Gertrude the governess

Chapter I. “wanted — A Governess.”

“ Hang the governess!” muttered old Gilbert Marne emphatically, as he struck the table with his clenched hand.

“ That would never do, papa,” answered a young, statelylooking girl, who lolled back in an easy chair, as she glanced half carelessly, yet half anxiously over the columns of an evening paper, as if searching therein for some important information.

The old man turned and glared at the fair speaker.

“ I say that would never do, papa!” she repeated, glancing casually over the top of the newspaper.

There was something of independence, of open defiance, in her manner, while her tone was just mocking, just serious enough to be extremely provoking — especially to one of such an inflammable temperament as Gilbert Marne, the millionaire.

Then the girl went on reading.

“ What would never do, Hulda?” snapped out Mr. Marne, thrusting his great chubby fingers through his thick hair.

“Why, to hang the governess,” was the cool reply, as just the faintest trace of a smile passed over the speaker’s haughty face. “ It would ”

“Nonsense!”

“It would be unchristian-like,” continued the maiden without noticing his interruption. “ Then, too, we haven’t the governess yet, to hang ! And, ’pon my soul, that’s what annoys me so much !”

She spoke now in dead earnest, and, in a moment, her face was serious.

For a whole minute old Gilbert Marne gazed at his daughter, as if he did not rightly understand her, as if, astute, far-sighted and business-like as he was, he could not read her. But, rising from his chair, he strode up and down the richly furnished room, his face clouded, his hands locked behind him.

“ Well, confound it, it doesn’t annoy me /” he blurted out at last, glancing toward his daughter, who, by the by, paid no heed to his remark, but went on scanning the paper. “All this bustle and preparation, this going to Europe, the governess and all, aye! the whole thing is a humbug,” he continued tartly. “’Tis simply a wild-goose chase, which will cost lots of money before the goose is caught. I can’t afford to ”

“ Can’t afford ! Bah, papa, you cant fool me! I have a fair knowledge of your bank account. I know that your income for a single month would more than pay for one whole year’s stay abroad. And go we must, papa, that's certain.”

She spoke very decidedly.

“ A lust go, Hulda!”

‘ Must go, papa.”

The old man shook his head, as a grave look settled upon his coarse features.

“ I don’t know about that,” he said, and in a softer tone than he had used. “There’s nothing truer than the old saying: ‘There’s many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip!’ Besides that ’tis now January, and this confounded moneywasting trip does not come off before the middle of May. We can’t tell what will happen between now and then.”

The proud-faced beauty, Hulda Marne, pondered a moment ere she replied. She heeded her father’s unwonted gravity. She feared that something more than appeared on the surface was behind his words. She started slightly, and flashing her black eyes over him, rejoined :

“ Surely, papa, you do not mean ”

“I mean exactly what I said,” interrupted the old man positively.

GERTRUDE , THE GOVERNESS.

“Yes; but, certainly, you do not mean to let me infer that you anticipate a reversal in fortune — that you fear it ! Or that those never-failing wells of precious oil, which in such a short time have given you wealth almost unbounded, will run dry ! And those wells you got at such a bargain?”

The old man listened quietly as he strode up and down the room; but when Hulda uttered her last words, she paused abruptly and trembled ; his face, generally so ruddy and health-hued, paled. In a moment, his thick, sensual lips were almost bloodless, while his low brow, overhung by the mass of dark hair, contracted.

Fortunately for him his back was turned, and the quick, eyed Hulda saw nothing of his emotion. A moment and he recovered himself.

‘ * Such a bargain ! ” he echoed to himself. ‘ ‘ I said nothing of the sort, Hulda,” he continued aloud in a stern voice; “you jump too readily at conclusions. I spoke generally. You know well enough that none of us can read the secret which only one single minute of the future hides behind its sereen. No; we can’t tell what may happen before next May. As to the wells, they are bringing me in money, every day, hour and minute. Do you know, my child,” and he lowered his voice, “that besides what is in yonder safe, I have on deposit in the bank, the great sum of”

He whispered the rest of his sentence.

He must, indeed, have named an amount that was almost fabulous ; for Hulda, well acquainted as she was with her father’s fortune, started violently. Her eyes flashed, her cheeks glowed, and a proud, grasping expression, settled upon her face.

