[THIRD PRIZE.] The Purser's Love Story.

Otago Witness, Issue 2387, 30 November 1899, Page 40 (Supplement)

[THIRD PRIZE.] The Purser's Love Story.

BY MISS TOMMY.

(Otago Daily Times and Witness Christmas Annual 1899 Prize Tale Competition. )

CHAPTER I.

ARRIS it were as got us into the nx-arter leavin' > the Dunstan an' ; buyin' a viller in Dunedin near a cood school

suitable for Sarah Jane as were a heiress, Harris an' me havin' made a pile up at the Dunstan.

But bless you ! adversity comes upon you when you least expect it, accordin' as man's perclivity to specelation. Harris's perclivity landed us in the bankruption court, an' a percession of sales took our goods, our viller, and all our money.

" Harris," I says to my husbing one day, "Harris, arter this I'm one o' them new women. I'll jine them political leagues, an' get perfection for the money as I earn, an' never no more shall husbing of mine make ducks an' drakes o' my hard earned gains. Women is born fy-nancyers, an' can see through the dodges o' rogues an' vagabonds -with, one eve shut." Harris were real sorry, so I kinder let him down gently. There were go in me yet, an' I took an' walked out to Dr Peyton's, as I'd known at the Dunstan, an' acted the

mother to offtens, when he were a new chum, flighty but honourable. " Mrs Harris !" the doctor cries out when he sees me. " It's real good to see you. Come right in ; you've got to stay now you've corned." An' so says Mrs Peyton, an' the gals as had growed out of knowledge, i Dr Peyton it were as got me the place as stewardess on board the Hauroto, an' we went to Wellin'ton to live — leastaways them was my headquarters, an' Harris drove a cab, me an' Dr Peyton thinkin' it best for his moral feelin's to give 'im somethin' to do.

An' that's how I come to be actin' as chaperown to Miss Mollie, Dr Peyton's youngest daughter, as was doin' the round trip for her health, her havin' studied an' taken a degree as Bachelor of Arts, an' muddled her brains over solutionising mat-ter-o-maxical problems.

Miss Mollie hadn't been on board more'n an hour afore her future was all fixed up in my mind. The purser ■were as nice a young fellow as you'd see in a month o' Sundays, as the sayin' goes, an' I made up my mind as him an' Miss Mollie was made for each other.

I smiled to myself when I see the purser lookin' at Miss Mollie whenever she ap-

peared, an' Miss Mollie pretendin' not to see him, an' Miss Tucker — as couldn't hold a candle to her — tryin' all her little arts to attract the attention of the only goodlookin' fellow aboird, as was legible, I mean.

Miss Mollie hadn't studied algibricks for nothin', an' well she know'd that a man worth havin' weren't to be caught by chaff, so she talked with the captain an' officers, an' never once let on as she cared a fig ' whether Miss Tucker had the purser or not — but, bless you! I know'd.

Five days we was a-goin' to Sydney, an' no matter what dudges I were up to — an 1 they wasn't a few, neither — to bring they two together it didn't make no difference, Miss Mollie were that set upon havin' of her own way an' goin' contrairylike as she never gave the purser a chance till she were goin' ashore at Sydney, some friends havin' come to meet her. Just at the gangway she tripped over a rope an' would have had a nasty fall, only the purser were there an' caught her.

My, bless you ! t ilk about cupiders and harrows, with them heathen gods of love.. There ain't no sich a thing in natur. It's all ele tive profinity i.n' magnified confluence as does the mischief atwixt souls. I've seed lots of the world in London afore

I come out, an 1 at the Dunstan, where all sorts an' sizes o' human natur' consorted, but this I will say, as I never seed no little cupiders flyin' about in the air a-piercin' two hearts with one harrow. But I've seen flashes of light pass from eye to eye, an' them it are as deals out life an' death to happiness. When the purser caught Miss Mollie in his arms, she looked up, the blue eyes met the brown uns, an' the elective spark flashed atwixt the two, an' well I know'd that even if they two never met again, they was born for each other, made for each other, an' happiness could never be theirs 'cept through the union of the souls of them two alone.

