THE PRISONER'S SISTER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 August 1938, Page 10

THE PRISONER'S SISTER

PUBLISHED BY ARRANGEMENT COPYRIGHT

BY

PEARL BELLAIRS

(Author of “Velvet and Steel”)

CHAPTER XX.—Continued. Perhaps it was only half the reason, but it was enough. She thought it should be enough to make him forget the idea. They stood in silence for a moment. Stuart said unsteadily: “Julie —is there anyone else?” “No!” said Julie emphatically. The look on his face, like a dog pleading for kindness, suddenly brought the tears to her eyes. She put her hand on his arm. “You’re a dear, Stuart Thank you for —for thinking of me like that. But you can see it would never do!” She brushed past him and hurried out of the office, thoroughly upset and not wanting to say any more.

Perhaps it was not her whole reason for refusing. She liked him ever so much —but as a friend. She hadn’t thought about him in any other way, and she didn’t believe that she could. He went back to town, and left her to think about the situation. She knew that if she married him it would mean security for Dolly and Will. Julie had been near to starvation; she had seen all her hopes slipping away from her into the great sea of pauperism which washes the foundations of industrial life. No girl as wise as she vzas forced to be could despise comfort and security when it was honourably offered to her by someone of whom she was fond —and she was of Stuart. They- got on so well together . . she was sorry for him, she didn’t want to hurt him. She asked herself, could she bear to marry him and be related to Rand? Rand’s sister-in-law! Her dislike of him shook her to the. depths of her being. And how would he feel about having such a source of detestation in his own family? In the paper next morfiing she saw a mention of his having left for Stockholm by private ’plane on the previous day. Stuart gave her something else to think about, but he did hot quite cure her depression. She began to detest her job and rage against her dependency on Rand’s favour in keeping it. She looked in vain through the “Situations Vacant” column, but nobody was offering jobs to twenty-one-year old girls which would enable them to keep their brothers and sisters. She knew she should count herself lucky, and yet she fretted. How could she be grateful to Rand and retain a vestige of pride? And then something unexpected happened. Something so opportune that it made her feel that Fate was not against her after all. A letter bearing a Manchester postmark arrived for her; the postmark showed that it had been waiting at Kew for over a fortnight before Mrs Craddock had decided to readdress it to her. It was from a firm of solicitors- —Messrs Glover and Glover —informing her that her aunt, Miss Beatrice Moffat, had died in Manchester Infirmary; and would Julie kindly communicate with them, as she was the sole, beneficiary under Miss Moffat’s will. CHAPTER XXI. Julie wrote off to Manchester at once.

She could only remember her Aunt Beattie very dimly. As a small child she had played with Aunt Beattie at her father’s old home before her grandfather .died. She had been told since that Aunt Beattie had been very attached to her. But there had been a quarrel between Julie’s parents and the old lady; she had been something of a crank, and as the years went on she became more so. She sent Julie presents on her birthday and at Christmas, though never to the other Moffat children, and this went on for years, though Julie lived in Hereford and Aunt Beattie in Manchester. Several times Dr Moffat had tried to effect a reconciliation, but without much success. When he wrote she replied with pettish home truths about his character, but on one occasion she added a P.S.: “To show that this is not prejudice on my part I wish you to know that I have recently altered my will, leaving everything I have to your girl Julie. I was compelled to strike the Gleefield Cats’ Hospital out of my will because though I have protested and protested against their disgraceful way of letting the cats wait in the van before being taken to the destructor, nothing whatever has been done.” Dr Moffatt would half laugh and half sigh over Aunt Beattie’s letters, and Julie could still remember the day some two years before he died when her father had said to her: “Well, Julie, it seems you’re an heiress. You great aunt Beatrice is going to leave you all her savings—about two hundred pounds, I gather.” And now, seven years afterwards, the legacy had come. Restless as she was feeling in her job, Julie was tremendously excited. It might, of course, be only ten or twenty pounds after all — But she hoped. . Three days later the information came from the Manchester solicitors. Julie might expect to receive six hundred and fifty pounds after all other claims on her aunt’s estate had been settled. It was a wonderful piece of good fortune! Six hundred and fifty pounds to keep between herself and future misfortune that might befall. Now she could snap her fingers at Rand! She told Mrs Bolton about it. “Oh, Miss Julie, ain’t that a piece of luck for you! Well, I never!” Julie went about her work in a daze of excitement, with her head full of ideas about what she would do. She began to make plans for investing the money in something that would bring in a certain livelihood. She knew all about tea-shops; she would rent a shop in some country neighbourhood and

