it li I f * LI B RAHY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS v.l ^ — > A WANDERING STAR. A WANDERING STAR BY Lady FAIRLIE CUNINGHAME AUTHOR OF "THE SLAVE OF HIS WILL," ETC. IN THREE VOLUMES VOL. I. HonDcm WARD AND DOWNEY 12, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN 1892 LONDON PRINTED BY WOODFALL AND KINDER, 70 TO 76, LONG ACRE, VV.C. ¥£3 F ILw A WANDERING STAR. CHAPTER I, ^ " He telleth the number of the stars, and calleth them all by their names." " Encore deux billets .... ste-el two teeckets," shouts the pale-faced croupier of the petits chevaux table, which to-night is drawing greater crowds than ever into the great domed hall of the casino at Dieppe. The croupier has been shouting himself hoarse the whole evening ; the Japanese bowl, with the green or blue tickets stuck | into its notched rim, has been handed to every one within the range of his long arm ; ; the little horses, marshalled in a row, seem in a hurry to be off; the crowd are standing three deep round the strong iron railings that VOL. I. B 4 2 A WANDERING STAR. enclose the croupier and his miniature race- course ; and five-franc pieces are handed across people's shoulders, and over the flower- decked bonnets of a few fat Frenchwomen, who, in spite of the stifling heat, sit the whole evening closely wedged together, below the level of those who stand around. An altercation takes place from time to time, about the money that is staked. If the Republican Eagle does not flap his wings on these five-franc pieces, and if his counterfeit is replaced by the arms of Mexico, then is the cart-wheel politely returned, and a war of words is the result. Whizz ! — the horses go round ! — the fat Frenchwomen feel that their fortunes are at stake, and with strained eyes follow the gyrations of the grts, the noir> the alezan, or whichever horse they have drawn in the lottery. Two or three turns round the table, and then the gallop ends in a walk ; No. i and No. 5 seem to be making a dead heat of it ; shrieks come from the holders of those num- bers ; careful measurements with a string are A WANDERING STAR. 3 taken by the croupier, and then, without even a glance at the owner of No. i, who is appealing to all the gods for aid, he places eight of the clumsy pieces into the skinny hand of a terrible old hag, who has got a pile of similar coins before her on the railing. The heat is African, the odours unspeak- able, and seem composed of equal parts of gas, paraffine, and patcheouli — the company could not be more mixed ! A band of smart young men in evening clothes, and light overcoats, who answer to the proudest and best known names in France, have come over from Trouville for the races, and repre- sent " le sporting" ; in other words, all that is most chic. Beside them, a party of Dieppe shopkeepers sit at their ease on one of the crimson velvet sofas that line the walls. Respectable country people, from many a Norman gentilhommerie, have driven in for a gay evening at the casino, in the one week in the year that Dieppe is en fete. Members of la haute cocotterie walk round the tables, generally two together, and arm- in-arm ; their clothes strike awe into the B 2 4 A WANDERING STAR. stoutest heart, the pearls or diamonds in their ears are of fabulous size, and the priceless Valenciennes lace that ed^es their skirts and petticoats, sweeps the dust and dirt of the casino floor. The English colony at Dieppe hang a good deal together, and form a little society of their own ; but Russians, Germans, Rouma- nians, Bulgarians, are more cosmopolitan, and are all represented here. Every one talks a different language ; it is the Tower of Babel over again. Outside, on the terrace, a light breeze blows, a thousand stars are shining, small waves break gently on the shingly beach, and in the intense stillness one hears the wash of the waters, that suck back the smooth pebbles as the tide falls. But there is no one to mark the beauty of the night — the world in general prefers the crowd, noise, and vulgarity inside. Among the throng we have not yet noticed a party of good-looking people who stand somewhat aloof from the table, and from those who surround it, though one of the A WANDERING STAR. 5 men of the party now and then joins in the crowd, and wins or loses many five-franc pieces. There is no doubt of their nationality. English is written in every line of face, figure, dress, and general appearance. Truth to say, we do not think they are the worse for it ! The two good-looking men in blue serge, and the two pretty women who wear the same useful material, hold their own here without much trouble. To be sure, the enormous erections of ribbons and feathers, and the hats enwreathed with flowers, that crown the French female head make the English- women's sailor hats, whose