Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 574 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

6 Old Falcon’s Double. gray eyes, and mechanically held out her hand, pelm uppermost, “Come, that is reasonable,” said the man. **What will you do for it and that of a kind which may follow, my dear Florine?” ‘* What does monsieur wish that I should do for him?” * To be my friend here, and keep me informed of everything with regard to Miss Eleanor's movements, and even her inmost thoughts so far as you can judge them—to advance my in- “‘ That is just it, aunt.” ‘“My dear, do you think you can carry it out?” ‘Oh, Iam sure of it.” ‘*' Then cone to my arms!” And, rising impulsively, Aunt Jerusha sum- marily folded her niece in the embrace of ber bony arms with an enthusiasm that only ber familiars could have expected of her. **T knew you would not blame me when you should know ail,” said Eleanor, kissing her aunt **'You make make me happy by saying so, mademoiselle.” ‘*It isa deception,” continued Eleanor, more as if speaking to herself than otherwise, ‘‘ that I shall force myself to keep up. In accordauce with my father’s wish, I shall endeavor to be quite complaisant to Mr. John Burley—until L am ready to mete out bis deserts to him,” ‘* Tf you will allow me, ma’mselle,” interposed. Florine, demurely, ‘‘I think him a very un- trustworthy gentleman.” ** Untrustworthy!” Eleanor’s dark eyes flash- ed. ‘*‘However, never mind. He did not, I hope, make any attempt upon your fidelity or devotion to me?” ‘*Oh, madem!” ‘¢ Well, he is capable of it. Did he, though?’ ‘* By no means, ma’mselle!” indignantly, ‘‘I scarcely think he would have dared!” And Florine’s white hand clinched so pronouncedly as almost to snap in twain the ivory comb with . which she wasgiving the finishing touches to . her mistress’s hair. ¢ ‘‘That will do then, Florine,” said Nelly. ‘¢}) think I have reason to trust. implicitly A ou.” And she gave her maida good-night kiss, as was her custom when especialiy pleased with her, and the latter cheerfully betook herself to her own room with John Burley’s purse of gold in her pocket. affectionately, and then releasing herself. ‘*Blame you, my dear?’ cried Miss Bigbee, resuming her seat. ‘‘ You are a heroine! I | doubt not that my mantle will fall upon your pretty shoulders when I am gone, and that you will wear it nobly in the chivalrous, undaunted championship of our down-trodden sex against the male monsters who continne our tyrants, as they have been from the first blush of crea- tion’s dawn!” She accompanied herself with gesticulations, and spoke in her best platform voice, ‘* Well, Pll try to do my best, aunt,” replied Eleanor, agreeably, ‘‘ though I don’t particu- larly object to just one tyrant, if he chances to pes my liking, and to draw his tyranny a little mild. Miss Bigbee dismissed the qualification with a disdainfual gesture, but still looked approvingly upon her beautiful and resolute young relative. Rs terests with her in every way in your power,” P ‘*Iu other words, to be monsieur’s secret spy § upon mademoiselle?” +e “‘ Exactly.” | ‘* Well, I do not refuse.” ** You agree?” ** Yes, monsieur.” ie ‘* Now we are getting on. Who was that man eds who departed from this house with the lawyer, ig —_ Spender, a few moments before | entered it “One Monsieur Falconbridge, a detective of celebrity, I believe, just home from wanderings abroad,” | Burley’s brow darkened, and he appeared gen- ee? erally uneasy, ‘eae ‘** Just as I feared!” he said, half to himself, if ** However, did Miss Eleanor see this detective and the lawyer this evening?” *““No; she was gone out on her visit before ) they came,” **'You’re an Al champion, aud no mistake!” Eleanor, who was very religious, knelt at her ““Did they leave word when they would call | she cried. ‘‘ Let Ezra Sherwood growl and | prayers, which were, as altogether of late, de- ad to see her again?” grunt, and fret and fume, after the manner of | voted almost exclusively to the welfare of her lover-husband in adversity, and was then sp2ed- ily in the land of dreams, wherein she was pur- suing phantom wine-room waiters through the greater part of the night. bis bratal and despotic sex, as he may, I’ll stand by you, my love, while I have a dress-waist to my back, or till my tongue cleaves to the roof of my mouth!” “Oh, but papa must know nothing of this, aunt!” cried Nelly hastily. ‘‘ Don’t forget that. This entire affair must remain an absolute secret amoug us three and Cousin Hugh Spen- der. You will remember that now, won’t you, dear?” Miss Jerusha nodded reflectively. ‘* So be it,” she