Page:The Fate of Fenella (1892).djvu/220

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ARTHUR A'BECKETT.
205

pardon me, sir—I should say my lord—you are what I may call a superfluity."

"Then you refuse to help me?" said Frank angrily.

"Well, that is not quite as I want to put it," replied the officer of police, "but I guess it's about the true meaning. Don't be impatient, sir; many a bright undertaking has been ruined by too much impatience. I know it isn't pleasant advice to anyone to be told to take things coolly, but that's just the advice I would give to you. Let things slide a bit, and when the time is ripe for action, why then you shall know all about it."

"At least you will give me the colonel's address?"

"Can't say I can; the colonel is a man of business, and you will hear of him from everyone in the proper quarter; but it is no part of my duty to act as a directory. You will run against him soon enough without my aid. So, sir, or as I should say, my lord, if you are not busy, I am, and I must wish you good-day."

With that, the official bowed and walked away. Frank, finding that nothing was to be done, turned also, and so the men separated.

In his hurry to leave England and reach the United States, Fenella's husband had neglected to arm himself with letters of introduction, and now he found the disadvantage of being in a strange city without a friend. He walked down