Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1891-03-14
CHAPTER XIII.
EUsTACE BUYS A PAPER,

In due course the train that bore An
gusta and her fortunes, timed to reach
Waterloo at 6:04 p. M, rolled into the
station The train was a fast one, but
the telegraph had been faster. All the
evening papers had come out with &C.
counts, more or legs accurate, of their es-
cape, and most of them had added that
the two survivors would reach Waterloo
by the 5:O4 train. The consequence was,
that when the train drew up at the plat
form Augusta, on looking out, was hor-
r1hed to see dense mass of human beings
being kept in check by line of policemen.
However, the guard was holding the
door open, so there was nothing for it but
to get out, which she did, taking Dick by
the hand, proceeding that necessarily
put her identity beyond doubt The
moment she got her foot on to the plat
form the crowd saw her, and there arose
such tremendous shout of welcome that
she very nearly took refuge again in the
carriage. For moment she stood hest
tating, and the crowd, seeing how sweet
and beautiful she was flor the three
motnhs of sea air had made her stouter and
even more lovely, cheered again with
peculiar enthusiasm which a discerning
public always shows for a pretty face.
But even while she stood bewildered on
the platform she heard a loud Make
way-IAake way therel" and saw the
multitude being divided by little knot
of officials, who were escorting somebody
dressed in widows seeds.
In another second there was a cry of
Joy, and sweet, palefaced little lady had
run at the child Dick and was hugging
him against her heart, and sobbing and
laughing both at once.
"Ohl my boyl my boyW cried Lady
Holmhurst, for it was she, IL thought
you were dead-long ago deadr
And then she turned, and, before all the
people there, chung about Augustus neck
and kissed her and blessed her, because
she had saved her only child, and half re-
moved the dead weight of her desolation.
Whereat the crowd cheered, and wept,
and yelled, and swore with excitement,
and blessed their stars that they were
there to see.
And then, in haze of noise and excite
ment, they were led through the cheering
mob to where a carriage and pair were
standing and were helped into it, Mrs.
Thomas being placed on the front seat
and Lady Holmhurst and augusta on the
back, the former with the gasping Dick
upon her knee.
And now little Dick is out of the story
Then another event occurred, which we
must go back little way to explain.
When Eustace Mees0n had come to
town, after being formally disinherited,
he had managed to get billet as Latin,
French and old English reader in pub
fishing house of repute. As it happened,
on this very afternoon he was strolling
down the Strand, having finished rather
stiff days work, and with q mind filed
with those idle and somewhat confused
odds and ends of speculation with which
most BRAN workers will be acquaipte94
He looked older and paler than when We
last met him, for sorrow and misfortune
had laid their heavy hands upon hin.
When Augusta had deparf "a he had dis
covered that he was head over heels in
love with her in that unfortunate way
for ninety-nine times out of a hundred
it is unfortunate-in which many men of
susceptibility do occasionally fall in love
in their youth--a way that brands the
heart for life in a fashion that can no
more be effaced than the stamp of hot
iron can be effaced from the physical body.
Eustace had never seen Augusta but
twice in his life; but then passion does
not necessarily depend upon constant pre-
vious Intercourse with it's object. Love
at first sight is common enough, and in
this instance Eustace was not altogether
dependent upon the spoken words of his
adored, or on his recollection of her very
palpable beauty, for he had her books.
Thus it seemed to Eustace, who knew
"Jemimas Vow" and also her previous
abortive work, almost by heart, that he
was very intimately acquainted with
Augusta, and as he was walking home
that May evening he was rejecting sadly
enough of all that he had lost through that
cruel shipwreck He had lost Augusta,
and, what was more, he had lost his uncle
and his uncle's vast fortune. For he, too,
had reen the report of the application re
Meeson in The Times, and though he
knew that he was disinherited, it was
little crushing He had lost the fortune
for Augustus sake, and now he had lost
Augusta also; and he reflected, not with
out dismay, on the long, dreary existence
that stretched away before him, filled up
as it were with prospective piles of Latin
proofs. With a sigh he halted at the
Wellington street crossing in the Strand,
which, owing to the constant stream of
traffic at this point, is one of the worst in
London. There was a block at the mo-
ment, as there generally is, and he stood
for some minutes watching the frantic
dashes of an old woman, who always tried
to cross at the wrong time, not without
some amusement. Presently, however,
boy with bundle of unfolded Globes
under his arm came rushing along, making
the place hideous with his bowls.
Wonderful escape of lady and han