The herald., 1898-05-29


that hound of a footman was grinning
at me, because my eyes were full of
tears, and also, perhaps, that my coat
was of cheap make, and my shoes need
ed attention. But at that moment lit
tie Daphne, with the greatest artless-
ness, came UP and slipped her little
hand into mine, saying:
HE means he is very much obliged
to you, uncle, and to you, dear aunt"
I do not know how 1 got out of the
house, but the next thing 1 knew 1 was
standing on the street outside. 1 had
bten told to go home. 1 had no home
now unless the Bull-in- the-Bush tav-
ern be one. But did not return to the
Bull-in- the-Bush, whose tawdry splen
doris revolted me now, after had seen
Sir Peter Hawkshaw's imposing house,
as much as they had before attracted
me. I was tingling with the sense Of
beauty newly developed in me. 1 could
not forget that exquisite vision of Lady
Arabella Stormont, who seemed to my
boyish mind more like a white rose
bush in full flower than anything 1 can
call to mind. I made my way instead
to the plain, though clean, lodgings,
where 1 had spent the years since my
parents death with good Betty Green
the widow of Corporal Green, late of
my fathers regiment.
These two excellent but humble crea
lures had brought me, an orphan, home
from my birthplace, America, consigned
to Sir Peter and Lady Hawkshaw.
This woman, Betty Green, had been my
mothers devoted servant, as her hus-
band had been my fathers, and it was
thought perfectly safe to send me home
with them. But there was a danger
which no one foresaw. Betty was one
of those strange women who love like
a lioness. This lioness love she felt for
me; and for that reason, l believe, she
deliberately planned to prevent my
family from ever getting hold of me. 1t
is true, on landing in England, her hus-
bands regiment being ordered to Win
chester, she went to see Sir Peter
Hawkshaw and, 1 suspect, purposely
made him so angry that, Lady Hawk
shaw being absent, he almost kicked
Betty Green out of the house. That is
what I fancy my lady meant when she
reproached Sir Peter with cruelty to
me. 1 we'll remember the air of tri-
umph with which Betty returned and
told the corporal of her ill success;
then clasping me in her arms, she burst
out with a cry that no admiral nor
ladies nor lords neither should take her
darling boy away from her. Green, her
husband, being a steady, cool-headed
fellow, waited until the paroxysm was
over, when he told her plainly that she
must carry out my parents instruc-
tions, and he himself woAld go to see
Sir Peter as soon as he could. But
Fate disposed of this plan by cutting
short the corporaPs life the next week,
most unexpectedly. Then this woman,
Betty Green,-illiterate, a stranger in
England, and supporting us both by
her daily labor,-managed to foil all of
the efforts of Admiral Sir Peter Hawk
shaw to find me; for he had done all he
could to discover the whereabouts of
his nephew's orphan. 'Tis not for me
to say one word against Betty Green,
for she shaved for ME as only woman
can slave. and. besides, brought me up
in the habits and manners of a gentle
man, albeit she did little for my educa-
ton, and to this day I am prone to be
embarrassed when 1 have a pen in my
hand. l cannot say that l was happy
in the devoted, though savage. love she
lavished upon me. She would not al
low me to play with the boys of her
own class, and those of my own class
never saw. All my clamorings to know
something about my family on either
side were met by her declaring that she
had forgotten where my mothers peo-
pie lived; and as for Sir Peter, she gave
me such horrifying account of him
that / never dreamed it possible to re-
ceive any kindness from him. AT last,
though, on her death bed, she acknowl-
edged q part of the deception her des-
perate affection had impelled her to
play upon me. The poor soul had ac-
tually forgotten about my mothers
family, and had destroyed everything
relating to them but directed me to go
to Sir Peter; and thus it was that, on
the day after l saw Betty Green, my
only friend on earth, laid in a paupers
grave, / went to the house of my faith
er's uncle, with the result narrated.
When / got back to the humble lodg-
ings where l had lived before Betty
GREEN'S death, l looked up small box
of trinkets of little value which had be-
longed to my mother, and from the sale
of them / got enough to live upon for
a week, and to make my way to Ports
mouth at the end of it. Either Sir
Peter had forgotten to tell me anything
about my outfit, or else l had slipped
out so quickly-galled by the fear of
weeping before that rascally footman-
that he had no chance. At all events,
/ arrived at Portsmouth by the mail
coach, with all of my belongings in one
shabby portmanteau.
1 will not describe my feelings during
that journey toward the new life that
awaited me. In fact, I scarcely recall
them coherently-all was a maze, a
tumble, and an uproar in my mind.
We got down in the inn yard,-a
coach fall of passengers.-I the only
one who seemed adrift and alone among
them. 1 stood looking about meat
pert chambermaid who impudently
oged the ostlers and got kiss in re-
turn at the pretentious entrance to the
inn; at all of the hustle and confusion
of the arrival of the coach Presently
saw young gentleman somewhat
older than myself, and wearing the uni
form of His Majesty's sea-service, come
out of the inn door. He had q very ele-
CANT figure. but his face was rather
plain Within five minutes of my first
meeting with Giles Vernon, I had an
example of what was one of his most
striking traits-every woman in sight
Immediately fixed her attention on him
and smiled at him. One was the cham
bermaid, who left off ogl!ng the ostlers
and raDed at this Young officer with