diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/53729-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/53729-0.txt | 6697 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 6697 deletions
diff --git a/old/53729-0.txt b/old/53729-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 660bec1..0000000 --- a/old/53729-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6697 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's In Partnership, by Brander Matthews and H. C. Bunner - -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'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: In Partnership - Studies in story-telling - -Author: Brander Matthews - H. C. Bunner - -Release Date: December 14, 2016 [EBook #53729] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN PARTNERSHIP *** - - - - -Produced by Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - - - -IN PARTNERSHIP. - - - - - IN PARTNERSHIP - - STUDIES IN STORY-TELLING - - BY BRANDER MATTHEWS AND H. C. BUNNER - - NEW YORK - CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS - 1884 - - COPYRIGHT, 1884, BY - CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PAGE - - THE DOCUMENTS IN THE CASE 3 - _By Brander Matthews and H. C. Bunner._ - - VENETIAN GLASS 48 - _By Brander Matthews._ - - THE RED SILK HANDKERCHIEF 73 - _By H. C. Bunner._ - - THE SEVEN CONVERSATIONS OF DEAR JONES AND BABY VAN RENSSELAER 115 - _By Brander Matthews and H. C. Bunner._ - - THE RIVAL GHOSTS 139 - _By Brander Matthews._ - - A LETTER AND A PARAGRAPH 165 - _By H. C. Bunner._ - - PLAYING A PART 179 - _By Brander Matthews._ - - LOVE IN OLD CLOATHES 196 - _By H. C. Bunner._ - - - - -THE DOCUMENTS IN THE CASE. - -BY BRANDER MATTHEWS AND H. C. BUNNER. - - -PART FIRST. - - -Document No. 1. - -_Paragraph from the “Illustrated London News,” published under the head of -“Obituary of Eminent Persons,” in the issue of January 4th, 1879:_ - -SIR WILLIAM BEAUVOIR, BART. - -Sir William Beauvoir, Bart., whose lamented death has just occurred at -Brighton, on December 28th, was the head and representative of the junior -branch of the very ancient and honourable family of Beauvoir, and was the -only son of the late General Sir William Beauvoir, Bart., by his wife -Anne, daughter of Colonel Doyle, of Chelsworth Cottage, Suffolk. He was -born in 1805, and was educated at Eton and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He -was M. P. for Lancashire from 1837 to 1847, and was appointed a Gentleman -of the Privy Chamber in 1843. Sir William married, in 1826, Henrietta -Georgiana, fourth daughter of the Right Honourable Adolphus Liddell, Q. -C., by whom he had two sons, William Beauvoir and Oliver Liddell Beauvoir. -The latter was with his lamented parent when he died. Of the former -nothing has been heard for nearly thirty years, about which time he left -England suddenly for America. It is supposed that he went to California, -shortly after the discovery of gold. Much forgotten gossip will now in -all probability be revived, for the will of the lamented baronet has been -proved, on the 2d inst., and the personalty sworn under £70,000. The two -sons are appointed executors. The estate in Lancashire is left to the -elder, and the rest is divided between the brothers. The doubt as to the -career of Sir William’s eldest son must now of course be cleared up. - -This family of Beauvoirs is of Norman descent, and of great antiquity. -This is the younger branch, founded in the last century by Sir William -Beauvoir, Bart., who was Chief Justice of the Canadas, whence he was -granted the punning arms and motto now borne by his descendants--a beaver -sable rampant on a field gules; motto, “Damno.” - - -PART SECOND. - - -Document No. 2. - -_Promises to pay, put forth by William Beauvoir, junior, at various times -in 1848:_ - - +----------------------------------+ - | | - | _I. O. U._ | - | | - | _£105. 0. 0._ | - | | - | _April 10th, 1848._ | - | | - | _William Beauvoir, junr._ | - | | - +----------------------------------+ - - -Document No. 3. - -_The same._ - - +----------------------------------+ - | | - | _I. O. U._ | - | | - | _£250. 0. 0._ | - | | - | _April 22d, 1848._ | - | | - | _William Beauvoir, junr._ | - | | - +----------------------------------+ - - -Document No. 4. - -_The same._ - - +----------------------------------+ - | | - | _I. O. U._ | - | | - | _£600. 0. 