(Continued.) CHAPTER IV.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1818, 1 March 1884, Page 1 (Supplement)

(Continued.) CHAPTER IV.

Ml.. TOSII \OI.\ -1 tl.Ll. *Tjik piesrnte of tl-c chikhun gradually changed the aspect of Mr. Tostcvoi's hoube. Slowly and &uiely ihe ioj cjnicir>m in which thj disappointed man hjcl wrapped himself t vvved and diiappeaiecl. It first Urbam ami Lotto and Mis. Peteis, who was only too gVI to «iv<j up tlie sea, had been relegated to a distant pail of the house, and beyond mquiunu' ccwsionaih if they werecouifoiUblu, Mi To^tcvoi tioubled himUjJf very little about them lie spent lm days out ol dooi^, eagerly pursuing his .self-appointed ta-,k. The task of Mr. IVtevoi wa^ a peculiar one He was the self-constituted champion of the brute creation : a kind ol Society foi the Prevention of Cruelty to Animrh all bj himself. If a doc appeeic-' to bo lo^t ilt. Tosl^or ■w^ald follow it from sweat to sh«?et to moke sure of the fact ; m.iku fii'-ids wuh it, bung it home, and achcius^ loi the owriei in the Tdegraph. Stiay cm-, he v.ould piovide with i meaty bone's which he earned m hhoi o capacious ■pockets. Cats th u had got down \m»ig areas r and could not get out, an.l J-ittcur \,ho had gone astiay, wcie ail taken un'V>i Mt.'Jostevor's immediate piotection, u,*A woe bnVe tho butcher boy 01 tlu j,tnel Aiab who should aM 3mpt to " play 1 uks v ith tl^m." Horsed weie also the especial objects of Mr. Tv fever's care. Let a dnvei unmoicifully be1 ibour his animal, and Mr. Toslcvor was down on him. Many and many a tune v.ould he find himself the cenhc of a hugo ciowd while he loudly denounced the baibanty of some hulking ruilian who Had been venting his spite on a poor d L imb brute. The policemen knew him, the magistrate knew him, and if thy horses of the metropolis n.id been propcily grateful, they would have subscribed togethei and presented Mr. To-tevor with a testimonial. Of an evening, his daily U<-k acuompohshed, Mr. Tostevor would sit ac home and discuss the aspect of aiUns with his, constant companion, Biuno. Tiieie weie generally half-a-dozen lost do«s , in the kennela which had been bn.lt in the garden, and after tea .Mi. Toste\or would go ronnd and give a jut to each, then he would stroke the eati who made the kitchen their home. The birds he left to Mn. Twijgs, He liked birds very well, but cat* and doga weie his especial favourites. Having interviewed John, the boy, as to the health of the other anunals, Mr. Tostevor would return to hi, study and spend the evening with his books. _ At first, Biuno was the only pciaon allowed in this paiticularroom, but alter a time the children took to coming m just to say "Good night." They were blight, intelligent childien, and gradually Mr. Tostevoi found himself taking p casure in their innocent prattle and pretty ways. They came earlier and stayed later. After a time the rooms whcie animals had been allowed to icaniat will weie kept for the children. Mr. To,tcvor found homes for the , strays, and didn'i bung any fie&h ones. He ■ didn t go aoout looking for them now. He preferred to take Uibam and Isette to Hampstoad, or to walk with them round the quiet squares. Their quaint ranaxks amused him, interested him, ga\ c him a f re «h object in life. In time they were allowed to play fieely about the great hou^e. and the long silent rooms echoed with then men y laughter. He took them to the Polytechnic one day, and he felt ?». r i mSdf again> The intenßo flight of the little ones quickened his own pulses ; they asked a thousand questions, and he answered them. So at last he dropped into the position of a Moving father. Ho luougut them home ■uesents and toys. They listened for his Bock, and run to givet him in the hall. One Wtf! h ° ltfc Mis. Peteis take them to the |P l/rjptalialace, and he was quite miserable. i- darkness came on he sat and lisi H ;»ed for the cab. He grew anxious ; he *fceed the room. They were late. Could anything have happened to them ? They came at last. And as they ran to him and leapt upon his knee and flung their arms about his neck, he bent down and kissed them tenderly and felt proud of the love which he had won. But when the children had gone to bed and were asleep in each other'b arms, he would sit and talk to Bruno very seriously. There was a vague sense of insecurity on his mind. Might not these children, whom he had grown to love, who were bound up in his life, be taken away from him as suddenly as they had been given. Not only once, but twenty tiffi^ had little Urbain told him all he knew of "Ms-vjbrief career, and Isette had corroborated the faCtS^ chiming in with her lisped assurance that she could remeplber everything. Whafr^heir surname was neither of them knew/ All they could tell was that they had '■flr'dea* .mamma far, far away, who loved them and cried over them, and sometimes was in bed and very ill, and that a gentleman ''they thought was their papa waB cross to her, 'and sometimes hither— o, so hard— and then (jhe would cry. One day this gentleman went away and did not come back for a long time, and then he spoke very loud to maiama and looked her in a room. Then he put on their , things and told them to come with him, and r he brought them, 0, miles and miles— b, so Jast— past trees and hedges a.nd fields in a train, then they got out of the train and into

