CHAPTER I.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7808, 12 September 1903, Page 2

CHAPTER I.

, -. One spring afternoon in the early years the eighties, two young ladies were going over No. 8, Alington Street, " a desirable residence," in house-agent's parlanoe, lying in a quiet neighbourhood, somewhere "between South Kensington and the river. . "Do hold up your skirts, Aggie— the *ist is something awful! The last people ten off without paying their rent, and left half their furniture behind. I believe the landlord would do anything to get respect- - «ble tenants like vs t friends of Dr Drysdale'e." "I daresay he would; the whole plaoe Urants thoroughly doing up," said Miss Mayne, the elder sißter. "I don't much f-iicy ooming into a house after swindlers ttough. How careless to leave the garden L (door open!" y -Miss Kate Mayne had stepped out on to ihe weed-grown patch of grass and gravel aA the back where a few late lilacs still "Wed their bunches of Dale sweetness. "'Aggie, do come here! Ive found something 50 extraordinary — a baby-ohild sound ■ •sleep hugging a guineapig. Can the last tenants possibly have left her behind?" " • .- It was certainly a tiny child, fast asleep In a corner beside a rickety old flower- . yMisnd. As the two ladies stood staring, a ■"jjlpr. of deep blue eyes suddenly opened, and fjl'elr possessor struggled up to a sitting Jfature. :~i "Is my dadda come home?" She scramhl%|to get up, and Katie Mayne involuntarily Ifcld out a band. " We've been asleep, piggy i 7*l? toe, we'm very hungry, bofe of us." ■" L -^'M - * 1 Who is your dadda, and where has he jg'one?" Miss Mayne always talked to Children as if they were sure to be rather saughty, but this little girl did not seem td mmd. : "Why, my dadda is the gentleman that fives here — don't you know bim, an' Sotgiia and Mr Bowes, an' piggy, an' me? _.L-'Bfr Bowes said dadda would take me in the ;L'Bhip, and Sophia cwied, an' put the money ■ y'£&' : -ier pocket, an* tbe milkman was vewy •L iirtwy cross, but he pave me a little tiny i-_cop for piggy in my little cup. Piggy an' .Sue drunk turn about, and wo had biscuits * jprif currants, and bread and butter out of file cupboard, but now it's all done, and Jfre're awfully hungry for tea. Can you give ;us some tea, please, if dadda doesn't (Dome to-night?" _ ■" Good gracious ! the swindler's child !" ejaculated Miss Mayne ; " put her down ithis instant, Katie, you don't know what Infection she mayn't hove about her !" for jt&ifs Kate had sunk down on the grass, fted had taken the little five-year-old waif |ni to her knee. : "How long has dadda been away?" she fcaked softly. y " One day, free days," .aid the little girl Jfejeet-edly, " oh, I am so dreffle hungry, an' '■'■■ fcjtfgy wants his tea, too," and she began !to stuff ominously- • __. " I must get her something to eat," cried J_ate impulsively, " I never heard such a fetory in my life, if what I gness is true. |(STiy, there is a door in the wall at the rbeok ; I wonder if any of the neighbours jknow the child his been left here alone!" She was through the gate in the wall in j|& instant, and had caught a milkman who mas serving milk in front of a small baker's •hop: '"the little girl at No. 8?— -you don't ' 'igaj as they've been and left the child there *tl by herself?" said the milkman. •' I've fcnown folks leave cats and such like, but fc baby beats all ! I give her a drop o 1 jmilk on Toosday, though they was owin' -line a fortnight, but there now, who'd a thought- — " "■ ,Miss Kate was back in the garden with . Irons and milk in a borrowed jug before the milkman finished his sentence. •*.