0._ | - | | - | _May 10th, 1848._ | - | | - | _William Beauvoir, junr._ | - | | - +----------------------------------+ - - -Document No. 5. - -_Extract from the “Sunday Satirist”, a journal of high-life, published in -London, May 13th, 1848:_ - -Are not our hereditary lawmakers and the members of our old families the -guardians of the honour of this realm? One would not think so to see the -reckless gait at which some of them go down the road to ruin. The D----e -of D----m and the E----l of B----n and L----d Y----g,--are not these -pretty guardians of a nation’s name? _Quis custodiet?_ etc. Guardians, -forsooth, _parce qu’ils se sont donnés la peine de naître_! Some of the -gentry make the running as well as their betters. Young W----m B----r, son -of old Sir W----m B----r, late M.P. for L----e, is a truly model young -man. He comes of a good old county family--his mother was a daughter of -the Right Honourable A----s L----l, and he himself is old enough to know -better. But we hear of his escapades night after night, and day after day. -He bets all day and he plays all night, and poor tired nature has to make -the best of it. And his poor worn purse gets the worst of it. He has duns -by the score. His I.O.U.’s are held by every Jew in the city. He is not -content with a little gentlemanlike game of whist or _écarté_, but he must -needs revive for his special use and behoof the dangerous and well-nigh -forgotten _pharaoh_. As luck would have it, he had lost as much at this -game of brute chance as ever he would at any game of skill. His judgment -of horseflesh is no better than his luck at cards. He came a cropper over -the “Two Thousand Guineas.” The victory of the favourite cost him to the -tune of over six thousand pounds. We learn that he hopes to recoup himself -on the Derby, by backing Shylock for nearly nine thousand pounds; one bet -was twelve hundred guineas. - -And this is the sort of man who may be chosen at any time by force of -family interest to make laws for the toiling millions of Great Britain! - - -Document No. 6. - -_Extract from “Bell’s Life” of May 19th, 1848_: - -THE DERBY DAY. - -WEDNESDAY.--This day, like its predecessor, opened with a cloudless sky, -and the throng which crowded the avenues leading to the grand scene of -attraction was, as we have elsewhere remarked, incalculable. - -THE DERBY. - -The Derby Stakes of 50 sovs. each, h. ft. for three-year-olds; colts, 8 -st. 7 lb., fillies, 8 st. 2 lb.; the second to receive 100 sovs., and the -winner to pay 100 sovs. towards police, etc.; mile and a half on the new -Derby course; 215 subs. - - Lord Clifden’s b. c. _Surplice_, by Touchstone 1 - Mr. Bowe’s b. c. _Springy Jack_, by Hetman 2 - Mr. B. Green’s br. c. _Shylock_, by Simoon 3 - Mr. Payne’s b. c. _Glendower_, by Slane 0 - Mr. J. P. Day’s b. c. _Nil Desperandum_, by Venison 0 - - -Document No. 7. - -_Paragraph of Shipping Intelligence from the “Liverpool Courier” of June -21st, 1848_: - -The bark _Euterpe_, Captain Riding, belonging to the Transatlantic -Clipper Line of Messrs. Judkins & Cooke, left the Mersey yesterday -afternoon, bound for New York. She took out the usual complement of -steerage passengers. The first officer’s cabin is occupied by Professor -Titus Peebles, M.R.C.S., M.R.G.S., lately instructor in metallurgy at the -University of Edinburgh, and Mr. William Beauvoir. Professor Peebles, we -are informed, has an important scientific mission in the States, and will -not return for six months. - - -Document No. 8. - -_Paragraph from the “N. Y. Herald” of September 9th, 1848._ - -While we well know that the record of vice and dissipation can never -be pleasing to the refined tastes of the cultivated denizens of the -only morally pure metropolis on the face of the earth, yet it may be of -interest to those who enjoy the fascinating study of human folly and -frailty to “point a moral or adorn a tale” from the events transpiring -in our very midst. Such as these will view with alarm the sad example -afforded the youth of our city by the dissolute career of a young lump of -aristocratic affectation and patrician profligacy, recently arrived in -this city. This young _gentleman’s_ (save the mark!) name is Lord William -F. Beauvoir, the latest scion of a venerable and wealthy English family. -We print the full name of this beautiful exemplar of “haughty Albion,” -although he first appeared among our citizens under the alias of Beaver, -by which name he is now