"We"re cousins, boss."
"Why does he wish to keep you away from your family?" the judge spoke after another brief pause.
"It"s my old woman," and Montgomery favored the judge with a drunken leer. "Suppose I was to go home full, what"s to hinder her from gettin"
things out of me? I"m a talker, drunk or sober, and Andy Gilmore knows it--that"s what he"s afraid of!"
"What have you to tell that could affect Mr. Gilmore? Do you refer to the gambling that is supposed to go on in his rooms? If so, he is at needless pains in the matter; Mr. Moxlow will take up his case as soon as the North trial is out of the way."
Montgomery started, took a forward step, and dropping his voice to an impressive whisper, said:
"Judge, what are you goin" to do with young John North?"
"I shall do nothing with John North; it is the law--society, to which he is accountable," rejoined the judge.
"Will he be sent up, do you reckon?" asked Montgomery, and his small blue eyes searched the judge"s face eagerly.
"If he is convicted, he will either be sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of years or else hanged." The judge spoke without visible feeling.
The effect of his words on the handy-man was singular. A hoa.r.s.e exclamation burst from his lips, and his bloated face became pale and drawn.
"You mustn"t do that, boss!" he cried, spreading out his great hands in protest. "A term of years--how many"s that?"
"In this particular instance it may mean the rest of his life," said the judge.
Montgomery threw up his arms in a gesture of despair.
"Don"t you be too rough on him, boss!" he cried. "For life!" he repeated in a tone of horror. "But that ain"t what Andy and Marsh tell me; they say his friends will see him through, that he"s got the general back of him, and money--how"s that, Judge?"
"They are making sport of your ignorance," said the judge, almost pityingly.
"I"m done with them!" cried Joe Montgomery with a great oath. He raised one clenched hand and brought it down in the opened palm of the other.
"Andy"s everlastingly lied to me; I won"t help send no man up for life!"
"What do you mean?" demanded the judge, astonished at this sudden outburst, and impressed, in spite of himself, by the man"s earnestness.
"Just what I say, boss! They can count me out--I"m agin "em, I"m agin "em every time!" And again, as if to give force to his words, he swung his heavy first around and struck the open palm of his other hand a stinging blow. "Eatin" and sleepin", I"m agin "em! I ain"t liked the look of this from the first, and now I"m down and out, and they can go to h.e.l.l for all of me!"
The judge rested an elbow on the chimneypiece and regarded Montgomery curiously. He knew the man was drunk; he knew that sober he would probably have said much less than he was now saying, but he also knew that there was some powerful feeling back of his words.
"If you are involved in any questionable manner with Mr. Gilmore, I should advise you to think twice before you go further with it. Mr.
Gilmore is shrewd, he has money; you are a poor man and you are an ignorant man. Your reputation is none of the best."
"Thank you, boss!" said Montgomery gratefully.
"Mr. Gilmore probably expects to use you for his own ends regardless of the consequences to you," finished the judge.
"Supposin"--" began the handy-man huskily, "supposin", boss, I was to go into court and swear to something that wasn"t so; what"s that?" and he bent a searching glance on the judge"s face.
"Perjury," said the judge laconically.
"What"s it worth to a man? I reckon it"s like drinkin" and stealin", it"s got so many days and costs chalked up agin it?"
"I think," said the judge quietly, "that you would better tell me what you mean. Ordinarily I should not care to mix in your concerns, but on Nellie"s account--"
"G.o.d take a likin" to you, boss!" cried Montgomery. "I know I ought to have kept out of this. I told Andy Gilmore how it would be, that I hadn"t the brains for it; but he was to stand back of me. And so he will--to give me a kick and a shove when he"s done with me!"
He saw himself caught in that treacherous fabric Gilmore had erected for John North, whose powerful friends would get him clear. Andy and Marsh would go unscathed, too. Only Joe Montgomery would suffer--Joe Montgomery, penniless and friendless, a cur in the gutter for any decent man to kick! He pa.s.sed the back of his hand across his face.
"It"s a h.e.l.l of a world and be d.a.m.ned to it!" he muttered hoa.r.s.ely under his breath.
"You must make it clearer to me than this!" said the judge impatiently.
Montgomery seemed to undergo a brief but intense mental struggle, then he blurted out:
"Boss, I lied when I said it was North I seen come over old man McBride"s shed that night!"
"Do you mean to tell me that you perjured yourself in the North case?"
asked the judge sternly.
"Sure, I lied!" said the handy-man. "But Andy Gilmore was back of that lie; it was him told me what I was to say, and it"s him that kept houndin" me, puttin" me up to say more than I ever agreed to!" He slouched nearer the judge. "Boss, I chuck up the whole business; do you understand? I want to take back all I said; I"m willin" to tell the G.o.d A"mighty"s truth!"
He paused abruptly. In his excitement he had forgotten what the truth meant, what it would mean to the man before him. He was vaguely aware that in abler hands than his own, this knowledge which he possessed would have been molded into a terrible weapon, but he was impotent to use it; with every advantage his, he felt only the desperate pa.s.s in which he had placed himself. If Gilmore and Marshall Langham could juggle with John North"s life, what of his own life when the judge should have become their ally!
"Me and you"ll have to fix up what I got to say, boss!" he added with a cunning grin.
"Do you mean you wish to make a statement to me?" asked the judge.
The handy-man nodded. The judge hesitated.
"Perhaps we would better send for Mr. Moxlow?" he suggested.
But Montgomery shook his head vehemently.
"I got nothin" to say to that man Moxlow!" he growled with sullen determination.
"Very well, then, if you prefer to make your statement to me," and the judge turned to his desk.
"Hold on, boss, we ain"t ready for that just yet!" Joe objected. He was sober enough, by this time.
"What is it you wish to tell me?"
And the judge resumed his former position on the hearth-rug.
"First you got to agree to get me out of this."
"I can agree to nothing," answered the judge quietly.
"I ain"t smart, boss, but Joe Montgomery"s old hide means a whole lot to Joe Montgomery! You give me your word that I"ll be safe, no matter what happens!"