An' then they shooked hands, — which they couldn't do no less — he havin' saved her from a nasty fall. An' I were right glad, for next to the elective spark as Hashes from eye to eye is the magnetic confluence conveyed by the touch of two hands. I noticed the purser held Miss Mollies hand longer nor he need have done, an' I noticed too as he looked right inter her two wide-open blue eyes like as if he were readin' of her very soul, an' he were a-sayin' to her, "I love you, I love you." That were what I read afore Miss Mollies eye-lids closed on her scarlet cheeks an' her friends hurried her away, but the purser an' me was good friends arter that trip, an' well I know'd what he wanted when he come'd to gossip with me arterwards.

CHAPTER H

It were two months arter I chaperowned Miss Mollie to Sydney as Dr Peyton asked me to chaperown her back from Melbourne, she havin' gone overland arter seem' of the sights of Sydney — the Town Hall as is the most beautiful nail you ever seed — an' the organ, the biggest an' best, an' played that beautiful that it made you think you was in Heaven a-listenin' to the angels —

an' the gardens, an' parks, an' everythin' there were to be seen.

I could see as the purser were excited as we drew near to our destination at the Union Company's wharf in Melbourne. I were excited myself an' couldn't blame him — an' I waved an' waved when I seed a familiar figure as I know'd for Miss Mollies on the wharf. She had been visitin' up country, an' her friends as brought her down was anxious to get home again oy train, an' f lad to hand her over to me safe an' sound, ut ho gladder nor I were to see her sweet face again, nor gladder nor the purser were to judge by the kinder devourin 1 look in his eyes as he looked at her. It was tair astonishin' the airs as Miss Mollie put on d'rectly minute as she seed the purser alongside V me. ■ It fair beat me flat, an' the way she looked up at a tall Melbourne masher by her side put me out of conceit with my own man-you-vrin', but the minute she got me by myself in my cabin, then I know'd as how she were still my own New Zealan' daisy, an' all the airs an' graces was but a-purpose. We was stayin' two or three days in Melbourne, an' there was lots of places Miss Mollie. hadn't seen, her relations livin* in a different spear-like, so we visited Cole's Book Arcade, the Eastern Market, an' lots o' places as wonderful as the 'Rabian Nights tells on, an' everywhere we went the masher — as I must say were a cousin of Miss Mollies an' in a bank respectable — went with us, generally with his nose up in the air, as if he were holdin' it above the common scenes of the earth. I bought heaps of things for Sarah Jane, an' so did Miss Mollie, not that we wanted 'em, but they was dirt cheap, an' Miss Mollie had 'em all shoved inter a net, an' the masher carried 'em, very much to his disgust. Sometimes the purser went with us, an' them times I noticed as Miss never bought nothin'. The second day we had lunch altogether — that • is, four on vs — in the city. I thought the masher must have been high up in the bank to get away like he did. An' then we took the tram out to 'Quarium an' Expedition Gardins. I . felt sorry for the fish, as they kept in such muddy- water, an' I noticed once or twice when I were deep in mediation as the master tried to draw Miss Mollie away to look at somethin' else. But Miss Mollie hadn't drawed angles an' try-angles for nothin'. Deep study of . obstruse promb'.ers had teached her that 'there was straight roads an' 1 crooked uns, an' the straight one ' she know'd was with her chaperown, an' she wouldn't try no crooked ones, so the masher frowned an' sword under his breath, an' the purser an' me looked on an' tried to solve the prombler as to whether Miss Mollie cared for her cousin the masher or not.

In the evenin', which we had dinner on board an' then went to the theatre to hear Miss Squallor sing, an', lor! how she did' •screech ! The .purser sat nex' me an' were that perlite, puttin' on my shawl proper an' axin' me how I liked Senor Bawler's song, an' helpin' on me to the cab arterwards — I'd a bin' squeedged to death else — an' then arter all for Miss Mollie to be cross, an' say as how I were reglar flirtin', an' what would Harris say, she'd like to" know

"Harris ain't got no call to saynothin'," says I short like. " Him it were as brought me down to a stewardess, an' wait on them as don't give no thanks, an' the purser hasn't a thought for nobody, 'cept a gal as is tooked up with that toff an' helpin! a pore old woman." An' then I fair blubbered, an' Miss Mollies arms was round' my neck in next to no time. •

" That toff, indeed !" she says, with a sort of giggle. " Why, Harris, that toff is my cousin, next door to a brother, you know.- " Them sorter brothers, ain't nothin 1 to count," I says with a determined sort of put-my-foot-down way I has when I'm rousted, but, bless you, Miss Mollie jest turned her face away an' laughed. " Oh, Harris, Harris ! You're as transparent as this 'ere veil. I can see quite plain what you're after. Now, Harris, take a little advice. You know I've studied matter-o-matticks, an' I've had my eyes opened symtomattically, therefore I can see round most crooked corners, an' I can see as how you're a-dyin', Harris, to have a finger in a pie as may never be baked. Take my advice, you dear old creature, an' let sich foolish things as love alone."

