CHAPTER L.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 101, 9 May 1885, Page 4

CHAPTER L.

" will's or jims ?" " Ah, me ! to falter beforo a girl Whoso ehy lids never would let you know, Save for the Irishes' wilful carl, The p»ns> -purplt* asleep below !" — Kate Putnam Osgood. A perilously pleasant evening. In after days Voyle looked back to it, and, out of the fulness of his heart, fancifully deemed each hour the bar of a golden gate, which later led into Paradise. A« quickly as the Costelloa had flung oS restraint with Vella, they had come to know him. Let it not be inferred that they wsre people who held in derision social distinctions, and lightly made friends of strangers Emphatically were they the reverse. Theii ppeedy acquaintanceship with Vella was ex ceptional To know her slightly made one wish to know her more intimately, and when one knew her intimately one loved het dearly. Their attraction to her, and the deep interest they had taken in her was now transferred to Voyle. His remarkable like ness in a great degree accounted for this. At times they actually confused the personality of the two. It was something of an ordeal to the young follow to meet Kitty's half-frightened ojes, and Owen's blank " By thunder !" a3 he entered the sitting-room. But it was> an ordeal for which long y ars of similar mystification had prepared him. An hour later, when Mr Costello had immersed himself in a lengthy editorial, and the young folks had gathered around the big, blazing coal fire in the grate, Voyle felt as though he bad known them all the days of his life. They had heard of his life. They had heard of his anxiety, ha J sympathised with his fears, and laughed him oat of them, in the same breath. Owen declared he himself had aeked the doctor concerning Vella. "At least this is the way it was," he said. " When I found myself standing, half clad, in the driving rain, I looked around first thing for mother and the girls I could see none of them, but by the light of a lantern flashed near by, discovered our pretty fellow- passenger almost at my feet. She was bareheaded, but had not undressed At all. man was bending over her. You know ifk what an incredibly short space of time th/eves will collect about the scene of an accident. I took him for one— a very awkward blunder of mine, I confe=s I bent down and caught him by the shoulder. " ' None of that, you scoundrel?' I cried "He looked up quickly, turning his lantern as he did 30. The light fell on his face, and I saw in a moment 1 had been mistaken. A bearded face it was, with a quantity of longish hair blowing about the uncovered head. Most, unmistakably, though, the countenance of a gentleman. Even as 1 recognised my mistake, a railroad official, hurrying by, turned his head over his shoulder to give me a piece of advice : " ' Don't be too fresh, young fellow ! That's Dr. Laurence ! ' " Laurence, or Laurent — something founding like either, anyhow. I apologised, but he went on with hi 3 examination, hardly heeding me. I was in a fever to find tho rest of aoy folks, but waited just long enough to ask if she were eeriou3ly hurt. " * No, he answered, hastily, but with courtesy I little merited ; ' no danger ' " Voyle drew a glad breath, and looked around with eyes grown suddenly luminous " Now, indeed, 1 am beginning to hope !" "As if you have the very slightest reason for despairing ! " exclaimed Kitty They were not quite ai full of mirth and laughter, Owen and his sisters, as they had been that night on the train The shadow of death still iested broodingly over their pleasant home. While Bessie and Owen talked together concerning joint work at the Academy, Kitty told their guest in a lowered voice how her mother bad intended going to Europe, wlren their mother's sad and sudden death had altered all their plan?. "It seemed as though in the hour of our great loss we grew selfish," she eaid, musingly, pausing in her work — a thick. Boft "muffler" she was crocheting for Owen ;" we couldn't let him go Not that ha wanted to, indeed. He gave up the idea at once when he saw how badly it <mado ua fefil. Bis going would have been iike another death." Voyle picked up the ball of Berlin ehe had dropped. " I can imagine how strong now must bo the necessity of even closer compauioti ship," he eaid, with grave B}mpatby. "Your mother is not living, Mr Vernell?" The golden flame leaping high — 3til! higher -cast a mellow light around the whole cozy room. He shook his head. "Ob, no. Vella and I wore only about six when she died." Again the busy fingers ceased their rapid task and lay idle on the sombre gown "That was hard." " Yes, but we were in one respect very fortunate. Our aunt came to take care of us. As far as in her power lay all that our own mother could have been to us she has ! been." " How good of her ! She is your mother's sister?" "No, my father's. She is a Vernell Yes, Aunt t oily has been an angel torn." Vernell -I 'oily ! Dolly— Vernell ! The names, each in itself distinct, hummed in Captain Coatello's ear?, got mixed up with the editorial he was reading— grew comprehensive and connected. Jcle dropped his paper—wheeled round. " Hamlet and sauerkraut !" he shouted "you don't mean to cay you're one of those Vernelk?" They all started — turned to him in amazement. Voyle grew a shade confused. ♦• I'm blest if I know, sir What Vernells are you referring to? There are few of our name in the North." "Why, the Vernells of Old Pallae, of course. I knew them all in the days of my youth. There was Jim— and what's thin the other boy's name was that ran away » "Will, sir?" The captain jumped up. "That's it— Will! So you're one of them? Whose are you any way —Wills or Jim'ft ? Give me your hand ! Put it there, my lad ! Who'd ever have dreamed you were one of those Vernells ? Great Gideon !" And here be shook the lad's hand as though his own were a patent pumping machine.

