Adrien Leroy | Page 8

setting the girl down on her feet, led her into his study.
The room in which she found herself was not lofty, but the ceiling was
exquisitely painted, while from the four corners hung electric lights
'neath delicate shades. The furniture was rich in colour, solid as befitted
a man's room, while on the walls were a few rare engravings. A couple
of gun-cases in one corner and a veritable stock of fishing implements
in another showed that Leroy was not unaccustomed to sport; it was
one of his man Norgate's complaints that he was not allowed to pack
them away, but must leave them there, close at hand, just as Leroy
might want them.
It was not these, however, that held the girl's attention so fixedly, but
the cut Venetian glass on the inlaid cabinets and the gold ornaments on
the carved Florentine mantel.
"Home at last," he said with a smile; and, opening another door on the
left, he led her unresistingly into a second room.
But here the girl seemed as if struck dumb with astonishment. She was
evidently overwhelmed by the magnificence and luxury on which her
eyes rested, and Leroy smiled in amusement at her unspoken
admiration.
"Come and warm yourself," he said kindly, drawing one of the divans
nearer to the fire.

Lightly she trod over the rose carpet, and dropped with a sigh into the
chair.
"Give me your hands. Don't hold them near the fire yet," he said, and
began to gently chafe the poor blue fingers, for he knew the danger of
too sudden heat. "That is better--they will soon get warm. And now we
will have something to eat."
He crossed over to the bell; and in a few moments the door opened
noiselessly.
"Let us have some supper, Norgate," said Leroy; and the dignified
man-servant disappeared as silently as he had entered, while his master
returned to the fire-place, and stood looking down at the girl he had
rescued.
As yet she had not spoken; but her eyes had been wandering over the
many splendours of the room. Suddenly she lifted them to the
handsome face above her, and said in a low, awe-struck whisper:
"Is this the king's palace? And are you a prince?"
Adrien Leroy smiled.
"By no means," he said. "Ah! here comes something you require, I
know," he added, as the door opened, and Norgate entered, bearing a
large silver tray.
Having set the chairs to table, and placed the wine and glasses at hand,
the man announced respectfully that supper was served. His master
dismissed him, guessing that the girl would be less embarrassed if
alone with him; and Norgate retired with a face as expressionless as if
the entertaining of "street waifs"--as he mentally termed the young
visitor--were of nightly occurrence.
Adrien placed a plate of cold chicken on a low table beside her.
"You are warm there," he said, as he poured her out a glass of wine.

The girl looked up into his face with a mute, questioning glance; then,
taking courage from the kindly eyes, she picked up her knife and fork
with long, thin, but well-shaped hands.
Leroy turned to the table, and by dint of helping himself from various
dishes, under a pretence of making a hearty meal, he gave her
confidence; and presently he saw that she had commenced to eat.
Adrien rose from time to time, and waited on her with a delicacy and
tenderness with which few of his friends would have credited him; till,
with a sigh of content, she laid down the knife and fork.
"Are you better now?" he asked as he took her plate.
She looked up at him in speechless adoration, and her eyes filled with
tears.
"How good you are to me," she said. "I never dreamt there could be
such a beautiful place as this. Do you often bring people in out of the
cold?"
His face became grave.
"No," he said evasively--"not as often as I should, I'm afraid. And now,
suppose you tell me your name."
"Jessica," she replied simply.
"And have you no relatives--no friends to help you?" he continued.
She shook her head sadly.
"Only Martha and Johann," was the hopeless reply.
"You poor child! And what does friend Johann do for a living?"
Again she shook her head.
"I don't know. He gets drunk."

"An overfilled profession that," said Leroy, with a sigh. "And now,
what are we to do with you, little Jessica?"
She looked up with frightened eyes.
"Oh," she cried breathlessly, "are you going to turn me out into the cold
again? Must I go? Oh, I knew it was too good to last!"
In her terror she had started up; but Leroy put her back gently into the
chair.
"No, little one,