CHAPTER m.

The same four on us started for the Soo-ter-lodge-tical Gardings next day. In course, the "toff" havin' got another holiday from the bank a-purpose to spend the last day with his cousin, were there as large as life, with his collar an' cuffs, his dimont rings, an' pin, an' studs, an' gloves, an' stick, an' befltopper, an' all devotion to Miss Mollie, which it were a moral as the purser had to devote himself to me. The Gardings was that beautiful, an' the wild beasts as nateral as any pictur' ever draw"d on 'em, so as you'd think you was in Africa where they grow 'em. Anyone as took that circus round 'ud make their fortune right off. How-some-dever, I'm porcastinatin' the catastrop which came upon us unexpected-like. The Melbourne trams is real nice to ride in — the hills ain't so steep as Dunedin hills, an' the dummy is the nicest place of all, leastways I thought so once, but now Well, we had to get back early 'cause the Hauroto might sail early, an' the purser had his business to attend to, so we all gets together on the dummy of the tram, an' as merry as school children, not knowin' what fate had in store for us, when all of a sudden round a corner came some gallopin' horses with a great heaped-up dray of bananas. All I could see were the great iron-shod hoofs of the horses a-pounditr the pavement close upon us. People in the street screamed, an' the driver an' guard whistled and struck the bells, but it were all in vain, an' too late. The iron uprights of the dummy was bent an' twisted, an' the great hoofs was upon us. I were lookin' straight into the face of Death, an' Harris, an' Sarah Jane, an' Dr Peyton as had gived me his daughter to take care on — all was afore me.

Somethin were crushin' the breath out of me, an" I tore my eyes away from lookin' at them hoofs to look for Miss Mollie. She were white as death, but in her wideopen blue eyes there were a brave look. " Oh, Mis< Mollie, Miss Mollie," I cried. It were all I could do. I were pinned down to my seat, an' never heard the crowds cryin' out for me to " Jump ! Jump ! ' as if I could jump an' the wheels of the dray comin' over me — crushin' down the dummy an' me, an' all on us. I could feel 'em tearin' offen my clothes, an' a burnin' feelin' like red-hot iron over my legs. If I could only save my darlin', I thought, then welcome death, an' I cried out in my agony as I put out my hands to hold back the wheels, " Save Miss Mollie, Mr Purser, save Miss Molly ! "

An' then I know'd nothin' 'cept as I felt like flyin' through the air, an' all round me were a cooin' noise like ;is pigeons make when they flies from their nests in the early mornin'.

I were floatin' about in space, I<i'jk;r>' for my home in another spear, whic'i v might be Jupiter, or it might 'a-bin Mars, as them skyentific fill-officers says so much about. It might 'a-bin Venus, her as comes so close to the earth when great folk die,* so as their souls won't have so far to travel when the body dies. I couldn't say. I only know I were floatin' about Bomewheres.

But arter a while, I woke up in a strange place. I know'd it were a hospital — I'd been in lots, an' I tried to lift my head, but I could only moan, " Oh, lor, oh lor! "

" You mustn't speak," said a pleasantfaced woman.

Well I didn't want to speak when I were perambulatin' in other spears, floatin' in oxy-jane, or hider-jane, but now on earth speak I must. So I says in a beseechin' sort of voice, an' I give you my word as my voice were only a whisper, " Miss Mollie? "

" You're frien's a-gettin' on fine," said the nurse to pacify me. " Now, you must take this, an' go to sleep." Well, I'd done some nursin' in my time, an' I know'd right well as nurses was real tyrants, an' not to be fought again, so I give way, an' went off once more perambulatin' in the spears.

I slep' an' woke up, an' were fed like a baby for some days, an' then I axed again for Miss Mollie. "Were she hurt much?"

" Hardly at all," said the nurse, " but dreadfully frightened and shaken. Her relations came for her from St. Kilda, but she refused to leave you."

" Oh, my darlin' Miss Mollie," I murmured.

