Tom Gallon

“ It'll never do to cry, you know. Only I'm not the sort of prince you want—indeed, I'm not. I came here to-night—God forgive me!—with a very different thought in my mind. Now I'm going away again; and you—rich little baby!—will go back to your warm bed, and dream that the prince is coming one of these days to make you happy. ”

“ He discovered, also, that the only resource left to the young man was ignominious flight—as a ruined and beggared man, without a penny in the world. Here was the chance of a lifetime; and Simon Feast would not have been the man he was, had he not taken advantage of it.
After much search (for Denis Brenderby was practically in hiding) he discovered the young man, in a villainous little inn, in a vile quarter of London. Even there, the young man kept up some sort of style: he had a room to himself, was drinking rather more than was good for him, and was utterly reckless in regard to the future. ”

“ For two of these men, at least, were there in the dingy inn in London, to plot against her life.
"Think of the position," said the lawyer, in a voice little above a whisper, and after much talk on his part, and much grim silence on the part of Denis Brenderby, "think how matters stand. On the one side, we will put yourself—a young man, in the full flush of early manhood—knowing the world, and knowing what pleasures await him"—he coughed again slightly, and turned his sharp eyes on the young man—"with money. ”

“ There never was a princess yet, left alone in a 'chanted castle, but there came along presently a prince, to rescue her. Sometimes she waited years—didn't she?"
"There have been such cases, I believe," he replied gravely, wondering whether or not this were a dream.
"Sometimes he came in a jump, like. But he always took her away—and always at night. But you have been a long time!"
Come, Denis Brenderby—here is the chance! Behind you, fortune and all that you desire; in front, the troubled waters, and this baby at your side! Far easier than you imagined, Denis Brenderby! ”

“ The lawyer Feast and Reuben Jelf put in an appearance once more at the house—the first full of sneering contempt for the man who was wasting time over "the brat"; the second rough with threats and demands. In an instant Denis saw that to leave the child and the fortune in the hands of these men would be worst of all. That frail life that had so lately touched the borderland of Death was not safe while that great fortune depended upon her. ”

“ On the other hand, there is this child, a waif of the gutter—unknown, and, in a sense, unknowing. Under ordinary circumstances, on the death of her mother she would have gone to that home of the homeless—the workhouse."
"It—it's a little rough on the kid," said Denis, with a gulp, stretching out his hand towards the bottle which stood near him.
"That's right, my boy—take something to drink; pull yourself together," said his friend Mr. Reuben Jelf. "You're so frightfully sensitive. What on earth does the child matter to you? ”

“ Denis Brenderby was. That is to say, they thought they knew; for there is in every man some hidden trait which may come out under advantageous circumstances, and quite unexpectedly. And, as shall be shown, that hidden trait was to come out in this case.
Mr. Denis Brenderby had been born into the world with a silver spoon in his mouth—indeed, in such luxurious circumstances that there was even found someone to fill the spoon, and put it between his lips for him. It might have been more fortunate had the spoon been of more common material and less well filled ”

“ Denis Brenderby said nothing. He sat at the table, in the mean little room, with his head propped on his hand, while he drummed with his finger-tips on the stained wood, almost as though the subject could not interest him. The friend, on the other hand—Mr. Reuben Jelf—was deeply interested, and questioned the lawyer sharply.
"A mere gutter-child, I suppose?" he said bitterly. "A creature, who, when she grows up, will fling all she has to the winds, and make herself the talk of the county—eh?" ”

“ Being a woman, and having, perhaps, for that reason some deeper intuition than a man might have had, she said never a word, but opened the door of a room and, with a finger on her lips, signed to him to enter. And Denis Brenderby went in. ”

“ Nature—wiser than ourselves—has taken the matter in her own hands. The child, in quite an ordinary fashion, has caught something of a fever; We are waiting to-night for the inevitable. My dear Mr. Brenderby, I congratulate you. It is so much easier than—than the other way."
Denis Brenderby stood with a dazed look in his eyes, and did not answer. To do him justice, all thought of what this easy solution of the matter would mean to him was gone; instead, he saw one poor, frail little life battling hard against those who watched for the spark to go out ”

“ She does not concern this history, more than by reason of the fact that she left behind a baby girl, of some six or seven years, utterly unprovided for. Or so she thought at the time, being quite unaware of the existence of the dying George Brenderby.
Gossip carried the news of the dead stranger and the living child to the ears of the dying man. Here was his chance. His lawyer was in attendance—vainly pleading, if the truth were told, for the son who had been cast off. It was a matter of a few hours for everything to be arranged. ”

“ And in that time you will have forgotten the prince of your dreams, and will only hear, with a little regret, of the man whose fortune became yours, and who was of no account, and about whom no one ever troubles. ”

“ More than that, you have to understand that the true story has not got about yet. Hard pressed as you are, it's nothing to the hunt that will start when the world knows you haven't a penny. And I start that hunt to-morrow. ”

“ The Baby that Stood Between
By Tom Gallon
JUST at what speed a man may travel downhill, in the moral sense—or, perhaps it should be said, in the immoral sense—has never exactly been stated, possibly because those most nearly interested do not concern themselves with the statistics of the matter. As in all other speed contests, however, records are made and broken every year.
Mr. Denis Brenderby—still a very young man—had done something towards establishing a record, not without certain pomp and ceremony. You can have a blare of trumpets in matters of vice, as well as in those of virtue ”