The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-05-15 00:00:00

CHAPTER X.

DEATH.
Thou art where billows foam,
Thou art where music melts upon the air,
Thou art around DA in our peaceful home,
And the world ali us forth, and thou art there.
—HEMANS.
BERYL went upstairs with a very thankful heart after
the third act of the play. Her success was certain
now. Mr. Masters himself had come round from the
front and congratulated her.
"We'll talk about business matters to-morrow, my
dear," he said kindly. "But you may make sure of a
few weeks, if it suits you to stay. We must see and
bring Miss Joyce before the public once more in her
Proper place.'
Be could read in her gratified face what a few weeks
of certain employment meant to her, and he went to
the green room and talked cheerfully to Leonard,
and made him take a glass of wine while Thsahnd had
a few minutes breathing time.
"I hope I shall have time to dress Dot," Beryl
thought as she mounted the stairs ; but to her surprise
the little one was already arrayed in her glittering
dress, and sitting on a stool, carefully beyond the
• reach of splashes, or dust of powder and rouge. The
Child's toilet had been most elaborately attended to—
not a button or string was out of place, and it was
evidently a practised hand that had arranged her
, luxuriant hair in such perfection. She looked very
lovely, and Beryl's heart beat with pride and fondness
as she looked at her.
"Why, my darling, who has been so kind as to
dress you ?" she asked. "You look so nice."
"Yes, don't I ?" the child said with a satisfied glance
at herself in the glass. "Miss Hayes put on my frock
and did my hair. She said you wouldn't have time."
"I hope I didn't take too much upon myself, Mrs.
Atherstone," said Nelly, turning round from her own
dressing place; "but the little girl said her things were
all ready; and I knew you wouldn't have time;
Rosalindis such a part."
"It is indeed; and I am very much obliged to you,
my dear," Beryl said warmly. "You have made Dot
look charming."
"It doesn't take much to do that," replied the girl
With a smile. "rm used to dressing children. I have
a little sister on the stage, and in pantomime time
they always get me to help with the little ones."
"You have taken a great load off my mind," said
Beryl. "I should have to leave her to the dresser. If
her dress had not been properly put on the effect would
have been spoiled."
"It is a beautiful dress," said Miss Hayes, contem-
plating it with critical eyes; "you have great taste."
" I used to have," Beryl said with a half sigh think-
ing of her splendid wardrobe of bygone days, and how
it had dwindled. "Will you do me a further favour,
my dear, by keeping your eye on Dot till she is wanted.
I must go now."
"To be sure I will. I'm going to show her lots of
things, an.d then she won't want to run about. That's
the curtain up, Mrs. Atherstone. I'm so glad of your
success." The piece over, Beryl went up again, nor
hands full of bouquets, and the delightful plaudits of
the audience ringing in her ears. If only Dot succeeded
as well, a bright future seemed opening to them, for
of any answer, save an unconditional negative to the
hard, cruel letter they had received, neither of them
thought for one moment.
The fairy trifle which was to introduce Miss Beryl
Margaret Atherstone to the Birmingham playgoers,
was a graceful, sparkling little extravaganza, free
from double entcndre or grossness of any sort. The
lines the child had to speak were suitable for a child's
lips to utter, and her first sentences won her a perfect
storm of applause. It was whispered about that the
Pretty child who sang, danced, and spoke with such
tearless abandon and such perfect freedom from
Staginess, was the scion of one of the most
notable county families; and not a few present
knew Atherstone Grange and its master, and were
curious to learn what the connection was between
, them and the little actress.
All this wonderment only seemed to make the
success of the little actress more certain. Mr. Masters
was delighted, and himself led the child on the stage,
in answer to calls from every part of the house, before
the audience would leave the theatre. That recall had
nearly ended Dot's life and her acting together, for
just as they were stepping back, something in the
machinery of the heavy curtain gave way, and fell
With a crash right on the child as it seemed to the
• terrified audience. Mr. Masters was thrown down by
the shock, but was unhurt; the little girl had not es-
caped so well, she stunned and bleeding from a cut on
the forehead. Tremendous confusion followed for a
minute or two. Leonard and Beryl rushed upon the
stage, followed by a gentleman who twang from the
stalls and proffered his services as a medical man. A WELSHER BROUGHT TO BOOK.
But nothing very terrible had happened after all-
The cutilPas not deep, though it was jagged and William Mosley, of Wakefield, has been charged
irregular. The worst of it would be a scar-like seam, it the Town Hall, Carlisle, with the theft of two
which might be covered by her hair. sums of .E 5 each from William Shaw, cattle dealer,
In a very few minutes Dot had opened her eyes 36, Bread-street, Edinburgh, and George Macfarlane,
and was looking about her in rather a bewildered 74, Taylor-street, Glasgow, by means of a pretended
fashion. I bet, at the Carlisle Spring Race Meeting, on Friday,
"I'm not hurt," she said, "but I've spoiled my the 30th ult. It appeared that Shaw had laid an even
Frock." bet of .E 5 on Scotch Reel, the winner of the first race,
She looked ruefully at the drops of blood and with the prisoner, but when he went to get his
patches of dust that stained her bright dress, and Mr. -money after the race had been run, it was found
Masterslaughed. that the prisoner had decamped, previously chang-
" Never mind the dress," he said gaily. " Birming- ing his overcoat and hat. He was afterwards at-
ham can supply another I dare say. You shall have rested, in company with another man, since liberated,
another by to-morrow night. Be thankful you and I on the course. It was intended, as the charge
are not spoiled, young lady. It was a steer miss." Preferred by Shaw had been completed when the
' All this took place in a few minutes, and Mr. Wlliffin ease was previously before the magistrates, to go on
had been sent before the curtain to tell the audience now with that of Macfarlane, hut although Macfar-
that no harm was done, and that the little girl, though lane had come to Carlisle on Monday morning, when
- frightened, was not hurt seriously. She would be the case was called he could not be found, having
quite well enough to appear the next night, he hoped. mysteriously disappeared. The prisoner was defended
The doctor who was manipulating the scratch, by Mr. Neill, of Bradford, who asked for his dis-
svhich had been caused by a nail in the roller, con- charge on the legal ground that a bet was not recog-
firmed the words to Beryl's great delight. nised in law, but was only a debt of honour between
"If she sleeps soundly to-night she will wake well the contracting parties. The Bench committed the
