The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-10-21

must pardon me for saying that you seem
little less than reasonable. One is permit
ted to speak to young lady at ball -
''In the open street? In this clandestine
manner"
''NTe were not in great privacy, to be
sure, but that might be urged in mitiga-
ton of the offense, l said, with a smile
you shall not hoodwink me. What
was it that she was saying to you when
came up?''
eff have been guilty of an indiscretion,
the fault is mine, and 1 am ready to an
swer for it, but you cannot expect me to
repeat whatever trifles / may have permit
ted myself to say to the young lady, whom
I fear / may not have an opportunity Of
meeting again. No gentleman would be
guilty Of such thing, nor, I am sure,
would you if you had been in my place
I saw by the mans face that had
achieved my object. | had led him to be-
lieye that thNre had been nothing more
than a little foolish Irritation between ths
young lady and myself He seized the
girls hand, tucked it under his arm and
marched off.
GAS for having an opportunity of meet
ing her again l will take precious good
care that you dom IT," he threw at me over
his shoulder
Alas, there could be Tatle doubt of It'll
And the letter? / had no doubt that it
was note to her lover. 1t seemed just t.
little hard that, anxious as was to serve
her, this should be the particular service
required of me.
At the first pillar box I came to 1 took
out the missiye she had given me. 1t was
ho1s for thQ dainty
card, folded bookwise and secured at the
edges by number of postage stamps stuck
all around it. 1t was stamped with penny
stamp and addressed in pencil. Of course
I had no business to read the address I
knew that well enough. 1t twas perhaps an
ungentlemanly thing to do; but, then, my
curiosity was greatly excited. 1 hoped that
the name penciled on The back of the pro-
gramme might be that of woman. But
I was disappointed. By the light of gas
lamp 1 read:
Immediate Arthur Bellingham, ESQ.,,
- Furnival's Inn, Holborn, E. Co
Bellingham? Bellingham? seemed to
know the name. For minute or two I
stood trying to remember whom it was I
had once met that owned it, but in vain.
What did it matter? The affair was at an
dIOpDCo dliCCI AOUtCI 1hUO UllO
letter box and went home to my lodgings
A few months later was strolling along
Oxford street. I heard my name called out,
and looking up 1 saw Arthur Bellingham
standing before me. I recognized him at
once-a young engineer whom 1 had met
once in country inn on a wet day in the
Lake district, We had been capital friends
for week, and I could not understand
ha1 h loI wi
to remember what Bellingham / had
known.
We greeted each other warmly, and he
would have me go with him to his cham
bers in Furnival's inn and smoke cigar
with him.
"Bellingham, :" I said as 1 stood on his
hearth rug, did it ever happen that you
received a letter written on a ball pro-
gramme?"
His eyes and mouth opened in pure as
tonishment.
"What do you know about that?'' he
calculated.
81 ought not to have known anything
the address. I posted the programme to
ball ~
op1ouS up Cblu WIuug lily
hand as if he would wiring it off
My dear fellow he cried, az am in
finitely obliged to you for your tact and
kindness on that occasion If you had not
posted that note it would have meant ruin
to me. Maud told me how awfully good
you were about it..
Maud? Do you mean
Maud, my sister-the girl who slipped
the note into your hand
SIS she your sister?''
Certainly she is. It's rather an I'M
common story Shall tell it to youp''
IF you don't mind I confess I am
burning with curiosity
Ihe fact is, them that some three wears
ago my poor mother, who was a widow,
dld what turned out to be very foolish
thing-she married again, and married
without making proper inquiries My
stepfather, Mr.. Maddox, turned out to be
a very bad egg. My mother lost the great
er part of her fortune when she married
him, and we were for time practically
dependent on my mothers uncle, an eccen-
trlc OLD gentleman, rather fond of money,
called Hodgkinson
Maddox is neither more nor less than
an adventurer. and for long time it was
oiiO Lh1lH puoIuooS VI HIS llle TO eXplO1U my
greatuncle. At last he nearly succeeded
Maddox and some friends of his got hold
of bit of land in South Africa, which
they wanted to sell as gold mine. 1
don't believe there was an ounce Of gold
on the premises. But my greatuncle said
that he would buy it at the high figure
they asked for it if would go out and see
it and send him private telegram advis-
ing him that the gold was there in paying
quantities.
"Of course was ready to CO. and was
to have sailed the very morning after the
night Of the ball that you and Maud at
tended
We'll, Maud happened to be in the CON.
se1Vatory attached to the ballroom when
She overheard two men talking rather in
disereetiy. She was standing behind some
Towering shrubs and heard every word
they said:
The two men were Mr.. Maddox and
one OF his associates, and she heard enough
to make her understand that the thing was
a fraud, and that I was to be made the
N :Mns Of their swindling Uncle Jonas on a
large scale. I believe the plan was that