A Bid for Fortune. Guy Newell Boothby

giving it to me at all."

      "Well, be sure I'm not going to tell you. You might grow conceited. Isn't it sufficient that I do love you, and that I am not going to give you up, whatever happens."

      "More than sufficient," I answered solemnly. "But, Phyllis, don't you think I can induce your father to relent? Surely as a good parent he must be anxious to promote your happiness at any cost of pain to himself."

      "I can't understand it at all. He has been so devoted to me all my life that his conduct now is quite inexplicable. Never once has he denied me anything I really set my heart upon, and he always promised me that I should be allowed to marry whomsoever I wished, provided he was a good and honourable man, and one of whom he could in any way approve. And you are that, Dick, or I shouldn't have loved you, I know."

      "I don't think I'm any worse than the ordinary run of men, dearest, if I am no better. At any rate I love you with a true and honourable love. But don't you think he will come round in time?"

      "I'm almost afraid not. He referred to it only yesterday, and seemed quite angry that I should have dared ​to entertain any thought of you after what he said to me on board ship. It was the first time in my life he ever spoke to me in such a tone, and I felt it keenly. No, Dick, there is something behind it all that I cannot understand. Some mystery that I would give anything to fathom. Papa has not been himself ever since we started for England. Indeed, his very reason for coming at all is to me a mystery. And now that he is here he seems in one continual dread of meeting somebody but who that somebody is, and why my father, who has the name and reputation of being such a courageous, determined, honourable man, should be afraid, is a thing I cannot understand."

      "It's all very mysterious and unfortunate. But can nothing be done? Don't you think if I were to see him again, and put the matter plainly before him, something might be arranged?"

      "It would be worse than useless at present, I fear. No, you must just leave it to me, and I'll do my best to talk him round. Ever since my mother died I have been as his right hand, and it will be strange if he does not listen to me and see reason in the end."

      Seeing who it was that would plead with him I did not doubt it.

      By this time we had wandered through many rooms, and now found ourselves in the Egyptian Department, surrounded by strange dead folk and weird objects of all sorts and descriptions. There was something almost uncanny about our love-making in such a place, among these men and women whose wooings had been conducted in a country so widely different to ours, and in an age that was dead and gone over two thousand years ere we were born. I spoke of this to Phyllis. She laughed and gave a little shiver.

      ​"I wonder," she said, looking down on the swathed up figure of a princess of the royal house of Egypt, lying stretched out in the case by which we sat, "if this great lady, who lies so still and silent now, had any trouble with her love affair?"

      "Perhaps she had more than one beau to her string, and not being allowed to have one took the other," I answered, "though from what we can see of her now she doesn't look as if she were ever capable of much fascination, does she?"

      As I spoke I looked from the case to the girl and compared the swaddled-up figure with the healthy, living, lovely creature by my side. But I hadn't much time for comparison. My sweetheart had taken her watch from her pocket and was glancing at it.

      "A quarter to twelve," she cried in alarm. "Oh, Dick, I must be going. I promised to meet papa at twelve, and whatever happens I must not keep him waiting."

      She rose and was about to pull on her gloves. But before she had time to do so I had taken a little case from my pocket and opened it. When she saw what it contained she could not help a little womanly cry of delight.

      "Oh, Dick! you naughty, extravagant boy!"

      "Why, dearest? Why naughty or extravagant to give the woman I love a little token of my affection?" As I spoke I slipped the ring over her pretty finger and raised the hand to my lips.

      "Will you try, whenever you look at that ring, to remember that the man who gave it to you loves you with all his heart and soul, and will count no trouble too great, or no hardship too hard, to make you happy?"

      ​"I will remember," she said solemnly, and when I looked I saw that tears stood in her eyes. She brushed them hastily away, and after an interlude which it hardly becomes me to mention here, we went down the stairs again and out into the street, almost in silence.

      Having called a cab, I placed her in it and almost nervously asked the question that had been some time upon my mind:

      "When shall I see you again?"

      "I cannot tell. Perhaps next week. But I'll let you know. In the meantime don't despair, all will come right yet! Good-bye."

      "Good-bye and God bless you!"

      I lifted my hat, she waved her hand, and next moment the hansom disappeared round the corner.

      I wandered slowly down the pavement towards Oxford Street, then, turning to my left hand, made my way citywards. My mind was full of my interview with the sweet girl who had just left me, and almost unconsciously, wrapped in my own thoughts, I wandered on and on, until I found myself in a quarter of London into which I had never hitherto penetrated. The streets were narrow, and, as if to be in keeping with the general air of gloom, the shops were small and of a sordid nature; hand-carts, barrows, and stalls lined the grimy pavements, and the noise was deafening.

      A clock in a belfry near by struck "One," and as I was beginning to feel hungry, and knew myself to be a long way from my hotel, I cast about me for a lunching-place. But it was some time before I encountered the class of restaurant I wanted. It was situated at the corner of two streets, carried a foreign name over the door, and, though considerably the worse for wear, had a ​cleaner appearance than any other I had as yet experienced.

      Pushing the door open I entered. An unmistakable Frenchman, whose appearance, however, betokened long residence in England, stood behind a narrow counter polishing an absinthe glass. He bowed politely and asked my business.

      "Have you a lunching-room?" I asked.

      "Oui, Monsieur! Cer-tain-lee. If Monsieur will walk upstairs I will take his order!"

      Waving his hand in the direction of a staircase in the corner of the shop he again bowed elaborately, and, following the direction he indicated, I proceeded to the room above. It was long and lofty, commanded an excellent view of both thoroughfares, and was furnished with a few inferior pictures, a much worn oilcloth, half-a-dozen small marble-topped tables, and four times as many chairs.

      When I entered three men were in occupation. Two were playing chess at a side table, while a third, who had evidently no connection with them, was watching the game from a distance, pretending at the same time to be absorbed in his paper. Seating myself at a table near the door, I examined the bill of fare, selected my lunch, and then, to amuse myself while it was preparing, fell to scrutinising my companions.

      Of the chess-players, one was a big, burly fellow, with enormous arms, protruding rheumy eyes, a florid complexion, and a voluminous red beard. His opponent was of a much smaller build, with pale features, a tiny moustache, and watery blue eyes. He wore a pince-nez, and from the length of his hair and a dab of crimson lake upon his shirt cuff, I argued him an artist.

      Leaving the chess players, my eyes lighted on the ​stranger on the other side. He was much more interesting. Indeed, I was surprised to see a man of his stamp in the house at all. He was tall and slim, but exquisitely formed and plainly the possessor of enormous strength. His head, if only from a phrenological point of view, was a magnificent one, crowned with a wealth of jet black hair. His eyes were dark as night and glittered like those of a snake. His complexion was of a decidedly olive hue, though as he sat in the shadow of the corner, it was difficult to tell this at first sight.

      But what most fascinated me about this curious individual was the interest he was taking in the game that the other men were playing. He kept his eyes fixed on the board continually, looking anxiously from one