THE BOY IN BLUE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 259, 24 December 1914, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE BOY IN BLUE.

By WINIFRED GRAHAM

ILLUSTRATED by RUBY LIND

(Copyright.)

Lady Trench was looking strangely excited, while Sir Ranulph, a surly man who seldom unbent to anyone, appeared ill at ease and worse tempered than usual.

Tho staff at Coddrington Hall had been informed that visitors were expected for the New Year, but the names of the guests did not transpire. Sir Ranulph and Lady Trench appeared unusually secretive; they always spoke guardedly at meals now when tho servants were in the room. Halpin, an old retainer, who had maided Lady Trench as a girl, felt convinced some

mystery was afloat. "I wouldn't be surprised," she said to Hill, tho butler, "if Mr. Leonard were

coming homo after all these years. Though he is never mentioned, I can't ■believe an only son will be cut off for good and all." Thrilled by her own prophecy, Halpin wore an expectant air as she dressed Lady Trench's luxuriant locks, streaked with grey. "The visitors come to-morrow, don't they, my lady?" she ventured to markShe noticed in the glass that her mistress's lips trembled. I "Hatpin," she said, "you are like an old friend, and I want you to help me. j I feel I must tell you the great sorrow j of my life. lam sure you will not abuse ■ my confidence." _ I Halpin grew pink to her forehead with anticipation, as she assured the speaker of hor absolute fidelity. "You remember," said Lady Trench, I " when Mr. Leonard left us very suddenly eight years ago to live abroad. i Well, I could'not speak of it then, but,' though a mere boy, he was married. ; We arranged for him to hide away in a far-off mining camp, to save the disgrace of his mesalliance with a foreign j dancer. Estalle Reine. From that, any < his father never intended to speak to him again, but now this woman is dead, 1 and my boy is returning: to me with his ( only child. I dread to think what the. little girl will be like, dragged up in a , Californian sotttement, where her mother rubbed shoulders with the roughest j men. You can assist me by keeping Miss Kara out of the way, and helping to correct any dreadful errors 01 be-1 haviour." . „ mi I Halpin was trembling all over. ihe thought of seeing Mr. Leonard again was too much for her composure, as she cheered Lady Trench with regard to the C Certainly New Year's Eve, the day of ( arival became filled with magic import-, ance. A grandchild was coming to Cod- , drington Hall; the patter of little feet and the sound of youthful laughter would again be heard. Leonard hiuiseli was not yet thirty, and his wife had been dead for two years, so he had passed the first stage f , 1 1 Only Sir Ranulph looked glum and frowning as the hour drew near foi tho arrival of the guests. He was seated with his wife over a great log hie in the old raftered hall. Above the chim- ( ney hung two family portraits a s™ 3ll girl in a long, old-world frock and round bonnet, with sunny curls and wide grey eyes, next to a boy wearing a suit of blue satin. They represented. Sir Ranulph's father and mothei in ' childhood, and now he sat with his eyes e fix ad on the familiar paintings. "I wish," he muttered, half under his .breath, " that Leonard had left; behind. This is no place for hoi. She be a thorn in your flesh, Monica, an untamed savage tainted by her mother s < bl< Lady Trench raised her head a I'ttlc t ' iust possible," she replied, c clinging to a faint hope. " that our son s t -breeding may triumph." The tower clock struck five, and Lady f Trench sprang to her feet as sho caught c the sound of an approaching veh.clt. t Her heart beat so wildly she could haul ly draw her breath; then she saw the . menservants hurrying to the dooi. i •Clutching the back of a high caived a ■ chair, she watched with dim eyes foi £ the coming of her New Year s guests Leonard strode in. tall and erect as it ' no shadow of shame had ever fallen on < his life. He was bronzed from yeais .spent beneath a baking sun, and looked far handsomer than when he had eft r his home of luxury. Beside him walked < Kara, a tiny girl in a long, quaintly-cut \ dress, exactly similar to the old portrait t of her great-grandmother. The same 1 picture bonnet rested, apparently, on t the very same curls the child in the . hall might have stepped out of the I frame, so like was she in feature, as well as in dress, to her Irench ances•tress. Sir Ranulph and his wife stood for a moment transfixed; then mother and , son were clasped in each other s arms, j Kara, seeing tho old man alone drew ~ near to him and stretched out a friend- s ly hand. , , , s "Are you grandpapa.-' siio askeci. £ "Or is it the other gentleman?" t Sho glanced back at Hill, who had f picked up a little ermine stole she drop- , ped as sho ran forward. Tho clear, childish voice had no note s ■of commonness, only a musical ring, to , which Sir Ranulph turned a deaf ear. , "She cannot even tell a gentleman from a servant," ho thought. as lie s shook off the clinging fingers with a , t-urt " How do you do?" i As no other woman was present, Kara j had no doubt who was her grandmother. , She pulled at Lady Trench's skirt. ai»rt. \ pointing up to the mantelpiece, asked, , with all simplicity:— 1 "Please, who is the little boy in blue. , standing next my likeness?" , "She thinks it is herself.'' said Leonard with an amused smile. "T consul- | ered her so like my grandmother that L , made a sketch of tho frock, to remind , me of tho old days. She has been al- j ways asking mo to draw her pictures of . Coddr'ngton. Bv tho way. is Halpin still alive and with you?" _ I As Ladv Trench nodded assent. Kara | began dancing about with sudden glee, and tho old man noticed with aversion , how light were her steps, reniem'ierirrg ( the mother's profession. j "I want to se"» Hahv'n," Kara de- , el a red. amphaticallv. "She's tho one | that makes toffee, isn't she?" , "Her sole desire," thought Sir Ran- , ulnh, "is to get to tire servants' hall." j Leonard felt alreadv tho uncongenial- , ity 0 f his father's stiff attitude, and. , in order to escape the glacial gaze, be | j told Kara tlrey would go together and , "fish Halpin out at once." Lady Trench | followed, and her husband sank hack , in the old oak chair to ga;',e into tire r<vl | sea of coal, with drawn brows and un- t

