THE Girl from Madeira.

Clutha Leader, Volume XX, Issue 1036, 1 June 1894, Page 7

THE Girl from Madeira.

I » In Four Chapters.

By P. L. M'Dermott.

CHAPTER lll— .Continued. \ It was a quarter to 1 as Ethel Flint j entered her lodging again. Her father, ; as she expected, was only up, for he bad been later than, usnal in coming home the previous night, or rather morning. * Well,' he said, as he sat down to breakfast. ' I see you have been out. Have you succeeded 1' 1 No ; it has been a disappointment.' 4 Pray, why ? llt is useless to go into all that ; I must tiy again.' • Oh, very well !' he said bitterly, rising from the table. * I shall bring a few men home to supper about 10 this evening, and be good enough to have suitable preparations made. The liquors I will give you a list of ; the rest' There had been a rat-tat-tat at the door, and Flint was interrupted by the entrance of a messenger with a telegram for him. Tearing it open with shaking hand, he read the message. • Ha,' he muttered, ' this looks good ! H'm— 3 o'clock. Yes; I shall be punctual. 1 When he was dressed, and ready to go out, he said : ' I have an important appointment — a very important appointment, which, unless I am much mistaken, will result in something — a — to my advantage. It is of consequence that I should not walk there, and I am — in fact, somewhat short of change this morning.' She took out her puree and gave him all the silver it contained — seven shillings. He examined the coins with a dissatisfied look, and put them in his pocket. The telegram was from Mr Hooley the solicitor, and merely said : ' Come here at 3 o'clock. This is important. Hooley.' Mr Flint in due time found himself — although he did not take a cab after all — at the solicitor's officers. 'I shall not detain you many minutes, Mr Flint,' said the solicitor in a very hard voice, the tone of which was ominous. ! How is — a — your client Mr' { My business with you is at present very brief. Have you L5O handy, Mr Flint f The man was amazed. { I — l fail to understand,' he gasped. ' Have you L5O V the lawyer repeated. 'L5O? No.' 1 Can you raise L5O V I No ; certainly not ; unless,' he added with a siokly attempt at jocularity, 'you accommodate me yourself.' c Then I am afraid. Mr Flint,' said Mr Hooley in the same hard ominous tone, ' you are in for some trouble. If you were able to put down L5O, the matter could be arranged. 7 I 1 don't know what you mean V 'You do — quite well. From a box in your daughter's custody — not her own, but another person's — you stole L5O. The number of these notes are known, and can easily be traced. If you can restore the money at once, you may get off ; if not, a warrant will be applied for.' Flint for some moments was stunned. It was not thfi first time he had had to do with Mr Hooley, and probably Mr Hooley was of all men the one of whom he stood most in awe. ' I — T understood the money to belong to — my daughter,' he stammered at last. INo matter about what you understood j rejoined the solicitor sharply j it didn't belong to her. — I'm sorry,' he added, ' for the additional shame your conviction for this felony will bring upon her — that is, if, after all the shame your life and character have heaped upon her, she is capable of feeling any more on your account.' • Whose money was it 1' I You shall know when you are arrested and charged.' ' Can — can nothing be done, Mr Hooley V the man abjectly agked. 'My daughter — her prospects will be injured.' Mr Hooley regarded the creature narrowly for the space of a minute. 'Look here, Flint,' he said sternly. c For the sake of your poor daughter, I would compromise my own conscience hy helping you out of England — on one condition, which will be well secured to me — that you never return. The warrant for your arrest will be out in three or four days, and if you ever set foot in England again, it will be executed upon you. I'll send you to Queensland, if you are ready to sail the day after to-morrow. It is, I admit, hardly fair towards the colony to present you to it ; but it's the less of two eyils.' Flint, in dread of the police, eagerly agreed to the proposal. Mr Hooley gave him a written order on an outfitter for goods to the amount of LI 2, and informed him a steerage passage would be provided for him in the Queensland steamer, sailing in two days. Flint should also be given a letter to the steamship agents in Brisbane authorising them to give him L2O on arrival. Flint was expressing his thanks in

effusive terms, when the lawyer interrupted him. 'That will do. Try and reform when you reach Australia. You had better keep your intended departure very quiet until you are safely off.' This he felt it would he prudent to do. ' I must mention my departure to Ethel, however,' he reflected as ho went towards the outfitter's. ' I must try and squeeze some money out of her. I'll say — tat me se? — h'm — yes; a diplomatic mission ; that will sound highly respectable, and show thenecesity of money for outfit, and so on. Yes ; diplomatic will fetch her, I fancy.' Then he sought a music hall, whose classic entertainment improved his mind until it was time to move homeward to receive his expected guests. Buying a new pack of cards by the way, Mr Flint directed his steps — which were growing unsteady ! — towards Low "Water Street. Ringing the bell, he got no answer to it. Ringing again, the landlady opened the door. 'Where is— a—Miss Flint?' he demanded, with surprise and indignation. It wanted only 20 minutes of 10, and could it be possible she had not completed the hospitable preparations yet 1 It was worse than that, 'Your daughter paid me a week's rent for h*>r room, and left hf re this evening with her things. She is not returning, she said. She left no ad- | dress.'

