The Bad Lord Lockington.

Bruce Herald, Volume L, Issue 32, 30 April 1914, Page 3

The Bad Lord Lockington.

/ Bv FLORENCE WABDEN.

Author of "Settled out of Court," '' Tho I.ovo that Never Pies,'' "The Faco in tho Flashlight,"'" "Tho Whito Countess," etc.

CHAPTER I. Stiff and straight, and cold and formal, with a trood double eyeglass in her hand, Mrs Holland, housekeeper to Lord Lockington. of Lockington Court, Lancashire, and Belgravo Square, sat on her chair in tho agent's office, interviewing a long array of more or less • unsuitable applicants for tho post of private organist to his lordship. The head of the agency, a bustling, talkativo, but withal capable, woman who fitted innumerable governesses, companions, lady secretaries and housekeepers with situations throughout the course of the year, sighed when one after another of the young women whom sho sent into the small room, where the austere-looking Mrs • Holland was reviewing and rejecting long lines of most desirable applicants, came out with the report that she "wouldn't do." And at last the agent, instead of sending in more applicants, went herself to interview Mrs Holland, and said, with an attempt at a smile, but with some tartness, that she was afraid Lord Lockington must be difficult to please. Mrs Holland laid down her eyeglass and folded hor hands with austere melancholy. "Not only difficult," she said, with a short sigh, "but impossible, I'm afraid." ' Tho agent stared at her. "Then what is the use of seeing all these young ladies—whom I've sent for, mind you, and who have come up specially to see you—if you have quite mado up your mind, as you seem to havo done, vthat none of them will do?" Mrs Holland could not draw herself up, because sho was already as erect as it was possible for her to be, but she looked as if sho would havo done so if she' could. "I came here," sho said, coldly and with dignity, "in the hope that I might bo able to find a young lady suitable to the position his lordship offers. But to ./ judge from the young persons whom I have had to seo so many of this morning, I might have saved myself my journey from Lancashire. Why, there's not one of them that has so much as a pleasant voice in speaking and a good figure." The head of tho agency drow herself up and looked rather shocked. "What has a figure to do with playing the organ?" she asked, sharply. The housekeeper looked slightly confused. "I said a pleasant voice and a good figure," said she. "I told you that what we wanted was a young lady of good appearance and manner, an orphan preferred, who could play the piano and tho organ, read music at sight, and able to sing, sing pleasantly, though need not necessarily have a magnificent voice." Tho agent bent hor head over ono of her books, which she had brought in with her, and put her finger on one particular name. Then she looked up dubiously. "I can't quite see," she murmured, "what you particularly want an orphan for!" "Oh, I can tell you that," said Mrs Holland. "His lordship thought that a young lady with parents wouldn't stay with us. It's very dreary at the Hall —very dreary indeed. She will have no companions excopt me and the dogs and horses. His lordship has been an invalid for many yoars, and sees no one —no one whatever. Sho will never see him during the whole time she's there, if she stays there 20 years." •, j*The agent- looked puzzled. "What does he want an organist for, and one of good appearance if he's never going so much as to seo her?" she asked, incredulously. "I didn't say ho'd never see hor, but that she'd never seo him," retorted Mrs Holland, with spirit. "Lord Lockington is old now, and a regular hermit, and never goes out or even lets himself be seen by anybody. But for all that he's very particular, and he won't have anybody about who's not just as he likes them. His lordship has the greatest confidence in me, and I shouldn't think of engaging anyone that I thought he wouldn't like the looks of."

The agent sat back on her side of the table. "You'll excuse me saying so," she said,, "but people used to talk once about Lord Lockington, and they used to say " Mrs Holland interrupted her diffident suggestion with an emphatic wave,of the hand. "All that was long ago," she said, shutting her eyes as if upon the long dead past. "I can. assure you that there's never been anything of that sort to complain about in. the life at

the Hall for years and years. It may bo that his lordship was gay in his t youth, but now a more quiet and regular gentleman—not to say nobleman—never lived; and you may rely upon me that any, young lady who might choose to take this post would have nothing worse than what I must call deadly dullness to complain of." "There is a Lady Lockington, isn't there? And she doesn't reside at Lockington Hall?" said the agent, dubiously. "You must excuse me asking these questions, but I have to be particular when it is especially requested that the young lady engaged should be young and good looking." Mrs Holland's expression became a trifle_ colder. "Oh, yes, there is a Lady Lockington, and she does not reside at the Hall. She is fond of life, and the dulness of the place kills her, she says. Besides—though it's not my place to talk of such things—they never got on too well together, and his being an invalid now hasn't made any difference to that. Rather the contrary." Mrs Holland pursed up her lips as , ono who should say that not one further syllable should be drawn from her. The agent looked down at her book. . "The salary's good, of course," she said, "and I suppose the duties are not too exacting, if only you wul4 got the

