Part 34 (1/2)

CHAPTER x.x.xI.

OLD HUMPHREY'S STRANGE STORY.

IN his usual serene manner--for he very rarely became excited, notwithstanding that his conduct and his absentmindedness had surprised old Humphrey--Mr. Franklin made his way again to the bookstore in the alley.

Old Humphrey welcomed him with--

”Well, I am glad to see you again, my American patron. Did you find the volume interesting?”

”Yes, Father Humphrey, that was an interesting book, and there were some very curious comments in it. The notes on the Conventicles and the Toleration Act greatly interested me. The man who was the compiler of that book of pamphlets seems to have been a poet, and to have had relatives who were advocates of justice. I was struck by many wise comments that I found in it written in a peculiar hand. Father Humphrey, who do you suppose made those notes? Where did you find those pamphlets?

How did they come to you?”

”Well, that would be hard to say. Those volumes of pamphlets have been in the store many years, and I have often tried to find a purchaser for them. They must have come down from the times of the Restoration. I wouldn't wonder if they were as old as Cromwell's day. There is much about Banbury in them, and old Lord Halifax.”

”Old Lord Halifax!” said Franklin in surprise, walking about with a far-away look in his face again and his hands behind him. ”I did not find that name in the volume that I took home. I had an uncle who received favors from old Lord Halifax.”

”You did, hey? Where did he live?”

”In Ecton, or in Nottingham.”

”Now, that is curious. It may be that he made the library of pamphlets.”

”No, no; if he had, he would never have sold them. He was a well-to-do man. But you have not answered my questions as to how the library of pamphlets came to you.”

”I can't. I found them here when I took charge of the store. My wife's father, as I said, used to keep the store. He died suddenly in old age, and left the store to my wife. He had made a better living than I out of my business. So I took the store. I found the books here. I do not know where my father-in-law obtained them. It was his business to buy rare books, and then find a way to some antiquarian of means who might want them. The owner's name was not left in these books. I have looked for it many times. But there are names of Nottingham people there, and when old Lord Halifax used to visit London I tried to interest him in them, but he did not care to buy them.”

”Father Humphrey, what was your wife's father's name?”

”His name was Axel, sir. He was a good man, sir. He attended the conventicles, sir, and became a Brownite, sir, and----”

Was the American gentleman going daft again?

He stopped at the name of _Axel_, and lifted his brows. He turned around, and bowed over with a look of intense interest.

”Did you say Axel, Father Humphrey?”

”Axel, your honor. Axel. I once heard him say that several of these pamphlets were suppressed after the Restoration, and that they were rare and valuable. I heard him say that they would be useful to a historian, sir.”

”I will pay you for the books, and you may hold them in trust for me.

They will be sent for some day, or it may be that I will call for them myself. My uncle owned those books. It would have been the dearest thing of his life could the old man have seen what has now happened. Father Humphrey, one's heart's desires bring about strange things. They shape events after a man is dead. It seems to me as though I had been directed here. Father Humphrey, what do you think of such things?”

”Well, I don't know. From the time that I first saw you my mind was turned to the pamphlets. I don't know why. Perhaps the owner's thought, or desires, or prayers led me. It is all very strange.”

”Yes, it is very strange,” said Franklin, again walking to and fro with his hands behind him. ”I wish that all good men's works could be fulfilled in this way.”

”How do you know that they are not?”