only adornment is the Squadron burgee, painted on the white ribbon, look noticeably plain, but their sim- plicity is a positive relief to the eye, and very handsome are the faces that they shade. The elder of the two, the one with the dark hair, flashing eyes, and brilliant colour- ing, is Lady Julia Darner, a very fashionable lady indeed, and wife of the tall, good-look- ing man who is staking his five-franc pieces 6 A WANDERING STAR. at the tables. He is the owner of the schooner yacht Gitana, R.Y.S., at present lying inside the basin in Dieppe harbour. Her companion, without being quite a foil to her, is decidedly not a rival, for Lady Julia is an acknowledged beauty, and Cissy Grahame is only a moderately pretty, very smart little girl, who looks well everywhere, never is out of place anywhere, and is the chosen companion of many pretty fast married women, without being particularly fast herself, for she knows when to efface herself, and when to come to the front, and reaps a good many advantages from her different friendships. Brian Beresford, the fourth of the party, is the very type of a well-looking, well-mannered, and well-born young Englishman. He is a great friend of Colonel Darner's, and a still greater friend of Lady Julia's ! It is her Ladyship's habit always to have an adorer, but as a rule their adoration is rather a one- sided affair. She is not so indifferent this time — she never does things by halves ; and certainly, if exaction and jealousy are signs A WANDERING STAR. 7 of the master passion, then she is indeed in love with handsome Brian Beresford. She is even capable of being jealous of Cissy Grahame, who is incapable of giving her the least provocation, and she is annoyed, in spite of her own sense of the absurdity of it, every time he looks at the pretty, or noticeable, or outrageously dressed women, who pass and repass before them. " Look at that girl, standing near the door," says Brian suddenly to Colonel Darner, as the latter returns from one of his fruitless expeditions to the tables, where the little horses gallop round manfully, where the croupier, and an old Frenchwoman, in a large red hat, are shrieking against each other, and where he has left two or three more of his stock of five-franc pieces. " Tell me, did you ever see a more beautiful face ? I don't think she can be anything but English," Colonel Darner's eyes followed the direc- tion in which Brian is looking. " That girl over there, in the blue frock, do you mean ? Upon my word, she is worth looking at," says the Colonel. 8 A WANDERING STAR. " She and that old man have been stand- ing there ever since we came here," con- tinues Brian; "and he has never taken his eyes off the table, except to write down something on a piece of paper — some sort of calculation, I expect, though surely no one could be lunatic enough to have a system at petits chevaux. After no end of writing, he suddenly took five francs out of his pocket,, and put it into the girl's hand. She seemed to know exactly what to do, for she dashed into the crowd, got a ticket from that scoundrelly-looking croupier, and went back to her father. I wish you had seen their faces when the right number was shouted and she went to claim the stakes ! Joy is not the word for it, though the old man didn't look the least surprised. He seemed as if he had expected it all along. Look at them now. I believe they're going to do it again."" As he speaks, the old man hurriedly puts into the girl's hand two more large pieces ; she once more mingles with the crowd, and, either because she is so slim and slight, or by reason of her firm resolve to reach the A WANDERING STAR. 9 goal, she makes her way right into the front rank, and is near enough to drop her pieces into the Japanese bowl, and to receive in exchange two blue tickets. The old French- woman in the red hat is not yet appeased, and as she sits there, flushed and panting, her trembling hands are raised to the ceiling as she calls down maledictions on the pale- faced, hook-nosed Israelite, who she declares has cheated her. The girl is wedged in among the crowd behind her, and her fair face looks fairer than ever by reason of the contrast. It is a face that once seen might haunt a man for many a long day. The colouring is so lovely, the golden hair falls in such pretty curls on the low forehead, the small head is so wonderfully well set on the slender neck, and, above all, there is such a look of "race ' in the girl's face and bearing that she seems curiously out of place, alone, in a noisy crowd, in a second-rate casino. Her eyes are fixed on the little horses as eagerly as those of the ancient Jezebel who sits near her, her slim body bends over the IO A WANDERING STAR. railings as if she could incite the grey horse to further exertions, her eyes shine