Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 108 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

; a a. - -<2-e e--- = ——_ ome ee —— - — i ——— —_—— retired, and she flew to embrace her brother with real affection, for Helen was fond of the captain, who had always tted her. ‘“ Why, Owen,” she said, after the first greet- ings were over, ‘“‘wasit your ship that fired at us just now? I| was frightened to death. And after the duke had been so kind and generous tousall! Why, he’s taking us to Suez to meet papa.” | ‘To meet my father? Why, has Sir Lumley | left Calcutta?’ asked Owen. ‘So they told us on the Himalaya, which we spoke off Muscat. of the Benares, and he set off at once to look for me—and oh, Owen! have you heard what a ter- rible time we had? saved from drowning by Mr. Hart and from the Arabs by the duke. You can thank them that you have any sister at all, sir, for I never thought to see any of you again.” ‘“Well, Helen,” said her brother, a little awkwardly, “I’m sure [m very much obliged to them and all that sort of thing, but I think ' you’d better shift vourself and aunt Lorelia on board the Snapper at once, It’ll be more proper, you know.” Here aunt Lorelia burst out: ‘* Indeed, we’ll do no such thing, sir. If we're not properly accommodated here, I should like to know where you'll find a nicer place!” ‘Yes, but I don’t know this duke,” persisted the captain, with true British obstinacy. to kill hina and all of us,” retorted aunt Lorelia. ‘‘Let me tell you that he isa gentleman who moves in any society he pleases, and that if you cannot see the advantages of knowing him, your father will not be so mad. Helen is in my | h charge, and J don’t intend to move from here till I meet Lumley at Suez.” ** And do you refuse to come, Helen?” asked Captain Owen, sharply, of bis sister. “ Don’t put it that way, Owen, please. ut me in aunt Lorelia’s ndia, and we cannot leave without a gross rudeness: can we, dear?” ae As edly, for it went sorely against the grain with him to yield any point, however unreasonable. s mean} varices ’d better take my leave and follow you to Suez.” ‘*Nay, Owen, don’t look offended, dear. Have Papa charge when we left They had news of the loss | ‘ es reply of the duke. ‘‘ Do the ladies wish to leave the yacht?” ‘*Why no, in fact—ah—if your grace is dis- pues to be troubled with them till you reach uez—ah—lI don’t like to impose on your cour- tesy, ou know, but, ah—in fact—” nd Owen Lawton, bold and reckless as he was, somehow broke down before this quiet, dark gentleman, whose voice was so soft. ‘““f have not complained of the trouble, senhor,” replied Diamantina, slowly. ‘I shall take the ladees to Suez and thence to Cairo, where The Duke of Diamonds. ' i ' i _ Was, the spalpeen? = * Isn’t he the living image of what his father ‘ll never be ’asy till I get him opposite to me, with a pair of saw-han between the two of us. Didn’t he once strike me, the little villain, and I a soldier in the ranks as couldn't strixe back‘ Don’t let’s talk of it, Hart. I'll betbe death of that blackguard, yet.” Clarence made no more remarks, for he saw that the lrishman was thoroughly worked up by his thoughts of old days, before he was made an officer and a gentleman by-the flat of a sim- | hear Sare Lomlee is now engaged making in- * quiries about his daughter. -airo, senhor?’ ou will stop af | ‘* Of course, if my sister be there when I get | to Suez,” hastily answered the other. The duke fixed his dark eyes on the blue orbs of the Englishman and spoke very slowly and . distinctly: ‘*T shall expect tosee you at Cairo, capitan, if you stop at al.” | ‘Of course, of course,” replied Owen, a little | at a loss to understand. ‘*| shall be at my house, and shall expect to near from you on your arrival,” continued the duke, in the same measured tones. ‘‘Salut, senhor.” He lifted his cap with naval courtesy and Owen Lawton went back to his vessel; then the _two parted company almost immediately, one day, and within an hour heading for Aden and coal, the other for Suez _ _ | and the canal. “T should think not, from the way you tried | The breeze held stro ple er widow lady who signs herself *‘ Victo- ria R,” He had evidently felt afraid to trust himself on deck, in presence of Lawton, while restrain- ed by the bospitality of Diamantina from any of- fensive act, and the American thought to him- _ self, with some wonder, that this Lawton family had a good many bitter enemies, notwithstand- ing their position in society. For himself he felt that he hated Owen Law- ton sitively, aunt Lorelia negatively, Sir Lumley vaguely but expectantly; while for Helen, he had a mixture of pique and wounded _ pride, forced admiration and involuntary ten- derness, such as any other man would have in- terpreted as being ‘‘ over head and earsin love.” CHAPTER