in the morning," he said. "You need have no fear, prisoner to take his trial at the Quarter Session on
• Mrs. Atherstone; nothing worse will come of it, but a the first charge, and in regard to the second—that of
scar." Macfarlane—granted a remand for a week. The
"Will she always have a mark?" Leonard asked, prisoner was admitted to bail, himself in a bond of
"I am afraid she will; but it is pretty well up under £lOO, and.two sureties of £5O each.
the hair. You see the skin is tight upon that part of ••••=l.l
the head, and where it is divided it gapes, so that PRIZE FIGHT IN SOUTH LONDON.
there is always a white seam; but it will heal very
quickly." According to a correspondent of the Standard, a
Mr. Masters sent for a cab, and told Beryl he would prize fight took place on Monday between William
call in the morning, and so ended what inlet have Goode and Jem Kendrick. The fight took place in
been a very serious accident to our little heroine. The the rooms of the Lambeth School of Arms, which lie
incident Would have been hardly worth mentioning, back about fifty feet from .the roadway of Paradise-
but that the scar on the face of the younger Beryl street, Lambeth. Before tbe men stripped for
Atherstone came to be remembered by many with , work a collection of £6l 10s. was divided between
'whom she came in contract in the days to come. ' them to defray their training expenses. The fighting
The next day was a busy one te her parents. Mr.
Masters called early, and was pleased to find Dot was most desperate from the start, and up to the
tenth round Goode showed the greatest science and
running about with no evidence of the catastrophe of
generalihip. In the eleventh round Kendrick seemed
the preceding night about her, except a pale face and
to recover himself, and had the best of the fighting
a piece of sticking-plaster. for three rounds, at which stage both combatants
" Ah, she'll do, he said, with manifest relief. were very groggy. Goode now showed in best form,
"I have been worrying myself in the night to know and looked as though he would win. One of
What we could do in place of that burlesque; but its Kendrick's seconds began using terrible language, in
all right I see."
„ ' which he was joined by a lot of men in his corner.
"Oh, yes, it's all right, I'm thankful to say," The noise became deafening. A sporting man
Leonard said with a smile. "It hasn't spoiled her charged one of Kendrick's seconds with sending for
appetite, nor silenced her tongue; and when Dot can the police; and in the eighteenth round, when every
eat and talk, there isn't much the matter with her." person was screaming his utmost, a force of police
Mr. Masters' visit resulted in a formal engagement broke in the place. Immediately there was a great
for both mother and child foe-the whole of the summer, scamper for the doors and windows. Everything in
on sufficiently advantageous terms to permit them to the place was broken, and several of the spectators
live in comfort and save something for the future, were knocked down and trampled upon ie. their
and when he was gone, Leonard sat down to write endeavour to escape. Both the principals were
the answer to his father's letter. captured. as well as about a dozen of the spectators.
Dot was sent down to play with Mrs. Jarvis's brood
tf children. They would never let her know, if A FLAW IN THE—CRIMINAL LAW
possible, how her mother was despised by her grand-
father, or what her father had forfeited by his AMENDMENT ACT.
marriage. Mr. Justice Hawkins, in passing sentence at Chester
The letter did not take long to write; all that Assizes on Monday on a man, named William Capper,
Leonard Atherstone had to say could be expressed in for an attempted assault upon his own child, 11 years
a few words. He simply declined, in the most unequi- of age, said the prisoner had been convicted of as
vocal terms he could find, to part from the wife he filthy and abominable an act as anyone could be guilty
had chosen, or to place his daughter where she would of. He himself was one of those who thought it a
be taught to despise her parents. "Our united love pity that in passing the recent Criminal Law Amend
has been a strong shield," he wrote. "It has stood mentActtheLegislature did notallow aheavier sentence
between us and much sorrow hitherto, and shall so to be inflicted in such cases as this. For an attempt to
Stand to the end, please Heaven. I will not forsake commit an abominable crime a man could be sent to
my wife nor give up my child, and I pray God to penal servitude for 10 years. For an attempt to defile
Forgive the wicked pride which prompted my father his own child of tender years a man could receive only
to propose such a course to me." sentence of imprisonment. If eyelet case arose in which
Not a word of his own failing strength and weaken- penal servitude was deserved, and richly deserved, he
lag energies--no Ogh to tell how near he was to, tivit Considered this was one. In addition to that he also
bourne from which no traveller returns ; and tha wished the Legislature wotld place it at the discre-
letter once dispatched, he strove to put it out of his tiad of the judge, in cases 'such as these, to inpet the
mind altogether. punishment of flogging. They flogged a man who
No sign came back that it ever had been received, robbed anothe'r. with violence, and yet there was no
nd from that hour both husband an.d wife strove to power to flog a man who, under the circumstances
forget that Atherstone Grange and its owner were just described, had attempted to do ten thousand
ought to them, and the time passed away, and the times more injury to the child than the taking away
brilliant summer days went on and Beryl mid Dot of a man's money. He (the judge) could do no more
settled to their work, liked and respected by all who than he was gaing to do, but he did all that he could
knew them. They took a comfortable lodging out in sentencing the prisoner to be imprisoned and kept
at Edgbaston, close to the park, wherb Leonard might to hard labour for two years.
have fresh air, and be able to get out,*and for a time
all seemed to be going well with them.
The letter with their decision had reached Mr.
Atherstone in the midst of a gay party, and he read it
With set lips and 'a frowning brow, and despatched a
missive to Mr. Carson, recalling him at once.
"He has beggared himself and his child by his
folly," he said to his cousin, to whom he showed the
letter. "I shall not rest till I have made my will now,
Norton."
"Take time to think," was the. good clergyinan's
advise. "Don't be hasty even now.'
" Lime !" said the squire, bitterly. "I have taken
nine years to think. Come with me to the library for
few minutes. The young folks will excuse us.'
"Carson can't be here till to-morrow," Norton
Atherstone said, when they were alone. "You will
have reflected before then.
"I shall reflect no more. Leonard Atherstone may
go to beggary his own way for me. Not one penny
of mine, save what the law compels me to give him,
!nail ever go to keep him in his wickedness and folly.
1 Will make my will to-morrow, and there shall be dis-
Position of my money to those who deserve it—your
Children, good friend—my next of kin."