generally known, although recorded on the books -of the Astor House by the name which our enterprise first gives to the -public. Lord Beauvoir’s career since his arrival here has been one of -unexampled extravagance and mad immorality. His days and nights have been -passed in the gilded palaces of the fickle goddess, Fortune, in Thomas -Street and College Place, where he has squandered fabulous sums, by some -stated to amount to over £78,000 sterling. It is satisfactory to know -that retribution has at last overtaken him. His enormous income has been -exhausted to the ultimate farthing, and at latest accounts he had quit the -city, leaving behind him, it is shrewdly suspected, a large hotel bill, -though no such admission can be extorted from his last landlord, who is -evidently a sycophantic adulator of British “aristocracy.” - - -Document No. 9. - -_Certificate of deposit, vulgarly known as a pawn-ticket, issued by one -Simpson to William Beauvoir, December 2d, 1848._ - - ------------------------------------------------------- - John Simpson, - Loan Office, - 36 Bowery, - New York. - ------------------------------------------------------- - _Dec. 2d, 1848._ - ----------------------------------------+--------+----- - | Dolls. | Cts. - _One Gold Hunting-case Watch and Chain, | | - William Beauvoir._ | _150_ | _00_ - ----------------------------------------+--------+----- - Not accountable in case of fire, damage, moth, robbery, - breakage, &c. - 25% per ann. Good for 1 year only. - ------------------------------------------------------- - - -Document No. 10. - -_Letter from the late John Phœnix, found among the posthumous papers -of the late John P. Squibob, and promptly published in the “San Diego -Herald.”_ - - OFF THE COAST OF FLORIDA, Jan. 3, 1849. - -MY DEAR SQUIB:--I imagine your pathetic inquiry as to my -whereabouts--pathetic, not to say hypothetic--for I am now where I cannot -hear the dulcet strains of your voice. I am on board ship. I am half seas -over. I am bound for California by way of the Isthmus. I am going for the -gold, my boy, the gold. In the mean time I am lying around loose on the -deck of this magnificent vessel, the _Mercy G. Tarbox_, of Nantucket, -bred by _Noah’s Ark_ out of _Pilot-boat_, dam by _Mudscow_ out of _Raging -Canawl_. The _Mercy G. Tarbox_ is one of the best boats of Nantucket, and -Captain Clearstarch is one of the best captains all along shore--although, -friend Squibob, I feel sure that you are about to observe that a captain -with a name like that would give anyone the blues. But don’t do it, Squib! -Spare me this once. - -But as a matter of fact this ultramarine joke of yours is about east. It -was blue on the _Mercy G._--mighty blue, too. And it needed the inspiring -hope of the gold I was soon to pick up in nuggets to stiffen my backbone -to a respectable degree of rigidity. I was about ready to wilt. But I -discovered two Englishmen on board, and now I get along all right. We -have formed a little temperance society--just we three, you know--to see -if we cannot, by a course of sampling and severe study, discover which of -the captain’s liquors is most dangerous, so that we can take the pledge -not to touch it. One of them is a chemist or a metallurgist, or something -scientific. The other is a gentleman. - -The chemist or metallurgist or something scientific is Professor Titus -Peebles, who is going out to prospect for gold. He feels sure that his -professional training will give him the inside track in the gulches and -gold mines. He is a smart chap. He invented the celebrated “William Riley -Baking Powder”--bound to rise up every time. - -And here I must tell you a little circumstance. As I was coming down -to the dock in New York, to go aboard the _Mercy G._, a small boy was -walloping a boy still smaller; so I made peace, and walloped them both. -And then they both began heaving rocks at me--one of which I caught -dexterously in the dexter hand. Yesterday, as I was pacing the deck with -the professor, I put my hand in my pocket and found this stone. So I asked -the professor what it was. - -He looked at it and said it was gneiss. - -“Is it?” said I. “Well, if a small but energetic youth had taken you on -the back of the head with it, you would not think it so nice!” - -And then, O Squib, he set out to explain that he meant “gneiss,” not -“nice!” The ignorance of these English about a joke is really