-_. "Is that my tea? shall I get piggy's cup? lie's kiokin' wif his toes;" and" in no y|Mn*e "tea" was laid on the flower stand •mder the shabby lilac bushes, and piggy ' phd his mistress were hard at work on it. T~"Agglß, what are we to do about this i_tild ! ? We can't leave her here all night." . " I've been putting some questions to her, fend I'm oonvinoed some of these people she talks about come and see her from time fco time— this Mr Bowes I fancy, who must be ker father's accomplice— the bedroom at the top of 'the house looks as if it were inhibited. If -" •. " Thank God for my good supper, Amen ;' Mod piggy's too. Are you goin' to put me ■' **» bed?" demanded the waif -baby, gazing Jp afc Katie with the utmost confidence. PI putted myself to bed last night, on'y •klr Bowes came tramplin*, txamplin', after H was quite dark, an' 1 fought ifc was my ■wn dadda coming ever so softly. An' be, brought me bread and buttei*, 'cos I hadn'fc had no supper, an' — ob, I believe that was lir Bowes lookin' in jusl now !" •The Misses Mayne started up ; they weie - Mever quite sure whether the door at the j-pek did or did not close softly, buta moment later when they looked down the road there was no one to be seen, and they said -§__... to one another. " I saw Mr Bowes," announced the small L child confidently, " he's vewy shy, my dadda y s toya — p'raps he fought you was Sophia 'Corned back," and she rubbed her cheek iof tly against Miss Kate's hand. y .'We can't leave her here, Aggie!" ■';<"-"" We must take her to the houss-agents'," •aid Miss Mayne with decision, " it is their »ffair rather than ours." But when the ladies reached Fergusson and Carter's office, the little birl trotti..^ docilely between them, they found that it was past six ©'dock, and the agents' premises were clpsed. "Is I goin' home wif you, an piggy, .-. W ''-?- "There's the police station," faltered Jfcss Kate; she knew her sister was not elw^ys to be persuaded into any course of ijMjtibn, but that a little judicious opposition - -might accomplish the end desired. " You'll gov with us for the' night," announced Miss Agatha. .The astonishment and confusion of the Jttpuse-agents the next- day afc being confronted with the Miss Maynes's "find" is kard to describe ; it was inconceivable that • house should be handed over feo them as empty, and all the time contain a live child end a live guinea-pig ! But the fact remained thafc the little girl had lived and slept, flayed and eaten, in the deserted house. *J_s for her father, we have reason to suppose thafc the police have got him after jrears of suspecting his goings on," said Mr Fergusson, the house-agent, dropping his voice. "I opine, Madam, that you mean to inform at the station of your discovery of the child. I'm afraid this singular occurrence may set you against taking No. 8, Alington Street." "On the contrary," said Miss Mayne briskly, " all this has given us a curious interest'in the house, and if the landlord will put it in thorough repair, and redecorate it to suit us, we will take it from midsummer." - "And the little girl?" inquired the agent. "We take her with tbe bouse," said Miss Mayne firmly. * "You are a pair of ridiculous, quixotio, Sentimental " " Ducks," suggested Miss Kate, saucily. " Ducks if you like," said Dr Drysdale, "but that wasn't the word I meant. What do you mean by saddling yourself with this Btray child, a worry for the presentj and a certain trouble for the future?" " Wliy should little Rosemary 'be that? We think she is going to be a great pleasure in our lives," argued Kate. " That's just like a woman! rush off with »n idea, and never count the cost. All very well while she's a baby, but before you know it, you'll find she is a big, modern, srid expensive girl who'll " "Are we such silly old maids, doctor, ,|hat we can't manage a little five-year-old girl? This little child has been thrown in our way just as we have been relieved from Ihe strain and anxiety of our dear father's '

illness — we have money and time, and hou_e room and heart room to spare. Why shouldn't we have her to share them?" " No good pointing out to you now that the child would have been much 'better sent to the Guardian 3," grumbled the doctor. "Oh, Dr Drysdale, she's born a lady's child whatever misfortune or crime has befallen her since! I am certain she had" a good mother, even if the man, Rose, her father, was a rascal. Someone taught her to say her grace and her prayers, the darling, and in everything she shows gentle breeding. "Only some fine day she'll turn out a thief, and prove her real heredity," 6aid the doctor, pulling out a folded newspaper. "Here's the report of Rose fche coiner's conviction at fche Old Bailey. He was a gentleman onee — there you're right, but you can read it 'for yourself and decide if you've done wisely in adopting the little girl." "Don't read it, Agathaj" cried Kate, as her sister began adjusting her pinoe-nez, "we'll put at away for reference,, but we won't read it\ unless we're obliged. Suppose in after year* little Rosemary were to question ua—it is better we should know nothing.