XV. THE PRINCESS MELAPETROS. THE Cairo of 1877 is much changed from the Cairo of Mehemet Ali of forty years ago F shrieking locomotive now whirls the traveler in from the desert all | the time Captain | Lawton left the yacht, the Snapper was hull | down on the horizon, while the felucca was suburban villas, from whence br _ gliding away to the north at sixteen knots an | e duke’s yacht | quarter-deck. you please,” returned Owen, constrain- | ease since the yacht had been at sea. In the | like prow in a soft hissing gurgle as she sped © our, parting the short waves with her knife | along. In another hour the British ship was a mere | | mF on the horizon and then she disappeared together, while the duke and his guests sat down to dinner under the awning of the yacht’s Clarence Hart felt much more happy and at first place his naval experience made him feel more at home on the water, and secondly he saw Helen constantly since he had accepted the post of secretary to the duke. vou been introduced to Mr. Hart and the duke? | Where are they, aunt?” ‘Hart, assoon as he had ushered the British officer into the cabin, had returned on deck, where he was talking to Diamantina, as they both watched the astern. Neither refe By some subtle and indefinable influence Dia- nately French in style, surrounded with mantina had managed to keep him separated of its own, jealou from Helen till he had formally announced his | house was known from the flat and marshy country of the Nile Delta, covered with a maze of irrigating canals, to a fine station, surrounded with § ens and macadam- ized streets, bordered with handsome houses and shops, lead into the old city, behind its frown- ing walls. The Ezbekiah and Ismailiah where the foreign population of the city chiefly resort, are handsome modern rs, with and water, paved streets and publie gardens, all as different from the tumble-down rottenness of the ‘‘ Arab quarter,” as can be conceived. In the most fashionable part of the Ezbekiah uarter, looking out on the a with which the Khedive adorned the city in 1867, stands a large and handsome house, such as one sees on the Boulevard Montmartre, in Paris, or Fifth avenue, in New York. Large enough to hold forty or fifty rooms, or- ens mM walled in from view, this hroughbout all Cairo in 1877 : readiness to serve the duke, and immediately | as the ‘‘ Palace of Jewels.” _ thereafter allowed him the fullest access to the | | lady’s presence. Eapaee slowly drifting | in any way to the | presence of the obnoxious captain on board, but | confined themselves to remarks on gunboats, | rigs, and such like nautical subjects, in which | follow another’s lead. both took more or less interest. languid discussion on the respective merits of lateen sails and those affected by American schooners, that they heard Helen’s sweet voice languid condescension that she behind them, and turned tosee her, blushing di- vinely, leading up her brother to the duke. Helen, vy oe of all the ne og she had had, was one of those amiable girls w | | | a certain distance which he h oO are always | before. making peace between others, and her fine tact | had already perceived that there was trouble of | sented it on some sort between Owen and her rescuers. of the English nation,” she began, play aby | e ‘who professes never to know any one ti has been properly introduced. Permit me then to do the eel Captain Owen Lawton, of Her Britannic Majesty’s ship Snapper, His Grace the Duke of Diamantina. Is that right, Owen?” The cold reserve of Diamantina relaxed into a smile at her manner, for it is difficult to resist a pretty girl, and Owen Lawton put on his most engaging face as he said: ‘Tam delighted to meet his grace, to whom iny sister tells me I oweso much of kindness shown to her and my aunt.” The duke’s only answer was a cool and silent bow, his face retaining its inscrutable expres- sion, “And this, Owen, is Mr. Hart,” pursued Ifelen, turning to the American. Both gentlemen bowed with great cutward politeness, as naval officers of different nations meeting at sea, and Owen observed affably : g Hope to see more of you, some day, Mr. Then Dom Gill, tall angular and unpreposses- sing in his gaudy Bra ian uniform, stalked forward to be presented and remarked: ‘‘Ze honor-a of see ze senhor capitan s’all be unexpeck. I ope ze capitan s’all ze goot health enjoy. Salut, senhor? wen Lawton rather curled his lip at the other’s ungainly figure, but made shift to bow und say: . ‘Very happy, I’m sure. : Then he turned to the duke, with another at- pas atcordiality, rather forced. ‘Your grace has the heels, of me when my coal runs out, I must confess,” he said. “TI sup- pose you'll get to Suez before [ shall. In fact, I’ve orders to stop at Aden for coal, you know,” . We shall mneet apelh, esenhor,’’ was the quiet Clarence