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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton New Era, 1892-01-08, Page 3It» TB' CUCISITON NZIV X111A, liA,Any No11,0mAN CQ1114114) yell! N'Ven PAY the n'ote inte liveth fiPS1120041,11.6Pher.C110010 grow pro- #4,Mr4tobort 1" he stammered, - Kocir aceount at the post -office, for I vokinglr hot, 8110 talked fast and &-Yes, Darnell,; I see you know what adn't ge y0111' little book that you al- tinnous y, afraid to face bec QWD HEW° latille ' said Roy gaiety. "It ways ta e, and besides didn't was cert kuow ainly a very rage an stnmost Lly Emile LYALI., which office you went to, So I worried about it all the next day, which was Sunday, andin the evening at chPrell it suddenly came into my head Ufa would put it with your other money inside • your waistcoat pocket." Roy made an involuntary movement, Sig- frid drew a little nearer, but Frithjof never stirred. Swanhild continued "So the next morning, when I went into your bedroom to wake you up, I slipped the note into your pocket, and then I thought, just supposing you were to lose it, it seemed so light and so thin, and I pinned it to the lining to make it quite bafe. You were sleeping very soundly, and were quite hard to wake up. At first I felt pretty happy about it, and I thought if you asked me if 1 had put it there when you found it out I should be able to say 'yes' and yet to keep Blanche's secret. But you nev- er said a word about it, and I was sure something had troubled you very much, and I was afraid it must be that, yet dared not speak about it, and I tried to find out from Sigrid, but she only said that you had many troubles which I was too young to understand. It often made me very unhappy, but I never quite understood that I had done wrong till the night you found me reading the paper, and then I thought that I ought not to have made the promise to Lady Romiaux. This is the note which Mr Osmond brought me from her." Frithiof toot the little crumpled sheet and read it Ceppaga.aelffIMI•00 CONTINUED "TOU are no longer a stranger," he replied. "And you must not refuse me this. You shall see no one at all if you prefer it. Ours is a busy house, but in some ways it is the quietest house in London. llly son and his wife live with us. They, too, will be so glad if we can be of any use to you. Come; I cannot leave you here in this loneliness." "Do you mean that I am to come now ?" she said starting up. "Yes, if you will," he replied. "Bat I will go and call a hansom; and Bina, I am rather in a hurry, perhaps you will let your, maid follow with your things later on in the evening." So in a few minutes they were driv- ing together to Guilford Square, and Blanche was transplanted from the mi- serable loneliness to the heart of one of the happiest homes in the country.— Leaving her in the study, Charles Os- mond went in search of Swanhild. "It is all right," he said, handing her a littlenote in Blanche's writing; and while the child eagerly read it he turn- ed to his daughter-in-law. "Will you tell them to get the spare room ready, Erica, dear?' he said. "1 have persuaded Lady,Romiaux to stay with us a little while. ' Swaphild caught the words, and long- ed to ask to see Blanche, but she re- membered that Sigrid would not like it; and then, with a sudden recollection that the afternoon was almost over, ii.nd that she must go home, she thank- ed Charles Osinond, reluctantly parted with the baby., kissed old Mrs. Osmond and Erica, who made her promise to come and see them again, and hurried back to the model lodgings. Her happiness and relief, and the pleasurable excitement of having learn- ed to know a new and delightful fami- ly, were slightly clouded by the uncom- fortable thought of the confession that lay befdre her. What would Sigrid and Frithjof say to her? And how should she put into words the story of what she more and more feltto have been a wrong and foolish, and very childish scheme of help. "0h, how I wish it were over!" she thought to herself, as she marched on her disagreeable work like a little Tro- jan. Big Ben was striking five as she crossed the court -yard. She had been away from home more than two hours. She hurried on to the porter's office, . and asked breathlessly for the key. . "Mr. Falck took it ten minutes ago," said the man. And Swanhild turned away with a sigh And a little shiver, i . and began very slowly to mount the stone stairs. " Oh 1 what will he say to Inc !'' she . thought, as she clasped amc e fast in her little cold hand. • "DEAR SWANHILD,—You are quite free to speak about that five -pound note. I never oughFio have made you promise