I had occasion to go down into Mie cellar before going home, to give directions to the porter about some bales to be Bent up in the early moruing next day. Mike and I were up at the DOrth end of tno cellar, wliere the bules were, and as I was giving hira my orders, when at my elbow, as ït eeemed, I heard an odd sound, a kiod of wheczing cougli Emothered in a moment. I looked arouud , there was nobody there, not a soul; and I tbought : - "How our cars doceive us, to be eure, ' and went on talkiug. Uut, I give you my word, I hadu't ppoKen three words wiien there was tbat sound ogaiu. Ït quite startcd me. "Mike,"fsaid I, "did you cough ?" "No, sir," said Mike, "I thought yuur bonor did." "It munt bo imagiuation or somo sound from tbe office overhead," but just theu - ough ! ougb ! We both beard it. "It's no good, your honor," said Mike. "Tbere's some one biding in tbe collar," said I. So, with Mike's lantern, we v t over tbe graat stone paved place, 1 bebind boxes and balee, and urn' steps and up tbe eoal slide. But not a soul did wo find until passing tbe door of tbe vault, I heard it this timo very faint and strange, and callcd out to Mike : "Whoever it is, is bidden in the vault." And with that we both turncd stairward and bolted into Mr. Grinby's office together - tbe old gentleman (hinby, senior. He doo't come to tbe office onco a year now, for he's past ninety. - Uld Mr. Grinby was just locking bis desk and buttoniug bis overcoat. He etared ut us tbrough bis glasees and ejaculaied : "BleBB me, Iiumphrics, is the house on fire ?" "No, oir," said I, "but tbere's Bome one bidden in the stone vault. :' "Bah!" said Mr. Grinby, "I thought 1 you had better sense, Mr. Uumpbriof). No oue could oxist tea minutes in tlie etone vault. It s the ncxt thing to air tight ;'Lt is niy belief, eir, tliat whoever it is may be chokiug to death, sir," said I; "bnt tbere muy be some ooe thcre. - Mike heaid a s mnd as well as I." "Very wel," said Mr. Griuby ; "cali the neurest constable, Mike, and - Mr. Morris, are you in your office sir? Perliaps you'll come doan with us and assiít iu tho capture of a burglar Mr. Huinphries has discovered in tho airtigbt vault below tho cellar." lio was very satinen! ; so was Mr. Morris. But we all went down together, iliü constable witb us, and stopped befure the stone vault. Tbe door was .-hut so tight tbat it took all Mike'a BtreDgth to furos it open. And Mr. Grinby,} looUiug straight beí'oro hiin, ehouted : "Ha, ha, nobody, a8 I told you." But (he ncxi uiiuute he saw wliat the vest of us bad already seeu - a bundie of rags in one corner of tbe vault, down on the Hoor. And amidst the rags was a white face and a tiny band, and a bare bruieed and bleeding fyot. And we dragged out iuto sucb air as tbere was o tho cellar a miserable wretoh of a little boy, who seeined quite dead. Up in the office, bowever, we brongbt bim to life and got the story from him. Ho IL ved, it seems, among tliieves, and they had plauned to rob us that night, aud he, poor littie midge, badslipped in BOmebow, a:id bidden iu tho cellar, to open tho door for them, never thinking that any one would como there that night. liut when Mike and I weot down, he took to the vault, and there would have smotheied but for my hearing him. I don't caro to teil you how we kept him and filled the pUce wi:h cons a'jles, wbo whpu the burgl irs camej pouncod out upon them and took thïm into custody You can gues all that. It's tho poor boy I havo to teil you about - poor Ben V.ul'. It carne out duriug theinvestigation, coasequent upon the arrest, that the poor child was kept among the thievus by force, and that tbey had used him cruelly. Onco a ruffian of the gang had broken bis leg in a drunken iury, and helimped yet from the injury. He was fuch a palé, worn, miserablo thing tbat every one fult merciful to him, and it was decided to pardon him, and eend him to the poorlioue. But that very morning, Grinby junior - yoiuig man - uauia luto tho office where his fattier sat, and put Lis hand apon his arm. "Fatbor," says lie, "Í want to ask you Dne favor. I ant my own way in one tbibg." "Well," said the old gentleman, "!ei me I ear you." " I want to take Ben Wade iotot his Ijousa as au erraud boy,"aaid young Mr. Grinby. "lluy ?" said the old gentleman,"want a young hou.