"I do. You ask your son deliberately to put aside
the wife he has sworn to love and cherish after nine
years of life together—of happy life, as I believe—and
to take his child away from a loving mother, who, for
aught you know, has been to her all a mother should,
and place her among strangers. It Is not natural to
suppose he would do it. Would you have done such a
thing yourself ?"
"The question is ridiculous, Norton. I married a
pure virtuous woman, fit to be my companion at the
head of my household. If my son had done the same,
I could have forgiven him' no matter what the girl's
station might have been; but an actress !—a painted
doll !—a light wanton !—"
"Stop, Pierce, stop. You have no right to go so
far," said the clergyman gravely. "I will not listen
to such accusations against avy woman without proof.
She may be as good as Leonard's dead mother was,
and as fit to enter heaven by her side. Your hatred
is unreasonable and wicked, to say the least of it."
There was no turning the squire; nothing that his
cousin could say could alter his determination, nor
could Mr. Carson, though he ventured to put in a
word or two when he arrived, find any argument that
availed in the least.
A will was drawn up, not long, but terse and clear,
and so strongly worded that there could be no mis-
take. There were several legacies to personal friends,
a trifle to each of his servants, a pension to one or
two, and the residue of his property, money, furniture,
books, and all personal belongings whatever, to his
cousin, Norton Atherstone, rector of the parish, and
his heirs. The names of Leonard and his daughter
were not mentioned, and if either of them inherited
the Grange, there would be nothing for them but the
house itself. When it was finished and read over to
the squire he wanted to sign it directly.
"Have in a couple of the servants," he said, "and
get the thing over. I shan't rest till it is done. You
won't do, Norton," he added, turning to his cousin.
"You are an interested party; so's Carson."
"So are the servants, every one of them," suggested
the lawyer, while the rector whispered hurriedly,
"For Heaven's sake prevent him doing it if you can.
It's awful injustice."
Mr. Carson nodded and looked blandly at the
squire.
It's hardly ready for signature yet, Mr. Atherstone,"
he said. "There may be one or two little things to
rectify in it. I must take it home and have a fair
copy made, and go over it carefully."
" Will you have it ready to-morrow ?"
_

