"Chinkie's Flat", George Lewis Becke [books to improve english .txt] 📗

some bottles of whisky and soda water, and a small box which held the remains of the ice.

"We can't let this 'melt on as,' as the Irish would say, Mallard," and he placed it in the toilet basin in its covering of blanket. "Now move your lazy self and break a piece off with your knife, whilst I open this bottle of Kinahan's and some soda. I trust the cultured family will not object to the sound of a cork popping at seven o'clock."

"Not they," said Mallard, as he rose; "they would not mind if you took the whisky to the table and drank it out of the bottle. Oh, I can gauge the old dame pretty well, I think; avarice is writ large in her face, and she'll squeeze us all she can. She told me in a mysterious aside that the butler kept all the very best wines and liquor obtainable. I thanked her, and said I usually provided my own. She didn't like it a bit; but I'm not going to pay her a sovereign for a bottle of whisky or Hennessey when I can get a case of either for a five-pound note. Oh!" he added disgustedly, "they're all alike."

"Well, don't worry, old man," said his friend philosophically, as he handed him a glass; "there, take this. I wonder if Mrs. Trap--Trapper, or whatever her name is, thinks we are going to dress for dinner. Neither my sister nor Miss Carolan will, and I'm sure I'm not going to establish a bad precedent."

"Same here. If other people like to waste time dressing for dinner, let them; this town is altogether too new and thriving a place for busy men like ourselves to worry about evening dress. By the way, Grainger, I've some news for you that I trust will give you pleasure: your sister has promised to marry me next year."

Grainger grasped his friend's hand. "I'm glad, very glad, old man. I was wondering what made her so unusually bright this afternoon; but she has kept it dark."

"Hasn't had a chance to tell you yet. I only asked her a couple of hours ago."

"Well, let us go and see her and Miss Carolan before dinner. I can hear them talking in the sitting-room. Hallo! who is that little fellow out there crossing the lawn with the younger Miss Trappeme. He's in full fig.."

Mallard looked out of the window and saw a very diminutive man in evening dress.

"Oh, that's little Assheton, the new manager for the Australian Insurance Company. He's just out from England. He's a fearfully conceited ape, but a smart fellow at the insurance business. Great fun at the 'Queen's' the other day with him. He came in, dressed in frock coat, tall hat, and carrying a thick, curly stick as big as himself. Of course every one smiled, and he took it badly--couldn't see what there was to laugh at; and when old Charteris, the Commissioner, asked him how much he would 'take for the hat,' he put his monocle up and said freezingly, 'Sir, I do not know you.' That made us simply howl, and then, when we had subsided a bit, Morgan the barrister, who is here on circuit with Judge Cooper, said in that fanny, deep, rumbling voice of his--

"'Are you, sir, one of the--ah--ah--circus company which--ah--arrived to-day?'

"The poor little beggar was furious, lost his temper, and called us a lot of ill-mannered, vulgar fellows, and then some one or other whipped off the offending hat, threw it into the street, and made a cockshy of it.

"'I'll have satisfaction for this outrage!' he piped. 'Landlord, send for a policeman. I'll give all these men in charge. Your house is very disorderly. Do you know _who_ I am?'

"'No, nor do I care,' said old Cramp, down whose cheeks the tears were running; 'but if you'll come here like that every day, I'll give you a sovereign, and we'll have the hat. Oh, you're better than any circus I ever saw. Oh, oh, oh!' and he went off into another fit.

"The poor little man looked at us in a dazed sort of a way--thought us lunatics, and then when old Char-tens asked him not to mind a bit of miners' horseplay, but to sit down and have some fizz, he called him 'an audacious ruffian,' and shrieked out--

"'I am Mr. B. D. Assheton--the manager of the Australian Insurance Company. Do you possibly imagine I would drink with a person _like you_?'"

Grainger laughed: "It must have been great fun."

"Rather--but the cream of it is to come yet. He rushed oat into Flinders Street, found Sergeant Doyle and a policeman, and came back panting and furious, and pointing, to Charteris, told them to take him in charge. Doyle looked at us blankly, saw we were nearly dead with laughing, and then took Assheton aside, and said in his beautiful brogue--

"'Me little mahn, it's drinkin' ye've been. Do yez want me to arrest the Po-liss Magisthrate himsilf? Who are ye at all, at all? Ye'd betther be after goin' home and lyin' down, or I'll lock ye up for making a dishturbance. Do ye moind me now?'"

Grainger could no longer control his laughter, and in the midst of it, Myra tapped vigorously at the door, He rose and opened it.

"Whatever is all this noise about, Ted? You two great boys!"

"Oh, take Mallard away, Myra, for heaven's sake!"

