The Lady of North Star

“This is a pleasure, Joy. I did not know that you had arrived until half an hour ago, not having had the telegram which Adrian sent me. You look wonderfully well, and Adrian looks all the better for his vacation. Take this chair, Joy, and throw off your furs! The cigarettes are on the mantelpiece, Adrian, if Joy does not mind.”

He looked at her with a smile and Joy shook her head.

“Not in the least, Uncle Joseph! Adrian knows that!”

“Then we can indulge. But how are you? You have not yet told me, though of course there is no need. You have the authentic hue of health in your cheeks, and goodness! what a woman you have become! I could almost find it in my heart to envy Adrian the long journey you have made together!” He laughed a little as he spoke, and glanced from Joy to his son. A slight frown showed itself on the young man’s face, and interpreting it rightly, Sir Joseph deftly took another line.

“You have not found the journey too trying, I hope, my dear Joy? But I forget. Of course you are inured to difficulties and hardships at North Star, and a journey of four or five thousand miles does not daunt you as it would a city man like myself.”

Joy laughed a little. “There was not much hardship once we struck the railway. A first-class Pullman and a state-room on a Cunarder are in themselves alleviations of the tedium of a winter journey!”

Sir Joseph laughed with her. “Possibly! But it is not every one who would find them so. I think I could not undertake such a journey now. And I hope there will be no need for you to do so again. Now we have you this side of the herring pond, I hope we may keep you here for a very long time. Your days of exile are over, and North Star Lodge – ”

“Please, uncle,” Joy intervened quickly. “Please do not say anything against North Star. I think of it as my home. I was born there, you know, and I have not found these three years to be like years of exile – they have been full of happy days.”

“Possibly,” laughed the lawyer, “but there are many sorts of happiness, and after the pleasures of the wilderness you will be the better fitted to appreciate the delights of civilization, since all things, as you know, gain by contrast… But where is Miss La Farge? I thought – ”

“She is at the hotel. She was a little tired, but I think that was an excuse. She knew that I was coming here to do business – ”

“Of course! Of course! Very considerate of her I am sure; but there was no need for her to be so punctilious. But business is really of a very simple nature, merely the signing of a few documents which can be completed in under half an hour.” He waved a hand towards the desk. “I have anticipated your arrival, and everything is in order for your signature.”

Joy glanced at the desk, and caught sight of the papers. “Perhaps you will explain what the situation is,” she said. “I am not sure that I understand.”

“Certainly,” answered Sir Joseph with a suave smile. “It is not very complicated. Your father, as you know, left a very large fortune – something over a million pounds – in trust for you, and by his will made me your guardian and sole trustee. One of the conditions of the will was that for three years you were to live at North Star Lodge, and at the end of that time you were to be free to enter upon your inheritance. You have fulfilled the condition, and you now inherit. Indeed you ought to have done so some months ago, and as my trusteeship ended with the fulfilling of the conditions, there are certain actions of mine that ought to be regularized, and for which I shall require your signature.”

“I do not quite follow,” said the girl.

“It is very simple. You were not here to administer the estate, and though I had no authority from you, I was compelled to do so. Of course as your uncle and guardian there was really nothing else for me to do.”

“Of course! Of course!” answered Joy hurriedly. “And you want my signature to – to put things right.”

“Just that!” answered Sir Joseph smilingly.

“Then the sooner you have it the better,” laughed Joy. “Shall I sign them at once?”

“If you like,” answered the lawyer in casual tones, though there was a little flash of eagerness in his eyes.

“It will take but a few moments.”

He moved towards the desk, and as Joy rose from her seat near the fire placed a chair in position for her. The girl seated herself, glanced carelessly at the first document he placed before her, and then asked, “Where do I sign?”

“Here!” answered the lawyer, indicating the place. Joy signed quickly. There were other papers that she did not even look at, but promptly signed each one in turn, as it was presented to her. When she had finished she laid down the pen with a little laugh.

“I feel quite a woman of business.”

