CHAPTER LIII. IN THE DEPTHS.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 232, 10 December 1887, Page 7

CHAPTER LIII. IN THE DEPTHS.

O v r the tli -^t Februaiy, therefore, v. itli tln-ir dtlendant--, they took the train fiom Paris to Cabi-, -where they took the e\ ening boat (o Hover. \vhilo they comci^ed tho ,-leamboat diopped away fiom her pier, turned slowly and stco'l out to th?. Th; -mi had set, but there was fclill Ji^ht enough to .-co £ ] °"2 clwUnco. " Come," said Guiald. Jf Come forward, find I will show jou Dover. It can be Ken \ery distinctly \vith a pood gins-."' Geitrude aros>e and followed Him up the cowdod deck to the bows of the boat, wheie be adjusted the glasb to lier \ieion cMul then let her try it. " Ye«, I can sec the old town quite well. *■ r*Miy mnir t (i ««j« p efn^ tlio Channel seem a matti r of no mo'n-i moment than crossing a river i" exclaimed Uertrude. "It is but twenty-two miles between these two points, and is often crossed in two hours ; although it has been known in rough weather to take a whole night." "Do you think we shall cioss in two hours V" "Hardly. There is a head wind, and it is rising. However, if it takes us four or fix c, we shall still be able to reach Dover in time tor a good supper at the Lord Warden's Hotel." " Oh, dear !" exclaimed Gertrude, suddenly handing back the glass to her husband. " What is the matter?'" inquired Gerald. "The boat ja /.-<? so! Who would have thought the motion would be so rough such a .short distance from the shore ?" answered Geitrudc, leaning her head upon her hand. "It is the Channel, my litt'e girl, and yon aie becoming sea-sick, 1 ' said Gerald. " Oh, no ; lam not at all sick. I only feel queer." *" ■ " Exactly ; and you will feel queerer before all is over. Let me take you down to the ladies' cabin, and give you in charge to the stewardess. "I — oh, dear! I believe I shall have to go :"' exclaimed Gertrude, growing very pallid about the lips, and giving her hand to her husband that he might help her. Gerald took her down into the cabin, whoie nearly every berth and sofa sustained the form of some sick woman. * ! I will try to find your maid, and send her down to you, if she is not the most helpless of the two," said Colonel Fitzgerald, a^ he left the cabin, after seeing Gertrude comfortably reclining on the sofa. He returned to the deck, and found Meta tho least sick, but seated in the bows of the boat, with her hands stretched out right and left, holding on the ropes and riding up and down with the tossing and pitching of the boat, with all the glee and delight of a child playing at see-saw. When he had watched the girl safely into the cabin he returned to the deck, lighted a cigar, and began pacing slowly fore and aft. He was suddenly startled by a long-lost, familiar voice breaking on his ear with : "Hallo, Gerry, oldiellow ! This is never you !" " Why, Sallust Rowley, where did,, you drop from ?" exclaimed Gerald, in the utn:»st amazemonfc, " Not out of heaven, yon may depend on that. I got on the boat at Calais, of course. Wonder I didn't see you before."

