THE CAPTIVATING CAPTAIN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2840, 19 August 1908, Page 94

THE CAPTIVATING CAPTAIN.

By 11. Cheagh Hexry. When I became engaged to Dick Daw- , son everybody told me how lucky I wa.s , which wae superfluous information, for, nobody knew as well as I did quite the , extent of my good fortune. i Imagine a man six foot two, handsome , as Adonis, with £6000 a year and the temper of an angel being in love with one -and that one, me. Then fancy anyone making such an obvious Tern ark. Lucky. | I was the luckiest, girl in the world, and , the funny part of it was, Dick always said he was the luckiest man. He couldn t have been, because I'm not out of the wav pretty, I've no money— not a cent, —ami I'm not the least clever. I explained all this to Dick before I accepted him, but it made no difference. . Dick is in the diplomatic service. Jtie is really as perfect as a man can be. His worst fault is jealousy. Dick had Fiench relations, who lived at a lovely old chateau about 50 miles from Paris. H<- was fery anxious to exhibit m© to these people, as I had been the round of his English connections. So it was ai v ranged that we should travel over to Paiis together, chaperoned by an old French lady. I was to go on to Rochard, the place where the de Fremonts' chateau was, the same evening, and Dick, having to see some diplomatic man that night in Paris wa6 to follow next day. On the boat was the usual depressing crowd of uninteresting people,, but amongst them I noticed a little Frenchman, with the loveliest blue eyes I had ever eeen. When Dick was settling Madame de Chambry in a deck chair I happened to drop a magazine, and the blue-eyed Frenchman politely picked it up,

" ana With an elaborate bow handed it back a to me. Just at that moment Dick looked t up and came towards me with rather a scowl. * "What was that Frenchman saying to < yo\i?" "Nothing at all," I answered. ' : "Well, what were you 6aying to him, . . then? It's all the same." , "Merci, monsieur." ' t "Why?" "Because he very jdndly picked up my magazine," I said with dignity, stalking away to Madame de Chambry. When we reached Calais we collected the luggage and stood by the gangway waiting to°get off, when the 'little Frenchman again made his appearance close to us. I couldn't help just looking at him, because he was standing exactly opposite, and I found he was looking at me ; then, like a little idiot, I blushed — why, I don't know. Dick was looking at me too. Gould anyone ever give any real reason for blushing? j I'm sure they couldn't. Then .there was a j rush, and we were scurried up the draw- j bridge and off the pier into the train, and ' so to Paris. Arrived there, we saw j Madame de Chambry into her carriage, ; then Dick and I went and had tea together. My train to Rochard went from another station. Dick saw me off with strings of injunctions as to where I was to get out and so on. We were late, and I had to hustle into the train. Dick asked an official if it was right for Rochard, and ! appealed relieved when he learnt it was, ' as two trains were timed to leave within | a few minutes of each other, and one didn't go there. Dick, standing at the carriage door, was in the midst of saying something rather ' nice to me when a porter rushed up fol1 lowed by two men. The porter pushed Dick roughly asidie, and Dick promptly knocked him down. (1 tliink I said Dick ! had the temper of an angel — of course, I I meant when he wasn't annoyed.) While this was going on ,the two men the porter belonged to seized the bags he had dropped and, laughing heartily, jumped into the I carriage. The train had already commenced to move. One of the men put his head out of the window and threw the porter a \ piece of silver. I just caught a glimpse of Dick's face^ and he looked simply wild. I couldn't think what was the matter till 1 the man who had spoken to the porter from the window turned and sat down opposite me. It was the blue-eyed captain ! Realising the reason of Dick's awesome expression, I ensconced myself behind th« i biggest newspaper I had with me — and stayed there. The captain and his frienc talked and laughed, and I wished I coulc understand what they said. ■ At length I could bear my isolatioi behind the paper no longer, and emerge* i from its folds to find the blue eyes oppo j site fixed on me. Feeling cold, I drey jmy fur closer about me. The captai] raised his hat. I "Is madame cold? Shall I shut th< window?" he asked in French. "Oui — non — merci," I stammered a stiffly as I could. He closed the window and said some thing else I didn't understand about per mitting something, and unfastened hi; rugs. "Non, non, non !" I exclaimed, realising I was to have his rug put over me Dick might really have thought I wa; encouraging him if I had accepted th< warmth of his rug as well as his solici tude. The train was a very slow one. Ii seemed a long way to Rochard. Presently we slowed down and slid into a tiny dimly-lighted station, apparently mile; , from anywhere. The men rose and tool lup their belongings. This was evidentlj | their destination. I felt an overpowering sensation o loneliness, an inexplicable terror at beinj 1 left by myself in the cheerless, shadowj ' compartment of this foreign train, in i, foreign country, understanding little os their jargon, and speaking less. In sheei desperation I addressed the man wht wasn't the captain as he was stepping oui of the carriage.