said. ‘*‘ What is man but a A moment later Miss Bigbee entered the room, | monster? and shall we halt in our far-sweeping and, as he knew himself to be no favorite with | career in the direction of independence, the her, he took his departure, after exchanging a | suffrage and the light at his arrogant and super- ** Yes, monsieur, with me,” replied the young woman, with cheerful mendacity, ‘‘ To-morrow evening.” ae *“How does Miss Sherwood take it since her , lover’s crowning misfortune?” ‘ | ** Mademoiselle has great fortitude,” with a » aie significant smile. ‘‘One does not long keep a “ie forcat—a convict—in heart and mind. I do not ‘<i think mademoiselle will apn from the rule.” | Burley’s eyes flashed with pleasure, but, a step being beard in the hall, be dropped the purse in the girl’s hand with an intelligent look, CHAPTER IX, FATHER AND DAUGHTER. ‘“‘Joun BuRLEY told me yesterday that he would call on you last night, Nelly,” observed Colonel Sherwood, at breakfast next morning, Wa he nga ‘3 ye ‘Yes a, but I was out. “ Sort ye that.” ‘* Florine received him in my place.” ‘A maid to receive a young lady’s visit#e! I am surprised.” ‘“‘T am not, papa,” indifferently, ‘‘since you might have taken the trouble to come home to dinner and apprise me of the high honor of Mr. Jobn Burley’s intentions, I have promised to receive the man more complaisantly, and I shall do so—but never anything more.” With quiet decision. © — Colonel Sher wood—he had never been a colonel except by courtesy, by the way, having passed much of his earlier manhood in Mississippi, though a Northerner by birth—moved a little uneasily as he pushed back his chair and lighted his cigar. He had early recognized and tacitly suc- cumbed to his daughter’s moral strength, as op- posed to his own weakness, apart from the fact of her being independently rich in her own i right, though there were times when he partly =| rebelled at the latitude she had unconsciously | come to take for herself, though it was never , for long. eeik }. ‘‘That is well,” said he, a little irritably, | f ‘Cond I really must try to think less of my club 4 and more of my home, I suppose.” ‘Ezra Sherwood,” rather severely observed Miss Bigbee, who, being a great tea-drinker, was abstractedly toying with her fourth morn- — ing cup, ‘‘ you'll never do it. Once the slaves to a pernicious habit, besides being natural mon- © sters—and the self-styled lords of creation, ha, ha, ha!” with hysterical sarcasm—‘‘ never re- form.” ' ; y, | ‘Of course,” with a grim smile, ‘‘and how about the women in a similar thralldom, Miss Jerusba?” | ‘* They never are the willing slaves to a per- nicious habit, sir—never! PP es *€ Indeed,” blandly. “Well, [ have just. read iW here in this newspaper of a wealthy widow, — | with dutiful children, a splendid home, and everything her heart should desire, being picked. “Oh, no, ma’mselle—as if I could do other- | up in the street in a beastly state of intoxica- wise, and ma’mselle always so good and kina to | tion.” , me!” ‘‘Ha! Go on--snap your plantation whip— _ %is only womanbood that squirms!” ‘‘T believe I shall. Your skin, Jerusha, is getting yellower and more leathery-looking ever aay of your life.” ‘+ Ezra Sherwood!” ‘s Yes, yes; tea-drinking to Ey and a dis~ ordered liver in consequence!” delightedly. ** And yet you keep on swilling the stuff as if it were Pommery Sec. But, of course, women are never the slaves to a pernicious habit, Oh, T Z ‘ ‘‘Ezra Sherwood, I said willing slaves!” ex- 2 claimed Miss Bigbee, with her loftiest elocu- ; few commonplaces with her, and leaving his re- | cilious command? Perish the thought!” — grets for Miss Sherwood, ** Yes, indeed, aunt, Kiss me good-night, ** What could that man have so much to say |‘now, and remember that I have trustingly con- to you about, my dear?” demanded Miss Jerusha | fided my secret to you.” of the maid. **Man, by whatever proud and resounding “‘He was merely telling me how much and ex- | title he may clothe his puny and inferior person- travagantly he ality with,” continued Miss Jerusha, rising in Florine, sweetly. her most stately and dignified way, ‘is a swin- dle and a fraud! Good-night, my dear.” And, kissing her niece, with a lofty nod at arting for Florine, the avenger of her sex’s me-gray wrongs, jingled her bunch of keys defiantly, and strode off to her well-earned repose. Wieanot threw herself upon the divan a little wearily. ‘* Now, my dear Florine,” she said, ‘‘ as to the visit of that person, Mr. Jobn Burley.” ‘He was awfully disappointed at not seeing mademoiselle,” replied the maid, forthwith be- ginning to arrange