NOVEL

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 360, 2 April 1903, Page 2

NOVEL

• Gsiloug with you; I ain't a fool quite, ■aid the boy. 'As if everybody doesn't know Silly.* •Sally wbatf* •N , not Sdly Watt She hasn't got no other name rut Sally. Donkey girls don't need more nor one name. Harry op. Mind yen chargn 'em plenty; they're twalls—not the Aupust swells, mind you, the genuine article—five bobbers, not 'arf crowneis Mind I get my sixpence.' They reached the hotel 'The clair for Mia. Ashby* is here,' cried the p»ge, and frtm a seat in the hall two ladies arose—the one a middle-aged lady c f aristocratic features, the other a very pretty yonnr woman of precisely the Bams type on a reduced scale, and a good deal piler, ' I'm i eally quite as w 11 able to walk as yen, mamma,' said V e girl, as tbey wen out together. • You may feel so, M»ud, but you knew what Dr. Haitford said: you must on no account overtax year strength.' B*id the elder lady. 'You are still weak. Oh, that's the chair. It seems clean. Is it cl< an, my nun ?' • Quite clean, my lady.* earns the tcmewh« throaty voice of the driver, who Btfod at the donkey's trad, cs if be fancied the pitcautun wa? needed to prevent the spirited animal from running away.

Tne 3'ung girl got into the chair, the page closing the apron • We don't watt to go f&st,' said His. **bby. Toe man toucb< d his cap, and the doni(j tfts indnctd to- go ahead. I had cdtainlj heard the ladyship's injunction, and waa trailing bl&cdly It would take prec'uua good care to carry oat that injunction to the letter, whatever its driver might try to do. Its driver walked in a rather {douching way bj its head. Tae elder lady walked by the aide of (he chair in which her daogi ter waa seated, asd both admired theexpaoae of B<a trafc came into view when tbe cliff path had been ascended. Tbe lady nbo was on foot went along bravely. She bad no dimcu'ty keeping I ace vith the vehicle in wbish her daugbttr waa lying back under her sunabade. Bat wl en a seat near the summit waa reached Mrs. Aabby trudged no further.

• I don't inttnd to weary inys« If,' she raid. ' There ;b no need for me to go any fmthor with yon. I'll kiep you inßigLt while you go rn. Ten iiutt get all the freak air possible, Di. HaHfoid taid.' Before she had auite spot on, the chair wu in motion once more. It went on for pbout a lundied jards, and then the djiver carefully Jid the donkey round l>y a heal her- cK* rock that partly concealed the n-l.'cle. Then he stopped, and came beside the girl, saying—- ' Bow dot» my beloved feel ?' 8h» gave as involunUry cry, and her face v-aa ceitainlj no longer pale. •"Whul on earth ' the exclaimed. ' Hush, my dearest,' said (ieiard. 'Only t< 11 me how you are ?* ' What macqu- rading nonsense is this ?' said she. ' Ob, Gerard, you have been a great fool. 4b, this is what Charlie was hinting at when he told me to be sure and take plenty of driving exercise in tie chain. Great Leavens! yeu have taken off your moustache!' 'Of course I have,' he said. ' D.d you not think that my love was equal t-> thai?' 'Love? O, Gerald, how could youbr so foolish ? If mamma finds you out she will think that I'm in the plot too.' 1 She'll not find me out. What was Ito do, Maud, when she wouldn't let me come to the honse any more ? I was hungering and thirsting to ree you, my dearest, and I made up my mind I'd come hrre in this capacity to have a chance «f being rear you. I was afraid that jou were going to die.'

' You've been a great fco), and I can't gay that I think your pr> ant ct et uoi' a great mcceas.' • Ah, Ji u"re changed bibc* ycu ill'

' I don't this-k I am. II .ven't I often told you that it was n- met: j tc think of out being engagtd to one an<thir. We haven't a penny between w, and there are three lives between jc u and the title.' * I've a thousand a year cf my own.' • i t'lotuand a jtar ! Oh, pletee drive

[PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ABBANGEMENT] SALLY,

By F. Fbankfobt Moobe,

[ALL BIGHTS BESEBVED.

