Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1898-11-13
THE HOUSE BY THE LOCK
By MRS. C. L. WILLIAMSON,
Author transformers Grey fortunes
Sport" sLady Mary of the Dark House, &c., &C.,
Copyright

Carson wildred. Did you ever hear
of him?"
NO" l answered, though possibly
not to know Mr.. Carson MILDRED was
to argue myself unknown.
He seems to have plenty OF money,
explained Farnham, land though hes
a newcomer in London, has got In
with a number of good people. He has
two houses, one Sloane street and one
up the Thames, a queer, lonely place,
near Purley Lock, if you know where
that is. I'm staying out there with
him now, as it happens, though l can't
say I'm as fond of, the river as he is at
this season. But wnen few papers
and a good round sum OF money nave
changed hands, couple OF days or SO
from now, | shall bid MILDRED and
England au revoir. | expect to SAIL
for America at the end of the week,
and jolly lucky | think myself to have
run up against you tonight.
Somehow, as he ratified on about his
own affairs, my heart began to warm
toward Farnham. He was not par
ticularly brilliant fellow, though a
good business man; but he had such
a whimsical face, with its bright eyes,
it's good-natured mouth, and its laugh
able, upturned nose! He was so frank
Iy interested in life, so enthusiastic,
so outspoken, so boyish in many of
his ways, despite his forty years! 1
found myself almost inclined to be
sorry that he was leaving England SO
soon.
Il should like to meet Wildred," he
went on. Il don't know whether
you'd fancy him, but you couldn't help
thinking his remarkable personality.
1t would be interesting to see you two
chaps together. He's at the theatre
tonight, by the way, with some friends
OF his-rather swells. 1t was an old
engagement, made before l went out
to his house, but he had to keep it, of
course. They'll be in that stage box
over there, and as Wildred has been in
dustriously raising my curiosity about
the beauty of one of the ladies for the
past few days, | concluded to drop in
and take the only chance l was likely
to get of a look at her. And mighty
glad l am that l did SO make I'D my
mind, or I should have left England
without clapping eyes on someone I'd
rather see than all the professional
beauties in London"
AS he finished speaking, the over
ture, which had now been on for some
time, ceased, and the curtain went up
on a very pretty bit of stage setting
There was no curtain raiser, and the
first act was well constructed and in
teresting from the commencement. 1t
o1i rh tf,,J n tn fpa1 | did
that | was no longer blase of town
life, or the mimic life of the theatre,
and l was inclined to resent the inter-
ruption when Farnham nudged me,
whispering:
There's Wildred and his friends just
coming into the stage box. BY Jove!
what pretty girl"
l looked up, because / was sure the
volatile American would give me no
peace until I had done so; and then,
having looked up, l promptly forgot
the play and its dramatis personae.
Two years l had spent in Africa and
Egypt, and | had not seen many fair
faces during that time of travel and
campaigning. | was in mood, there
fore. to appreciate the delicate lowell
ness of Englishwomen; but, even had
| been surfeited with beauty, my eyes
would have fingered in a species of
wonder on the girl just seating herself
in a corner of the stage box. 1t is pos
sible that have seen other women as
beautiful, many more claSsically per-
feet of feature, but never have | looked
upon face so radiant, so bewildering
For the moment | scarcely glanced
at the girls companions, though | was
vaguely conscious that there was an
older woman, and that two men were
taking chairs in the darker back
ground of the box.
All the other figures on the stage and
in the auditorium became meaning
less for me. There was the dazzling
girl in white, and, so far as l was con-
cerned, no one else in the theatre.
The girl could not, l thought, have
been more than twenty, and every turn
of the beautifully poised little head,
every dimpling smile, told that she was
full of the Joy of life.
what do you think of Wildred?"
whispered Farnham, his lazy Ameri-
can drawl waking me out of dream.
l did not wish him to see how COM
pletely | had been absorbed, how fool
ishly l had lost my head, and, there
fore, I turned my attention to the two
men in the back of the box.