CHAPTER XX.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 238, 21 January 1888, Page 7

CHAPTER XX.

IN LONDON AGAIN. , , This was Janie W.ygram who was making het way up a dusky and narrow little staircase in a house in the Strand,' and, wdndering the while what had induced the newly-carried pair to pitch their- dwelling injfche very centre of the great, ciby r $ tur-moils-Then she gained' ariandittg ; .there) Wafe an open]' .door .her;, .and, the next moment this was no. other tMn'her" beloved fckbie wftcf "lfati*etfgerly"caughb her by; both hands, and drawn her into the light, and kissed her, and was" smiling dad Wghinghvibh gladness to see her.agMrij VAnd.l know what" you're' thinking^ JaiJie'—thatwe've gone stark, staring* mad 1 to come'and'live in such a place. • ''Oh, '.but iyoii have no' idea how isV h I can ipop 'do^nvto^'Hun Igerf6rd1 gerf6rd- PieV^in^a couple of ' minutes— the Gharity Orgunisa--.tioio ,3ociety> is quite- close ' by •*—* there's' Charing. /Cross istation' handy *for Fred l^ and Wafrerloo'hot'so far away 1 ." 5Vi * ' ''"• .. Atfithe, .first Arhention of jij arnef v.th©'. Jahie r > iif-. voluntarily «lck>kedi tfound); (atid^Sabina* ittv >stan%^understood that" ftiute interrdga'- 1 /liibn.yslJ w rfii'ta c" „"'•— : . '^.'-' ! >'» Mvi*. - dowti jfo 'liillie'^rid^'". shefsaid lightly. «'">< ! » ,] ? ,^s^}aii)ly ,as possiVle'iranie?S]litbl6 gldnpei 5i otjSjfirp,d?e said.Kf'fiHe hft&left yoii already .•^aton,^ |n j^Lpndoi?-,L*too ?".ybuVaheiiWaV 'a .pr^uae^^ lass*, and/ Uelds|'her,upeacfeijt ancb Sabiaa (whether oV nots^he^hodi i)oi)ide4':tfia't; Io s ol« .$L lugpyisQ-) w coritihu^diis/Sheerlull^f Jipfcw*J:Ws 4 o yartaif lUM a*mt* test \ h&tiF suppose he'll 'find som6 l friendfc tbherejH for We nob coming back till evening, and

" Ah, you don't know, Sabie— how glad I am — to find you so- so— so happy— and contented." " Why, you dear, .good silly creature," Sabina answered, good-humouredly, " whatdid you expect ? Did you expect to find ' me sitting with a dagger and a bowl of poison before me ? Come along now, and we'll get our shopping done ; and then we'll come back- here to nave a bit of lunch ; and you will tell me all about my friends down in Chelsea." And so they set forth ; and soon they were both engrossed In that important business. ' Ab the same time Janie could nofc fail to perceive that Sabina seemed determined to be scrupulously economical, and betrayed a quite new desire to have moneys worth for her money. Formerly she had been distinctly free-handed— even to carelessness ; but now questions of small savings were considered; and more than once she contented herself with a secondrate article, in spite of Janie's protests. On their way back to the robms in the Strand, she even made some little kind of apology. "You see, Janie, if lam to have any margin at all to help my poor people down there, we must be very prudent in what we spend on ourselves. I dare say, in time, and with care, we may make a little nestegg, just in case of emergency ; but at present it is pretty much hand to mouth ; and I know my .father won't' alter his reso-' lution, whatever Fred may think. That .hundred pounds my father gave me for the wedding outfit just made all the difference to us ; you know I spent as little as ever I could ; and out of the balance I paid for all, these things we have been buying ; and I lent Fred twenty pounds this morning, and even now I have another five and twenty left. So you see when I come again to visit my friends down there I shan't have a quite empty purse." , "You lent Mr Foster twenty pounds this morning?" Janie was startled into saying. "Oh, well," Sabina rejoined, with her usual good-nature, "lie chose ,to call it a loan. I don't suppose our united fortunes wiU,be so great that, we need keep an account between us. I suppose that' trip to Cornwall , rather impoverished him— the driving is so expensive there ; when you get married," my dear child, don't you. go to