COST OF AN ESCAPADE.

Waikato Argus, Volume I, Issue 34, 26 September 1896, Page 1 (Supplement)

COST OF AN ESCAPADE.

—<- " On, I should love to yo, but Tin afraid. It would be so dreadful it' any one found it out ! ' '• Put why should they 1 Pesides, everybody ,qoos to music hall nowadays, and then in Paris, you know •' " Yes ; but it depends whom they oo with, doesn't it .' " and .Mrs. Linton glanced mischievously at her companion. He laughed in a half-embarrassed, half flattered way. " You're not complimentary, at any rate ; but do make up your mind and say v\ hen you will come." She hesitated x moment. " I don't kno.v. It's all wrong, of course , but I do so want lo qo ! Hush ! here is Philip. I'll write to you." At this moment-Mr Pinton joined them and after a few general remarks, Dick Pedmayne bowed goodniojil and strolled oil' into the courtyard of the hotel lo drink his eol'l'ee in the open. '•Will she come, I wonder ? *' be asked himself, as he sipped bis tasse-eale, and let his eyes wander idly on tlie busy, chattering crowd of Parisians who sauntered lo anil fro on pleasure bent. Dick had declared to himself a hundred limes within the last three weeks that he was not, in love. A nun who respected himself and recurded his peace of mind did not fall in love with other men's wives, he told himself emphatically ; yet all the while he was conscious that be was too kci nly alive to Mrs. Pintail's attraction to be quite safe. They bad met in Riviera : happened to be staying ill the same hotel, neighbours at table d'hote, and that .sort of thing. No man with eves in bis head could help seeing that the piquant-like dark woman with the bear of a husband was more than commonly pretty. The acquaintance had ripened. -Mrs. Linton bad pretty, childish ways, and their conversation had gradually passed from the commonplace into the confidential ; be Knew that she was a French Canadian, brought up in the strictest seclusion, and married i oil hand as soon as she had merged

into long frocks to a man old enough to be her father, and whom she scarcely kne.v. Dick was very sorry for her ; the vivacious and fascinating little brunette was a creature made for "love and laughter," and ill-mated with the stern, moro'ie man. who apparently took the world and all that therein is, including his butterfly of a wife, an grand serieux. The L'ntons were bound for London eventually, where the husband intends to winter, having business, he said, which requires his presence there for some u onths ; but on their way they were taking in Paris, where, to please Mrs. Linton, they were to make a short stay. " I'm awfully sorry you are going,' Dick hul said when Mrs. Linton informed him of their approaching departure. "It will be so dull when you're gone." " Will it ?" She had raised her big eyes to his face with a look half mischievous, half serious. " There are heaps of other people left, you know." " Put they won't be, you," he had n plied significantly '• No? Then why don'fe you come with us V The l rem irk had been thrown out with a 1 nigh ; but, after all, win not ? And so it was that Dick lledmayne found himself travelling in the wake of the Lintons, installed with them at the Grand Hotel in Paris, and unpleasantly conscious that if they decided to-morrow to start for Kamschatka he would probably pack his portmanteau and hie him thither also. Nevertheless, he stoutly declared to himself that he was not in love with Trinetle Linton, only charitably anxious to amuse her and lighten a little of the monotony of her life with her bore of a husband. To-night Trinette had inadvertently remarked that the desire of her heart was to visit Le Oife Ambassadeurs to hoar the great Yvette on her native asphaltc. To broach such a wish to Philip Linton was impossible. Still, why should not the little woman's curiosity be gratified? It would be tin; simplest thing in the world to take her there - -where was the harm ? —and the poor child would enjoy it as much as an escaped school girl delights in a surreptitious novel. For a couple of days, however, Philip Linton was constantly at his wife's side. When she and Dick met in the evening in the big salon she looked tired and dispirited, and gave melancholy accounts of mornings spent in museums and afternoons in galleries, which she frankly confessed to Dick were places she loathed. it was on the third day that, on going to dress for dinner, he found a small note on bis dressing table : " Dear Mr. Iledtnayne : Philip has gone to Pouen on business j he will not be back till the morning. The museums have made me so wicked : don't say you have an engag. ment this evening,-—T. L." Never in his life had Pedmayne dressed at such a rate ; in less than half an hour he was knocking at the door of the Lintons' salon ou the floor below, Mrs. Linton herself opened it. Slid blushed as she saw him standing tie re, and drew back a little embarrassed. " I've just got your note, and"- - " < Mi ! " she interrupted hurriedly, " I'm afraid it was very silly ; please forget id! about it." '• Not at all ; it was charming of you to write it. Now just get a cloak or somethimg, and we'll go straight Off somewhere and have dinner, and then on to the Ambassadeurs," The little woman was crimson to the roots of her hair. : ' I dare not." " Why not I Aren't we friends ? Don't, you trust me ? " " < ill, yes- -yes--only " " There's no ' only ' about it. Pun, like a good girl, and put something on your shoulders and let us go." She hesitated a moment longer. Dick argued in the most elderbrotherly and prosaic fashion, and it ended, of course, in Trinette looking down nt her black gown deprecatingly, and saying " Put I can't go like this, and mv maid is out for the evening. " You look charming in that. Come just as you are." 11 was the busiest time of the cveninir, and no one was likely to notice i he black gowned little figure, her head swathed in a filmy lace veil, walking so demurely by Dick's side. When they were sealed in tin.' fiacre all Trinette's spirits, checked a little by tlie first shock of the escapade, returned in full force. She laughed and chatted and talked delightful nonsense in tin; way which made her specialy charming, which Dick always likened to that of a precocious and pretty child. " I >o you know that it's my birthday to day ? she remarked suddenly ; " and poor old Philip gave me the loveliest present, d list look ! ' and, loosening the lace about her head, she showed him a. long chain of perfectly shaped pei'rls, interspered here and there with diamonds. !t hung far down upon her breast, and was wonderfully beautiful. Dick's admiration was loud, and genuine. "It's exquisite! lie exclaimed, " and it must have cost a lot. of money,*' lie added to himself : • ; I shouldn't have thought that solemn chap bail it in him to make i such presents."

