The Storyteller. FRANK DRAPER'S WIFF.

Waikato Argus, Volume VII, Issue 488, 16 September 1899, Page 1 (Supplement)

The Storyteller. FRANK DRAPER'S WIFF.

' We are certainly stranded !' said Frank Draper. What is to be done!'

Hl3 companion, a thin, wiry Canadian with wide-awake eyes, answered cheerfully, ' You bet. we've bust up !'

' Let us look the situation in the face,' said Draper. ' Wal, it kind o' stares us out of countenance as it is, Frank. Here we are, in a one-horse town, with exactly—how mush ?'

' Between you and me, Walter, eight dollars. My wife has . about half as much again.' ' Wal, say eight dollars ; three of us, and a thousand miles from our home! Say, suppose you write to the Old Country for help ?' His eyes twinkled ; but his companion flushed, and, thrusting his hand more deeply into his pockets, made no reply. The two friends were entirely dissimilar in every characterislic. Walter Kingsley was of the unmistak able Canadian type brusque, shrewd, energetic, and self-satisfied, Draper was a handsome young Englishman of five-and-twenty, heavy jawed, well bred, cut from the usual pattern of ' younger sons.'

He had drifted about the new country from place to place, for the last six years; served in the mounted police, farmed in Ontario and worn the cowboy's hat in the north-west territories. But within the last six months he had managed to lose all his money in a theatrical speculation, and to get married to an American girl after an acquaintance of something under six weeks !

Mrs Draper was a ' toe dancer.' Frank had happened to lounge into a third-rate variety theatre in Sacramento, California. There was a young lady on the stage, flitting hither and thither on the very tips of her tiny feet. Her arms were outstretched like a bird's wings; she seemed to sway and balance as lightly as the fluffy ball off a withered dandelion : her light brown hair hung in ripples and curls to her waist, her features were small piquant, and delicate, her figure lithe, springy, and supple; her expression and eyes were full of life, gaiety, and a dash of insolence. Frank was impressionable, and trifles led to consequences. The next turn happened to bore him ; he strolled out of the theatre and met Walter Kingsley in the lobby, who was discussing the ability of this identical toe dancer with a loud voiced, bragging theatrical agent. Frank saw his opportunity for an introduction, and spent six dollars in flowers the following evening, beside being seized with an attack of stage fever.

The bragging agent was about to

float a small theatrical company, ■for which the toe dancer had been engaged. He appreciated the fact that Frank Draper possessed some capability—and a small capital. The toe dancer was quite as pretty on nearer view as behind the footlights. Her ' momma' was dead ; her ' poppa ' was professionally engaged somewhere in the States (Frank afterwards ascertained that his father-in-law was nightly appearing as the hindlegs of a horso in a travelling show!) She was entirely self-taught and self-dependent. Everything was rose coloured in Sacramento; and Draper married the toe dancer the day before the tour commenced.

For a couple of months the prospects were golden ; then there was a run of ill luck —poor houses and expensive journeys; salaries were conspicuous by their absence. Some of the more fortunate members of the little company departed while there was yet tine ; but Frank, his wife, and Walter Kingsley were too deeply involved already. But at the beginuing of the third month the bragger settled the matter effectually by leaving them stranded, in a small town in the dull, dead State of Nevada. Frank glanced angrily round the room where they were sitting. Naturally inclined to be pessimistic he had drifted during tbe last two years, into an injured, discontented frame of mind.

' Say ! you're getting down in the mouth/ said Kingsley. ' Brace up, we ain't dead yet. We must turn to, old man, and scheme for tho luck to change.' ' Ob, it's easy for you,' said Frank, 'you'ie used to it! But I am sick. I tell you I am sick of this hand to-mouth business !'

He paced up and down the room his big shoulders dropping, while he flung foolish, impatient words at the equable Canadian. Suddenly tho door opened, and the lady of the party came in, wearing a somewhat worn, brocaded morning wrapper, that was open from the waist downwards, giving more than a glimpse of lace skirts and dainty brown shoes and stocking ; and her hair was in a long thick plait down her back, She nodded to her husband, and gave a little tweak to Kingsley's hair as she passed him on her way to a low rocking chair, when she commenced to rock violently, with one small foot thrust out to the stove.

' I was just telling Walter,' Frank went on, with a far more agreeable

smile, ' how utterly useless 1 feel in this hole. Now, if I were in New York or Chicago. I am sure that I could get an engagement immediately—why shouldn't I. Many a fellow with only a quarter of my talent is earning a salary today that I should jump at!' ' I guess so !' said Kingsley, as he paused for a reply. ' Wt 11, what am I to do? I never was so stranded, so done ! If I had that follow here (he meant the bragger) I'd wring his neck —the little brute!'