"Monsieur, monsieur, please! How long is it before I get to Roehard ?" "Rochard!" he exclaimed. "This train is not to #o to Rochard." "Not going to Rochard !" I ciied — "not going !'' "You must descend, mademoiselle, descend at once. The train is to go on. This way, immediate.'' The guard came up to see what was the matter. "I want to go to Rochard/' I explained in my best French. "Madame has missed the connection. There is no other train to-night." "Oh, what shall I do, what shall I do?' I wailed, feeling hopelessly, helplessly wretched. By this time I iiad been fetched out of the train, bag and baggage, and stood before my two fellow-travellers and the guard, pathetically appealing to them in execrable French to help me. The guard with his venerable grey beard and official uniform inspired me with the .most confidence. He> looked very kind and' paternal as he stood there with his lantern, and I wondered whether it might not be better to accompany him in the guard's van to whatever destina- ! tion his train might take me. i "I beg mademoiselle will permit us that ' wo be of service to her,"' said the capI tain. I bowed vaguely. Then an inspiration came to me. A telephone ! I must telephone Dick to come to me at once._ "La telephone. La telephone. Je vienx, vite !" I appealed excitedly to the guard. "Ah, madame, ca, il ny en a pas," he> said. My heart sank. "I can, if mademoi'-flle permit, help mademoiselle. If she will enter into mv automobile, %\ho wnits out of tli^ .<-t:ition. I will hastily bring mademoiselle to_ mv houee, where* she may be safe for to-night,

ma she stall proceed to Rocharc! by the irst train in the morning." What to say to this proposition I didn't j know, and while I stood helplessly won- j derm" what to do the guard flashed his i lantern to the engine- driver, blew a , whistle, and jumped into his van, and ■ the train steamed out of the station, leavin«r me standing between these two ■ strange men, feeling utterly forlorn and extremely foolish. They both bowed low, took off" their hats with a flourish, and introduced themselves as le Captaine Conte de Sevigne and Monsieur Jacques dB Wha e t was Ito do? There was obviously no alternative. "It'will make me most proud to serve m adem2elle/' said the Count piling up my dressing-bag. «I pray you come I followed, limply obedient Out^de the station "ate stood a motor cai. lne amps looked like the eyes, of some^ huge md terrifying monster staring at one out of the darW«. My heart sank as I was assSed into the car and, carefully wrapped inVlarge fur rug. The captain and Moni slur de S Bre got in after me, and, with a ; hoot, we plunged into the darkness. The motor sped panting on and on. I began to feel aa though I had lost, all identity with the frivolous, light-hearted girl who had but a few hours before parted with Dick Dawson. Snow began to fall, and for the first time the Count spoke to his companion. It sounded to me as though he wereswear- ' ing in French. They said something to I the chauffeur, and he went faster than ! before. Suddenly the car sl°wedd°w"' I turned a sharp corner, and stood still. 'The Count got out and opened some sates We went forward again, slowly, and with a heavy clang the gates closed upon us. Though I could see nothing i distinctly, I realised we ■ were in some - sort of tunnel, for the darkness became 1 /I /i TVFCr We stopped again, and the Count came I and handed me out of the car I was trembling, I suppose, for he said, Have no fear, mademoiselle." A shiver ran through me. He guided me through a narrow, dark passage. I heard the snorting of the motor car crow less distinct. Presently a door opened at a touch from the Count, and ' we passed into a luxuriously-furnished ', room, where a bright fire burned and a ', supper table was laid for two. The Count rang a bell, and an elderly, sour-faced woman appeared. "Serve supper for mademoiselle. We will have ours after," he said -in French. The woman looked at me suspiciously. I was cold and horribly hungry, so when my meal appeared I sat down and did full justice to it. The hard-featured woman hovered in and out of the room, and watched me continually as a cat might a mouse. When I rose from the table and went to warm myself at the fire she made a. noise to attract my attention, and motioned me, with a jerk of her head, to follow her. I obeyed, and we passed out of the loom, up a staircase, and along a passage The whole place was dimly lit and mysterious. She stopped before a room at the end of the passage, the dcor of which stood open. She motioned me to enter. I did so with a sinking heart, and had scarcely crossed the threshold when I heardi the door close heavily behind me. It wa.s not the feound of the closing of an ordinary j door, but seemed like the shutting of a trap — a trap in which I found myself inextricably caught ! The room was lit by a small lamp. It was a bedroom, simply furnished. I made a tour of inspection There was a door in the wall which I regarded with suspicion, and, after considerable hesitation, ventured to try. The handle was a false one and would not move. I ran across the room to the door by which I had entered. In vain I turned the handle, pushed and rattled it — the door was looked! So my suspicions had been well.' founded — I was a prisoner. I sat down and triefr to think, to devise some plan by means of which I might make my escape. Rising from the floor, I once more looked round the room. A spidier was creeping slowly up the white blind drawn over the window. I watched it, vaguely fascinated. It reached the top and disappeared round the other side of the blind. Then a eudden inspiration came to me. What lay outside? Might not some possibility of escape lie that way? I drew aside a corner of the blind, but I could 1 see nothing ; all wa6 dark and silent. Very carefully I opened the window and peeped out into the night. The ground gleamed faintly white below, but it wa« difficult to judge the distance. I must find out if it were possible to drop from the window. To that end I took a small ornament from the mantelpiece, and, running back, dropped it out and listened intently. It touched the giound, and I realised that the distance was far too great for me to think of dropping. I turned away again, thiowing up my bands with a gesture of despair. I caught sight of the bed standing with its neat white coverlet, and I remembered to have read of daring escapes from a window by means of bheete. No fooner thought than done. I rushed to the bed, tore off coveil^t, blanket?, and the sheets, which I knotted firmly together, made one end fast to a bed-post, and threw the other end out of the window. I .stooped to fasten my bootlace, fixod my hat more firmly on my head, and walked to the window. For one moment I hesitated, then I took hold of the impromptu rope by which I was to descend. It was taut. Some weight was on it. What could it be? i A moment later a man's hand clutched at the window-sill. Another hand ap- i peared, followed immediately by the head ( and shoulders of a m,v;>. He had evi--. dently climbed up my lad<lc: '?» escape. | I was in a woise plight than ffsiave. I . covered my face with my hand'- ana retreated into the room. I heaid the man's fctens behind me as I coweied in a corner, i