CHAPTER IV. The visit paid by Mr Frnest Fenwick to Mr Hooley was done on ' French-leave.' On mentioning to the outfitter that he wanted an hour's leavp, that indignant tradesman flatly refused to grant it ; whereupon Fenwick, with a flushed face, took his hat and walked off. He returned within the hour ; but, contrary to his expectation, the outfitter's wrath had not subsided, and the young man was paid his wages and immediately discharged. Jt was not pleasant to be dismissed while as yet there was no certainty about the new appointment. Fen wick could not help thinking what a comfort the lost L5O would have been to him in the circumstances. As it was, he had not more than 50s. He waited day by day for a letter from Mr Hooley. At length, on the fifth day, to his great relief it came — merely a brief request to call at 3 o'clock ; but this in itself was enough to justify great hopes. There was still an hour and a half on his hands, and he calculated that he could just kill that interval by strolling round by way of Low Water Street and corning back by Waterloo Bridge. Crossing the foot-bridge by the railway he soon found himself in the familiar locality which attracted him so strongly. He walked slowly along the footpath at the side opposite to the lodging of Miss Flint, hardly venturing to rahe his eyes. But he did glance up for an instant as he passed, and what he saw caused him to start, stop, and stare at the windows with wideopen eyes. The flowers were gone from the ledge, the pretty curtains from the windows and against one of the panes was pasted a notiee, ' Apartmentp, furnished, ie let.' While he was looking, and wondering, with a sinking of heart at the fear that she was now indeed lost to him — the landlady opened the door and glanced eargerly towards him. Fenwick went over to her and inquired after her health in the manner of an acquaintance. 'I saw you, Mr Fenwick, and I thought as how — J'm sure I'd be glad if it was so — if you was looking for a room again.' Bnt he shook his head. Had Miss Flint gone, then? Yes, the woman told him regretfully, the young lady suddenly packed up one afternoon and went away — she didn't know where; and the second morning following, Mr Flint also packed up and wentjaway ; neither in his case did she know the destination. It was odd, she admitted ; but she was fair enough to add that in both cases a week's rent was paid in lieu of notice. As Eenwick walked away, with his head bent, the buoyancy of spirit inspired by Mr Hooley's invitation and the prospect it held out gave way to a feeling of great depression. Something had gone out of his life, of the full value of which he was only now fully conscious. When he saw Mr Hooley, and that gentleman in a few words announced to him that he was accepted for the post, Fenwick could hardly suppress a sigh and an inward ejaculation : ' Ah ! if I could only find her now !' But he expressed his thanks modestly and warmly, and inquired when he was to commence his duties. 'You have heard of Alderman Sir James RoscoeT replied Mr Hooley. ' He is a busy man in connection with many movements in London, besides being a member of Parliament. Sir James is your employer. You will like him. He is now in Scotland, bnt will be back in. 10 or 12 days. Then you can call upon him — here is his address. Your work will be entirely in London,' ! Just another touch of regret j and j then he rose to go. ' Ono minute,' said Mr Hooley. • When you were here last, you con- i fessed that you had lost L5O. I have ascertained that that was true — not