wonderful. -It is easy to see that they have never been brought up on them. But -perhaps there was some excuse for the professor that day, for he was the -president _pro tem._ of our projected temperance society, and as such he -had been making a quantitative and qualitative analysis of another kind of -quartz. - -So much for the chemist or metallurgist or something scientific. The -gentleman and I get on better. His name is Beaver, which he persists in -spelling Beauvoir. Ridiculous, isn’t it? How easy it is to see that the -English have never had the advantage of a good common-school education--so -few of them can spell. Here’s a man don’t know how to spell his own -name. And this shows how the race over there on the little island is -degenerating. It was not so in other days. Shakspere, for instance, not -only knew how to spell his own name, but--and this is another proof of -his superiority to his contemporaries--he could spell it in half a dozen -different ways. - -This Beaver is a clever fellow, and we get on first rate together. He -is going to California for gold--like the rest of us. But I think he -has had his share--and spent it. At any rate he has not much now. I -have been teaching him poker, and I am afraid he won’t have any soon. I -have an idea he has been going pretty fast--and mostly down hill. But -he has his good points. He is a gentleman all through, as you can see. -Yes, friend Squibob, even you could see right through him. We are all -going to California together, and I wonder which one of the three will -turn up trumps first--Beaver, or the chemist, metallurgist or something -scientific, or - - Yours respectfully, JOHN PHŒNIX. - -P. S.--You think this a stupid letter, perhaps, and not interesting. Just -reflect on my surroundings. Besides, the interest will accumulate a good -while before you get the missive. And I don’t know how you ever are to get -it, for there is no post-office near here, and on the Isthmus the mails -are as uncertain as the females are everywhere. (I am informed that there -is no postage on old jokes--so I let that stand.) - - J. P. - - -Document No. 11. - -_Extract from the “Bone Gulch Palladium,” June 3d, 1850_: - -Our readers may remember hovv frequeñtly vve have declared our firm belief -iñ the future uñexampled prosperity of Boñe Gulch. VVe savv it iñ the -immediate future the metropolis of the Pacific Slope, as it vvas iñteñded -by ñature to be. VVe poiñted out repeatedly that a time vvould come vvheñ -Boñe Gulch vvould be añ emporium of the arts añd scieñces añd of the best -society, eveñ more thañ it is ñovv. VVe foresavv the time vvheñ the best -meñ from the old cities of the East vvould come flockiñg to us, passiñg -vvith coñtempt the puñy settlemeñt of Deadhorse. But eveñ vve did ñot -so sooñ see that members of the aristocracy of the effete moñarchies of -despotic Europe vvould ackñovvledge the uñdeñiable advañtages of Boñe -Gulch, añd come here to stay permañeñtly añd forever. VVithiñ the past -vveek vve have received here Hoñ. VVilliam Beaver, oñe of the first meñ -of Great Britaiñ añd Irelañd, a statesmañ, añ orator, a soldier, añd añ -exteñsive traveller. He has come to Boñe Gulch as the best spot oñ the -face of the everlastiñg uñiverse. It is ñeedless to say that our promiñeñt -citizeñs have received him vvith great cordiality. Boñe Gulch is ñot like -Deadhorse. VVe kñovv a geñtlemañ vvheñ vve see oñe. - -Hoñ. Mr. Beaver is oñe of ñature’s ñoblemeñ; he is also related to the -Royal Family of Eñglañd. He is a secoñd cousiñ of the Queeñ, añd boards at -the Tovver of Loñdoñ vvith her vvheñ at home. VVe are iñformed that he has -frequeñtly takeñ the Priñce of VVales out for a ride iñ his baby-vvagoñ. - -VVe take great pleasure iñ coñgratulatiñg Boñe Gulch oñ its latest -acquisitioñ. Añd vve kñovv Hoñ. Mr. Beaver is sure to get aloñg all right -here uñder the best climate iñ the vvorld añd vvith the ñoblest meñ the -suñ ever shoñe oñ. - - -Document No. 12. - -_Extract from the Dead Horse “Gazette and Courier of Civilization” of -August 26th, 1850_: - -BONEGULCH’S BRITISHER. - -Bonegulch sits in sackcloth and ashes and cools her mammoth cheek in the -breezes of Colorado canyon. The self-styled Emporium of the West has lost -her British darling, Beaver Bill, the big swell who was first cousin to -the Marquis of Buckingham and own grandmother to the Emperor of China, the -man with the biled shirt and low-necked