Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1908-12-04

ed vessel, heaven knows how, a sort
of life raft, very small and not prop
erly a part of the regular equipment
Of the ship, though it vas steneiled
with her name. There is a tradition
that n of the officers of the Delphic
invented this style of raft or was in
terested in 1t in some way. Anyhow,
1t was aboard, and it fioated and was
picked up by a fishing schooner out of
Newfoundland. 1t bore the dead body
of a man and a living child. The man
had saved this child even after his
own death, for his stiffened arms held
1t. A little grip
7 took Conner by the shoulder.
"You are going to tell me- said l,
"that this girl was my sister. Don't
do it unless you're sure. | am very
much alone in the world. A sister
would mean to Newell, perhaps rath-
err more thar you could easily believe"
He took some sheets of paper from
his pocket. They were folded and fas-
tened together at a corner.
There's n list" said he, "of every
human being on the Delphic. / told
you that nearly all the original pas
sengers were transferred to another
vessel. What resulted? Why, just
this--there was only one girl baby on
the Ship
The simplicity and force of this
statement staggered me. There re-
mained, of course, many questions, but
| was unable for the moment to frame
one.
Let me tell you" said he, "how |
first got on the track of this. 1t was
through Mrs. Gilbert. She is interested
In the Woman's Exchange, as you're
aware, and thus she came to know a
very beautiful and charming girl who
brought embroideries to the exchange
to be sold. This girl fell Ill, and-well,
she was pretty hard up; that's the fact
about it,
The tears rushed to my eyes. III and
destitute, my sister, and l so rich that
people pointed me out In public places
as the Golden Bush man!
Mrs. Gilbert was very good to her,"
continued Conner, .'but l guess the
best thing she did for her was to tell
me that the young lady was a survivor
of the Delphic and had been brought
up by foster parents al a place in
NeSf5Hfdf1nT.T thougnt ~sav- a
story. and | telegraphed to our CORE
spondent in Newfoundland on my own
account. When l got his W
which was a peach, as you'll see-I
made some Investigations here through
the agents of the line to which the
Delphic belonged and had the luck to
tumble straight on one old fellow who
knew everything and had records and
all that. Then | went to Mrs. Gilbert
and told her what l had learned. You
may imagine her surprise In view of
her acquaintance with you and the
fact that she didn't know that you
were the original Delphic survivor"
II never told her." said /, but l sup
posed she knew. 1t has been printed
often enough"
Mrs. Gilbert says she never reads
the papers," replied Conner. "There
was only one kink in the story, and
that was the reason why the rescue
of your sister was kept SO extraor-
dinarily quiet. Why didn't your uncle
hear of it? | don't know yet, but that
can't alter the fact. AS to her being
a survivor of the Delphic, my man in
Newfoundland say there is no shadow
of doubt whatever. You win see in
his story
He vas interrupted by a ring at my
Gilbert:
"Oh, Mr.. Owen, is that you? Has
he told your
"Yes," l answered.
isn't 1t wonderful? Isn't it beauti-
full? I've told her! You must come
up-you must come right up. Take
an electric, you and Mr.. Conner. Ill
wait for you right here. The doctor
is with her now"
This overwhelmed me, accustomed
as / was to Mrs. Gilbert's exuberant
style of conversation. l could only
gasp, where are your
"At the drug store on the corners"
she replied. Mr.. Conner will know.
Hurry"
1t appeared that Mr.. Connor really
did know, and we obeyed instructions
and hurried We found Mrs. Gilbert,
and she led us a little way along a
rather poor street, but not squalid, and
into a bleak hall bedroom in a lodging
house.
That was the room my sister had
used before Mrs. Gilbert had trans
ferred her to a better one. 1t was a
hall room,'' somewhat larger than a
prison cell, sparely but neatly furnish
ed, u%nprovided with any means for
heating except a wretched apparatus
fitted to the gas fixture. My sister had
lived there. She had lain Ill in that
narrow bed without care. without at
tendance, doubtless poorly fed. l
thought of it, and 1 remembered that
evenings extravagant dinner with a
sea.