A little before eight o'clock the deafening clamour of a gong announced dinner, and the company filed in. Mrs. Trappeme and the Misses Trappeme were in "very much evening dress" as Sheila murmured to Myra, and they seemed somewhat surprised that neither Miss Grainger nor Miss Carolan had donned anything more unusual than perfectly-made dainty gowns of cool white Indian muslin. Grainger and Mallard wore the usual white duck suits (the most suitable and favoured dress for a climate like that of torrid North Queensland), and Sheila could not but admire their big well-set-up figures--both were "six feet men"--and contrast their handsome, bronzed and bearded faces with the insignificant appearance of Assheton and another gentleman in evening dress--a delicate but exceedingly gentlemanly young Scotsman. Of course there were more introductions--all of which were duly and unnecessarily carried out by Mrs. Trappeme. Others of that lady's guests were the local Episcopalian clergyman and his wife--the former was a placid, dreamy-looking, mild creature, with soft, kindly eyes. He smiled at everybody, was evidently in abject terror of his wife--a hard-featured lady about ten years his senior, with high cheek-bones and an exceedingly corrugated neck and shoulders. She eyed Myra and Sheila with cold dissatisfaction, and after dinner had once begun, devoted herself to the task of extracting information from the latter regarding her future movements. She had already discussed her with Mrs. Trappeme, and had informed her hostess that she had "suspicions" about a girl who affected mystery in the slightest degree, and who could afford to pay six guineas a week for simple board and lodging.

"Quite so, Mrs. Wooler," Mrs. Trappeme had assented; "I must confess it doesn't look quite right. Even Juliette thinks it very strange for her to be so reticent as to who she is and where she is going. Of course I could have refused to receive her, and am now rather sorry I did not. I understood from her that Mr. Grainger was an utter stranger to her--and I was quite surprised to see them all come in together as if they had known each other for years. Not quite correct, I think."

"Mr. Grainger is very rich," said the clergyman's wife meditatively.

"Very," said her friend, who knew that Mrs. Wooler meant to do a little begging (for church purposes) as soon as opportunity offered.

"It would be a pity for him to be involved with such a--a forward-looking young person," she said charitably.

But for the first quarter of an hour she had no opportunity of satisfying her curiosity, for Sheila was quite hungry enough not to waste too much time in conversation. At last, however, a chance came, when Mr. Assheton said in his mincing voice--

"I believe, Miss Carolan, that like me, you are quite a new arrival in this country."

"Oh, dear no! I have lived here ever since I was two years old."

"Heah! in Townsville?"

"I meant Australia," Sheila observed placidly.

"Then you are not an Australian born, Miss Carolan?" put in Mrs. Wooler with a peculiarly irritating condescension of manner and surprised tone, as if she meant to say, "I am sure you are--you certainly are not lady-like enough to be an English girl."

"No, I am not," was the reply. "Do you think you will like Queensland, Mr. Assheton?"

"I really have as yet formed no definite impression. Possibly I may in the end contrive to like it."

"Do. It would be a great pity for the country if you did not," said Sheila gravely, without moving an eyelid.

"Do you purpose making a long stay in Queensland, Miss Carolan?" pursued Mrs. Wooler.

"A very long one, perhaps--perhaps on the other hand a very short one. Or it may be that I may adopt a middle course, and do neither."

Grainger, who was opposite, heard her, and as she looked across at him, he saw that she was "playing" her questioner and quite enjoying it.

Never for one moment did the clergyman's wife dream that Sheila meant to be anything else but evasive, so she followed up. To her mind it was absolutely incredible that any woman would dare to snub her--Mrs. Wooler--daughter of a dean, and possessing an uncle who had on several occasions been spoken of by the Bishop of Dullington as his probable successor; such a thing was impossible!

"I presume, however, that your stay in Townsville itself will be short, Miss Carolan? You will find it a very expensive place--especially if you have no friends to whom you can go."

Sheila's face flushed. Her blood was getting up, and Myra looked at her nervously.

"Is there no 'Girls' Friendly Society,' 'Young Women's Christian Association,' or other kindred institution, where I could 'be taken in and done for'?" she asked sweetly.

"Not as yet; but I am thinking of taking steps to found a Girls' Friendly Society. Such an institution will soon be a necessity in a growing place like this."

"How nice it would be for me to go there instead of staying at--at a boarding house!"

Juliette Trappeme's sallow face flushed with rage, and Mrs. Trappeme, who saw that something was occurring, spoke loudly to Mr. Wooler, who answered in his usual soft voice. But Mallard, who was seated next to Miss Lilla Trappeme, shot Sheila an encouraging glance.

"Quite so," went on Mrs. Wooler. "I disapprove most strongly of any young woman incurring risks that can be avoided."

"What risks?" and Sheila turned and looked steadily at Mrs. Wooler.

The sharp query somewhat upset the inquisitive lady, who hardly knew what she meant herself.

"Oh, the risks of getting into debt--living beyond one's means--and things like that."

"Oh, I see, madam," and Sheila bowed gravely, although the danger signals were showing now on her cheeks. Then she added very clearly and distinctly, "That would be most dreadful to happen to any one, would it not, Mr. Assheton?"

"Oh, howwible--for a lady."

"But," she went on--and as she spoke she gazed so intently into Mrs. Wooler's face that every one at the table saw her change colour--"but I am sure, Mrs. Wooler, that no girl could possibly