secrecy, and, indeed, gave the money just by a sudden impulse. It was a foolish thing to do, as I see now, but I meant it well. I hope you will all forgive me. Yours affectionately, "BLANCHE." thoughts, yet all the time conscious of such happiness as she had not known or many months. Before long Frithiof returned. "I don't think you can do it," he said. "Owen tells me there is a train from Paddington at 9.50 this evening, but it isn't a Olivet one, and you won't get to Plymouth till 9.28 to morrow morning. A most unconscionable time, you see." "Why not write to Darnell?" sug- gested Sigrid. - "No, no, he would get out of it in some mean way. I intend to pounce on him unexpectedly and in that way to get at the truth," replied Roy, "This train will do very well. I shall sleep on the way, but I must just go to Regent Street 'and get the fellow's address." This, however, Frithjof was able to tell him, and they lingered long over the tea table, till at length Roy remem- bered that it might be as well to see his father and let him know what had happened, before starting for Devon- shire. Very reluctantly he left the little parlor, but he took away with him the geptle pressure of Sigrid's hand, the sweet, bright glance of her blue eyes, and the echo of her last words, spoken softly and sweetly in her native language. "Farvel! Ta -k skal De have." (Fare- well Thanks you shall have.) Why had she spoken to him in Norse? Was it, perhaps, because she wished him to feel that he was no foreigner, but one of uhemselves? Whatever her reason, it 'touched him and pleased him that she had spoken just in that way, and it was with a very light heart that he made his way to Rowan Tree House. The lamp was not lighted in the drawing room, but there was a blazing fire, and on the hearth rug sat Cecil with Lance nestled close to her, listen- ing with all his ears to one of the hero stories which she always told him on Sunday evenings. "Has father gone to chapel?". asked Roy. "-Y es, some time ago," replied Cecil. "Is anything the matter?" Something told her that Roy's unex- pected appearance was connected with Frithjof, and. accustomed always to fear for him, her heart almost stood still. "Don't look so frightened," said Roy, as the fire light showed him her dilated eyes. "Nothing is the matter—I have brought home some very good news. Frithjof is cleared, and that wretched business of the live -pound note fully explained." "At last 1" she exclaimed. "What a ' through the afternoon, sir, and then, relief! But. how? Do tell me all." I presently, all was quiet, and only Mr. 141,1ck with inc in the shop, and I was just wondering how to get rid of him, when Mr. Horner opened the door of Mr. Boniface's swim arid called to me. Then I said, Do go, Mr. Falck, for I have an order to write to catch the post.' And he went for me, and I hur- ried across to his counter While he was gone, and took the note out of the till and put it inside my boot ;and when he came back he found me writing at my desk just as he had left me. He came up looking a little putr out, as if Mr. Horner had rubbed him the wrongway, and he says to me, 'It's no use; you must go yourself, after all.' So I went to Mr. Horner, leaving Mr. Falck alone in the shop. Vere you not afraid lest he should open the till and find out that the note was gone ?" • "Yes, I was very much afraid. But gsll went well, and I intened to go out quickly at tea-time—it was close upon it then—and do what I could to get it straight again. I thought I could in- -vent an excuse for neltreturning to the. shop that night; say I'd been taken suddenly ill, or something of that sort. It was Mr. Falck's turn to go fiist ; and while he was out, as ill -luck would have it, Mr. Horner cam d to take change from the till, and then all the row be- gan. I made sure I was ruined, and no one was more surprised than myself at the turn that affairs took." "But," exclaimed Roy, "when you were once more out of debt, how was it that you did not confess, and do what you could to make up for your shame- ful conduct ?" "Well, sir, I hadn't the courage.