MR. PERKINS

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 156, 3 July 1888, Page 6

MR. PERKINS

Of Mew Jersey, OH, THE STOLEN BONDS.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Ethel was standing at the window looking out at the pleasant view. She turned eagerly as they entered. > ' Where is papa V she asked, looking dis appointed. ' Here is the doctor, my darling, who will tell you all about him,' said Jeffreys, tenderly. Ethel drew back with an indignant look. • 1 want my father,' said she. ' He—this man—said he was here.' • So he is,' said the doctor. ' We will go and look for him.' ' Is he better ?' 'Much better.' * Does he know I'm'coming ?' ' I've sent for him. Ethel turned to the window to look out. 'Come, Mrs Hawley,* said the doctor, wishing to get her out of the room. 'Nelly, the doctor speaks to you/said Jeffreys. Ethel continued anxiously looking. 'My darling wife! be reasonable and come.' She turned angrily. 'How dare you speak to me so ?' 'This man is nothing to me,' said she, speaking to the doctor. 'Heis a wicked man and has treated me cruelly, stealingmeaway from my friends and shutting me up. But "f will tell papa when I see him. He shall is ow it all. And what a false friend you h .ye been !' Jeffreys made no answer, but wiped his ' Well, if you won't acknowledge to being my wife, you will surely admit that you are Ellen Doyle,' he said, at last. Ethel made no reply, but turned once more to the window.

' Will you kindly tell me your name, madam ?' said the doctor. 'Ethel Dorset,' she answered, with a quiet dignity that staggered him. 'Then, Miss Dorset, please accompany me, and I will try and find your father.' ■' With great pleasure, sir,' said Ethel, and joyfully followed him through a spacious hall down a wide cross hall into which two broad flights of stairway ran. Ethel looked about her in admiration ; ib was, indeed, the finest building she had ever seen. This was really the convalescent hall, where the more sane patients stayed. One side was given up to the males, and the other to the females, and the two stairways came from the two sides; but all had access to the middle hall to go out into the grounds, though they Avere required to go out of different doors at the two ends of the cross halls. All of these arrangements were lost on Ethel; she saw ladies and gentlemen going up and down the stairways, and going and returning to the pleasure grounds, to all of whom Dr. Felder smilingly bowed, and she saw nothing strange in their deportment. Leaving the convalcscenb hall, the party crossed a'sniallcourtway and passed through the gate that led into the yard that enclosed the smaller building. The wing was separated from the mam building a distance of fifty or sixty feet and had been built -later, as had also the one on the left, as the needs of the asylum required. These wings were used for the worst class of patients, the extreme upper corner of each being devoted to the violent and dangerous ones. In the courtyard of the wing they were met by a nice-looking gentleman whom Dr. Felder introduced as h_3 friend, Dr. Parker. He was, in fact, the physician of that ward and bade a nurse, whom Ethel mistook for a servant, to call Mrs Maxey. * Dr. Parker, Miss Doyle is ' ■ Dorset is my name,' corrected Ethel. 'Beg pardon—Miss Dorset—is looking for her father,' continued Dr Feldor. • Have you seen him here V Ethel asked, eagerly. . 'T am not acquainted with him,' said Dr. Parker, blandly. Here a smiling, middle-aged, motherlylooking woman came hurrying up, and Dr. Felder introefctced her as Mrs Maxey. ' She is our housekeerjor,' he explained, 'and while you are at the Springs, Miss Doyle—pardon - Dorset—l want her to take care of you.' _ ' Thanl' you,' said Ethel, ' but my father is here, so I won't trouble you.' •■True,' said the doctor, ' but it is well to have a female friend in a place like this.' ' You are vory kind,' said the girl grate-

