The Experiences of a Barrister, and Confessions of an Attorney | Page 3

the villain,
who had been baffled in his original intentions. He recollected that he
had seen a trunk in Harvey's room, and that the keys hung in the lock.
An inconceivably short space of time served for him to seize the watch,
to deposit it at the bottom of Harvey's trunk, and to quit the hotel by a
back stair, which led by a short cut to the harbor. The whole transaction
was done unperceived, and the wretch at least departed unnoticed.
Having finished his business at the bar, Mr. Harvey repaired to his
room, locked his trunk, which, being of a small and handy size, he
mounted on his shoulder, and proceeded to leave the house by the back
stair, in order to get as quickly as possible to the vessel. Little recked he
of the interruption which was to be presented to his departure. He had
got as far as the foot of the stair with his burden, when he was
overtaken by a waiter, who declared that he was going to leave the
house clandestinely without settling accounts. It is proper to mention
that Mr. Harvey had incurred the enmity of this particular waiter in
consequence of having, out of his slender resources, given him too
small a gratuity on the occasion of paying a former bill, and not aware
of the second bill being settled, the waiter was rather glad to have an
opportunity of charging him with a fraudulent design. In vain Mr.
Harvey remonstrated, saying he had paid for every thing. The waiter
would not believe his statement, and detained him "till he should hear
better about it."
"Let me go, fellow; I insist upon it," said Mr. Harvey, burning with
indignation. "I am already too late."
"Not a step, till I ask master if accounts are squared."
At this moment, while the altercation was at the hottest, a terrible
ringing of bells was heard, and above stairs was a loud noise of voices,
and of feet running to and fro. A chambermaid came hurriedly down
the stair, exclaiming that some one had stolen a gold watch from No.
17, and that nobody ought to leave the house till it was found. The
landlord also, moved by the hurricane which had been raised, made his
appearance at the spot where Harvey was interrupted in his exit.
"What on earth is all this noise about, John?" inquired the landlord of
the waiter.
"Why, sir, I thought it rather strange for any gentleman to leave the
house by the back way, carrying his own portmanteau, and so I was

making a little breeze about it, fearing he had not paid his bill, when all
of a sudden Sally rushes down the stair and says as how No. 17 has
missed his gold watch, and that no one should quit the hotel."
No. 17, an old, dry-looking military gentlemen, in a particularly high
passion, now showed himself on the scene, uttering terrible threats of
legal proceedings against the house for the loss he had sustained.
Harvey was stupified and indignant, yet he could hardly help smiling at
the pother. "What," said he, "have I to do with all this? I have paid for
everything; I am surely entitled to go away if I like. Remember, that if I
lose my passage to Boston, you shall answer for it."
"I very much regret detaining you, sir," replied the keeper of the hotel;
"but you hear there has been a robbery committed within the last few
minutes, and as it will be proper to search every one in the house,
surely you, who are on the point of departure, will have no objections
to be searched first, and then be at liberty to go?"
There was something so perfectly reasonable in all this, that Harvey
stepped into an adjoining parlor, and threw open his trunk for
inspection, never doubting that his innocence would be immediately
manifest.
The waiter, whose mean rapacity had been the cause of the detention,
acted as examiner. He pulled one article after another out of the trunk,
and at length--horror of horrors!--held up the missing watch with a look
of triumph and scorn!
"Who put that there?" cried Harvey in an agony of mind which can be
better imagined than described. "Who has done me this grievous wrong?
I know nothing as to how the watch came into my trunk."
No one answered this appeal. All present stood for a moment in
gloomy silence.
"Sir," said the landlord to Harvey on recovering from his surprise, "I
am sorry for you. For the sake of a miserable trifle, you have brought
ruin and disgrace on yourself. This is a matter which concerns the
honor of my house, and cannot stop here. However much it is against
my