January 4, 1896. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
293 
EILEY DEAflE 
By Miss Evelyn C. Griffiths. 
[All rights reserved.) 
CHAPTER V. 
Carlo on Guard. 
Lord Bewdley had not been gone more than ten 
minutes when the Doctor’s gig turned the corner. 
Fogger was taking it very easily, walking at a snail's 
pace; for the little Doctor’s matrimonial schemes 
were again busily at work, and he was to much occu¬ 
pied with the prospect of his impending interview 
with Eiley to observe Fogger’s laziness. 
Once again he was abruptly interrupted in his day 
dreams, this time by Fogger, who suddenly shied 
into the ditch, thereby upsetting the gig, Doctor and 
dreams altogether. The Doctor turned a complete 
somersault and found himself sitting in the road 
facing a huge Newfoundland who was showing his 
teeth and growling ominously. 
“Bless my soul!” cried the poor little man. 
“ Don't look like that! I would not interfere with 
you on any account ; I assure you I would not. I am 
Dr. Curum, you know—very well known ! Never 
hurt a thing in my life! Please move a little 
further off and let me get up. I cannot sit here all 
day you know, really cannot. My time is valuable, 
very valuable.” 
Directly he tried to rise from the ground the dog 
showed plainly by his teeth and voice that he had no 
intention of allowing him to rise in the world, at any 
rate for the present. “ Bless my soul! ” exclaimed 
the Doctor. “What a dreadful position to be in, 
sitting down on the ground in the dust here like a 
heathen. Dear, dear! Supposing any of my 
patients should pass ! ” 
At this moment, Carlo, evidently thinking he had 
awed the man into submission, got up, walked to 
Eiley, who lay a yard or two nearer the side of the 
road, and lay down with his fore paws across her, 
his head resting upon them, and still keeping his 
eyes upon the Doctor. 
“ Oh, my gracious ! ” cried the little man, turning 
as pale as his rubicund complexion would allow. 
“ Oh, what a murderous brute ! Why, he has killed 
a woman ! Oh, what shall I do ? He’ll he killing 
me next. I wish I could run away, but I daren’t 
move! Oh dear, oh dear, I wish I had stopped at 
home ! Fll try coaxing him. Good dog, good dog ! 
Come along then. Good old man—good boy ! ” 
But Carlo was not to be coaxed, so Dr. Curum had 
no alternative but to sit still in the road waiting 
patiently, or perhaps I should say impatiently, for 
some one to come to his assistance ; whilst Fogger 
stood calmly in the ditch eating the grass which 
grew at the side, and perfectly unmindful of the over¬ 
turned gig behind him. 
This was the tableau which met Lord Bewdley’s 
view when he returned in a trap with the landlord of 
" The Horseshoes." “ Halloo! Doctor; had a 
spill?” he cried as he quickly alighted from the 
vehicle. “ Allow me to help you to rise. Not hurt, 
I hope ? ” 
"Thank you, my lord,” replied the Doctor with a 
sigh of relief. “ Thank you. No, not hurt—shaken, 
that is all—shaken. So that is your dog—yes, of 
of course, I ought to have known. A good dog— 
rough, but well meaning—well meaning." Lord 
Bewdley, who had taken in the little Doctor’s 
position at a glance, would have laughed if he had 
not felt so anxious about Eiley. 
" I hope he did not frighten you. Doctor, but the 
fact is, I left him on guard while I went for assist¬ 
ance. Eil—Miss Deane has been attacked and 
seemingly half murdered by some scoundrel; robbery 
I suppose, as I found a shilling on the ground 
beside her which the villain must have dropped un¬ 
noticed. Now, Roberts, help me to lift her into the 
trap—that's it. Dr. Curum, will you get in, please, 
and we will drive on to the Manor ; you will be better 
able to attend Miss Deane there. Roberts will see 
to your gig." 
“ Is the dog safe, my lord ? ” queried the Doctor, 
eyeing Carlo suspiciously. He had followed his 
master into the trap and was licking Eiley’s hand. 
She had made a friend of the good-tempered dog when 
she first came to the Manor and he was greatly 
attached to her. Dr. Curum entered the vehicle 
upon being assured that Carlo was quite harmless 
except when set to guard anything. Upon arriving 
at the Manor, Eiley was carried to her room. D r . 
Curum having examined her and given Susan—the 
housemaid who generally waited upon Eiley—full 
instructions as to the treatment to be followed, 
descended to the drawing room to tell Lady Bewdley 
the result. 
