Rogues and Vagabonds

by George R. Sims

Mrs. Adrian at once gave John a look which informed him he might accept. Mrs. Adrian had not been blind any more than Ruth, and recognized in the wealthy bachelor a most eligible parti for her daughter.

So it was arranged that Mr. and Mrs. Adrian and Ruth and Gertie should all go over to Gurth’s house one evening and take tea.

They came on the appointed day, and Gurth conducted them over the house, showing them all the curiosities he had brought from foreign parts. Mr. Adrian was delighted with the scalps, and the spears, and the various relics of barbarism, Mrs. Adrian tried the easy-chairs, and having found a particularly comfortable one, entered into conversation with Mrs. Turvey, who had been sent for to keep her company while Ruth and Gertie and Mr. Adrian wandered over the great house. Mrs. Turvey was very agreeable, and allowed herself to be pumped just as much as she chose and no more until the exploring party returned.

Then tea was served. It was a good old-fashioned tea, which reflected the greatest credit on Mrs. Turvey and drew forth the warmest encomiums of Mrs. Adrian. There were potato cakes and dripping cakes, and all the substantial and appetizing delicacies which have disappeared from the table, slain by the dyspeptic and unsociable monster known as ‘late dinner.’

Of course Ruth was voted to the chair, and very pretty she looked at the head of Gurth’s table, blushing just a little as she lifted the bright silver teapot and asked the host if he took sugar and milk.

Gurth was so lost in admiration of the unusual spectacle that he hardly heard the question, and it had to be repeated by Mrs. Adrian. Gurth stammered out ‘Both, please,’ and apologized for his inattention.

Mrs. Adrian watched his admiring glance with satisfaction, but Ruth, keeping her eyes carefully fixed on her teacups, avoided meeting it. Mrs. Adrian built up a little romance directly. She was quite sure that, having once seen Ruth at the head of his table, the wealthy proprietor of this eligible mansion could not fail to desire a repetition of the scene.

Gurth was surprised himself at the transformation which the gloomy room had undergone, and he was more than ever persuaded that the future mistress of Mrs. Turvey’s domain must be the young lady now presiding at his tea-table.

Gertie was very quiet. Child as she was, she recognized the position of dependence in which she was placed, and though the Adrians treated her with the greatest kindness, she could not forget that she was dependent on their charity for all the happiness and comfort she now enjoyed.

Gurth did not feel quite comfortable, once or twice as Gertie moved about the place, asking now and then a childish question about something that attracted her attention. He had a vague feeling that it was a daring thing to have let her come; he had a strange, undefined sense of uneasiness, as they went from room to room, that the child might suddenly happen upon a discovery—upon some trifle which would establish the link he had been all these years endeavouring to hide.