“So much, father ! ” she gasped. “ I did not dream that your money reached the vast sum of ”

“Sh! Sh! Hulda!” he interrupted, warningly, glancing hurriedly around him, as though he feared he was not safe from listening ears, even in the privacy of his library. “Not so loud; you need not tell others what I have told you. Why, in that safe yonder,” pointing to the iron receptacle near the further wall, “I have at least twenty thousand dollars in greenbacks — a small fortune to some.

Aye ! and— ’pon my soul, the exact amount that, five years ago, I ”

He paused suddenly. The ashen hue of a moment ago returned to his cheeks, and the words died upon his lips.

Hulda once again glanced quickly at him, as she said, softly:

“Go on, father; years ago that you ”

‘ ‘ That I paid Calvin Grayson for the tract of land on which the wells are now pouring forth their wealth for me,” interrupted Mr. Marne, hastily ; as, turning away, he strode to the table, and, lighting a cigar, dropped into his chair.

His words were spoken with a hiss, but they were almost in a whisper.

The spraying light of the crystal-globed chandelier fell full upon the two persons — the father and daughter.

Gilbert Marne was a short, stout man. He looked more like an herculean blacksmith in gentleman’s attire, than a millionaire, to whose every whim an almost countless wealth could pander. His hands were red and muscular, his arms brawny, his shoulders broad. His face, like his hands, was red, too; it told plainly of high living and heating wines. As has been said, his mouth was coarse and brutish. His forehead was wide, but low.

The most singular features about the man, however, were his eyes and his hair. The former were small, black and glittering, and set so closely together that they seemed strangely out of place in his massive face. The latter was abundant and bristling, and what was more singular yet, was as black as a crow’s wing— not a silver thread showed in it.

Yet the short, well-trimmed side-whiskers which garnished his fal-cheeks were as white as snow. His hair was a phenomenon of nature, its color was not artificial. And Gilbert Marne was more than sixty years old.

The rich man was clad in loose, flowing trowsers, and a short, embroidered smoking-jacket — the latter garment making his figure look almost ridiculous. His pompous manner, his snobbish arrogance, were further heightened by the immense gold guard-chain, dangling from his vest buttonhole.

Hulda Marne was at the first, and even at a second glance, a wonderfully beautiful girl. But her beauty was of that cold, hard, Minerva-like type, which, though it often attracts, yet, in the end, repels by its own marble-like glitter. A reader of faces, taking hers as an index, would have said that she was soulless, that she was simply a glittering casket which contained no jewel.

She was black-haired, black-eyed, white-cheeked, boldbrowed, and red-lipped. She looked like some stern, beautiful queen of the Orient. On this particular evening when we have introduced her — a cold January night — she was arrayed as though for a ball. Her trailing dress was of the richest fabric ; her lily fingers sparkled with rare stones, and her raven tresses were ablaze with precious gems.

The room in which we find the two was the library of the splendid mansion — a room situated in the second story, back. The palatial mansion stood on West Rittenhouse Square, in the city of Philadelphia.

. Some moments passed in silence after Mr. Marne uttered the words as given. The words were given, too, as if the speaker was tired of the subject.

At last Hulda, still scanning the columns of the newspaper, said slowly :

“Very good, papa; such being the condition of your finances, I still say we must take our trip to Europe. I am perfectly content to trust to luck as to the future, and the secrets it holds. But the governess, papa?” and she smiled “ we must not forget her. It would be so vulgar, you know, for me to go abroad without knowing French . Then, too, I”

‘ ‘ Vulgar be hanged ! Don’t you suppose that I am going, too? And do you think that I am ass enough to try to learn anymore French than I already know? Bah! confound French, France, the trip, the governess, and the whole”

“There, there, papa! You are getting red in the face. Stop ! or I’m sure”

“Isn’t it enough to make me red in the face?” again interrupted the old gentleman, thumping the table fiercely.

GERTRUDE , THE GOVERNESS .