that I doubted you. You were quito i right in exonerating the young lady — she knew nothing at all of the existence of the" money, and, in fact, on discovering that the box was not her j own, had never attempted even to open it. But somebody else opened it. and took the notes. I suspected the i culprit, sent for him, and made him disgorge. — Here's the money,' he added, handing a roll of notes to (he astonished young man. In an instant Fenwick's thoughts went to the girl's disreputable parent. He said nothing of his suspicions, however, but presently had them confirmed indirectly. ' I — l had some business to-day,' he said, a little shamefacedly, 'at Low Water street, where I used to lodge, and Miss Flint, I understand, as well as her father, has left the neighbor--1 hood.' • The father has gone to Australia — for good,' answered Mr Hooley. ' Miss Flint is — well, 1 believe Miss Flint is in another part of London.' He dipped his pen in the ink-bottle as he spoke ; and Fenwick, disappointed of learning any more from the dry little solicitor, took his leave, Mr Hooley, after the young man had closed the door, glanced in that direction over his glasses with his pen suspended in the air, and muttered : ' Ten to one he finds her. ' Ten to one, I repeat. If he doesn't ' His lips closed tightly on the rest of the sentence. To have an unexpected LSO in your pocket instead of a few shillings, and to have exchanged idleness for a gentlemanly post worth L3OO a year, are circumstances of which a spirit ever so dependent on other accounts cannot heip taking note. Mr Ernest Fenwick felt more cheerful as he went away from Mr Hooley's and elbowed along the Strand ; but a good deal of his happiness sprang from the knowledge that Ethel Flint was still in London, as well as freed from her father. Eating a cake and a glass of milk in a confectioner's at Charing Cross, he ran over in his mind the various places in London where a young lady, having nothing particular to do — which he took to be Miss Flint's case at the moment — would bo most likely to be discovered on a sunny afternoon like the present. He was now so buoyed with new hope and good spirits, that, in paying the waitress the sum of fourpence for his refreshment, he surprised that neat and obliging young person by giving her sixpence for herself. Then he walked out, and at the door met — Ethel Flint coming in ! Which o£ the. two faces flushed the liveliest pink, it would be hard to say. Fenwick hesitated, in painful indecision, and was slowly moving aside to allow her to pass, when she suddenly offered him her hand. ' I am glad to have met you, Mr Fenwick. I— l wanted to say something to you,' she said, with a mixture of shyness and earnestness that was very charming. 'May I come in with you V 1 Thank yon,' she answered. He held open the glass door for her, ond they sat down at a little, round table in a corner. This was very pleasant to Mr Fenwick ; but, bettor still, she allowed him masterfully to order her tea and select her cake — in paying for which ho gave the smiling waitress another sixpence for herself, that young per&on not appearing so much surprised now. 'Mr Hooley, a solicitor, said "Miss Flint, before touching her tea, ' told me about the loss of your money, I was so deeply sorry, and distrsssed too ; but — but — • Mr Fenwick, what you said about me was very, very generous and noble. That is what I have been anxious to thank you for — and I want to repay you some of the money. I cannot repay all, because I have not enough at present ; but I shall always be grateful to you for what you said to Mr Hooley.' 'What else could I have said, or thought, Miss Flint? Pray, do not think of that at all. And Mr Hooley got back the LSO, and gave it to me an hour ago.' In proof whereof, he produced the notes and showed them to her. Miss Flint colored a little again, and looked thoughtful. < I should like,' he said softly, « if I am not too intrusive, to know why you refused to recognise me in Low Water Street.' ' I had three reasons,' she answered with a good deal of hesitation. • You have a right at least to know one of them, because I discovered soon afterwards that I had wronged you.' { And that one, V he asked, thinking that he could guess the othr two. I On the steamer,' she replied, looking down, ' you spoke of visiting Torquay. When we were there, I was al-vays afraid — for a reason — of meeting you. Then I came to London, and after a while, found that you were lodging in the same street, Mr' Fenwiok, I thought you were following me.' ' Why, Miss Flint, the very room you lodged in had been mine before you came I' I 1 learned that afterwards. Then I knew I had wronged you, and I was very sorry,' ' Let me guess at one at least of the other reasons,' he said, reddening. • I behaved shamefully at Plymouth. I I did, I freely confess, feel vexed at

hearing you addressed as a servant — indignant is the right word,' he added ! courageously. ' But if it beany expiation of my conduct, I felt keenly ashamed and sorry before I was halfway to London.' Which was sufficiently true, perhaps:, under the circumstances. ( And when I came to London,' he went on, 'I was as poor as Job — not that the lost money would have, done more than stave off the evil day for a little bit — a yery little bit | indeed, Miss Flint, because, thinking of you, I was preparing to start back to Torquay, when I discovered that 1 had no money. Then I was glad to get a mean place at 30s a week, and a lodging in Low Water street.' She had turned her face a little away from him, and seemed to, be quietly wrestling with some impulse. But Mr Fenwick was not observant. She was thinking of the appointment he had come to see Mr Hooley about, and she wished to know the result. 'I suppose,' she said timidly, 'you are still in the same place V lOh no,' he answered quickly. ' I have obtained a secretaryship through Mr Hooley, at L3OO a year.' 1 That is very nice, Mr Fenwick. Is it in London V ' Yes, Miss Flint ; I shall be always employed in London. — Of course,' he added, ( I may reside outside London, in some of the pretty suburbs, and run in every day.' He meant nothing by this remark, and did not notice the quick glance the girl directed at him and the blush which followed it. As she lived in Clelsea, he walked with her across the park and only parted from her at the end of Eaton Square. (Concluded in our next. )