The Argosy, Vol. 28

# Called to the Rescue, November 1879

This is Chapter XXXI of the serial novel "Called to the Rescue," which concerns itself with financial secrets, romantic entanglements, and personal honor among English gentry and middle-class professionals.

The chapter follows multiple plot threads: Dr. Thaddeus, a naturalist whose museum in Ostend faces closure due to local hostility, agrees to hide important papers concerning a claim on "Miss Emily's" money inside a vacant specimen case—a safe place from the machinations of a dangerous professor. Paul, a young servant who brought the papers, accepts the doctor's protection and employment.

Meanwhile, Lewis Frankland, a schoolmaster holidaying at Folkestone, realizes his pupil Cecilia Wilmot has lost interest in his company; Ernest Archdale arrives bearing financial troubles stemming from his mother's imprudent use of his signature on share transfers, facilitated by the scheming Cosmo Dangerfield. Ernest declares his commitment to earning competence through labor, accepting potential emigration to India or the Colonies. Mr. Bourne, Cecilia's guardian, hints at providing a daughter's portion to whichever young man proves worthy of her affection.