"The crowd was 8© great. But whore "have you been, Sallwst, that your friends have lost sight of you for so long ?" " Oli, I have been nearly all over the world. At least, I have been in the four quarters of the world. I went first to South America. Then to Europe. Then to Asia. Then to Africa. Last of all I came from Algiers. I passed straight through France without stopping, and took this boat to Calais, intending to cross to Dover, run up by rail to Liverpool, and take a Cunard steamer to Now York ; for, you »cc, I am homesick, Gerry ; and, besides, I want to get back to Virginia, to a little girl I left behind me.' 1 "Oh, of couiPO !" exclaimed Colonel Fitzgerald, laughing: "Now you needn't chaff, Gerry. The girl is 270 commonplace young lady, I can tell you. She's a brick. She saved my life on one occasion, at tho serious risk ot her own, she did. She hid mo in her house all night when tho avengers of blood were behind me, and iti the morning 1 engaged myself to marry her, I did. ' For my life 1 paid her with myself,' as Jaificr says, in ' Venice .Preserved.' And I mean to marry her when I go back, as I am in honour bound to do. Yes, and I will marry her, • though mammy and daddy and all gae mad,' as the song bays. That's what lam going back to do." "Indeed ! ' exclaimed Colonel Fitzgerald, who, misled by the exaggeration habitual to Sollust, had not the remotest idea that the adventure to which ho referred was his flight from the officers of justice, or that tho heioine of his stoiy v\a-> Gertrude Had don. '• Yes, that i'-i what I ah} going home for. I suppose it is perfectly safe to go now. That a flair of Lackland's has blown over by tlii-. time." " ' Blown o-\er !' 1^ it possible you have not heard how that ended V"' "Why, no. How could I hear? I tell you I have been travelling all over the Morld." "Well, there was evidence enough to convict the poor devil without yom*."' "Was he convicted, then, after all?" demanded iSallv^t-, aghast. " Yes, he was. But don't look so shocked. He appealed, had a. new tihil, and was finally acquitted." " Thank heaven !" heartily exclaimed Snllust. '•It was a veiy popular verdict -the last one." " Vc", because i< was a just one. But now, Goiuld. old man, whoio did you come from ':" " 1 have been gving o\ cr Em ope \\ ith my wife."' " What, all thMime?" "Yes." "So, you aie mairied. But of coiuse I knew \ou weie manied, although I had not hcaid it. CoMdes, 1 saw i\lr^> Fitzgeiald when 1 fiist came on dock." " Yon saw my wile ?" exclaimed Colonel Fit/goiald, in some bewilderment. "Ye, J \in her, and of eouise I was not so very much suipiised to see you afterwards "' " Did you speak to Mis Fitzgerald ?'' " Who, i ? Not much. Id as soon face a tigie--^ as that fellow. If you knew what an aw ful blowing up she gave me the lasfc time i <i\v her, you would uot blame me for keeping out of her way. I don't cn^y you, old man, and I can't honestly congia'tulate jou. So don't expect it." "But, Sallnsfc, you smely me labouring under '-o.'.ne mistake. You do not know what \ou arc talking about," exclaimed Colonel Fiuucrald, with moie perplexity than displea.siuc. "Oh, jvs I do. I am speaking 1 of Mrs ( olonel Fitzgerald. And lam blest if here she isn't coming straight towards ufe. 11l be ofi' !" ciied Pallust Kowlcy. And with that tho ecuntiic cieaiure huriied off. Colonel Fit/fjcrald looked up, uncertain whom he should bee in the lady advancing towaid him. He -aw Geraldine Fit/cerald ! Ho instantly took his cigar fiom his lips and cost it into the sea,' and then stood before her, bilent from unspeakable amazement, "Thanks, Gerald. I see that you remember my dislike to a cigar," said Mi.-s Fitzgerald, calmly sinking into a scat on the side of the boat. " Tiic act was instinctive. I should have done the same thing ab the sight of any lady,' said Colonel Fitzgerald, 'recovering hi* *elf-po.toCSMon and bovwng with cold politeness. " Will you bit down, Gerald ? I wish to j O p a.k with you, it Om]y for a fo\v moments. It is for '.his purpose, to avail myself of this opportunity, that I remain on deck, at this hour, after all the ladies of my party have retiied to t-ho cabin. Will 'you sit down beside me, Gerald, and give me five minutes of your attention ?" Ho bovv-J agaln Nv}t k courtly and took the seat she indicated, and respectfully awaited her further sueech. What else could a gentleman do ? Obsclu-e as the light was, he could see the marble pallor of her face and tho nervous quiver of her lips ; low as her tone was, he could hear, in every word she uttered, the pathetic tremor in her voice. i He felt and knew that she loved, that she suffered, and it required all his firmness and self-control to maintain towards her the I calmly kind demeanour he had prescribed for himself. "Geiald,* 1 she began, and th&n she stopped and looked up and down the heaving deck. Nfo one was within sight or hearing, except a few sea-sick passengers, who were lying about on tho benches, or on the planks in the stern of the boat, writhing and groaning, and 100 deeply absorbed in their own suflerings to bestow the slightest attention on tho affairs of other people. " Gerald," she repeated, in a tone vibrating with emotion— •' Gerald, I hardly know how to begin to say — what I must say, or die ! Gerald, evci since that fatal night on which Satan mastered us both, and we parted in frenzy, I have longed to tell you with my own lips how bitterly I have repented my share in that madness, how terrible a penance 1 have imposed upon myself, and oh ! above all, I have longed to hear from your own lips that you forgive mo !'' And here the tender, tremulous, pathetic voice broke down in a dee]) sob. He was profoundly moved. He could scarcely refrain from taking the quivering white hand that lay upon her lap so near him. He could not prevent hi 3 voice dropping into tones of sympathetic tenderness as he answered : " Gcraldmo, if in any respect you have wronged me, Heaven knows that I forgive you as freely as I hope to be forgiven. And, Geraldine, on my own part I implore your paidon for my share in' that mad night's work." ' ' There it is. You have it, " sho answered laying her hand in his. He clasped it warmly and can ied it to his lips, then dropped it gently and sighed. She withdrew it to her own keeping, smiled sadly and said : "That is all, Gerald. With this reconciliation has come peace. That is enough. lam not here to revive the past. I would not awaken in your mind one thought inconsistent with your fa ue allegiance ; for, with all my faults, I am a lady, or ' long have dreamed, so !' We can never be more

to each other than friends ; but let us be friends. Good-night, Gerald, and goodbye !" She arose with the intention of leaving him ; but immediately sank back in her seat as a man brushed rudely by her, and ran on to the other end of the boat. Colonel Fitzgerald started up and whirled rapidly round upon tho ruffian ; but the man had already precipitated himself down the after hatchway, from which a reddish vapour was now rising.-" "Good heaven! what has happened?" hurriedly muttered Gerald Fitzgerald to himself, all his thoughts suddenly turned to an impending calamity, as he hastened toward the after hatchway, from which a volume of murky, red smoke was now ascending. '' What is it?" he demanded of another deck-hand, who rushed pa^t him without answering. Red ilames from the after hatchway now lighted up the whole scene. "hi tho twinkling of an e}C '' a crowd gathered upon the deck. A man sprang upon the poop with a speaking-trumpet in hi& hand, which lie put to his mouth, bellowing : " Close tho hatchways !" "Oh, Gerald! Go aid ! what is tho matter?" cried Geraldine in gteat alarm. He could not tell her of the ti-uth, and he would not tell her a falsehood. He continued silent, bub took her hand and held it {irmly clasped in his own. Another passenger, less, considerate, ie- , plied : " Tho ship is on fire in tho after hold '"' At the bamo moment vast volumes of flame issued trom tho hatchways, defeating all efforts of tho crew to obey the o/licei's order and close them down. And the cry went up to heaven in a chorus of anguiah : "The ship is on fire! The ship is> on , fire !"