“ Do you forget that I threw away hundreds of dollars on you, with that frog-eating, moustached rascal, who claimed to be a Frenchman? Did you not learn enough from him ? ”

“ Pshaw, papa !” and the girl laughed outright. “ He was nothing more than a Louisiana Creole. As to learning from him, why I suppose if I was now in France and asked in my French for a fish, they would give me a serpent, or for bread, and they would give me a stone !”

She laughed loud and long at her far-fetched wit.

“By Jove!” muttered her father. “I’ll be hanged if that isn’t the smartest thing you have said for a year !”

“Thank you, papa. But, the governess? Reginald says I must have one by all means. You know he has”

“ Reginald be”

“ You know, at all events, that he can give good advice,’’ continued the maiden, quietly. ‘ £ He studied medicine in Paris for a long time. He advises me to get for a teacher a French-speaking American or English governess. But, ’pon my soul,” and she yawned, “I’ve looked over the paper from one end to the other, and I have not seen your advertisement yet. Did you put it in the afternoon papers again to-day ?”

“Yes — in the Bulletin , as I did yesterday. You have the paper. Give it me. I’ll soon find it.”

Adjusting his gold-rimmed eye-glasses, which were dangling around his neck, he bent for a moment closely over the news sheet. He quickly said :

“Here it is, and it is full enough.”

He laid his finger on a paragraph.

“Pshaw, papa,” muttered the girl, vexatiously, as she glanced over the advertisement, “who would ever see it in such a place? You did it on purpose ; you didn’t wish it to be seen. You didn’t and don’t want me to have a governess.”

The old man laughed as he answered :

“ Read it, and see if it suits you.”

Hulda glanced at the paragraph and read as follows :

“Wanted a Governess.— A French-speaking American or English lady preferred. Must be a proficient. The one applying is expected to give thorough instruction in French

GERTRUDE, THE GOVERNESS.

to a young lady who will soon visit France. Also to impart instructions to a Miss of fourteen, in the higher English branches. Salary no object to advertiser, provided the applicant gives satisfaction. Apply in person, for one week, to Gilbert Marne, Esq., No.— West Rittenhouse Square, City.”

“Hum! hum!” ejaculated Hulda, with a curl of her lip. “’Tisfull enough, indeed! And it is sufficiently pompous withal ! I am ”

At that moment the deadened creak of carriage wheels, jolting through the snow outside, was heard. Then the door-bell rang faintly.

Hulda started to her feet, a glad look on her face. r “ Who can it be?” she exclaimed, as she bent her head to listen. “What if it turned out to be the long expected, long wished for governess!”

Chapter II. The Street Waif

The night was raw and blustering; great gray clouds darkened the air. Snow was falling rapidly, and the hoarse northeast winds trooped wildly through the almost deserted streets of the Quaker City.

The streets, however, were not entirely deserted.

It was half-past eight o’clock, but long before, on this tempestuous winter evening, it had been dark.

By the private entrance to the rear of the Walnut Street theatre, burned a single lamp. The alley opened into Ninth Street. The lamp now flaring and going almost out, then flaming brilliantly, lit up the narrow passageway that led to the hidden mysteries of the temple of Thespis.

Fickle and fleeting as were the lamp-rays, they revealed a figure in the alley.

It was pjust after a back door in the theatre had been suddenly opened and a broad flash of light glittered out. Then the door was closed.

The figure was that of a slender, thinly-clad girl. She was tottering down the alley.

Only a moment elapsed ere she stood upon the bleak pavement of Ninth Street. For a single instant she paused.

GERTR UDE, THE GO VERNE SS.

She was standing under the lamp, the light from which just then streamed over her, and revealed fully both her face and figure.

She was slightly above the medium height, frail, slender and graceful. Her face was fair, and as beautiful as an angel’s. But, oh! how pinched, how thin, how bloodless, how starved , that face looked in the flaring lamp-light! Over her head was drawn an old woolen hood, through the several holes in which, great whisks of golden, but now limp-wet hair, struggled— tossed here and there by the stormy winds.

The maiden’s dress was of cheap calico ; it was visible beneath the wet, faded shawl which, with her small, bared death-pale hands, she drew around her shoulders.

For a moment she stood erect ; but, as if her strength was deserting her, she strode desperately forward, and clutched the cold iron lamp-post.