right person; Now, I'm sorry, you didn't liko Miss Wood. She's an orphan, and she is a most accomplished musician." Tho housekeeper shook her head with decision. "His lordship would prefer a young lady," she said. "This Miss Wood—if it's the lady, with tho glasses and tho prominent teeth?—is not young." , "Well, iiot so very, perhaps." The agent looked up. "Thero's a young lady coming hero this morning about another engagement, one as companion to an old lady, who might have suited. She's very pretty, too pretty, I'm afraid,'to caro to he shut up iu such a house as you describe." "Can she play and sing?" "She can play the piano, and she has a .protty little voice. I don't know about the organ. I fancy her father and mother are dead, too." "Could you let me see her?" asked Mrs Holland, eagerly. "The salary is, of course, much higher than she would receivo from the lady who thought of engaging her, but, on other hand, really it seems a pity, she's so very pretty! And I scarcely think it would do." . "She would bo quite safe with me," said tho housekeeper. "If only she could stand the loneliness. I should liko to see her." The agent,. fearing to loso this important client altogether if she failed to comply with hor request, went out, promising that Miss Bellamy should bo seen by her. And when, half an hour later, a littlo fair-hairod, blueeyed girl. with, gentle manners and a fresh. pink-and-white complexion, shabbily dressed but refined looking, came in and asked if she were in time for tho appointment with Mrs Robinson, the agent took her on one side and told her that she had another and a better post to offer than that of companion to the old lady. "It's to play the organ and sing for an ol'i gentleman," said she. ed. "The organ!" cried she. "I don't think I could play well enough for that!" and was introduced effusively by the agent to Mrs Holland, who at ouco looked through her eyeglass in a manner which told tho agent that sho was satisfied that sho had come to tho end of scruples about tho business. Miss Bollamy, very diffident, very nervous, consented to be interviewed, perior woman, as those people are," coo'xl the agent, caressingly, hoping to secure this prize, though sho felt some "You have played it?" "A little—to amuso myself—in my uncle's church. I can't play well." "Well, you can play the piano, and perhaps you could practice on the village organ till you did better. Would you like to see the lady who's come about tiie matter?" The'salary is handsome—eighty pounds a year, and the houso is a nobleman's." Miss Bellamy looked frightened. "Oh, I'm sure I wouldn't do," sho said. "Of course, he wants a really accomplished player. I " "Well, will you see Mrs Holland and ask her what she thinks? She's his her search. "Well, Miss Bellamy," the housekeeper said, with a wintry littlo smile which was meant to bo encouraging, "do you think you could stand being shut up from one year's end to another in a big house by the rivor's bank, with no companions but me and his lordship's horses and dogs?" Miss Bellamy,, surprised at this address, when she had expected to be subjected to a searching catechism on the subject of her acquirements, hesitated, drew a long breath, and said: "Oh, I shouldn't mind that. I lovo dogs, and I should lovo horses if I knew anything about them, I know." Miss Bellamy's pretty face looked prettier than ever as it dimpled into smiles. _ The housekeeper nodded with instinctivo approval. Tho girl stared at her in bowilderment. "But," said sho, timidly, "could I do what you want me to do ? You haven't heard me play, and I'm afraid " "Thero's a pianc*. Will you play mo something? And sing something?" The housekeeper's face, under the influence of her triumphant belief that she had got hold of tho right person, became flesh and blood, instead of looking, as it had done hitherto, as if carved out of wood.' Vory timidly, panting with excitement, Miss Bellamy took off her welli worn gloves and sat down at the piano. It was not an instrument calculated to i show tho player's powers to the best I advantage. Neither was Miss Bellamy |at her best. Indeed, the tears came into her eyes as, after having played a [littlo march execrably, and quavered a I littlo song in a way which, though j rather sweet and touching, was by no means brilliant, she turned to her judge j with a heartbroken air, feeling that she j had lost her chance. j To her intense surprise and relief Mrs Holland bowed her head with approval, \ and said: "Very good. Thank you very much. I'm sure your playing and singing will do quite nicely." The head of the agency, who was still in the room, looked at the housekeeper rather nervously, while pretty Miss Bellamy's face beamed with delight. "Really—really, do you think I should do?" she asked, with breathless eagerness. But the agent looked inquiringly at Mrs Holland. This display was not good enough to warrant a salary of eighty pounds a year being paid to th& performer, and sho began to look askance. "Are you quite sure," sho murmured, "that this is exactly a suitable engagement for a young girl ? Don't you think —considering that Lady Lockington does not resido at the Hall " Mrs Holland smiled scornfully. "Practically," she said, "no ono resides there. I give you my word, here in tho presence of Miss Bellamy—who will, soon find the truth out for herself if she goes to"Xancashire with me—that sho will see no human face in the house but mine and those of the upper servants from one year's end to another. Miss Bellamy will not know that his lordship—who is an invalid, and has been for years—is in the house. All he wants is to hear hor music, and to hear it as often as he pleases," |. The girl looked puzzled. "But it's not good enough," ehe said.