Cornwall." " How very business-like you have grown, Sabie !" her friend exclaimed — perhaps with a touch of disappointment. "A married woman, my dear, has My responsibilities,"- Sabina answered, briskly, as they were ascending to the room. *-' And the first of these at present is to decide what we will send out for, for lunch. Better- still— we'll ring, for the landlady, and ask her advice." - It was, quite like old times for these two to be having a frugal little meal together ; and, of course,. there was a great deal to be talked over concerning the futures and conditions of the poor people who had been temporarily under Janie's charge. Nor were other friends forgotten ; and at last Sabina said : • • And what about Walter Lindsay ?' ' ' v Janie looked up quickly. > " Why, purely ypu. know he has gone to America !" , ' V Oh, yes, I remember his speaking about it," Sabina said. • - ' - " His speaking about it," Janie repeated, with something of reproach in her tone ; and then she added -with a bib of a sigh:— "Ah,/ well, Sabie,-'I suppose it was" 'not i your fault that you did not care foi; him/" " r *' Bub I did care >for him," Sabina' an-^ swei-ed, warmly, v , 1 cared "for him 'very 1 much ' indeed. l He aud I were Always: the best of friends. It hardly ever 'know any one I lik^d more---why, how could it' be otherwise % — he was* so generousj and manly ,and courteons.sin -every way. And 'so pleasant in man ner,-*ok tell you I liked him 1 very, j very mv.oh iijdesd.>V r> « ! .*' •< „' ! Hfe loved-yoa," Sabie^ V «< ' ! ' • ? ' ' ' ' Sabina hesitated for'a v^i6menfi ; not kriotf- ' ' ing, which way 4o take* this. ">'-";'" ; ' ' »'* i. 'MYouoßhbiild'-hbt^say Su'cK'fckngg,";slie' said, quietly.^? '^■ t - " ? » '' \ . v ' v •* *^The¥6's n'o^harWiri- spying' it now*," wl's" Tftqjrej4ind<Hv«<a^« c »•.»•*?.<; <.if r * »-';>;; "«!", There would be harm., if it wM £fud," r Sabma.Said,^q'tiicKly^ ""'And I knew that y'6'uj had some faW^tnT^inaTf ™ m the 'way J^pu kep>on^talking:about hib. t/Xou? i o^h^ve,ry, !> irAakneas;'otf ms friendship! /for^qmf^ijjg^quitej^ifferenfc')" .^ivni l^H »^j ')Sabie?O?m feellin'fe/th^tr'u'thil^h^ed^ *' Wby^evwovshibtre l d^he%e?y #6*und yW Ktr6d ,on loiflDherd hfot&vrffirkffl&h 46Ve'd*f' ■swonW raoi?^t*ari.ht dtd^tfti? ' ?Fr-e H2 tKB%n^ tofinbthiuy elseaßttttfydtf^ m&m7iM';d[s&h&; • waisJoohtriVirt^totido^oU^aftiS' 1t661e Mss' riiSss — or even to keep himself in youire^i membranes. Loved you?— yes, I snould'

< ,;C - " ' !>' -v m '■*** * * n '"'' /' ! * think ,he; 4it|rryou will « never meet with a love liice.^iafc again,, if you livejfor a hundred yearn, ''i<, ,;■ ,a v i v * .**«■' J A* Janie, you forget !" i li >" >/ j "No, I don't forget," n-Janiev said, pitepusly, ".bub I want' to speak* just' this once; I, think it \b cruel— he goes away", without a word— well, that is just like him ■—up to the last he had n6' thought or wish ! but for your happiness ; and now--- when you talk of other people— you—you mention him just as an ordinary acquaintance', and you've half forgotten that he's gone away to America. I suppose he would prefer that jit was always. his way ; whatjever was best, for you—that was all he thought of. I went to tell him when you got engaged. I suppose I was rather put about. I had expected other things. But would he say a single word — except of kindness for you ? No ; he made me promise to remain your friend whatever I happened ; he made me promise to make the best of everything ; he had nothing to say about himself, though I could guess woll enough," '"And so you think you are making the best of everything, Janie, by telling me all this ?" " I don't want him to be quite forgotten. I don't think it's fair. You would have remembered if the most ordinary acquaintance had gone away to America ; and this man — the noblest man that I have ever met with — he goes away from his own country —and with a broken heart, as I take it— and you scarcely^em ember — " "Janie, don'fc make