The record-union., 1896-05-03
ated no surprise and called for no re-

RaoSe 'aSn't once asst about 'im," Liz
thought bitterly. shes took up with
Jack Reeve now
WAT shall I do? 'Ow ken 1 find
out?' was her next despairing ques-
| ton.
| In the next room the meeting was
being dissolved. She could hear good
nights" being exchanged, and Mrs.
Graham's voice urging the stragglers
| to depart.
| She (Mrs. Graham) came into the
passage presently to put on her bon
net, and gave Liz permission to stay a
little longer and finish the books Then
she went Liz heard her opening and
| shutting the outside door several times,
as though there was something wrong
with the lock, which had apparently
| yielded to treatment, for presently
| there was silence
| The books did not take long to do.
| but when they were finished the girl
did not stir 1t was not very cheerful
| there, but Liz was too miserable to care
| for surroundings besides it would be
worse at home. Her father would be
out, she knew; he was always out at
some meeting or other.
Jest wot l told i'm" she sighed:
"'e's come round to Bills religi'n, an
if ed only wited-'
There was noise outside which
| made her start
Then she heard Joe Wrights voice.
Mrs. Graham couldn't ave shut the
door after ALL Liz thought idly
Ullo, doors open after toimei" ex-
claimed Joe's piercing voice. Lets
come in an ave another go at fencin',
Jack
Liz heard the boys ferreting about in
the cupboard for the fencing sticks,
and then Jack apparently noticed the
light in the inner room
&" 'Oo's there?" he shouted: but Liz
made no answer She didn't want to
have to talk.
"Oh! / expec' the woman wot cleans
up left the gas on-that's why the door
was OPEN" explained Joe. Come on,
don't waiste 50 much time, you bloomin'
| young
The end of the sentence was lost amid
the clash of sticks, and for a moment or
two there was no sound except when
Joe apostrophized his pupil in terms
| more forcibie than polite
There, that 'ull do for a minute, an
mex tonne you w'ack me over the shins
agine-TH mention it to yer" cried
Joe at last.
The boys lapsed into friendly con-
verse, Jack sitting on the table Joe
struggling with the intricacies of the
new pantomime step he was practicing.
"Wot's come to Figson?" asked Jack
at last; "'e's began to take fencin' les
sons.'
Liz started, and crept to the door, her
/ heart beating painfully
Dunno" replied Joe, walking nim-
bly, on his heels before the final flourish.
Il b'leeve 'e's gon aw'y."
Liz graSped the chair back against
which she was leaning and turned pale.
Gone aw'y-where?" inquired Jack.
'Dunno-'e was talkin' of jinin' them
dynamite chaps abroad, somewheres.
Blowin'-up chaps - bomb shells-all
sorts a larks loike that" explained Joe
| lucidly, illustrating his meaning by
making a kissing sound like a rocket
before it bursts, waving his arms
heavenward, and then falling heavily
to the ground and doing the groans of
the wounded with great realistic force.
"'E'u git 'isself blowed up if e don't
ment. 'Wot's is gaime?"
Dunno" returned Jack indifferently
'I bleeve is gurl drove i'm to it; e said
as much to me-
witch gurl?" asked Jack. "Raose
Young?"
"Raose Young be bowed" returned
Joe politely; e told me 'e reg'lar 'ated
that gurl, she was such a sorft. No.
Liz Turner
Liz felt as though she were being
choked. Her heart seemed to stand
still, while she listened breathlessly.
"Sarve i'm roight for bein' sich a fool
as ter worrit 'imeslf about any gurl,'
continued Joe scornfuily. They're all
aloike, ev'ry one of 'em. All donkeys."
"Some fellers seem ter like EN-" OBJ
served Jack thoughtfully. Never
could see wy though
Zoos they're FOOLS" was Joe's COM
prehensive reply. Look ere, Jack, !"
he continued, listening apprehensively;
Il think we'd better 'ook it, The guv'-
nor 'ull kick up a noice row if we're
found ERE after hours. You should a
seen i'm last tonne e come in ere an
caught me! Foamed at the mouth e
didi''
Come on, let's bunk!"
The outside door banged noisily, and
Liz was once more left alone.
She crept to her chair, sank down in it,
and flung out her arms across the table.
Presently she put her head down upon
them and burst into tears. This, then,
was the end of their foolish quarrel.
Bill was gone. He would be blown up
she knew that he was won't to talk
vaguely about the blessings of dynamite
but now he belonged to the "blowin'
up chaps''-and he would be killed! She
recalled Joe's hollow groans and shiv-
cred, seeing in imagination Bill bleed
ing-dying- stretched out at her feet.
She was a murderess! She had driven
him to it! He had said 50.
The girl wrung her hands and sobbed.
She was so overcome with her grief that
she had not heard the sound of key
turning in the lock outside, and she
started violently at the sound of a foot
step along the passage.
Before she had time to turn around
and hide her tear-stained face Mrs.
Graham was in the room.
I came back for my umbrella she
began. Then-'Why, Lizzie, what is
it?" she exclaimed, alarmed at the mis-
cry in the girls face
"Nothink!-nothink!" protested Liz
wildly; but in a few moments she was
sobbing out the whole story
"An' if Bill only wited as I asst i'm to-"
she walled, sit would all ave come Jest
as 1 told i'm. Father, 'e's tired of the
harmy, and now 'e's jined the hatheist
religion, an only yesterday S said Bill
Figson 'ad got some sense, an wouldn't