like stars, and her lovely colour comes and goes. On gallop the horses. Now they slow — slower and slower — and finally the grey horse is passed — -just passed by the black ! " Numero 2 gagne," shouts the croupier ; — the girl and the owner of the red hat are both plunged in the depths of woe, and the girl, with drooping head and sad eyes, slips out of the hurly-burly, and goes to rejoin her father near the door. "Who, in the name of wonder, is that man ? ' says Colonel Darner, thoughtfully. " I have seen him before — I have known him — of that I am perfectly certain — but where is the question. Strangely enough, I seem to know the girl's face too ; but that, I suppose, is quite impossible. I have it," says he at last, in great excitement, turning to his wife. " Julia, do you know who those are who are standing there ? That is Ralph Fitzpatrick, and the girl who is with him is poor Lady Mary's daughter! A WANDERING STAR. I I Can't you see it all ? She's as like all the Vivians as she can be — that lovely hair, and all the rest of it, only that little waif and stray is the best-looking of the whole lot. Fancy running across them here ! He has been dead — practically dead — for more than twenty years. I wouldn't have felt more surprised if he had really risen from the grave. Of all the downfalls I ever heard, Brian, there never was a downfall so sudden as his. He disappeared in one day. I daresay you are not old enough to have heard anything about it, and I forget the exact particulars. All I remember is that foul play at cards was proved against him beyond the shadow of a doubt, and from that day he was done for. He was one of the smartest and best-looking men in London — tolerably popular too. He had married Lady Mary Vivian, as nice and as pretty a girl as ever stepped. I knew her well, for the Vivians are cousins of my own. He had the ball at his feet, if you like — hard-up now and then, I dare say, but not more so than some of the rest of us ; but he was always 12 A WANDERING STAR. full of plans and schemes, and this last scheme of his to corriger la fortune by the Polish trick at ecarte was a fatal one. Lady Mary stuck to him in spite of the Vivians ; we saw her death in the papers not long after he went under, but I had forgotten there was a child. As for him, I haven't set eyes on him for twenty years, and have hardly heard his name mentioned. One thing, however, I am quite sure of — that Ralph Fitzpatrick is standing there." Brian listens with the most intense — the most eager interest. " Don't you mean to speak to him, Darner ? That unfortunate fellow has seen you, and recognized you. I saw his expres- sion change a minute ago when he looked this way. It is an old story now, and if that girl's mother was a relation of your own, it seems a shame to take no notice of her child." " Shall I?' says Colonel Darner, doubt- fully. " I mustn't ask her Ladyship's advice then — she would put her veto on it at once ; but it would be a shame to see Mary Vivian's A WANDERING STAR. 1 3 daughter, and to cut her dead. Poor things ! I expect they're in low water too, and I might be of some use to them — anyhow, it could do us no harm." " You're too late this time," says Brian grimly. A crowd had surged through the great swing doors, close to which father and daughter had stood the whole evening, and the stream, as it passed, had carried them away in its tide. The tall man, with stooping shoulders and miserable face, and the slim girl, in her faded cotton, had gone out into the night. " Nothing to be done but to get back to the yacht now," says Colonel Darner, ''and we must find out Fitzpatrick to-morrow, Brian. You needn't say anything about it to my lady, though." Colonel Darner's worst enemies, if he has any, never impeached his bravery ! Never- theless Lady Julia's black eyes have a very subduing effect on him. It is a curious fact, and one of which her husband is well aware, 14 A WANDERING STAR. that she is nearly always right, and always has her own way. " I have found out where Fitzpatrick lives," says Colonel Darner to Brian, as the two smoke on deck, after luncheon, the next day. The awning is up — a necessary precau- tion — for the sun is burning, and the quay, alongside which the Gitana is moored, is lined with blue blouses, and market-women in high white caps and sabots, who halt on their journey from Le Pollet to the fish- market, to discuss the " yack ' and its owners in broad Norman French. Brian and the ladies have wandered about the town all morning. They have stood under the Gothic aisles and heard the organ play in St. Jacques — they have stept from its arched portals to the brightness and colour of the Place du Ouesne on a market- day — have bought flowers and fruit from old women in bonnets blancs, sitting under the shade of huge