“That chance, too, is gone !” she murmured bitterly as she glanced through the whirling snow, up and down the desolate street. “ The manager laughed at my poor acting ; though in the happy past, admiring friends have rung their enthusiastic plaudits, again and again at my amateur attempts ! Oh, heavens, and now !”

She shivered. Straightening up she was about to proceed on her way, but she paused and clutched the friendly post again.

She had not yet recovered her strength; she was not strong enough for the long walk which lay ahead of her. As to riding — she had not a penny to her name.

“It was terribly humiliating to apply for such a place,’ she resumed more bitterly than ever. “But it was galling, indeed, to be refused, and to be laughed at, too ! And I would not even suit for a coryphee in the Grand Spectacle ! Yet the place would have paid me four dollars per week ! Just to think what we were five years ago ! Well, well, heaven pity and shield me ; for now I must struggle on to my desolate home, to the fireless hearth, to the empty pantry!— to the poor, everlasting, waiting starvellings, there !”

She released her hold on the post, and tugging at her

GERTRUDE , THE GOVERNESS .

shawl, turned away . She had not taken two steps, however, before, with a shudder and a low, frightened exclama tion, she retreated once again under the shadow of the lamp.

At that moment, two men, well clad for the weather, strode by. They cared nothing for the storm, the falling snow or the biting winds. Their words were loud and boisterous, and their laughter rang uproarously upon the howling winds. They were walking arm in arm. As they passed the flaring lamp, one of them paused slightly, wheeled around and bent his eyes impudently upon the slender form shrinking in the shadows there. But he could not see the girl’s face ; it was turned to the street.

“ Ha ! ha ! my beauty !” he coarsely laughed ; “you’d better be moving, unless you want to catch your death of cold, or pass the night in the lock-up. Take a fool’s advice, and tramp !”

He and his companion strode on. For a fleeting moment they appeared in the flaunting light. The next minute, however, the wind flurried the flame, and the two seemed to sink out of sight in the pavement. When the bl.usts lulled and the light flamed again, they were at the corner. They turned abruptly into Walnut Street where the theater lamps were burning brightly.

Fleeting, however, as was the view, the girl, wheeling suddenly, saw them distinctly. Both were tall, certainly over six feet. One was extremely slender, while the other was brawny and magnificently proportioned. The first mentioned was next the curb. It was he who had spoken to the girl. He was a white man, with a short square face, small, hawk-like eyes, and a very long, yet thin moustache. But his companion’s face was as black as ebony. His thick lips and crisp midnight hair told his race. He was a negro. But his face, though black, was wonderfully stern, haughty and commanding. He was clad in a style that would have well compared with the attire of any Chestnut street ‘“blood.”

“As I thought,” murmured the girl in a frightened tone, though with a sigh of relief as she saw the dim forms of the men disappear around the corner. “ ’Twas Felix Flash and

GERTRUDE , THE GOVERNESS.

his strange companion, the African. Flash is a villain, and I must shun him ; he has already persecuted me no little. Thank heaven, he does not know where I live. But,” and she turned away with another sigh, “ I must hurry home and scan the newspaper. I have it still ; I must look over the column, ‘ Help wanted — Females.’ Something must be done. But just to think of that wretch, Gilbert Marne, who as good as stole from my father, the — ”

She hurried away as fast as she could, the wild winds drowning her mutterings of sorrow and woe.

She looked not once behind her as she hastened on her way down Ninth street.

Little did she dream that other eyes were upon her ; that other steps were creaking behind her ; that a tall man with a wicked face and a cold, coward heart, was tracking her like a sleuth-hound.

After the two men had turned the corner, they flung away their segars and ascended the broad steps of the theater.

“We are late, Mahlo,” said the white man to his companion. “ But we’ll be in time for the ballet in the second act. Unfortunately for you, my friend, you — ”

He hesitated and laughed significantly.

The negro started just the slightest, but he answered quietly, and in a voice which showed not a tremor :

“ I understand you, sir. You mean to say, that owing to the hue of my skin, I must be content with a twenty-five cent seat in the colored gallery.

He spoke bitterly, his tone showing a faint French accent.

He gripped his gloved hands fiercely together.

