The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-10-31 00:00:00

A SECRET FOR YEARS

CHAPTER XXll—(continned).
dslatiarne was delighted at the miracle the doctor
Wrought. Was not that proof plain of what he
.eould accomplish? "Ab, never let me hear Mr. Ingram
abUse that gcod man again—it was truly wonderful!"
Una went up to her mother, kissed her tenderly,
WA whispered that the good milliner was waiting to
feke her in the little parlour about her dress for next
week's evening party. So the baroness smiled, nodded,
alld went away.
The cunning little lady did not care that the worthy
''other should talk to her music master the whole of
~,_""e time. She wanted to talk, too; and that was im-
wasible when once the baroness was set going.
And then the music lesson commenced; but that
Was scarcely the name for it. Miss Lina—small, fairy-
tete Miss Lina—was teaching her master a lesson of
er own learning, and of which he was as ignorant as
babe unborn.
He was seven-and-twenty, as simple in love matters
as a boy of ten, and never once had occasion to find
otit that he possessed a heart.
Lina was one of nature's coquettes—flirt was too
:_ipazse and hard a name for her. A flirt she was not,
it a coquette she could not help being; it was in
the airy grace of her little head, tangled inextricably
It_rnong the golden threads of her shining hair, dotted
!II the two dimples on either fair little cheek, and
crewed up most undeniably in the wilful twists of her
'tiny mouth. To save her neck from the block she
could not have helped arching it with a wicked in-
tention ; and to save her eyes from being put out she
could not have prevented them looking up with a wild,
PPealing sort of expression that went straight to the
neart of any man who had one unoccupied.
Ingram's was unoccupied, save by a Chancery suit
and some other hard, businesslike matters; so Lina's
re•
s fixed themselves upon him, and he wondered to
unnself why he so often thought of them, and thought
of her, and her little silly, tiresome ways—her musical
Laugh, her beautiful music, and her small, delicate
Self. He was bewitched, as many more had been; but
Ile was simple enough not to know it, not even guess
at it, yet.
He looked forward to Tuesday and Thursday after-
as schoolboys do to their holidays, with gleeful
anticipation of pleasure in store. He never thought
of asking himself in what that pleasure consisted;
,Whether it was in performing on a good instrument
unnself, or listening to ma'mselle while she did so;
'Watching her little white hands, or hearing her chatter
Piquant nonsense all the while she was playing. Those
two hours in the week came by degrees to seem the
brightest to him, and sometimes he did wonder what
rcade his dreary life appear more hopeful to him,
When judgment in Chancery looked further off than
'ever,
Lina von Bernstein knew perfectly well she could
.have explained in tolerable English the exact state of
lals mind, had she cared. She thought this fine-look-
°g, stupid Englishman a rare prize, and laughed at
'us un-Frenehmanlike ways, with her Parisian maid,
-after he was gone. She had no particular intention
in the beginning to capture his simple heart; but
When she found she had, she did not scruple to confess
and boast to Marie of the conquest.
And on this day, an hour or two after Ingram
Ingestre tore down the steps with his folio under his
'arin (for he had dawdled away ten precious minutes,
Putting up her scattered music sheets for her), made-
Moiselle was dancing about in her bedroom, while
karie stood by, dress in hand, waiting to attiro her
fox a concert.
"Not yet, Marie, ma cherei—not yet! Such fun it
to-day !—that large Enelishman, who comes to
teach me on the organ, I would talk to him so much
of the doctor, and made him savage as a bear! He
Says he hates cheats, and Creusa is nothing but a
beat; and how the baroness can allow him to touch
eo much as my little finger, he cannot conceive. Ha!
ha re
And Lina skipped about, and looked at her small
•801 f in the tall looking-glasses scattered plentifully
about the room.
"Only fancy, ma'mselle! I daresay he would give
'lnuch to take hold of that same littlesfinger," said the
real& "He is, certainly, very good-looking—much
better than Monsieur de Rosimont, I think."
Lina stopped short in her dance, and looked at
Marie.
,What is that you say?—think this cub of an
Wrriglishman better looeing than my glorious Don
hillipe? Marie, you are a fool! Put that dress
°ll, and get me ready. lam vexed !"
'Yes, ma'amselle ! Certainly! To be sure, the
'3ount has very black eyes, and very long lashes.
hut, then, they do tell such tales of him and his
brother ! "
"What do? his eyelashes' axe '
" Oh, no
!ma,, a roue, and his young brother is follow-
very eiely in his wicked ways."
"Diane! I forbid you to talk of Ikflonsieur de
Ptsimont like that in my presence. He is not a rort4
--be is not a wicked man—nor is lie a wicked brother!
And he is better looking a thousand times than that
great beef-eating Englishmanl
_Stupid creature! I
Will punish him well for daring to fall in love with me,
a baron's daughter!"
" Ah! ma'mselle will be a count's wife, too, I
suppose ? "
"Yes, Marie, I hope I shall; for I will never marry
anybody but De Resimont."
" He is certainly in love with ma'mselle."
"I am not sure of that at all," she said, carefully
arranging her sash of silver ribbon. "Sometimes, I
think he is—sometimes, I fancy not. Marie! I will
'kill myself, if Phillipe does not love me!"
The maid laughed.
" Ah, no! Ma'mselle will find another lover."
"We shall see. Now, how do I look ? "
'4 Charming! You sparkle all over, like a shower
of crystal; and those scarlet flowers look fine in
Your golden hair! Pity you will not see Don Phillip°
to-night !
"I expect to, Marie. My handkerchief ! Now lam
"ready!"

