The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1902-05-16
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Whether the nightingale took alarm
at this invasion of its solitude, or
whether some mischievous persons
frightened it, it is certain that by the
end of the week it was heard no more,
and the people went away disappointed
and noisy. One of these evenings |
was returning with the crowd, when an
old fellow wa ked alongside OF me, look
ing at me hard, and at length speaking.
"Thou'r rt parson as wrote tn letter
eh?"
answered | was.
"Ah. An thou'rt fo' London--eh?
A git place that--wi" gardens, I've
heard say, full o. a kinds O. birds and
beasts
/ said supposed he meant the Zoo
logical Gardens.
"Ah. Happen that's them. I'm
rare and fond o. brids and beasts; I
nun 60 to London some day, and see
them gyardens. Happen | may come
across thee: / hear thou'rt leaving
Timperley."
elm very few weeks" / said.
"Weel, now, | like thee; and | nun
come and hear thee praich afore thou
goes. Ee, mon, a. something here,
tho he produced an old. pocket
book, and from one of the compart-
ments he took a square of paste board
which he gave ine-"happen that may
come in handy when thou goes back to
London. found it in Lacroix's Lane
yond moren year ago, and says /, 4
nun keep this till go to London, but
l do not think I'll ever ride in first
class carriage-so thoud'st better TAX
it, mon"
"What is it?' asked.
"To be sure," said he, "thoo conn
see. It's first class ticket.
/ thanked him, and put it in my
pocket.
We we're then upon the cottage in
which / had seen Frank Steinhardt
sitting at the piano. Sounds of music
and singing were again proceeding from
it, and | was not surprised to see that
many Of those who had been diaap-
pointed by the nightingale stood listen
ing in silence to the girl.
When reached my lodgings l took
out the old fellows singular little pres
ent. 1t was the return" half of first
class railway ticket from London Bridge
to Croydon. 1t was tolerably clean; it
must have been thrown away or dropped,
soon after it was issued, and picked up
soon after it was thrown away. A sus-
picion which had begun to creep upon
me when first looked at it shot up
with startling suddenness when turned
it over and read the date stamped on
its edge-''Mar Is 49,"
This ticket had been found by the old
man in Lacroix Lane: had the person
who had lost or dropped it there been
the same as the person who had bought
it in London2 If he had, had he been
a resident in Timperley? In word
had the person been Mr.. Lacroix? 1t
was impossible to say, until after such
inquiry as | saw little chance of being
able to make; for though visitors to
Timperley seldom passed along the La
croix Lane they sometimes did
might, however, discover from Louise
whether her father had had any connec-
tion with Croydon.
l met her next day at Jacques's cot
tage Il had almost given up my visits
to Timperley Hall). After again answ-
ering in the negative her constant
question as to news from Freeman, l
began my attempt to get at this point
concerning the ticket, | wished to
avoid raising in her undue suspicion.
"Do you still WISH" | asked, ''to go
to London YOURSELF"
81 do" said she; "but take your
advice, and wait"
''If you went" continued, "where
would you stay? Have you any friends
in London?"
"I hoped" said she, shyly, "you
would tell me somewhere to CO."
"You have, then," said I, "no
friends about London, or anywhere
round2 1t is not necessary, you know,
that you should live in London to fol-
low up inquiries"
''Well," said she, 81 know two or
three girls living in London who were
at school with me in Croydon, but l
think could not Ssk them"
Imagine how my heart leaped! l
was afraid l showed my emotion in my
look and tone. l quickly urged another
question.
Croydon is not far from London:
might not your old school mistress take
you in?"
81 did not think of that, " said she;
81 was there for only a year, after l
left school in Paris. l had only been
home three months when father went
away"
had learned more than l could have
anticipated. Here, surely, at length
was the strongest presumptive, if not
direct, evidence that Mr.. Lacroix, and
not another, had dropped the ticket,
and therefore that he had come home
imagined him travelling from London
Bridge to Croydon to pay, perhaps, his
daughters school bill, ana returning a
different way, although he had taken
return ticket to London Bridge. This
struck me as agreeing with all had
heard of Mr.. Lacroix-careless OF
money, and without much steady con-
sistent purpose How easily such
man must have become subject to the
resolute Steinhardtl
1t occurred to me that it would not
be impossible to learn from the Croy-
don school mistress whether Mr.. La
croix had called on her. With a few
questions as to the size, situation and
character of the school, | learned the
name and address of the school mis-
tress; and as soon as | returned to my
lodgings wrote to her. On the second !
morning after / received her reply, !
which treasured along with the rail
way ticket as invaluable evidence
polite note, presenting compliments
and begging TO inform that on referring
to her books and her diary, she found |
that Mr. Lacriox had called and paid
terms charges for his daughters "fn-
ishing" education, on Wednesday,
March the fifteenth, eighteen hundred
and eighty-two.
CHAPTER TX.
The end Of my six months Curacy
was almost at hand. but, since my re-
cent discovery. | was resolved I would /