ARTHUR
75

"'Within the appointed time I return. I arrived early in the morning, and prepared to leave again during the day. In the meantime, I called in Keysler's . This was an old acquaintance of Watson and I; and, in the talk, he expressed some surprise that Watson had so hastily left his home. I expressed the need for Watson to leave immediately to the south, and added, that no doubt my brother had explained this need.

"'Why, (said Keysler,) is indeed correct, Captain Watson mentioned his intention to leave the city early the next day; but then he gave me a reason to hope that he would have dinner and stay with me that night, whereas he has not made his decision. In addition, the suitcase was brought to my house. This, no doubt, he intended to take her home, but here it remained silent. It is impossible to rush the departure of the trunk to be forgotten. Therefore, I concluded that he was still in town, and had confused myself during these three days with conjectures about what had happened to him. What surprised me even more was that, while asking among the few friends he had in this city, I found them as stupid as his movements as myself. I am indeed not entirely without concern that an accident or other has befallen him.'

"'I'm not a little worried about this gesture. I went alone, according to Keysler's direction, to Watson's friends, and asked questions anxiously, but none of them had seen my brother since his arrival. I attempted to remember the commission he received.it was designed to execute, and, if possible, to track him to where he last appeared. He had several packages to deliver, one of which was addressed to Walter Thetford. He, after some investigation, I found out, but unfortunately he happened to be in the countryside. I found, by questioning a clerk, who was doing his business transactions when he was not around, that someone, who answered the brief description I gave of Watson, was, had been there the day I parted with him, and had left letters in connection with the arrest of one of the Thetford ships by the British.This is the amount of information he could give me.

"'I then applied to three merchants whose brothers I had letters with. They all acknowledged the receipt of these letters, but they were sent through the post office media.

"'I'm very anxious to reach home. The urgent engagement forced me to continue without delay. I have exhausted all means of inquiry within my reach, and am obliged to agree to the conviction that Watson has returned home at the appointed time. , and left, for forgetting or unintentionally, he said, the suitcase is behind him. While checking the books stored in the stage office, his name did not appear anywhere, and there had been no transportation through the water for the past week. Still, the only guess I can make is that he's home.

"'Until Baltimore, I discovered that Watson had not yet appeared. His wife took out a letter, which, with a postmark, appeared to have been put into office in Philadelphia, the morning after our arrival, and where she had planned to begin her journey. This letter had been written by my brother, in front of me, but I had forbidden him to send it, because the same coach who had to carry the letter had also brought himself. I have seen him put not wrapped up in his pocket book, but this letter, unchanged in any part, and containing the money he originally wanted to put in it, he said, now it has come into the hands of his wife. Baltimore was on the twenty-first, but by that day the letter itself had been put into office.

"'We hope that in a short time it will clear up this mystery, and bring home the fugitive; but, from that day until now, no atoms of intelligence have been received regarding him. The yellow fever, which soon followed, in this city. , and my own engagement, had prevented me, until now, from coming here and continuing the search.

"'There was an English family, who had previously lived in Jamaica, and had very valuable possessions, but who, for several years, had lived in a Baltimore neighborhood. The head of this family died a year ago, and left behind a widow and three daughters. The woman thought that it was feasible to sell her husband's property in Jamaica, an island that every hour became more vulnerable to the possibility of war and revolution, and move him to the United States, he said, where he intends to stay next. Watson had been a friend of her husband's, and, her honesty and disinterest were well known, she entrusted him with the power of law to sell this land. This commission is made on time, and the purchase money has been received. In order to provide as much security as possible, he rolled up four pieces of money, drawn from a fancy London merchant, in a thin sheet of tin, and, keeping these scrolls in leather belts, tied them around his waist, he said, and under his clothes; a second set he gave to me, me and a third was sent to Mr. Keysler, with a ship that sailed a few days earlier. Upon our arrival in this city, we discovered that Keysler had received the letters sent to him, and that had been charged to him to be kept until we arrived. They are now produced, and, along with the ones I brought, sent to Watson. By him they joined those who wore belts, which he still wore, deeming this method of transport safer than others, and, at the same time, imagined it unnecessary, in such a short journey that it remains to be done, to resort to other means.

"'The amount he bears for it is not less than ten thousand pounds sterling. It was an entire family's worthy and extraordinary legacy, and its loss made them beggars. It was lost with Watson, and where Watson had gone was not even possible to guess.

"'You can now easily imagine, sir, the terrible disasters that may be related to the fate of this person, he said, and with the immeasurable anxiety that his family and friends have felt over his disappearance. That he was still alive was almost unbelievable; for in what situation could he be placed where he would be unable and willing to pass on some news of his fate to his family?

"'Our sadness has been compounded by the suspicions Mrs has admitted. Maurice and his friends. They did not mind insinuating that Watson, tempted by such a large gift, had secretly left for England, to get the payment of this bill and save the money for his own use.

"'There is no man more patient with poverty than Watson, but there is no honesty with a stiffer man. He grumbled at a fate that forced him to sacrifice his ease, and risked his life over the ocean for a source of livelihood; and all the possessions that had spent most of his life being gathered had just been snatched from him by the British; but, if he succumbed to this temptation at any time, it would be, that will happen upon receiving this bill in Jamaica. Instead of coming here, it would be much easier and more convenient to head straight to London; but no one who really knows him can, for a moment, harbor suspicion of his truth.

"'If he dies, and if his bill cannot be recovered, but to ensure this, at least, will serve to defend his character. As long as his fate is unknown, his fame will be loaded with the most glaring allegations., and, if these bills are ever paid in London, these charges appear to be justified. If he had been robbed, the robber would have immediately secured the payment, and Maurice's family could not have concluded unreasonably that the robber was Watson himself. ' Many other accounts were added by the stranger, to show the extent of the evil that flowed from his brother's death, and the loss of the letters he carried.