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diff --git a/old/66635-0.txt b/old/66635-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 27692a5..0000000 --- a/old/66635-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2271 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, -Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 49, Vol. I, December 6, 1884, by -Various - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, - Fifth Series, No. 49, Vol. I, December 6, 1884 - -Author: Various - -Release Date: October 31, 2021 [eBook #66635] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Susan Skinner, Eric Hutton and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The Internet - Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL OF POPULAR -LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART, FIFTH SERIES, NO. 49, VOL. I, DECEMBER 6, -1884 *** - - - - -[Illustration: - -CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL - -OF - -POPULAR - -LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART - -FIFTH SERIES - -ESTABLISHED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, 1832 - -CONDUCTED BY R. CHAMBERS (SECUNDUS) - -NO. 49.—VOL. I. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1884. PRICE 1½_d._] - - - - -POISONING. - - -An examination of the Registrar-general’s annual Report for 1882 gives -some interesting and suggestive statistics as to cases of poisoning, -which we think it may not be out of place to call attention to. -Probably few of our readers will be aware how frequently cases of -poisoning occur in the ordinary course of events. In the year 1881, -for example, there were five hundred and sixty-nine deaths recorded -in England alone from poisoning; while the year 1882 shows a record -considerably in excess of this, namely, five hundred and ninety-nine, -or one in every eight hundred and sixty-three of the total deaths -registered. Fully two-fifths of these cases are classified under the -heading ‘Accident and Negligence’—the remainder are suicides, of which -we will have a word to say by-and-by—and as it is not too much to -assume that in nearly every instance such cases are preventable, we -purpose calling attention to some of the more common causes of these -fatalities, in the hope that the suggestions and warnings thrown out -may not be without their influence in producing more care in the -handling and use of these dangerous substances. - -Glancing over the various poisons, we find that the well-known -preparations of opium, laudanum, and morphia—opium itself being -included—head the list, having caused eighty-five deaths through -accident or negligence. This might have been expected from preparations -so largely used in domestic remedies; but the seventy-eight deaths from -lead-poisoning which follow do surprise us, in view of the fact that -the conditions which produce as well as the conditions which mitigate -or counteract the effects of this subtle poison, are now so well known. -Lead is followed by the four stronger acids—hydrochloric, nitric, -sulphuric, and carbolic, which amongst them have caused thirty-four -deaths under the same category. Arsenic, again, caused nine; -phosphorus, eleven; chlorodyne, six; chloral, fourteen; chloroform, -four; soothing syrup, four; with a host of casualties from substances -of minor importance. - -Reading between the lines of the Registrar-general’s Report, which -it is not difficult to do, with the help of the medical journals, we -will find that there are two prolific causes of these accidents—first, -the giving or taking of overdoses of certain remedies containing -poisons; and second, the substitution of one bottle or substance for -another, as, for example, where a number of substances are congregated -together, as in the case of the domestic cupboard. In the first class -may be instanced the giving of overdoses of opiates or soothing -preparations to children; the taking of overdoses of narcotics or -soothing compounds, such as chloral, by habitual drinkers; and the -general familiarity which the handling or using of these powerful -agents frequently begets in those habitually using them. In the second -class may be instanced such mistakes as the substituting of one bottle -containing, say, a poisonous liniment, for a mixture intended for -internal administration; the hasty and foolish practice of quaffing off -a draught from any jug, bottle, or dish without examining the contents; -and lastly, mistakes caused from accumulating within easy access -powerful medicines, in the hope that they may come of future use. - -Now, every good housewife may not be a trained nurse, but she is almost -certain to be called upon at one time or another to act as nurse, and -she may save herself many a bitter reflection if she would only attend -to the following simple and easy to be remembered rules: - -(1) Never give an infant an opiate or other powerful soothing remedy -without first obtaining the sanction of the doctor. No practice is more -common when mothers meet than to talk over their children’s complaints, -suggest remedies, and magnify their several experiences, with the -result that domestic recipes are lauded, approved, and tried too often -in total ignorance either of their suitability or safety. Few mothers -are aware of the important fact, that a medicine containing a narcotic -or soothing ingredient may cure one infant and kill another of equal -strength, age, &c. This varied action of soothing remedies on infants -cannot be too well known or too strongly impressed upon mothers. - -(2) Where powerful remedies, particularly such as contain opiates or -chloral, are being administered, the patients should not be allowed -to measure them or repeat the dose for themselves. In the midst of -racking pain or tossing about with sleeplessness, the chances are -that the patient will take a larger dose than that prescribed, to -obtain speedier relief; although it is not even in this that the -principal risk of accident lies. The great risk is that the patient -will repeat the dose before the influence of the previous dose has -exhausted itself; repeating the dose in a state of semi-consciousness -or of complete recklessness, to the total disregard of either quantity -or consequence. It would be well if persons in the habit of taking -laudanum, morphia, chloral, and chlorodyne would keep this danger in -mind. - -(3) Never place bottles or packets containing poison alongside of those -intended for internal use. This is one of the most prolific causes of -accidents; and experience has shown that neither the distinctive blue -corrugated bottles, which are now frequently used to hold poisons, -nor labels, are sufficient to insure immunity from accident, even -among trained nurses, where medicines are allowed to be collected -indiscriminately together. (In the act of writing this, a case in point -has come under our observation which well illustrates the fearful -risk that is run in failing to attend to this simple rule. A daughter -was requested by her mother to give her a dose of her medicine. Only -two bottles were on the dressing-room table, the one containing the -medicine required, and the other containing a poisonous liniment. The -daughter saw the liniment bottle, read the label poison, took up the -other bottle containing the mixture correctly, but put it down again -to pick something up, and the second time took up the bottle, but this -time without reading the label, with the result that the liniment was -given instead of the mixture, with fatal results. Similar cases might -be multiplied indefinitely.) - -(4) Never put any poison, such as carbolic acid, oxalic acid, or any -other of the stronger acids into beer-bottles, jugs, cups, or other -vessels which both children and adults are apt to associate in their -minds with substances not in themselves dangerous. One can hardly -take up a medical journal without finding some death recorded in this -manner. A bottle or cup is standing on a table or in a cupboard, and -under the impression that it contains beer or spirits, tea or coffee, -or even pure water, some one quaffs the contents, and only finds when -it is probably too late that he has drunk some virulent poison. One -is very apt to say, ‘How stupid!’ on reading such cases, and yet one -of the earliest experiences of the writer was in connection with a -mistake in every respect resembling this, and it well illustrates how -such mistakes may be made by intelligent if not even educated men—men -trained to exercise eyes, nose, and mouth—without their being detected -until too late. A student in the dispensary, one hot dusty day, -feeling thirsty, thought he would slake his thirst not at the tap, but -from the ‘Aqua fontana’ bottle on the shelf. Next this bottle stood -another containing turpentine, both bottles being correctly and plainly -labelled. Feeling confident in his bottle, he carelessly lifted it -from the shelf, took a long draught, and never discovered that he was -quaffing the turpentine until the bottle was withdrawn from his mouth. -Fortunately, nature dealt kindly by the lad, in quickly rejecting the -nauseous liquid. - -Lastly, never accumulate powerful remedies, in the belief that they -may be required on some future occasion. It is highly probable that -many of our readers will have a family medicine chest in which there -is a place for every bottle, and in which every bottle must be in its -place, and the whole in beautiful order. This is the very idea for a -medicine cupboard—not only a place for everything, and everything in -its place, but all plainly and correctly marked. As a rule, however, -nothing can be further from the reality than such a picture. The -ordinary domestic medicine cupboard is too frequently a shelf of -some press or dark closet, where all medicines and remedies not in -use—poisonous liniments, poisonous mixtures, simples, and so on—are -all literally huddled together, with nothing to mark their contents -save the stereotyped directions: ‘The liniment for external use,’ or, -‘A teaspoonful three times a day.’ It is not difficult under such -circumstances to picture a typical case of what is almost certain -sooner or later to occur. Johnny, one of the children, is frequently -troubled with a cough, but the east winds having for a time been -propitious, Johnny’s cough mixture is put away in the cupboard. -By-and-by, however, Johnny overheats himself, is again caught by the -east wind, and so his mamma goes to the cupboard for his mixture. -Johnny escapes it may be all the poisonous liniments, for the bottle is -distinctly marked, ‘A teaspoonful three times a day;’ but Johnny does -not by any means escape all risk, for it is more than probable that his -mamma has quite forgotten about his papa’s tonic mixture containing -strychnine, or her own fever mixture containing aconite, or his older -brother’s mixture containing arsenic, and probably many others, all -labelled, ‘A teaspoonful three times a day,’ and all resembling -Johnny’s as much as two peas do each other. This is no fanciful -picture, but one which we have experienced again and again—sometimes -with serious consequences, but more frequently with more fright than -hurt. Still, such a risk should never be run. The agony which a -mother feels when she realises either that she has given, or that her -child has taken an overdose of poison or of some powerful medicine by -mistake, requires to be witnessed to be understood in all its terrible -reality; but once witnessed, we think it might be sufficient to act as -a warning as to getting too familiar or careless in the handling or -storing of such potent agents. - -Nevertheless, it is a remarkable fact that some persons never acquire -this caution, even with such a bitter experience as that described. We -remember being called up one midnight to a case of poisoning, where -an ounce of saltpetre had been given for an ounce of Epsom salts. The -mother recollected placing the salts in the cupboard, but she forgot -one other very important fact, that she had also placed the packet of -saltpetre in the same place some time previously, and so she took the -first packet that came to her hand and made it up without the slightest -inspection. Notwithstanding this experience, a week or two later she -made a similar