“mr. pearson, have you decided to go quietly? i think you may now occupy your brother’s cell, since he is innocent of the crime, and the real murderer has confessed. this is the telegram which brought the news.”
“perhaps if i would call him a ‘pet’ and ‘fellow,’ he would come along with me,” said pat. “the officer requested me to take you, so here, you ‘pet-fellow,’ you must go.”
“pat, pat, don’t kill him! let him up! i think he will go.”
“i think he will, too. here, take his gun—no, perhaps i had better take it along. i may need two of them. i only have six cartridges, and i have been carrying them some time. i may get a chance now to get rid of them, and i may need more.”
“pat, get some water. i’m afraid you have killed him.”
“well, he said he would die before he would go, and devil take him if he wanted to rush off in a hurry.”
[160]
“i see his mouth twitch. i hope he will revive soon.”
“i think he is saying to himself what he will do when he gets up, but if i have anny strength left, i think he will come along with me, as soon as he is able to walk, and nary stretcher will i carry him on, until i know he is indade a dead one. he went to fight back. i think when he comes to he will see that fighting is hard on the eyes. see the eye turn black, will you? you would think he had been dead a long while and was mortifying.”
“come, pat, help me to get him on his feet.”
“you had better let him rest easy where he is.”
“i am asking you for help, and i want it.”
“i’ll help you, your honor. i never have refused a thing you have asked me to do.”
“come, pearson; can you stand up? try.”
“i am not hurt. i am only dizzy.”
“i am glad. i hope that you will now obey orders, and not cause any more excitement.”
“what shall i do, officer?”
“pat, show him the way.”
“come along, officer—mr. pearson—‘pet’ ‘fellow.’ oh, how i would like to add a few more pet names to them! indade, when he has[161] no gun he is willing to ask what to do. well, i will show you. this way out. i feel that you was not so very much surprised, only in the one way.”
“so the poor fellow was innocent, and the guilty one has confessed. i hope i shall never have another innocent man here while i am in charge of the place. i must send word to pearson’s family. they will be alarmed when he does not come home. it will be a great shock to the family—to those beautiful society daughters. it will be a calamity to them. how shall i break the news? i would not dare to send pat. he has a grievance against pearson, and would not show any mercy on the family. i shall call the officials together and state the whole circumstances, and then we can see what steps to take to protect his family. i am anxious to see pat back. i hope he will not have any more trouble. here he comes now. well, pat, is he all right?”
“i think he is able to talk. after he was locked up, i stepped to one side and he thought i had gone, and the poor brother was getting the devil, and he promised him more than i just now gave him. i think that the poor brother[162] will be scared to leave the place when he is turned loose.”
“pat, why are you referring to the brother? what do you know about it?”
“i guess what i know would do someone good and would bring someone harm.”
“tell me, pat, how did you hear these things?”
“i have not got these ears on the sides of my head just for looks. they was put there to hear with, and i am going to hear when there are annything to be heard.”
“when did you hear all this, pat?”
“i am after hearing it some time ago.”
“pat, i thought i could trust you to tell me everything that went wrong inside of these prison walls.”
“faith, and you can, and i would of told you if it was wrong, your honor, but i thought it was all right if he is guilty of staling all the money, he ought to be punished, and i did not think it necessary to tell you. i expected to find out what he did with the money. mebbe the poor fellow could get it back.”
“you have a secret, pat, and you must tell me all about it.”
“well, i have got to tell it some time, and[163] if i tell it now, i will have to tell it over again, so what is the use of telling it twice?”
“i believe it is something i should know now, and perhaps i do know, but not exactly what you do.”
“if i tell you now, i may not tell it the same way the next time, and if you only hear anything once, you will always think that is right, and if you hear it twice and not alike, then ‘you have not told the truth’ is the first thing you are accused of.”
“well, pat, that is right; but can not you remember how to tell it both times the same way?”
“yes, this ‘pen’ is holding three or four poor devils to-day for not remembering and telling it alike both times.”
“i will let you think it over, pat. try to make up your mind to remember as you heard it. you may go now, and see if mr. pearson is all right. report within the next half-hour.”
“now if he is all right, do you want me to report now, or wait the half-hour?”
“pat, if anything is wrong, let me know at once.”
“that i will, your honor.”
“now pat is gone, i must let the family[164] know, and i think i should let them know at once, for i may not be able to get the officials together as soon as i should like to. i will risk it and call them over the wires, and try to explain some minor part to them, so they will know something is wrong. i can say that he had some trouble with one of the prisoners, as he has a black eye that pat gave him. no, that won’t do. they would ask why i was holding him behind the bars if he had trouble. that has often happened and the officers are compelled to subdue the unruly prisoners, but they do not get locked up for it. i shall have to say something. when you try to fix up something, you never get it said just as you had it fixed up, so i’ll get them on the wire and trust to saying the right thing.