could not explain how it was ac- lion complished; but none the less he felt himself to | ence tothesup be a mere powerless puppet in the duke’s hands, So the poetical Arabs called that which thel more prosaic Europeans had dubbed ‘“‘ The Mil-t ouse.” In both cases the title bad refer- wealth of theowner; forthis house belonged to the Duke of Diamantina, and and was content, for the first time in his life, to | was occupied by him two or three months in At the same time that he saw Helen daily, he | certain, had risen between th Lorelia treated him with the same sort of | racticed to- | | every é | It was while they were engaged in a rather felt that some sort ofa barrier, a but | summer, em. y year. It was but seldom he came there in spring or for Cairo is chiefly a winter resort; . e Hon. | and when a long train of wagons was seen rum- bling into the court-yard late in May, the gos- sips of the quarter were all astir with the news ward her inferiors in general, and even Helen, | that the ‘“‘ Diamond Duke had come back.” while she spoke to him as an equal, kept him at never observed crow They saw load after load of comestibles, with of cooks and black slaves going in, while a tall, angular man, in European clothes, bus- The men, = saw and felt all this, and re- | tled about, giving orders in bad Arab‘c. Ev- is own of demeanor. prejudice Helen petty st him, but could not get an opportunity see her alone to ask an explanation. The Hon. Lorelia was forever b when not engaged witb O’Shea, and the duke her side | | quiet and order, as a carriage drove up, from by a studied coldness | ery one knew the figure He felt that something or some | steward and manager, Dom Gil Grabador, and ‘“T have brought to your grace a gentleman | one was at work to and face of the duke’s reek oe shopkeepers bowed most obsequiously to him. For several hours after Dom Gil’s arrival the bustle was incessant: and then it subsided inte wads always ready to claim her attention when | which alighted the famous millionaire himself, Lorelia went off guard. Hurt and offended, / accom panied by two ladies and a young man in but unable to define the offense, Clarence took | white clothes. refuge in the society of O’Shea, who had be- | come to all appearance the favorite gnest of the | duke. Clarence was rather O’Shea’s behavior. t the time of the en- counter between the yacht and the British gun- ' ; boat the Captain of Control had disappeared | the moment Lawton entered his boat. Not til] the Snapper was hull down to the south did O’Shea come on deck, and when Clarence asked _ him where he had been he replied in a confused _ manner: ‘IT didn’t want to see that blackguard. | Sure, I know his father too well, him!” ‘Why, what’s the matter between you, if it’s a fair question?” ‘Will ye keep it still if I tell ye?” ‘+ oe vere tee ‘* Well, it goes back to twen rs - fore Miss Helem there was bee ats By Ah, she’s the only white one in the whole ftock of black sheep.” ‘Yes. And did his father offend you?’ ‘‘He robbed me, the black-hearted villain. | Ab, ye know al) about it, Hart. Ye know that last words, and that thief made me turn it in to his head-clerk. And now she wears it and says | supposed he gave it her.” ' all this?” ‘ But, what bas Captain Lawton to da with ’ ' The duke ascended the steps with the younger of the two ladies, and the young man gave arm to the elder. The gaping crowd of sight- uzzled at one thing in | seers watched them enter the cool hall of the bouse, where the door closed on them and shut them out from al} further view. Inside the house Dom Gil was bowing before his chief, and the duke asked in his rapid Portu- guese, unintelligible to the others: ‘* Is she here yet?’ ‘‘The princess is in the salon, senhor,” re- turned the majordomo with another bow. | Diamantina nodded and led his companions bad luck to | down the cool, dark hall to an immense saloon, cooled in the same manner as the yacht’s cabin, ' and furnished with a mixture of luxury and | simplicity truly Oriental. There they were met by a lady of very remarkable beauty, whose rich robesset off her face and figure with daz- zling effect. ‘ Then the duke dropped Helen’s hand from his arn, and said. in his usual quiet manner: ; ‘“My mother, the Princess Melapetros, Miss Helen Lawton, daughter of Sir Lumley.” Tbe beautiful lady gave a slight start at the _ name, and looked earnestly at Helen for a mo- watch the ould maid’s so proud of? Sure, the |, ment ere she replied: ' poor Rajah, rest bis soul, gave it me with his ; ' ; a ‘lam gladtoseethe younglady. Herfather is here, too, and he has been inconsolable for his loss. And you are safe, my dear?’ As she spoke vbe was scanning Helen with such Keenness that fhe girl's evos sunk under ber ' oW). ‘The result ov the uuspection seemed to be (E(0) EComicboo C ‘S