— Sometimes I thought I would; and then, again, I couldn't make up my mind to; and I got to hate Mr. Feick, and I hated him more because he be- haved well about it; and I got into the way of spiting him and making the place disagreeable to him ' • and I hoped that he would leave. Buthe stuck to his post through it all; and I began to -think that it would be safer that I should leave, for I felt afraid of him somehow. So at Michaelmas I took this sitnation, And oh sir, for my wife's sake don't ruin me; don't expose all this to my employer 1" TO BE CONTINUED. Then Roy and Sigrid read the note together, and Roy grasped Frithiof's hand. "Will you ever forgive me?" he said. "Cecil was right, and I ought to have known that this miserable affair would one day be explained." Frithjof still looked half stunned; he could not realize that the cloud had at last dispersed, he was so taken up with the thought of the extraordinary ex- planation Ofthe mystery of the childish, silly little plan that had brought about such strange results. "Oh, Swanhild!" cried Sigrid, "if only you had spoken sooner how much pain might have been saved!" "Don't say that, "said Frithiof, rousing himself; "she has chosen the right time, depend upon it. I can hardly believe it all yet. But, oh! to having one's honor once more unstained—and this death in life over!" "What do you mean? What do you mean'?" sobbed noor little Swanhild, 's note utterly pex'p1exe1 by the way in which her confession had been received. "Tell her," said Sigrid, glancing at Roy. So he told her exactly what had hap- pened in the shop on that Monday in June. "We kept it from you," said Frithiof, "because I liked to feel that there was at any rate one person unharmed by ,my disgrace, and because you seem- ed so young to be troubled with such things." "But how can it have happened?" Said Swanhild; "who took the note really from the till?" "It must have been Darnell," said Roy. "He was present when Sardoni got the change; he saw Janies Horner put away the note; he Must have man- aged -daring the time that yot , two were alone in the shop to take it out, and no doubt if be had been searched first the other five -pound note would have been found on him. What a blackguard the man must be to have let you suffer for himl I'll have the truth out of him before I'm a day older," "Oh! Frithiof! Frithjof! I'm so dread- fully sorry" sobbed poor Swanhild. "I thought it would have helped you, and it has done nothing but harm." But Frithiof stooped down and si- lenced her with a kiss. "You see the harm it has done," he said, "but you don't see the good. Come, stop crying, and let us have tea, for your news has given nie an appetite, and I'm sure you are tired and hungry after all this." "But could it ever have entered any one's head that such an improbable thing shouid actually happen?" said Roy, as he mused over the story. "To think that Sardoni should get change for his note, and Darnell steal it on the very day that Swanhild had given yon that unlucky contribution to the debt - fund 1" "It is just one of those extraordina- ry coincidences which do happen in life," said Sigrid. " I believe it every one could be induced to tell all the strange things of the kind that has hap- pened we should see that they are after all pretty common things." " I wonder if there is 'a train to Ply- mouth to -night ?" said Roy. " I shall not rest till I have seen Darnell. For nothing less than his confession signed and sealed will satisfy James Horner. Do you happen to have a Bradshaw ?" "No, but, we,have something better," said Sigrid, smiling; "on the next landing there is Owen, one of the Great Western guards. I know be is at home, It happene( inst after we had conicfor I passed him just now on the stairs, back from the sea last, June. I was • and he will tell you about the trains." CHAPTER XXXIV. Although she had climbed the stairs so slowly, poor Swanhild was still out of breath when she reached the door leading into the little parlor ; she paus- ed a moment to recover herself, and, hearing voices within, became a degree more miserable, for she had counted upon finding Frithjof alone. Clearly Sigfrid must also have returned, and, in eed, things were even worse than that, for as she Tried the door and • emerged round the Japanese screen she saw Roy standing by the fire; for this she had been utterly unprepared, and, ;• .indeed4, .it was woes _seldom tba,p _he ! came now to the model lodgings. . "At last 1" exclaimed Frithiof, "why, Swanhild, where on earth have you been to? We were just thinking of ving you cried." i " We . were preparing an • advertise- nt.mto appear in all the pabers to- morrow morning," said Roy, laughing, "and were just trying to agree as to the description; you'll hardly believe mei.but your guardian hadn't the least notion what color your eyes are." Frithiof drew her toward him, smil- ing. "Let me see now in case she is ever lost again," he said, but noticing a sus icious moisture in the blue eves he no Fonger teased her, but made her sit down on his knee and drew off her gloves. "What is the matter, dear ?" he said, "you look cold and tired; where have you been to ?" "I have been to see Mr, Osmond," said Swanhild, "yon know we Often