SHORT STORY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18762, 16 July 1924, Page 16

SHORT STORY.

■;,- '•*—-—>—■»■ ——, v '■%'■■■: fil MODERN LADY GODIVA. BY JAMES PAULDEN ■■' (CopyrieofcJ '':„. ",* * * The clang of the brazen .bell; roused the .whole district. Everyone knew what it meant. A convict had made a bold dash for liberty None had ever escaped from tho inside of that gaunt, grey building on the skyline r ,of the hills but, occasionally, by a desperate dash at the risk of his life, a, prisoner did escape briefly from the bondage of a working party outside.- .'•■.-'*••..'•. The other prisoners would be herded back to their cells-and then the man hunt would begin. TheEastbamhunt chased foxes over the rolling country, but that was tame in comparison • to.a man hunt. It was quite as exciting aa a tiger hunt, only the tiger was a bunted creature clad in conspicuous clothes grimly ornamented by a striking pattern of broad arrows. The bell shattered the sweet peace of an afternoon in spring and, an hour later, a warder knocked at tho door of a tuug littlo villa on the main road—an isolated viila a quarter of a mile from Eastham village. Mrs. Hindla.went to the door at the call of the servant.

"Is Mr. Hindle in?" asked the wartier, whose home was in the village, " Ko. He won't be back until tomorrow." " Well, you'd better keep everytnmg locked up to-night. A convict has escaped and his game will be to steal clothes and money. This is a nice, lonely house, and be might bo a troublesome fellow." ■- :.'/' ; ;"■'■■'," "Who is he?" she asked quickly. "convicts aren't anybody. He's just Jnumber 697." The warder did not know that she knew that that was her brother's num ber, and she controlled herself magnificently.

"Has a prisoner' ever escaped V* ena asked, with a much keener interest tuan she allowed to show.

" No," replied the warder, proudly. *' I've been a warder' twenty' years arid not one ever got away. Others have made a, dash like him. Ono stuck it four days. Ho was half starved when he.gave himself up. We'll catch him, and then it will be worse, for him."..-,'.-..'

" Very well, -we'll-, keep -everyttiing locked up," she said, dismissing him.

"If Garrard only knew that I was living here," she,..thought,-. as' she Talked.:: back to her needlework,in her cosy draw-.: ing-room.

Her thought referred to the fact'that her brother had .been, ins?,prisoni nearly two years, and to the further fact that he was unaware that she had been living >n that house for three months. ' Apart from ties of kith and kin,-she-had the best reasons h woman can have for desiring to, help her. brother. Six years before, her lov& match was threatened by the strong objections of John Hindle's parents and people. John was willing to marry her and take the consequences, hut she loved him too,well to jeopardize his prospects 'and expectations. He was one of those barristers, wHo look to an inheritance for a living, and not to their professional prospects, and she, being wiser than he, knew what rebellion yroold mean, ' J ": ■'-"-~"' •"""■' ' """ * "

She and her brother, Gerrard Leth- . bridge, were alone in the world, and she confided her troubles "to him. He had put his. business and was' doing well, arid *' she at that time thought that his provision of a dowry for her—sufficient to overcome the objections of the Hindles—was well within his capacity. Only later, after she had been happily married long enough to ba the. proud mother of afflourishing hoy, and afteiN his daring 'speculations, did she realize that his generosity had strained his resources.

Her boy was toddling about in his first pair of breeches when her brother's risky operations went wrong. Gerrard never mentioned it to her. She only learned of it when ha was arrested, after that disasterous attempt to retrieve hhV fortunes by risky manipulations of other people's money. The penalty for that failure was the sentence of mx years' imprisonment. Then she realized that his generosity had ruined him. '■!C.-:j£i -;■.•,*i; ■-■-i--Her needlework made no progress during the later hours of that spring rafternoon. ;Neglected, it lay on the table while ehejj thought about the past, The wincommanded an extensive j.yiew,,and she sat close to it watching for,!thesigns of the man hunt that was going om .At intervals she saw warders methodically beating up the whole district—wardsrs armed with guns. She was glad that the wooded country offered bo much cover, but a chill stole over her heart as she thought about the guns. If Gerrard was flash a bullet might ... That night Mrs. Hindle did not draw the blinds. Knowing that the light would be visible from miles of. the black countryside, she put behind it her prayer that its beams might guide a poor, hunted wretch to her. And to help chance, she sat in a position near the fire quite visible from the window, and pretended to reach.-.'.. -