-ebreuker as errand boy ? Bloss niy soul I" 'Fatbor," says young Grinby, "the ijoy is naturally a good boy. I ]iko iiim; I want to save him. Perbaps, if I had not go good n father toguido me uil cara for me, I might have been wii.-o than he. I don:task you to trust him sir. I ouly ask loavo tr trust him myself. I am Mire ho will prove duserving of confidence." Öld Mr. Grinby (ook out his snuff box, and lookcd at Mr. Morris. Tra notictd tho lad'a eye ; it's a goed one," said Mr. Morris. "It'.-i a risk," said Mr. Grinby, " but vre'll consider." And I suppose t!i result was what young Grinby wanted, for linie Ben vViuie came to us tho nest Monday. Now he was cleaQ and wholo, ho didn't !(iok to bad, and good food and no abuse made u difference ín him iu a week. In a montli or so people stnppcd rediciing tbatyOQDg Grinby would reppnt souie day ; and in a year I don't think there was one iu the office who didn't lovo that boy. So gratoful and so trustworthy, and 80 ready to do evervthing for every one, Yuuug Grinby had him taught, and well-laught too. The lightniug calculator might beat him, but I doubt it ; and I nover knew that lad to forget to dot his i's or cross his t's in all my acquaintanco with him after ho had luarned to writc nt all. At tweaty he was one of the best clerks in our establishment, besides being a fine looking fellow as ono would wish to see. On the w hole, I did nol wonder thatM88 Lucy Evans took a f&ucyto hin-, - a sister, sir, of one of the youug fellows at our place, and a gir who looked like a cjueen, and was as good as she was handsonie. I used to meet thein walking on the battery, where lovers used to walk in thofe days. He was so fond and prouc of her, and she had such a tender na' of looking at him, that they made in' old heart young again, as I often told Mrs. HumphriOB, to vvhom I always coufide everything. And how he reveienoed her - why a ribbon or a faded flower that sbe had worn was cheriehed by him as a miscr cherishes his cold. At last lic told me, in coufidencc - for her name was sacred, and not to be spoken before every oue - that they werc to be married. "And when I look back, eir," Baid be, 'and remember the miserablo years of my wretcbed childbood, and tbink how fricndlcss and forlorn 1 was, and how there was nothing before me but a prisod or lh3 gallows, and thiuk that now I bave everylhiug to make mau's iife blessed - the power to win a respectable livelihood by reputablo labor, the respect of honest men, and the love of sucli a girl as Lucy - I can never bo too giateful to Üie kind friend who saved me from a lifo I daré not contémplate. God blcss Mr. Grinby !" said be, liftiug his hut reverently as he might in church, and there wua a prayet in his durk ey;s as he looked upward, ïhose were the last words I ever heard bim speak, except "good-night." Ah ! dear me, it should have been good-bye. Ten minutes after I went ono way and he the othcr. I took my way liome, and he, as it seemed afterward, walked jus! two blocks aud then came back here. At twelve o'olock that uight I awoke Mrs Humphrie8. "My dear,"Yaid I, "I must bave bad the nightmare or comething." "Goodness," said she, "it seenis o. Your bauds aro like ice. What gave i o you, lovo ? Tho lobster, l'll be ound." "Peihaps," gaid I; "I adniit I ate a íearty puppor. And nothing else cnuld nake me fancy young Wade at my bedide, white as a ghoet, with both hands n my breast. "Ah but tlie nightmare is always )Iack, not whito," said'iuy wifu. A.nd lien she wont to a little cupboard and rought me a glaps of wine. After thnt went to sleep again. 