her young mistresses’s hair for the night, ‘‘ and talked with me quite a little while in the lesser drawing-room,” ‘* What did he say?” ** Very much, and yet but one thing, He did nothing but rave to me of his love for you, while bewailing how you. must continue to mis- judge him, as he said.” ‘** Indeed ?” ** Yes; he was all broke up, as they say.” ** He will come again, of course?” “Yes, and doubtless at the earliest moment, though he did not tell me when.” ‘* What was the chief substance of this— gentleman’s talk with you, Florine?” | ‘There really wasn’t any, ma’mselle. Or, if there was, it was only in his desire to know how you were affected by Monsieur Howland’s chute.” ** How did you answer him?” ‘*In the way that 1 thought ma’mselle would most approve,” replied *lorine, hesitatingly. ‘* How was that? Don’t be afraid to tell me the exact truth, Mlorine.” ~ oves mademoiselle,” replied CHAPTER VIII. ae MISS JERUSHA. AN hour or so later Eleanor returned home. She was about entering her boudoir, accom- af | panied by Florine, when Miss Bigbee, baving Wye made the rounds of the secured doors for the ‘e? nigbt according to her housekeeping custom, ato) er ah her. ‘ aa Miss Bigbee was a woman’s rights champion ang insensible to fear in the abstract, (ag Seeing what she supposed to be a man enter- -_~—~—s«sing: her niece’s apartments in this highly unbe- vs coming manner, she at once ‘ went’ for him. » “Aga “Here, you!” she poebeaees incontinently ty. 9 grasping him by the collar with one band, and - menacingly flourishing her huge bunch of pantry and other keys with the other; ‘‘ are you a lunatic or a sneak-thief? Florine, you shame- less hussy, what is the meaning of this?” “Let me go, aunt!” cried Nelly, in her own Te voice, while Ficrine burst into a fit of laughter. Don’t you know me?” He “ NT Sa ma you?” echoed the spiniste~, bewilder- We _ “IT see you don’t quite. Come in here with > me then, and I will explain, you dear old Amazon! (0) ate And tearing off her false mustache, Nelly kissed her relative heartily, after which she dragged her into her dressing-room. There during the process of discarding her pe iy everything was speedily made plain Miss Jerusha bad plumped herself down on the edge of a divan, where she remained ae stiffly upright, looking over ber spectacles wit amazed and somewhat scandalized eyes at the ‘* What did you tell him?” | **' You know, ma’mselle, I thought it best to delude the wretch a little.” ‘* But how did vou do it?” ‘** T said that you bore yourself with uncommon fortitude, I remember almost my exact words to monsieur, the little villain. ‘One does not long keep a forgat—a convict—in heart and mind,’ I said, ‘and 1 bave no reason to suppose that mademoiselle will the rule.’” ‘*So!” after a moment’s thoughtfulness, in which Nelly’s brow clouded, only to clear again; ‘and how did he seem to relish the species of ood, my dear?’ falseh 3 was overjoyed for the moment, ma’m- e, e little monsieur’s black eyes fair selle. The litt] ieur’s black eyes fairly eye with pleasure for the moment,” ‘** Altogether, I am not sorry for the deception Florine,” said Nelly, | _-—- revelations as they proceeded, and listening to _. her niece’s verbal explanations and self-exculpa- -——s- tions without a word of comment, as), “Bo there re are at last, Aunt Jerusha,” said Eleanor at last, when she had slipped on a _ dressing-go°7n, after having deftly rid herself of the last vestige of isguise with Florine’s assistance. “I know all this is shockingly un- | iventional and im etous, as one might , but what do you think of it?” ‘I suppose,” said Miss Jerusha, still with trviot io poo yong Air Howland 0 te by fishin reli rmiseinis witnesses "—Miss ha sometimes forgot her gra al matters, though ne ' which she was a the obscurity which s mysterious folds?” ) : :. = » . ‘ prove an exception to “Yes, sir; and if’ you bad suffered me to finish my sentence, instead of going off half- cocked—I repeat tho accusation, sir, half- cocked, after the brutal, brow-beating, bullying and swashbuckler fashion customary with your autocratic, sultanic sex, sir! (lords of creatioges JOO GOMIC KSs:com: , | bai , , 7 * ™ ; TP he Tie ht nes =: 43 - b ’ _s9e'r a a a Bd Ee i os VE fn parte enealcite ver in public sp erous woman’s rights Rendell. ry live member— cloaks them in ‘ ee * you practiced, after another pause, — Pa WAR att, i * w! j - : ret al 4 | i hel / , a : “de ‘a * 3 bs A 7 e aa See Ty Sed 5 Shee bone 5 wt nd — np orth ry : ° ae - Ma ee Sd o)) ’ 4 ay 4 . gw T a rie ye i ‘ a Pave weal” (Fos + ; - as oN ye P SU SST: =~ 1 ES vere ee pet = » , 4 . of am dee ee