The Veiled Man by Ambrose Pratt — Read

Norah's disappearance was the subject of town talk on the following day, and public opinion soon bracketed her name with that of Simon Vicars. The gossips declared that she had eloped with him, and they had evidence. Had not Simon called to see her at the laundry an hour before she vanished? Moreover, George Dale, a railway porter, had observed her enter a third-class carriage of the ten train for London, while every one knew that Simon had caught an earlier train, and had not yet returned. The thing was transparent. Norah's old lover, the under-gardener at the vicarage, acquired a sudden popularity. His idlest cronies got hold of him and treated him at the Cawthorne Arms so often that before noon he was quite intoxicated, and had already sworn a dozen oaths to crack the little valet's skull if he had to follow him half over England. Everybody sympathised with him, and execrated Simon.

How dared a little ferret-faced rat of a man like Simon steal away their prettiest girl? Feeling soon ran high especially at the docks, for Norah was well liked, and the daughter of one of the oldest hands, a man who had grown up in the service of the company. The men muttered together at their work, and Denis Flaherty was pleasantly astonished at the number of invitations he received to drink. Denis, in his secret heart, was not inconsolable at Norah's loss; it meant one mouth less at home to feed, and Norah had always spent her little earnings on her own back. But Denis understood the popular demand, and he supplied it with a fine show of virtuous indignation, and dark mutterings of vengeance. He even went so far as to declare his intention of seeing the Earl about the matter; for was not Simon, in a way, Lord Cawthorne's servant, and therefore was not the Earl, in some vague measure responsible! His friends applauded him, and somewhat to Denis' dismay promptly fixed that night for the task. Half Stayton in fact, resolved to escort him to the Castle. Every man at the docks loved the Earl, and would not have pained him for the world. They all said that and repeated the remark at intervals. But a scandal, any scandal was dear to their souls; and was it not every man's duty to see that a rogue should be punished?