Fiction > Book editions > London, 1885 - Dynamiter

THE FAIR CUEAX, 177
mucli as I regret it, I, for one, am clone with you. Tliis
fellow Caulder demands your extradition.'
'But a slave,' I returned, 'is safe in England.'
' Yes, by George ! ' replied the baronet ; ' but it's
not a slave, Miss Valdevia, it's a thief that he demands.
He has quietly destroyed the will; and now accuses you
of robbing your father's bankrupt estate of jewels to the
value of a hundred thousand pounds.'
I was so much overcome by indignation at this
hateful charge and concern for my unhappy fate that
the genial l)aronet made haste to put me more at ease.
'Do not be cast down,' said he. ' Of course, I wash
my hands of you myself. A man in my position —
baronet, old family, and all that — cannot possibly be too
particular about the company he keeps. But I am a
deuced good-humoured old boy, let me tell you, when
not ruffled; and I will do the best I can to put you right.
I will lend you a trifle of ready money, give you the
address of an excellent lawyer in London, and find a
way to set you on shore unsuspected.'
He was in every particular as good as his word.
Four days later, the ' Nemorosa ' sounded her way, under
the cloak of a dark night, into a certain haven of the
coast of England; and a boat, rowing with muffled oars,
set me ashore upon the beach Avithin a stone's throw of
a railway station. Thither, guided by Sir George's
directions, I groped a devious way; and finding a bench
upon the platform, sat me down, wrapped in a man's fur
great-coat, to await the coming of the day. It was
still dark when a light w^as struck behind one of the
windows of the building ; nor had the east begun to
kindle to the warmer colours of the dawn, before a portej-,
carrying a lantern, issued from the door and found him-
self face to face with the unfortunate Teresa. He looked
all about him ; in the grey twilight of the dawn, the
haven was seen to lie deserted, and the yacht had long
since disappeared.
' Who are you ? ' he cried.
' I am a traveller,' said I.
' And where do you come from ? ' he asked.
N