H«-came elosi to me and, as I uttered a shriek of terror, he clapped to Hand quickly over my mouth. Then, lam ashamed to say, I was co frightened that I fainted dead away. . When I awoke to consciousness, who should be bending over me but Dick, my ■own Dick ! - • , , , ■, Then the whole situation flashed bach to my mind. I remembered I was a prisoner in the house of French criminals, that I had been on the point of esoap.ing, and was prevented by the apparition of a strange man, which man, Dick in-, formed me, to my astonishment, was no other than he— Dick— himself. I He explained how he had found out 1 almost as soon as my train had gone that it was the wrong one, and would not feke me to Rochard. He suspected the blueeyed captain and felt furiously jealous, so finding out their destination from the booking clerk, he had hired the fastest motor car he could procure in Pane, and raced after us to the little wayside statioq. at which we had alighted, where he learnt of the arrival of two gentlemen, and an English "Mks," and of our departure all together in the Frenchman's car. ' Beside MmseK with anxiety and iealousy, he had" traced the direction the motor 'had taken, and had followed • hotly on our tracks, helped by the snow which had fallen, and lay crisp 'and thin on the roads. Reaching the iron gates, and seeing by the tracks of the- car that we had turned in there, he climbed over the high wall, and crept up a long drive of overarching trees to reconnoitre round tb* A" light in one of the windows had attracted hie attention. As he watched it, my shadow was suddenly thrown on the white blind. He saw me move towards the window and turn away again, throwing up my arms with a gesture of despair. He realised I was in trouble, and while he was trying to hit on some scheme for communicating with me, the impromptu rope was thrown out. It took only a few moments to tell m« all this, and we promptly decided to lower ourselves by the sheets without loss of time and escape in the motor which awaited us outside. . We had reached the window and wer« just preparing to descend, when the door of the room burst open and the blue-eyed captain rushed in, followed by the sternfaced woman and Monsieur -de Bre. The captain levelled a revolver at Dick s head. I shrieked and threw myself between them. . , , "What are you doing here, sir.' thundered the Frenchman. "Mademoiselle is under my protection. Leave this house immediately." "Mademoiselle was in my care. Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu ! I fastened the door, -but never thought of the window," wailed the -stern-faced housekeeper. The captain stopped the torrent of her eloquence and turned to Dick. "Explain your presence, sir, nc- commanded sternly. , r. 3 And Dick explained. When he had finished, the blue-eyed captain laughed heartily, and turned to me with a low bow. , "Since mademoiselle is so anxious, to leave us I will not keep her against her ■will. Does she prefer to leave by the window, or -nill she accept my escort to the front door?" „■,•» Oh ! how small and utterly foolish I felt when I realised I had not fallen into the hands of villains after all, but most courteous and correct Frenchmen, who had placed me in charge of the only woman available, while I evolved the thrilling situation from my own igamination.—M. A^R