red umbrellas — and have shopped in the Grande Rue, also full of life and colour, but whose shops, full of ivory, are A WANDERING STAR. 1 5 somewhat fly-blown and dusty, and whose last new Paris fashions are not so very new after all. Then past the fountain of the Rue de la Barre, and through the cool church of St. Remi — dark even on the brightest summer day — till they reach the casino, to look on the waves that sparkle in the lovely sunshine, and to see the shingly beach crowded with bathers and idlers of all sorts. Lady Julia feels tolerably happy, for Brian seems more devoted than ever, and Miss Grahame effaces herself, and reads a "Tauchnitz" in a shady corner. A cool, delightful luncheon to go back to is not the worst part of the morning's work ; and cigars and coffee on deck, while the ladies are below reading novels, suits the two men exactly. Colonel Darner goes on talking. "I am glad I have found out about Fitzpatrick, for I expect he, or, at any rate, that lovely girl of his, are a good deal in need of a helping hand. It seems they have lived here for the last fifteen years or so. If he had committed murder, I couldn't for the life 1 6 A WANDERING STAR. of me help feeling for the poor fellow. Fancy this place in winter, when the hotels and best houses and shops are shut up, and a northerly gale is blowing! It seems they can't even stay here in summer, they are so frightfully hard-up. They go to a village called Arques, about four miles from here, and live there among the peasants — as poorly as the peasants themselves, I expect. I'll tell you what I think of doing, Brian. When you and my Lady go to the casino this afternoon I shall charter one of those rattletrap pony carriages and drive there. He can't do me much harm at this time of day, and I want to see if I can be of use to poor Mary's daughter in any way." " You are a good fellow, Darner," returns Brian ; " you couldn't do anything better, and I will look after the ladies while you are away." A long, uninteresting, dusty road leads to Arques. To an artist or student of history, its old castle, that stands on a height against the sky-line, is well worth a visit, and the church, which seems a good many sizes too A WANDERING STAR. I J large for the village, is a fine specimen of Gothic architecture. But neither castle, nor church, nor the beauties of the forest close by, have brought Colonel Darner out here. He is listening to a man who has not spoken to an equal for twenty years, and whose feelings are not very well under his own control. The two are sitting in the low, dark-pannelled room of the " Chariot d'or " ; coffee and liqueurs are on the table between them, but they are untouched. " Know you ? ' Ralph Fitzpatrick is say- ing, — "why, you are hardly changed at all ! Between twenty and forty there must be always a gulf fixed, but you are practically the same. What do a few grey hairs matter ? Your eye, your look, your whole expression, are just what they were when I left the world. For I died twenty years ago, Darner ; there is no blinking that fact. It is strange to look back on it, is it not ? Think of the Ralph Fitzpatrick of those days ! without a care in the world, except that there wasn't enough money going, and one night — one night — put vol. i. c 1 8 A WANDERING STAR. « an end to it all. I cut my own throat ; but how suddenly it all happened ! I can feel the temptation as if it was yesterday. I was playing for hundreds at the 'Arlington' ; I, who seldom had a spare ten-pound note — and losing — I wouldn't stop, and I couldn't pay. The devil himself reminded me of a trick that some kind friend had taught me, half in fun, once, in Paris — the Polish trick, they called it there — it was imagined to defy detection ; I tried it — my hand shook — I did it badly, and I was lost. I wonder what would have happened had they not found me out ? If I had been less clumsy, would I have held up my head among you all till now, or must I have fallen some other way ? I remember little of what immediately followed — a death- blow doesn't really hurt much, and the power of feeling didn't return for a long time. We came over here. Mary, poor Mary ! wouldn't leave me ; but I didn't care much at the time if she did or not. That first winter, without a soul to speak to, nothing to do but to eat, and sleep, and keep oneself alive, was indescribable. I am A WANDERING STAR. 1 9 accustomed to it now, but it was different then. Mary bore that part of it bravely ; the thing that killed her was when summer came, and we now and then met people we had known before. How well I remember seeing her face change one afternoon as we were sitting listening to the band at the casino ! Some people passed us whom she had known pretty well at her old home-^ passed without a glance in our direction, though