The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-09-10 00:00:00

BY WI
Author of "The Heiress. of Atherstm Grave."

CHAPTER X.XV.
OVER THII SEA.

'Home—there is a magic about thee,
That the dearer by distance is made;
A charm that I ne'er felt without thee,
A bliss in my own native shade.'—ANom
IT does not need the possession of home and fr:ends to
make a man suffer from the mal du paps when he
turns on his back on the shores of old England. And
Cuthbert Ingratr, as he stood on the deck of the
Asphodel, bound for Shanghai, with a long sea voyage
before him, and an unknown life to begin when he
reached his destination, and everything he loved dearest
behi ndhim on the shore that he might never tread again,
felt as if he had indeed given up all for honour, oral
hardly knew tow to endure the sacrifice.
He knew he had acted rightly, and as any man of
senEe and right feeling would have done; but it was
bitter for all that. He thought now that he had made
the sacrifice that he could have lived in England and
been satisfied to see Helen Ramsay now and then ; that
he could have worshipped her afar off and gone
through life a lonely man for her dear sake, happy in
the thought that she was happy.
'Bah; I am a fool,' he said to himself as hewatched
the partings on the ship's deck as wives and children
came to see their loved ones for the last time. A be-
sotted fool—what am I to her and she to me—she w 11
never know.'
But even as he spoke there came into his heart the
feeling that "Helen did [know. The remembrance of
the sweet worth of thanks and blessing that she had
spoken as she bade him good-bye in the pretty
morning-room at Hillford flashed across him, and filled
him with sadness.
'God bless her, God bless her,' he murmured to him-
aelf. I was a tool to think that I could stay near her
anctnot make her and myself wretched—for it would
be wretchedness to her—she would do her duty and I
should stand between her and the man she hadsworn
to love, honour, and obey. It is hard. Perhaps in the
rt:.xt world we shall understand. Why should one
man be solitary and alone, and all these have ties and
friends to make parting sweet and sad at the same
time? Bah! Cuthbert Ingram, you are a fool! Look
the world in the face and be a man.'
Good advice, Cuthbert. Who is it addressed
to ? _

Myself, sir,' and the young man turned quickly to
see his employer standing beside hiss on the crowded
deck. 'I was fighting out something with my con-
science, I believe.'
The something that is sending you away from
us ? '

6 Yes, sir,'
'Make a good fight of it, and get the best of it, my
boy. Your uncle is here. He could not let the
Asphodel get quite away without another look at
his boy. He cares for you more than he has shown, I
can tell you.'
I -always thought him less hard than he seemed,'
Cuthbert said. 'Jam glad to see you, Mr. Frampton;
I was just thinking all sorts of dissatisfied things about
my own loneliness; and see, I have friends to bid me
good bye like the rest of them.'
He did not seem satisfied without another word,
you see. Tell me. Cuthbert—your uncle is with the
captain busy, I know, for a few minutes—what is
the trouble that is sending you away. There is
trouble. I have guessed it all along.'
'lt is nothing that anyone can help me in,' the
young man replied. 'I have not done anything to
send me out of England, sir.'
I know you better than to think that my boy,' the
old gentleman said, clasping Cuthbert on the shoulder,
but I had a notion I might help you perhaps.'
'No one can ever help me, sir; I can only go away
and pray for forgetfulness.'
'There is a woman then?' I thought there was.'
Yes ; there is a woman. God bless her. I am
running away from my madness—l cannot lay it down
in England.'
Tell me about it, Cuthbert. You may trust me.
Perhaps I may see the light that you cannot. Maybe
things will come right for you.'
They can only come right, sir, when I can forget
her, and that aN ill not be till I am in my grave.'
Who is the lady? Do I know her?'
'You have heard of her, sir. I know you and my
uncle were speaking of her one day in the office.' And
Cuthbert told his kind old friend in a few words how
he hai met Helen Ramsay and loved her, and how he
had resolved to run away since nothing else could be
done.
'You are right, my lad, it is the only thing,' Mr.
Frampton said. Cuthbert's uncle came up and joined
them—, the only thing, and the best and the bravest
—the forgetfulness will come, depend on it, and you
will live to be thankful for the resolution that made
you do your duty.'
Filling him up with self-conceit as usual,' the elder
Mr. Ingram said, with a laugh, as he greeted his
nephew. Give him a good scolding for being a young
fool, and you would do more good. Cuthbert, I
heard a good deal of what you have been saying, and

