The small party which assembled that evening at the table of the worthy paterfamilias did not certainly look like one over which hung the shadow of “transportation.” The talk was of “Tubs” and Harriers, of tennis and “Sociables,” of Virgil and Euclid; and as the first shyness of their introduction wore off, the “Firm” settled down to as jovial an evening as they had spent for a long time.
Only once did the shadow of their “row” return, when Mr Richardson, at eight o’clock, said:—
“Now, boys, good-night. I have a solicitor coming here directly.”
“About the trial, father?” asked Dick, with falling countenance.
“Yes, my boy. As the case comes on to-morrow, there is no time to be lost.”
There certainly was not; and Mr Richardson, before he went to bed that night had not only seen a good many persons, but had materially lightened his pockets.
Buying off the law, even in the most straightforward way, is an expensive luxury. The prosecutors, of Tom White, seeing that their victim had an unexpected backer, became very righteous and high-principled indeed. They could not think of withdrawing the case. It was a public duty—painful, of course, but not to be shirked. It pained them very much to bring trouble on any one, particularly an old shipmate; but they owed it to society to see he got his deserts.
They were, of course, wholly unaware of Mr Richardson’s special interest in the matter. Otherwise, they might have been even more virtuous and high-principled than they were. They looked upon him as a benevolent individual, bent on getting the half-witted vagabond out of trouble, and, as such, they knew quite enough of fishing to see that he was in their net.
Their own solicitor, too, knew something about this sort of fishing, and the unfortunate father spent a very unhappy morning floundering about in the net these gentlemen provided for him—extremely doubtful whether, after all, he would not be obliged publicly to incriminate his son, in order to solve the difficulty.
However, by dint of great exertion, he contrived to get the case adjourned for three days more. The prosecutors were, of course, shocked to see the course of the law delayed for even this length of time. It meant expense to them, as well as inconvenience. Of course Mr Richardson had to act up to this broad hint, and promising, further, not to make any attempt to bail their prisoner, he obtained their reluctant consent to a postponement till Wednesday, greatly to the disgust, among other persons, of Duffield and Raggles, who, mindful of their pleasant morning last Saturday, had come down with another five-pennyworth of chocolate creams, to watch the case again.