mistake with another poison from the same cupboard. A -phial of croton oil, used to produce an eruption on the chest, was -lifted instead of a phial of olive oil, and poured into the ear to -relieve earache. - -Referring for a moment to suicides, of which there were two hundred -and eighty-eight for the same period, we find some curious and -even extraordinary statistics. For example, there is a very great -difference, as a rule, in the agents employed by men and by women -to effect suicide. A class of poisons under the generic name of -vermin-killers, but which in the majority of instances are merely -arsenic or strychnine disguised, have been the agents used by seventeen -females and only seven males. The opium preparations, on the other -hand, very nearly reverse these proportions, having been used by -twenty males and only twelve females. Carbolic acid, again, has been -used by thirteen females and only six males; and so on. Apparently, -the agent used in the majority of cases is determined either by a -facility in the obtaining of the poison, or by a certain familiarity in -the every-day use of it, otherwise we cannot account for the general -use of some slow, uncertain, and frightfully painful poisons such as -carbolic acid and phosphorus. Of more importance, however, than this -are the following facts, which we think require some explanation or -investigation. We find one hundred and one deaths recorded—fifty-eight -by accident and forty-three by suicide—from seven substances alone, not -one of which the legislature at present requires to be labelled poison! -Surely this requires some looking after. We find seventy-eight deaths -(not suicides) from lead-poisoning. We would like to know how far these -seventy-eight deaths are to be accounted for from absorption of the -poison by those working amongst it, and how far they might have been -avoided by ordinary precautions? Lastly, we find one hundred and two -deaths—twenty-six by accident and seventy-six by suicide—from poisons -which should not be sold unless under the strictest regulations. We -would like to know how far these regulations have been observed in -these cases, as we have reason to conclude that there is a laxity -existing somewhere. - - - - -ONE WOMAN’S HISTORY. - -_A NOVELETTE._ - -BY T. W. SPEIGHT. - - -CHAPTER XI. - -The first thing that struck Colonel Woodruffe on entering the room of -Madame De Vigne was the extreme pallor of her face. She looked like a -woman newly restored to the world after a long and dangerous illness. -Although the window was wide open, the venetians were lowered, while -Mora herself was dressed in black, and in the semi-obscurity of the -room, her white, set face, with its sorrow-laden eyes, had an effect -that was almost ghostlike to one coming suddenly out of the glaring -sunlight. At least so it seemed to Colonel Woodruffe. He felt that at -such a time all commonplace questions would seem trivial and out of -place, so he went forward without a word, and lifting her hand, pressed -it gently to his lips. - -‘Read this, please,’ she said as she handed him her husband’s letter. -Then they both sat down. - -He read the note through slowly and carefully. As he handed it back to -her, he said: ‘What do you mean to do?’ - -‘I shall see him at the hour he specifies, and shall tell him that I -have already commissioned you to seek out Sir William Ridsdale and tell -him everything.’ - -‘Everything?’ he asked. - -‘Everything,’ she answered in the same hard, dry voice; a slight -trembling of her long, thin fingers was the only sign that betrayed -the emotion pent up within. ‘Dear friend,’ she went on, ‘I want you at -once to find Sir William and tell him everything as I told it to you on -Wednesday. It will then be for him to decide whether he can accept the -sister of an ex-convict’s wife for his daughter-in-law. If he cannot, -then God help my poor Clarice! But nothing must be kept back from him, -whatever the result may be.’ Then after a little pause, she said, -looking earnestly into his face: ‘Do you not agree with me?’ - -‘I do,’ he answered. ‘The right thing is always the best thing to do, -whatever consequences may follow. Depend upon it, you will lose nothing -in the eyes of Sir William by throwing yourself on his generosity in -the way you propose doing.—But I have had news. Sir William will be -here—at the _Palatine_—in the course of a few hours.’ - -‘Ah! So much the better. So will the climax come all the more quickly. -But, my poor Clari! Oh, my poor, darling Clari!’ Her lips quivered, a -stifled sob broke from her heart, but her eyes were as dry and tearless -as before. - -The colonel waited a moment, and then he said: ‘What you purpose -telling a certain person at your interview this evening will enable you -to set him at defiance—will it not?’ - -‘It will—thoroughly and completely. I shall have taken the initiative -out of his hands, and he will be powerless to harm me.’ - -‘Your fortune?’ he said. - -‘Is settled strictly on myself. He cannot touch a penny of it.’ Then, -after a pause, she added: ‘Not that I want him to starve; not that I -would refuse him a certain share of my money—if I could only feel sure -it would keep him from evil courses. But it would never do that—never! -In such as he, there is no possibility of change.’ - -‘I will make a point of seeing Sir William as soon as he arrives,’ said -the colonel as he rose and pushed back his chair. ‘I suppose that is -what you would like me to do?’ - -‘The sooner the better,’ answered Mora, also rising. ‘You will come to -me the moment you have any news?’ - -‘I will not fail to do so. For the present, I presume you will say -nothing to your sister?’ - -‘Why trouble her till the time comes? Let her linger in her love-dream -while she may. The waking will be a cruel one when it comes.’ - -‘With all my heart, I hope not!’ answered the colonel fervently. Then, -as he took her hand, he added: ‘We shall meet again in a few hours.’ - -‘How good you are!’ she murmured, with a little break in her voice. - -He shook his head, but would not trust himself to speak. He was more -moved than he would have cared to own. Once more he lifted her fingers -to his lips. Next moment she was alone. - - * * * * * - -Mr Dulcimer and Miss Wynter went gaily on their way to the lake. To -hear them talking and laughing, no one would have thought that they had -a care beyond the enjoyment of the passing hour, yet each was secretly -conscious that for them that day might perchance prove one of the -most momentous in their lives. They found a boat with fishing-tackle -awaiting them. Bella shook a little as she bade farewell to _terra -firma_. She felt as an ancient Greek might have felt—that the Fates -were against her—that destiny was stronger than she, and urged her -forward whether she wished it or not. She who had heretofore been so -wilful seemed to have no power of will left in her. - -Before long they found themselves at a point near the head of the lake -where Dick had been told that he might possibly find some fish. For a -quarter of an hour or so he plied his rod industriously, but not even a -nibble rewarded his perseverance. ‘Ah,’ said he at last, ‘the fish are -evidently off their feed this morning.’ - -He did not seem in the least put about by his ill-luck, but laying -his rod across the thwarts, he proceeded leisurely to light his pipe. -Bella watched him nervously. As soon as his pipe was fairly under way, -he looked straight into Bella’s eyes and said: ‘I did not so much come -out here this morning to fish as to secure an opportunity for a little -quiet talk with you.’ - -‘I can quite believe it. There is something underhand about most things -that you do,’ she answered as she dipped one of her hands carelessly -into the water. - -Dick smiled amiably. He delighted in a skirmish. - -‘Am I to go back to London to-morrow morning, or am I not? That’s the -question.’ - -‘Really, Mr Dulcimer, or Mr Golightly, or whatever your name may be, I -am at a loss to know why you should put such a question to me.’ - -Dick burst into a guffaw. - -‘May I ask, sir, what you are laughing at?’ - -‘At you, of course.’ - -‘Oh!’ It came out with a sort of snap. - -‘You look so comical when you put on that mock-dignified air, that it -always sets me off. Of course I know you can’t help it.’ - -‘Wretch!’ she retorted, half-starting to her feet. Next moment she sat -down again in mortal terror. The boat was swaying ominously, or so it -seemed to her. - -‘Please not to flop about so much,’ he said drily, ‘unless you wish -to find yourself in the water. I’m a tolerable swimmer, and I might, -perhaps, be able to lug you ashore, but I wouldn’t like to guarantee -it.’ - -Her temper vanished like a flash of summer lightning. ‘Oh, do please -take me back!’ she said, looking at him with a pitiful appeal in her -eyes. Like many town-bred girls, she had an unconquerable dread of -water. - -‘You are just as safe here as on shore, so long as you sit still,’ he -answered re-assuringly. And with that he changed his seat and went and -sat down close in front of her. - -The colour began to return to her cheeks. He looked so strong and brave -and handsome as he sat there, that she felt ashamed of her fears. What -harm could happen to her while he was there to protect her! - -‘Look here, Bella,’ he presently began; ‘where’s the use of you and I -beating any longer about the bush? I must have a distinct answer from -you to-day, Yes or No, whether you will promise to become my wife or -whether you won’t. You know that I love you, just as well as if I told -you so a thousand times. You know that my love is the genuine article, -that there’s nothing sham or pinchbeck about it. Your own heart has -told you that before to-day. There’s something else, too, that it has -told you.’ He paused. - -‘Indeed!’ she said, thrusting out her saucy chin a little way. ‘And -what may that be, if you please?’ Her spirit was coming back. She was -not inclined to strike her colours without a struggle. - -‘It has told you that you love me,’ he answered slowly and -deliberately, still looking straight into her eyes. - -She was silent for a moment. A little spot of deepest red flashed into -each of her cheeks. ‘Indeed, sir, you are mistaken,’ she answered with -a sort of supercilious politeness. ‘I am not aware that my heart has -told me anything of the kind.’ - -‘Then it’s high time it did tell you,’ was the cool rejoinder. ‘You -love me, Bella, whether you know it or not, and the best of it is that -you can’t help yourself.’ - -‘Oh! this is too much,’ she cried, and again she half-started to her -feet. The boat rocked a little. - -‘You seem to have made up your mind for a ducking,’ said Dick, although -in reality there was not the slightest danger. Next moment she was as -still as a mouse. - -He knocked the ashes out of his pipe. ‘Yes, _ma petite_, I’ve got your -heart in my safe keeping; and what’s more, I don’t mean to let you have -it back at any price. The pretty toy is not for sale.’ - -His audacity took her breath away, yet it may be that she did not like -him less on that account. Certainly Dick’s love-making was of a kind of -which she had had no previous experience. - -‘You have got me here by a mean and shabby subterfuge,’ she cried. ‘You -have made a prisoner of me, and now you think you can say what you like -to me.’ - -‘That’s so,’ he answered equably. ‘Now that I’ve got you here, I mean -to say my say. Idiot if I didn’t!’ - -Bella had never felt so helpless in her life. This man seemed to turn -all her weapons against herself. And she was afraid even to stamp her -foot! - -Richard proceeded to fill his pipe. ‘Don’t you think, _carissima_, -that we have had enough of fencing, you and I?’ he asked as he struck -a match. ‘Don’t you think we had better put the foils aside for the -present and talk a little quiet common-sense?’ His voice had softened -strangely. All his flippancy seemed to have vanished in a moment. - -She did not answer. Her eyes were gazing straight over his shoulder -at the great solemn hills in the background—not that she saw them in -reality. He let his match burn itself out, and laid down his unlighted -pipe. Then he leaned forward and took one of her hands in his strong -brown palms. His touch thrilled her. All power of resistance seemed -taken from her. Her bosom rose and fell more quickly, a tender radiance -suffused her eyes, the roses in her cheeks grew larger, and their tints -deepened. Love’s sorcery was upon her. She had drunk of the potion, and -was lost. Never again could she be quite the same as she had been. - -What was the ‘quiet common-sense’ he was going to talk? she wondered. -She had her doubts already as to the accuracy of his definition. - -‘There comes a time in the lives of most of us,’ he began with unwonted -seriousness and still holding one of her hands, ‘when we are confronted -by two diverging paths, and are called upon to make our choice between -them. At such a crisis you, my dearest, have now arrived. Before you -lie two widely diverging paths, one only of which you can take, and -from which there can be no return. With one of these paths you are -already familiar; you have trodden it for two years; you know whither -it leads, or fancy that you know. If you believe that you will find -your happiness at the end of it, for heaven’s sake, keep to it still! -But if you don’t so believe—why, then, the other path is open to you.’ - -He paused. She withdrew her hand. He at once began to feel for his -match-box. She regretted that she had not allowed him to retain her -fingers. - -‘And that other path leads—whither?’ she asked softly, and with her -eyes still fixed vaguely on the hills behind him. - -‘To love in a cottage—or, say, in a semi-detached villa at Camden Town -or Peckham Rye, with one small servant, not overclean.’ Evidently he -had not forgotten what she had said to him on Wednesday. Their eyes -met, and they both broke into a laugh. He put the match-box back in his -pocket and took possession of her hand again. - -‘You know that all I can offer you is a warm heart and a slender -purse,’ he said. ‘Not much, I grant, from a worldly point of view; -still, I believe cases have been known where two people have been -venturesome enough to start in life together on a capital as -ridiculously insignificant as that just named, and have not been -unhappy afterwards. On the other hand, you know the brilliant future -which your aunt predicts for you, if you will only be an obedient girl -and do as she wants you to do; that is to say, if you will only marry -the first rich man who proposes to you, whether you care for him or -whether you don’t. Well, there are many young ladies nowadays who seem -to find their happiness in that direction. Why shouldn’t you? As you -said yourself the other day, you are a piece of human bric-à-brac to -be knocked down to the highest bidder.’ - -‘Don’t, don’t!’ she cried with quivering lips. - -‘Be mine, then!’ exclaimed Dick passionately. ‘Become the wife of the -man who loves you, and save yourself from further degradation. At -present you are a slave—a chattel. Break your fetters, cast them behind -you for ever, and come to my arms: there is your proper home!’ - -‘O Dick, what would my aunt say—what would she do?’ she asked in an -uncertain, tremulous voice. - -‘There! now you’ve done it!’ he exclaimed with a laugh, that yet -sounded as if there were a tear in it. - -‘Done—what?’ she asked in amaze. - -‘Told me all that I want to know!’ he cried in triumph. ‘If your aunt -is the only obstacle—I don’t care for ten thousand aunts! You are -mine—my own—and all the she-dragons in the world shall not tear you -from me!’ - -Bella saw the uselessness of further resistance, and, like a sensible -girl, she capitulated without another word. - - * * * * * - -When Friday morning broke clear and sunny, Lady Renshaw’s good temper, -which seemed somehow to have evaporated in the rain and fog of the -previous day, came back to her in a lump as it were. She spent an extra -half-hour over the mysteries of her toilet, donned one of her most -becoming costumes, and descended to the breakfast-room, on conquest -bent. But, alas, when she reached the room she found no one there -to conquer; the enemy was nowhere to be seen. She had the _salle_ -almost to herself. Then it began to dawn upon her that there was -just a possibility that both Dr Mac and the vicar might have ‘made -tracks’ thus early in the day on purpose to escape her. And yet such -an idea was almost too preposterous for belief. Had they not both been -unmistakably infatuated on Wednesday, each in his own peculiar way? -Had they not both been palpably jealous of each other? Why, then, -should they try to shun her on Friday? Why should forty-eight hours -make such a vast difference in their feelings? But, perhaps, there was -something in the background of which she knew nothing. Perhaps some one -had been prejudicing the two gentlemen against her. If such were the -case, she could only set it down as the handiwork of that obnoxious -Miss Gaisford. She had felt from the first that she could never like -the vicar’s sister; and besides, was it not just possible that Miss -Gaisford herself might be setting her cap at the doctor? If so, poor -thing, it evidently would be labour in vain. - -This thought put her ladyship into a somewhat better humour. Matters -should be altered on the morrow. She would make an heroic effort, and -rise with the lark, or at least early enough to breakfast at the same -time that the gentlemen partook of that meal. It would be her own -fault, then, if she allowed them to slip through her fingers. The poor -dear vicar might go as soon as he had served her purpose in keeping -alive the doctor’s jealousy; but the latter individual she meant to -bring, metaphorically, to his knees before he was many days older, and -she never for a moment doubted her ability to do so. Miss Gaisford, -indeed! Ah ha! let those laugh who win. - -She found herself in the sitting-room by the time she arrived at this -triumphant peroration. It was empty. Lady Renshaw, in accordance -with her usual tactics when no one was about, began to pry and peer -here and there, opening such drawers in the writing-table as did not -happen to be locked, turning over the paper and envelopes, and even -submitting the blotting-pad to a careful examination; she had heard -that strange secrets had sometimes been revealed by the agency of a -sheet of blotting-paper. Nothing, however, rewarded her perquisition. -She next crossed to the chimney-piece. Careless people occasionally -left envelopes, and even letters, on that convenient shelf. Here, too, -her search was without success. She felt somewhat aggrieved. - -Suddenly her eye was caught by a gleam of something white just inside -the scroll-work of the fender. She had pounced upon it in an instant. -It proved to be merely a scrap of half-charred paper; but when she -had opened it, which she did very carefully, she found it to be -covered with writing. It was, in fact, a fragment of the letter given -by Madame De Vigne to Colonel Woodruffe. The colonel had watched -the flames devour the letter, till it was all gone except the small -portion held between his thumb and finger. This he had dropped without -thought into the fender, where it had till now remained, untouched by -the housemaid’s brush. Lady Renshaw went to the window, and having -first satisfied herself that no one was watching her, she put on her -glasses, and tenderly straightening out the paper on the palm of one -hand, she proceeded to decipher it. The fire had left nothing save a -few brief sentences, which lacked both beginning and end. Such as they -were, however, they seemed pregnant with a sinister significance. Her -ladyship’s colour changed as she read. She was nearly certain that -the writing was that of Madame De Vigne; but in order to make herself -certain on the point, she turned to an album belonging to Clarice which -lay on the table, in which were some verses written by her sister and -signed with her name. Yes—the writing was indisputably that of Madame -De Vigne! - -Once more she turned to the scrap of paper and read the words. She -wanted to fix them in her memory. They ran as follows: - -‘My husband ... five years ago ... sentenced to penal servitude.... You -now know all.’ - -‘The key of the mystery, as I live!’ cried Lady Renshaw triumphantly. -‘The widow of a convict! Well might she not care to speak about her -past life. Ah ha! my fine madam, your reign is nearly at an end. I -wonder what Mr Etheridge will say to this. He may be back by now. I -will go in search of him at once. But for whom can the letter have been -intended? In any case, she seems to have repented writing it, and to -have burnt it rather than send it.’ - -She took a book off the table and placed the fragment carefully between -the leaves, so as to preserve it intact. She then went in search of -Mr Etheridge. That gentleman and Clarice had just returned from their -excursion. Their first care was to examine the letter-rack in the -hall. There they each found a telegram. Clarice tore hers open with a -fluttering heart. This is what it said: - -‘Nothing seen here of governor. Telegram from him to Blatchett. Am to -return to Windermere by first train. Hurrah! Governor will meet me at -_Palatine_ to night. Queer, very. No matter. Shall see you as well.’ - -Clarice turned first red and then white. The terrible Sir William -coming to the _Palatine_—and to-night! It was enough to flutter any -girl’s nerves. She turned to Mr Etheridge and put the message into his -hands. ‘Read it,’ was all she could say. - -He had just finished reading his own message, which seemed to be a very -brief one. - -‘Well, what do you think?’ she asked nervously, as he returned the -paper to her with a smile. - -‘I think it’s about the wisest thing Sir William could do. He -ought to come and see with his own eyes, instead of sending other -people. Of course, the fact of his summoning Mr Archie to London, -and then declining to see him, can only be put down to the score of -eccentricity—though I have no doubt the boy has enjoyed his little trip -to town.’ - -Clarice looked at him a little reproachfully. As if Archie could enjoy -being anywhere where she was not! - -‘I must go and tell Mora the news,’ she said. ‘But oh! Mr Etheridge, do -you think Sir William will want to see me?’ - -‘I think it very likely indeed.’ - -‘I was never so frightened in my life. I wish I could hide myself -somewhere till to-morrow.’ - -‘Pooh, pooh, my dear young lady; Sir William is not an ogre. He is only -a man, like the rest of us.’ - -‘But he is Archie’s papa.’ - -‘Is that any reason why you should be frightened at him?’ - -She nodded her head with considerable emphasis. But at this juncture -Lady Renshaw was seen approaching, and Clarice fled. - -‘Can you favour me with a few minutes’ private conversation, Mr -Etheridge?’ said her ladyship. - -‘Willingly, madam. Shall we take a stroll on the lawn, as we did -before? There seems to be no one about.’ - -‘That will do very nicely. I will just fetch my sunshade and then join -you.’ Which she accordingly did. ‘You may recollect, Mr Etheridge, that -one portion of our conversation this morning had reference to Madame De -Vigne?’ began her ladyship in her most confidential manner. - -‘I have not forgotten, madam.’ - -‘Since that time I have made a most surprising discovery—a discovery -I feel bound to say which only tends to confirm the opinion I then -ventured to express. Will you be good enough, my dear sir, to look at -this, and then tell me what you think?’ - -She opened the book at the page where she had inserted the scrap of -paper, and placed it in his hands. - -He stopped in his walk while he read it; but his face was inscrutable, -and Lady Renshaw could gather nothing from it. Presently he lifted his -eyes from the paper and stared at her for a moment or two, his bushy -eyebrows meeting across the deep furrow in his forehead. - -‘Where did you obtain this from, may I ask? And what is the meaning of -it?’ - -‘As you will have observed, it is evidently a fragment of a burnt -letter. I picked it up quite by accident on the floor of the -sitting-room. The writing I know for a fact to be that of Madame De -Vigne. As for the meaning of it—your penetration, my dear sir, is -surely not at fault as regards that?’ - -‘It is a curious document, certainly—a very curious document,’ remarked -the old man drily. - -‘It is more than that, Mr Etheridge,’ remarked her ladyship in her most -tragic tones—‘it is a revelation! Who is this husband of whom mention -is made? Who is this convict who is so openly alluded to? Are they, or -are they not, one and the same man, and if so, is he alive or dead? -Those are points, I should imagine, on which Sir William will require -to be fully enlightened; for, of course, Mr Etheridge, you will see how -imperative it is that the paper should at once be laid before him. What -a very, very fortunate thing that I happened to find it in the way I -did!’ - -‘Yes, madam, Sir William shall see the paper, undoubtedly. A very -fortunate thing, as you say, that your ladyship happened to find it, -and not any one else, for you, madam, I am quite sure, are discretion -itself.’ - -‘Just so—just so,’ responded her ladyship uneasily.—‘What a strange -old man!’ she said to herself. ‘I don’t know what to make of him this -morning.’ - -‘Permit me to whisper a secret in your ladyship’s ear,’ resumed Mr -Etheridge with his odd little smile. ‘I have had a message. Sir William -will be here—here at the _Palatine_—in the course of a few hours.’ - -Her ladyship could not repress a start. Here was news indeed! - -‘But not a word to any one at present, I beg,’ continued the old -gentleman. ‘I want Sir William’s arrival to be a surprise.’ - -‘Ah, just so,’ answered her ladyship with a complacent nod.—‘It will be -like a bombshell thrown into their midst,’ she added to herself. Then -aloud: ‘Not a word shall pass my lips, Mr Etheridge. By-the-bye, do you -think it at all likely that Sir William will require to see me—I mean -with regard to the scrap of paper?’ - -‘I think it very likely indeed, madam.’ - -‘In that case, I will hold myself in readiness. I have long desired the -pleasure of Sir William’s acquaintance. We could scarcely meet under -more agreeable auspices.’ Then suddenly grasping Mr Etheridge by the -sleeve, she said in her deepest tones: ‘I felt sure from the first -moment I set eyes on her that this Madame De Vigne was an impostor!’ - -‘Dear me!’ ejaculated the old gentleman with uplifted hands. ‘What -acumen—what acumen!’ - -Her ladyship smiled a superior smile. ‘For the present I will say -Ta-ta. You will not forget that I shall be in readiness to see Sir -William at any moment?’ - -‘I will be sure not to forget. _Au revoir_, madam—_au revoir_.’ - -Lady Renshaw walked back to the hotel with the serene consciousness of -having performed a meritorious action. Through her instrumentality an -impostor would be unmasked, and in so far, Society would owe her a debt -of gratitude. The service, too, was such a one as Sir William would not -be likely to forget. Suddenly, a great, an overwhelming thought flashed -across her mind. Sir William was a widower, but by no means a very old -man—at least, so she had been given to understand; and in any case, he -was not too old to marry again, if the whim were to take him. What if -he were to—— The mere idea of such a thing made her heart go pit-a-pat. -There was a mirror in the corridor. She simpered at herself in it as -she passed and gave a tug at one or two of her ribbons. Undeniably, she -was still a fine-looking woman. Far more unlikely things had happened -than that which her thoughts had barely hinted at. What was it that the -parrot in its gilded cage at the top of the stairs said to her as she -passed? Did her ears deceive her, or was it a fact that it screamed -after her, ‘Lady—Lady—La-dy Ridsdale?’ - - - - -COOKING CLASSES FOR CHILDREN. - - -‘I have been reproaching myself,’ was the piteous plaint of Mrs Butler -(Fanny Kemble) in her _Records of Later Life_, ‘and reproving others, -and honestly regretting that, instead of Italian and music, I had not -learned a little domestic economy, and how much bread, butter, flour, -eggs, milk, sugar, and meat ought to be consumed per week by a family -of eight persons.’ This is the lesson that great part of the world -of women has still to learn. We have allowed mere accomplishments, -the fringe and lace of life, to draw our attention from those solid -and necessary things which a woman must know if her home is to be -comfortable, and which a man knows nothing about except that in their -results they make him contentedly happy or utterly miserable. A woman -can obtain a more sensible, more thorough, in every way a better -education in book-knowledge now than at almost any previous period of -our national life; but the gain has been made at a price. Reaction is -required, and indeed has set in already. We may see its fruits in the -schools of Cookery for Ladies established in all our great towns; in -the classes for dressmaking, clear-starching, and ironing; in the newly -awakened interest in domestic economy as a science, in the countless -books on that subject and on cookery published during the last few -years. - -The work is by no means done yet. That there are many to be taught and -much to be learned, we may gather from a glance at the questions asked -on such subjects in our principal ladies’ papers; where but the other -day we find a newly married lady wishing to know if, on an income of -five hundred pounds a year, without house-rent, she can keep a butler, -a cook-housekeeper, a housemaid, a carriage and pair of horses, and a -pony and cart! - -But we wish to turn now to the wants of another class, and see what has -been done and what can be done for our poorer sisters, who sorely need -our help in this matter. - -If it be true that education is the work of drawing out the mental -powers of children so as to fit them thoroughly for their work in life, -then we certainly for a time overshot our mark in elementary schools, -so far as the girls were concerned. We taught them many things which -they did not need to know, and could not learn thoroughly for want -of time—much which almost unfitted them for their probable places -in life as working-men’s wives; and we left untaught altogether all -the womanly and useful arts of life except sewing. Good management -has become rarer and rarer in the homes of town working-men; the -thrifty, careful housewives seem as units among scores of careless, -bad—because ignorant—mismanagers. The early age at which girls go to -work in factories increases the evil; and, till lately, nothing which -was taught at school helped to remedy it. Here, too, however, the -change has begun, and now, in the Board Schools of London, Liverpool, -Birmingham, Glasgow, and other large towns, the practical teaching of -cookery holds almost as important a place in the education of girls as -the teaching of sewing. But the question remains for the managers of -voluntary schools: Is cooking worth teaching? Can it be successfully -taught in our schools? Will it pay? - -These are important questions; but they may all—even the last, which -comes very near to the hearts of all managers—be answered, we believe, -with a simple ‘Yes.’ Within the writer’s own knowledge, since the -establishment of cookery classes in elementary schools, case after -case has occurred where a girl of ten, eleven, or twelve has been -able to cook food well for a whole family; or in sickness, has been -the only person able to make beef-tea or gruel or to beat an egg. No -one who has not seen could guess or would believe what the cooking -in working-men’s homes too often is, or what waste and extravagance -arise out of utter ignorance; and even where the mother has not been -laid aside, it has been found that the girl’s knowledge, brought fresh -from school, has worked a reformation in the family management. Nor -is this all. The influence of the classes upon the girls attending -them is very good, especially when the children are drawn from the -very lowest ranks. The girls brighten up. Perhaps for the first time -they are learning something that really interests them, and seems a -link between home-life and school; they learn to weigh, to measure, -to calculate quantities, and they see the use of these things. Let no -one imagine that a cookery class is not educational. In the hands of -a competent teacher, it is an object lesson, an arithmetic lesson, -a general-knowledge lesson, and a lesson in common-sense. Even the -personal appearance of the children often improves; cleanliness, -neatness, orderliness are all encouraged; and in some schools, the -effect upon the scholars has been most curiously marked. - -If this be so, surely we may admit that cookery is worth teaching. Can -it be taught successfully? We believe it can. But before attempting to -prove this, we must give a quotation from the Code of March 1882: ‘In -schools in which the inspector reports that special and appropriate -provision is made for the practical teaching of cookery, a grant of -four shillings is made on account of any girl over twelve years of age -who has attended not less than forty hours during the school-year at -the cooking class, and is presented for examination in the elementary -subjects in any standard.’ - -The forty hours allowed by government are divided into twenty lessons -of two hours each, which, taken once a week, can be finished in half -a year. The lessons given are found to succeed best if they are -alternately demonstration and practice—that is, at one lesson the -children watch the teacher, who shows them how to cook any given -dishes, carefully explaining the processes and the nature of the food; -and at the next lesson the children put what they have learned in -practice, and cook the same dishes themselves under the superintendence -of the teacher. Fifteen children are sufficient for a practice class, -though of course more can attend a demonstration. A very moderate-sized -classroom is large enough; and tables can be formed of boards on -tressels or on the backs of desks. Many classrooms already contain a -range large enough for all purposes; but if not, one can be fitted -up at a cost of three pounds, or a portable stove can be had for -thirty shillings. The utensils are few and simple; but of course the -first cost of them is considerable—about five pounds.[1] A teacher is -supplied by any of the principal training Schools of Cookery for a -fee of five pounds for twenty lessons and her travelling expenses. If -several schools in the same neighbourhood take lessons during the same -period, this last item can be much reduced. - -The children work in five sets of three each. They are taught all the -simple processes of cooking, and the reason in any given case for using -one in preference to another. They are furnished with printed recipes -for each dish they cook; they are taught—and this is most important—to -clean properly and to put away all the utensils they use. They are -questioned as they proceed, to see that they understand what they are -doing; and at the end of the course, they go through both a verbal and -a practical examination; and certificates are awarded by the School of -Cookery, independent of examinations by Her Majesty’s inspector. - -Here are a few sample recipes; and it must be remembered that special -pains are taken to suit the dishes taught to the requirements of the -district, many ways of cooking fish being taught in seaports, for -instance; while in country places, vegetables, bacon, and eggs are more -used. - -_Brown Lentil Soup._—Half-pound brown lentils, 1½d.; one carrot, four -cloves, an ounce and a half of dripping, 1½d.; two quarts of water; -small bunch sweet herbs, three onions, pepper and salt, 1d. Wash the -lentils well in several waters; leave to soak in two quarts of water -for twenty-four hours. Slice and fry the onions in the dripping; let -them take a nice brown, but not burn. Cut up the carrot into small -pieces; fry it lightly also. Now put in the lentils and the two quarts -of water in which they were steeped; add the herbs and the cloves, but -not the pepper and salt. Boil all for three hours, adding more water, -to make up the waste from boiling. Add pepper and salt to taste. If -possible, put the soup through a coarse wire-sieve. - -_Savoury Rice._—Rice, half-pound, 2d.; dripping, half-ounce, 1½d.; two -onions, one carrot, pepper and salt, 1d.; cloves, parsley, and thyme, -½d. Wash the rice, throw it into a saucepan full of boiling water and -a little salt. Add an onion stuck with four cloves and the carrot cut -up. Let it boil fast for fifteen or twenty minutes. Take care there is -plenty of water. To try the rice, take a grain and rub it between