PADDY'S MASTER.

Auckland Star, Volume 198, Issue LVII, 21 August 1926, Page 42

PADDY'S MASTER.

(By E. EVEKETT-GREEX.)

(SHOEX STOBt.)

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'•Sure, I don't know *how to do it, Paddy, and yet it's got to be done!" The lean brown hand was caressing the satin-emooth golden-brown coat; pathetic brown ejfee were gazing into a loved master's face with an anxiety which could not be veiled. Paddy could not read the words of the advertisement in that paper on the table before them, in which a titled lady advertieed for a pedigree dog of the Daschund breed. But Deryk had read it, and he knew from the moment of perusal the thing that he would have to do. it has got to be. I cannot take you with mc; and I cannot live any longer here. Out yonder, they tell mc, I shall have a chance —more than that —a fair certainty of getting along. It's the devil to part with you, Sonny. It sort of cute one's heart in two. But it'e got to be done, and this looks about the right place for you. It'e no use wasting time. Luckily your breed has been at a discount since the war. We may be the first in the field. So come along. Here'e your pedigree, and here's your collar and lead. When one has to have a tooth out, it's no use beating about the bush or waiting. The sooner i the wrench is made the better. But it's j going to hurt us both badly." I Lady Mary Grey was writing in her boudoir, which looked out upon a sunny stretch of garden. The big liouee was only in Chelsea, yet it might have been miles away from the rush and roar of London streets. The door opened, and the butler appeared. i "If you pleaee, my lady, a young man has come witr a dog. He has seen your advertisement and brought it to sbow you. I think he is a gentleman. He i walks like a soldier and 6peaks like one —I mean an officer. One got to know them through those yeare. I put him to wait in the library whilst I fetched i your ladyship. The dog is a beauty. I i t'.iink Mies Olive would fancy him a lot.' j "Quite right, Arthurs. I will come in a few minutas. And when Miss Olive comes in from her ride, which will probably be very coon now, ask her to come j to the library if we are still there." I In the great library of this beautiful house Deryk Clive waited, gazing a ; little wistfully at the rows upon rowe I of books, and holding Paddy on his knee, trying to steel himself to the thought of that parting which he knew he ought to wish very near, yet which would be a bad business to go through with. The door opened and a very lovely lady came in. Deryk rose, holding Paddy tightly under hie arm. He bowed, and i -he did the same, standing still just within the threshold, her eyes fixed upon his face. If Deryk had known her a little bette* lie would have noticed that she was very pale, As it was, he was enI grossed in his own matter of business, ; and began to speak with a little boyish diffidence. 4i l saw your advertisement in the paper, Madam, and I have brought my dog. I am an ex-service man, and I think of emigrating almost at once. I cannot take ! my dog with mc. He ie young enough to take happily Hp/4 new ,; nonie - He not fret long for mc ■ Then he paused, a little perplexed by the look on the lady'e face, by her silence, and by the way in whicl.she kept her eyes fixed upon him without looking at Paddy, whom he held tucked under his arm. "I have his pedigTee with mc, he continued; "I think you will caU it a good one." "Wait a moment," spoke the lady vi a voice that eeemed full of feeling. "I am so struck by an extraordinary likeness. Tell mc, was your father's name —or had you a near relative of the name of—Deryk Clive?" "My father," spoke the young man ; with a light in his eyes—"and it is my name too." . "Then you distinguished youreelf 11 the war? I saw the name of my oldtime comrade and friend, but knew i 1 must be his son, as I had heard of his death." With a very engaging smile anc a glint of tears in her eyes, she held out her hand, which the young man took anc held with an eager look in hie eyes. "I remember my dad used to talk oi a Lady Mary whom he had once known; but very long before I was born." "Yes, circumstances parted us, Deryk; but perhaps if your father had not beer poor and proud they need not have sundered us so completely. I cared for hizr very much once. And perhaps a way might have been found. ..." He looked at her with a sort of worship in his eyes. It seemed bo wonder ful that this lovely lady should speak so to him. But at that moment Paddj lifted up his long nose and gave a deej sigh, and stretched his beautiful hounc head to meet the soft touch of the lady 5 ! delicate, jewelled hand. "He is a beautiful creature," epok< Lady Mary. "I will tell you a little whj I wanted a dog juet now. I have a nieci living with mc since the war. My brothei Tras killed. She does not remember hei mother. She did war work bravely t< the end; but several things combined t< sadden her, though by nature she is thi bravest and brightest creature. Shi loves animals, and her dog-companioi died during the war. She had him wit] her. And she misses him badly. Si when we had settled down together I re solved to find her a dog to be a com panion. I used to have one of that breed I know how human they become." "That is true, indeed. Paddy will un deretand anything anybody says to bin who cares for him. He is a real friend.' "And how you will miss him!" "Oh, I shall be thinking of the happ? home he has found. At least—if— '. beg your pardon if I seem to be takinj things too much for granted, Lad; Mary." She looked him steadily in the eyes and her heart was fulL How like he wa to his father —the man whom once sh< had loved! She had never married, be cause no suitor had ever touched he heart. But she had always known tha if Daryk Clive had asked her, she wouli have been his wife. "May I ask yon a question? Are £01 very much bent upon thie colonial yen ture? Are you committed to it? Ar you obliged to go soon?" Then, notinj the wonder in his eyes, she aded: "Be cause I remember your father's tasteshis love for books—and I am so badl; in need of someone to catalogue thi great library. I saw you looking at m; books as I came in. If yon were no sailing very soon—it would be such s boon to mc. And the break from Padd; would be so much more gradual " She saw the light in his eyes; sa? how they glowed ac he looked round th graad Aom, so nobly furnished, with th collection of a bibliophile's lifetime. Bu he had scarcely begun to find halting

