Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1891-02-21

Z
what she was-a very waif upon the sea
OF lie. Not that she had much to regret
| upon the vanished coast line. A little
| grave with white cross over it-that was
all She had left no friends to weep for
her, none. But even as she thought it q
recollection rose up in hermind of Eustace
Meesons pleasant, handsome face, and of
/ his kind words, and with it came a naur
as she reflected that, in all probability.
she would never see the one nor hear the
other again Why, she wondered, had he
not come to see her again? She should
have liked to bid him good by, and had
half a mind to send him note and tell
him Of her going. This, on second
thought, however, she had decided not
TO do; for one thing, she did not know
his address, and-well, there was an end
of it.
Could she by the means of clairvoyance
have seen Eustace's face and heard his
words, she would have regretted her de-
clslon. For even as that great vessel
| plunged on her fierce way right into the
heart of the gathering darkness, he was
standing at the door Of the lodging house
in the little street in Birmingham
"Gonel" he was saying Miss Smithers
gone to New Zealandl What is her ad-
dress?"
''She didn't leave no address, sir" re,
plies the dirty maid of all work with a
grin. ''She went from here two DAYS
ago. and was going on to the ship in
London"
what was the name of the ship?" he
asks, in despair.
Kon-Conger-ee eel, replies the
| girl In triumph and shuts the door in his
face.
Poor Eustace! he had gone to London
to try and get some employment, and
having after some difficulty succeeded in
obtaining a billet as reader in Latin,
French and English to publishing house
OF good repute at the salary of $50
year, he had hurried back to Birmingham
for the sole purpose of seeing Miss Au-
| gusta Smithers, with whom, if the whole
truth must be told, he had, to his credit
be it said, fallen deeply truly and VIC
lently in love. Indeed, so far was he in
this way gone that he had determined to
make all the progress that he could and,
If he thought that there was any prospect
of success, to declare his passion
Pity poor young mani To come from
London to Birmingham to woo ones gray
eyed mistress, in a third class carriage,
too, and find her gone to New Zealand,
whittier circumstances prevented him
from following her. without leaving a
word or line, or even an address behind
herl 1t was too bad. Well, there was
no remedy in the matter; so he walked to
the railway station and groaned and
swore all the way back to London.
| Augusta, on board the Kangaroo, was.
however, in utter ignorance of this act of
devotion on the part of her admirer; in
deed, she did not even know that he was
her admirer Feeling a curious sinking
sensation within her. she was about to 90
| below to her cabin, which she shared
with lady's maid, not knowing whether
to attribute it to sentimental qualms in
cidental to her lonely departure from the
land of her birth, or to other qualms con
nected with first experience Of life upon
the ocean wave About that moment,
| however, a burly quartermaster adj
dressed her in gruff tones and informed
| her that if she wanted to see the last Of
'hold Halbion" she had better go aft q
bit, and look over the port side and she
would see the something or other light
Accordingly, more to prove to herself
that she was not seasick than for any
other reason, she did so; and, standing
as far aft as the second class passengers
were allowed to go. stared at the quick
flashes of the light house as, second by
second, they sent their message across
the great waste of sea.
AS she stood there, holding on to a
stanchion to steady herself, for the yes
sci, large as she was had begun to get q
bit of roll on, she was suddenly aware
| of bulky figure of q man, which came
running, or rather reeling against the
bulwarks alongside Of her, where it-or
| rather he-waS instantly and violently
sick. Augusta was, not unnaturally, al
most Mortified into following the figures
example, when, suddenly growing faint
| or from some other cause, it lOOsed it's
hold and rolled into the scuppers, where
it lay feebly swearing Augusta, S1eyiug
tender impulse of humanity, hurried
forward and stretched out the hand of
succor, and presently, between her help
and that of the bulwark MEETINGS, the
man struggled to his feet. AS he did so
| his face came close to hers and in the dim
light she recognized the fat, coarse feat
ures, now blanched with misery, Of Nr.
MeesOn, the publisher. There was no
doubt about it; it was her enemy-the
man whose behavior had indirectly, as she
believed, caused the death of her little
sister. She dropped his hand with an ex-
clamation of disgust and dismay, and as
she did so he recognized who she was.
"Halloo" he said, with a faint and
rather feeble attempt to assume his fine
old crusted publishing company manners.
''Halloo Miss Jemima-Smithers | mean;
what on earth are you doing here?'
Il am going to New Zealand, Mr.. Nee
son, she answered sharply, land | GER
tainly did not expect to have the pleasure
of your company on the voyage"
"Going to New Zealand, he said, "are
you? Why, so am |; at least, am going
there first, then to Australia What do
you mean to do thereby and run round
our little agreement, Ell? 1t won't be any
good. tell you plainly. We have our
agents in New Zealand, and house in
Australia, and if you try to get the better
of Nelson's there, Nelson's will be even
with you, Miss Smithers-Oh, heavensiI
feel as though were coming to pieces"
Don't alarm yourself, Mr.. Meeson,"
she answered, Il am not going to pub
ish any more books at present.
"That is a pity" he said, because
your stuff is good selling stuff. Any pub
Usher would find money in it. Isuppose
you are second class, Miss Smithers, so
we sh'nt see much of each other and,
perhaps, if we should meet, it might be
as well if we didn't seem to have any ac-
quaintance 1t don't look well for a man
in my position to know second class pas
sengers, especially young lady passengers
who write novels. "
"You need not be afraid, Mr.. Meeson;
I have no wish to claim your acquaint-
ance," said augusta.
At this point her enemy was taken vio-
lently worse again, and, being unable to
stand the sight and sound of his with
ing and groaning, she fed forward; and,
rejecting on this strange and awkward