they knew we were there. I saw her face grow ghastly pale. Poor Mary ! she had never been cut before, and before she grew accustomed to it she was dead. For me, I can hardly now recall the time when people didn't look the other way. I must say I don't give them much chance. I spend the whole winter at Dieppe, and play picquet for centime points, with grocers and shopkeepers, at their little club. I play honestly there, I give you my word, Darner," he says, bitterly. "After all, some of my present associates are as good company as many an English duke or peer, and perhaps better bred and better mannered than one c 2 20 A WANDERING STAR. or two Royal Highnesses who were rather partial to my society in old times. There is only a fictitious difference in people after all." " And your child," asks Colonel Darner, — "that lovely girl we saw with you ? — this life is hard, indeed, on her. Do none of Mary's relations take any notice of her ? ' " None of them," says Fitzpatrick, hope- lessly; "while Mary was alive we had plenty of money ; the Vivians wouldn't let one of their own want. But since she died her child is utterly ignored. A little money was bound to come to Vega through her mother — about as much as you pay your French cook, Darner ! — and on that pittance she and I just keep body and soul together. But it's all a matter of comparison, as I said before. I am happy now-a-days when I can pay for a gloria after my coffee, or win an unex- pected franc or two from my grocer friends at picquet. As for Vega, it is only now and then that I realize what a life hers is ; I recollect, sometimes, how the girls of her class were cared for, and guarded ; she has A WANDERING STAR. 21 had to drag herself up anyhow — que votdez vous ? — no money, no friends, no position — ■ one of the enfants perdus of this world ; and yet, when I look at her, Damer, I believe she could hold her own anywhere." " Hold her own!" repeats Colonel Damer, " she has the most perfectly beautiful face I ever saw, and I am not apt to be carried away by enthusiasm. She has Mary's charm- ing expression, but she is far lovelier. Where is she, Fitzpatrick? I should like immensely to see her." "She is in~the garden, I dare say;" and her father rises listlessly and leads the way to the untidy, neglected garden, where vege- tables, flowers, and kitchen herbs grow in unpicturesque confusion, and where two or three dilapidated arbours, covered with straggling vines, have been built for those patrons of the " Chariot d'or," who like to drink their " bocks " and smoke their villan- ous tobacco in the open air. In one of these arbours they find Vega. The surroundings may be poor, but, after all, the vine-leaves make a perfect back- 2 2 A WANDERING STAR. ground for the beautiful little head. Colonel Damer thinks her lovelier far than when she staked and lost her money at the casino. He sits down beside her. He is more than double her age, but even at forty, though the mind of twenty can hardly grasp the idea, a man can still have some feelings left ! He finds her not only lovely, but sweet and charming ; and he stays on and on, double the time he had at first intended. His first words to Brian, however, when he gets back to the yacht, and the two are once more smoking on deck, are by no means suggestive of a mind at ease. " I am in a terrible fix," says the Colonel, who, it must be acknowledged, is not only kind-hearted, but utterly weak whenever a pretty face is concerned. M I don't know what on earth to do, Brian ; you must see me through it, somehow. Any man would have done the same. I was so delighted with that lovely child to-day that before I knew where I was I had asked her to come on board to-morrow ! I told her father we would take her with us on our cruise, and A WANDERING STAR. 23 we would bring her back to Dieppe in two or three weeks. He seemed indifferent, and agreed as if it was the most natural thing in the world ; but I wish you had seen her face ! she looked positively transfigured. After all she is my cousin ; why shouldn't I ask her on board if I choose ? But the question is, who is to break it to Lady Julia ? Couldn't you mention it in a casual sort of way at dinner, Brian, like a good fellow ?' Brian knows the high temper of his liege lady, and doesn't see it in that light at all. " My dear Darner," says he, " I cant interfere about your guests. Lady Julia would shut me up uncommonly quickly. No, no ! you have done a good action, and must take the consequences! — but here comes your wife on deck ; why not tell her now, and I will help you as much as I can: Lady Julia comes up the companion as he speaks ; she looks radiant. Brian has never left her side the whole day, and she has had the field entirely to herself, for Miss Grahame is a mere dummy. A crumpled 24 A