start one. Who would be better as a cook than Mrs Bolton? But perhaps Mrs Bolton felt that her own job at Lime Grove would be safest. Julie didn’t like to ask her, but she mentioned her intention of starting a tea-shop to Mrs Bolton. “Oh, Miss Julie!” Mrs Bolton’s face was the picture of dismay. “You ain’t thinkin’ of leaving here, are you?” “Yes, Mrs Bolton—l am thinking of it.” “But, Miss Julie —!” “What?” “After all that Mr Rand ’as done — and this such a lovely place! You’ll never get as good a job as this, nowhere!” “I’m going to start on my own,” said Julie. “Well,” said Mrs Bolton, shaking her head, “they tell me Mr Rand’S away in Sweden now. But he’ll be that disappointed when ’e comes back. I know ’e will!” Julie coloured, and said quietly: “Why should he be disappointed, Mrs Bolton? He’ll be very glad to be able to give the job to someone more suited to it!” “Oh, I dessay you can say that! But you’ll get nothing so comfortable as this!” After a while Mrs Bolton got used to the idea of Julie leaving and said that she had heard that'there, was a lady in Hindhead wanting to take on a partner in a tea-shop. She was not sure that she liked the look of it very much. And then, when she got back to Lime Grove, something happened to take her mind off it. Connor came over and knocked at her door as she was taking off her hat and coat. “There’s a Mrs Arnot to see you, madam, over at the hotel.” Julie looked at him in surprise. Mrs Arnot! Rand’s married sister! “Very well, Connor, I’ll come over,” she said. What could Mrs Arnot want? It might be merely that she was wanted officially to attend to Mrs Arnott’s wants —though Connor’s way of putting it made that doubtful. Could she have come about Stuart —perhaps Stuart had talked about Julie, and Mrs Arnot had . come, to discourage such a doubtful entanglement. Julie went over. Wrapped in beautiful furs, Lise Arnot was sitting in the lounge. Julie recognised her at once as the woman whom she had seen' during her first unfortunate interview with Rand.

She smiled so disarmingly that Julie could not be offended. She sat down. Mrs Arnot looked round the lounge, made a remark or two about the decorations, and coolly asked Julie what she thought about them. ' She was charming. And as she led the conversation smoothly along Julie perceived that she was also very clever —all her casual remarks as they talked were calculated to make Julie display herself. Julie herself found her a little formidable, but was instinctively certain that she was as nice as she looked. After a few minutes the other woman dropped her flow of small talk; and a look of resolution came into her face, as though whater judgment she had reserved was made. She smiled kindly at Julie in a more confidential way, and said: “And now about this brother of mine. Yes,” she said, in answer to Julie’s look of surprise, “I mean Stuart. My dear, he’s very fond of you, you know. In fact I’ve never seen him so much in love before!” Julie gazed at the other woman in embarrassed silence. “Don’t look so shy,” said Lise. “He told me about you and how he wants to marry you. Well, you though that his family might be annoyed, and of course they would be. I won’t disguise the fact! I wouldn’t be very pleased myself—if I had known nothing about you. I heard a long time ago—about your grit and courage, and your determination to look after your young brother and sister. Not only from Stuart, but from Ferris. Naturally I wouldn’t believe that you were quite so wonderful until I had seen you for myself! Now I have seen you I’m inclined to believe that they’re right about you.” “Thank you!” “So that’s all right, isn’t it” Julie looked puzzled, and Lise explained: “I mean that you won’t keep up this silly objection of yours about injuring him socially” “But you know that it would injure him socially!” protested Julie. “My dear child, it has always been difficult enough to make Stuart happy without worrying about things like that. If he’s so sure that he could be happy with you, then that’s all that Ferris and I could possibly want for him. Really, if you refuse him I don’t know what he’ll do with himself!” Julie looked deeply troubled and protested again: “But the rest of your family, Mrs Arnot! ■ They would be angry—you said they would!” “I think we could get over that. In fact I’m quite sure that I could manage that side of it for you, if you would let me. It just depends upon how we introduced you to them, and if I were to do that side of it, I really don’t thin there would be any trouble at I all.” Moved and astonished by the other 1

She rose and somewhat to Julie’s surprise, held out her hand. Julie took it with a look of enquiry and a faint flush in her cheeks. “I have heard so much about you,” said Lise Arnot, easily. “My brother —both my brothers, in fact, have told me about you. So here I am—come to see for myself if you are as remarkable as . they say you are! Do you mind?” '