'Go with Mrs Maxey, Miss Dorset, and 1 will send a servant to call your father, and send him to you at Mrs Maxey's parlour.' • Please send him at once,' said the girl. While she was talking to Dr. Felder, she saw Jeffreys conversing eagerly with Dr. Parker and Mrs Maxey. He talked very rapidly and they kept up a succession of nods of assent. Then the housekeeper came to her and said: . ■ «Come with me this way, my dear. Ethel followed her to tho parlour and took her seat by the window, waiting and looking anxiously for her father, but he did not Come. Mrs Maxey went off and left her by the window. Tired of waiting, she stood on the piazza on which the window opened, but still he came not. A pleasant-faced maid servant dusted the furniture of the room as Ethel sat there. When she went into the porch the woman began re-arranging the drapery of the curtain, and when she walked out into the yard and up to the wire fence with its barbed top, the woman sauntered after 'Where is Mrs Maxey?' Ethel asked 'Gone to attend to something.^ She'll be back soon,' said the woman smiling. ' Dr. Fielder promised to send a servant to call my father,' said the girl anxiously. »Well, he did, but it seemß he has gone out riding,' said the servant. Presently Jeffreys came sauntering by on the other side of the fence. ' Ethel, have you seen your father ?' he asked, with an ugly smile. 'No,' said the girl, 'he hasn.t come yet. Where "is he ?' Jeffreys shrugged his shoulders; • Is he out there ?' #*« I can't say.' ■, ot i I'll go and hunt for him myself. She tried to open the gate, but it was fastehed. 'Open it,' said'she. 'I wish to pass through.' '• It is iocked.' «Locked ? That is Strange ! Do they lock gates at the Springs ?' «Certainly not. But this place is no 'W^ab is I. then?' she asked with a Bnddeh misgiving. 'A lunatic asylum. And you will stay here, my dear, till you acknowledge you are mv wife !' ' . ■ The girl's hands grasped the iron bars of the gate and clung to them for Support, while her wildly-dilating eyes gazed on Jeffreys!. * An asylum .'.she gasped; . •A hi'nacio asylumf he repeated in a harsh voice. * And here you stay till you agree to do as I bid you.' ' My father —■' ' That was but , ruse to get you here.

The look of horror, repulsion, aversion, that swept over her face told Jeffreys that he had made a blunder arid gone too far. * And here you .shall stay,' he repeated savagely,' (bill you agreo to obey me.' • Tbaß I never will f eaid she, rallying.