go to his church, Sigfrid and I, and there • was something I wanted to ask him about. Last smniner I made a promise which I think was wrong, and I want- ed to know whether I might break it." "What did he say?" asked Frithjof, while Sigfrid and Roy listened in silent astonishment. "He said that a wi eaig promise ought to be broken, and he managed to get me leave to speak from the person to whom I made the promise. And now 11111 going to tell you about it." Frithjof could feel how the poor little thing was trembling. " Don't be frightened, darling," he said, " just tell us everything and no • one shall iriterrupt She gave his hand a grateful little squeeze and went on. extraordinary coincidence that Mr. Falk should, unki iown to himselfohave had another five -pound note in his poe- ket that day last June, but it has been fully explitined. Now I want your ex- planation." "Sir 1" gasped Darnefl ; "1 don't un- derstand you; I—I an at ik 10g15—" "Come, don't tell any more lies about it," said Roy impatiently. "We know that you must have taken it, for no one else was present. Only confess the truth and you shall not be prosecuted; you shall not lose your situation here. What iuduced you to do it ?" "Don't be hard on me, sir,"stammer- ed the man. "1 assure you I've bitter- ly regretted it many a time." "Then why did you not make a clean breast of it to my father?" said Roy. "You might have known that he would never be hard on you." "1 wish I had," said Darnell, in great distress; "1 wish to God I had, sir, for it's been a miserable business from first to last. But I was in debt, and there was nothing but ruin before me, and I thought of my wife who was ill, and I knew that the disgrace would kill her." "So you went and disgraced yourself still more," said Roy hotly. "You tried to ruin another man instead of your- self." "But he wasn't turned off," said Dar- nell; "and they put it all on his illness, and it seemed as if, after all, it would not hurt him so much. It was a great temptation, and when I had once given way- to it there seemed no turning back." "Tell me just how you took it," said Roy, getting rather more calm and ju- dicial in his manner. "1 saw Mr. Horner give Signor Sar- doni the change, sir, and 1 saw him put the note in the till; and I was just des- perate with being in debt and not know- ing how to get straight ain." "But wait a minute—how had you got into such difficulties ? ' interrupted Roy. "Arid how could a five -pound note help you out again ?" "Well, sir, I had been unlucky in a betting transaction, but I thought I could right myself if only I could get something to try again with; but there wasn't a soul I could borrow from. I thought I should get straight again at once if only I had five pounds in hand, and so I did, sir ; I was on my feet again the very next day." I might have known that it was betting that had ruined you,"said Roy. "Now go back and tell me when you took the note." "1 kept on thinking and planning He repeated Swanhild's story, an( then, hoping to (each his father in the vestry before the service began., he hurried off, leaVing Cecil to the only companionship she could have borne in her great happiness—that of little Lance. But. Roy found himself too late to catch his father, there was nothing for it but to wait, and, anxious to spea,k to him- at the earliest opportunity, he made his way into the chapel, that he might get hold of him when the service was over, for otherwise there was no saving how long he might not huger talking with the other deacons, who invariably wanted to ask his advice about a hundred and one things. He was at this moment giving out the hymn, and Roy liked to hear him do this once more; it carried him back to his boyhood—to the times when there had been no difference of opinion between them. He sighed just a little, for there is a sadness in all division because it reminds us that we are still in the days of school time, that life is as yet imperfect, and that by differ- ent ways, not as we should wish all in the same way, we are being trained and fitted for a perfect unity elsewhere. Mr Boniface was one of those men who are everywhere the same, he car- ried his own atmosphere about with. him, and .sitting now in the deacon's seat beneath the pulpit he looked pre- cisely as he did in his home or in hiS shop. It was the same quiet dignity that was noticeable in him, the same kindly spirit: the same delightful fiee- 'dom from all self-importance. One could hardly look at him without re- membering the fine old sXying, "A Christian is God Ahnighty's gentle- man." When by and by he listened to Roy's stoi•y, told graphically enongh as