Free The Affair of the Mutilated Mink by James Anderson Page A

Carruthers, the daughter of a large landowner, with an estate ten miles away. She was as different from Aylwin as chalk from cheese - small, pretty, demure, shy - but he proposed after knowing her a week. And she accepted. However, her parents wouldn't hear of it. For one thing she was only sixteen, and although it would have been a very advantageous match for her, his reputation was just too bad for them.
    'Aylwin, though, wasn't going to let that stand in his way. He asked Mary to run away with him. She agreed, and accompanied by Aylwin's manservant - a fellow called John — they eloped. They were making for Gretna Green in Scotland, to be married over the anvil as the saying went. 'Course, it wasn't long before Mary's parents found out what had happened, and her father and Aylwin's set off in pursuit - though not, I imagine, with much hope of catching them in time.
    'But, by sheer luck, they did run them to earth, at an inn just short of the Scottish border. The youngsters gave way to the inevitable then. Explained that they'd been held up when the carriage had gone into a ditch.
    'Aylwin and Mary were taken home in disgrace. But Mary's parents were so relieved to find that Aylwin had behaved as a perfect gentleman throughout, and her virtue was unblemished, that they didn't take the matter any further and a scandal was avoided.
    'But Aylwin's father had by then taken just about all he could take of his son. He gave Aylwin five thousand guineas and told him to clear off. He never wanted to see him again.
    'Aylwin didn't argue. He took the money and left, again with the faithful John in tow. He spent the next couple of years in London and Paris, until eventually he had just a few pounds left. With most of this he bought two tickets to America. He and John set sail in August, 1842.
    'Now, he succeeded in winning about twenty pounds at cards on the voyage. It was the only money-making skill he had, and it seemed to him that his best course was to try and earn a living at it. After a few weeks in New York, though, he decided that he'd have a better chance of doing this out West.
    Aylwin took to the West like a duck to water. He loved the free and easy atmosphere, the opportunities for adventure and excitement. He was tough, knew how to use his fists, and was a first-rate horseman. As a result, he seems to have got on famously, and for the next six or seven years he roamed far and wide. Exactly how he kept himself all that time I don't know. He certainly made a living as a professional gambler for a spell; but he also went fur trapping, acted with a touring theatrical company, and had a few bouts as a professional prizefighter. He fought Indians, shot a man in a gunfight at Dodge City, and became a close friend of Kit Carson.
    'Then in 1849 came the California gold rush. Aylwin was actually in Sacramento when the first strikes were made and was among the first at the gold diggings. What's more, he made a strike. Not a fabulously rich one, but it made him money enough to live on for at least a couple of years. So, still accompanied by his servant John, he made his way to San Francisco for a holiday.
    'Meanwhile, back here, his father had been in failing health for some time, and had been told by his doctor that he couldn't expect to live for more than another year. He wanted to see his son and patch up their quarrel before it was too late. Now, Aylwin had been writing tolerably frequently to his mother - care of her sister, so that the old man wouldn't hear of it - and consequently she at least knew that he was in San Francisco. So an employee of the family solicitor was sent to try and trace him. After several weeks he at last tracked Aylwin down.
    Aylwin, I imagine, had by then had about enough of the life he'd been leading. He knew his cash wouldn't last indefinitely and then it would be back to the old ways. However, he still had enough left to return home in some style, so his pride wouldn't suffer if he did go back. The