It was a large, luxuriously-furnished room. Lady 
Bewdley was reclining in a low easy chair, placed 
near a small ebony table, upon which was a lamp 
shaded with pale blue silk, the soft light just tinting 
the folds of a long, loose, white tea-gown in which she 
was robed. She was apparently reading, but any¬ 
one observing her closely would have noticed that 
the gray eyes constantly left the pages of the book 
which she held in her hand, and followed the figure 
of Lord Bewdley as he slowly paced up and down 
the room. Carlo walked to and fro solemnly after 
his master; whenever they came to the end of the 
room where Lady Bewdley was sitting, the dog gave 
a low growl. 
“ Quiet, Carlo, quiet! ’’ said Lord Bewdley when 
the dog gave a louder growl than before. Lady 
Bewdley gave a low laugh ; it was a musical laugh, 
but there was something unpleasant in it. " Carlo 
still refuses to make friends with me, Arthur," she 
said. “ Yes," he replied absently. “ It is curious. 
I have never known him to take a dislike to an) one 
else.” 
She gave the same soft laugh as she said, “ I am 
afraid it must be hereditary, Arthur. If you recol¬ 
lect, his mother was the same ; she was antagonistic 
to me from the moment I set foot in Bewdley 
Manor ; she flew at me as I entered and tore my 
gown. Your poor father did his best to make peace 
between us, but all to no purpose.” 
"Strange,” muttered Lord Bewdley. “Poor 
Nell was very faithful to my father.” He stopped in 
his walk and laid his hand on the head of his 
favourite as he said, more to himself as if following 
some train of thought than really addressing the 
dog: “ I wonder if you would object. Carlo, if I 
should bring home a wife ? ” Lady Bewdley looked 
up quickly and was about to make some remark, 
when Dr. Curum came bustling into the room, so 
she checked herself and addressed him instead. 
“ How is Miss Deane, Doctor? Is she seriously 
hurt?” “Yes, my lady,” he replied, bowing 
obsequiously ; “ I am afraid so. It is concussion. 
She must have been thrown to the ground with 
great violence—great violence. It is undoubtedly a 
case of robbery, for Susan tells me that Eiley took 
the money your ladyship paid her this morning out 
with her, intending to pay part of a debt she owes. 
It is always a bad plan to run into debt—always. 
However, she has no money in her pocket now, not 
even an empty purse; so clearly it must have been 
stolen from her—clearly.” 
“Is she likely to be ill long?” inquired Lady 
Bewdley. “Well, my lady,’’ replied the Doctor, 
putting his hand to his chin and stroking it thought¬ 
fully, “it entirely depends how the case progresses. 
If all goes well it will be some weeks before she is 
convalescent—some weeks. But if it should take a 
turn the other way, why, a few days will settle it, 
or even a few hours." 
“ Heaven forbid ! ” ejaculated Lord Bewdley. 
Again the gray eyes of his stepmother shot a quick 
glance at him as if trying to read his thoughts. 
“ Yes, heaven forbid ! my lord," echoed the Doctor. 
“ It is very unfortunate for Eiley that it should have 
happened now—very unfortunate; just when there 
was such a fine prospect before her.” 
“ A fine prospect! ” repeated Lady Bewdley 
coldly. “ To what do you refer. Doctor ? " 
“ Ah, a little surprise, my lady—a little surprise,” 
chuckled the Doctor as he wiped the ever-rising 
beads of perspiration from his bald head and face 
with the yard or more of red handkerchief. “If 
Eiley lives, as I trust she may, poor dear, she will 
become Mrs. Curum.—I beg your pardon, my lord, 
did you speak ? No ?— my mistake. I fancied you 
made some remark. Well, as I was saying, Eiley 
is to be Mrs. Curum. Of course it is throwing 
myself away, entirely so, entirely. But I do not 
think of that ; she will consider it I have no doubt, 
and pay extra attention to my comforts as a little 
set off. It is a brilliant thing for her to be raised to 
my position— my position; a great deal more than 
she could ever have expected, and, of course, she 
will appreciate it.” 
If the doctor could have known how the fingers of 
Lord Bewdley were itching to knock him down during 
the course of this speech, it is probable that he would 
have felt quite as uncomfortable at his close 
proximity to his lordship as he had done in the after¬ 
noon at the presence of his lordship’s dog. 
