225 The Old Love. I. You love me, only me. Do I not know? And is remembering all that was before. And yet-Ah husband, though I be more fair, More worth your love, and though you loved her not, As though you conned old stories long forgot, II. The mountain traveller, joyous on his way, I would not have again the things that were. Of flowers I gathered in my childish play. And thou, my very soul, can it touch thee If I remember her or I forget? Does the sun ask if the white stars be set ? Yes, I recall, shall many times, maybe, Recall the dear old boyish days again, The dear old boyish passion. Love, what then? VOL. XXVIII.-No. 164. AUGUSTA WEBSTER. 11. Zelda's Fortune. CHAPTER IV. THE GREEN-ROOM.. HE failure of the ener getic search of the police after Aaron 000 Goldrick reflected less discredit upon their weiterintelligence than lookers-on supposed. As there had been no inquest, much necessary evidence had evad no never been brought to om light. Lucas had kept back as much as possible for Mdlle. Leczinska's sake, and Carol for his own, so that the only connecting link between the great theatrical manager they were looking dalw starfor and the vagrant Aabres gipsy, whom they were not looking for, was onthe squint of which they had never been told. So it happened, unfortunately for justice, that his solitary undisguisable mark stood Aaron in good stead. It would never have occurred even to a second Vidocq that a man with such a note of identification about him could be a man of whom no such note had ever been reported. Some part of his security, however, was no doubt due to Aaron's own cunning. He knew that every sea-port and every exit from London would be watched, so it was clearly his safest policy to remain among the streets until time enough had passed to make everybody sure that he had not escaped. He had plenty of money about him for immediate needs: he required no indoor lodging, and no food but what the pavement could supply. As soon as the search narrowed and the police turned their attention to the ground at their feet, he could easily walk out some afternoon and tramp his way to where a thousand pounds were still waiting for him in a house where he might hide comfortably till the whole affair was blown over. He gave himself plenty of time to mature his plans, and found them not unpromising. His rôle of respectability, limited as it was, had been a hard strain upon him, and it was with a feeling of intense relief that he breathed once more the free air of outlawry. Except for gold's sake, the old hand-to-mouth life had been the best after all. He had not even lost the golden goose whom he had chosen to call Zelda: he flattered himself that he could still collect eggs enough to feed both his pocket and his revenge. He had not failed to recognise her ambition to become a great lady and to free herself from his clutches, so that his silence would be something worth buying. He argued in this way, if it is lawful to reduce the instincts of genius to logical forms. "If Margaret will still go on bleeding, I can get Zelda to pay me at least half her earnings to say nothing. If Margaret holds me to my bargain after giving me the thousand pounds, I shall have the thousand, and Zelda will still pay. If Zelda won't pay, she'll buy my secret, and I shall get the reward besides. Faith, I shall live like a lord-'tis but chousing the Gorgios, after all. It's them the stuff comes from, and what's Mag's is mine, and as I meant to go halves with Zelda, Zelda ought to go halves with me. Considering what her keep and training have cost me, that's but fair." In short, while to go under water without leaving a circle upon the surface is generally considered an impossible feat of dexterity in a civilised country, for Aaron, who belonged to a republic within a republic, nothing was more simple. His chance meeting with Carol, though it was a good test of the sufficiency of his general disguise, he accepted as the signal for its being time to make his plunge for a thousand pounds, and to come up on the other side so soon as the hunt should pass by. He had considerable fear of a visible policeman, but he had none of that hunted sensation which is supposed to be a criminal's worst punishment. As long as all things went well without, all was well with him within. His first precaution alone was enough to ensure his safety. He walked across country until, by following a track whereof half was evolved from wide local knowledge and half from a sort of cat-like sagacity, he found congenial quarters and comrades under a rugged tent in a Surrey lane. It is men like Aaron Goldrick who are masters of the human situation. You might toss him down where you please, but you could no more overturn him than a round ball. It was not so much that he fell upon his legs like a cat as that he could stand as well upon one part of himself as upon another. Strip him stark naked and cast him upon a desert island, and he would manage to play heads and tails for cowries with the sea-gulls, if land-gulls were not to be found. Put a noose round |