shoes. This curled darling of the -Bonegulch aristocrat-worshippers passed through Deadhorse yesterday, clean -bust. Those who remember how the four-fingered editor of the Bonegulch -“Palladium” pricked up his ears and lifted up his falsetto crow when this -lovely specimen of the British snob first honored him by striking him for -a $ will appreciate the point of the joke. - -It is said that the “Palladium” is going to come out, when it makes its -next semi-occasional appearance, in full mourning, with turned rules. For -this festive occasion we offer Brother B. the use of our late retired -Spanish font, which we have discarded for the new and elegant dress -in which we appear to-day, and to which we have elsewhere called the -attention of our readers. It will be a change for the “Palladium’s” eleven -unhappy readers, who are getting very tired of the old type cast for the -Concha Mission in 1811, which tries to make up for its lack of w’s by a -plentiful superfluity of greaser u’s. How are you, Brother Biles? - -“We don’t know a gent when we see him.” Oh no (?)! - - -Document No. 13. - -_Paragraph from “Police Court Notes,” in the New Centreville [late Dead -Horse] “Evening Gazette,” January 2d, 1858_: - -HYMENEAL HIGH JINKS. - -William Beaver, better known ten years ago as “Beaver Bill,” is now -a quiet and prosperous agriculturalist in the Steal Valley. He was, -however, a pioneer in the 1849 movement, and a vivid memory of this fact -at times moves him to quit his bucolic labors and come in town for a -real old-fashioned tare. He arrived in New Centreville during Christmas -week; and got married suddenly, but not unexpectedly, yesterday morning. -His friends took it upon themselves to celebrate the joyful occasion, -rare in the experience of at least one of the parties, by getting very -high on Irish Ike’s whiskey and serenading the newly-married couple with -fish-horns, horse-fiddles, and other improvised musical instruments. -Six of the participators in this epithalamial serenade, namely, José -Tanco, Hiram Scuttles, John P. Jones, Hermann Bumgardner, Jean Durant -(“Frenchy”), and Bernard McGinnis (“Big Barney”), were taken in tow by -the police force, assisted by citizens, and locked up over night, to cool -their generous enthusiasm in the gloomy dungeons of Justice Skinner’s -calaboose. This morning all were discharged with a reprimand, except Big -Barney and José Tanco, who, being still drunk, were allotted ten days in -default of $10. The bridal pair left this noon for the bridegroom’s ranch. - - -Document No. 14. - -_Extract from “The New York Herald” for June 23d, 1861_: - -THE RED SKINS. - -A BORDER WAR AT LAST! - -INDIAN INSURRECTION. - -RED DEVILS RISING! - -WOMEN AND CHILDREN SEEKING SAFETY IN THE LARGER TOWNS. - -HORRIBLE HOLOCAUSTS ANTICIPATED. - -BURYING THE HATCHET--IN THE WHITE MAN’S HEAD. - -[SPECIAL DESPATCH TO THE NEW YORK HERALD.] - - CHICAGO, June 22, 1861. - -Great uneasiness exists all along the Indian frontier. Nearly all the -regular troops have been withdrawn from the West for service in the South. -With the return of the warm weather it seems certain that the red skins -will take advantage of the opportunity thus offered, and inaugurate a -bitter and vindictive fight against the whites. Rumors come from the -agencies that the Indians are leaving in numbers. A feverish excitement -among them has been easily to be detected. Their ponies are now in good -condition, and forage can soon be had in abundance on the prairie, if it -is not already. Everything points toward a sudden and startling outbreak -of hostilities. - -[SPECIAL DESPATCH TO THE NEW YORK HERALD.] - - ST. PAUL, June 22, 1861. - -The Sioux near here are all in a ferment. Experienced Indian fighters say -the signs of a speedy going on the war-path are not to be mistaken. No one -can tell how soon the whole frontier may be in a bloody blaze. The women -and children are rapidly coming in from all exposed settlements. Nothing -overt as yet has transpired, but that the Indians will collide very soon -with the settlers is certain. All the troops have been withdrawn. In our -defenceless state there is no knowing how many lives may be lost before -the regiments of volunteers now organizing can take the field. - -LATER. - -THE WAR BEGUN. - -FIRST BLOOD FOR THE INDIANS. - -THE SCALPING KNIFE AND THE TOMAHAWK AT WORK AGAIN. - -[SPECIAL DESPATCH TO THE NEW YORK HERALD.] - - BLACK