Puck — October 8, 1879 — page 11: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

PUCK. 493 ARCHIE GASCOYNE A ROMANCE OF SKYE. WRITTEN EXPRESSLY FOR PUCK, BY JOHN FRASER, AUTHOR OF “Effie: A Tale of Two Worlds;” ‘Essays from the Westminster;” “Duncan Fenwick’s Daughter;” “Fair Fragoletta;” “Scottish Chapbooks;” “A Dream of Life;” “Legends of Lorne;” ‘Lone Glengartney,” cte., ete., ete. CHAPTER XXV. « Fair to the outside—rotten at the core, A faithless dame that hight Duessa was.” —Spenzer. 'O say that Archie was, to use a common but expressive phrase, dumb-founded, would be but poorly to express his emotions. Had the ghost of the dead man risen to con- front him he could not have been more tho- roughly and completely surprised, bewildered and dismayed. As it was, when the little wo- man, with the deadly-pale face and the magni- ficent black eyes, said: “Yeez, Mademoiselle Thollier!” he could only stare at her with partially opened lips, and mechanically repeat: “ Mademoiselle Thollier!” “ Yeez— Thollier!" repeated his visitor, with a peculiarly significant look of her brilliant eyes, and just the suspicion of a strangely sug- gestive smile rippling the corners of her mouth, “Did you zeenk I would leave you when you had no friends?—when all zee world bezide had zeir backs turned on you? Oh, yeez, saire,’’ she added hastily, as he made a motion to interrupt her, “ you may deny it, but I know all about it. If ze world has not turned now, it vill—when it discovers all that you have done. Oh, yeez, saire, 1 know all—a//," and as she repeated the word she laid her little white add Goon his arm, and looked up into his eyes as if she would lay bare his very soul, By this time Archie had in a measure recov- ered his composure, though he was still in a strange state of bewildermer’ and confusion, Certain odd conversations hen. _ > with the Doctor; hints which the latter had dropped— significant hints, too; some few words that had passed between himself and the Count; and above all the what seemed to him inexplicable conduct of Mlle. Thollier on more than one occasion—all now came up before him, and slowly, dimly, darkly, and as if struggling through a dense fog, strange suspicions began to assume shape and form. He remembered, too, that from their first meeting in Skye he had been vaguely conscious of a belief that he had met aad known‘her before; and the Doc- tor’s conversation, in which Bob more than suggested that Mile, Thollier and acertain well known danseuse (and vocalist of very ordinary merit), who had figured in some pantomime in Glasgow as leading fairy, were identical, rose up vividly before him, So, in a sort of a way, Archie was put on his guard, and he knew it. Instinctively he felt that Mile. Thollier was no ordinary woman. Her strange appearance there was sufficient of itself to prove that; and the cold glitter of her: eye, the hard, firm, settled expression of her face, its deadly palor, and the indescriba- ble smile that flickered about her lips, placed the matter beyond a doubt. As we have said, then, Archie was put on his guard. Instinctively he felt morally certain that his strange visitor was playing a deep game, and he resolved to find out just exactly what cardsshe held before he showed his hand. We have written to little purpose if our readers have not by this time got to understand that Gascoyne was no fool. Easy-going, un- suspicious and generous to a fault he was; too trustful, perhaps, at times with strangers; but let once his suspicions be aroused, he could make himself a particularly dangerous antagonist. On the present occasion his suspicions were aroused, and from the changed expression of his face Mlle. Thollier detected at a glance that he was preparing to show fight. But of that she recked not. She had fully and finally made up her mind; had counted the cost, and was prepared, in the event of failure, to pay it. ‘The stakes for which she was playing were high, and she was ready and willing to run the risk, As to the precise nature of these stakes, how- ever, and of her object, Archie knew nothing, and could only guess very vaguely and blindly. It was therefore with no little hesitation and caution that he replied to her, when, after her introductory address—if such a speech can be called so—she paused to take breath, and per- haps, too, to watch the effect of her words on him, If she had expected Archie to show signs of trepidation and fear, she must have been dis- appointed. While she was speaking he had recovered from his first confusion, and by the time she had finished was outwardly calm and, comparatively speaking, composed. Cer- tainly, not even Mademoiselle’s ear could de- tect any tremor in his voice as he replied, with a particularly aggravating air of politeness, and a cold sarcasm that cut his listener to the quick: “ Mile. Thollier, need I say how profoundly Iam touched by this marked, and, if you will pardon me, somewhat singular—a harsh world might call it by another name—proof of your interest in so humble a person as myself? | By what means you have contrived to get on board this ship; to discover that I was here; and to force yourself upon me in this way— and above all for what earthly reason you have done so, I cannot even guess. You speak mys- teriously of the desertion of friends, and things Ihave done, Frankly, to me your language is an enigma. I would perhaps ask an explana- tion, but"’—and here he glanced round signifi- cantly at the diminutive cabin—“ this is—well —a bachelor’s cabin is not exactly the place for a téte-d-téte with a young, unmarried and, if you will allow me to add, by no means unat- tractive woman. Just one word more, Made- moiselle,” he added hastily, as she raised her right hand hysterically and was about to inter- rupt him, “just one word more. You have had a long and doubtless fatiguing journey; you are tired; you must be hungry; permit me to conduct you to the deck and introduce you to the stewardess,” * * * Mlle. Thollier’s powers of command were wonderful, She was a born actress, but either did not know it, or knowing, had lacked either the opportunity or the inclination to take ad- vantage of the fact. She had been on the stage of course, but in these days it is difficult to find a good-looking, ambitious girl of the lower and middle classes who has nof been on the stage. But because she had a shapely leg, and could dance well, and sing a little, and make pretty moues and suggestive little faces, that did not constitute her an actress; although three-fourths of our feminine “stars,” at the present mo- ment, have hardly more right to the title. But, all the same, Mile. Thollier, consciously or unconsciously, was an actress, and never, even in her tangled and erratic career, had she acted better than she did now. Not once, all the time Archie was speaking, although every word and tone, and indeed his whole manner, made her wince terribly, did she show any sign of changing emotion. ‘And yet how bitterly she felt his cutting sarcasm— his freezing politeness! ‘As a drowning man grasps at a straw, she had, in spite of everything, and in the very teeth of her own judgment, grasped at the hope the faintly-cherished because so greatly wished- for belief—that in some way or other Archie loved her, or could, in some equally vague and indefinite way, be got to love her. So it says a good deal for the lady’s powers of self-control that when her heart was sinking within her at his cold and cutting tones she showed so little sign of emotion. But she had schooled herself for the occa- sion, and her opening words fairly staggered Archie. Had a bombshell burst at his feet he could not have been more astonished, “Go to ze deck!” replied the lady; ‘go to zee—vat you call stewardess—Non! Thees is my place. Iam your WIFE.” “Great heavens!” said the astounded lad to himself, ‘‘ the woman 's mad! what can I do?” And moved by a great feeling of sympathy with her, he put his left arm on her shoulder, while with the other hand he gently patted her as he said: “Come now, Miss Thollier, you are too ex- cited by fatigue; you must lie down. Lie down and have a sleep and you'll be all right.” Then she flamed out upon him. “Lie down and have ae sleep! Mon Dieu! Nevair!! You zink I am mad—mad, I say; and you treat me az one leetle child. But I am not ae child, I am a woman—and your wife.” ‘Then, seeing Archie's embarrassment and amaze renewed, she added: “At least 1 must be that—ze Capitaine must zink so—ze crew must zink so—yes, and ze world must zink so—pourquoi?— because I want to save your life.” “ My life?” uttered Archie very quietly. Yeez, your life. Do as I say and all veel be right. Nobody veel know. I know all. Ve shall go to zee foreign contree—to America —and be happy; and no person shall know.” “ But”—interrupted our hero, still bewil- dered, although he was beginning vaguely to understand something of her purpose, and felt that she knew all about the events of that wretched night, “ Zee time is over for zee ‘ buts’—Jisten" ; and as she spoke she clutched him by the arm, “Vunce upon ae time, as you zay in your books of story, there lived ae little girl—vat you call maiden; and she vas ae membair of zee company of zee Theatre Royal, Glasgow. She vas zee chief fairy and danseuse and singer, and vas mooch in zee admiration of ze public. And a young jontleman he come there, be- cause zée play vas by zee friend of him, and he sees her and he looves her. And she vas happy. Do you know as vas zee name of zee young girl?” : “On my soul, no!" replied Archie, though not without a great suspicion that he did; for now that she had got excited and began to em- comicbooks.com