smiling mo'tfh. i n. j When Leonard and his mother were j alono lio gave her a brief outline of tlie ~ past. v "You never saw Estelle," he Raid, "ino „

you cannot imagine how beautiful she was. Of course, we were both very young; we ware just children together, enjoying every moment of life. Sho was simply adored in California; all those rough men could not have treated her with greater respect had sho been a duchess. Two yea re ago a bad epidemic of fever broke out, then Estelle showed what she really was. Tho men went down like fires under tho plague, and sho nursed them day and night till every vestigo of her strength was worn out. Finally the fever seized her wasted frame, and sho died in two hours, I

I ! thought at the time I should have to ' send Kara home to be taken care of in England, but those men whose lives Es- . telle had saved made it possible for me to keep my little one in tho camp. Scrupulously they guarded and protected tho child they felt Estelle had left as a sacred trust. No foul word, no coarse jest, ever reached Ivara's cars. A newj comer would have been half-murdered | if he had not behaved like a gentleman iin the baby's presence. I don't think j you will find her spoilt, though we hav e all been her slaves. The only thing sho can't understand is any unkindness | or lack of geniality." I "Her grandfather's attitude, for Instance," murmured Ladv Trench, with I a heavy sigh. "Perhaps you noticed ho '■ did not kiss her; but time may alter , his bitterness, and 1. for one. shall welcome tho New Year in with a light heart. Oh, Leonard, ifs good to see you i back—almost too good to be true." j As Leonard and ins mother discussed past days Halpin was revelling in the so- ! ciety of Kara, who was explaining ex- ' actly what she thought of Coddrington 1 and its inhabitants. I "This house seems rather quiet after 'our other home," she said. "I hope : some day I shall live in a tent again. ' Tho men used to sing a night—like this."

j Standing with her arms akimbo, sho imitated one of tho old camp songs fam- ' ll'ar to her from babyhood. 1 "I used to dress like a boy there," she continued; "and I had three ponies. There were no old men, and they mtner | puzzled me, because they were not a Bit lik-3 papa and his friends. I thought ' grandfathers were people who took the ! children on their knees and loved them ' a little. Why doesn't my grandfather love me, Halpin?" "Oh. but he does, mv dearie," said the maid, blushing at the blatant lie; "but sometimes h* has an attack of gout." Suddenly Kara's face grew serious, as if will increased knowledge. ''Perhaps," she said, "all men don't liko little girls." "Well, 1 must own," add?d Halpin, "the master is far fonder of boys. But you can't help not being a grandson. I often see him staring up at those pictures in the hall, and it's always the boy in the blu'3 suit lie looks at specially. If you are very good you shall see in ail old carved chest the very suit that your great-grandfather wore when that portrait was painted." Kara was so impatient to examine the relic that Halpin was obliged to take her at once to the box-room and unearth the little tunic, the white lacc ruffles, and still unladed breeches with their paste buttons. When the fanciful costume had been duly admired, Halpin unfolded the evening's programme. "You are to lie down and go to sleep for soma hours," she said; "then, after dinner, I shall dress you and bring you down to hear the New Year singers, who will be coming quite late. They are singing for money, but they are not poor people, as you might suppose. It s something quite novel this year. The gentry are performing, and collecting money for the hospital. They are coming to us last, as Ladv Trench has asked them all to supper to .see the New Year in."

