CHAPTER XXXII.
THE CONSPIRATORS’ FATE.
A few weeks after the trial of Gunwagner for false imprisonment he was again brought before the bar of justice to answer with Felix Mortimer to the charge of conspiring to kidnap Herbert Randolph. Able counsel were employed by the old villain, and a hard fight was made for liberty. But the charges were so well sustained by the evidence of Herbert and Bob, and that of the small boy who aided the latter in gaining admittance to the fence’s den, that the jury brought in a verdict of guilty.
Gunwagner was, accordingly, sentenced to serve a long term of imprisonment at Sing Sing as a penalty for his villainous acts. He had accumulated much money by crooked means, and now towards the end of his life his own freedom was the price paid for the gold which now was valueless to him.
Then came Felix Mortimer’s turn. But for him Herbert Randolph would never have fallen into the trouble that seemed to await him on his arrival in New York. Young Mortimer, however, overreached himself. He was not a match for Herbert Randolph and Bob Hunter together—neither he nor all of his disreputable cronies.
His plans miscarried wofully, and now, after many long weary days of confinement in the Tombs, he found himself sentenced to the House of Correction for nearly four years, or until he reached the age of his majority.
Felix Mortimer was splendidly endowed by nature for a brilliant man. He had great ability, and was unusually bright and prepossessing. But unfortunately for him, and for the community in which he lived, he commenced life in the wrong way. He failed to recognize the fact that no true success can be attained except by operating on the solid principles of truth and honesty. His envy of Herbert Randolph had at last brought him disgrace and humiliation, while the young Vermonter now had a well paying and fast growing business of his own. How bitterly he must have regretted his own foolish and evil acts, when he realized fully to what they had brought him!