It was late when she detected the sound of a scratch on the window pane— a sound faint and; furtive, as though made by one who desired to attract attention discreetly. Hurrying to the window and peering through, she saw dimly, in the faintly luminous patch just outside the boad swath of light from the window, a face that made her' heart jump. A strained, agonized face, "with a wild look in the eyes, like that of "ia hunted animal.. Switching off the lights in the drawingroom and keeping .the hall in darkness,' she gently opened 'the,-door. >. Something glided in. and she Kguided 1 number „ 697 ; through the hall and up the staiis 10 her bedroom.

Revealed to her by the glare of-the electric light, her brother looked "a" de-. plorahle object. His., boots were wet, and; muddy; his hideous clothes were torn, and the rente told an eloquent story ol his cross-country work by night. Worst of all was his blanched face and that look in his eyes.

"I came to steal/' he gasped, "and I you."

" A warder let your number slip, and I knew you were the escaped prisoner. I had the light going to guide you." "It did. Maggie, you will help me?" " Yes, Gerrard." ■"Are you a guest here?" " It's my home. We've been here three months." ■- / u I want clothes, money, food.'" He named his necessities in the order of their importance. She pointed to the other door. \. '•• :; :: ' "John is away, but he is about your build. Fie has pile 3of clothes in there. Pick what you want and stick those things up the chimney. I'll burn them when you've got away." She waited in the' bedroom listening to Fne sounds of his activities. A splashing of water indicated that, he was having a quick wash. Suddenly the froze the sound of a village '. woman's voice: the ww4s came distinctly through the open .window.

** This Is where : he crossed the road. He'll be hangin' round the house to pinch somethlnV ':/. "Right!** responded the gruff voice of a warder. "Surround the place." Gerrard Leihbridge hurried out 'n Books, trousers, andrfhirt. She knew from his face that he had heard them. " It's all up," he said, blankly. " 1 didn't think anybody had seen mw Rot.ten luck after Raiting in the ditch to let the warders go by." - i Her womanly wits were working at high pressure while he was speaking. •' It's lucky we have all the properties of the village dramatic society in the spare room. John offered to store them." For a moment he caught at her words, then his face fell. " A disguise is no use. I should be stopped and examined. I'd better get into my prison togs again. That will prevent you getting into trouble." " Change into those pyjamas," she eaid. "I'll be back in a minute." "It's madness, Maggie," he protested. "Be quick!" she replied, hurrying out. There was that in her voice and man--1 r.er that compelled him to obey, even though he could not guesa what madness was brewing in her little, obstinate head. She returned and fitted him up with a wig and a beard that champed him into an elderly-looking man. Precious minutes were being gained while they were searching the garden. Tbey would be trampling her beds and borders, but that did not matter. ;■'■'. ; "What does this mummery mean?" he asked.

She clapped her hands with delight. "The beard alters your voice. Get into bed."

He obeyed because he had gone too far now with her madness to carry out any other plans. For a moment they listened to the search party threshing about the garden. Then she began to undress. "Maggie !" he protested, throwing the bedclothes aside. There was a new note in his protest—a moral note arising from the depths.of his startled manhood. "Keep in bed and leave It to me." Her royal, her sublime unconcern, as she continued to undress herself, left him no choice but to keep under the bedclothes.

"If yon went to help mo turn yonr face to the wall." A petticoat slipped down as she spoke, and he jerked round to the wall as though her words had turned him over. There was a loud and determined hammering npon the outside door. Blended for Gerrard Lethbridge, with the knocking and the clamour outside was the rustle of his sister's petticoats —the of her corsets as she took them off.

"Open the door," sried a harsh voice, "or we'll knock it down."

