A GIRL TO LOVE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9078, 30 April 1908, Page 2

A GIRL TO LOVE.

CHAPTER IX.— Continued. Five —ten minutes were ticked off; then one of the swing doora was propelled forward by a human tornadu, who surveyed Pelham from head to foot with or,fc comprehensive and disapproving glance. He was a tall, thin man, wKh an aquiline nose, sm.uli snappy eyes, and nervous twitching iips. "Mr Gmni;Y" "Yes."

"Yes. 'Yes, sir,' to me, if you please. Forward!" He vanished through the swing doors, and Pelham followed. "This way," ordered the managing clerk, "and take a seat over there. H'm ! I have here a letter from Mr Trenwith, and I've got to find you some sort of employment in the office, although I have no use for you. What experience have you had?" "None, sir."

"Loafers are no goad to me," fumed Mr Nuttall. "Gentlomanly loafers who should be in the army, or at the bottom of the You are too big for.a clerk. I must put you on the road."

"I decline to goon the road, Mr Nuttall. lam here to learn office routine." "You are here to be a useles? pensioner! Shame upon a great hulking fellow like you." Mr Nuttall banged up and down his office. "I'll see ■what I can do vvitii you between now and Wednesday." "Then I will be here at eight o'clock on Wednesday morning," Pelham oaid. Mr Nuttall dismissed him with a jerk of the hand. t "I wonder what that gentleman's political creed may be," Victor thought, with a grim smile. "He treats men as though they were soulless curs, and yet they fawn and -cringe." He encountered the inquiry clerk in the doorway, and nodded pleasant-

ly. "How charmingly civil everybody is here," he remarked. "Who's been uncivil to you?" scowled the man. "Your manager."

"He generally licks the ground for the likes of you —with your diamond

pins." "Oh, I'm only after a job.'

"And you'll get it," scoffed Kennedy, the inquiry clerk.

"Yes; I make a start on Wednesday. You and I may as well chum up." The man regarded him suspicious-

"I don't know. There's too much of the high-and-mighty about you. I'm a plain working man, earning the magnificent sum of thirty shillings a week, for about eighty hours of labour. My employer, rides in s thousand-guinea automobile, and lives in a palace. Do you call that God's justice?"

"No," said Victor. If I had a million, the poor should have half."

"Half!" sneered the clerk. "That won't do. Look here, Grant, I think I can convert you, and you may become one of u?. Will you meet me outside after one o'clock?" "Where?" "There's a public house at the corner—the Red Lion."

"I want to hunt up n lodginghouse," objected Victor. "Easy as eating pie! My sister runs a boarding-house in the Handsworth Road. Popular prices, nice quiet street about a mile from the works. Bed, sitting-room, and all found for fifteen shillings a week. Suit you down to the ground. We've got a dozen bpdgers, and among them ia a curate. Nice chap, but a fool. No end of arguments at the dinnertable." Victor was pleased and interested. "I'm glad that I spoke to you, Kennedy. No*v I'm off tu look at the room at once, or I may lose it." "Take the first turning to the left, then ask your way to the Handsworth Road. Everybody knows Kennedy's boarding-house. Ta, ta!" Then he grinned. "Don't you gn making love to my sister. She's a spinster, and has a keen eye for a good-looking chap like you!" Within twenty minutes Victor was being interviewed by Tom Kennedy's sister. To every question he put she gave a dozen answers, and he finally permitted her to do all the talking. "My lodgers are most respectable gentlemen, sir, and there isn't a cleaner house in Birmingham than rcine, even if Ido say it. I've got a clergyman and at lawyer, and a bank cashier, and eight other gentlemen in good business houses, and they pay most regularly. The only one that isn't any good is my brother Tom. He's always talking some rubbish, and wastes e-ery penny of his money in publie houses. Being my only brother, I can't turn him out. . . Dinner at seven o'clock, sir, but if served up-stariii there's extras for attendance. The general diningroom is most cheerful and sociable. The church is only two minutes walk, and you can hear the bells beautifully."