“But you are not yet out of the wood,” laughed Sir Joseph. “There is another important matter to be settled, and that is the future management of the estate. It is now your own to do with as you like. You may wish to carry through all transactions relating to it yourself, in which case – ”

“Oh no! no!” cried Joy protestingly. “I should be worried to death. You must manage it for me in the future as you have done in the past. I could not possibly undertake such a task.”

The lawyer smiled. “I was hoping that you would think of that course, though, for obvious reasons I did not care to suggest it. It will be much simpler for you merely to have monies paid into your account instead of occupying perhaps several hours per week in worrying over investments.” He laughed a little. “You would require an office and at least a couple of clerks, Joy.”

“Oh dear!” laughed Joy, “that must never be.”

“Then I will take the burden off your hands, and you will have to give me power of attorney.”

“What is that?” inquired Joy, adding merrily, “I am discovering an abysmal ignorance in myself.” Sir Joseph explained, and the girl nodded. “Of course. There is no difficulty about that. It only gives you the right to continue to exercise the powers you have had up to now, and it will save me a great deal of worry. I suppose there will be another document to sign?”

“Yes,” answered the lawyer smilingly. “One more document to sign. Fortunately I anticipated what your wishes would be; and I had it prepared.” He looked at his son. “We must have a witness, Adrian. Just ring for Benson, will you?”

The young lawyer touched a bell, and a moment later a clerk entered.

“Yes, Sir Joseph.”

“In a moment, Benson. I want you to witness Miss Gargrave’s signature.”

He went to the safe, took from it yet another document which he gave to the girl.

“Read it, Joy.”

“If I must,” answered Joy, and ran through it carelessly.

Then she signed it, and the clerk having witnessed it and been dismissed, Sir Joseph gathered all the papers together, and locked them up. “Business is over for the day,” he said. “I’m going to take a holiday. You will lunch with me at the Ritz, Joy, you and Adrian. I shall take no denial.”

“But there is Babette – ” began Joy.

“Oh, we will telephone to her, and pick her up on the way. We shall then be quite a complete little party, and tonight we will dine, and go on to a theatre afterwards. You will not have seen much acting, of late – ”

“None at all,” laughed Joy, “for three whole years.”

“Then we must certainly go,” answered her uncle. “Let me see – ah, yes! There is the ‘Grizzly Cub,’ a Klondyke play, pure American and very strenuous and exciting. I have seen it once, but I should like to see it again, with some one who knows the country of the play. To me it seems very real, and if it has illusions for you who know the life, I shall know that it is really good. We will go there. Adrian, just tell Benson to ring up the Mitre and engage a box for me, and have my car brought round from the garage.”

It was a merry party that lunched at the Ritz. There was not a hint of the care that had betrayed itself in the lawyer’s face in the solitude of his private room. He was the gay, debonair man of the world that all his acquaintances knew, and he exerted himself to make the lunch an agreeable one. But from time to time, he allowed his eyes to stray towards a table where a couple of young men were lunching with a lady. They seemed very interested in his own party, and presently he saw the lady rise from her seat and walk towards his table. At the same moment Joy Gargrave looked up, and as she caught the young lady’s eyes, started impulsively from her seat.

“You, Penelope!” she cried.

“You, Joy!” mimicked the other. “I thought you were dwelling in the forest primeval?”

“I arrived in London last night. I expect to stay a little time in England. The years of what my uncle calls my exile are over.” She glanced at the lawyer. “Do you know my uncle? No! Then I must introduce you. Uncle, this is Miss Penelope Winter, an old – ”

“You are wrong, Joy,” laughed the lady. “This is no longer Miss Penelope Winter. This is Mrs. Will Grasmore of Grasmore Grange, Westmorland.”

“You are married?” cried Joy.

Mrs. Will Grasmore waved a hand towards the table she had just left. “There sits the happy man, whose complete happiness began three months ago.”

“Which – ” began Joy, and then stopped suddenly, as a curious look came on her face. “Of course! I see! The other one is Geoffrey Bracknell, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” laughed her friend, “and he is dying to renew the acquaintance he began in Westmorland four years ago! May I bring him and Will over? I see that, like ourselves, you are almost at the end of lunch. We might take coffee together.”