Mary, the servant, let them in. From the bedroom they heard them trampine About the lower rooms. During the tense minutes of that Bearch Mrs. -Hindle 'finished her preparations. They were coming up at last—-tramping in a body np the stairs. There was a painful moment of respite before a heavy fist rattled tno door.

"Open the door P* . Again it was the harsh-voiced wasrder who spoke. "Go away \" cried Mrs. Hindle, frantically. "Go awoy ! Yon can't come in here. You can't I" ,

"He's in there !" crifld a woman on the landing. "She's hiding him. Knock the door down I*'

"Open this door I" The warder was a man. who preferred to give full "opportunities for obedience before taking extreme measures.

"Oh, dear ! Whatever shall Ido ! Go away ! Please do go away I There's no convict in here. You can't come in ! I won't open the door } —I won't 1"

To the group on the landing the frantic .woman's wild words could only have one meaning.' The door shivered and strained, but it held against the first heavy lurch. Mrs: Hindle screamed like a woman in the hist extremity of distress. The second lurch carried the door from its hinge 3 and it fell with a crash inside the room. Three wardtrs, followed by six men and women froih the village, stepped over the door an into the room. They stopped near the door" —a Biasing, open-mouthed, bewildered group. Arrested by what they saw, they nuddled close together as it for mutual ■ support and stood as thongn rooted to the, bedroom carpet, A headed man in tho bed, and Mrs. Hindle irilher nightdress, cringing into the far corner and sobbing distractedly. Her clothes were scattered about the room— on chairs and even on the floor.

It was the significance of these things that Drought about that thirty seconds of chilled silence. One of the women found her tongue first and set the keynote for all the remarks that followed.

"Mrs. Hindle," she said, "by all that's wonderful !*'

"Mrs. Hindle by all that's damnable !"' said one of tha men

"By Gad'.!" exclaimed a warder. "Weriß'disturbin' a pair of lovers." "There'll be a divorce, mark my words 1"

"I'll give my notice in at onca !'* This was from the servant, who had followed them in and witnessed everytlbing from the back of the group.

"The convict will be getting away !" shouted the harsh-voiced warder, suddenly remembering his duty and making for the door.

Acting to discipline, the warders followed him, and, suddenly finding themselves being left by the persons in authority, the villagers shuffled out after them. The servant dashed away to her own room.

Half-an-hour later, clothed, disguised, fed, and with food and money in his pockets, Gerrard Lethbridge hurried out into tha night. Baffled for that day, tho man-hunt was over. They would begin again in the morning, but then he would be far away.

Mrs. Hindle hurried up to her boy's bedroom. They had awakened him, and he had hurried Into her room after they had gone. She bad coaxed him back to bed, and he wan asleep again. As Bhe looked down at her sleeping boy, that which had upheld her during the crisis broke, and she sank on to a chair besido te bed, weeping bitterly. Her sobs woke little John Hindle, ,and the little chap did all he could to comfort his mother.

Mrs. Hindle met her husband in the hall when he returned the following afternoon. There wa3 that in his face which she expected, for he had come through the village from the station.

"You have heard something, John ?" "Yes," he replied grimly. "Too much and yet too little. You," he continued, seizing her roughly by the shoulders, '"shall tell me all." "Yes, John. Come up to the bedroom.'' He followed her, and she told him all. She showed him the convict's clothes. "Did he get away ?" "He will be on the Continent now."

Ho took her in his arms. "You modern Lady Godiva ■!" he cried, rapturously. "John, dear," she said, nestling to him, "we shall have to leave this district. My reputation is ruined." SUFFER FROM NEURITIS OR RHEUMATISM ?- "ASK LOASBY ABOUT IT." A patient come to "ask Loasby about it." She was sceptical, had suffered too long and tried too many things to have any faith in any advice or medicine. Loasby's "uricalls" and electrical treatment relieved her right away. Now she has no pains, •] no stiffness of the joints, swelling all gone, and advises everyone to "ask Loasby about it." Uricalls (Loasby's), 4s 6d per bos, three boxes for 135.4. From chemists and grocers or post free from A. M. Loasby, Ltd., the .only prescribing chemists and violet ray •high frequency, electrical experts, 26 and ,27j His Majesty's Arcade, Aucklaad.— -Advt.