Johnny Ludlow, Second Series

hether it is not, it often happens that it is very much exceeded, or otherwise not acted upon. Those who have to ex

t outrageous things-speaking of the law and of common sense. And he did one in reference to Abel Crew. I st

Abel Crew's pills: and the coroner seemed to agree with them-he hated trouble. But Dobbs and Perkins held out. They were not satisfied, they said; the pills furnished by Abel Crew might not have been the pills that were taken by the children; moreover, they considered that the pills should be "more officially" analyzed. Pettipher the druggist was all ver

Jones, floundering up on his gouty legs to Abel as the j

owards home on his scalded foot, by the help of

k-up," said

k-up!" echo

"Where else but the lock-up? Di

dsome velvet coat, turned to the constable; his refined face, a little paler than us

Jones," he said calmly. "Yo

on guilty, and treating them accordingly. "You have a cheek, you have, Abel Crew! 'No

id Abel. "I shall not run away. I sha

know. You be as good as committed for the killing and slaying o' them there two tw

the inquest-room, were listening by thi

s, therefore you have no right

cting on it. 'Don't you go and let that man escape,' says his worship to me: 'it'll be at

ous lock-up for a whole week. One night there was bad enough. At least, I did not thin

be to ask the coroner, old Jones," said I, t

after me. "His worship jumped into his gig; it was a-waiting for h

ee, none of us liked to interfere with the edict of an official gentleman who held

irst to lock my house up, and to see to

nes. "You might be for destroying your stock o' pills fo

stroy," said Abel. "They would bear testimony for

lded foot, dressing it with some of his own ointment. Then he secured some bread and butter, not knowing what the accommodation at the lock-up might be

in it than Piefinch Lane now has; but since then Piefinch Cut had been built upon and inhabited; houses touching even the sacred walls of the lock-up. A tape-and-cotton and swee

imself learned in the law. Anyway, he was a great talker, and liked to give his opinion upon every topic that might turn up. His shop joined Dovey's forge: and when we arrived there, Figg was outside, holdin

y been and gone and took up

more to Dovey than Figg, for Figg was no favourite of mi

er Johnny?" cried Dovey, unfolding his grimy

djourned for a week; and I don't believe old Jones ha

turned, Ann?' says I to her when her come back-for I'd a sight o' work in to-day and couldn't go myself. '

tring, and then fumbling at the latch, old Jones succeeded in opening the door. Not being much used, the lock

as 'twere his pills what don

think it was his pills. Abel Crew says he never

complaisance was not to be put down by any amount of discouragement. "I were just a-saying so to D

e coroner's orders fo

be shut up till some charge is brought again' him," contended Fig

ight. And a week's not much; it'll soon pass. But as to any pills of Abel

ard Gibbon?" demanded Ann Dovey, a hot flus

be found out," returned G

," said Ann Dovey. And the tone was again so excited, so bitterly resentful against Dobbs and Perkins, that I could not

d for trial; but that's a different thing. If the matter could be sifted to the bottom, I kn

eyes-for all the world as if she were afraid of

me to Crew?" I pointedly asked her; and Figg turned

r; or perhaps with fear, for she trembled like an aspen leaf. "I don't want to bring it

hisked through the

an a closet, at the end of the passage, where they kept the pen and ink. For that small space had a window in it, looking on to the fields at the back; the two rooms

een lively here

e. "I did not really mind it; I am used to be a

there r

I don't like rats. They came u

for them? He considers this place

for any trap to ca

nd there was to enter the cost of the bread in the account-book, to be settled for later. A prisoner in the lock-up was common

butter and the milk he was carrying. "Abel Crew have been known as a decent man ever since he come among us: and if he

you do not get into the wrong box about him. There's neither

I caught prowling in the grounds at Parrifer Hall, with a whole set of house-breaking things concealed in his pockets! After I'd took him, and lodged him in here safe, it was found that

ifferent case

give me a nod or two, looking at Crew as he give it. I knew w

had gone off to enter the loaf in the account-bo

me of them to have

ed at the inquest were none of mine. They never went out of my hands. Old Jones thinks he is doing right to secure me, I

not attempt to escape; you would wait

ruth to say, Master Johnny, my curiosity is excited. Hester Reed is so persistent in regard to their being the pills and box that

itted to take your tr

"As to being found guilty-if I am, I must bear it. God knows my in

l, they ought not

s true

n until the assizes-two or three good mont

red, smiling a little. "The conscio

om his pale face. He held his head down in thought, only raising it to answer me. Some movement in the closet betoke

t I have never gathered them. When it comes to people needing poison-and there are some diseases of the human frame that it may be good for-they should go to a qualified medical man, not to a herbalist. No. I ha

prisoner, compared with those he generally had in the lock-up, burglars, tipsy men, and the like, returning him a "thank you" ins