me angry," .Sabina said. "I tell you I remembered well enough 1 his intention of going to America; we talked of it on my wedding-day ; and he was as cheerful then as you might be now, if you only had a little common sense. Come, come, put that folly out of your head, and let me know if you have heard anything about him since his arrival — I should be glad to hear of him now and* again — I suppose he has friends over there ?" " Friends ? yes, I should think so !" said Janie, proudly. •' You should have seen the account of the dinner they gave him at on© of the artists' clubs in New York — father gob, the newspaper, but I don't know who sent it— and they said such tine things about, him, and spoke of his making America his home. Bub I know better than that,"' Janie continued, with an air of authority, ' ' I know better than that. He meant it one time, no doubt ; and he meant to sell his house and studio, and heasked me to go up one-afternoon and help him to pick out keepsakes for the people we knew before he pold everything off. Well, we were getting: through with that — and we have all of us got something to remember him by — father, and mother, and all of us— when he came to the Chippendale cabinet in the corner of the studio. He did not think I saw him ; but I did ; he took out the cup of rock-crystal with the stones round it — you once drank out of that cup, Sabie-" MA slight flush came on Sabina's forehead. "It was a piece, of nonsense— l should have thought nothing of it only that your mother mentioned it afterwards. 11 Well, he looked afc it a long time ; and then he pub it back ; and then he turned to me. 'Do you remember the night Sabina came here to supper?', he said — for I had asked him to call you Sabina during these laskfow days, when we were talking a little about you. 'Of course I do,' I said. 1 Do you reraembor how pretty- she looked when she was up at the corner of the table — the yellow fichu of lace round her neck, and the bunch of forget-me-nots in front. She was very kind to me that night. And do you remember her coming along through the garden, like a pale, beautiful ghost; and her surprise at finding the studio so well lit up ? • That is where she sat— on the sofa there— while they were singing ' Shepherds, have you seen my Flora pass this way ?' — you rememberall that evening, Miss Janie ?* As if I were likely to forget it ! ' Well,' he fays, 'it's no use. I meant to sell this place, and go to America, that's all right ; but so help me God, so long as I have ft shilling left, I will never allow a stranger to come in and take possession of this house !' And that is how it stands at this moment; and yet— yet — you say that man was not in love with yon !" " Janie," Sabina said, " you talk to me as if you had something to reproach me'i with— as if I had done Walter Lindsay a great wrong. Well, you know Walter Lindsay. But so do I ; and I think I knoW him well enough to make sure he never meant you to speak to me like that." This was a deadly home thrust ; and for a second poor Janie became rather pale, and bit her lip. 1 c ' You may' say anything you like against me, Sabie ; I am quite content when I see you begin to appreciate Walter Lindsay a little." That was all that was said on this subject just then ; for lunch was over now ; and when Sabina asked Janie what they ought to do that afternoon (Mr Fred not returning till seven), and when Janie besought her to go down and see the old people in Kensington Square,' she most cheerfully consented. They spent the afternoon in Kensington Square, and partly in certain neighbourhoods tothe Bouth,of that, looking up a few old friends and acquaintances; and then, when Sabina had to return to the Strand, Janie made the voyage with her from Chelsea £ier to Hungerford, but coutelnot. be induced to go further than .that. Some other time, she said, she would call and see Mr Foster and Sabina together. ; As it chanced, if she had accompanied Sabina home to