From Cash Girl to Countess; or the Peer and the Plumber.

Otago Witness, Issue 2541, 26 November 1902, Page 71

From Cash Girl to Countess; or the Peer and the Plumber.

(By Bertha M. Mud.)

CHAPTER I. THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER. "Hist!" The^se words fell from the lips of a goodlooking man of sinister aspect", who glanced around the aisles of the Big Bargain Bazaar one sweltering, sunny afternoon. He gave no special heed to the mark down sale of coloured chalks, nor did he seem to care that there was great excitement over that day's special drive in harness. What could it-mean? Perhaps Ed. Easfelake, the elevator boy, knew, but if so he said nothing except to glance hoarsely at tue stranger, who stepped into the elevator. "Dog cake department!" muttered the mysterious man in a menacing manner. CHAPTER 11. THE CAPBIOE OP A CBUBL COQUETTE. Cora Coogan was one of those faultless beauties with delicate, peach-blow complexions anQ golden hair. Her rivals admitted that she was a pronounced blonde, but they spelled it p-e-r-o-x-ide. Weren't they mean? True, she was but a caah girl in the employ of the great firm of Kasli, Sayles, and Co., but for 35 years she had been known as the Belle of the Bargain Bazaar. Winders of her great beauty had been wafted abroad, and the haughty Duke of Montmorency had sworn she should be his. He reckoned without Ed, the elevator boy, with whom she had plighted her troth. The Duke had halted her now, and as she was getting change for a waiting customer, she was in no hurry. "For the last time, will you marry me?" hissed the noble lord. "Are you « real duloe?" she asked eagerly. For answer he opened the dress suit case he carried and took out his title. One glance showed the heartless coquette that it was guaranteed by the Title Guarantee Company. \ "Aubrey, I- am yours!" she whispered softly. And faithless as she was fair, for- i getting the love she had plighted to Ed ■ Eastlake, the lad in tho lift, a boy who ' was bound lo* rice. ghe fled to become the proud bride of Aubrey, Duke of Montmorency, and together they hastened o'er I tho sea to be in time for the Coronation^ '

CHAPTER m. A VOW FOB VENGEAKCE. As days passed Ed. Eastlake uttered no complaint, but by bis- grim, determined air it could be seen that it would not be well for the Duke of Moatmorenoy to cross the path of the pale, imperious elevator boy. One day he disappeared, and it was ru- ] moured that he had become" a plumber. "He will now move in the same social circles rb the Duke," his friends •whispered among themselves. "Then heaven help the ! head of the house of Montmorency J" CHAPTER IV. I -SHADOWS AT HAKKTFAKK TOWEBS. j The fair Duohees of Montmorenoy petulantly paced her boudoir at Hankypank Towers, the ancestral seat of the Montmorencyß. In vain the Duke besought her to be patient. "Have I sot given you all

that refinement could wish or money coukt buy?" he asked. "No I" Her eyee were blazing. "You have squandered my ctaver, the money $ had when I listened to your honeyed •words*, the change for a waiting 1 cusfcox&tXt. Per* haps that customer is waiting yet." Sha gazed around, her wildly^ "There may be yet time to go back!" she cried. "In fancy I cat. hear the sales person saying, 'Come, check t Gracious, Cora, what keeps your' I wiU go back— but. no, I forgot I That money i» gone, ie gone I" Then she grew calmer. The picture Itf her mind's eye of the customer waiting fotf the change had still a. power to eoothe. "Yes," she continued, "and l for you I threw over Ed, the elevator boy, ana crushed his proud spirit. I came wivt you away from the glamour of my girlhood days in the Big Bargain Bazaar, to spend the reat of my existence amid such unsanw tary surroundings I" .

The Duke mused a moment. "I care not what happens," he said, "so long as you «r» happy! Aye!" he cried, "even if it means a tiled bathroom and hot .and cold water on every floor of Hankypank Towers !" Rushing to the other side of the room he rang the bell, which no one answered. "Send for a plumber I" he muttered hoarsely. CHAPTER V. THE AUEKICAN HfVASIOJT. "Ha, ha! Ha, ha! Ha, ha!" These words were uttered by a man clad in diamonds and a cardigan jacket. It was no other than our friend, Ed. Eastlake, an elevator boy no more^ but a proud and prosperous plumber, estimates cheerfully given. CHAPTER VI. A LITTLE GAME WITH DESTIJTT. Little more remains now to be told. Unable to pay the bill for sanitary plumbing brought in by Ed. Eastlake, the Duke of 'Montmorency saw a mechanic's lien put upon his ancestral halls of Hankypank 1 Towers, and, at the foreclosure sale, the property was bought in by the ex-elevator boy, and in two weeks more the last of the Montmorencys had drunk himself to death like a gentleman, although the papers said he died of a broken heart. Ed Eastlake married the fair Cora, Duchess of Montmorency, and with, the wealth at her husband's command she cut the figure in society for which she was so 'eminently fitted. There do be some who say that it was all a deep-laid plot, in which Aubrey, last Duke of Montmorency, was the dupe. But who can guess a coquette's heart or a plumber's purpose? — New York) Herald.