se pills could they have b

it as any one else-Master Ludlow here knows I am. I dare say it

oroner about your pill-boxes

ed; all of them. The

oxes you've got at hom

h lot of pill-boxes the first thing I do,

where the boxes are to be found, and I'll go and secure 'em, and lay 'em

w handed over his key. Jones looked s

he pison could ha' got into them there pills," said he slo

Several individuals had come running up; not to speak of children from the gutters. Dovey stood gazing in front of his forge; Figg, who liked to be lounging about outside when he had

y?" asked Figg, noddi

an he do other days," replied old Jone

odd?" ask

e pills. Crew says he has never had no piso

my word that it is t

herbs he'd leave alone, and some he dug up. Reed spied out a fine-looking plant, and called to him. Up comes Crew, trowel in hand, bends down to take a look, and then gives his head a shake. 'That won't do for me,' s

out what?" as

e some mull o' the box Abel give her and got it changed. But he don't believe as 'twere the pills at all.

, her face screwed round the doorpost, listening: and there was a great fear on it. Seeing me look

an she will say! And it is frighte

what he had done, or whether he received a mandate from the coroner by the early post, no one knew. Certain it was, that before nine o'clock old Jones held the lock-up doors open, and Abel Crew

the instep. On the Saturday old Jones had made a descent upon the cottage and clear

he was turning in at his gate. "Now in the lock-up, and now out of it! It m

e rats, sir," replied Abel. "I could see

a favourable moment, and extracted from him another week's holiday. Opinions were divided: some believed in Crew, others in the poisoned pills. As to Crew himself, h

at the behaviour of Ann Dovey puzzled me. Upon that, Duffham said that it was puzzling him. He had been called in to her the previous day, and found her in a regular fever, eyes anxious, breath hysterical, face hectic. Since th

ption. Dovey came bursting in upon us straight from his forge; his black hair ruffled, his small dark face hot with flurry. It was a singular tale he ha

as another thing he did dislike-hated in fact; and that was the stuff called beetle-powder: which professed to kill them. Mrs. Dovey would have scattered some on the floor every night; but Dovey would not allow it. He forbid her to bring a grain of it into the house: it was no

e letters as the printer could get into the space-she thrust it into the depths of her gown-pocket-it was her holiday gown-and set off home again. Calling in at George Reed's cottage on her way, she there assisted, as it also chanced, in administering the pills to the unfortunate children. And perhaps her motive for calling in was not so much from a love of presiding at physic-giving, as that she might be able, when she got home, to say "At Reed's," if her husband asked her where she had been. It fell out as she thought. No sooner had she put foot inside the forge than Dovey began, "Where'st been, Ann?" and she told him at

e evidence, was in and out of her room like a dog in a fair; and she went off perforce with the stuff in her pocket. And when during her examination the questions took the turn they did take, and the coroner asked her whether she had had any poison in her pocket that night at George Reed's; this, with the consciousness of what had been that night in her pocket, of what was in her pocket at that very moment, then pre

t in, now that he knew it, than he could have given up all righteous dealing together. His chief concern was to tell the truth, and to res

dratted powder could have come anigh the babies," wound up Dovey. "I should be

speech, Duffham had not taken in one-half of the t

said. "A pocketful of poison! What on ear

er the heads of

chances are that at that time the paper hadn't burst. N

. His face was as eager, his tone as implori

and see her. I'd pay handsome for the visit, sir; anything yo

fham, who had his cur

th set off on th

s thing!" exclaimed Duf

wder have poisoned t

n odd tale altogether. We will

xpected me to go with him. Nothin

Dovey was alone, except for her husband and mother. She flung herself on the sofa when

ics. "I want to come to the bottom of this business; you can't tell it me while you

m was not one to be trifled with; so she to

doors?" was the first question

t. Not a soul have heard it, sir, but me and her"-pointing to the old mother-"and you a

is rather a serious thing, I

raising her heavy eyes quest

e-powder and Crew's pills. As Crew is so careful a man, I don

n out of my pocket, sir?" she asked, her eyes wild. "I neve

ham. "We may put our hands into our pocket

re beetle-powder and cram it down the poor innocents' t

powder?" quest

f, had kept her from meddling with it. When she took the gown off, the night of the inquest, she hung it up on the accustomed hook, and there it

sort of powder, brown and white. He plunged his fingers into it fearlessly, felt it, and smel

e letters through his spectacles. "How came you

w the black-beedles we gets here of a night, sir, you'd be fit

't have that there dangerous stuff brought into th

fe, in a subdued voice-for Dovey in great things was master. "I thought if I j

nd bought it," he retorted; "and come back and telled m

en there, helpin

ed's from the shop-with th

don't believe it had then burst. A-coming hasty out of Reed's back-gate, for I were in a hurry to get home, the pocket swung again' the post, and I think the blue paper must ha' burst then. I never knowed