words of acknowledgement and eagerness, when the door was opened and be saw standing framed there, in the garb of the equestrian, a girl—tall, handsome, splendid. Yet it was none of these things which made him catch Mβ breath. "I heard there was a dog arrived—a beauty!" she began, in full, deep tones. And then she stopped suddenly short. She stood at gaze like a stag, holding her head superbly, whilst eudddenly an expression such as lady Mary had never seen on her face before flooded it with an intense light. "You!" she exclaimed. 'Ton!" And she took two steps toward* him, her hand outstretched. "Aunt Mary, this is my lost hero!— the man who saved mc from our bombed hospital, when I had given up all hope. I never knew hie name. But I have told you about it. And now I find him here with you!" Lady Mary caught her breath as she watched those two young things standing gazing one at the other with eyes full of unexpressed meanings. How well she remembered Olive's thrilling tale of dire peril and almost miraculous escape! "I never really knew who it was. I had seen him. They called him Dick. They said he was the most gallant and courageous where all were heroes. His men adored him and would follow him anywhere. But we were swept apart by the tide of war. And now I shall never see him again! But you will never understand how magnificent he was!" That had been Olive's almost impassioned, words to her; and now, the son of the man she had loved and lost stood here in her house holding Olive's hand. Oh, surely, surely it was for her to see that the tragedy of her own life was not to be repeated in the next generation. Steadying her voice, she said smilingly: "How truly wonderful! Olive, Captain Clive is the son of an old friend of mine. I recognised him from his likeness to his father. And see, he has brought his dog in answer to our advertisement. Have you no word for Paddy, as he is called?" Olive suddenly held out her arms, and Paddy was placed in them. The girl seemed glad to hide her face against his glossy cloak. Deryk meantime told her about him, how he had been the regimental mascot, after being rescued from a burning chatflfcu; and now, how his master had been obliged to part from him, since it would not be possible to take him away overseas. "A chap smuggled him over for mc in an aeroplane. I could have got him any number of homes once; but now everything is changed and broken up and scattered " "In one sense, yes, Deryk," spoke Lady Mary softly, coming up to him and laying a hand upon his arm. "And yet, in another, God's good Providence has led you home! Dear boy, you are wanted here. I have work for you to do, and your eyes tell mc that it is work you would love. In old days the librarian had his quarters over this room. You shall do the same. You are the son of my childhood's friend. You are the man who saved the life of my niece—the man we have wanted so much to trace and and " "And you are Paddy's master!" cried Olive, who had gained the mastery over herself, and now turned upon him with ada roil ing light in her eyes. "And Paddy is going to come and live here— and Paddy says he cannot live without his master! See how he turne his head and looks first at mc and then at you! Paddy, darling, tell him that you like this new place and this new mistress very much, but that you can never, never agree to stay unless he stays too. Your eyes are telling him that all the time! Kiss mc, darling! And tell him how happy we are going to be together." The man looked at the girl and the girl looked back at the man. Her eyes were only on a slightly lower level than his; for she was like a "daughter of the gods, divinely tall and most divinely fair." A deep flush overspread his face and receded from it, leaving him pale; but she remained gloriously flushed, and with a light as of triumph in her wonderfully brilliant eyes. Lady Mary broke the spell by laying a hand upon Deryk's arm. "Leave, Paddy here as a hostage Deryk. Go and pack up your belongings and bring them here. Whatever happens in the future, you have work first in this house. You will not deny your father's friend the favour that she asks of you." He lifted her hand to his lips. It seemed the only answer he could make; and leaving Paddy, only just a little wistful and bewildered, in Olive's arms, he went from the house like a man in a dream. Some days later—or was it weeks?— for in Paradise it is hard to reckon time —he and Olive sat together in the scented garden which lay behind the house, and the faint hum of the great city and ite flowing river came.like a background of ceaseless sound to the impassioned phrases which had broken from them. Paddy lay stretched upon their knees—and his long tail moved in a happy accompaniment to their voices. "Olive, is it—can it be true?" "It is true, and has been true a great while now, Deryk. Only I never thought that I should see you again. Is it not wonderful? Aunt Mary loved your father. I know it, though she has never told mc. And now I love you—and I have told her and she 'is glad, glad, glad! Deryk, lam happier than anybody else in the world to-night!" He seemed speechless with the mystery and wonder of it. With a little rippling laugh she caught the dog in her arms and hugged him. "And Paddy darling, after all it is really all your doing! For if it had not been for you, the turn of Dame Fortune's wheel might never have brought us into touch again with Paddy's master!"