WANDERING STAR. roseleaf can upset her Ladyship's equanimity, but to-day there has not been a drawback. A charming costume — white serge ; but white serge glorified with bands of gold em- broidery, and a waistcoat one mass of gold, suits her fine figure to perfection ; she is looking her very best, and she knows it. " Now or never," whispers Brian to the Colonel, whom in his heart of hearts he infinitely prefers to the lady who considers him her especial property. Brian is crafty. A lovely spray of Mar- shal Niels have been arranged for him by the flower-girl at the casino gates. He has gone himself to fetch it ; he now begs Lady Julia to wear it. He puts a good deal of feeling into his voice, and he insists on arranging the roses himself on the beauti- ful shoulder. The attention pleases her, the contact of her lover's fingers soothe her, and she has even a smile for her husband ! " My dear Julia," begins the Colonel, " I have seen Fitzpatrick and his daughter to- day. Poor little girl, she must have an awful life of it ! As she is a cousin of my own, A WANDERING STAR. 25 don't you think you could take a little notice of her ? " "In what way ? " says " my dear Julia," firmly ; she scents the battle from afar, and is ready for it. " Well," answers the Colonel nervously, 7 chalky cliffs of Old England as they run down the Channel. They pass the woods of the Isle of Wight ■ — a broad belt of green between the under- cliff and the sea, and they sight St. Catherines light and the Needles — those great, grey rocks hollowed by the tides into endless caves and arches, and worm-eaten, as it were, by the force of the waves, which guard the entrance to the Solent. They see at a distance the white villas of Bourne- mouth, and Christ Church standing like a great cathedral against the skyline — then, along the shores of Dorset, the bold outline of St. Alban's Head breaking the low range of downs, till they reach the lovelier coasts of Devon. Dawlish and Teignmouth gleam white and shining among wooded glades ; Torquay, on its terraced hills, looks like ar. Italian town, and the trees and woods in full foliage make a rare contrast to the pinky- red Devonian soil. They leave Torbay to the right, and sail along the cliffs and among the rocky islets between Torquay and Dartmouth. The 38 A WANDERING STAR. breeze is, if anything, too fresh, and to Lady }ulia, who hates the motion and keeps to her cabin, it is gall and wormwood to hear Vega's light steps above her head, her merry voice in her ear. " Now, Miss Vega, look out!" says Brian, and how bright and happy his voice sounds too ; "we are coming to the loveliest entrance to the loveliest harbour in England." They are sailing up the narrow passage that leads to Dartmouth. Even Lady Julia cannot now complain of the motion, for the high land on both sides protects them from every blast. They pass the Castle, enter the harbour, take up their moorings close to Kings wear, and Vega sees spread before her eyes the prettiest sight they have ever rested on. More than one hundred yachts are anchored in that land-locked bay — crowded together, stem and stern ; every size and rig are to be seen, from the stately 600-ton steamer down to the smallest cockle- shell that can be called a yacht. All are dressed with flags — the display of bunting on some of the larger yachts is wonderful — A WANDERING STAR. 39 they have awnings on their decks — boats and steam launches are flying about the harbour, and some boat-races are going on. On the shore flags are also flying — the Dartmouth quay is crowded with figures in holiday attire — the green seems a mass of white tents — a sound of fiddling and drum- ming comes from the land. What more need be said ? Dartmouth is in the height of its three days' season — in the eyes of its inhabitants the best three days in the whole year. " Now, Vega," says Colonel Darner, " what do you think of all this ? I hope you will have some amusement at last." " I couldn't be happier than I have been this last week," says she, looking up in his face with lovely eyes full of gratitude. " I never knew what happiness meant before ! ' " Oh ! we'll do better for you still," says he ; " you deserve anything for the way you stood last night. The old Gitana tumbled about a good bit, but you are a born sailor, a girl after my own heart ! I say, my Lady," he calls out to his wife, who makes her 40 A WANDERING STAR. appearance on deck at last, " let's settle to go ashore after dinner, and show Vega the dancing on the green, and all the sights of the fair ! " " I don't at all see why I should be dragged ashore," returns Lady Julia, her head in the air ; " it wouldn't amuse me in the least. But pray don't let me keep you from going. Cissy and I can make ourselves quite happy on board, and I should think it would be