* As for'Dr Drysdale, in our place he'd bave dpne ejeactly the sam*j I know !" "I've too much regard for Harold to bring any stranger's child into his nursery," growled the doctor, who was a widower; and with that'he topk,bdmself off. "I like that gentlenvdnts," announced Rosemary at dinner, "he has funny, kind eyes, wif laughing in them. . He said 'Bullohave youever seen a white wabbit with black ears,' and I asted turn to kiss piggy i on the nose, an' he kissed my nose instead. j 1 shbu_4 'love to go and see him, if you'll take me, Auntie Katie." There - war no reason for Katie to blush, but slie did. That evening Dr Drysdale | was grumbling to his mother-in-law, who kept house for hini, over his after-dinner pipe: ."The Maynes have takej- thafc brat from Heaven knows where, and the whole household. turns round her already. Fancy both the Miss Maynes on their knees on the carpet, because Rosemary's railway train had gone out of order! 'Here, doctor, do you know anything of engineering?' Miss Agatha demanded. She had broken her embroidery scissors over the engine, and till it was mended, and the child carried off by old Margaret, we had no peace! It's ridiculous!" " Harold brought me bis Latin," observed Grannie rather irrelevantly, " it's a pity he and the Maynes' little girl can't work in together.. If she gets too much attention, I am sometimes afraid your little lad doesn't get enough." * " I'm thinking of asking Katie to help rpe with Harold," said the doctor, poking at his pipe, and not lifting his eyes. " Oh, Arthur ! oh, my dear, do you really mean it! Nothiug could be wiser or better, ar could give me more happiness. To think what you and the dear child would gain ! When do you think of bringing your wife home?" "Softly, softly, another! the lady is yet to be' wooed amd won, and sometimes I am doubtful of sucoess. Bufc since I have seen her playing with this new toy of hers, I have known how much I have wanted her for Harold,' ahd for. my pwn seli. I'm going to try my luck to-morrow. You've asked Katie and the little girl to tea, haven't you? TU get home early, so as to her home, and Til ask her by the way." " J_te sure that you'll carry your mother's blessing with you when you go tq seek your wife, Arthur," said the old lady solemnly, as she kissed her son-in-law at bedtime; his marriage with her own daughter had not been a very happy one, and h« and she seldom spoke bf , little Harold's mother ; though he often spoke of himself as a "middle-aged man," and a "humdrum old fellow," both -he and his mother-in-law knew that tbe best love of his heart was still unspent, and Katie Mayne might have it, if she chose. '■■'■"' . Nevertheless his wooing was rather a sober business, as he walked through the quiet, streets next evening with Katie ; Rosemary, Harold and a plethoric white rabbit having all been packed into his Victoria, and despatched direct to Alington Street. He had Itold bis companion that he had something- tt> say to her, and he began abruptly.' . "My Utile lad wants mothering jiisfc as badly as that waif of yours— perhaps that is what makes me a little jealous of her sometimes, but I believe you still have love enough and to spaeo, if only one oan get at it! I wonder if you will spare some for Harold--- and fbr his father too? My sentimental days aire, supposed to ba over, because I have been married already, but to you, dear, in all confidence and. all honour, I catn lay what I have never said to anyone before— -my marriage with Constance was not happy, and the 'fujl, true love of my life lies waiting for your acceptance, if y*qu will take it?" "I thought you said ai few days ago that people were geese to saddle themselves with other folks' children " began Katie. "What do you mean by throwing my words back at* me like that? I don't believe you are a bit fitted to beoome the docile wife " , ."Of a self-willed, arrogant old doctor," finished Katie, " but, but I'm ready to try !"