TOM ACTS INDEPENDENTLY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2310, 30 April 1887, Page 1 (Supplement)

TOM ACTS INDEPENDENTLY.

The people of Scotland Yard suggested the continent, and at length found the cabman who had driven off the couple to a railway station. There however all trace was lost, and Tom determined at last to take the whole matter into his own hands, consequent on a visit to Monsieur Hector one morning to have his weary brain relieved by a course of hair-catting, and the refreshing shampoo.

Monsieur Hector was delicacy itself in his manipulations, and as delicate in his diplomacy. ' Ah bah !' he said, ' wljat ia outing and

shaving and dressing the hair ? It is not' by them that I must live and save for ma ch&re Justine. Why was 1 not in the bureau of the police ? I am a great student of life—a very receptacle for the secrets of the aristocracy.' 'Monsieur suffers,' he said, softly, as he held Tom's head, lathered all over with soap. 'I am troubled to see Monsieur look in such bad health.' ' Bother !' said Tom, Monsieur Hector waited a fewft moments until the shampooing should begin to soften down some of tho hard crystals of trouble from which Tom was suffering, and then he tried again. . 1 1 trust Miladi recovers herself from the dreadful shock.' Tom screwed his soapy head round, to stare in the bland, unruffled countenance of Monsieur Hector, who bowed, and gently returned his client's head to its proper position. 'What the deuce do you know about iny lady's shook ?' growled Tom. ' Monsieur forgets that I am the confident attendant of the family,' said Monsieur Hector, very dignifiedly. ' Humph,' grunted Tom; and then he sat thinking. 'I wonder whether this fellow knows anything about the Italian colony round Saffrou and whether he could—bah ! I won't publish the matter, so there it may rest.' It was evident that Monsieur Hector was very eager to be talieu into Tom's confidence;' but his were vain. Tom determined to act more on his own responsibility and went, refreshed in body and mind, so Scotland Yard, where, after receiving certain advice, he returned and told his father to prepare for a journey, for this time they would go abroad and search the, whole continent but what they would find the pair. A great deal of trouble might have been saved had her ladyship read the letter she received about this time, and given the other to Lord Anthhny, to ■ whom ib was addressed, instead of placing both behind the fire. This too, was the fate of a couple later on, followed in each case by the necessity for mere drops of lavender, for the shock to her ladyship's nerves, and she was ' not at home 'to anyone who called. There Were tho letters which Lord Robert Denver received, and which he forwarded to his brother ; but they did not reach Portland Palace until after Tom and his father had set off for the continent, the former with the stern determination not to return until he had rescued his sister from the disgraceful position to which she had been cast. It was a long aud weary hunt: from London to Paris—frotn Paris through Switzerland—from Switzerland to Tyrol, aud then to Italy, where Tom's brow knit as he ground his teeth, and made sure from scraps of information he had gained that he should at last run the fugitives to earth. It was with no little surprise that he found a telegram lying at the Poste Restante at Rome,' from Sir Grantlcy' Wilters, begging him to return, for Clare was in London, and he had seen her the day previous. 'I'm afraid, my dear boy,' said the old gentleman, on the evening of their arrival in London after a couple of month's absence, ' that I shall be obliged to go straisrht home, I can bear no more of this travelling, I—l—l—damme, my dear Tom, I'm about worn out.' For the first time Tom realised the patient endurmce of the old gentleman. How ho had toiled on with him day after day without a murmur, till he was utterly exhausted, and now gazed at him piteouslv, utterly broken down. Hurrying him into a cab, they were soon after deposited in Portland Palace, where a letter was placed in Tom's hand, requesting him to come on to Wimpolestreet directly he returned. {To he contiuuol).