just the sort of amusement that would suit Miss Fitzpatrick." Vega was not very experienced in the ways of the world, but she could read be- tween the lines as well as most people. Her pretty face turns rosy-red, and she makes a sad mistake by turning to Brian, as if for protection. He throws off all allegiance to Lady Julia on the spot. " Well ! Miss Vega, Colonel Darner and I are the best of chaperons. Trust yourself to us, and we will promise to show you round, and you shall have a dance on the green too ! One must be very young to A WANDERING STAR. 4 1 enjoy dancing on the green, but I think you are about the right age ! " " I am glad you think so," she laughs merrily ; "for I mean to do it whether you approve or not. It's the only kind of dancing I have ever had. I used to go to all the village fairs and fetes when I was a child in the villages round Dieppe — so I shall be more at home than you are." ***** " Here we are at last ! ' says Brian, three hours later, as they land on the steps that lead to the green. The harbour looks as pretty by night as by day. Some of the yachts are dressed with Chinese lanterns, and some are sending up fireworks ; fireworks are going up from the shore, and the lights of the fair, and the coloured lamps that hang from the trees add to the general effect. They make their way to the dancing ground — the green is crowded — the band plays loudly — spectators stand in a circle three or four deep ; groups climb on the raised mounds that surround the trees ; the 42 A WANDERING STAR. dancers are very mixed, but the tout ensemble is charming. Now a tall man in yachting clothes and a yachting cap waltzes smoothly round with the reigning beauty of the last London season, the uneven ground not seem- ing to put them out in the least. Now a yacht's sailor jogs past, with a "girl of the people' in a bright hat and feather — now high, now low, but all bent on amusing themselves. " Let us dance too," says Brian, and in a moment he has Vega in his arms. " You are a born dancer," he adds, as the two rest their backs against a tree after a long — a very long — turn. " Some people plough through the gravel, but you skim. I have had a hundred dances on ball-room floors that were as smooth as ice, which weren't half as good as this ; let us go on, Vega — on, till the very last bar of the music, and then you must come with me, and I will show you all the sights. We won't wait for the Colonel ; he knows plenty of people — he's all right ; besides, I want to have you to myself this evening— one may never have such a chance again. Are you agreeable ?". A WANDERING STAR. 43. His eyes look into hers, and he would be blind indeed did he not read his answer in them. The music ends with a flourish — the dancers scatter. Brian and Vega, arm-in- arm, like real lovers, wander through the fair. They are more like children though ! Side by side they sit in a booth, and see a panorama of the Siege of Sebastopol ; then the waxworks are visited, and the shoot- ing galleries, but the fat lady is avoided, and to the Siamese twins is given a very wide berth ! They ride on horseback on the merry-go-round, while the loud, harsh organ (round which they pivot) grinds out "White Wings." Some of the riders are solemn, as if they were the cynosures of all eyes in the park. Others have more abandon, and a yacht sailor sits with his face to his horse's tail ! Pinman goes round grimly in the company of the steward of the Gitana ; she would not smile for the world, but others smile and laugh too, and here and there a brown hand and strong arm is wound round a slender waist. 44 A WANDERING STAR. The bystanders around laugh, the music is deafening, and after two or three rounds, Brian and Vega jump down and wander on. " Let's get out of this crowd," says he, suddenly. " Anything to be out of reach of ' White Wings.' They find a corner, not far off indeed, but deserted and quiet ; they sit down on the wooden bench and rest. He does not talk or even try to make conversation ; instead of that he takes her hand, and she does not draw it from his strong, eager clasp. Lady Julia seems a hundred miles away — so does the fiddling and dancing at the fair. His blood runs hotly in his veins, and Vega, for the first time, knows what it is to love. The two blond heads are dangerously near each other ; her lips, sweet as the petals of a wild rose, are close to his. But whose voice, full of suppressed anger and emotion, falls on their ears ? and whose erect and stately figure stands black and forbidding against the background of light ? " Lady Julia ! — you here ? You have come ashore after all ! " exclaims Brian, in A WANDERING STAR. 45 a voice which cannot hide his great, his horrible annoyance. " And Miss Grahame too ! fancy you wandering about here alone. Have you not