Realizing that Miss Kara ought already to be asleep, Halpin tucked her away in a cosy bed without further conversation, for she was anxious to get a, few words with Mr. Leonard to tell him how delighted she was with the beautiful child, who had come like a jay of sunshine to gladden the New Year at Coddrington Hall. 111. Kara, tired from the excitement ot arrival, dropped quickly otf to sleep. Her brain was full of Halpin's words, and sho dreamt she was the little grandson Sir Ranulph might have loved. Then she woke with a sense of fear and disappointment. to find herself alono in tho dimly-lighted room, a jumble of confused thoughts floating through her mind.

" When I want anything very badly, she told herself, "I just make-believe, and it seems all right. I wonder if grown-up people do that too?" A sudden idea had taken hold of the sensitive nature, as she remembered what she had seen in the old box-room upstairs. Tremulously she crept forth from her bed, determined to cany out a very great and important undert iking. This was New Year's Eve, and grandpapa must be made happy. No matter that the long corridors were winding and dreary, and the lumberroom to which Halpin had taken her a place where ghostly visitants migti.. hover. Setting her teeth, sho took a deep breath, and started on her pilgrimage. carrying a lighted candle, tile flickering llama revealing a deep intensity in the childish e)'es-

Kara, her-tlf might have Ik en some tiny spectra of tho past, creeping ai./iig barefooted in quest of n hidden prize. As she entered tho tomb-like chamber, where boxes were piled one upon the other, as coffins in ancient valuts, her imagination created a thousand fears, very real to the baby heart. Monstrous figures with gaping mouths and outstretched arms s at on tho arched lids of giant trunks. Scampering feet could bo heard in tho walls, and the ivy outside. stirred by thw evening breeze, tappod on tho window-panes. Balancing her candle on tho edge of an old spinning wheel, she mastered a wild desire to turn tail and fly hack to inhabited rooms. Instead sli? dived boldly into tho box which held the coveted garment.

Will eager hands she gathered up the hoy's costume in. its folds of tissue paper, and just as she held it elose to h'T heart a sudden draught blew ant tlio eandle. which fell with a crash to the ground. A ghostly ray of moonlight guided her to the passage outside, along which, with pulses boating wildly and a heart that almost stood still, she flew

liko the wind to the old oak staircase leading back to the cosy bedroom. "I think the ghosts need not have blown the candle out," slio said, with a gasp, as sho deposited her treasure 011 tlie lloor. " They may have thought 1 was stealing grandpapa's clothes. Perhaps children did not play at 'makebelievo' in those days." For a lew moments the little form trembled so violently that dressing became diiiicult; but gradually, as she forgot her terror, the charm of donning that picturesque suit filled her witn ecstatic delight. "I must brush back my curls l'ke a boy,'' she said, "and throw my ribbons awav."

When "t, last Kara emerged in her

blue satin finery she was so unlike her usual self that she might have been ono of the eerie visions of dead love at 10 passion which haunt old homes. Sir Ranulph had retired to his smokingroom alone after dinner. He told Leonard to stay and talk to his mother, for tho old mail was out of temper and wished to be undisturbed. He drew a largo chair to the hearth, lowered his reading-lamp, and tried to forgot disturbing elements in sleep.

Hi» eyes had been closed some moments before he heard a faint footfall iu tho room. Too lazy to look round, ho merely buried his chin deeper in his collar, when the touch of a tiny and very cold finger fell like a snowflake on his wrist. With a start he opened Ins! eyes telling himself he must be dreaming. There, in the bright light from sonio old sca-logs, stood a blue-coated figure, a slim, upright boy with laugh-J ing eyes and parted lips, materialised from a picture-frame in the raftered hall. Sir .Ranulph sat bolt upright now. and placed his hand on the fluid's shoulder to make sure it was not a phantom. Kara was the first to speak. "I'm your little grandson." she saiu. holding herself very erect, as if proud of tho fact. "Of course I quite see you didn't like that stupid girl, and one must bo happy on New Year's Eve. 1 was sorry to hear you were rather upset. and it must be horrid to have £,°"t. A boy knows just how a man feels, so I camo to try and cheer you up." Kara had never looked prettier than at this moment. The fanciful costume suited her childish grace to perfection, showing how perfectly the little figure was moulded. I

"How did you get those clothes!-'" asked Sir Ranulph, surprised and puzzled bv this intrusion.