WING AGENCY, June 22, 1861. - -The Indians made a sudden and unexpected attack on the town of Coyote -Hill, forty miles from here, last night, and did much damage before the -surprised settlers rallied and drove them off. The red skins met with -heavy losses. Among the whites killed are a man named William Beaver, -sometimes called Beaver Bill, and his wife. Their child, a beautiful -little girl of two, was carried off by the red rascals. A party has been -made up to pursue them. Owing to their taking their wounded with them, the -trail is very distinct. - - -Document No. 15. - -_Letter from Mrs. Edgar Saville, in San Francisco, to Mr. Edgar Saville, -in Chicago._ - - [Illustration: CAL. JARDINE’S - - MONSTER VARIETY AND DRAMATIC COMBINATION. - - ON THE ROAD.] - - _G. W. K. McCULLUM, Treasurer._ - - _HI. SAMUELS, Stage Manager._ - - _JNO. SHANKS, Advance._ - - _No dates filled except with first-class houses._ - - _Hall owners will please consider silence a polite negative._ - - SAN FRANCISCO, January 29, 1863. - -MY DEAR OLD MAN!--Here we are in our second week at Frisco and you will -be glad to know playing to steadily increasing biz, having signed for two -weeks more, certain. I didn’t like to mention it when I wrote you last, -but things were very queer after we left Denver, and “Treasury” was a -mockery till we got to Bluefoot Springs, which is a mining town, where -we showed in the hotel dining-room. Then there was a strike just before -the curtain went up. The house was mostly miners in red shirts and very -exacting. The sinews were forthcoming very quick my dear, and after that -the ghost walked quite regular. So now everything is bright, and you won’t -have to worry if Chicago doesn’t do the right thing by you. - -I don’t find this engagement half as disagreeable as I expected. Of course -it ain’t so very nice travelling in a combination with variety talent but -they keep to themselves and we regular professionals make a _happy family_ -that Barnum would not be ashamed of and quite separate and comfortable. -We don’t associate with any of them only with The Unique Mulligans wife, -because he beats her. So when he is on a regular she sleeps with me. - -And talking of liquor dear old man, if you knew how glad and proud I was -to see you writing so straight and steady and beautiful in your three last -letters. O, I’m sure my darling if the boys thought of the little wife -out on the road they wouldn’t plague you so with the Enemy. Tell Harry -Atkinson this from me, he has a good kind heart but he is the worst of -your friends. Every night when I am dressing I think of you at Chicago, -and pray you may never again go on the way you did that terrible night at -Rochester. Tell me dear, did you look handsome in Horatio? You ought to -have had Laertes instead of that duffing Merivale. - -And now I have the queerest thing to tell you. Jardine is going in for -Indians and has secured six very ugly ones. I mean real Indians, not -professional. They are hostile Comanshies or something who have just laid -down their arms. They had an insurrection in the first year of the War, -when the troops went East, and they killed all the settlers and ranches -and destroyed the canyons somewhere out in Nevada, and when they were -brought here they had a wee little kid with them only four or five years -old, but _so sweet_. They stole her and killed her parents and brought her -up for their own in the cunningest little moccasins. She could not speak a -word of English except her own name which is Nina. She has blue eyes and -all her second teeth. The ladies here made a great fuss about her and sent -her flowers and worsted afgans, but they did not do anything else for her -and left her to us. - -O dear old man you must let me have her! You never refused me a thing yet -and she is so like our Avonia Marie that my heart almost breaks when she -puts her arms around my neck--_she calls me mamma already_. I want to have -her with us when we get the little farm--and it must be near, that little -farm of ours--we have waited for it so long--and something tells me my -own old faker will make his hit soon and be great. You can’t tell how I -have loved it and hoped for it and how real every foot of that farm is to -me. And though I can never see my own darling’s face among the roses it -will make me so happy to see this poor dead mother’s pet get red and rosy -in the country