Evening star., 1897-02-20
ing a rule for once, even If. only out of pity
for a friend stranded on this inhospita lie

SPOKE
breaking Of rules; then Che lifted her hon
est eyes to his and said:
Il am afraid 1 pay too little attention to
the rules after all my pretense Of regard
for them. / am breaking a rule in being
here now; but l was SO anxious to see
newspaper that stole out to buy one That
is why am here, and Tlshould not stand
talking to you, but must go back at once"
But 1 say, Miss Sartwell" protested
Barney, IF you break rule merely to buy
a paper, surely you will break another, or
keep on fracturing the same one, when you
know how much pleasure 1t will give me
to take you for little drive"
"Oh, couldn't think Of sue a thing, Mr.
HopeI couldn't, indeed, and you must not
ask me! I wanted the paper to see If there
was anything more about the fire. 1 should
not sent me short telegram that gave no
particulars. I suppose he did not have time
to write.''
What fire?'
1.-The fire at the works.
BLESS me! Has there been a fire?"
Didn't you know? There has been a
terrible fire; the east wing Is destroyed and
two men have lost their lives-two of the
workmen. There would have been a fright
full loss Of life had 1t not been for one OF
the men who is dead. 1t Is supposed, SO the
papers say, that in trying to save the life
of the other he lost his own
Dear me! how perfectly awful, / won
der why Mr. Sartwell didn't wire me- as
neither father nor Monkton is there You
see, / never read the papers myself-never
have any interest in them. If a fellow
could only know when there is to be some
thing IN them worth while it wouldn't BE-
so bad; but one can't go on buying them
every day in the hope there will some time
be something in them, don't you know.
Besides, people generally tell me all the
news. so l don't need to read. l hear even
more than l want to hear without looking
at the papers: but, you see, know nobody
down here. and so am slightly behind in
h.a oyr-.. Of thn dow
Il must go now." repeated Edna, who
had listened to his remarks with ill-dis-
guiSed uneaSineSS.
''Oh, but that's just what you mustn't
do,'' cried Barney with great eagerness.
Have pity, if not on my loneliness, at
least on my hopeless ignorance don't you
know, in a matter that l, of all others,
ought to be interested--vitally interested
in. You see, there may be no insurance,
and perhaps I'm a beggar-may have to
sell my tandem don't you know: sacrifice
my pictures. and all that sort of thing. l
must hear about the fire, and all about 1t.
It's of more Importance even than the con-
dition of the workingman, to me at least,
dear as that subject is and-all-inter-
woven-as l may say, with my very-ah-
being-the workingman, don't you know
But, protested his anxious listener, Il
know nothing about the insurance-noth-
ing whatever. You should go at once to
London by the very first train. There has
been an inquest, and l expect to find re-
d
paper at the station, and then you will
learn everything that is to be known until
you reach London
Z say, Miss Sartwell," said Barney. in
an injured tone, you surely can't expect
me to understand what's in the paper. l
never could, don't you know. They seem
to me to print such rubbish Now you can
explain 1t all to me in a very short time
you always make everything SO clear. 1t
you will just step into this cart of mine,
I'll drive out of town and around behind
the school; then no one will us, and
you can reach there much more quickly
than If you walked, don't you know"
The girl frowned, and Barney saw with
surprise that she, perhaps, had, after all,
some of her fathers impa1ience. He felt
that he was no. progressing quite as IA
vorably as he could wish; but a few words
would pu. that right, if he could get her to-
go with him for drive.i IL
Mr.. Hope" she said. severely, you will
pardon me if l say that under the circum-
stances, you should be busy in London
rather than idling at Eastbourne. An un-
expected calamity has happened: the busi-
ness is deranged. and men are out of work
just now when they need it most; yet here
you stand idly talking of tandems and
driving" -ft
Barney opened his eyes wide with aston
ishment Here actually was' censure, plain
and andisguised He had never encoun-
tered 1t before from any lady, except, per-
maps, from his mothef-ard she did not
count; for, as he knew, she would be the
first to resent blame placed upon him by
any one else. L nh - .
'fBut-but what can r dS?" stammered
the unfortunate young man, with strong
emphasis on the personal pronoun.
Il, Of course, don't know; but that Is
what l should find cut If 1 were in your
place"
Nobody pays the least attention to what
say; they never did. and it's not likely
they're going to begin now. Your father
didn't even take the trouble to telegraph,
although he knows I'm here
He knows you are here?'
"Of course. He was coming with me,
and both of us were going to call upon you;
but, unluckily for me, he couldn't come,
and here l am stranded; and I must say,
when you talk like that, think fate is
little hard on me-
AS the girl looked at him her expression
softened; she felt she had been unfair to
him, and she had a keen sense of justice.
Il had no intention of saying anything
harsh," she replied. Il merely told you
what I thought any one in your position
would do. Don't you agree with me?"
Il always agree with you, Miss Sartwell.
I'm rather a blockhead, at best, don't you
know; but l usually recognize the right
thing when some one points it out to me.
That's one great fault / find with myself.
don't see things till after every one else
has seen them; then they all seem plain
that wonder didn't notice them before.
People are SO impatient with fellow like
me that sometimes l feel sorry for myself
Il give you my word l do. If they would
take a little pains-but then, of course, no
one ever cares whether fellow goes right
or wrong"
''Oh. yes they do cried the girl quickly.
II m sure l care very much"
You think you do" cried Barney defect
edly; but you won't even risk a slight
scolding at the school to give me the ad-s
Vice / need at the time need 1t most. But
that's the way of the world continued the
ill-used young man with deep sigh. "All
want you TO do is to take a short drive
with me, and tell me what you know of
the disaster, and what you think ought to
do under the circumstances. 1 brought this
turnout from London on purpose to
take you out. 1t Isn't as If 1 were suggest
ing anything clandestine, for l came with
your fathers approval. l wrote to the mis-
tress Of the school telling her So but she
answered with a sharp reprimand.
Then wrote directly to you, but my
letter was returned with an intimation that
l was trying to do something underhanded.
So you see, I made every effort to be
square and honest, but the honest people
wouldn't have it, That's the sort of con-
duct that drives men to crime. Then took
to more questionable methods and got that
young fellow-I forget his name-to carry
letter to you. That offended you"
"Oh, no."
It's nice for you to say So" Barney