the -thumb and finger. When it will rub quite away, drain off all the water, -and let the rice dry before the fire. While the rice is boiling, put -half an ounce of dripping in a saucepan on the fire, and when quite -hot, fry in it a sliced onion. Take a tablespoonful of flour, sprinkle -it over the fried onion in the pan, stirring it with a spoon. When the -flour is brown, add half a pint of water, the parsley and thyme well -chopped, with salt and pepper. Boil it up; stir in the rice, and serve. - -_Exeter Stew._—Meat, 9d.; flour, 1½d.; suet, 1d.; dripping, 1d.; herbs -and onion, 1½d. Put into a pan two ounces of dripping; set it on the -fire; and when it is quite hot and a faint blue smoke arises from it, -put in an onion, cut small. Let it brown well; then add a tablespoonful -of flour, and when that is browned also, one pint of cold water, -pepper, salt, four cloves, and a little mace. Cut one pound of beef -into small pieces; put them in, and let it simmer, not boil, for two -hours. Put in a bowl a quarter-pound of flour; a little salt, pepper, -chopped parsley, thyme, and marjoram; two ounces of finely chopped -suet, and half a teaspoonful of baking-powder. Make into a paste with -cold water; form into small balls, and drop them into the stew half an -hour before it is wanted. - -_Christmas Pudding._—Flour, one pound, 2d.; baking-powder, a -teaspoonful and a half, ¼d.; ginger, half a teaspoonful, ¼d.; suet, -quarter-pound, 2d.; treacle, half-pound, 1d.; raisins, two ounces, ½d.; -currants, two ounces, ½d.; milk (skim), ½d. Chop the suet finely; stir -all the dry ingredients well together; add the treacle, warmed, and -about a teacupful of skim-milk. Stir well; put it into a greased tin or -basin; cover with paper; steam it in a pan of boiling water for an hour -and a half or two hours. - -No one who has seen how well these and many other dishes are cooked -by the children entirely without assistance at their practical -examination—no one who has heard how well and intelligently they -answer questions on the subject, can doubt that cooking can be taught -successfully in our schools. The one question remains, Does it pay? The -outlay is of two kinds—the primary outlay, which will not recur, for -stove and utensils; and the recurring expenses of teacher’s salary, -food, and fuel. In many places, friends of education, learning the -need, have fitted up classrooms with all that was required at a cost -of about seven to eight pounds. In Liverpool, the Education Council -offered to fit up six classrooms in voluntary schools as centres at -which several neighbouring schools could attend; but as many poor -schools are without such benevolent friends, the Northern Union of -Schools of Cookery has petitioned the Science and Art Department to -give grants for this purpose. - -The teacher’s salary, as already mentioned, is about five pounds, with -a varying sum in addition for travelling expenses. The average cost of -the food to be cooked is about thirty-seven shillings for the whole -course. The additional amount of fuel used is very trifling; therefore, -the expenses stand: Teacher’s salary, £5; food, £1, 17s.; travelling -expenses, say 10s.—Total, seven guineas. To meet these expenses, -there are the following sources of income: The government grant of -four shillings a head for fifteen girls, £3; extra pence paid by the -children for their cooking lessons, twopence each for twenty lessons, -£2, 10s. This payment cannot be enforced; but it is found that in most -cases, even among the poorest, it is willingly paid, as the parents -value the lessons. Sale of food cooked, at cost price, £1, 17s.—Total, -seven guineas. - -It may be mentioned that the food sells more readily among the very -poor children than among those who are better off. There is little or -no difficulty in disposing of it without loss. - -It will be seen that this calculation allows of no margin whatever. -If all goes well, there is neither profit nor loss. But it cannot be -expected that everything will be perfectly successful; the children -will miss a lesson now and then, or some dish will be spoiled. We would -wish, therefore, to remind managers that there is another source of -income open to them. It is both easier and better to teach cookery -and domestic economy together than separately; and every girl who in -the cooking class is earning a grant of four shillings, may also earn -another four shillings if she passes in domestic economy, without -any additional outlay or cost. Only, we would urge all managers to -be careful always to secure a properly qualified teacher, holding -a diploma from some good School of Cookery, and trained to teach -children. Lastly, the experience of the manager of a large Roman -Catholic school in a very poor district may be quoted. ‘I would hardly -hesitate to say’—we give his own words—‘that not only will a class -of cookery in elementary schools pay itself, but will even become a -pecuniary advantage; and for this reason, parents look with much favour -upon the teaching of cookery; and whereas it is too often the case that -they withdraw their children from school the moment they are free to -do so, and so prevent a school from receiving a grant for them by their -passing an examination, I can say from experience that my class of -cookery has been the means of retaining at school several children who -would otherwise have left, and for each of them I expect a substantial -grant. I have also observed that since the introduction of this -subject, the children who attend this class attend much more regularly.’ - -With this testimony we may conclude, hoping that some at least of -those who glance at this paper may agree with the words of an old -working-woman, a grandmother, and herself a model of thrift, care, and -good management, who, when the cookery classes at the Board Schools -were mentioned before her, exclaimed: ‘Deed, and that’s the sensiblest -thing I ever heard of them Boards doing!’ and may therefore be willing -to do a little, either by giving time, money, or influence, to help -forward this good and greatly needed work. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] _List of Utensils for an Artisan Practice Class._—Three tin -saucepans, two quarts, 6s.; three do., three pints, 4s. 6d.; three do., -one pint, 1s. 6d.; one fish-kettle, 3s.; three small frying-pans, 1s. -9d.; one colander, 1s.; three strainers, 1s. 6d.; one set measures, 1s. -6d.; one scale and weights, quarter-ounce to one pound, 8s. 6d.; three -dripping-tins, 2s. 6d.; two small wire-sieves, 3s.; three graters, -1s. 6d.; six wooden spoons, 1s.; six iron tablespoons, 1s.; six do. -teaspoons, 3d.; six round tin moulds, 3s.; twelve knives, 7s. 6d.; six -vegetable knives, 2s.; three forks, 1s. 6d.; six chopping-boards, 9s.; -three rolling-pins, 2s.; one spice-box, 6d.; one handbowl, 1s. 3d.; -one knifeboard, 9d.; two galvanised tubs, 4s.; one galvanised bucket, -1s. 3d.; one water-can, 3s.; three scrubbing-brushes, 2s.; three -sink-brushes, 1s.; one set blacklead brushes, 2s. - -_Crockery._—Three large bowls, 3s. 6d.; three smaller do., 2s. 6d.; six -small basins, 1s.; twelve handless cups, 6d.; twelve plates, 1s. 6d.; -three round baker’s, 9d.; three larger do., 1s. 3d.; three jugs, 1s. -6d.; three pie-dishes, 9d. - -_Linen._—Six kitchen cloths, 3s.; one roller towel, 1s. 3d.; one hand -do., 4d.; three dishcloths, 6d. - -_Sundries._—Kitchen paper, house flannel, soap, soda, blacklead, -bath-brick, oil, 5s.—Total, £5, 2s. 7d. - - - - -AN AMATEUR ‘CABBY.’ - - -In ‘my salad days’ I was a striking example of that class of young -men who are unfortunately weighted with an extra crop of wild-oats to -dispose of ere they are transformed into conventional, steady-going, -tax-paying members of the community. My personal allowance being -considerable, I was able to indulge in all the follies of a man about -town. Fortunately or unfortunately, I soon probed to the bottom of -things, and speedily tasted the ashes in the cup of pleasure, so that -one folly after another was discarded and relegated to the limbo of the -past, until, like Heliogabalus, I sighed for a new delight, and would -have paid liberally for a fresh sensation. The turf and its wretched -gambling associations palled upon me; I was weary of the theatre, -both before and behind the curtain. The senseless chatter of my young -associates in the club smoking-room roused a feeling of boredom almost -intolerable. At this period, the great Cab question was the topic of -the hour. The character and remuneration of the London cabman were -discussed at every dinner-table in the metropolis. There were two -parties in this discussion, which advocated views totally opposed to -each other. On the one hand, the earnings of Cabby were described -as wealth; on the other, as poverty. He was portrayed as drunken, -extravagant, uncivil, and in fact as only fit to be the associate of -the most vile. The reverse side of the medal was that of a man sober, -frugal, civil, and so courteous in his intercourse with his fares, -that the late Lord Chesterfield might have taken lessons of him in -politeness. - -A sudden determination possessed me. I would be a cabman for the nonce. -At all events, for twelve hours I would don the badge and learn for -myself the truth of the matter. I frequently employed the same cabman -on the rank in Piccadilly. He drove a thoroughbred mare, and his hansom -was a model of neatness and elegance. So I took an early opportunity -of interviewing the man, whose name was Smith; although in those days -‘interview’ was not classed as an active verb. I told him I wished to -hire his cab for a night. At first, Mr Smith was hazy as to my meaning. -I asked him how much he paid for the hire of his vehicle. He replied: -‘Seventeen shillings per night.’ - -‘Very well,’ I said; ‘I will give you that sum for the use of your cab -for twelve hours, and hand you over besides, the amount in fares I may -chance to receive during that period.’ - -I could see that my friend entertained doubts for a moment as to my -sanity; but I speedily explained matters to him. - -Mr Smith shook his head, and said he might lose his license if the fact -became known to the police that he had lent his badge, and so on, and -that an intimate knowledge of London streets was indispensable. - -I pooh-poohed both these objections, especially the last, asserting -that I was capable of making a map of Western London, if circumstances -required it. - -Eventually, Mr Smith agreed to my proposal, giving me several hints as -to my conduct; I remember one of these being, that I must on no account -ply for hire, as it is termed, while driving through the streets, but -wait till I was hailed. - -The eventful hour arrived in due course, and at nine o’clock I met Mr -Smith by appointment in a quiet street in the parish of St James. It -was October; and the night being chilly, I wore an overcoat, somewhat -the worse for wear, and a wide-awake, which I could slouch over my -eyes, if occasion required; for my chief fear was, that I might, by an -unlucky chance, be recognised by some of my numerous acquaintances. I -mounted the box, and nodding gaily to Mr Smith, left that individual -transfixed with wonder that a gentleman of means and position should -voluntarily undergo the pains and penalties of a cabman’s life, even -for so brief a period as twelve hours. - -I have stated that the mare was a thoroughbred, and in doing so I am -only recording a literal fact. In the famous days when Andrew Ducrow -reigned supreme at Astley’s Theatre, there was a very popular drama -which depicted the life of a racehorse through all its vicissitudes, -till it found itself in the shafts of a sand-cart. There is an -undoubted instance of a horse (Black Tommy, 1857) which only lost the -Derby by a short head, figuring subsequently in the shafts of a cab in -Camden Town. - -For a time I imagined that I was the centre of observation, especially -by the cabmen on the ranks. Suddenly I was hailed by a short thick-set -man with a very red face, who in an imperious tone shouted ‘Orme -Square,’ and plunged into the recesses of my cab. I was floored -completely! My boasted knowledge of the topography of the metropolis -was at fault. I had never heard of Orme Square. I ventured to ask my -fare if he could direct me to the place. His surprise and indignation -were so excessive that I feared for a moment he would succumb to a fit -of apoplexy. But he relieved himself by a burst of strong language -such as I had rarely listened to in my life before. My first impulse -was an angry reply, but I fortunately nipped that impulse in the bud. -The line of Jerrold the dramatist occurred to me: ‘A rich man feels -through his glove, and thinks all things are soft.’ For the first -time I realised what a cabman has occasionally to submit to, and what -a Janus-headed thing Society was in its intercourse with the rich -and the poor. But it is a remarkable fact that although Orme Square -is situated in the Bayswater Road, immediately opposite Kensington -Gardens, not one Londoner in ten can define its locality. It is a small -unpretending square, with three sides only, the fourth side being the -great thoroughfare I have mentioned. I excused my ignorance by saying -that I was new to the neighbourhood. As I drove along, I placed my -present experience to the credit of the much-abused cabby. I received -my exact fare, for which I politely thanked my irritable friend, for -I was resolved I would do nothing to increase the prejudice existing -in so many quarters, against my brother-cabmen, but practise civility -under all temptations to the contrary. - -I suppose it was about one o’clock, and I was proceeding leisurely -along Oxford Street, the ‘stony-hearted step-mother,’ as De Quincey -styles it in his immortal work, admiring the effect of the long vista -of gas lamps in the deserted street, when I heard a woman’s voice: ‘Are -you going Pimlico-way?’ I turned, and beheld two young girls, in gaudy -finery and painted cheeks. I replied that my services were at their -disposal. I suppose there was something in the words and manner of my -answer which created surprise in their minds, for they stared curiously -in my face before jumping into the cab. - -In a few seconds I was careering along at the rate of ten miles an -hour. What a situation for the son of the much-esteemed rector of -Cawley-cum-Mortlock! My fares sang snatches of the popular melodies -of the day, sometimes as a solo, sometimes as a duet. When we arrived -at our destination, they sprang out of the cab and inquired my fare. -I replied: ‘Two shillings.’ The countenance of the younger assumed a -plaintive expression as she whispered: ‘Give the poor cabby an extra -tanner, Loo; I daresay he has a wife and children at home.’ - -As I did not wish to obtain money under false pretences, I modestly -disclaimed the honour of paternity, at the same time pocketing my fare. -As I did so, two gentlemen approached, and my feelings of dismay may -be imagined when I recognised in one of them Mr Spalland, my father’s -curate! There was a gas-lamp close at hand, so that my features must -have been plainly discernible. The girls had just bidden me good-night. -Observing the look of wonder and horror on Mr Spalland’s features, I -boldly took the bull by the horns, and exclaimed: ‘Cab, sir?’ - -‘The very voice!’ cried the curate. ‘What a marvellous resemblance!’ -Then he whispered a few words to his companion, who was a stranger to -me. - -‘Nonsense!’ came from his lips. ‘The thing is impossible.—What is your -name, cabby?’ - -‘Here is my ticket, sir,’ I promptly replied. ‘John Smith, Lisson -Grove.’ - -The curate indulged in another prolonged stare, and then they both -entered the cab, and I drove them to an address where I was as well -known as in my own home. I managed to drive rapidly away as soon as I -had deposited the worthy curate and his friend, as I did not wish to -undergo the critical examination of the hall porter, who might not have -been put off so easily. - -At this moment I observed a crimson glow in the sky, which was clearly -caused by some conflagration, but evidently at a very considerable -distance. Notwithstanding, a man almost insisted on my driving him to -the scene of the fire, no matter what might be the distance. This I -declined to do, alleging that my horse was tired; and after a volley -of objurgations, the fellow departed, making some strong remarks about -the independence of cabmen and their large earnings. Up to this time, I -had not earned the amount of the hire of the horse and cab. Whether my -experience on this point was special or normal, I am unable to judge, -but I could easily picture the despair of a cabman who in similar -circumstances would have but a gloomy outlook for the morrow. True, -there were several hours remaining, and it was impossible to tell what -they might produce. - -The aspect of a mighty slumbering city at early dawn is a remarkable -spectacle. The line of Wordsworth involuntarily recurred to me: - - And all that mighty heart is lying still. - -London at sunrise was by no means a novel sight to one who had kept -‘early hours’ for some years; but I do not think I was ever so -impressed with the sight as I was when perched on that elevated seat -at the back of a hansom cab. The first faint streaks of red in the -distant east, succeeded by a pale primrose light, and then the gradual -dispersal of the midnight gloom, was inexpressibly lovely. The scenes -I had witnessed had aroused certain trains of thought, more or less -painful, as I beheld the varied fortunes of my fellow-creatures, the -struggle for a bare existence, the sins and follies created in a great -measure by ‘iron circumstance.’ - -With the history of my final fare I must conclude this veritable -account of my experience as a cab-driver. It was exactly a quarter -to six, and I was crawling along Holborn, when a man of gentlemanly -appearance and address emerged rapidly from a side-street, and -springing into my cab, said: ‘Cabman—Victoria. If you can catch the six -o’clock train for Newhaven, I will pay you double fare.’ - -I glanced at the church clock, and found I had exactly a quarter of an -hour to accomplish a distance of nearly three miles. Fortunately, the -streets were comparatively empty, and I sent the mare along at a pace -of something like twelve miles an hour. Although I had only seen the -face of my fare for a couple of seconds, the expression and features -are indelibly impressed on my memory. It was a handsome face, but the -eyes were more like those of a hunted stag than of a human being. The -colour of the face was ashen gray, and I fancied the teeth chattered -somewhat as he addressed me. But the last circumstance I attributed -to the cold raw October morning. I felt so curious about my fare that -I cautiously lifted the small wooden flap in the roof of the cab, and -felt almost pleased to behold him imbibing brandy from a flask. One or -two policemen peered at the cab as it flew past, apparently undecided -whether or not to take cognisance of the excessive speed; but I cared -not; I felt as anxious to catch the train for Newhaven as if my life -depended on it. At length I sighted Victoria Station. The minute-hand -wanted two minutes to six. Passing a half-sovereign through the trap, -my fare shouted: ‘Never mind the change!’ and sprang out of the cab. - -Involuntarily, I paused to watch the end of the affair. I saw him leave -the pay-box with the ticket, and then in half a minute I heard the -shriek of the engine, and congratulated myself on having accomplished -my task. Ere I could drive from the entrance of the booking-office, -another hansom deposited two men, who simultaneously rushed to the -booking-office. The horse of the cab was covered with lather, and -seemed completely blown. The men appeared again on the pavement with -vexation and disappointment plainly written on their features. Suddenly -their eyes lighted on the cab which I drove. They advanced, and the -shorter man of the two said: ‘Cabman, we are police-officers. Have you -just brought any one who was anxious to catch the six o’clock express?’ - -I had felt certain they were officers of justice. How is it that -policemen out of uniform and servants out of livery are always -distinguishable? There is a hall-mark, so to say, which stamps them. - -I stated all I knew, which, as the reader knows, was not much. Then -they left me. - -Whether they utilised the telegraph for the arrest of the unhappy -fugitive—a forger, as they told me—I never knew. - -I examined my takings, and found they amounted to one pound five -shillings, making a profit of eight shillings. But it is not the luck -of every cabman to have as a fare a runaway forger who will pay so -liberally as ten shillings for three miles. - -Mr Smith was quite satisfied with the result, and expressed his -willingness to lend his horse and cab again on similar terms. But this -was my first and last cab-drive. I cannot explain it, but that night -was a turning-point in my career. I married soon afterwards; and not -even the wife of my bosom is aware that her husband once officiated in -the character of a London cab-driver! - - - - -COLONEL REDGRAVE’S LEGACY. - - -IN FOUR CHAPTERS.—CHAPTER I. - -Mr Septimus Redgrave had attained the mature age of fifty without -losing either of his pet theories—that this world is anything but a -vale of tears, and that the wicked people in it are decidedly in the -minority. These comfortable doctrines were no doubt attributable to the -fact that Mr Redgrave was in the enjoyment of a small independence, -was master of his own time, possessed of good health, and had never -ventured on the uncertain voyage of matrimony. He had occupied the same -chambers in Bury Street, St James’s, for nearly a quarter of a century, -was a member of one of the oldest clubs in Pall Mall, a virtuoso -on a small scale, and a regular attendant at the picture-sales at -Christie’s. His natty, well-costumed figure was always to the fore -on the view-days, elbowing millionaires and picture-dealers in the -inspection of works of art, although his modest income precluded him -from becoming a purchaser, except in very exceptional cases. - -His only near relatives were two maiden sisters, who were several years -his senior, and resided at Shanklin, in the Isle of Wight. Their names -were Penelope and Lavinia respectively, and they were generous in -their advice on all occasions to their brother, whom they could never -realise as anything but a child, and consequently requiring guidance -and sisterly control. In truth, the intellect of their brother was none -of the brightest, of which fact he himself had a dim suspicion; but as -a slight compensation in lieu thereof, he availed himself of no small -share of a quality which could only be described as cunning, in the -ordinary acceptation of the word. - -He had resided in Bury Street for some ten years, when his landlady, -Mrs Jones, announced that in consequence of her failing strength and -increasing years, her daughter Martha was about to resign her position -as companion to an old lady at Bristol, and assist in the management -of the house in Bury Street. Miss Jones duly arrived, and presented -a very agreeable spectacle. A florid-complexioned, black-eyed girl -of twenty, very vivacious and energetic, and by no means devoid of -education or natural ability. The domestic comforts of Mr Redgrave were -materially increased by the advent of Miss Jones, and he showed his -gratitude at certain times and seasons in a very marked and material -manner. Her birthday was always remembered by the precise bachelor on -the first floor; nor were Christmas or the New Year forgotten. It will -never be known whether the brain of Mrs Jones had originally conceived -the ambitious scheme of a union between the family of Redgrave and -that of Jones; but it is certain that as time went on, such a plan was -entertained by both mother and daughter. There was but fifteen years’ -difference in their ages, and Martha was not only possessed of good -looks, but educated and accomplished. But the lynx eyes of the landlady -could never detect the smallest peg on which to hang a claim on behalf -of the incomparable Martha. Although frank and free in his intercourse -with the good-looking Hebe who ministered to his comforts, the actions -of Mr Redgrave were always regulated by the rules of the strictest -decorum; and if, during his occasional absences from town, the epistles -of Martha were couched in a somewhat sentimental tone, they met with -no response in the replies of the cautious and simple lodger of Bury -Street. Probably neither Mrs Jones nor her daughter had ever heard of -the celebrated French proverb, that ‘all comes to him who waits,’ but -it is nevertheless certain that they mutually acted on this maxim. - -Years rolled on, and no change occurred in the relations existing -between lodger and landlady; Mr Redgrave was now fifty, and Miss Jones -thirty-five. The roses had long since departed from her cheeks, and the -sparkle from her black eyes, but, like Claude Melnotte in the play, she -still ‘hoped on.’ She felt that she was practically indispensable to -the unsusceptible and phlegmatic bachelor, and trusted that he would -eventually realise the fact, and reward his faithful housekeeper by -making her his wife. - -About this time, Colonel Redgrave, a cousin of Septimus, arrived -from India, accompanied by two ladies named Fraser, of whom we shall -presently have occasion to speak. Colonel Redgrave had for many years -maintained a somewhat desultory correspondence with our bachelor. The -officer was an elderly man, and not in the enjoyment of very good -health. On his arrival at Southampton, he proceeded to the residence of -his female cousins at Shanklin, and accepted their invitation to make -Oswald Villa his temporary home until he could decide on his future -arrangements. Naturally, Mr Redgrave paid a visit to his military -cousin. They had not met since they were boys; and the astute colonel -was evidently much perplexed at the singular combination of simplicity -and shrewdness presented by his London kinsman. Whether the impression -created was favourable or the reverse, it is the object of this -narrative to show. - -Six weeks after the arrival of Colonel Redgrave in England, his cousin -was seated at breakfast in his apartments in Bury Street, seriously -cogitating the advisability or the reverse of a lengthened tour on the -continent for his autumn holiday, when the question was settled in a -somewhat unexpected manner. Miss Jones appeared with a black-edged -letter in her hand. The writing was that of Miss Redgrave, and the -post-mark ‘Shanklin.’ With trembling fingers, Septimus opened the -envelope. ‘Colonel Redgrave had died suddenly of heart disease at -Oswald Villa.’ This was the gist of the epistle; and Mr Redgrave was -required forthwith at Shanklin, to be present at the funeral and to -hear the contents of the will of the deceased. Miss Jones was duly -acquainted with the sad news; and in response to her inquiry as to -the probable destination of the wealth of the late Colonel Redgrave, -Septimus professed entire ignorance; and having given vent to some -expressions of impatience and vexation at this marring of his Swiss and -Italian tour, gave instructions to Miss Jones to see to the packing -of his portmanteau without any delay; for the fair Martha was not -only a quasi-valet, but secretary and librarian, the catalogue of Mr -Redgrave’s books being carefully kept up to date. - -In less than a week, the funeral obsequies of the late Colonel Redgrave -had been duly performed, the will read; and Septimus Redgrave, -considerably to his astonishment, found himself sole legatee, and the -fortunate possessor in round figures of twenty thousand pounds! - - * * * * * - -Two months have elapsed since the death of Colonel Redgrave, and -Septimus is still in residence at Shanklin. His continental tour -has been indefinitely postponed; but his soul now yearns for his -accustomed London haunts, in spite of the attentions lavished upon him -by his sisters. And if the truth must be told, he misses the constant -watchfulness of Martha, that keen anticipation of his slightest wish, -so uniformly displayed by the housekeeper of St James’s. It is a lovely -morning in September, and from the drawing-room windows of Oswald -Villa, the blue waters of Sandown Bay can be seen in charming contrast -to the white cliffs of Culver, while above, the sky rivals that of -Naples in its cerulean tint. Miss Redgrave and her sister Lavinia are -nominally engaged in crewel-work, but actually their attention is -concentrated on the immediate future of their beloved brother under -the altered condition of his affairs. Miss Redgrave is tall and thin, -with a severe expression of countenance, which belies her excellent -qualities of head and heart. Her sister Lavinia is short and stout, -with a very submissive manner, and presents a striking contrast to her -somewhat imperious sister. Her vocation in life appears to consist of -approving and indorsing the views and plans of her elder sister. Like -the French Senate during the Imperial _régime_, she never originated a -course of action, but expressed entire approval of the acts submitted -to her. Occasionally, when especially pressed by her sister for an -opinion, she would give vent to an original notion, which excited the -outward contempt of Miss Redgrave, but inwardly created considerable -feelings of alarm, as these occasional lapses from her ordinary course -by Lavinia were of the nature of second-sight, and the prophecies of -the younger sister invariably came to pass. - -‘Septimus talks of returning to London,’ exclaimed the elder sister -with a keen glance at Lavinia, who smiled assent. ‘You do not seem to -realise what mighty issues hang on that event,’ continued Miss Redgrave -in a tone of considerable asperity. - -Lavinia still remained mute, though her countenance expressed keen -interest. - -‘You are very provoking, Lavinia, considering you are by no means -deficient in penetration as to motive, and analysis of character.’ - -‘Explain, dear Penelope.’ - -‘Septimus must not return to London a free man. I mean, he must present -himself in Bury Street an engaged man.’ - -‘I am afraid that will be a somewhat difficult task to accomplish,’ -replied Lavinia with an irritating acid smile. - -‘Nevertheless, it must be done,’ said Penelope with a tone of decision -worthy of the Iron Duke. - -‘But how?’ inquired Lavinia. - -‘Surely you remember the existence of that creature—Martha Jones. The -fact of our brother having inherited a fortune will inspire her with -fresh courage. New methods of attack will at once be resorted to, and -the assault will never cease till she has reduced the fortress to -submission. I never saw Miss Jones but once, but that was sufficient.’ - -‘I fully agree with you, my dear sister,’ said Lavinia; ‘but where do -you propose to find a suitable partner for Septimus?’ - -‘We have no occasion to look far. Under this very roof is a lady -adapted in every sense to make dear Septimus a suitable partner.’ - -‘I suppose you mean Mrs Fraser?’ mildly observed Lavinia. - -‘Precisely. Mrs Fraser is, I should say, forty, possessed of a -comfortable income, clever, and just the kind of woman to shield our -brother from all the evils and temptations of this mortal life.’ - -‘I only see two difficulties,’ responded Lavinia: ‘Septimus may not -like Mrs Fraser, and Mrs Fraser may not like Septimus.’ - -‘Ridiculous!’ said Penelope. ‘Who ever heard of a widow scarcely out -of her thirties who would not jump at a man of fifty with nearly two -thousand a year!’ - -‘I admit the chief difficulty will lie with Septimus,’ placidly replied -Lavinia. ‘He is very self-willed at times.’ - -‘Leave that part of the affair to _me_,’ exclaimed Penelope with -haughty confidence. - -Further discussion was summarily put an end to by the entrance of -the individual in question. We must confess that although he wore -‘the livery of woe,’ the countenance of Septimus was not expressive -of any considerable grief for the loss of his ‘well-beloved cousin.’ -Constantly before his mental vision floated the Bank Stock, India -Bonds, and Three per Cents of which he had so recently become the -possessor. Frequently during the day he checked himself in the middle -of a lively air of Offenbach or Sullivan, which he found himself -humming with considerable gusto. He would pause suddenly, and mould his -features into a becoming expression accordingly. Mr Redgrave looked -considerably older than his years, his hair and whiskers being quite -gray, and his features somewhat wrinkled. But he was always dressed -with scrupulous care, and in the days of the Regency would have been -dubbed a ‘buck’ of the first water. - -‘Have you seen the Frasers this morning, Septimus?’ inquired Penelope. -‘I mean, since breakfast.’ - -‘They have gone as far as Luccombe Chine with young Lockwood. I -preferred a quiet read of the _Times_.’ - -‘Septimus, will you give us a few minutes of your valuable time?’ - -Mr Redgrave, accustomed to defer to the wishes of his elder sister -in most things, submissively seated himself in front of Penelope and -prepared to listen accordingly. - -‘Lavinia and I have been discussing your improved fortune and -prospects. Although your sisters have led a very retired and secluded -life, they have some knowledge of human nature, and are quite prepared -to learn that their only brother has been the target for every selfish -and intriguing woman with whom he has been brought in contact. The only -safeguard appears to us to be an engagement with some suitable person.’ - -The aquiline features of Septimus flushed somewhat as he replied: ‘If -you mean that I am to sacrifice my liberty when I am best prepared -to enjoy it, you will excuse my saying that you are tilting at a -windmill. If you think so highly of matrimony, why don’t you swallow -the prescription yourself?’ - -If it be objected that this retort can scarcely be considered such as -should proceed from the lips of a gentleman, it must be borne in mind -that Septimus was an irascible man, and that when he lost command of -his temper he always lost at the same time command of his tongue. - -‘The relative positions of a woman and a man are vastly different, so -far as matrimony is concerned,’ replied Penelope. ‘The woman must sit -at home till she receives an offer; the man can seek a wife in every -circle of society.’ - -This was a great admission on the part of Penelope, who would never -have avowed to any man—except a brother—that her spinsterhood was aught -but the result of her own free-will. It will be observed that both the -sisters ignored all danger from such a quarter as the ambitious damsel -of St James’s; at anyrate they would have considered it derogatory to -their own self-respect to own (to Septimus) such a fear. - -‘You are no longer a young man, Septimus. We are both your seniors. Our -last days would be inexpressibly soothed if we could feel that your lot -in life was fixed, and that the fortune you have inherited would not -become the prey of intriguing adventuresses. There is a lady in this -house who entertains strong feelings of regard for you. She is young, -handsome, and accomplished. You do not require money in a wife; but -the lady we allude to is not by any means a beggar. Let us both advise -you to lose no time in making up your mind, or a certain good-looking -lawyer may be before you. No more at present. The lady, who will, I -devoutly trust, eventually become our sister, is even now approaching -the house.’ - -Septimus turned his eyes in the direction of the garden. Two ladies and -a gentleman were slowly walking along the path. Presently, the younger -one suddenly left her companions and tripped into the drawing-room -through the open French-window. - - -CHAPTER II. - -Mrs Fraser was the widow of Major Fraser, and quite came under the -description of being ‘fat, fair, and forty.’ Her late husband had -been the lifelong associate of Colonel Redgrave; so, when the widow -announced her intention of quitting India for England, there to take -up her permanent abode, her sole companion being her only child, a -girl of some nineteen years, the colonel decided to accompany her. -The gossips in the cantonments had quite decided that after a decent -interval Mrs Fraser would become the wife of Colonel Redgrave; but all -such speculations were put an end to by his sudden death. The Frasers -were now staying at Oswald Villa, the elder Miss Redgrave, as the -reader has just seen, having formed a plan of uniting her brother in -marriage to the handsome widow. Blanche Fraser was a miniature copy -of her mother. The same dazzlingly fair complexion, the same laughing -blue eyes, the same luxuriant light hair; and, if the truth must be -told, the same love of admiration and flirting, distinguished alike -both mother and daughter. There was only one alloy to the happiness -of the widow—the dreadful conviction that youth was slowly but surely -deserting her. The fact might perhaps have been concealed somewhat, but -for the visible presence of a marriageable daughter. So, with many a -sigh, the widow yielded to the inevitable, and determined to choose a -partner in life while a certain portion of youth and good looks still -remained to her. At the present moment, her choice had fallen on the -handsome companion of her walk to Luccombe Chine. Mr Frank Lockwood -had been the lawyer of the Redgrave family ever since his father had -vacated that position by death. He was now about three-and-thirty, was -agreeable and good-looking. As it was now the vacation, the lawyer -was staying at Oswald Villa, in response to the pressing invitation -of Miss Redgrave. The widow had acted on the principle of making hay -while the sun shines, and had exerted all her fascinations on the man -of law; but in vain. Mr Lockwood was very gallant, but the heart of Mrs -Fraser whispered that hitherto her efforts had been void of success. -Still, perseverance, as we all know, achieves wonders, and so the widow -resolved to adopt as her motto—_Perseverando vinces_, and hope for the -best. Blanche, as we have said, tripped into the room, exclaiming as -she did so, ‘O Mr Redgrave, you have lost such a treat! I did so miss -you; you were the one thing needful to complete our enjoyment during -our delightful walk.’ - -Septimus gazed keenly at the fair speaker; she was certainly very -pretty, and decidedly clever, and palpably partial to his society. -He might do worse than pass the remainder of his days with such a -delightful companion. To be sure, there was a certain disparity in -years; but every one knows that women age faster than men, and there -were innumerable instances in public life of similar disproportions as -to age. He would certainly treasure up the advice of his sister as to -the choice of a wife. So it was with more than his customary urbanity -that Septimus replied: ‘An old man such as I am would have been but a -poor acquisition, Miss Fraser.’ - -Blanche peered with an expression of mock gravity into the gray eyes of -Septimus. ‘An old man! Have you never heard of the old saying?—A man is -as old as he feels, a woman as old as she looks. How old do you feel, -Mr Redgrave?’ - -‘I feel almost a boy, Miss Fraser, when in your society; I feel a -centenarian when I am ill in my solitary rooms in London.’ - -‘Then the deduction from that observation,’ replied Blanche, ‘is, that -to enjoy perpetual youth, you should be perpetually in my society.’ - -‘A charming prescription, Miss Fraser; I wish it were a possible one.’ - -Mrs Fraser and Mr Lockwood here entered the room. ‘Take care, Mr -Redgrave,’ said the widow; ‘you will find Blanche a sad flirt. I have -only just been warning Mr Lockwood against her.’ - -This was a double shot, intended equally for Blanche and Mr Lockwood, -who had, in the widow’s opinion, been somewhat too attentive to Blanche -recently. - -Penelope here intervened. ‘My brother is hankering after the fleshpots -of Egypt, Mrs Fraser; in other words, is longing for “the sweet shady -side of Pall Mall.” Can you not persuade him to remain?’ - -‘Let me try _my_ influence,’ interposed Blanche coquettishly. ‘You will -remain, will you not, _dear_ Mr Redgrave?’ - -Septimus felt a thrill pass through his frame as Miss Fraser took -hold of one of his hands and looked up in his face with a beseeching -look, while Mr Lockwood threw himself with an air of vexation into an -armchair and made an attempt to read yesterday’s _Times_. - -‘You _must_ promise, Mr Redgrave,’ said Blanche. - -‘I promise to obey you in all things,’ said Septimus, as, with an air -of old-world gallantry, he raised her fingers to his lips. - -From that hour, one thought and one only occupied the mind of Mr -Redgrave: Should he adopt the advice of Penelope, and make Miss Fraser -an offer of his hand and heart? It was a tremendous step for one who -had passed the greater part of his life in studying how best he could -minister to his own selfish comfort and happiness. But on the morning -of the second day after the scene we have just described, Septimus -determined to put his fortune to the test. He chanced to find the fair -Blanche alone sitting under the jessamine-covered veranda, engaged in -reading a novel. Attired in white, with a blue sash round her slender -waist, her light brown hair falling in careless profusion on her -well-turned shoulders, Miss Fraser presented a bewitching spectacle. -As Septimus approached, Blanche shot a captivating glance from beneath -her long dark lashes, and with a graceful movement, invited Septimus to -seat himself beside her on the bench. - -‘I hope you are not in the crisis of your tale, Miss Fraser?’ - -‘No; I am in the second volume only, which is always flat and -uninteresting and skippable.’ - -‘I am glad to hear it, for I am anxious to have a little serious chat -with you.’ - -Blanche placed her hands together in the form of supplication. ‘Oh, -please, don’t, Mr Redgrave! I have just had a lecture of half an hour’s -duration from mamma, and that was serious enough, in all conscience. -Why will our parents and guardians expect us to have the wisdom of -Solomon and the virtues of Dorcas before we are out of our teens!’ - -‘Perhaps I used a wrong word; I wished to speak to you about love.’ - -‘Oh! how delightful! Have you fallen in love _at last_, Mr Redgrave?’ - -Septimus did not like the phrase ‘at last,’ but he continued: ‘Also I -wished to speak about matrimony.’ - -Blanche shook her head gravely. ‘That is a very serious subject.’ - -‘And yet matrimony is the natural sequence of love.’ - -‘Alas! yes,’ sighed Blanche. - -So far the discussion was not encouraging; but Septimus resolved to -persevere. ‘I have fallen in love with a lady who is at present under -this roof.’ - -Blanche clasped her hands in wondering surprise, and gasped forth one -word—‘Mamma!’ - -‘No, Miss Fraser; my affections are settled on her lovely daughter.’ - -‘Me!’ exclaimed Blanche. ‘Impossible! Oh, Mr Redgrave, you are joking!’ - -‘I was never more serious in my life, Miss Fraser. Why should you think -it impossible that I should have fallen in love with you? I am in the -prime of life; I have sufficient means’—— - -‘O pray, Mr Redgrave, forbear! What you ask is impossible; I am -engaged, indeed I am, although mamma does not know it. You won’t tell -her, will you, Mr Redgrave? Promise me you will not.’ - -‘Certainly not; but I must inform my sisters, for it was owing to their -encouragement that I have made this proposal. They led me to suppose -that you were favourable to my suit.’ - -‘What a singular delusion! no; I don’t mean that—misapprehension.’ - -Septimus rose from the seat. ‘Then we resume our former relations, Miss -Fraser?’ - -Blanche rose, and as she made a low courtesy, said: ‘If you please, Mr -Redgrave.’ - -Septimus strode away in a towering rage with his sisters for having -inflicted upon him such unnecessary humiliation, and entering -the drawing-room, found Penelope and Lavinia calmly engaged in -tambour-work. One glance was sufficient to inform the sisters that -their brother was not in the best of tempers. - -‘Septimus, what has happened?’ - -‘Everything that is disgusting and unpleasant. I have been fool enough -to take your advice. I have proposed to the lady selected by you for my -wife two days ago, and have been refused with ridicule and contempt.’ - -‘Impossible, Septimus!’ - -‘The lady is already engaged.’ - -‘Impossible, Septimus!’ - -‘But I have promised to keep her engagement a secret from her mother.’ - -‘From her mother! Of whom are you speaking, Septimus?’ - -‘Why, of Blanche Fraser, to be sure.’ - -‘Blanche! It was her mother we alluded to as our future sister-in-law!’ - -Tableau! - - * * * * * - -By a singular coincidence, Mrs Fraser was closeted with Mr Lockwood -in the library of Oswald Villa during the love-scene of Septimus with -Blanche. The widow had gone to the library under the pretence of -fetching a particular volume, well knowing that she would find the -handsome solicitor in that apartment. Mr Lockwood was deeply immersed -in Burton’s _Anatomy of Melancholy_, but rose from his seat as Mrs -Fraser entered. - -‘I did not mean to disturb you, Mr Lockwood; I merely wanted a volume -of Tennyson.’ - -‘Pray, don’t apologise, Mrs Fraser. Your visit is very apropos, for I -was very anxious to have a few minutes’ private conversation with you -on a matter affecting all my future life.’ - -The widow gracefully accepted the chair Mr Lockwood placed for her, her -cheek flushing, and her pulse throbbing as a small voice whispered: -‘The moment has at length arrived; and Frank is neither made of stone, -nor so impervious to my fascinations as I supposed.’ - -‘It is in your power, my dear Mrs Fraser, to make me the happiest of -men.’ - -A film passed over the eyes of the widow at this sudden statement of -the lawyer. - -‘With your keen penetration and knowledge of the human heart, you must -have long since perceived that I am hopelessly in love, and that the -object of my affections is at this moment a resident of Oswald Villa.’ - -‘I suspected as much; I will not deny it, dear Frank.’ - -Mr Lockwood took the plump and trembling fingers of the widow in his -own and gently pressed them. The widow cordially and instinctively -returned the squeeze. ‘May I hope, dear Mrs Fraser?’ - -‘Dear youth, you may!’ murmured the widow, as her head gently sank on -his shoulders. - -The countenance of Mr Lockwood expressed some considerable surprise -at the phraseology adopted by Mrs Fraser, but he attributed it to the -natural emotion of the situation. - -‘Then I may tell dear Blanche at once?’ said Frank. - -‘Yes; she must know it sooner or later,’ said Mrs Fraser. - -‘Blanche already knows of my attachment,’ said Mr Lockwood. - -‘Was she not very much surprised, dear Frank?’ - -‘Well, I cannot say that she was, exactly.’ - -‘I feared she might think there was too much disparity of age,’ said -the widow. - -‘Only fourteen years,’ replied Lockwood. - -‘No, Frank, you are joking,’ said the widow, playfully tapping his -cheek; ‘not more than seven.’ - -‘Pardon me, Mrs Fraser. I am thirty-three, and Blanche is nineteen.’ - -The room and its contents spun round before the horrified gaze of the -unhappy widow. All was clear to her now. For a few brief happy moments -she had been living in a fool’s paradise. The dream was over. But, -like a judicious woman of the world, Mrs Fraser collected her agitated -thoughts and rapidly executed a change of front. - -‘You will make some allowance, Mr Lockwood, for my natural agitation at -the idea of losing a beloved daughter. Blanche is a dear good child, -and you gained a treasure when you won her young affections. But you -must have patience. I cannot afford to lose her yet, she is still so -young.’ - -‘My dear Mrs Fraser, I am the happiest of men,’ replied the enraptured -Lockwood, overjoyed at the speedy success of his suit. - - - - -MISTLETOE. - - - A cold dark night, - Some falling snow; - A gleam of light, - A ruddy glow. - - A quaint old hall, - Some warriors grim, - Whose shadows fall - Grotesque and dim. - - A maiden fair, - A gleam of gold - Upon her hair— - The story old. - - While the storm’s breath - Sweeps o’er the snow, - One kiss beneath - The mistletoe. - - Ten Christmas Eves - Have come and gone, - And each one leaves - Me still alone. - - That fair sweet maid - Of years ago - Has long been laid - Beneath the snow. - - While the wind drives - Against the pane, - In fancy lives - My love again. - - The firelight fades, - The embers glow, - One kiss beneath - The mistletoe. - - NORA C. USHER. - - * * * * * - -Printed and Published by W. & R. CHAMBERS, 47 Paternoster Row, LONDON, -and 339 High Street, EDINBURGH. - - * * * * * - -_All Rights Reserved._ - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL OF POPULAR -LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART, FIFTH SERIES, NO. 49, VOL. I, DECEMBER 6, -1884 *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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