" And you shall see her to-day if you're good."

Oh, what happiness it were for sure when I woke up an' found Miss Mollie a-sittin' by my bedside. I forgot my head, which I know now looked as big as the Indian elephant in the Gardings, an' I forgot my legs, which was all squashed up. I couldn't think of no troubles when Miss Mollie sat there lookin' so well.

"He saved you?" I whispered

" Yes, darlin', he saved me. Dragged me out from under their very hoofs. Wasn't it good of him? Wasn't it brave of him? But oh, poor darlin', it was still braver of you to hold back the very wheel while he got at me, an' cry to him while you was bein' torn to death to save me."

I should think it were brave of him, I must allow it were, an' yet arter all I were disappointed. I never thought as a toff oould be so brave. Of course I hoped the purser would a-done it — but the toff !

"Miss Mollie," I said, arter a week had gone by, an' me pernounced out of danger, an' a wonderful recovery, though not able to use hand or foot, an' Miss Mollie anxious to get home again an' study for another degree — "Miss Mollie, have you see him vet? "

" Yes, you old dear ! " she says, a-buryin' of her face in my pillar, which were blushin' like fire. " I seed him yesterday, an' I'm going to say good-bye to him to-day. He sent his love to you, an' — an' this kiss, Harris. He is gettin' on famous, an' you must make haste an' get well very soon, for you'll have to dance at my weddin' before long."

'"Them legs of mine 'ull never do no more dancin', I doubt, Miss Mollie, an' 'twere the tother un I were match-makin' for. How-some-dever, if matches is made in Heaven, you'll have Mr Right, anyhow."

" What a funny old darlin' you are, Harris," she says, kissin' me again. " Why, of course, it's Mr Wright I'm goin' to have."

CHAPTER IV.

It were a year come nex' Christmas, an' I were at home again in Wellin'ton, patched up by them clever Melbourne doctors, but after all only jest able to hobble about. Arter Miss Mollie went away a sort of fever took me in the hospital, an' everythin' was jumbled up in my mind. I could 'aye declared as how the purser came into the ward one day an' kissed me, an' told me to get well an' come back to Noo Zealand ; but the nurse afterwards told me it were the " toff " as saved Miss Mollie as came, an' I were forced to believe her, which showed as I hadn't finished perambulatin' in unknown regions.

I must say as the Tram Company was uncommonly thoughtful, an' not only paid my expenses at the hospital, but also gave me a present as kep' me independent like ; though but for read in', which I allers depreciated, an' Sarah Jane gettin' into the Telephone Exchange, an' allers ringin' me up when she has a spare moment, to keep my pecker up, an' Harris doin' well drivin' a cab, I should have felt bein' unable to 'elp. How-some-dever, it ain't no use for folk to try to alter the settlements of fate, or wishin' for things as they don't offen's get, or when they does get it they don't want it. I've seed a poor woman prayin' for the love of a man as treated her like dirt, till, like the worm, she turned round an' hated him, an' then — so perverse is man — he began to love her, jest when it were too late, an' oh, lor ! they was unhappy.

Offen-times I'd wished to be independent, an' now I were so I were allers wishin' I could work, an' sometimes I felt low-like, 'specially when Christmas was a-comin' nigh, an' so it kinder cheered me up to get a letter from Miss Mollie axin' me to spend Christmas, an' be at the weddin', which were fixed for Boxin' Day. "He gets his holler-days then," she wrote, puttin' four big lines under the " he," as if I didn't know quite well who her " he " were without that. How-some-dever, I excepts the invite, an' proud I felt I tell you when I addresses of my letter to

MISS MARY PEYTON, MASTER OF ARTS, DUNEDIN, for Miss Mollie had taken another degree, an' were on an equality with English dons, an' sich.

Well they did make a fuss over me, an' the purser actially came in the evenin' apurpose to see me. I hoped he'd got over his likin' for Miss Mollie, an' was turnin' his thoughts on Miss Doris, who were both tall, an' handsome, but not so good-lookin' as Miss Mollie in my opinion. If I weren't happy I ought to have been. Waited upon hand an' foot I were, with my brekust brought to bed, an' everythin' like a lady born, but excited, of course, over the weddin' , an' it not bein' the purser, though he looked as happy as if he were a-goin' to be spliced hisself by the minister at Knox Church nex' day. The " toff " weren't there at all ; but, in course, that didn't surprise me. I thought

perhaps il weren't etterket for him to come to the house, so near the wedd n', an" when I axed Miss Mollie about him she jest laughed an' skipped about the room, an' snapped her fingers more like a giddy young girl nor a professor of matter-o"-matticks.