But Flash only shrugged his shoulders, and laughed again as he replied :

‘‘Exactly, Mahlo; such is the custom here in this land of liberty. Bah! go in; get your seat, and when the performance is over await me here on the steps. I’ll watch for that girl ; I think I’ve seen her before ; I would see more of her pretty face 1”

“And to think, to remember, Mr. Flash, what I was a

GERTRUDE, THE GOVERNESS. H

few years ago in Hayti!” hissed the African between his teeth.

He was still thinking of the colored gallery.

“Hayti!” repeated Flash, in a low, insinuating voice; “aye, good Mahlo, I recall several things that happened in Hayti, that beautiful Queen of the Antilles! And so do you. But, get your ticket, Mahlo.”

A shiver passed over the herculean frame of the negi o, his lips shut together, and his eyes blazed. But without a wor d he wheeled, ascended the steps and approached the ticket-box.

Flash smiled grimly, as, biting at his long moustache, his eyes followed the man.

At that moment a thinly-clad girl entered Walnut street, hurried across and disappeared in the gray storm.

It was the same maiden who had been seen coming from the back entrance of the theater.

Flash glanced hurriedly around him, and strode swiftly after her.

When Mahlo the African, after securing his ticket, turned to look, his companion had gone.

Flash hastened on, keeping his eye upon the girl all the

time.

He was rapidly overhauling her. Past Locust, past Spruce— on and on. At last Bainbridge street, far down town was reached.

Il, The poor girl, whose step in the meanwhile had been growing slower and feebler every minute, paused foi breath.

Flash paused also; but in a moment, after glancing once again around him to see if he was observed, he stole onward.

No one was in sight; his step in the yielding snow gave forth not the slightest sound, and the howling winds favored his purpose.

“ I am faint!” murmured the girl, gasping and tottering. « < i fear I can’t hold out. Good heavens ! suppose I should drop and die in the snow ! Then — oh! Ha! you !

While she was speaking, a heavy hand was laid upon her

GERTRUDE , THE GOVERNESS.

arm, she was hurled rudely around, and, tall, heartless and sneering, Felix Flash towered above her.

“Yes, my fair charmer,” he answered with a wicked laugh ; “and I am your devout admirer. We ^re well met ; and the time and place are admirable.”

“ Unhand me, sir!” said the girl sternly.

“Not yet! I’ve long sought this opportunity. I want to tell you how much I love you, and — ”

“Oh! I beg you release me, sir!” moaned the girl piteously, after a desperate but ineffectual attempt to escape from him.

“Not yet! No, indeed, not until I have had one kiss, at least, my fair one !”

With a quick, sudden movement he drew her towards him. He bent over her ; his hot liquor-laden breath fanned her cheek.

“Help! help! Oh! help!” cried the girl, by a desperate effort turning her face away.

“ Cry on ! halloo as much as you ”

“Scoundrel!” suddenly exclaimed a loud, manly voice, and a man dashed up.

“You, Reginald Hoy!” exclaimed Flash, recoiling.

“ Yes ! Unhand that girl, fellow !”

“ Not for such as you,” hissed Flash, thrusting his hand in his bosom.

‘ ‘ Then take that, puppy !”

A blow was struck like lightning, and Flash measured his length in the snow.

Chapter III. The Advertisement Answered

The blow which had felled the cowardly Flash, was no light one. It was struck by a brawny right arm, and with a force which, as the vulgarism goes, “ meant business.”

For a moment the fallen fellow lay motionless.

“By Jove! I struck hard ; but I hope I have not killed him!” muttered the new-comer, somewhat uneasily. “ I would not stain my hands even with the blood of such a villain as Felix Flash.”

Casting a rapid glance at the girl, who was leaning for support against a house, the stranger strode toward his prostrate foe.

“ Hold ! have a care, sir !” just then cried the girl, starting forward. “Have a — Oh, heaven!”

She covered her face with her cold hands, and cowered away, as, at that instant, a bright flash spitted out in the darkness, and the sharp report of a pistol rang in the air.

The revengeful shot was fired by Felix Flash. He had been stunned ; but the cold bed of snow revived him ; and as the girl’s words of warning to her rescuer broke forth, the fellow struggled to his elbow, drew a pistol and fired.

