The Story-Teller.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume X, Issue 953, 17 October 1891, Page 4

The Story-Teller.

A MAGNETIC AFFINITY. r- .-.-->> II ( See ! Mr?. Summers, she shall be found.' It wpfciahiioflt more than Lady Devoy could bear, to sre the old woman 3lt<lHgaW'prightj talking bravely, never sobbing, but with the tears just running down her furrowed face, r * ; AhSt'iriy leddy ; it's easy to promise, but'who'll find her m yon great city ? Is it my lord ye could ask ? ' '= r • .jjfft,' she answered gently. 'Lord ifaioy, is aw»y, and I could scarcely ask him ; and you refuse to let ber be tracked by detectives ? ' 1 No, my leddy, not my pretty child to be bunted down by the like of them. God help her from trouble ; but, mebbe, it's m her trouble she'll turn hame again to me.' . An incident that occurred three fays before the family left the Court added ii pathetic interest to the runaway's lite. Basil Bradleigh had gone to see Mrs. Summers. The shop had been closed for the night, the old woman was sitting m the kitchen silent and solitary. Basil knocked, opened the back door and stood on the threshold. ' May I come m, Mrs. Sxmmess ? ' 'Aye, Sir, an' welcome.' ' Lady Devby has told me all your sad sorrows. To trace people requires patience and — ' 'Aye, sir ; but it's wearifu' waitin.' ' Let mo tell you something. Once I wag sitting: by a dying soldier's bed m India,, quite aypunjj :,mnn, who, by a sacrifice fof/n'.e/ j oof' 'fellow -±V ir'u d to find bis, people. I failed, but I have never dNpajr^ 1: am' tryiijg ; for Ani?ug Gnm^'- ' With a great cry, the o)<* woman rose from her seat and clasped Basil's hand. ' Ye are Captain Bradleigb.* : " ' I was— before I entered the Church .' * An' Angus Grant was my son,' and then the old woman broke down utterly, and cried as if her heart were broken. Cried, indeed, for her two lost children. Basil rose and gently placed the stricken woman m his chair. He knew the lobs of the one child added a deeper poignancy to the grief for that dead son m India, and be wisely made no spoken effort to stem the sorrow that eased the mother's soul. Presently she spoke again. ; ' Oh, sir' I was minded, indeed, whin ye first come among us, o' your name, but seem' ye a m eenister — ' ' But your name is Summers ? ' said the Vicar, gently. ' Ah, yes, sir 1 Grant was the name he listed under, fpr he ran awa' frae his apprenticeship m Glasgae, an' so he come by it. Grant wjere my ri ame afore I married Summers, , An' he were brave, ye say?' • ..,.,... THe.^iftariat and: told, her all ho knevf^id wf L of the gravestone he had erectedpof tbe boy?a picture; he had, the little book of Scottish songs, with Angus written mit by a woman's hand, the efforts be had made to find the man's r^al^^ a^ |he ; 'simple items , so dear to that one solitary listener, and then r wiog^to ; his < feet, kissed the furrowed face reverently, and said, ' Your son saved my life ; I will find your daughter.' -..■. • ■ Early next morning Basil Bradleigh himself took down the pictures and relics of the dead boy, over which the mother wept afresh and seemed strangely comforted. It was on account of his promise that a fortnight later Bradleigh went up to LMdonfor a brief visit, and stayed at an hotel near the Deyoys' house m Cadogan-square, Ha made no secret of this mission, and at his own expense employed the most astute of the inquiryagents be could find. Once he fancied he had seen m the fair young face of a girl, beautifully dressad, and looking forth, from a carriage window, a something that reminded him of the girl he had noticed at Deemster Court, and who, moreover, had a far away look of the photographic likeness he carried with him, but he passed it by as an accidental resemblance and continued his quest among the servants' registry offices, while the inquiry-agents pursued their own investigations amid the various restaurants and likely shops. They knew the day f: the date, and the hour of the girl's arrival at Paddington, not so many weeks back, and were confident of euccees. ' Her Garry ing no luggage/ as one of the, detectives informed Basil, * to trace her by, made the game a close one/ ; ; ■ Lunching the next day at Cadogansquare, he related the incident of the face at the carriage window, and pro* duced the photograph he carried, to account for the points of a fancied resemblance. Lord Devoy looked long and earnestly at the pictured face, turned it over as people do, and read the Chelt enham photographer's name on the back, saying, ' I never saw her look like that at the Court.' And yet it was a pretty enough portrait of a smiling maid m a cotton dress; countrified no doubt, but yet possessing a distinctly rustic piquancy about it that was charmingly attractive. ( No,' said Bradleigh, ' it is but black and white after alt,' and he replied thus knowing how rividly the girl's actual beauty ha,d been enhanced by her lovely colouring. The brilliancy of darkly-blue eyes, the sunny hair, and the wonderful: whiteness of a perfect skin, details that: no mere black and 'white pictnre could) ever convey. _\ ] ( Continued m our mxt tiwt.) ' '