'Then you live and die he»- e.' Just then a frightful scream was uttered behind her. Startled, terrified, Ethel turned and saw a wild face with unkempt locks pressed against the bars of an upper window, while a torrent of oaths and yells poured from its mouth followed by hideous laughter. 'Oh !' cried the girl, holding her hands tight over her ears. 'Oh ! how awful! Oh ! how could you treat me so ?' she looked reproachfully at Jeffreys as she shook and gasped with fright and horror. And a pang of shame passed over him to torture a creature so innocent and gentle. The demoniacal laugh died away and the screan_s arose once more. Then a bedlamite in the next cell joined in and they tried to rival each other in their yells and bursts of demoniacal mirth. Jeffreys himself shivered as he heard them. He tried to get through the fate to come to her, but it was locked. Ethel, divining his intentions, turned and fled from him. She ran toward some people advancing toward her, then halted abruptly. 'Oh !' cried she, ' are these all crazy too? Oh ! what shall Ido ? Oh ! Lord help me ! Here the nurse, who had drawn off to allow husband and wife to converse undisturbed, ran up to find her white and quivering. . . , ' Oh !' gasped the girl, shivering, shrinking from her. ' Are you crazy .' 'No, no,' said the nurse, kindly. l.m not crazy. I'm a nurse. Come with me. i Don't be frightened. Lean on me. ' Oh!' cried Ethel, clinging to her, and bursting into tears. 'Oh ! I'm so frightened ! Don't let them get me ! 'They shan't. They shan't. Come with me.' She led her charge back toward Mrs Maxoy's parlour and out of sight of the l-inatics. . Ethel sank upon the steps ; she could go no further, she sat there clinging to the nurse, and weeping bitterly. • There ! there !' said the nurse, holding her in her arms, and soothing her as if she were a child. ' There, there ; calm yourself, dear.' 'Oh !' sobbed tho girl. 'It was such a shock ! I thought theie were Springs and I would see papa—and it is a lunatic asylum he has beguiled me into !' ' Well, well, try and not think about it, Said the nurse. . ' But I am not crazy !' cried Ethel, indignantly. ' Very well. When the doctors find out they will let you out.' ' Will they ?' ' Certainly. Why should they keep you here '!' ' Well, I'll go and tell them,' said Ethel, wiping her eyes. 'My dear,' said the sympathetic nurse,, ' telling ain't all. You'll have to pro\ ci a by your actions. Plenty of them ka s straight as you do and are as crazy as cat be,' ' How is that possible ?' ' Most of 'em, Miss, are only crazy on one particular point; off of that they are as sane as anybody, and you would not suspect it, unless you happened to get'on their weakness.' ' But those dreadful ones !' and Ethel shuddered. ' Oh! them's bedlamites. But there ain't many of them, and they are shut up tight and fast to keep them from tearing people to pieces, or themselves, for that matter.' ' How awful!' Ethel shuddered again. 'Yes, Miss,' said the nurse, who was watching her closely while she talked, and thought how sane she looked. ' Yes, Miss, 'tis a dreadful thing to lose one's mind.' ' Tell me, dear nurse ' 'My name is Polly,' interrupted the nurse. 'Is it . Well, tell me dear, good Polly, how am I to get out of here, and away from that wicked man.' ' Oh, he doesn't stay here,' said the nurse; ' he'll soon go away.' ' Will he ? Then that is one good thing. But what must I do V ' Try and behave quite rational. so that the doctors will see you are quite sane,' said the nurse, rather nonplussed, for she was ignorant of the new patient's supposed mania.

CHAPTER XXIV,

Here Mrs Maxey came up. ' Well,' said she, smilingly, ' have you and Polly made friends ?' ' Yes, indeed, and she is just as good and kind as she can be,' said Ethel, looking gratefully on her new attendant. ' But, Mrs Maxey,' she continued earnestly, ' I find that this _9 an asylum, and I am not crazy.' ' Of course not,' said Mrs Maxey. ' Then won't you have me turned out?' • Just as soon as you cau prove that to the doctors, Miss Doyle.' ' My name is Ethel Dorset,' said the new patient. ' Well, Miss Dorset, speak and act so as to convince the doctor of your sanity.' ' What shall I say and do'?' asked the puzzled girl. «First answer to your real name, Ellon Doyle.' . . 'Bub it's not my name,' said tho girl in mild surprise. ' I never heard it before. j You've all got me mixed with someone else.' The matron gefttly shook her head. ' Your real name is Mrs Hawley.' ' Mrs Hawley !' cried Ethel, in openeyed amazement. ' What are you talking about?' ' Hawley is your husband's name.' 'I have no husband, I never heard of that name before,' and Ethel burst into girlish laughter. 'You are surely confounding me with someone else.' ' Hawley is the name of the gentleman who brought you here.' ' His name is not Hawley. His name is Jeffreys.' "that is his given name,' said the matron. ' Jeffrey Hawley is his name.' ' Horace Jeffreys is his name,' persisted the girl. The matron waved that point. 'You Will at least admit' that he is your husband?' 'No !' cried the girl indignantly, ' I will not! He's nothing to me. 1 hate and detest him ! Listen ! He broke info' our house and choked poor Sarah and muffled me,' and she proceeded to give the matron a full account of the whole affair. The matron listened attentively. 'Poor thing, how she raves!' she thought. *I suppose the husband did have to shut her up.' 'That was dreadful,' she said aloud. ~,.■• 4 Yes, indeed, and now won't you let me out ?' «Not just yet, dear. Not till the doctor sees more of you.' ' Oh !' cried Ethel; wringing her haftds. • Oh, indeed, indeed, lam not crazy !—Oh! if Alex could only find me ! Write to Alex —Let me write to him—wqn t you ?' 'Certainly. Who is Alex?' . ' Mr. Marlow —the gentleman who took care of me—papa's friend and—and—my lover. 'Wewere to be married wheneve we found papa;' 'Ah 1 Indeed ! She's started off now, thought the matron; • Wasn't it queer ? he lost his mother arid : I my father, and we looked and looked up arid down ; we looked and could not find them. That is how Horace Jeffreys got me here to look for my father; he said this was the Alburn Springs! But as^ this is an t asylum of course he is not here.' i 'My dear,' said the matron, pitifully, ' don't fret about your father; he is dead.' «Oh, no! Ohj no! don't say that!' cried Ethel, bursting into tears and sobbing bitterly. ' He's not dead, he is alive; i I know he is alive—l feel it way down in my heart. He's only wandered off. Oh I I papa ! papa ! Come back to your girl— I your poor little* girl—who heeds you so . much—so much!'