Mrs Draper had remained silent with her eyes fixed on her husband, but now she spoke with a very pronounced twang—- • What I want to know is this—what are we goin' to do? This hotel man is very pleasant, but I guess he isn't keeping ua here .for the love of seeing you feed. Wall, of course, he knows we're in the soup —beastly ill lack !'

This was one of Frank's favourite expressions, but he hated to hear it from his wife's lips. ' You bet I know what I should do,' Mrs Draper continued. 'I should just send Walter on to the next jay town, let him boom us big, and we'd give a show to a jammed house, Frank, if we had to walk there on our stockinged feet!' ' Oh, it's absurb, Millie dear ; nobody has heard of us ' ' That's all right,' she interrupted still rocking violently, ' I guess I can dance to beat the band—can't I Wal V

' You're a smart little card—you're the joker! Say ! I never thought of being an advance agent; it just means talk, doesn't it?' ' Talent, I should think,' from Draper, cooiy. 'And bluff!' fro ra Mrs Draper, decidedly, ' I'll start to-day !' and Kingsley began to discuss the affairin voluble slang. Draper's remarks were so very discouraging that at last his wife silenced htm, with tha exclamation. 'Gracious ! Do give us a little less of your lip.' He was disgusted with the whole idea, and only entered one more protest, when Kingsley wanted to advertise him as ' Roscius, Irving the only successor of ' Bill Nye,' rolled into one.

When Kingsley departed, it was with the understanding that his companions were to follow him in two days and give a ' rushed ' entertainment at a somewhat bigger town thirty miles away. ' But we can't pay our bills here,' was Draper's last objections. ' That's as simple as a rail on a fence,' said Kingsley. ' The proprietor must let you go—l guess he knows trouper. Over the reservoir.

When he had gone, Frank threw himself into a chair, sullen and scowling. ' I don't like it, Millie, I tell you plainly; how can we get up a decent performance in two days ?' ' Oh, hang. I don't see what you're got to kick about. You can act anything ; you say so yourself. Didn't you tell me at Sacramento you was going to England to go on the stage? How are we to get there, if we stick hero V Draper suddenly realised tho full meaning of the plural pronoun, « we.'

The atmosphere ot his quiet, conservative home would be as uncongenial to this shrill voiced, flippant, ignorant girl as the fact his marriage would be inconceivable to his gentle, proud English sisters and brothers.

The inevitableness of hi» hasty step—a relentless criticism of his wife—flashed through his mind with a vivid force that abashed and startled him.

' Oh, hang !' the"girl said again, and he turned away from her quickly. Where was the charm, the supposed depth, the character ?' ' Millie,' Draper blurted out, with angry emphasis, ' what do you mean by shutting me up as you did when Kingsley was here ? Heaven knows I'm in a worse position than either of you, and I'm the unlucky sort of fellow who feels it more.' He leaned forward with his hands clasped between his knees, absorbed in his own despondency. Suddenly Mrs Draper jumped up from her rocker, and impulsively knelt down by his side. ' You keep a stiff upper lip, my own boy,' she murmured, pressing her chaek against his, and twining her arm round his neck.

Draper smiled and drew her nearer, half-surprised that thecarress and simple speech had cheered and touched him.

' I never mean to act ugly,' she went on—' you know I don't. I guess you'll soon break me of it, just you keep on try in'; but don't be mad.'

'Fm not angry, Millie ; but I wish you would consider me more. And look—here, darling—need you wear so many rings in the morning. Three imitation diamonds, a ruby and a marquise, all on one hand.' 'My,' she answered ; 'I thought they looked real stylish. But you know best. I'm very sorry, here.' She slowly drew them off her fingers and laid them, like an offering of affection at her feot; then she sat back on her heels and peeped into Frank's face.

1 How's that, my white-haired boy?' His brow cleared ; the look of her hands, covered with trash, had always made him impatient; it was

only a trifle, but ho was developing the.habit of disapproval of all the trifle* of their dady life. The. two following days were full of anxious expectation. Before the Drapers departed, Millie had undertaken to reconcile ttie hotel preprietor to the unpleasant fict that they could not pay their bill. She assumed the confidential ; she struck up a close friendship with the daughter of the house, and invited her to pay her a lengthy visit to England.

' We're going there right now,' said Mrs Draper. 'My husband belongs to one of thoso 'ristacratic English families; he'd be a lord if ho only cared to claim it.' Frank fumed when this speech was repeated to him afterwards, but Millie only laughed ; she was accustomed to his frequent fits of ill-temper; Bhe loved to see him stand erect —six feet of ruffled, handsome, unreasonable Englishman.

Walter Kingsley had not overrated his ' booming : powers. A crowded house greeted the appearance of l Elphena, the Greatest Toe Dancer in the World ;' a little to the surprise of Draper, who was apt to forget that his wife was a trained artiste, who had earned her own living since she was a child.