The others looked on smiling, astonished —Bessie and Owen marvelling how the impetuous recognition had originated. 14 Will's, sir !" as soon as he could put in a word. "Living?" " Dead almost eleven years." " Poor Will ! And Jim's gone too— he was the first." Voyle shook his bright head in very positive dissent. " Dh, no, sir ! He's living— in Chicago, too. He's lived here sinco fathor died," " You don't— say—so !" They laughed at his manner and tone of ; intense surprise. • Sit down, papa !" suggested Kitty, gaily. "Take the shodc gently " "As for your disclosures, Mr Vernell,' counselled Owen, solemnly, " 'Fire aisy,' as Paddy said to the cannon." "Why, T hoard Jim Mas drowned -oh, thirteen years ago, 1 guees," declared Costello. " He was one of the five survivors of n wrecked ship, so the fact of his name being among the dead is an easily explained mistake. It surely isn't possible you are an old Chicagoan, and haven't heard of the lucky colonel." Planted squarely on the hearth-rug, his feet apart, his hands in his pockets, hie spectacles pushed up on his forehead, stood Costello, the embodiment of bewilderment. 14 Heard of him ? Of course I have— hundreds of times ? But I never dreamed he was Jim Vernell ! When your sister fold us her name I recalled my old friends, but that she belonged to the Tory identical Vernells 1 had known never struck mo. It beats- creation !" A sudden impulse came to Voyle. "Captain Costello," he said, " if you should see fit to renew your acquaintance with my uncle, will you be good enough not to mention my name to him, or in any way giro him to infer that, you are bo much as aware of my existence or that of my sister?" " Great corkscrews ! You don't mean — " " I do, sir !" with an earnest manliness which impressed them, " We've cut adrift from him, Vella and I, for good and for all, Some day I shall tell you explicitly why — not now. Of this only, however, I solemnly give you my word of honour, neither of us has done the slightest thing to be ashamed of, and the course we have taken is the only one lefc honourably open to us. Will you believe me ?" " Thunderation ! to be sure I will !" He drew his chair into the semi circle, his precious editorial on Tariff Reform quite forgotten. " And— Dolly !" he added, with a visible effort. " How is Dolly?'' The boy smiled. 11 Quick-tempered, warm hearted, lovable and loving a 9 ever !" he replied. A retrospective smile lighted up tho old soldier's face. "Quick tempered ! H'm ! right you are. I remember a box"— he bent his bald head and gave his ear a rub of rueful recollection — " phew !it tingles yet !" " Why, papa !" chorused the girls, in mock horror. " Did someone once actually box your ears ?'' He made a comicfil grimace. " That some one did, my dears. But it was bofore I met your mother," hastily, 41 quite a while before I mot your dear mother." Voyle regarded him in silence, but with a faint, amused smile. Could there have been in the long ago a bit of romance between this bluff old war-horse and aunt Dolly -when Aunt Dolly was young and charming? Wouldn't it be queer if it should so transpire ? And yet why should one be surprised at odd mci Jents or the discovery thereof ? Wasn't the world full of them? There was his own position now, for instance, and Vella'B. How strange the occurrences which had led to their separation—had brought him into actual contact with the friend of his friend's youth. If j one read it all, one would sniff at it as in- j credible, and attribute it to the overimaginative brain of a writer of romance. "I knew your mother, too, my lad," broke in Costello, after a pause. "A rare fine girl, Muriel- and you're the living image of her. New why," he demanded, with a gesture of disgust, " didn't that strike me before ?" Cheerily the evening passed. It was after ten w hen Voyle rose to go. As he did ■>o, the captain laid his hand on his shoulder with a q-'e^tion which, if not so kindly put, would have been impertinent. 4 ' If you are adrift, as you say, and homeless, what do you live on V He flushed. "I have a little money of my own, *ir " "And you're not working at anything to bring you in more ?" "In the sense in which you put it, no, >ir." " Then," grimly business-like, " the little you hive will be less before long. One can't livo on love in Chicigo " Ho laughed, and ran his ringers through the crisp gold of his hair. " iVo, nor anywhere, sir, I fancy " " Would you like a pisition ?'' Voyle looked up frankly. " Tha- is the very thing I want." The captain looked pleased. "That is the rijzhfc spirit." He produced a card and gave it to him. "Comedown to the address to-morrow. "Now, what is it?" For the handsome brown eyes had clouded. " There h one thing. lam not likely to hold it very long: — not if I am successful in another affair I have undertaken." "Ah! then you have some work afoot? Well, you can hold this just as long as you need it. How will that tlo ? " "Famously, sir. And I'm immensely grateful, not only for your offer, but for your kindness of to-night." And then he held out his hand in farewell. Did he hold Bessie's fair, soft little fingers a trifle lingeringly in bis close clasp ? Ah, let us not suspect our fellow man. But did he? you reiterate. How inquisitive you are, to be sure ! Well, truthfully tiat I know not. But this I know : Into Miss Bessie* witching face came a sudden, sweet, bewildering glow, which Mrs Charu's whole box of " warranted " blooms could not ever so faintly rival