OCR Text |
Show mtMfefaw 5 Y A . CON AN DOYLE BlSftSl' tgf accentuated by the strange costume fnJ which she wore. Her hair, black but W(' TlSa HMWllSl plentifully shot with grrey, was brushed "iklwT fM'lH plainly back from her high forehead, ftW' ' 3?V l$r V and was gathered under a small round lnSS I $HVli'& felt hat' like that of a man. with one liIlTii rwii iM ii Jvt& sprig o feather in the band as a con- lltiNil 1 P Vv'&T Mi' cession to her sex. A double-breasted 1 -'VhTk ''II Jacket of some dark frieze-like material J NW llliBv U' fitted closely to her figure, while her lMNsi& straight blue skirt, untrimmed and un- Swlss-built villas, with sixteen rooms, co basement, elect' 1c bells, hot and cold water, and every modern convenience, including a common tennis lawn, to be let at 100 a year, or 1,500 purchase. So tempting an offer did not long remain re-main open. Within a few weeks the oard had vanished from number on, and it was known that Admiral Hay Denver, V. C, C. B., with Mrs. Hay Denver and their only son, were about to move into it. The news brought peace to the hearts of the Williams sisters. They had lived with a settled conviction that some wild Impossible colony, some shouting, singing sing-ing family of madcaps, would break In upon their peace. This establishment at least was irreproachable. A reference to "Men of the Time" showed them that Admiral Hay Denver was a most distinguished dis-tinguished officer, who had begun his active career at Bomarsund, and had ended it at Alexandria, having managed man-aged between these two episodes to see as much service as any man of his years. From the Taku Forts and the Shannon brigade, to dhow-harrying oft Zanzibar, there was no variety of naval work which did not appear in his record; rec-ord; while the "Victoria Cross and the Albert medal for saving life vouched for it that in peace a 'n war his courage cour-age was still of the same true temper. Clearly a very eligible neighbor this, the more so as they had been confidently confident-ly assured by the estate agent that Mr. Harold Denver, the son, was a most quiet young gentleman, and that he was busy from morning to night on the Stock Exchange. The Hay Denvers had hardly moved in before number two also struck Its plentifully shot with grey, was brushed plainly back from her high forehead, and was gathered under a small round felt hat, like that of a man, with one sprig of feather in the band as a concession con-cession to her sex. A double-breasted jacket of some dark frieze-like material fitted closely to her figure, while her straight blue skirt, untrimmed and un-gathered, un-gathered, was cut so short that the lower curve of her finely turned legs was plainly visible beneath it, terminating terminat-ing in a pair of broad, flat, low-heeled and square-toed shoes. Such was the lady who lounged at the gate of number num-ber three, under the curious eyes of her two opposite neighbors. But if her conduct and appearance had already somewhat jarred upon their limited and precise sense of the fitness of things,' what were they to think of the next little act in this tableaux vivant? The cabman, red and heavy- JNTERNATIONAL PRESS ASSOCIATION. CHAPTER I. THE NEW-COMERS. F YOU PLEASE, mum," said the voice of a domestic from somewhere round the angle of the door, "number three is moving in." Two little old ladies, la-dies, who were sitting sit-ting at either side of a table, sprang to their feet with ejaculations of In- placard, and again the ladies found that they had no reason to be discont-ed discont-ed with their neighbors. Doctor Balthazar Bal-thazar Walker was a very well known name in the medical world. Did not his qualifications, his membership, and the record of his writings fill a long half column in the "Medical Directory" from his first little paper on, the "Gouty Diathesis" in 1859 to his exhaustive treatise upon "Affections of the Vaso-Motor Vaso-Motor System" in 1884? A successful . medical career which promised to end In a presidentship of a college and a baronetcy, had been cut short by hia sudden inheritance of a considerable sum from a grateful patient, which had rendered him independent for life, and " had enabled him to turn his attention to the more scientific part of his profession, profes-sion, which had always had a greater charm for him than its more practical and commercial aspect. To this end he had given up his house in Weymouth street, and had taken this opportunity of moving himself, his scientific Instruments Instru-ments and his two charming daughters (he had been a widower for some years) into the more peaceful atmosphere of Norwood. There was thus but one villa unoccupied, unoc-cupied, and It was no wonder that the two maiden ladies watched with a keen interest, which deepened into a dire apprehension, the curious incidents which heralded the coming of the new tenants. They had already learned from the agent that the family consisted consist-ed of two only, Mrs. Westmacott, a jowled, had come back from his labors, and held out