he elbow of the wooden chair, on which I had perched myself. Duffham recommended Dovey to put the tin dish and its contents away safely, so th

had anything to do with the children's

r do I,

are this at the inquest

erve to complicate matters: and I don't think it's possible it could have been the powder. On the other hand, if it be proved not to ha

ning star was beginning t

ed across the fields to the Manor. "We must watch the turn matters take to-morrow at the inquest. Of course if I

r. Duffham. G

e coroner's gig, as before, he and his clerk seated side by side. All the pari

the sunlight, his pale face calm as marble. The coroner ordered him to sit on a certain chair, and whispered to old Jones. Upo

t, sir?" I whis

-officially this time, as the jury put it-and found to contai

own with a feather. I had been fu

analyzed the pills. He said that they contained arsenic. Not in sufficient quantity to hurt

of the jury. "Am I to understand that these were improper pills

an would prescribe them for certain cases. Not for children:

and turned to see the Squi

tand up for that Crew aga

ther, doubtful. Led to be so, perhaps, by a questio

a growed woman, and she went and gave one of her own accord t

at he was. The coroner reminded them of what Hester Reed had stated in her evidence-that she had asked

live. Dovey stood by her, having made himself spruce for the occasion. Ann would have gone off a mile in some opposite direction, but old Jones's ord

to her side to reassure her, the woman was so evidently miserable. "It was the pills that did

t skeered out o' my life, I a

e all right as far a

I did; it couldn't have been anything el

y. I went back to my standing-place between the Squir

ing the old gentleman go past the gate, and asked whether I might give him one of them there same pills,

ve the pill?" a

give physic to, Gregory is, and

old i

of thr

from which you took out two to give the deceased childre

' the press-shelf in the children's bedroom. Twice a week when I got upon a chair to dust the shelf, I see it there. The

sed, and the coroner told Abel Crew to come near the table. He did as h

have been analyzed and found to contain a certain portion of arsenic-a

ls analyzed were not my pills. The pills I gave to Mrs

eturned the coroner, impatiently. "Mrs. Reed swears that the p

ertheless, sir, I assure you she is mistaken. In some way the pi

er do you suppose they

he had from me. Never a box went out from me, sir, but had my private mark on it-the mark I spoke of. Jones the constable searched my plac

he table by old Jones, some empty, some filled with pills. The coroner a

el. "They are made from herbs that possess healing properties, not irritant; a poisonous herb, whether poisonous in itself, or

I think the words impressed him. He began lift

lls for? All for t

up for different

do you disti

ce of furniture at home, sir, that I call my pill-case. It has various drawers in it, each drawer being labelle

ll his life, than the keeping o' them there pills. He, Mr. Jones, had

oss to me," quietly observe

fession?" cried the coroner-and some of

l cure sometimes where the regular doctor fails. I have myself cured cases with them that the surgeons could not cure; cases that but for me, u

fortune by it?" we

hook h

ake by my medicines, and honey, and that-it is not much-I find uses for in other ways. I indulge i

I am told, Abel Crew. W

of nature's works: God's wonderful hand

s a mistake, for he seemed to be getting the worst of it himself. At any rate, he

hief to the two deceased children, whose bodies they were sitting upon, and that Crew must be committed to take his trial for manslaughter. "Hes

it, sir," respectfully spoke

it," he added to the jury, "that in my opinion tells little. Because a man has put a mark on fifty pill-boxes, h

t all over? Is Abel

r backs against it and were taken unawares, and they were pushed right and left by the struggles of some one to get to the front. The coroner looked daggers; old Jones lifted hi

coroner. "What do you me

Crew," returned Cathy, recovering her breath after the f

d describing. The coroner stared, the jury all turned

"I loved those two dear little ones as if they were my own, and I'd rat

down a pill-box on the green cloth before him, took the room by surprise. As Ann Dovey re

oned the coroner, curt

ther he knows it, sir, before I

size of the other pills, and looking exactly like them. On the

ke Abel, earnestly, bending over the shoulder of the first juryman to

t home at father's, I changed the one pill-box for the other, inadvertent, you see"-with a nod to the cor

, snatched it from him, saying she could not wait for that bother, flung down the money, and departed. This box of pills she had brought with her on her visit to her father's, lest she should find occasion to take one; and she had put it on the shelf of the press, side by side with the other pill-box, to be out of the way of the children. Upon leaving, she

ere I read the inquest, and what Crew had said about the marks he put on his pill-boxes, and mother's evidence about never having shifted the pill-box from its place on the press. 'Sure and I couldn't have changed the boxes,' thought I to myself; and upstairs I ran in a fright to look at the box I had broug

ould be cleared in God's good time," he breathed. The Squire pounced upon him, and

s reprimanded by the coroner for her carel

nd don't go making a spectacle o' th' self again," cried Dovey, sharply, in his wife'

answered; going in for a slight instalment of shivering there and then. "