The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1886-08-13


20 my amazement, saw that instead OF
Harding, Mauleverer himself was standing
before me.
His appearance was SO great surprise that
i was only able to face him in silence, while
icon his part showed a certain amount Of
embarrassment and even shyness. He stood
before me, withered, prematurely-aged
man, with pale, wrinkled face, and dim eyes
that looked out feebly through the specta-
cles he habitually wore It was difficult TO
conceive that this forlorn looking creature,
who bore all the marks of decrepitude and
suffering, was the man whom everybody In
this gay world of Scarborough was envying.
As looked at him / forgot all about his
millions. and only saw in him the feeble
valetudinarian to whom existence Itself must
be penance.
bespoke at last, and when he did so my
heart leaped with joy, for l thought l de-
tected in the mild sweet accents of his voice
something that reminded me of my COM
panion of the railway carriage. There was
a grave smile on his face, too, that redeemed
its careworn ugliness
"You will forgive me, sir, for intruding
upon YOU" he said with shy heitation,
| by which was surprised and touched. -
did not know, when my niece recognized you
this morning, that you had rendered her so
great a service as that which she has de.
scribed to me. am very grateful ! ought
to have been there to protect her; but un-
luckily for me, L was laid up here with the
throat complaint that SO constantly troubles
me. have come to thank you in her name
and my own"
His niece! That was the first thing 1
grasped as he spoke. Then at least we were
not rivalsi l am afraid that Mauleverer
| bax,
culiar. When he held out his hand at the
close of the little speech have just repeated,
| grasped it with a fervor that made him
vince, but / found it even mora difficult
| than he had done to express myself in words.
OF course / answered him that any man
would have been only too proud to have had
the opportunity of serving his niece; and
asked eagerly if she had suffered from the
shock of the encounter at York. telling him
that l thought she had looked pale when I
met her on the promenade.
| He regarded me steadily for n moment
with his mild eyes. could see that he did
not altogether relish my comments on her
appearance.
"Thank you very much" he said with his
| old fashioned precision of speech; "Miss
Stancliffe did not suffer at all from her
journey. owing to your kindness; but l am
ever since then through my illness. She is
an excellent nurse. and when / am i'll, as l
too often am, unfortunately, she allows no
one else to wait upon me-"
And then he explained how it had hap
pened that she had been travelling without
male escort when / met her He had come
down to Scarborough merely to engage
rooms, intending to return to London for his
niece. But a sudden blast Of the treacherous
east wind had laid him low, and instead of
going back to town to escort Miss Stancliffe
What pretty name l thought to myself
he had been compelled to telegraph to her to
ask her to join him at once in, her favorite
capacity of nurse.
By this time we had both of us recovered
our self-possession, and were chatting almost
on the footing of old friends. He took up
book which was lying on my table. 1t was a
volume of Wordsworth.
"You are fond of poetrys SO is Daisy
Miss Stanclffe She reads great deal now,
and often get the advantage of her reading.
You see we have very few friends. We are
strangers in England, my niece and l."
II don't suppose you will have to wait very
long before you will have an abundant sup
ply of friends, ;" I ventured to remark, with
smile
He answered me quite seriously and simply.
al do not know. There are so many things
to be considered. One must be very careful
in place like England-so 1 have been told.
Sometimes 1 think we made mistake in
coming home; we might have been happier
over there"
He rose to go, again holding out his hand
Excuse me-" / said, "but with your per-
mission l should like to tell you who and
what am" And then 1 hurriedly told him
II hoH haa,,
the only child of my father on our little
property in Hampshire mere cottage with
few score acres of ground around it; how
! had begun the study of medicine, but had
been compelled to abandon it owing to my
fathers long illness, when my services as a
nurse were in constant requisition; and how
his death six months before had left me my
own master-and quite alone in the world.
He heard me with courteous attention, his
pale eyes fixed on my face all the time | was
speaking and when finished my little auto
biography with the account of my fathers
death, he pressed my hand sympathetically,
but all lie said was
"Ah! l see that, like my niece, you have
had experience in humoring the weakness
and attending to the wants of feeble old age.
Good-day to you, sir. | hope you will for
give me for troubling you with this visit"
that quiet, meek manner of his that con-
trasted so strangely with the reputation he
enjoyed among the people around him; and
l was left alone to dream as Anaschar him
self never did.
1t was not until the next morning that
saw either Mauleverer or his niece again.
Harding had not been idle during the day.
He, too, had ascertained the relationship be-
tween the millionaire and the young lady;
he had even learned her surname. But in
addition to this he had been told by one of his
informants that after all, there was little
doubt as to whether Miss Stancliffe was in
reality the niece of Mauleverer "There is
some spystery about her," he remarked care
lessly, not knowing how deeply l was in
terested in her.
had taken a liking to Harding. His
CHEEKY cynicism acted as wholesome cor
receive to my boyish optimism, and had
found in his talk at the dinner table and in
the smoking room almost the only enjoyment
had yet tasted in Scarborough. felt that