But as she listened her face grew paler and paler, and presently she
burst into tears, and sobbed so violently that I was alarmed.
'It is nothing,--nothing but joy,' she gasped out at length. 'I could
not hear you say that you had seen him, my own Eric, and not be overcome.
Oh, Ursula, if I had only been with you!' And she hid her face on my
shoulder, and for a little while I could say no more.
When she was calmed I finished all that I had to tell, and read her the
advertisements, but they seemed to frighten her.
'How dreadful if Etta or Giles should see them!' she said nervously.
'Etta is so clever, she finds out everything. I would not have her read
one of them for worlds. Why did you put your name, Ursula?--it is so
uncommon.'
'No one will connect me with Jack Poynter. I did not think there would be
any risk,' I replied soothingly. 'I put "for Gladys's sake" in the _Daily
Telegraph_. You see, we must try to attract his notice.'
'Giles never takes in the _Daily Telegraph_. We have the _Times_ and the
_Standard_, and the _Morning Post_ for Etta. Which did you put in the
_Standard_?'
I repeated the advertisement: 'Jack Poynter's friends believe him dead,
and are in great trouble: he is entreated to undeceive them. One word to
the old address will be a comfort to his poor sister.'
'That will do,' she answered, in a relieved tone. 'Etta cannot read
between the lines there. Oh, Ursula, do you think that Eric will see
them?'
I assured her that there was no doubt on the subject. All the better
class of workmen had access to some club or society, where they saw the
leading papers. I thought the _Daily Telegraph_ the most likely to meet
his eyes, and should continue to insert an advertisement from time to
time. 'We must be patient and wait a little,' I continued. 'Even if our
appeals do not reach him, there is every probability that Joe Muggins
or one of the other workmen will come across him. We want to find out
where Jack Poynter lives. I mean to write to Joe in a few days, and offer
him a handsome sum if he can tell me his address.'
'That will be the best plan; but, oh, Ursula, how am I to be patient?
To think of my dear boy becoming a common workman! he is poor, then; he
wants money. I feel as though I cannot rest, as though I must go to
London and look for him myself.'
Gladys looked so excited and feverish that I almost repented my
confidence. I did all I could to soothe her.
'Surely, dear, it is not so difficult to wait a little, knowing him to be
alive and well, as it was to bear that long suspense.'
'Oh, but I never believed him to be dead,' she answered quickly. 'I was
very anxious, very unhappy, about him, often miserable, but in my dreams
he was always full of life. When I woke up I said to myself, "They are
wrong; Eric is in the world somewhere; I shall see him again."'
'Just so; and now with my own eyes I have seen him, evidently in perfect
health and in good spirits.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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