And tho agent nodded in agreement. J Mrs Holland, however, appeared to know bettor than they. ( "If it is not," sho said,' "then I undertake that his lor'dship shall give you half a year's salary and your expenses back to town. Will that do? I have full powers," sho added, "to give any such undertaking I please." The agent looked at Miss Bellamy; Miss Bellamy looked back at her. Both wero astonished, but though the elder woman was still rather uneasy, there was no traco of anything but delighted bewilderment on the faco of tho younger. Miss Bellamy was scarcely 19, and the world and its wickedness had no terrors for her, because sho knew no evil. The worst thing she had to fear, so she thought, and she thought it with much dread, was that Lord Lockington, when ho should hear hor playing, would at once order her to bo given notice as an incompetent performer. In the meantime all was joy and triumph, and eagerness to begin that journey into the unknown which lay beforo her. "When can you come?" asked Mrs Holland; and then, with a rapid glance at the shabby dress of tho young beauty she said: "Would you liko a small advance on your salary to buy a few things to take with you ? You will have to have a neat dress for Sundays and in case my Lady comes suddenly to the Hall, as sho sometimes does, and a few things liko that, will you not? As for your expenses, Lord Lockington pays those. Shall I give you ten pounds to start with?" But this flow of gold, which was no idle dream, as Mrs Holland at onco drew forth her purse and counted tho ten shining sovereigns on tho table, was almost too much for sober truth and this workaday world. Miss Bellamy grew a little paler, and looked inquiringly at tho agent. But that good woman had been reassured on hearing that Lady Lockington visited at tho Hall,! and, indeed, there was about Mrs Holland a lofty respectability, as well as a frankness, which disarmed suspicion. Tho agent was a good judge of men, women and things, and she had oro this come to tho conclusion that tho engagement was ono that could safely be accepted by her pretty client. Sho, however, gave the girl a good deal of advico when sho saw her alone on the way downstairs, and told her to write, at once to her aunt, on her arrival ,at the Hall, and to tell her all about everything sho saw and heard there. "Oh, yes, of cours'o I shall," said Miss Bellamy. "Sho will be so pleased about this. It's a grand thing for me, isn't it? When I'm so young, tool" The agent smiled, with a shrewd [ guess that the touch of brilliant youth and beauty had had more to do with . her engagement than her accomplish- | monts. Tho girl went home to her aunt, who lived in a small and inconvenient jerrybuilt houso in the suburbs, told her with ecstasy of the magnificent appointment sho had obtained, showed her tho ten bright sovereigns, and poured out the story of tho old invalid gentleman who wanted someone to play to him, and could not get anybody because the Dig house he lived in with his old housekeeper was so lonely, that tho musician would have no society but that of tho horses and dogs. Mrs Bellamy, the aunt with whom tho girl lived, was tho widow of a vicar, and a shrewd woman. She, too, asked a great many questions, and was rather puzzled by the answers sho got, so that, on the following day, she obtained »an interview herself with the housekeeper, Jliss Bel!a)my looked rather frightento ascortain whether the post offered was in all respects a desirable one for a young girl.

With her the housekeeper was more confidential. "I must tell you, ma'am," she said, "what I beg you not to tell your niece, as it might alarm her. The truth is that Lord Lockington is cut oil' from the world, as the result of a torriblo accident. Ho is not a very old gentleman; ho is only 54. But some years ago half his face was blown away ay the accidental discharge of a gun he was carrying, and he is- so horribly disfigured that he has never since been seen by any living porson but one. That one is the doctor who attends him j who lias to be in frequent attendance, indeed." Mrs Bellamy gave a little cry of shocked surprise. "Do you really mean that even you do not see him?" she asked. "I have never seen him since that accident, and even his valet never has either. His lordship lives in a suite of rooms by himself, in the oldest part of the mansion, and never comes out. When his rooms are done each morning he locks himself into one of them until all the others are ready, when lie goes into one, leaving the last for the housemaid. There, that is the whole story, except that, being passionately fond of music, he sometimes has the organist to come and play to him on the great organ he has had built in the hall. And that his medical man, having found his lordship suffering from melancholy, suggested the engagement of a permanent musician. Lord Lockington won't have a man about the house in that capacity, so he directed me to come up to Loodon for a week and to try at the various agencies, to find a young lady with a sweet voice and'a knowledge of music who could play for his pleasure as often as he liked." Mrs Bellamy heard this account with interest, but remarked with some doubt when it was ended: "There wero stories about Lord Lockington some 20 years ago. And—he lives apart from his wife., I feel rather doubtful about the propriety of sending my nieco to a house where the husband and wife live apart." Mrs Holland smiled grimly. "Would you like to come with her yourself, ma'am?" she asked. "There will not be the slightest objection to that, I know. On the contrary, his lordship would be glad, I think, to feel that the young lady was coming with the approval of her friends. He has no very strong wish about this engagement j it was his physician who insisted, and who suggested that the lady engaged should be youn'g and attractive. The fact is, ma'am, that although his lordship is never seen, he comes out inlta galkry