his hand for his fare. The lady passed him a coin, there was a moment of mumbling and gesticulating, gesticulat-ing, and suddenly she had him with both hands by the red cravat which girt his neck, and was shaking him as a terrier would a rat. Right across the pavement she thrust him, and pushing him up against the wheel, she banged his head three several times against the side of his own vehicle. "Can I be of any use to you, aunt?" asked the large youth, framing himself in the open doorway. "Not the slightest," panted the enraged en-raged lady. "There, you low blackguard, black-guard, that will teach you to be Impertinent Imper-tinent to a lady." The cabman looked helplessly about him with a bewildered, questioning gaze, as one to whom alone of all men this unheard-of and extraordinary thing had happened. Then, rubbing his head, he mounted slowly on to the box, and drove away with an uptossed hand appealing ap-pealing to the universe. The- lady smoothed down her dress, pushed back her hair under her little felt hat, and strode in through the hall-door, which she closed behind her. As with a whisk her short skirts vanished into the darkness, the two spectators Miss Bertha and Miss Monica Williams sat looking at each other in speechless amazement. For fifty years they had peeped through that little window and across that trim garden, but never yet had such a sight as this come to con- I found them. I terest, and rushed to the window of the sitting-room. "Take care, Monica dear," said one, 3hrouding herself in the lace curtain; "don't let them see us." "No, no, Bertha. We must not give them reason to say that their neighbors neigh-bors are inquisitive. But I think that we are safe if we stand like, this." The open window looked out upon a sloping lawn, well trimmed and pleas-int, pleas-int, with fuzzy rosebushes and a star-shaped star-shaped bed of sweet William. It was bounde'd by a low wooden fence, which screened it off from a broad, modern, new metaled road. At the other side Df this road were three large detached deep-bodied villas with peaky eaves and small wooden balconies, each standing in its own little square of grass and of flowers. All three were equally new, but numbers one and two were curtained and sedate, . with a human, sociable look to them; while number three, with yawning door and unkempt garden, had apparently only just received re-ceived its furniture and made Itself ready for its occupants. A four-wheeler had driven up to the gate, and it was at this that the old ladies, peeping out bird-like from behind their curtains, directed di-rected an eager and questioning gaze. The cabman had descended, and the passengers within were handing out "I wish," said Monica at last, "that we had kept the field." "I am sure I wish we had," answered her sister. CHAPTER II. BREAKING THE ICE.. H E COTTAGE from the window of which the Misses Williams had looked out stands, and has stood for many a year, in that pleasant su-b su-b u r b a n district which lies between Norwood, Anerley, and Forest Hill. T.nne' bpfnrp thprp the articles which trrey desirea mm to carry up to the house. He stood red-faced red-faced and blinking, with his crooked arms outstretched, while a male hand, protruding from the window, kept pil-. ing up upon him a series of articles the sight of which filled the curious old ladies with bewilderment. "My goodness me!" cried Monica, the smaller, the drier, and the more wizened wiz-ened of the pair. "What do you call that, Bertha? It looks to me like lour batter puddings." "Those are what young men box each other with," said Bertha, with a conscious con-scious air of superior worldly knowledge. knowl-edge. "And those?" Two great bottle-shaped pieces of yellow yel-low shining wood, had been heaped upon up-on the cabman. "Oh, I don't know what those are," confessed Bertha. Indian clubs had never before obtruded themselves upon up-on her peaceful and very feminine existence. ex-istence. These mysterious articles were followed, fol-lowed, however, by others which were more within their range of comprehension comprehen-sion toy a pair of dumb-bells, a purple cricket-bag, a set of golf clubs, and a tennis racket. Finally, when the cabman, cab-man, all top-heavy and bristling, had staggered up off the garden path, there emerged in a very leisurely way from the cab a big, . powerfully built young man, with a bull pup under one arm and a pink sporting paper in his hand. The paper he crammed into the pocket of his light yellow dust-coat, and extended ex-tended his hand as if to assist some one else from the vehicle. To the surprise Df the two old ladies, however, the only-thing only-thing which his open palm received was a violent slap, and a tall lady bounded unassisted out of the cab. With a regal re-gal wave she motioned the young man towards the door, and then with one hand upon her hip she stood in a careless, care-less, lounging attitude by the gate, kicking her toe against the wall and listlessly awaiting the return of the driver. widow and her