"Oh certainly."
Mr. Atherstone was obliged to be content, but
Carson managed to be called away from home the
next morning on business which detained him several
weeks, and the will lay unfinished in his office; and
the squire fretted and fumed, but consoled himself
with the thought that it could be finished at any
time. .

And all this time his son was within twenty miles
of him—dying. The summer passed quietly by, Beryl
very comfortable in the theatre, and Dot the pet and
plaything of the whole company, from the manager
downwards. To Mr. Whiffin she was the apple of his
eye, as the old women say. He idolised her, and
would have spoiled her utterly had her nature been
like that of some children; but Dot did not seem as
though anything could spoil her. She was sweet-
tempered, docile and affectionate to a degree. The
accident she had met with had done her no harm,
though the wound had left an irregular seam, which
the hair did not entirely cover. It used to be painted
over for her night's work.
But sorrow was coming to Beryl in the midst of her
prosperity—sorrow deep and bitter, such as only
comes to women when "those whom God bath joined"
are put asunder by a mightier hand than man's.
Leonard's life was waning with the waning summer,
and ere the autumn leaves had all left the trees, he
would have learned in the next world why things had
gone so crookedly with him in this one. Very peace-
ably and gentle he sank. Death was robbed of half
its terrors by the comforts his sorrowing wife was
able to provide, and by her loving and tender care;
and she was amply repaid by his affection. He seemed
in these last days to think of no one but her, and only
once mentioned his father.
"Tell him I wanted for nothing," was his message,
"and that I sent him my love. He did what he
thought was best; but Beryl and I could not part; we
were very happy."
And a few days afterwards, with the loved name
upon his lips, and Beryl's hand in his, he died.
(To be continued.)

.• •

AFFRAY BETWEEN BILLIARD
PLAYERS.
On Monday, at the Marlborough-street Police-court,
London, John Roberts. 39, described as a professional
billiard player, of Clifford-street, St. James's, was
charged with assaulting Thomas Taylor, of Carlton-
villas, The Grove, Lambeth. On the case being called
a medical certificate was handed to the magistrate, '
which stated that the prosecutor was unable to attend
the court, owing to a cpntusion of the eye and face,
and general shock to the system. Police-constable
346 C said that at half-past eleven on Saturday night
he was on duty in Argyll-street, Oxford-circus, when
he was called to Honglees Cirque by Mrs. Taylor,
who stated that Mr. Roberts had been knocking her
husband about. Outside the building he saw the
prosecutor, whose face was disfigured, both his eyes
being blackened, and he gave Roberts into custody.
In reply to the magistrate, Mrs. Taylor said that her
husband would probably be able to attend the court
some day during the present week, and Mr. Newton
then adjourned the case for seven days, allowing the
defendant to be at large iii his own recognisances of
£lO.