The matron and nurse looked at her sorrowfully; inured as they were to such scenes, they were touched by her genuine grief and distress. ' There ! There !' said the nurse, resorting to her usaal formula to soothe _ J. wouldn't fret. It will all turn out right. Soothed at last, not so much by her words as by her sympathetic manner, Ethel dried her eyes, and returned to the matron s parlour. . , ' May I write a letter ?' she asked. 'Certainly, m> dear,' said the matron. 'As many as you choose. I will lend you my portfolio until your things come. ' They won't come,'said the girl, 'tor 1 m going to leave just as soon as the letter is received.' . , , 'Very likely,' thought the matron, but she handed up the portfolio all the same and Ethel began to write. She first thought of telling her whole story, but found that would take too much time and paper, besides she was too nervous to write coherently, so she contented herself with a short note. ' I'll tell him everything when we meet,' she thought, as she wrote: ' Dearest ALEX.-Horacc J effreyskas hidden me in the lunatic asylum. Please come and get me out. He told me papa was here and so beguiled me in. Come at once to your loying ' What is the name of this asylum V she asked the nurse. . 'Hopedale private asylum, saia the nurse. So she added: 'This asylum is the Hopedale Private isylum, Alburn. Come, love, come at once. il/MEL. ' Poor fellow! he'll be so frightened when he hears I'm shut up among the lunatics,' she thought. 'What can I do to comfort him . So she wrote : 'P.S. 2d—l send you theso three kisses.— P.S. 3d.—The O's are where I kissed the place.' This she faithfully did with tender gravity, folded the sheet in an envelope, sealed and directed it to Marlow, and handed it to the nurse. ' Post this, please, dear Polly,' she said. The nurse took it. ' The sweet innocent !' she thought, and carried the note to the matron. Mrs Maxey immediately opened and read it, then shook her head. ' Poor soul! as daft as she can be !' Then she took it to Dr. Parker. ' This may give you some clue to the new patient's mania.' Dr. Parker read it. ' I don't clearly understand it,' he said, and took it to Dr. Felder, who chanced at that timo to bo talking to Horace Jeffreys. Dr. Felder read it, and then turned to the supposed husband. ' Your presence is very opportune, Mr Hawley,' he said ; ' perhaps you can throw some light on this matter.' Then Jeffreys took the poor little note and read it, and a black wave of jealous rage swept over him. But he drew his face down into a look of deep sadness, and said : ' This.is but another proof of what I told you. That infernal book—please excuse the language, but my feelings overcome mo—that unfortunate book has taken complete possession of her, my poor wife's mind. This Alex Marlow is a iictitious character, I think the hero of the book, as Ethel Dorset is the heroine. It is this grotesqueness of her affliction that makes it so hard to bear. Her delusion about her father I cair sympathise with, coming as it does from the shock of his death. But this other—' he broke off, overcome by his emotions. ' Certainly. We see,' said the physicians. (To be Continued.)