air. And till the farm comes we shall always have enough -for her, without your ever having to black up again as you did for me the -winter I was sick my own poor boy! - -Write me yes--you will be glad when you see her. And now love and regards -to Mrs. Barry and all friends. Tell the Worst of Managers that he knows -where to find his leading juvenile for next season. Think how funny it -would be for us to play together next year--we haven’t done it since -’57--the third year we were married. That was my first season higher than -walking--and now I’m quite an old woman--most thirty dear! - -Write me soon a letter like that last one--and send a kiss to Nina--_our -Nina_. - - Your own girl, - - MARY. - -P. S. He has not worried me since. - -[Illustration] - -Nina drew this herself she says it is a horse so that you can get here -soon. - - -PART THIRD. - - -Document No. 16. - -_Letter from Messrs. Throstlethwaite, Throstlethwaite, and Dick, -Solicitors, Lincoln’s Inn, London, England, to Messrs. Hitchcock and Van -Rensselaer, Attorneys and Counsellors at Law, 76 Broadway, New York, U. S. -A._ - - January 8, 1879. - -MESSRS. HITCHCOCK & VAN RENSSELAER: - -GENTLEMEN: On the death of our late client, Sir William Beauvoir, Bart., -and after the reading of the deceased gentleman’s will, drawn up nearly -forty years ago by our Mr. Dick, we were requested by Oliver Beauvoir, -Esq., the second son of the late Sir William, to assist him in discovering -and communicating with his elder brother, the present Sir William -Beauvoir, of whose domicile we have little or no information. - -After a consultation between Mr. Oliver Beauvoir and our Mr. Dick, it was -seen that the sole knowledge in our possession amounted substantially to -this: Thirty years ago the elder son of the late baronet, after indulging -in dissipation in every possible form, much to the sorrow of his respected -parent, who frequently expressed as much to our Mr. Dick, disappeared, -leaving behind him bills and debts of all descriptions, which we, under -instructions from Sir William, examined, audited, and paid. Sir William -Beauvoir would allow no search to be made for his erring son and would -listen to no mention of his name. Current gossip declared that he had -gone to New York, where he probably arrived about midsummer, 1848. Mr. -Oliver Beauvoir thinks that he crossed to the States in company with a -distinguished scientific gentleman, Professor Titus Peebles. Within a -year after his departure news came that he had gone to California with -Professor Peebles; this was about the time gold was discovered in the -States. That the present Sir William Beauvoir did about this time actually -arrive on the Pacific Coast in company with the distinguished scientific -man above mentioned, we have every reason to believe: we have even direct -evidence on the subject. A former junior clerk, who had left us at about -the same period as the disappearance of the elder son of our late client, -accosted our Mr. Dick when the latter was in Paris last summer, and -informed him (our Mr. Dick) that he (the former junior clerk) was now a -resident of Nevada and a member of Congress for that county, and in the -course of conversation he mentioned that he had seen Professor Peebles -and the son of our late client in San Francisco, nearly thirty years ago. -Other information we have none. It ought not to be difficult to discover -Professor Peebles, whose scientific attainments have doubtless ere this -been duly recognized by the U. S. government. As our late client leaves -the valuable family estate in Lancashire to his elder son and divides the -remainder equally between his two sons, you will readily see why we invoke -your assistance in discovering the present domicile of the late baronet’s -elder son, or, in default thereof, in placing in our hand such proof of -his death as may be necessary to establish that lamentable fact in our -probate court. - -We have the honour to remain, as ever, your most humble and obedient -servants, - - THROSTLETHWAITE, THROSTLETHWAITE, & DICK. - -P. S.