“central, give me main 505, please.
“hello! is this mrs. pearson? mrs. pearson, i have something to say to you. i should like you to come to the office at once. no, i hardly have time to tell you over the ’phone. very well. good-bye.
“what did i say? i was so nervous i hardly knew. i don’t like to tell the family about the head of the household. i think that he could explain better himself. i really don’t know just[165] what i did say. i think i did not tell them how bad things were. by george! i believe that is mrs. pearson coming—and the beautiful daughters too. it is. did i tell her to come? yes, and here comes pat with pearson. my god! has he had trouble with him again? he is covered with blood.”
“your honor, here he is. everything was all right when i went around, but the chap got smart and i have been bating him for a half-hour, then the time was up and you said report, and here i am with what is left of him. i hear a knock on the door.
“come right in, ladies.
“officer, here.”
“oh, papa, papa!”
“my dear husband! what has happened to you?”
pat muttered: “only a good bating, and he deserved it.”
“pat, i must censure you for speaking in that way. i did not intend that you should open the door, and i intended to place him in the second room. i had no chance to speak to you before you opened the door. now you may go.”
“i will, your honor. you always told me[166] to open the door when you heard a knock. now you blame me for it. how do i know what to do and do it right?”
outside, pat whispered to himself: “i have had quite a time and feel pretty tired. i don’t think i will go, for i have a knowledge-place here where i get all my news, and i think i will get some more knowledge and sit meself down for a while. what the deuce is all of the crying for inside? i know i did not bate him to death.”
“my dear madam, calm yourself. i will explain the best i can. i hardly know how to do so. i think mr. pearson could do better than i could.”
“mother, take papa home. do, please, out of this horrid place, never to return.”
“i am very sorry, miss, but i—”
“you do not expect my husband to remain on duty when he is suffering, do you?
“tell me how did you get so badly hurt,” said mrs. pearson, turning to her husband.
“mother, do you not see that he can not raise his head?”
pat, listening outside, remarked: “not because he is hurt, little miss, but because he is ashamed to raise his head, and i am afraid you will not be able to raise your head up when[167] this is all brought out. i feel i would of done the poor fellow a favor if i had bate him to death. ho will have to die sometime, and perhaps this would of suited him better.”
“he will have to remain in the hospital, here, and we will take care of him.”
“oh! i have a doctor, my family doctor, and i want him to look after him. what did you send for me for? wasn’t it to take him home?” said mrs. pearson.
“no; i did not know at the time i was talking that he was injured. you know, he had this trouble—i told pat to call around to his cell and see how he was getting along.”
“his cell! his cell!”
“yes, my wife and dear children, i am a prisoner here. i can not go home with you.”
“papa! oh, papa!”
“you a prisoner here? what have you done to be confined in this place, a prisoner?”
“i can not tell you. go home. i may never get the chance again.”
“you a prisoner? my husband, whom i have promised to honor, a criminal? the father of my children a criminal? oh, no! i do not believe it.”
“madam, i think you had better take your[168] daughters home. calm yourself, and i will explain all to you later.”
“i can not leave this place without my husband.”
pat, listening, said: “another boarder. i know she will object to the kind of service she will get here, and the linen napkin. i think she will change her mind, and i hope she will change it now and not shed anny more tears. i’m a hard-hearted irishman, and could bate a fellow to death, but when it comes to hearing the dear ladies cry, i am finding meself dropping a tear meself.”
“oh, papa! tell us what you have done.”
“daughter, i have deceived you all these years, and i can do so no longer. i will tell you now. be brave, and listen. i was one of the two sons my dear mother bore, and my brother, when a small boy, ran away from home. we never heard from him, and i thought he was dead, as did my dear mother. many years afterward my poor mother died, broken-hearted over her lost son, and i had to swear to falsehood to obtain the estate. i swore that i knew he was dead, and so got all of the estate. what to do after i had received it, i did not know. i thought to invest it would be to double the[169] amount. instead of that, i lost all except what i had when i married your mother. now the lost brother is found in this prison, and i am an embezzler. now i must suffer for the rest of my days.”
“you have carried that secret in your heart all these years, and i, your wife, did not know it? you deceived me, and now bring disgrace upon your daughters?”
“oh, mother! can you not see that papa is punished enough? do not torture him any more,” said one of the daughters.
“i will disown my father if he has committed a crime like that,” said the other one.
“sister,” returned the first, “he is not at fault. do not speak to him in that way. you and i are his only children, and we must not do as those two brothers did, drift apart. we must not make the same mistake.”