met the Colonel ? " " We were tired of each other's company — bored to death on board," answers Lady Julia, " and we came to see how you were all getting on. You seem to be getting on capitally. Pray what have you done with Reginald, Brian ? and in what part of the world is it the fashion, Miss Fitzpatrick, to leave your chaperon entirely in the lurch ? ' "We only danced a little," stammered out Vega, "and when the dance was over we didn't see him." " So I can well believe," says her Lady- ship, in her most unpleasant voice. " If these are your Dieppe manners I can't say I admire them ! " She sweeps on. Brian knows better than to let her go alone, and the two girls follow. Lady Julia goes straight to the point, and her eyes flash as she turns them to her com- panion, speaking at the same time with much heat and violence. 46 A WANDERING STAR. " You are making a perfect fool of yourself, Brian ! Remember that that girl and her father are — outcasts — outlawed, for all I know. I don't care whether you turn her silly head or not. I dare say she has had plenty of affairs with Dieppe young men already ; but I won't have any folly on your side going on while you are with us. No man in his senses could marry a daughter of Ralph Fitzpatrick. Why his very name is a byword ! " Her Ladyship says no more, nor does he answer. One thing is certain: her words, in spite of himself, make an impression on him. # * * # * Fifteen days have passed since Vega sailed in the Gitana. For fifteen long sum- mer days has this forlorn, neglected girl tasted perfect happiness, and of how many ordinary, humdrum, long-lived people could as much be said ? Lady Julia's sneers scarcely affect her — Lady Julia's undisguised animosity does not trouble her. They sail in halcyon seas ; they wander A WANDERING STAR. 47 from place to place — the days are too short for her happiness, and she grudges the hours that must be spent in sleep. And now they are in the Solent, and the Gitana lies at anchor in Cowes Harbour. Vega must perforce content herself with the pleasures of hope, for Brian has had to leave them for a week. He has long since pledged himself to a voyage half round the world with a friend the ensuing winter, and many preparations must be made, though at the end of that week he is to return on board without fail. Then, as Colonel Darner says, "We will run over to Antwerp, or Ostend, and won't take Vega back to Dieppe till the very end of our cruise. In the meantime," he adds, " I shall take the opportunity of going up to London for a night to look after some business in the City, but I shall be down again without fail to-morrow evening. You three ladies must take care of yourselves and the yacht while I am away." Vega does not like it at all. It is quite a case of two to one, for Lady Julia and Miss 48 A WANDERING STAR. Grahame make it very clear that they have nothing in common with her in any way. Colonel Darner leaves them, and things go on as might have been expected — Lady Julia and Cissy are inseparable, Vega is alone. The two friends sit on deck all the morning, and as it is bright and sunshiny, and as Vega does not wish to make an unwelcome third, but finds the cabins hot and close, she takes a book and sits half way up the com- panion. The sound of talking reaches her, but not the words, till Lady Julia's voice, in louder tones than usual, falls on her ear : — " His mother is evidently desperately alarmed. I know what her letter this morning meant very well. Some kind friend has told her about her precious Brian's flirtation with this girl, and now she as good as taxes me with having shady people on board. I believe she thinks he will marry her." " Are you quite sure he means nothing serious ? " asks Cissy, in her smooth, unin- terested tones. " Serious ! Why ? The man's not an A WANDERING STAR. 49 absolute fool!' says Lady Julia, in a voice of actual pain. " Fancy a Beres- ford marrying a daughter of that black sheep Ralph Fitzpatrick! No, no! he won't go so far as that ; but in the meantime / am to be called over the coals, as if it were my fault — as if I could have pre- vented Reginald picking up a stray, un- known girl at Dieppe ! — the daughter of a man whose reputation is European— people without a penny, and with as good as no relations in the world, for not one of the Vivians will look at them." Can it indeed be about her and her father that Lady Julia is speaking ? Is this the key to the riddle that has so long perplexed her — the real meaning of the life they have led? Vega has no strength, no power to move, and Lady Julia goes on, — " I would give anything in the world to get her out of the yacht. You know I always hate and detest girls, and have set my face against any of them coming on board. Her- mione sometimes wants to put Dottie and vol. 1. e 5