She made herself a smart little dress for the performance, tacking it together with atrociously bad sewing as she sat on her heels on her bed, chattering all the time. Frank watched her with a masculine disbelief that an old bit of blue satin, some torn lace, and a dimunitive skirt could be turned into a dancing costume. ' Isn't that cunnin' ?' she asked, holding it up by the shoulderstraps.

' There's very little of it, darling,' said Frank.

' Mercy. There ain't much of me either,' she answered, giving a twirl and a high kick as an expression of satisfaction.

The luck had changed. Kingsley threw himself into the business with a positively ferocious enthusiasm ; Draper sang and acted well, the/ were fortunate in meeting a violinist and an acrobat (also stranded), who were glad enough to join them, but the great success was made by ' Elphena,' who flitted like a fairy, through every style of dance, on the tips of her toes. But Frank Draper was wretched, try as he might, he could not hide from himself that his wife was the attraction, and practically the breadwinner of the company. It was irksome to feel dependent; he began to brood over the flippancy, the bright smile that came to her face —for him—or Kingsley—or the acrobat—any one. She was always happy and gay, proud of her marriage, and proud of her tall, handsome, disagreeable husband.

The weeks passed on and the members of the little company found themselves in Illinois, bound for the Eastern States.

But it happened that one night, in a tolerably large town, a smart theatrical man dropped in to see their show. He was struck with Draper's good appearance bored by the other two men, and simply fascinated with the little toe dancer. Quick witted, and enterprising, he wasted no time oyer the affair, but before the end of the performance he had offered ' Elphena ' a good Chicago engagement. 'Of course you must accept it,' Draper said to his wife; but she seemed doubtful.

' It's kind o' mean to Walter, don't you think ?' 'Oh, I hadn't thought of him,' said Draper coolly. ' I'm tired of Walter, he was very well in the West, Millie, but he would be rather —impossible, you know, in New York or Chicago.' • Why, he's a good square head, isn't he, dear ?'

' If you mean commonly honest, I suppose so.' ' .Say, I won't be mean —not for any salary, Frank !' But still it was managed ; Kinsley was anxious to get an engagement himself instead of touring, the acrobat and violinist were handsomely compensated by Mrs Draper, and the Chicago man was happy at the acquisition of a coming star. ' Now I guess we can put on side !' said Millie, six months later, as she and her husband sat at breakfast in a New York hotel. Faded chiffon skirts and imitation diamonds were things of the past ; " Elphena " bad toured the United States with brilliant success; she was singularly proud and happy just now, for they were about to sail for England, where she was to dance in the biggest Variety Theatre in London.

' You've got a soft snap, darling !' she said, trying (o make Draper smile. But he wilfully mistook her loving little speech, and thought that she meant to reproach him. How pretty his wife looked ! Why was she not an English girl ? Why was she a dancer ? What would his people think of it all? These questions were perpetually haunting his mind.

They had a sunny voyage, and Draper lay in his chair, on deck, day after day, dreading and longing for the sight of his old homo. He reviewed his wandering life of the last six years with some pleasure, a touch of pain, and a little (a very little) self-reproach.

The figure of his wife as sha first appeared to him in Sacramento, dainty, captivating, evasive, flitted as often through his day dreams as her feet and floating skirts passed and repassed his chair. He watched them beneath the cap that was pulled down over his eyes ; proud that she was considered the prettiest girl in the ship, angry that she was unconsciously amusing half the men on board.

In fact Frank Draper was spoilt; he had picked up a real diamond in California, and he was trying vainly to persuade himself that it was paste. —to enhance the value of his own considerably alloyed metal!

Millie knew that her husband's family lived a short distance out of London ; the name of the place conveyed no idea to her mind; but she expected to be taken there on her arrival in England, but Frank did not mention it.

They went to a big London hotel, but the brighteyes of the little toedancer were clouded with disappointment as she stood looking round her. Outside the house there was the loud rumble of the busy street; but the large, haudsome rooms were dull and cheerless. She turned wistfully towards her husband, who had thrown himself into an easy chair, looking tired and uncomfortable.

1 It's—kind o' lonesome, dear!' It* was such an unusual thing for Milly to grumble, that he glanced up in surprise. 'What is the matter?' Doesn't the hotel suit you ?' he asked.

She walked to the other side of the room and stared out of the window, biting her under lip, while her breath came quickly and tremulously. ' Millie !' said Frank, after a long pause.

She turned towards him eagerly, and exclaimed, in a burst of pleasure,'Say! You are glad you hitched with me at Sacramento, ain't you, Frank?' 'Do you mean that we were married ? Yes, dear, of course.' But still he said no word about taking her to his English home. ' Elphena,' was a great success. Her photographs and advertisements were plentifully scattered abroad in London, but neither Mrs Draper nor her daughter were people to visit a Variety Theatre.