nephew, Charles West- - .. macott. How simple and how select it had sounded! Who could have foreseen from it these fearful portents which seemed to threaten violence and discord dis-cord among the dwellers in The Wilderness? Wilder-ness? Again these two old maids cried in heartfelt chorus that they wished they had not sold their field. "Well, at least, Monica," remarked Bertha, as they sat over their teacups that afternoon, "however strange these people may be, it is our duty to be as polite to them as to the others." "Most certainly," acquiesced her sister. sis-ter. "Since we have called upon Mrs. Hay Denver and upon the Misses Walker, we must call upon this Mrs. Westmacott Westma-cott also." "Certainly, dear. As long as they are living upon our land I feel as If they were in a sense our guests, and that It is our duty to welcome them." "Then we shall call tomorrow," said Bertha, with decision. "Yes, dear, we shall. But, oh, I wish it was over!" At 4 o'clock on the next day, the two maiden ladies set off upon their hospitable hospit-able errand. In their stiff, crackling dresses of black silk, with jet-bespangled jackets, and little rows of cylindrical grey curls drooping down on either side of their black bonnets, they looked like two old fashion plates which had wandered off into the wrong decade. Half curious and half fearful, they knocked at the door of number three, which was instantly opened by a -red-headed page boy. Yes, Mrs. Westmacott was at home. He ushered them into the front room, furnished as a drawing room, where in spite of the fine spring weather a large fire was burning in the grate. The boy took their cards, and then, as they sat down together upon a settee he set their nerves in a thrill by darting behind a curtain with a shrill cry, and prodding at something with his foot. The bull pup which, they had seen upon the day before be-fore bolted from its hiding place and scuttled snarling from the room. (to be coxtixced.) had been a thought of a township there, when the Metropolis was still quite a distant thing, old Mr. Williams had inhabited in-habited "The Brambles," as the little house was called, and- had owned all the fields about it. Six or eight such cottages scattered over a foiling country-side were all the houses to be found there in the days when the century-was century-was young. From afar, when the breeze came from the north, the dull, low roar of the great city might be heard, like the breaking of the tide of life, while along the horizon might be seen the dim curtain of smoke, the grim spray which that tide threw up. Gradually, Grad-ually, however, as the years passed, the city had thrown out a long brick-feeler here and there, curving, extending, and coalescing, until at last the little cottages cot-tages had been gripped round by these red tentacles, and had been absorbed to make room for the modern villa. Field by field the estate of old Mr. Williams Wil-liams had been sold to the speculative builder, and had borne rich crops of snug suburban dwellings, arranged in curving crescents and tree-lined avenues. ave-nues. The father had passed away be-, be-, fore his cottage was entirely bricked round, but his two daughters, to whom the property had descended, lived to see the last vestige of country taken from them. For years they had clung to the one field which faced their windows, and it was only after much argument and many heartburnings, that they had at last consented that it should share the fate of the others. A broad road was driven through their quiet domain, the quarter was re-named "The Wilderness,"- and three square, staring, uncompromising villas began to sprout up on the other side. With sore hearts, the two shy Httie old maids watched their steady progress, and speculated as to what fashion of neighbors neigh-bors chance would bring into the little nook which had always been their own. And at last they were all three finished. fin-ished. Wooden balconies and overhanging overhang-ing eaves had been added to them, so that, In the language of the advertisement, advertise-ment, there wre vacant three eligible As she turned slowly round, and the sunshine struck upon her face, the two watchers were amazed to see that this very active and energetic lady was far from being in her first youth, so far that she had certainly come of age again since she first passed that landmark land-mark in life's journey. Her finely chiseled, chis-eled, clean-cut face, with something red Indian about the firm mouth and Strongly 'marked cheek bones, showed even at that distance traces of the friction fric-tion of the passing years. And yet phe was very handsome. Her features were as firm in repose as those of a Greek bust, and her great dark eyes were arched over by two brows so black, so thick, and so delicately curved, that the eye turned away from the harsher details of the face to marvel mar-vel at their grace and strength. Her figure, too, was straight as a dart, a little portly, perhaps, but curving into magnificent outlines- which were half |