The Argosy — page 100: what you’re looking at

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

The Mysteries of [eron Dyke. 87 happiness. Four years later the little boy, Hubert, fatherless and motherless, was brought to Heron Dyke, and then it was that Aaron Stone learnt for the first time that he had a grandson. The squire was pleased with the lad’s looks, and took pity on his forlorn condition. He was sent to Easterby, and brought.up by one of the fishermen’s wives, and when he was old enough he was put to a good school, Mr. Denison paying all expenses. He always spent his holidays at the Hall, and there it was, when he was about twelve years old, that he first saw Ella, who was his junior by two years, Children, as a rule, think little of the differences of social rank; at all events, Ella did not, and she and handsome, bright- eyed Hubert soon became great friends. Mr. Denison, if he noticed the intimacy, did not disapprove of it. They were but children, and no harm could come of it; and perhaps it was as well that Ella should have someone with her besides Nero, the big retriever, when she went for her lonely rambles along the shore, or gathering nuts and blackberries in the country lanes. This pleasant companionship—both pleasant and dangerous to Hubert, young though he still was— was renewed and kept up every holiday season till the boy was six- teen. ‘Then all at once there came a great gap. Ella was sent abroad to finish her education, and although she saw her uncle several times in the interim, Hubert, as it happened, saw no more of her till she came home for good at nineteen years of age. But before this came about, Hubert’s own career in life had been settled : at least, for some time tocome. When the boy was seventeen the squire decided that he had had enough schooling, and that it was time for him to set about earning his living. How he was to set about it was ap- parently a point that required some consideration; meanwhile, the boy stayed on at Heron Dyke. He was a bold rider and a good shot. He wrote an excellent hand, and was quick at figures. In fact, he was an intelligent, teachable young fellow, who had made good use of his opportunities at school: moreover, he could keep his temper well under control when it suited him to do so; and, little by little, the squire began to find him useful in many ways. He himself was growing old, and Aaron got more stupid every year that he lived. By-and-bye nothing more was said about Hubert having to earn a living elsewhere. He relieved the squire of many duties that had become irksome to him; and when a man of his years has once dropped a burden he rarely cares to pick it up again. In short, by the time Hubert was twenty years old he had made himself thoroughly indispensable to the squire. No one but Hubert himself ever knew with what a fever of unrest he awaited the coming home of Ella Winter. Had she forgotten him? Would she recognise him after all these years? How would she greet him? He tormented himself with a thousand vain ques- tions. He knew now that he loved her with all the devotion of a deeply passionate heart. COMIC OOO <S) (CO)