1 did not riso early, and was quite behind my usual time. Butwhen I reachcd our pluce I found it n great corarnotion. Clerks running hither and íhither, tlie hoads of the firra standing about in the most unbutines-liko manner, and tbree constables on the premisos. "What is the matter, sir," I said, addrewmig Mr. Crinby. "Matter enouuh," said he. "WoVe been heavily robbed." "I fancied that couldn't happen here," said I. "I really bi-lioved it woulil be impOFsiblo for burglars to break into Monis, Grinby & Son's, sir." "Ah, said be, "they did not break tu, Tho door lias been quietly openod from the inside." "And I bel i e ve" - began Mr. Slorris "8ir," cried young Grinby, out of brcath, "I bcg, as a geutletna'i, as a man of principie, you will not gire utterance to unfounded suspicions - totally unfoundod and unworthy of you." "Prove tbem so, sir," said Morris, coolly, "and I'll apologize." I looked an inquiry. "Don't ask explanations, I beg, Mr. Humphries," eaid Mr. Grinby. Something has becn said which the speaker will regret. Ab, there comes my messenger." And in ran one of our bnyg. "Well, Tom, said Mr. Grinby. "Mr. Wade aiu't been home all night, sir" said Tom. "I told you so," said Mr. Morris. "And I teil you even yet that I will not hear my dearfriend's - yes, my very dear lriend's - cbaracter aspersed," said young Grinby. "Humphries, I know you love young Bun Wade as I do. Fancy bina connected wilb t bis robbery Aa well suspect my father, or rayself, or you" "Ile's missing," said Mr. Morris shutting the office door upor. us three. "He was seen to return hite in the evening. He was one of the band of houaebreakers when we tookhim in and many doolare the character to be formod at six years oid. He was muo. 1 beiove he has been won back to hia old waya." ''You will riüt expresa your belief to other.a,"said Mr. Giinby. "Mot as yet, mo6t eertainly," eaid Mr. Morris. 'WclI, f ir, that was a bitter cold day ;o me - a bitter dsy. We could lourn nothing of young Wade nfter eight o'clouk on the prcvious night. Then several had seen him. He had taken tea at a liule coffee house, as he sometimes did when ue diU not intend to return home uotil quite late, and had said to sonie one there, "I mut go baok to the office. I havo forgottun gometbing.' Ila'.f an hour aftcrvv&rd Mike, the porter, had pussed him in the street, and young Wade had said : "What's the time, Mike?" The poi ter told him. "I hall be too late," he said. "I have an engagement, and must go back to our placu lor a parcel I'vo forgotten." An apple woman on the corner had soen him enter. He often boiight fruit of lier for lunch, and she know him by Sl'llt There the news ended, until Mike, going to light the fires, found the placu in a scène of confusiou - desks and safes rifled, papers strewed about, and e?ery mark 3Í eystematio burglaiy. Late in the day Lucy Evans cume down. Her brother had sent hor Word of what had occurred. She believed snme accident had happened to Ben, and begged the iirm to spare no effort to dis cover him. the wan alrnost distracted, and w!io can wonder? Tbey had been going together, it secmed, to see some play the night before, and she had beeu sufficiently alarmed by his f.iiling to keep the iippointment to be in amcasure prepared lor worse. She knew he intended to bring her a book. lie bad spoken of it. Tbat must have been iho parcel he went back for. Of course, t-he never doubted him, and no ono dared to hint at what had been whispered, in her presence. For weeks, eir, Iho authorities wero at work. Immenso rewards were offered for the burglars, and the recovery, alive or dead, of young Benjamin Wade, but without the least effect. We W6T6 notifiod of everybody washed ashore, and of every unkoown man found dead for inonths, and at last there were fow who did not laugh at poor Beu's frieuds for their credulify. It seemed plain. to them - and may Heaven not judge them as they judged their brother, - Ben wade w;is guilty. Poor Lucy never looked un, It was easy enough to see that her hoart was jroken, and in a year she died, just a a week too sooa to hear what 1 shall tel! y ou, Oue moming I was very busy at my desk in tbo ollico when a gentleman came in and askod for Mr. Morris or Mr. Grinby. Old Mr. (irinby was at tiome with tbe gout, but Mr. Monis and tlio young gentleman wero in. I Saw the gentleman was a clergymau, and fancied ho had called to solicit subscript'.on for some mission to tho heathen or Sunday school or now church. JJnt bis first words mado me start. Tliev were tliseo : "You remember, of course, a burglary committed bere a year ago or more." I could noi keep my eeat then, but went forward, trembling like a leaf. Young Mr. Örinby had turned quite faiut, and was leauiug against tho wall for fupport. "You are agitated," said tbe clergyman ; "I fear you will be still more aflected by what you must soon herir. A person now la custody, coademued to. execution, has a confession to make to you iu regard to that affair- a very horrible odo I fear." Ho took a eard from his pocket and wrute a few unes. "If you will cali at tbe priaon any timo to-day, you will not be too late. It is Friday, and he 18 to suffer execution st dawu. Present thi, if you please, nnd I implore you to ask no i questionB now. Beíoro they could say much he was i gone, afraid, I think, to be the first to teil the story, and our gentlemen called a cab and took ine with them at my re quesi. They cerned to expect us at the prison, and we were adniitted. But in the narrow corridor Morris stopped us. "Gentlemen," he said, "you must nerve yourselves. Have you refleeted that you may seo Benjamin Wade when yonder door is opened '! Young Griuby put his hand upon his heart and seemed turning faint again. It was the íirst time the thought had entered my niiud, and it was a blow. It s aggered me. The next minute the turnkcy flung the door open and we were in the cel 1. On the floor lay a man - a broad ehouldered fellow - in rough garinonts - who eeemed to hayu csst bimtelf down in grief or terror. It wad not Ben Wade At íirst I thouglit I never had seen the face lie lifted as it rose. In a moment it carne to me. It was the leader of the gan who had been arrested for thut old attempt at robbery when we had found little Byu in the stone vault. "You've cínife, have you ?" he said, sitting duwu on the itone Beat, "and I seë you know me. Thcy've caught me again, and t's murder this time, and Tve got to swing. If it wasn't for that no person 'ud have got t Ij is out of me. But I've promised, and I ahvays keep my promise, I do. You remember t% youug man calied Ben Wade F" 1 What of hini ?" we cried in a breatli. "Not mueh - he didn'nt rob your place, thut's bil. We doue it - Dick Burcü nnd Slippery Tom and me. Teil you how it was. You know that boy hit'irmed on us, aud I was locktd up for hard labor for more years than most men lire. 1 didu't stay, though. I cut off and carne home. And tho first thing I did was to vow vengeancc on that boy. Why, there was a gay youug buck, in fine togs, with ;he lmnriling of money, and thought of and trusted just for having done for us. Proud, too - wouldn't speak to us d the street. Threatened to give information if he eaw one of us prowling abnut. I heard it all. I swore I'd fix him ; aud it seeuied to come to me. "One night I was agoin' to Slapper's shades to havo a drink. Bureh was with me : nnd in a quict sort of street we oame up to Ben, in a miglity hurry. I'd have knocked liim on ihe bead, but Burch stopped me. " 'ioa what he's up to,' saya he. And we followed. Ho went down to your piaco, and went it. He left the tloor ajar, and we made the best of it. Ho was coming out with a book or somethiag in bis hand, aud wc met hiui He was p!ucky, I teil you. One of us wouldu't have got off so easy, but we wcre two to one. We gagged and tied liim, and made a cloau sweep of the place that night." "And Ben - my God, did Ben tliink we would not believe hirn ?" cried Mr. Grinby. "He had but tb come to us - to teil the truth. Wliere is ho ? Do you know ? Speak !" The robber was lurning tho hue of ashes His words oiimH slowly. His eyes glanced over his shouldor and he backed up agaiust the wall." "We looked him up in tho stono vault," he said, "and tonk the keys with ua. If you look you'll iind him there." And Mr. Grinby faiuted outright in my arma. Wcll, sir, the robber's words wero tiue. ïhe vault was opened that day, and there - no matter. It was easicr to know the ring he wore, and ihe kcys and purse iu bis pocket, thau poor Ben Wi.de. The first thing that Mr. Griuby said was : "Thank heaven, Lucy cannot know it." And the next he sobbed - "Oh but the certniiity would have beon bstter for her uf'ter all. And tlien to kuow his name was clear." And so that is t.he story of our Ptone vault ; and, stiange as it is, it is quite truo. You may see his grave close beside Lucy's any day. And Mrs. Humphries - she's a romantic woman, sir - eays the thinks tho violeta nnd roses grow tbere of their own accord under the white monument.