"Yea-— yes; I shall go no further, Miss Kennedy, because I am convinced that I cannot fare better. I shall, however, require a sitting-room separate from the bedroom, as I have a lot of writing to do after the usual business hours."

"That will be another five shillings a week. 3ir, and a shilling for gas," she warnad him.

"Oh, that doesn't signify. 1 don't mind a few shillings either way, so that I am comfortable." "Very well."

Miss Kennedy's small gray eyes travelled from his head to bis feet; she pursed up her lips, then furtively glanced at her reflection in a mirror. "My things are at the Queen's Hotel, Miss Kennedy, and I will bring

By BERTHA. M. CLAY. Author of " Thrown on the World," " Her Mother's Sin," Beyond Pardon," " The Lost Lady of Haddon," *' Dora Thome," " An Ideal Love," etc.

them not later than midday to-mor* row. I think that is all, unless you would like a depoist?" With visions of the unpaid taxcollector before her, Miss Kennedy declared that it was quite unnecessary, but if She stepped briskly to a writingdesk, and wrote a formal receipt for the five-pound note which rustled between Victor's fingers. Such slices of luck did not often come her way.

Victor moved in the direction of the door, well satisfied with his bargain, while Miss Kennedy, equally pleased, fluttered in his wake. "One word, Mr Grant," she said, with marked hesitancy, "and I hope you won't be offended. If you don't mind —I —I shall feel most obliged if you won't mention before the other gentlemen that you are only a clerk. Not that you aren't a perfect gentleman, but it might injure the reputation of my house. It is only .a matter of business, you see." "f see," Victor answered dryly. "I expect your lawyer is a legal tout, and the gentlemen in good business houses, shop assistants —eh? What a farce is this game of keeping up appearances!" "But the curate, sir!"

"Oh, I forgot the curate. I won't say a word against the cloth, Miss Kennedy," Victor smiled kindly, "and you may call me a director, if you like. I don't suppose I shall be able to do much more than direct envelopes!" Miss Kennedy watched the tall figure of her new lodger swing up the street.

"What a handsome man, and what a real gentleman!" she murmured. "And what a fraud! Invoice cleric, indeed!"

CHAPTER X. TOM KENNEDY IN LOVE. "DEAR MISS LEIGHTON: A remarkably busy week is ending, and yet I don't appear t3 have done very much. 1 commenced my duties at the factory last Wednesday, but my ignorance and inaptitude were so glaring that the managing clerk threatened to resign unless I was kicked out. This brought Mr Trenwith upon the scene, and now I am allowed to wander about the works and study the character of the working man without let or hiiiderance. Of course, I get no salary, and the managing clerk ignores me. I have very comfortable lodgings, and among my fellow guests—my estimable landlady calls her lodgers 'guests'—is a young clerygman to whom I have taken a great liking. He is unselfish, wholehearted, and sincere. 1 marvel how a man can be so good on eighty pounds a year. His name is John Rutherford, and after being duly disinfected we are going a-slumming one day next week. More character studies! ■ My landlady has a brother who is employed as timekeeper and inquiry clerk at the factory, and the gentleman calls himself a socialist. He is not the brand of which I approve. He professes atheism, and is, consequently, a bad lot. He spends his entire earnings in drink, borrows shillings and pays nobody. Yet he considers himself dreadfully ill used. Every man around here who desires to live without work calls himself a socialist. I find that many of the very pocr are very lazy and very dirty. One merits abusive epithets for being decently clothed', according to their tenets. The future elysiurn of the unthinking vvorkiiu man is summed up in no work and plenty of money. If such a state of things were possible, he would eat and drink himself into a state of imbecility, or death, within six month?. "Harry Owen is coming to see me next week. He sends a glowing report concerning the colliery. "Give my kind regards to Sir Charles. "Yours very sincerely, "LESLIE GRANT." j (To be continued.)