those rooms, she would hove found Fred Foster in a remarkably good humour. f ( Ain't wo smart !" said he> as he came in , (Sabina had preceded him by a few minutes). " How, Ido call this uncommonly neat and snug for tho very middle of London. Oh, Janie helped you, did she?, Give her my love when you see her : she's : not particularly, beautiful ; bu.t I' consider those people were .awfully good, to you. Now, Dame Burden, what's the programme for this, evening ? To begin with,, some dinner. The strong point, of this arrangement is' that, we are not dependent . on, cooks or butlers "ov anybody who may gpfc- drunk and break things ; you wandeiLoub' into the world of London and dine where you please* — tjhe best of food and best of wines,, if you gnly'khow where \to go; no bother,; you<?an entertain your friends,, too, when foiv 'tun^e* sini.le,s on you/ So off you go and make y^our^elf' gorgeous ; and well try the Cri. * „ "\ ( l The what?", she a.sked^,', . _, , ]' ' /f The Criterion. -No ;, let] ma, see j we -11 "go, to ttio Cafe^ Royal. There I may ,haye,ai cigar'- after dinner.' Look, alive, for , I'm 1 ' . ' ,;', , \. ,? r " , nT^eyi;,w.ent .to, that restaurants and* Mr. F; yedji shjQjWed/ ,conslderable . .experience • and' r s.kill in ordering j (their little* vfeanquet^witly, 'its jippi'ppriajbe /Wines. v •, Sabina -rather took hin} to taak foc^hie^exfemvaga-uce^bub he said lightly :— " J "~ ' - /'iQh^yqu leb.in_e ,aAone»; •, Jj'ye,had& little bit bi\ucfc i ' t^day.,,!^ el^x/Ivdonlbsconsider i^mb^as I to|d tiyBu^beloife--i<,CQnsider(i;t t iy8u^be1oife--i<,CQnsider(i ; t 'baicej^tjice^Tit's only.gebMng a^Htfetaof -niy llKoperby^cj:. (i D,pn'fc yAu^lmakerany'inis-r tak|-gt?P e .ty^ti^ ajparti'ldgMErdfafgldsV WfEpn^maiiid isem \ speoiall j frftkented^ia Ji^iefici^t. E ri'pvidenc© vf ; jbo*. go! t tdtgether^ %6n|tl)eVfdol, bub' do as you're b^^X^eJL going to look after you," and see you through tjbta turmoil they call life."

her many faoetioua, s,toriej3 atjoutythe two or three'cb'mpanions Ke had run against during tbe clay j indeed, so lightly did the time „paBSj that it was after nine-o'clock before ho had finished his cigar, and was ready to 'leave. 1 ' ' t "I had intended ' taking you to the theatre," he said, as he called for his bill, '" but that's the worst about play-going; in London now ; the theatres are too popular ; you are never sure of a decent seat, Unless you solemnly make up your mind a long time before— as if you were goring to be married, or hanged, 1 or something. Then they don't let you smoke. And besides, .you've got to rush away in 'the middle of your dinner, just when one's inner consciousness feels the want of repose. Now, the music halls don't give you the highest form of intellectual entertainment— l admit that. It isn't Shakspere. But, mind I you, there's something uncommonly handy , in, your being able to drop in at any time ; always something going on ; a cigar or a drink,, when you want it; or an evening paper, to vary the thing. Look here, what do you say to driving up to the Oxford for an hour?" "The Oxford?" she repeated, inquiringly. , • ( 1 es ; it's a music-hall, don't you know ? Oh, well, it isn't high culture, as I admit ; but it's a way of passing an hour ; and then, you wouldn't meet anybody — I mean, we should get a private box ; no one would know that you were there. And sometimes there's very good singing." 11 ff you don't mind," she said, " I think I would as soon go back to our rooms, and gee how all our new finery looks." " Oh, very well," he said, contentedly i and so they went downstairs, and got into a hansom, and were driven home. Sabina took to planning, and arranging, and stitching where that was wanted ; he applied himself to Dufton's excellent treatiseon " Practical Billiards," but soon, fell asleep. When he awoke, it was halfpast eleven, and then he proceeded to mix for himself a little spirits and water, as an adiunct to his final cigar.

(To be Continued.)