“ I understand, then, that you are engaged to Miss 
Deane ? " It was Lord Bewdley who spoke and his 
voice sounded strangely hard and strained. 
“ No, my lord, no. I have not spoken to Eiley as 
yet. I had intended doing so to-day—-in fact I came 
over for that very purpose. You will remember I 
gave ) ou a message for her, asking her to remain in 
to see me. If she lives it will be all right of course. 
She would not think of refusing me ; she would 
never get such another chance, never.’’ 
“ I really hope the girl will recover for your sake, 
Doctor," said Lady Bewdley in her suave manner. 
“ For I think she will make you an admirable wife. 
Certainly, as you say, you could doubtless do better ; 
but it will really be a charity to her, for I could not 
have retained her much longer, not requiring her 
services any more, and I do not know what would 
have become of her as she had no friends nor money- 
Miss Deane really ought to be very grateful to you, 
Doctor." Lady Bewdley glanced at her stepson as 
she spoke, but if she expected to read anything in 
his face she was disappointed, for it was quite 
unreadable. He was apparently wholly engrossed in 
disentangling a burr from Carlo's coat. 
Dinner being announced the Doctor was invited to 
remain, which he did. He saw Eiley again before 
he left, and, finding her still unconscious, said he 
would come the first thing in the morning ; and he 
left Susan in charge as night nurse. 
[To he continued.) 
-- 5 -- 
Qoescions add adsojghs 
*,* Will our friends who send us newspapers he so good 
as to mark the paragraphs or articles they wish us to see 
We shall be greatly obliged by their so doing. 
Does Primula obconica sting?— D. C. ; We 
should hardly speak of the plant under this epithet, 
but rather say that we are inclined to believe that 
the glandular hairs prove more or less irritable to 
the skin of some people. We have several times 
tried the experiment and find no inconvenience 
accrue from the handling of the plant. Other 
people attest to the contrary. The only sure 
way of determining, in your own case, whether 
the plant irritates the skin or not, is to put it to the 
test, using what caution you may at the first trial or 
two. 
Planting and Pruning Fruit Trees.— W.T.: 
We consider that young trees should receive the 
necessary pruning as soon as they are planted. 
During the spring months the sap is slowly ascend¬ 
ing the stems and causing the buds on the shoots to 
swell up preparatory to breaking into leaf and 
blossom. The upper ones on the shoots are first 
affected, so that if there are left till spring and then 
cut away, it means so much of the energy of the tree 
wasted, besides making the young growths later 
than they would otherwise have been. There is no 
object gained by that method, but if the trees are 
pruned at once or when planted, they will break all 
the more vigorously for it in spring. 
Sowing Peas.— R.J. : Little or no advantage is 
gained by sowing yet, especially on heavy soil in¬ 
clined to be wet. A better plan would be to sow 
some early variety in small pots, on turves, or in long 
boxes consisting of two boards loosely nailed 
together in a triangular or V-shaped form, with 
cross pieces on the ends to make them stand on the 
floor of some cool house where the frost is just kept 
out. February would be early enough to do this 
Gradually harden off the Peas and plant them out 
in March, when the weather will permit the opera¬ 
tion with safety. A 
Communications received.— Tomato (next week). 
—A. J.—W. M.—H. C — K.—J. Gibson —A. P.— 
Cecile M. Thomson.—Robert Veitch & Son.— 
C. B. G —R. J. Hamill. 
»l» -- 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED- 
Robert Veitch & Son, 54, High Street, Exeter.— 
Catalogue of Kitchen Garden and Flower Seeds. 
John Peed & Sons, Roupell Park Nurseries, West 
Norwood, London, S.E.—Catalogue of Vegetable 
and Flower Seeds, &c. 
Thomas Methven & Sons, 15, Princes Street and 
Leith Walk, Edinburgh.—Garden Seeds, Improve¬ 
ments, &c. 
Charles Sharpe & Co., Ltd., Sleaford, Lincoln¬ 
shire.—Seed List. 
Tohn Downie, 144, Princes Street, Edinburgh. — 
Seed Catalogue 
Dickson, Brown & Tait, 43 and 45, Corporation 
Street, Manchester.—Catalogue of Vegetable and 
Flower Seeds and Garden Requisites. 
Alexander Findlayson, 42, Above Bar, 
Southampton.—Illustrated Descriptive Seed List. 
S. F. Richmond, The Nurseries, Ossett.—Descrip¬ 
tive Catalogue of Chrysanthemums. 
