The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-09-18 00:00:00

"Yes—Sally—that was the girl in the kitchen,
mme in 'me day, and said she'd seen the gentleman
that came from England to fetch Miss Atherstone,
looking out of window somewhere. He was lost, you
know."

Yes, I know. So Sally saw him, did she ?"
"Goodness knows, sir; I don't. I know she said
so, and missus flew at her like a madwcman; and said
how could she see a man that was dead, for Mr. Carson
was daed ; and then she went off crying, in a sort of
hysterics, and after that she took to fancying she saw
him. She was that queer that I was glad when she
took the whim of having the house pulled about—it
kept her quiet like. She said it was not healthy nor
safe to have a trap-door over the brook—there might
be accidents."

"Where was the trap-door
"Just outside her own parlour, sir. There was a
door in the wall; there was a door led straight out to
It, and she had it blocked up, and the minute it was
all done and comfortable, she took another craze, and
away she went.
Allan Temple mused much on what he had heard.
"Then Carson was not mistaken, maybe, after all,"
he thought. " What can it all mean? Perhaps I
shall know when I see Beryl Atherstone face to face
once more."

_
Know! Ay, would he; he would understand with
the first sight of his faithless love all that was pmzling
him now; all that had seemed so strange since he
parted from her with a kiss on the deck of the ship.
Graham Carson's voyage was a pleasant one; return-
ing health and memory made everything seem fresh and
beautiful to him, and Capt. Bolton and his officers
were unfeignedly glad to see him. Dr. Twist was not
there, nor Jack Blogg. The former had come into a
little property, and was taking a spell on shore, the
captain said; the latter had vanished directly they
reached England.
"He'll get on somehow," Captain Bolton said. "Ho
is a sharp lad, and all he vanted was to get to
England. He had some powerful motive that we could
never fathom." _ _

From the captain and his officers Graham learned
all about Beryl's voyage and the death of her com-
panion, and heard, too, of Dr. Twist's unaccoantaMe
dislike to the heiress.

" I was very glad to see the poor thing safe with her
friends," he said. "They seemed very nice people,
and took to her at once, as, indeed, anyone might,
for she was a nice creature ; so sweet and gentle to
everyone. But Twist, he wouldn't speak a eivd word
to any of them; and as to Miss Atherstone herself, I
don't believe he wished her good-bye even."
The young man pondered considerably on this
story, wondering what could have prompted such a
sentiment on the part of a stranger. His father met
him at Southampton, with such joy as those only know
whose loved one's "were dead and alive again, were
lost and are found." To him he spoke of the dislike of
Dr. Twist for Beryl, and the old man smiled.
"I was in too much grief and anxiety to notice
very much, my boy," he said. "It was a sorrow-
ful time for me, but I remember Mr. Noel Atherstone
making the remark that the doctor seemed a surly
brute, and she has spoken of it since. He must be a
curious-tempered man not to like her."
"Is she so lovable then ?" _ _

" I can't imagine anyone more so; she has some-
thing of her grandfather's imperious disposition, and
is very like him in many ways, but she has tairly be-
witched everyone that has come near her. She likes
her own way, as all the .Atherstones do; but she is
very tractable. In all the business I have had to sub-
mit to her—and it has not been a little, I can assure
you—she has only gone contrary to the wishes of her
cousins and myself in one thing."
" And what is that ? " _ . .

"Why, something in which she had a perfect right
0 please herself, of course; but, somehow, we didn't
like it. She would have the old woman she lodged
with in Melbourne over to live with her."
"Mrs. Dalton" _ _ .

"Just so. She fancies she owes her a wonderflll
debt of reparation because her granddaughter died in
her service, os it were ; as if she had not had suffer-
ing and worry enough over it, poor thing !"
"And Mrs. Dalt,n lives at the Grange?"
"For the present—yes."
"She must have followed Miss Atherstone very
quickly."
"In about a month; she did not come to the Grange
with any idea of being asked to stay there; only to
see the young lady, she said. She told me, poor old
soul! that Australia was unbearable to her now she
had lost her only tie to life ; that she had a little
money, and knew England pretty well, and thought
she could get on. She seems very grateful for Miss
Atherstone's kindness, and I am bound to confess she
is not obstructive."
Mr. Carson did not tell his son that he had recog-
nisrd in the white-haired old woman, with the grand
manners and stately bearing, the dancer who had
wrought such havoc in Pierce Atherstone's peace of
mind so many years before; nor had he deemed it
necessary to acquaint Beryl with the fact that the
woman she had so delighted to honour had been her
grandfather's mistress. Nobody remembered anything
about Angela Del phine now; and the Mrs. Dalton , from
over the sea, whom the heiress delighted to honour,
was her mother's friend—nothing more.