CHAPTER XXIII.
A RECOGNITION.
GEORGE 110`3 INGESTRE is a country gentleman in Lon-
don—he knows little of its gay society, and is ignorant
how to hill the time that hangs so heavily on his
bands. So with those same hands thrust into his
Pockets, he wanders about west of Temple Bar, pon-
dering moodily on his own dark affairs.
Then evening comes—a beautiful June evening in
the country, a hot, dusty, gas-smelling evening in the
"tY—and George Ingestre wonders what he shall do,
'What go and see? Plenty of sights there are to be
Bcen• Surely some of them will be able to kill care for
at hour or two? So he turns into the first entrance
he sees, on which is written in golden and blue letters
--somebody's music hall.
Ile strolls up into the gallery, and Lakes his seat n:
'nue of the front rows, where he can command a good
eve of the platform; for he thinks he shall like, per-
'laps, to watch the singers. There is no singing as
Yet, however; only a man imitating a famous actor of
the day, and George Ingestre, never having seen the
.actor in question, thinks the man is making a terrible
'fool of himself.
Then he turns to the audience, looking at the men,
vhe are chiefly young; and the women, who are not
ladies, but who are dressed very showily. Ingestre
!urns away his eyes; his heart holds the memory of a
;ace that is not painted; of eyes that are not bold, and
he lolthes the sight of these about him.
In a few minutes the chairman's hammer falls; he
announces the fact that a duet will be sung by Mr.
Somebody and Miss Somebody else. The names George
Ingestre loses in the applause which greets the an-
nouncement.
The long curtains at the back of the platform flutter;
R lady, music in hand, comes smilingly forward, led
Y a gentleman, who immediately unrolls his music
in a business-like manner, and beats his foot in an
impatient tattoo for the symphony to commence.
The lady is not young, but smiling and well-dressed.
George Ingestre's eye soon wanders from her to the
.Iflan at her side, and he begins to wonder where he
has seen him before.
He is a young man, with a tall muscular frame, a
chest like a Flemish horse's, massive head, handsome,
t'hstinte, and determined, and covered with short,
bright-brown curls. His eyes are a brilliant steely
blue, the colour of a new Damascus blade, and they
liave the fierce restlessness and keenness of the wild
hawk's.
Strong paternal characteristics of a similar nituer
...are generally to be found in old families. George
Ingestre recognised in this young man all that belonged
Peculiarly to his kindred. saw in him a full-grown
likeness of his own boy, and a faitl Sul portrait of him-
self as he was some sixteen years ago.
There was the bold, daring eye of the Ingestie;, the
ne forehead above, with the short thick curls grow-
ing in two handsome curves sound it.
George Ingestre was sorely puzzled who this other
4ngestre could be, to earn his living by means such aS
this. And then, when he heard the fine bass voice
• Conic tumbling in rich rolls and waves from the great
fellow's chest', he put it down to the fellow's vanity
and love of display.
It was nothinc, of the kind. Ingram Ingestre had
Rot a particle of vanity in his composition. I told
you the extraordinary things he did to feed the
_ Chancery suit, and how he grubbed up money every
__minute of his life. For an hour every evening in the
__week he sang at three different places in London, and
was paid five guineas a week by each. It was the
guineas he sang for, and not the applause which his
niagnificent voice called down.
The duet was finished, and with a bow to the audi-
-7•
Ingram led the lady away, and then came back
ng a solo. The same impatient beat of his foot,
• the same sharp look at the tired accompanist on
(Ale pianoforte.
George Ingestre drew a long breath and felt rather
in
easy. ; he must find out who this fellow was ; and
• as- he was preparing to call a waiter and ask for a
1-I,f,oir.ramme of the ,entertainment, in order that he
u'utl_ht. learn the names of the singers, his eyes were
hiilactid by a party entering a box exactly opposite
S o
:N.O need to wonder who was foremost there. George