they walked home together, his regret for having misjudged Frithjof was un - hounded. He was as impatient to get hold of Darnell as his son was. "Still," he observed, "you will not gain much by going to -night; why not start to -morrow by the first train?" "If I go now," said Roy, "1 shall be home quite early to -morrow evening, and Tuesday is Christmas eve — a wretched day for travelling. Besides, I can't wait." Both father and mother knew well enough that, it was the thought of Sig- rid that had lent him wings, and Mr. „Boldface said no more, only stipulating that he should be just and generous to the offender. "Don't visit your own annoyance on, him, and don't speak too hotly," he said. " Promise him that he shall not be prosecuted or robbed of his charac- ter if only he will inake full, confession, and see what it was that led him to do such a, thing, I can't at all understand it. Be always seenied to me a most steady, respectable man." ° Roy being young arid having suffered severely. 'himself through Darnell's wrongsloing,, felt. amyl hing but judicial as he travelled westward on that cold December night ; he vowed that horse- whipping would be too good for such a scoundrel. and rehearsed int erviews in which his attack was hrilliant and Dar- nell's defence most, feeble. Then he dozed a little, dreamed of Sigrid, woke cold and depressed n find that he musl. change carriages at, Bi•istol, fuel finally after many vicissitudes was landed at Plymout h at. half -past nine on a damp and cheerless winter morning. Now that. lie was actually there he began to dislike the thought, of the work before him, and to doubt whether aft er all his attack would be MS brilliant in reallity as in imagination. Rather diFIllally lie Made a hasty breakfast and then set off thceugh the wet, dingy streets to the shr,n where Darnell was at present employed. To his relief he found that it was not a very large one, and, on entering, discovered the man he sought, behind the counter and quite alone. As be approached him he watched his face keenly ; Darnell was a rather good-looking'. man, dark, pale, eminently respectabN ; looked up civilly at the supposed ustemer, then, catching sight of Rey, be turned a shade paler and gave ini-eluntary AM AK 'Mr' coining home from 8(110(11 on saturday morning when, just. out -side the court- yard I met. Lady Romeo's. Just for a moment I did not know her, but she knew me directly, :mil stopped me and said how she had inet yeu and Sigfrid at it party and had ever since been so miserable to think that we were so poor. and 8011301111W 8111' 11:1d found out our a.dd ress, and Nvn nt ed to k now all about us, only when she act milly got to the doer she did net like to come in. And she said she W0,8 80 glad to see ine, and asked all sort s of questions, and when she heard thatyou meant to pay off the debt s she looked se sad, and she said that the bankruptcy was all her fault, and she asked how much I thought you had got, toward it, and seemed quite horrified to think what, a little it NVI1S, and what, years the w‘nik would take. And then she said to me that she wanted to help, too, just, a lit- * tle, only that you must never know, and she thugit I could easily pay in a five -pound note to your account at the bank, she said, without your knowing anything about it. She made me pro- mise to do it secreta, and never tell that it was from her. You can't think how kindly she said it all, and how" dreadfully sad he looked; I don't think I could possibl have said no' to her. But afterwar. I began to see that I " What, a thing it is to live in model lodgings!" said Roy, smiling. "Yon seem to me to keep all the professions on the premises. Como, Frit hiof, do go and interview this guard and ask him how soon I can get down to Plymouth and back again." Frithjof went nut. there was still a strange look of abstraction in his face. " I 'scarcely realized before 110W 1111101 he bad 'felt this," said Roy. " What a fool I was to he so posit iv(' that my own vies: of the ease was right. ! Looking at, it from my own point of view emildn't realize how humiliating it must all have been to hint --how ex- asperating to know that you were in the right yet not to he able to con- vince any one." "It has been like a great weight on him all through the autumn," said Sigrid, "and yet I know what he meant when lie told Swanhild that it, had done him good as well as harm. Don't you remend er how at, one time he cared for nothing letS clearing off the debts? Well, now, though he works hard at that, yet h cares for other peeple's troubles too— Ion ei 1is one idea." 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