Part 49 (1/2)
The sheriff was looking uneasily at his watch. ”Come,” he said, ”we'll have to hurry to catch the train.”
The good woman bent down and kissed the boy tenderly. ”Good-by to ye, darlin',” she said, ”an' the saints protict ye.” Then she burst into tears, and, throwing her ap.r.o.n up before her face, she held it against her eyes and went, backward, into the house.
Ralph laid hold of Bachelor Billy's rough hand affectionately, and they walked rapidly away.
At the bend in the street, the boy turned to look back for the last time upon the cottage which had been his home. A happy home it had been to him, a very happy home indeed. He never knew before how dear the old place was to him. The brow of the hill which they were now descending hid the house at last from sight, and, with tear-blinded eyes, Ralph turned his face again toward the city, toward the misery of the court-room, toward the desolate and dreadful prospect of a life with Simon Craft.
CHAPTER XIX.
BACK TO THE BREAKER.
It was a dull day in the court-room at Wilkesbarre. The jury trials had all been disposed of, and for the last hour or more the court had been listening to an argument on a rule for a new trial in an ejectment case. It was a very uninteresting matter. Every one had left the court-room with the exception of the court officers, a few lawyers, and a half-dozen spectators who seemed to be there for the purpose of resting on the benches rather than with any desire to hear the proceedings before the court.
The lawyers on both sides had concluded their arguments, and the judge was bundling together the papers in the case and trying to encircle the bulky package with a heavy rubber band.
Then the court-room door was opened, and the sheriff came down the aisle, accompanied by Ralph and Bachelor Billy. A moment later, Simon Craft followed them to the bar. Sharpman, who was sitting inside the railing by a table, looked up with disgust plainly marked on his face as the old man entered and sat down beside him.
He had prepared the pet.i.tion for a writ of _habeas corpus_, at Craft's request, and had agreed to appear in his behalf when the writ should be returned. He shared, in some small degree, the old man's desire for revenge on those who had been instrumental in destroying their scheme.
But, as the day wore on, the matter took on a slightly different aspect in his mind. In the first place, he doubted whether the court would order Ralph to be returned into Craft's custody. In the next place, he had no love for his client. He had been using him simply as a tool; it was time now to cast him aside since he could be of no further benefit to him. Besides, the old man had come to be annoying and repulsive, and he had no money to pay for legal services. Then, there was still an opportunity to recover some of the personal prestige he had lost in his bitter advocacy of Craft's cause before the jury. In short, he had deliberately resolved to desert his client at the first opportunity.
The sheriff endorsed his return on the writ and filed it.
The judge looked at the papers, and then he called Bachelor Billy before him. ”I see,” he said, ”that you have produced the body of the boy Ralph as you were directed to do. Have you a lawyer?”
”I ha' none,” answered the man. ”I did na ken as I needit ony.”
”We do not think you do, either, as we understand the case. The prothonotary will endorse a simple return on the writ, setting forth the production of the boy, and you may sign it. We think that is all that will be necessary on your part. Now you may be seated.”
The judge turned to Sharpman.
”Well, Mr. Sharpman,” he said, ”what have you to offer on the part of your client?”
Sharpman arose. ”If the court please,” he responded, ”I would respectfully ask to be allowed, at this juncture, to withdraw from the case. I prepared and presented the pet.i.tion as a matter of duty to a client. I do not conceive it to be my duty to render any further a.s.sistance. That client, either through ignorance or deception, has been the means of placing me in a false and unenviable light before the court and before this community, in the suit which has just closed. I have neither the desire nor the opportunity to set myself right in that matter, but I do wish and I have fully determined to wash my hands of the whole affair. From this time forth I shall have nothing to do with it.”
Sharpman resumed his seat, while Craft stared at him in astonishment and with growing anger.
He could hardly believe that the man who had led him into this scheme, and whose unpardonable blunder had brought disaster on them both, was now not only deserting him, but heaping ignominy on his head. Every moment was adding to his bitterness and rage.
”Well, Mr. Craft,” said the judge, ”what have you to offer in this matter? Your attorney seems to have left you to handle the case for yourself; we will hear you.”
”My attorney is a rascal,” said Craft, white with pa.s.sion, as he arose. ”His part and presence in that trial was a curse on it from the beginning. He wasn't satisfied to ruin me, but he must now seek to disgrace me as well. He is--”
The judge interrupted him:--
”We do not care to hear your opinion of Mr. Sharpman; we have neither the time nor the disposition to listen to it. You caused this defendant to produce before us the body of the boy Ralph. They are both here; what further do you desire?”
”I desire to take the boy home with me. The judgment of this court is that he is my grandson. In the absence of other persons legally ent.i.tled to take charge of him, I claim that right. I ask the court to order him into my custody.”