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_ Chapter VII - In which Mr. Booth meets with more than one adventure.
Booth, having hunted for about two hours, at last saw a young lady in
a tattered silk gown stepping out of a shop in Monmouth--street into a
hackney-coach. This lady, notwithstanding the disguise of her dress,
he presently discovered to be no other than little Betty.
He instantly gave the alarm of stop thief, stop coach! upon which Mrs.
Betty was immediately stopt in her vehicle, and Booth and his
myrmidons laid hold of her.
The girl no sooner found that she was seised by her master than the
consciousness of her guilt overpowered her; for she was not yet an
experienced offender, and she immediately confessed her crime.
She was then carried before a justice of peace, where she was
searched, and there was found in her possession four shillings and
sixpence in money, besides the silk gown, which was indeed proper
furniture for rag-fair, and scarce worth a single farthing, though the
honest shopkeeper in Monmouth-street had sold it for a crown to the
simple girl.
The girl, being examined by the magistrate, spoke as follows:--
"Indeed, sir, an't please your worship, I am very sorry for what I
have done; and to be sure, an't please your honour, my lord, it must
have been the devil that put me upon it; for to be sure, please your
majesty, I never thought upon such a thing in my whole life before,
any more than I did of my dying-day; but, indeed, sir, an't please
your worship--"
She was running on in this manner when the justice interrupted her,
and desired her to give an account of what she had taken from her
master, and what she had done with it.
"Indeed, an't please your majesty," said she, "I took no more than two
shifts of madam's, and I pawned them for five shillings, which I gave
for the gown that's upon my back; and as for the money in my pocket,
it is every farthing of it my own. I am sure I intended to carry back
the shifts too as soon as ever I could get money to take them out."
The girl having told them where the pawnbroker lived, the justice sent
to him, to produce the shifts, which he presently did; for he expected
that a warrant to search his house would be the consequence of his
refusal.
The shifts being produced, on which the honest pawnbroker had lent
five shillings, appeared plainly to be worth above thirty; indeed,
when new they had cost much more: so that, by their goodness as well
as by their size, it was certain they could not have belonged to the
girl. Booth grew very warm against the pawnbroker. "I hope, sir," said
he to the justice, "there is some punishment for this fellow likewise,
who so plainly appears to have known that these goods were stolen. The
shops of these fellows may indeed be called the fountains of theft;
for it is in reality the encouragement which they meet with from these
receivers of their goods that induces men very often to become
thieves, so that these deserve equal if not severer punishment than
the thieves themselves."
The pawnbroker protested his innocence, and denied the taking in the
shifts. Indeed, in this he spoke truth, for he had slipt into an inner
room, as was always his custom on these occasions, and left a little
boy to do the business; by which means he had carried on the trade of
receiving stolen goods for many years with impunity, and had been
twice acquitted at the Old Bailey, though the juggle appeared upon the
most manifest evidence.
As the justice was going to speak he was interrupted by the girl, who,
falling upon her knees to Booth, with many tears begged his
forgiveness.
"Indeed, Betty," cries Booth, "you do not deserve forgiveness; for you
know very good reasons why you should not have thought of robbing your
mistress, particularly at this time. And what further aggravates your
crime is, that you robbed the best and kindest mistress in the world.
Nay, you are not only guilty of felony, but of a felonious breach of
trust, for you know very well everything your mistress had was
intrusted to your care."
Now it happened, by very great accident, that the justice before whom
the girl was brought understood the law. Turning therefore to Booth,
he said, "Do you say, sir, that this girl was intrusted with the
shifts?"
"Yes, sir," said Booth, "she was intrusted with everything."
"And will you swear that the goods stolen," said the justice, "are
worth forty shillings?"
"No, indeed, sir," answered Booth, "nor that they are worthy thirty
either."
"Then, sir," cries the justice, "the girl cannot be guilty of felony."
"How, sir," said Booth, "is it not a breach of trust? and is not a
breach of trust felony, and the worst felony too?"
"No, sir," answered the justice; "a breach of trust is no crime in our
law, unless it be in a servant; and then the act of parliament
requires the goods taken to be of the value of forty shillings."
"So then a servant," cries Booth, "may rob his master of thirty-nine
shillings whenever he pleases, and he can't be punished."
"If the goods are under his care, he can't," cries the justice.
"I ask your pardon, sir," says Booth. "I do not doubt what you say;
but sure this is a very extraordinary law."
"Perhaps I think so too," said the justice; "but it belongs not to my
office to make or to mend laws. My business is only to execute them.
If therefore the case be as you say, I must discharge the girl."
"I hope, however, you will punish the pawnbroker," cries Booth.
"If the girl is discharged," cries the justice, "so must be the
pawnbroker; for, if the goods are not stolen, he cannot be guilty of
receiving them knowing them to be stolen. And, besides, as to his
offence, to say the truth, I am almost weary of prosecuting it; for
such are the difficulties laid in the way of this prosecution, that it
is almost impossible to convict any one on it. And, to speak my
opinion plainly, such are the laws, and such the method of proceeding,
that one would almost think our laws were rather made for the
protection of rogues than for the punishment of them."
Thus ended this examination: the thief and the receiver went about
their business, and Booth departed in order to go home to his wife.
In his way home Booth was met by a lady in a chair, who, immediately
upon seeing him, stopt her chair, bolted out of it, and, going
directly up to him, said, "So, Mr. Booth, you have kept your word with
me."
The lady was no other than Miss Matthews, and the speech she meant was
of a promise made to her at the masquerade of visiting her within a
day or two; which, whether he ever intended to keep I cannot say, but,
in truth, the several accidents that had since happened to him had so
discomposed his mind that he had absolutely forgot it.
Booth, however, was too sensible and too well-bred to make the excuse
of forgetfulness to a lady; nor could he readily find any other. While
he stood therefore hesitating, and looking not over-wise, Miss
Matthews said, "Well, sir, since by your confusion I see you have some
grace left, I will pardon you on one condition, and that is that you
will sup with me this night. But, if you fail me now, expect all the
revenge of an injured woman." She then bound herself by a most
outrageous oath that she would complain to his wife--" And I am sure,"
says she, "she is so much a woman of honour as to do me justice. And,
though I miscarried in my first attempt, be assured I will take care
of my second."
Booth asked what she meant by her first attempt; to which she answered
that she had already writ his wife an account of his ill-usage of her,
but that she was pleased it had miscarried. She then repeated her
asseveration that she would now do it effectually if he disappointed
her.
This threat she reckoned would most certainly terrify poor Booth; and,
indeed, she was not mistaken; for I believe it would have been
impossible, by any other menace or by any other means, to have brought
him once even to balance in his mind on this question. But by this
threat she prevailed; and Booth promised, upon his word and honour, to
come to her at the hour she appointed. After which she took leave of
him with a squeeze by the hand, and a smiling countenance, and walked
back to her chair.
But, however she might be pleased with having obtained this promise,
Booth was far from being delighted with the thoughts of having given
it. He looked, indeed, upon the consequences of this meeting with
horrour; but as to the consequence which was so apparently intended by
the lady, he resolved against it. At length he came to this
determination, to go according to his appointment, to argue the matter
with the lady, and to convince her, if possible, that, from a regard
to his honour only, he must discontinue her acquaintance. If this
failed to satisfy her, and she still persisted in her threats to
acquaint his wife with the affair, he then resolved, whatever pains it
cost him, to communicate the whole truth himself to Amelia, from whose
goodness he doubted not but to obtain an absolute remission. _
Read next: VOLUME III: BOOK XI: CHAPTER VIII
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