! l ie big bhip, and came over the sea with Mrs. i'etcrs, and they had never seen the gentlenan they thought was their papa any more. Mr. To-levor had advertised in many ;u;pci9, home and foreign, the fact that two •'ulflren na:aed Urbain and Isette might be heaid of by applyiug to Messrs. S. and Co., 'cis -olifitors but the months had gone by and id claim had been made. Then he fancud that the mother might be .'cad. or that peilmps she was glad to be rid i{ . i \i!dren. A thousand surmises would pass tluongh his mind, but he always ended ■i> iiii'Hn» to Bruno and declaring that it ■ ould be only his luck if, just as the children had become <>. necessaiy part of his existence, 'hey should be snatched away fiom him. Bruno was still the lecipient of all bis master's secrets. The big brown retriever Hould fait o-i his haunches by the hour together and listen to Mr. Tostevor's confes--.iotifr, now and then cocking his head on one ••ido, ai much as to say, "Moat interesting 1 hi deed ! lteally, } r ou surprise me ! " Bruno knew what was hidden from every li\inu eteatme, the one great secret and the one gieat trouble of his master's life. Often in the long winter evenings before the children came Mr. Tostevor would tell him the j. ur.ful i>toiy, and dwell upon his wrongs. 0, „o\\ he loved that girl ! Bruno felt many a hot l^ar tiicklc down upon his shiny coat when his naster told that story. Young and amiable, -wcot Agne^ Ernie had won his heart, and \i to be his wife. He had wealth, and he \ould lay It all at her feet. His love was reI'iined. .Sup was poor and all that, but she vva.3 a lady. All was ready, and a few short weeks noukl have seen her his wife and the hs-'ht of his home ; and then— she went away. Went away with never a word, him a cold, crufl loiter tbat it was best they should pait. That perhaps some day he would kiiow all and pity ha. Then he heaid that mic had inarued and gone abroad, and the i«st w.is blank. Fiom that hour she was e'ead to him. Only in the quiet evenings as Jig ■-at alone thoughts of what might have been would crowd upon him, and Bruno's coat would be wet with his master's falling teais. Fiona the hour of his disappointment (rcoige Tostevor was an altered man. He looked upon men and women as his enemies, anil lavished all his aflection on dumb nninialrf. Thsu were grateful. The little children sent ho stiangely to him iiad considerably alteied his views. He was raoie cheeiful. He told that story very rarely to Biuno now, and even Mrs. Twiggs was inducpd after a, time to declaio that ho was " heating Cluistians moie as if they was Christians, and not a bemoaning them below tlia aninulcb, as he did afore them orphins come." And Mis. Peters, who spent the evening »eneral!> in Mrs. Twiggs's room, quite coincided, and added that to her thinking orphins wa? the best things as could possibly have happened to the master.