"I found them in a dreadful room,'' sho answered, with a shiver. "My candle blew out, and I was all alone in the dark. But boys aro never afraid of that kind of thing."

Sho laughed deris-vely as sho spoke, and something in tho laughter brought vividly back to Sir Ranulph the memory of his mother. Kara continued speaking in her delightfully confidential tone:—

"It was Halpin told me you were much fonder of boys—that's why I decided to be a boy this evening. I wanted you to like me. and I never thought about meii not liking girls before, because in the camp they were all my friends; but you see they were not old enough to be grandfather." "So you think, said Sir Ranulpn. "that grandfathers are all old bears who liato children, and have to be amused by pretence?' "Father and I always make-believe when wo are unhappy." Kara responded. "Sometimes we would pretend we were at Coddrington Hall with you and grandmam. Wo did that last Christmas. and it as so nice."

Tho child had drawn nearer to him now and. with a" air of unconscious friendliness, was leaning against his shoulder. Sir Ranulph felt a stranga stirring in his veins as the contact of that small, sweet body touched his own congealed clay. Was it possible that tho child had made him share her dream of "supposing," and that he was imagining himself an amiable old gentleman in tho presence of a grandson who would carry on his name? He felt a wild desii'o to kiss the masquerader, and gradually, as if drawn by some strong magnetic power, tho grey head camo nearer tho floating curls on the pointlace collar. Suddenly the fact broke upon him that this child had made rtn effort in her s'mple. primitive way to sootho his disappointment and cheer tho desert waste of an embittered heart. Oddly enough, she wanted bus love, and now, with an unexpected rush of feeling, ho craved for her affection. A desire to draw thoso baby wrists about his neck became an obsession. Without a moment's warning he caught Kara up in his arms, placed her on his knee, and laid tho curly head against his shoulder. She knew at once her conquest was complete. Comfortably she nestled closo to his breast, which heaved quickly with stifled emotion. Spontaneously sho touched the withered check, surprised to see his eyes were moist.

Warmly Kara kissed him with all the fervour of demonstrative childhood, .still thinking it was only because she pretended to be a oby that he held her thus closely and made peace.

As tho jov-bells chimed out two contrasting figures came hand-in-hand down the broad staircase—a very old man with a smile upon his fate, and a boy in blue satin who led him protectingly, weighing still, in mfantilo imagination, the sorrows of a gouty loot. Alter the silent, unseen, ghost-like New Year had been heralded in fat and wide throughout the kingdom, a sleepy little blue-clad figure was carried to-bed in an old man's arms.

For a few moments Sir Ranulph h at before the nursery fire to warm Kara's toes. He waved away the astonished Halpin. as he unbuttoned the small kid shoes with their largo rosettes. "1 saw the New Year quite plainly," wintered Kara. "Did you catch sight of him, grandpapa?"

"So.'' replied the old man ■'.M y eye-5 are dun. Wlini was ho like. litilj oiie'r" Kara's face was full of inys te;|y as she answered: — " 110 was very tiny and white Ho flew down on a snowfiake and stood over hv the darl< trees, waiting for us to let liin in. I suppose n xt Christina' lie will Im> old like you. Hi hasn't very long to live, hut |>erliap< ho is thinking now hj« will !k> young for a r "?s an<l aires." Sir J{anulph took up her fantasy. " H.» has the spring for youth. ind the warm summer for maturit|y. lit middle age lie enjoys the beauty of autumn. Then the winter comes and snuffs him out. and another year will be born, whether we are h?rv or not. We must look for the tiny wbite fan torn together, every X?\v Year's Eve. till I leave you." Sir Ranulph's voiee quivered slightly, and Kara caught the sound of a halfdrawn s'-gh. "I won't let you leave me.''

she sa'd, hugging him _ >vitl) all tho strength of her baby arm<. " Never ! Never! Never!" " Never' is n long word." ho murmured. "even on New Year's Da|y. Let us make tho most of the present, for I have nnlv just found niv little Blue Boy.' '