Frampton is right; you are a good lad, and you will
have your reward some time.
Since Cuthbert had been given over to his uncle, a
forlorn:l'We child, he had never heard such gentle

word i from his lips. He had always been austere nn4
bard,4hough just, and envious to do his best for his
deactbrother's son, and tears stood in the young man's
eyes as he held out his hand.
Thank you, sir,' he said. knew you would know
sometime I was right, though I should not have spoken
but for Mr. Frampton here. He put the question to
me, and I could not refuse him an answer.'
The news of the young lady's marriage will be the
best cure,' Mr. Frampton said quietly. 'Ab, yes, I
know it is bitter medicine to say such a heartless
thing; he added with a laugh as Cuthbert winced
as if he were suddenly stung. But the sharper the
knife the quicker the operation is over, you know.
The wedding is to be pretty soon, I know. I met
Jarvis the other day, and he was speaking of it. I
fancy he will not be sorry when his anxieties are
at an end about the business. Mrs. Jirvis is said to
be dseadfully jealous about his care of Miss Ramsay,
and to comrlain loudly that things are done without
any reference to her ; it will be a good thing out of her
husband's hands when the two young people are
married. He can't forget Miss Ramsay's mother, I
believe, andpis wife never forgives him for it.
There's g. move being made for shore,' Mr. Ingram
said suddenly. 'We'll send you news of the wedding
as soon as it takes place, Cuthbert. As Frampton
toys, it will be the best physic if it is a hard pint
to swallow. Good bye, my boy. God bless you and
prosper you, and send you back to us sometime.'
He held out his hand at first, and Cuthbert grasped
It with a sense of pleasure, and was astonished to find
himself suddenly folded in his uncle's arms, and
hugged in a rough embrace. •
I'm an old fool, and that's a fact,' Mr. Ingram said
very muck ashamed of the impulse to which he had
yielded. 'I don't know my own mind. I was glad
the lad was going, and now l'd keep him if I could.
Go along, and don't say good-bye to me or I shall
make a fool of myself.'
And with another squeeze of the hand he bustled
away, leaving something in Cuthbert's palm that
rustled as he put it into his waistcoat pocket.
His heart is in the right place, after all,' his part-
ner said as he too grasped the young man's hand and
squeezed it till the bones ached with thegoodwill of the
pressure.
I don't think I ever found out where it was before,
sir,' Cuthbert returned. Good bye, Mr. Frampton,
and Heaven bless you, sir, for all your kindness to me.
Let me know when it does happen; you are right, the
knowledge will be my best medicine.
The bell was ringing furiously now, and Shore'
was t eing shouted vociferously, and the two genie.
mn had to get away, leaving Cuthbert Ingram in
quite a different frame of mind from the moody
wretchedness that he was inclined to nurse as he
watched the busy scene on the deck of the Asphodel
before his friends joined him.
who make their woes deserve them,' be muttered
to himself. 'Where have I heard that, I wonder? In
some play lam sure. It is a true and wholesome
saying; am I not making my woes? I will make no
more, hut look the world in the face like a man. If
she loves me, my darling—l Will call h'r so now that
I am parted from her for ever, and 1 think she does
—she will love me all the more for doing my duty.
No woman cares for a man who has no more strength
of mind than to go wrong because he cannot get her. ,
"1l for her" shall be my motto, and I will live such
a life as she shall be proud to hear of, if ever she bears
of me at all. She shall know that the man who loved
her was wo:thy of her at any rate.'
And happier and better for the noble aspirations
with which his mind was filled, he saw
t'le white cliffs of Old England fade from
his s'ght, and took up his new life with
a will as soon as he was out of sight of land. He was
a good sailor, and there was much for him to do in
the dull time on shipboard; there were papers to be
arranged, and a smattering of the language of the
country he was going to to be picked up. One of the
passengers was agood Chinese scholar, and he promised
t) give Cuthbert practical instruction in the language
as spoken and written, and to make him acquainted
with many things tint would help to set him at his
ease in his new position. And so the time wore on
pleasantly enough, and the Asphodel made her way
across the blue water with no unfair complement of
bad weather; on the whole, it was a bright and pros-
perous voyage, and Cuthbert enjoyed it, little dream-
ing of all that was happening at home. The family
at Hillford was seldom out of his thoughts. He was
very fond of his aunt and cousins, and Fern Bank had
always been like a home to him whenever he chose to
go there. It\ was a shrine now! To be thought of as
holding the being he worshipped, and could only
worship in silence.
Ho caught himself thinking sometimes of Frank
Bath aleis.,h, and how he was free to visit there and
isk in th • sunshine of Helen's sweet presence, and then
he tortured himself by picturing the marriage, and
who would be there, and where the pair would go for
their honeymoon, and almost drove himself mad in the
contemplation of Frank's joy and happiness; and then
he would turn to his studies again with a sore heart
and a bitter inclination for the moment to end all his
perplexities and troubles by a leap into the bright blue
water.
He had told his aunt and cousin in his morbid
_ _