But his cowardly aim failed him. The warning reached the stranger’s ears in time; he dropped, and the bullet whistled, harmlessly, six feet above him. He sprang to his feet at once and dashed on again. Flash, however, was too quick for him ; for he scrambled up and fled ingloriously away.

The stranger turned at once and approached the terrified maiden.

“ I hope that man did not injure you, my poor girl; and I am glad that I was on hand to interfere. But tell me where you live : I’ll hurry back for my carriage at the corner of Ninth and Walnut, and take you home.”

The girl started violently as she heard his words; she drew back, while a convulsive shudder passed over her frame. But she stammered :

“ Oh, no, sir! I could not think of it. I am near home now. May heaven reward you for your kindness.”

The stranger, as he heard her soft grateful words, started too ; but as she was turning away, he hastened to say :

“You may trust me, my poor girl; I would be your friend. You 'must be in distress to be abroad on such a night as this. Tell me your name and where you live. I’ll be equally frank with you— my name is Beginald Hoy, 1 am a physician, and I live in Spruce street above Eleventh. Now, wait here a short ”

“ Oh ! no, sir ! Oh ! no ! Farewell, and again may heaven bless you !”

The maiden turned, and as though endowed with a supernatural strength, darted away in the snow.

And as she fled she gasped :

“Reginald Hoy! Reginald! he, whom I once thought my Reginald ! Ah ! heavens, to meet again after the Zapse of long years. To meet under such circumstances; to change from wealth, fashion and fine clothes in the gilded saloons of the gay French capital, to rags, to the wild wind-blown streets, to a pauper’s home in an alley”

Her words died away, as wheeling at last into a narrow by-street, she disappeared.

Reginald Hoy stood like a statue where the girl had left him. He was trembling, his broad chest was heaving, and his breath went and came tumultuously, as he gazed vacantly down the snow-gray vista where the sylph-like, but poverty* clad form, had fled.

At last he shook his head, and wheeling about retraced his steps up Ninth street. !;

‘ ‘ Am I dreaming ! ” he muttered after some moments had elapsed. ‘ ‘ Or does the dead past with its faded forms and happy hours, come to haunt and mock me again? That voice! It has rang in my ears before to-night. Where? when? Be that as it may, it carries me back, over five year’s time, to sunny France. Aye ! that poor girl’s voice, reminded me a bit ago, strangely, sadly of Gertrude Grayson, who, with Hulda Marne out of the question, was the only woman I ever loved.”

He hurried on his way.

Reginald Hoy’s opportune arrival at the scene of Flash’s attempted villainy, came about thus :

At the moment the young girl, who had been seeking employment in the theater, was crossing Walnut street, a doctor’s carriage was standing by the cigar store at the corner. It was Reginald Hoy’s carriage. The young physician had just gone in to get a cigar. As he sauntered out of the store, he saw the girl. He paid no heed to her, however, until almost immediately afterwards, he saw Felix Flash descend the theater steps and follow her.

Dr. Hoy knew Flash well, and he knew nothing good of him.

Suspecting villainy, the physician secured his horse and strode on behind Flash.

GERTH TIDE, THE GO VERNESS.

The reader knows the result.

That night when the theater let out, Felix Flash, standing under a flaring lamp before the broad door, gripped his hands, and uttered a deep oath as he glared around him.

‘ ‘ Curses upon the meddlesome fellow !” he muttered, biting viciously at the ends of his moustache. “Curses on me for my bad luck— my assinine stupidity ! I’ll have my revenge on Reginald Hoy, if it takes me ten years to get it ! Mahlo must help me ; he knows how. But, ” and his muttermgs were lower and more serious, “this confounded affair must never reach old Gilbert Marne’s ears, or my double stake will fail me forever and for aye ! Curse my luck ! And in this contingency I must throw myself upon Reginald Hoy’s generosity. ’Tis a bitter pill, but I must swallow it or — ha ! at last, Mahlo!”

The two men walked away.

“Where now?” asked Mahlo, in a low tone, quietly slipping his arm in that of his companion as they passed on into the heavy shadows beyond.