of the hall when the organist comes to play, and goes in again because poor Mr Gibson—that's the organist—used to throw himself into.such contortions over the instrument' that his lordship couldn't bear the sight of him." Mrs Bellamy nodded with- comprehension. Mrs Holland went on: "The doctor says it's most important that his lordship should have diversion, and if he won't listen to the organist's playing because he looks repulsive, the only thing to bo dono is to get someone to play whoso looks aro more pleasing." "And you are suro he won't come

down and frighten her?" Mrs Holland looked grave. "If you knew what I know," she said, lowering her voice, "about the awful sight his face is, you would know, as we all know, that it's impossible his lordship should ever show his face again to a living soul besides the doctor. And his lordship hates the doctor, because the poor man has had to see him!" Mrs Holland emphasised her words with an emphatic nod. Mrs Bellamy looked doubtful again. "But if she should see him by accident, the sight might have a serious effect upon her!" "There's not'the very slightest fear of that. . But, of course, if you won't believe me I can say no more, and I must look out for another lady to take tho post," said the housekeeper, beginning to grow weary, of the difficulties unnecessarily thrown in her waj. The salary, however, was too tempting a ono to be lightly given up. "Well," said Mrs Bellamy, with a sigh, "there aro drawbacks, and I suppose there always must be to any situation for a very young and pretty girl! And you will be answerable for her—in all respeots?" "I will answer for her safety, but I won't answer for it that she won't bo bored to death," rejoined Mrs Holland, rather tartly. It seemed to her that altogether too much fuss was being made about a matter which might have been settled at once. Hero was a girl, pretty, poor, fairly accomplished, ready to accommodate herself to a country life. And here was a post ready for her which any girl in such a position might be glad to have. Mrs Bellamy saw that she might lose a good opening by delay, so she made up her mind, and, convinced in her own mind that the respectability of Mrs Holland, her frankness and her veracity were beyond dispute, agreed that Edna should be ready to go to Lockington Hall as soon as possible to enter upon her new duties. "She will go with you, won't she?" asked Mrs Bellamy. "Not unless she can bo ready by the day after to-morrow, ma'am. I have been here four days, not having beoiv able to find a lady who would suit by means of any of the agencies. And his lordship has writton to say that I'must return. He's grown so used to things going by clockwork, and so used to my ways, that he misses the slightest littlo thing, and it angers him, not being able to go out and about like other people. It seems the soup was spoilt two nights ago, and he gave the cook warning, and I not being there to make things up there's been unpleasantness." Mrs Holland spoko with the pardonablo pride of a personage in whose absence riot and havoc reign. Mrs Bellamy, rather troubled said that she would do her best to bring Edna within a week, since she understood Lord Lockington was impatient in the mattor. And then sho bade the housekeeper good-bye and went back home, having learnt all necessary details concerning the best train and the change which would have to bo made on the journey, and the color of his lordship's carriage which would be sent to meet Miss Bellamy at the station at Bilston to take her tho remaining .mile and a-half of tho journey. When Mrs Bellamy got home that day she found her golden-haired niece in a pensive mood. "Did you see Mrs Holland?" asked the girl, rather nervously. "Yes, my dear," replied her aunt, with elaborate cheerfulness. "And what did you think? Have you settled it —that I am to go?" "Why, yes, my dear, I don't think you aro likely to find a better post, or one half so well paid." Edna was looking very serious indeed. "That's just it," she said, in a lugubrious tone of voice. "When one comes to think of it, aunt, the salary is so high, and the work sounds so easy, that I can't help thinking there must be something—something wrong with the post somewhere! Don't you, aunt?" ''Well, then, perhaps you'd better write and give it up," said Mrs Bellamy quickly. But at that Edna's eyes flashed. "No, no, not without giving it a trial," said she. "I'm practising all day so as to be able to play well enough, and I'm going to the church to-morrow to have a lesson from the organist. All I want to do ia to warn you that if I find there's something very awful about it—if the old gentleman should be very fiery-tempered, for instance, and throw footstools and sofa-cushions down at me if I play a wrong note—why, then you must be prepared to receive me back at a moment's notice, and to forgive me for having to give up such a splendid salary and the honor of being engaged in the household of a viscount." And, as her aunt agreed to this, they very quietly and gravely decided that the experiment must be made. (To be continued.)