When Frank went to see thorn (fondly imagining that Millie was too dull-witted to guess where he "had gone) they asked about his wife with some interest and curiosity; but an old habit of reading the desires of a favourite son quiekly taught them that such questions were distasteful —in short, that Mrs Frank Draper must be quietly acknowledged and ignored.

A month after the first appearance of ' Elphena,' it happened that Frank met his sister Beatrice in London. They had seen but little of each other since his return, so they left the busy streets and turned into the park. ' You look ill, Frank,' Beatrice said, with tender anxiety. 'ls there anything the matter ?' ' Nothing to speak of,' he answered. ' I have a wretched cold ; I've been seedy for a week. Never mind that—let us talk of old times !'

She responded to his mood, and he listened to her sweet, low voice with eyes bent on the ground, lost in the past. There was a little throng of people at Hyde Park Corner ; and, as Frank stood aside to let Beatrice walk in front of him, he recognised his wife in the middle of the crowd , smiling and radiant, in a green and scarlet walking suit, as smart as a paroquet. Frank Draper made no response to the lash of her smile, but taking his sister by the arm, turned and walked away in the opposite direction. Ii was the impulse of a minute; but directly after there was a smart tap on Beatrix's shoulder, and the scarlet-and-green parquet was standing before them. The colour rushed into Frank's face, but Millie did noi look at him.

• Excuse me,' she said, ' but I guess you are Frank's sister ?' ' Yes,' Beatrice answered, with comprehension and interest coming into her eyes. • Wal, I just warnted to say that I'm Mrs Draper—that's all.' ' I am glad to meet you—indeed ?' said Beatrice gently, holding out her hand. Millie took it frankly, but she was very pale. ' You know we have never met,' Beatrice went on, with genuine courtesy and regret. ' I—l never meant to cut you- ' • No.' Millie interrupted, ' it was my husband who did that !' She looked into Frank's eyes for a second, and then, with a little bow and smile to his companion, walked away.

'Your wife is wonderfully pretty !' said Beatrice, after an awkward silence. ' She has made mo feel like a whipped cur !' he answered, between his teeth'

'l'm not surprised to hear it,' said his sister coolly. It was late at night when Frankreturned to the hotel. Ilia wife was back from the theatre, and was having supper, alone, in their sittingroom.

It was a dreary autumn night, and Frank was wet and tired. He sat down by the hre, aching in every bone, and feeling cold and wretched. How he missed her

usually bright greeting and little budget of news? Ho rested his heavy head on his hands ; of course, she was hurt—she had the right to be angry. She was Ciossing the room towards him. Now for reproaches and a scene. But, as he lifted his head, her whole face changed ; anxiety and pity swept over it. ' Oh, my darling, you look real sick ! How could I be so horrid to you ? How could I?' She was already pulling off his wet coat ; then she knelt down on the rug to stir up the fire, but her husband suddenly caught her hands ia his and pressed them passionately to his lips.

There is ample time, during rheumatic fever, for a man to contemplate death and remember life, It svas a good thing for Frank Draper to hover between the two. He was very grateful for all the goodness that was showered down upon him—more grateful than he had ever been before. But for a long time everything was vague ; he was rarely delirious, but always weak, wandering, and depressed. His eyes would look round the room, taking in the fact that ,it was the hotel where h« and Millie lived, but scarcely surprised that his mother and Beatrice were there too. They were so gentle and considerate, he was surrounded with such care and kindness.

At last, when the turning-point of Frank's illness had come and gone, and he was beginning to talk about the future, his sister Beatrice spoke to him of the one subject that was always in his mind. ' Frank,' she said,' do you ever think of working again V

'Of course I do. How can you ask!' he answered, with some warmth. ' First to pay my debts

'Everything you owe is to Millie.'

'Y'es, all my gratitude, all my heart! But in - money, Beatrice much to you at home.' ' No; Millie has only accepted our affection. Do you know, every hour of the day she had devoted to you, and every night she had danced at three places. Oh, Frank, how good you must have been in America to win such a priceless, untiring love!'

Frank put up a trembling hand to stop her, for he heard his wife's step on the stairs.

1 Do you know her now ?' said Beatrice.

And he answered quickly, ' Yes, and 1 know myself!' Millie came in, and when they were alone she knelt down by her husband's side.

'Frank,' she murmured, 'you seem so thick on me since you've been sick. It's very pleasant, dear. Say, you're not so mad and ashamed of me as you used to be, are you ?'

' Darling ! darling ! how could I be such a surly brute—all these months ! but give me time, Millie,' was all he could say, ' I've learned my lesson, Give me tim« to show you—to prove—'

He broke down in telling her of his admiration and love ; but she only pressed her cheek to his with the old fond caress, and whispered again and again. ' That's all right, my own boy ! that's all right !'