The Explorer

hey had been speaking of her. Mrs. Crowley impulsively seized her hands and kissed her. Lucy's first thought was that something had happened to her brot

with George?' she aske

nswered

's cheeks as she felt a

murmured. 'I wa

as she shook hands with him. It could

ve city in every way open to him. His son, Robert, now reigned in his stead, but the firm had been made into a company, and the responsibility that he undertook, notwithstanding that the greater number of shares were in his hands, was much less. The partner who had been taken into the house on Sir Alfred Kelsey's death now managed the more important part of the business in Manchester, while Robert, brought up by his father to be a man of affairs, had taken charge of the London branch. Commerce was in his blood, and

d not love him. He was only too willing to marry her on whatever conditions she chose to make. Her friends and her relations were anxious that she should accept him. Lady Kelsey had reasoned with her. Here was a man whom she had known always and could trust utterly; he had ten thousand a year, an honest heart, and a kindly disposition. Her father, seeing in the match a resource in his constant difficulties, was eager that she should take the boy, and George, who was devoted to him, had put in his word, too. Bobbie had asked her to marry him when he was twenty-one, and again when she was twenty-one, when George went to Oxford, when her father went into bankruptcy, and when Hamlyn's Purlieu was sold. He had urged his own father to buy it, when it was known that a sale was inevitabl

he eternal question, but the anxious look in his eyes drove the idea away. His pleasant, boyish ex

ll you which is very te

ceable. His voice was strained by th

?' asked Alec, who had accompan

to her that whatever it was, his

to see me a

told Dick and

it?' sh

ive her so much pain. And yet he had hurried down to the country so that he might soften the blow by his words: he would not trust t

en arrested for fra

not look at Lucy, but the others, full of sympathy, kept their eyes upon her. Mrs. Crowley wondered why she did not faint. It seemed to Lu

e,' she said at

ght up at Bow Street Police Court thi

s, but with all her strength she force

o come down and tell me,'

l in five thousand pounds. Aunt Alic

ng with Aunt

t. He's gone to his fla

ad who was dearest to her in

George

t y

into her face, and thought h

e to see something about it in the papers. We had

hown in two minutes that th

rnness of her eyes, and he had not the heart t

'I'm afraid it's a very serious charge.

no more than that. He would as soon think of doing anything wrong as of flying to the moon. If in his ig

o stand his trial at the Old

on. After the first shock of dismay she was disposed to think that there could be n

wford. They were obliged to trade under different names, because Uncle Fred is an undischarged bankru

a bucketshop is,

t was a term used to describe a firm of outside b

uses them of putting to their own uses various sums amounting altogether t

e intense seriousness on the faces of Alec and Dick Lo

re's anything in it?

t to answer. Dick inter

hing to do is to go up to London at

oubt her father. Now that she thought of the matter, she

nt that father would deliberately steal somebody

able to get him released on bail. It will ma

d with Mrs. Crowley to leave by a later train; and, when the time came for him to start, his hostess suddenly announced that she would go with him. With her p

on was not in. Lucy wanted to go into the flat and stay there till he came, but the porter had no key and did not know when he would return. Dick was much relieved. He was afraid that the excitement and the anxiety from which Fred Allerton had suffered, would have caused him to drink heavily; and he coul

at the appointed hour she made her way once more to his flat. He took her in his

he said. 'I'm full of business, and I have

ther, looking at him with anxious, sombre

are always liable to happen to a man of business; they are the perils of the profession,

truth in i

stion, but the words slipped from her lip

on't suppose I'm the man to rob the widow and

that,' she exclaimed, w

been fright

ad existed for years, and there was something in his manner which filled her with unaccountable anxiety. She would not analys

by your fancies, and I thought you migh

that man Saunders. I'm afraid there's no doubt that he's a wrong 'un-and heaven only knows what he's been up to-but for my own pa

and a charming smi

aying that. Now I shall be able to tell G

ted by the arrival of Dick. Fre

ok here, George is coming up, isn't he? Let us all lunch at the Carlton

indful of the charge which was hanging over him. Dick was not anxious to accept the invitation, but Allerton would hear of no excuses. He

id. 'I can't wai

ion with him. But no man likes to meet his creditor within four walls, and this disinclination might be due m

up with a solic

er. 'Why, I've got the smartest man in the whole p

Dick drily. 'I should think t

f evil odour, who had made a specialty of dealing with the most doubtful sort of commercial work, and his name had been prominent in e

e old crusted family solicitors. I wante

ucy waited at the bottom. Dick stopped and

oing to do a

th amusement. He put his

ers-he's a fishy sort of customer-but I shall come out of all thi

some time and was surprised to see that he had regained his old smartness. The flat had pretty things in it which testified to the lessee's taste and to his means, and the clothes he wor

ed, and she wished to see him alone. They agreed to meet again at two.

ather, unintentionally, had done something rash or foolish; but I've got his word of honour that noth

h his slim handsomeness. There was a guileless look in his blue eyes which was infinitely attractive. His mouth was beautifully modelled. She took an immense pride in the candour of soul which shone with so clear a light on his face, and she was affected as a stranger might have been by the exquisite charm of manner which he had inherited from his father. She wanted to have him to he

wer of enjoyment-and finished by going to the Savoy for supper. For the moment all her anxieties seemed to fall from her, and the years of trouble were forgotten. She was as merry and as irresponsible as George. He was enchanted. He had never seen Lucy so tender and so gay; there was a new brilliancy in her eyes; an

her room, she thanked God for the happiness of the evening.

urt, and the magistrate, committing him for trial, declin