A STORY OF ENGLISH LIFE. The Way of Love

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXII, Issue 20, 16 February 1927, Page 7

A STORY OF ENGLISH LIFE. The Way of Love

(By

Vera Cunninghame.)

As Christmas drew near, Pearl Grayson knew that the man she loved would speak and tell her of the love in his

’own heart. He did . • • and his words (Shattered all her castles in the air an.d filled her with shame. What she did is told below by Vera Cunningha me.- . Market' Street was crowded with the usual Saturday night throng of shoppers. Pearl Grayson looked with .. interest at the gaily decorated stalls with their plump turkeys and. bunches of holly and mistletoe as she made her way slowly to the Imperial Hotel, wjicre she had a small part as singer and dancer in the cabaret. She liked the big northern town with its teeming life, crowded and busy as London itself, and she felt a little sad to think that it was her last night there. But the Imperial had engaged a special troupe of artists for the Christmas week, and her own week’s engagement terminated that night. People with laughing, happy faces jostled her good-naturedly—children, clinging to their mothers’ hands and prattling excitedly of the festival to come—young wives arm in arm with their sailor husbands home on Christmas leave —lovers were all busy buying their Christmas presents, planning happy gatherings . . .all except herself. What would her own Christmas be like? To-morrow morning she would ■ take the train back to London and the bed-sitting-room she called home. The fare would absorb a large part of her week’s earnings, and she must save every penny she could towards the future, for she had no prospects of further employment. But somehow to-night the thought of the future had no power to quench the little spark of joy in her heart —a spark that had first been Eght_ ed a week ago when Richard Mayre had come into her life. She had seen him sitting alone at a table in a corner of the Imperial restaurant, a tall man with a clear-cut, grave face and frank grey eyes that had gazed directly into hers across the space between them. In that moment she had known somehow that she had found a friend, and as the week went on she had realised that there was something more than friendship between them . He had spoken to her at the end of the perjormr.nce, and asked permission to take her back to her 1 odgings. Afterwards every evening she had found him waiting for her, and the love that had sprung to birth so suddenly had grown until she knew that it was a part of her life. Richard Mayre loved her. She. was as sure of tha* as she, was of her own love of him. Tonight he would tell her of his love and ask her to marry him. Somehow the days had drifted by so fast that they had never talked of the future. But to-night the future must be discussed. She need not fear another lonely Christmas Day such as she had spent last year. She would never know what is was to be lonely now that she had his love. < Her thoughts drifted back over the as she donned the • dress .she wore in the cabaret, heedless of the chatter of the girls whose dressingrooyi she shared. It had been a hard struggle and it had made her feel very bi tier-at times. A year ago she had held a good position as shorthand typist in a City firm,' but the attentions of the manager, Halford Staines, had made the position, an impossible one. She had shown him plainly that she disliked him, but he was infatuated with her and her coldness only inflamed his passion. Then had. come the day ’when Jie had asked her’ to run away with him. Because of her refusal she had received her dismissal from the firm, -with the curt information that she need not - apply for a reference. , x After that she had held a scries of brief and poorly paid jobs. Without references there was very little hope i of securing another good post, and she. ■ had been down almost to her last pound when she had seen the adv er--tisement for a singer in the cabaret. To her surprise she had been engaged at once. She had- some skill as a dancer, and a pretty but-untrained voice, but she knew it w*as her beauty that i had secured her the job. - It was because of it Halford Staines ' had made her life impossible .and as ' she remembered the struggle and humiliation of that last year she felt that she hated the beauty that nature had

showered on her so lavishly. But now for the first time she was glad of it bc,causc of the admiration she had seen in Richard Mayre’s eyes. She looked towards the corner table as she stepped on to the platform, and for a moment his glance met and hold hcr’s. There was a new depth of feeling in her soft voice that night, a new gleam in her eyes. It was still there as she emerged from the side entrance to find him waiting fqr her as usual, and the soft rose opened in her checks as he took her hands in his. “I have booked a table at the Clarion. I thought we might have supper together to celebrate your last night. ’ ’ ' Her lips curved happily. “That will be lovely. No, wo don’t want a taxi, let us walk.” The Clarion was the most exclusive hotel in the town and very expensive she knew. The restaurant was softly lighted, fragment with flowers, a glitter with glass and silver and the sheen of women’s frocks. She looked across their own small table at the man who sat opposite her, grave and immaculate in his dinner jacket, discussing the menu with leisurely calm. In all that vast room of well-bred and perfectly groomed men and women there was none who looked more distinguished than Richard Mayre, she thought with a little throb of pride. He was obviously accustomed to held his own in any circle. For the first time it occurred to her how little she knew’ of him. He had never spoken of himself or of his people, but she realised that he belonged to another world than hers, a world of leisure of which in her hard-working life she had caught only an occasional glimpse. Yet what did it matter if she were poor and he rich, if she w’crc just a working girl and lie a man of assured position? .Love laughed at such distinctions. It Was all the more wonderful that he should want her, that he should have chosen he rout of all the girls he must have known. She ate her supper in a happy dream of the future, and it was only as they drank their coffee and ho lighted a cigar that she came back to the present. “Are you sorry that this week is over ? ’’ She glanced at him quickly, her eyes a little misty. “Very. I have been so happy here. But to-morrow ” “To-morrow you go back to London to your people?” “I haven’t any people, only one sister who is married and in Australia. I live by myself in a room off Russell Square.” , “Don’t you find it lonely sometimes?” “Yes, a little.” The room seemed a little less gay, somehow, the murmur of the distant orchestra, not quite so seducivc as before. His manner chilled her vaguely. He was not looking at her now, but gazing beyond her into space with that grave, far-away look that seemed to set her apart from him. “I too am going back to-morrow. My business here is finished. I should not have stayed so long really, but somehow I couldn’t go. Pearl, your friendship has meant a good deal to me. I wonder if you realise how much?” His voice had deepened. “There is something I want to tell you, just because you are you. * I’ve never spoken of myself before, but tonight, Pearl, friendship is a thing rare and very sweet. But there is something that is sweeter still, love.” It seemed to her that he must hear the glad leap of her heart. “I know that,” she told him softly. He stretched out his hand impulsively and for one moment laid it over hcr’s. ‘You dear! I knew* you would understand. I’ve been frightened before to put my love to the test, but you have given me courage. I am going to ask the girl I love to- marry me, and if she consents I don’t think there could be a man in the world happier chan I should be!” - . ’ She had to clasp her hands to still their trembling, but her eyes met his. “She will consent. She —she couldn’t help loving you. . . (To be Continued.)