"Wasn't it sweet ot him to give me such a lovely tiling ! " And then, without waiting for an answer, she glided oil' again tj some other subject It was a strange evening altogether to Dick Jiedmayne—the tete a-tete dinner, the concert at the Ambassadeurs with Trinette's little gurgles of suppressed laughter and small efforts at being shocked ; the snug supper afterwards, and then the discreet parting on her etage, when he held her hand—" but as a friend might, or only a second longer " and felt the glance of her dvrk eyes, trusting (and surely something more ?), as they rested on him during that whispered " Good night." ft was a unique experience, he lold himself, and only one to be accounted for by Tiinelle's naive innocence and childlike confidence. Put it was no longer any use federating to himself that he was not in love with her ; his assertion no longer carried conviction. As he tossed to and fro he determined that his only safely—and, perhaps, poor child ! hers too —lay in prompt retreat, lie would leave Paris to-morrow, to go anywhere out of sight of her dark eyes, her cooing voice, her pretty, impulsive ways. As last he fell asleep, only to dream sweet dreams which turned to hideous mightmarc always by the sudden appearance of Philip Linton upon the scene. His servant woke him on entering with his letters. Dick turned them over listlessly, when his eye was caught by an unstamped one. Itwas surely in Trinette's handwriting ; he. tore it open hastily : " For pity's sake, come to mc ; 1 am in dreadful trouble. —T. ' In trouble? Since, last night? What could have happened': Had Linton returned during their absence? As he dressed hastily he cursed himself for his selfish folly in having allowed Trinette's innocence to lead her into such a situation ; for who was there in the world who would believe the truth of last night's doings .' She, was sitting in her salon, in the most picturesque of morning wrappers, when he entered. She had been weeping, evidently; but somehow it was not unbecoming, and her dark eyes looked all the sweeter. Jle was by her side in a moment. " What has happened ?" he asked hurriedly. "My dear Mrs. Linton, what is tin; trouble ?" "My pearls!' she gasped tragically. " .Mr liedm tyne, I have lost the pearls that Philip gave me yesterday ! Oh, what shall I —what can 1 do !" "But it's impossible! You had them at the Ambassadeurs; I saw them " • " I know ; I missed (hem diree'ly I began to undress. J would have come to you then, only it was so late, and I did not dare." " Put you can only have dropped them nl the supper [dace or in the fiacre. 1 will go to the Prefecture de Police. They will turn up. Don't cry, my poor child." " No, they wont ! I'm sure they won't : and Philip will never forgive me. lie will l>o so angry. Oh, why did I go ? It was wicked " Dick tried to soothe her, to reassure her; the chain was too valuable- for a cabman or a w titer to dare to rob-in it: it must be returned. " What time does Mr. Linton n turn ? " '■ liy the 12.00. < >h, what shall I do ?" '• lie a good child and cat some breakfast. I'll run oil' to make inquiries, and before you have finished your coffee the pearls shall be here." J lis inquiries proved futile, as he feared in his own mind they woul !. Nothing had been seen, nothing had been found. Then' was only one thing possible—to return to the hotel and ascertain if Trinello knew whence the jewels had come, and try to procure another chain at any cod. Fresh (ears greeted the news of Dick's failure, and there really was nothing possible but to attempt to comfort her as out! would a child—only the child was a woman. " Put. we must not forget, the poails." he said at last. " \ou have no idea where they come from the nam'; was not on the case?' Trinetle shook her head mournfully. " Well, I dare say, I can gel something like them in Hue de la Pai.v Don't worrv, dearest : you shall have (lean in an hour.'' " And if you Tail ?" « Pah ! f shall net fail." A few minutes later he was standing in a jeweller's shop describing the sort of thing he wanted. Yes, they had something of the kind in stock. Dick looked at it ; the pearls seemed smaller, the diamonds furlhi r apart, limn in the one, Trinettc had worn ; but surely he. would find no better substitute, and how was Linton to iiiuu'inu it was any other than the one lie had given his wife 'i The price, staggered Pick somewhat, prepared as he. ha I been for a long one, Ile wrote his cheque, wailed impatiently during the necesary formalities, and at last, hurried back to the hotel. It was past 1 despite his haste, and Linton would have returned. Trinetle met him on the landing, her lingers toher lips. lie held out the case iii silence : she caught it from him quickly. At dinner the Linton- wen' no! ito be seen, Dick was restless and

uneasy, and strolled into the hall, chatted with the concierge, slipped ill a careless question about his friends.

" The big Englishman and la petite dame? They left by the afternoon express for the south." Dick gasped, and his conversation with the concierge came to an abrupt conclusion. For weeks he lingerc-I on at the Grand, hoping Trinette would write and give some account of her movements. Bui, nothing came until months afterwards, when in the Paris column of a Fondon paper he read the arrest of a pair of clever swindlers with many aliases, one of which was Linton. The woman turned upon her accomplice, and gave details of several of their most successful frauds, among which figured the story of a Palais Royal neck-chain, supposed to bo lost and replaced by a valuable Rue de la Paix trinket by an amorous and gullible Englishman ! World.