on that fotlish brute of your a I suppose we must keep up the deception Oh, Gerald, you do look fanny 1 I will say this—you are completely dis/uised.' •I'll not give you up. Perhaps now that you're weak you my loos, at matters differently from the way you did, but ' ' You're very foolish. Do please drive on.* He drove on to the head of tbe cliff She admired the view and talked about it. He turned his bask upon it and was silent She laughed. •We'll have that nice chair again tomorrow; I'm saie it's clean,' said Mrs. Ap'..by to her daughter thi»t evening. Taey had it again the next day; but Gerald had not the privilege of a chat alono with the girl for whose sako he had disguised himself and was suffering hourly humiliations, for in oraer to allay all suspicion he took his place daily in the rank of donkey-chaira, and even earned half-a-crow&—'.he first coin he lad ever ea as J. Taen came a wet day, and he found himself standing by the side of his friend S*lly in the shelter of a brick 'wall for about four hours. No one seemed inclined for a drive in a donkeychair j but Gerald, after the first halfhm\ did not complain. He could not but admit i*tt he was infinitely more entertained by the side of the handsome girl with whom he was sheltering than he would have been had he been lucky enough to secure a furtive quarter of an hour with Maud Ashby. The freshness and the unconventionality of Sally's chat —her ntver-ending cheerfulness her pleas mt humour, and" above all —for Grald Graythorpe was <nly a man-the charm of her face and ker fi, ure attracted Lim as he had rarely been attracted to any girl. Sally was an undoubted novalty to him. He had a plentiful experience of the maidens of Mayfair, but he had never before met a thoroughly natural girl to talk to. bhe told him all that there was to bo told of her simple life—bow her father had been the master and orner of a small coasting brig that had fcundered with all bands within sight of the shore whea Saily was only fifteen years oldhow her mother had been ill for over a year, and how", with the few d» unds that remained after the Joss of her father acd his ship, she had bought a donkey-chiir, and had contrived to keep tbe whole family <us of her earnings and to save enough to invest in another equipage whicti her mother now controlled. AU this interest* d Gerald greatly, and ho was quite sorry when a fine hour arriv*d and niß companion had to drive off t- k.ep an appointment with an invalid lady who had ongag. d her for a daily trip tothechffa. Gerald found himself without an engagement for the rest t.f evening, but he had passed a pleatanter day by the side of Sally than he could have done by the side of Maud. He felt somewhat humiliated by this reflection: for tad he not been in love with M.ud for close upon six montb ß ? and the idea of having fallen in love with Sally was of court*, too ridiculous to be considered for a moment.

But all the same he felt himself longing to be once again by the Bide of that fresh £irl who had made the day seem so Bhort to h:ra.

There ib no disguising the l*ok of pleasure that appeared upon Sally's fice when they met the next day $ and when tie hotel page came up to hire bim for the Aihbyß, he actually said 'Confound them!" but then be remembered that he it was on accoust of the love that he bcre Maui Ashby he was masquerading and he made haste to attend the summons. He had only a few minutes chat with her this day.

*Nd. ne,* BheEa : d, 'you mußt net-take my hand, Bomebody may be watching us. Oh I do not profess to be romantic, and I cannot see much fun in this sort of thing. It ran load to nothing; it will not put money into your pocket' ' 0 j]y an odd half-crown.'

' Oh, yoa have been a great fool, Garald. I told 3on eo lorg ago. Perhaps I was wrong not to tell ycu at onco that I had a-cepttd mamma's decree; but I really th. that; what she said when you talked 1 3 her would have b<"en enough for you Now, take me back to her.*

• Aii, your illness baa changed you/ he

esid. * But when you get strong again' yo« will be yonr own self onoe more, and ' son will love me aa yon did.' •Ob, drive me back,' she cried, impatiently. He drove her back, and hurried to where the line of chairs awaited ' fares.' Sally was there, and he found himself consoled for Moud's cruelty. Three days passed without his being enquired for at the hotel, and on the fourth day he got a letter from Charlie Ashby> 'The Mater and Maud are home again,' C arlie wrote, 'and I had a bad quarter of an hour with M, for the part I played in your business. Gbuok up the donkey, old boy. M. has just engaged herself to marry Tommy Horshead I knew she culdn't resist the title and the broad acres. I'm sorry for yen—no, on second tbcusfhte, I'm not. I told you all along that she wasn't the girl for you.' Gerald got the letter before he left his humble lod-.-ings. He did not even swear He went out in search cf Sally, and he found her returning by the side of her empty chair down one of the villacrowned heights. She had driven home one of the ladies who had been shopping in the little town.

1 Sally/ he said, * Pm going away.' She looked at him without a word, after her fi'st little start—he noticed itwas over.

* Yes; I've been an impostor—but I'm —yes, I'm sorry that I'm gcing—infernally sorry. I—yes, I like yon, Sally; you're a good girl. I'm going because I like you I want you to take charge of my donkey and chair until I come to claim them. Y. a told me that your young brother was a good driver. Goodbye, Sally.' 'I don't want the donkey and chair,' she said. ' But I'll keep them for you, and—oh, you'll come back—you must come back.'

• Yon may be sure that I'll not forget ;on, at any rate,' said he. 'Good-bye.' She gave him her hand when be held ont his. He contd not see that her eyes were fall of tear?.

' Ton'il come back—yoa'Jl come back,' she faltered. ' Yes, I'll look oat for joa • very day.' ' Good-bye,' said he. He turned about, and Lurried up the hill. He ronld not trust himself to stay besida her f*r another m ment. When he paused, breathless half way up the hill, he looked lourd. She 'was standing «ith her face against the shaggy neek of her d nkey Hrf took the text train to London. He never came bad.

That was the end of sally'd love story That was tbe end of Gerald Gray thorpe'a 1 ve story. [The End]