" Wait till to-morrow," she says. " Oh, you dear old muddle-headed darlin', wait till to-morrow."

When Boxin' Day came, there was 1, all figged up in mv black satin as were a relic of England afore them Dunstan day. I wored my real lace fishers, an' a new black bonnet with pink roses, an' a bokay as the purser sent me with his love, which I looked a real swell, though I were lame an' confused like.

Miss Doris were the only bridesmaid, an' she wore a creamy sort of soft silk, an' a hat to match, nearly covered with flowers. Mrs Peyton looked real lovely, an' nearly as young as her girls ; but what we all looked at were Miss Mollie.

Her gown were rich white satin broche, with a beautiful lace yoke an' trimmin's, an' a Court train. Round her neck she wore a lovely pearl necklace, as belonged to the family heirlooms, an' on her head were a rich lace veil, an' she carried a most beautiful shower bokay. She were a real pictur', an' so everybody said. The church were that crowded an' covered with beautiful flowers that my head were in a reg'lar whirl, as I didn't know if I were bein' married myself to the gentleman as Dr Peyton told of to look arter me, or only a bridesmaid, which I didn't know what to do, not havin' thought of lookin' up the ceremonial.

An' then I seed the purser an' Miss Mollies brother go past us all, right up to the rails, as they marries folks by, an' reg'lar toffs they both looked, an' I wondered how the reel ' toff" 'ud look, an' I fare to say as how I felt proud as all that congregation should see the dimond rings, an' pins, an' studs as our Miss Mollie had taken away from Melbourne.

Surely he were late, for there were the organ pealin' out, an' there were a vision of loveliness passin' afore my eyes up the church with Dr Peyton. I got that uneasy, as I wanted to go out of the church, an' hurry him up, an' I fare shook with indignation, but there were the minister givin' out the hymn, an' I reg'lar wedged in. No one else seemed anxious at all, an' everybody's eyes were fixed on our bride.

Perhaps arter all they was bein' married by proxy. I often heerd tell of sich marryin's, an' he mightn't have been able to get away jest then, all the banks bein' topsey-turvev like through calls an' liquordation. An' lor ! I did hope in my heart as the proxy would be illegal, an' that the purser as I seed puttin' the ring on to Miss Mollies finger would be tied to her in reel downright earnest.

It were the purse as walked hand in hand down the isle with Miss Mollie arter the ceremonial, an' it were the purser as led her to the carriage arterwards.

The breakfast were reel grand, an' the cake a reg'lar statue with icin' an' flowers. Miss Doris got the ring, which were a sign of another weddin' comin' on, an' the speeches an' noise reg'lar bothered me 'cause my head still felt the effec's of that day on the dummy. " You've never congratulated us, Harris," said the purser, standin' afore me hand in hand with Miss Mollie. Then they both kissed me afore all the folks, an' I felt stupider nor ever.

" I don't understand," I says. " Where's your husband, Miss Mollie? Him as draw'd you from under them dreadful hoofs? Oh! I see 'em now, an' I feel 'em in every bone of my body."

" Hush, hush, dear," says Miss Mollie, goin' a little pale, an' then her an' the purser takes me to my own little room, an' tells me everythin'.

"It were just a little joke, dear," says M'ss Mollie. " An' this is my husband. The very one as you choose' for me yourself. Him it were as leaped across the dummy to save me when my cousin only thought of savin' 'imself an' his fine kid gloves, an' jumped clear at the first sign of danger. An' Ted was so sorry ' for you, dear, but he couldn't save xis both, an' he got hurt too savin' me: Forgive us the little joke. You were so sure all the time that cousin Robert was the man I was goin' to marry. We just wanted to

see how long you'd be afore you found out." ~ "I never know'd nothin','' I says. "I think I were unconscientiou's even afore the worst come. All I know'd were I wanted you to be saved, an' I wanted the purser to save you." An' then they both hugged trie again like anythin', and the purser said -. ■ •' .

" Now, Harris, .you mustn't call us Miss Mollie an' the purser n,b longer. We're old ' married folk now, an 1 our name's Wright — Mr an 1 Mrs "Wright."