--Our late client’s grandson, Mr. William Beauvoir, the only child -of Oliver Beauvoir, Esq., is now in the States, in Chicago or Nebraska or -somewhere in the West. We shall be pleased if you can keep him informed -as to the progress of your investigations. Our Mr. Dick has requested Mr. -Oliver Beauvoir to give his son your address, and to suggest his calling -on you as he passes through New York on his way home. - - T. T. & D. - - -Document No. 17. - -_Letter from Messrs. Hitchcock and Van Rensselaer, New York, to Messrs. -Pixley and Sutton, Attorneys and Counsellors at Law, 98 California Street, -San Francisco, California._ - - Law Offices of Hitchcock & Van Rensselaer, - 76 Broadway, New York. - P. O. Box 4076. - - Jan. 22, 1879. - -MESSRS. PIXLEY AND SUTTON: - -GENTLEMEN: We have just received from our London correspondents, Messrs. -Throstlethwaite, Throstlethwaite, and Dick, of Lincoln’s Inn, London, -the letter, a copy of which is herewith enclosed, to which we invite -your attention. We request that you will do all in your power to aid -us in the search for the missing Englishman. From the letter of Messrs. -Throstlethwaite, Throstlethwaite, and Dick, it seems extremely probable, -not to say certain, that Mr. Beauvoir arrived in your city about 1849, in -company with a distinguished English scientist, Professor Titus Peebles, -whose professional attainments were such that he is probably well known, -if not in California, at least in some other of the mining States. The -first thing to be done, therefore, it seems to us, is to ascertain the -whereabouts of the professor, and to interview him at once. It may be that -he has no knowledge of the present domicile of Mr. William Beauvoir, in -which case we shall rely on you to take such steps as, in your judgment, -will best conduce to a satisfactory solution of the mystery. In any event, -please look up Professor Peebles, and interview him at once. - -Pray keep us fully informed by telegraph of your movements. - - Yr obt serv’ts, - - HITCHCOCK & VAN RENSSELAER. - - -Document No. 18. - -_Telegram from Messrs. Pixley and Sutton, Attorneys and Counsellors at -Law, 98 California Street, San Francisco, California, to Messrs. Hitchcock -and Van Rensselaer, Attorneys and Counsellors at Law, 76 Broadway, New -York._ - - SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., Jan. 30. - -Tite Peebles well known frisco not professor keeps faro bank. - - PIXLEY & SUTTON. (D. H. 919.) - - -Document No. 19. - -_Telegram from Messrs. Hitchcock and Van Rensselaer to Messrs. Pixley and -Sutton, in answer to the preceding._ - - NEW YORK, Jan. 30. - -Must be mistake Titus Peebles distinguished scientist. - - HITCHCOCK & VAN RENSSELAER - (Free. Answer to D. H.) - - -Document No. 20. - -_Telegram from Messrs. Pixley and Sutton to Messrs. Hitchcock and Van -Rensselaer, in reply to the preceding._ - - SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., Jan. 30. - -No mistake distinguished faro banker suspected skin game shall we -interview. - - PIXLEY & SUTTON. (D. H. 919.) - - -Document No. 21. - -_Telegram from Messrs. Hitchcock and Van Rensselaer to Messrs. Pixley and -Sutton, in reply to the preceding._ - - NEW YORK, Jan. 30. - -Must be mistake interview anyway. - - HITCHCOCK & VAN RENSSELAER. - (Free. Answer to D. H.) - - -Document No. 22. - -_Telegram from Messrs. Pixley & Sutton to Messrs. Hitchcock and Van -Rensselaer, in reply to the preceding._ - - SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., Jan. 30. - -Peebles out of town have written him. - - PIXLEY & SUTTON. (D. H. 919.) - - -Document No. 23. - -_Letter from Tite W. Peebles, delegate to the California Constitutional -Convention, Sacramento, to Messrs. Pixley and Sutton, 98 California -Street, San Francisco, California._ - - SACRAMENTO, Feb. 2, ’79. - -MESSRS. PIXLEY & SUTTON: San Francisco. - -GENTLEMEN: Your favor of the 31st ult., forwarded me from San Francisco, -has been duly rec’d, and contents thereof noted. - -My time is at present so fully occupied by my duties as a delegate to the -Constitutional Convention that I can only jot down a brief report of my -recollections on this head. When I return to S. F., I shall be happy to -give you any further information that may be in my possession. - -The person concerning whom you inquire was my fellow passenger on my first -voyage to this State on board the _Mercy G. Tarbox_, in the latter part -of the year. He was then known as Mr. William Beauvoir. I was acquainted -with his history, of which the details escape me at this writing. He was -a countryman of mine; a member of an important county family--Devonian, I -believe--and had left England on account of large gambling debts, of which -he confided to me the exact figure. I believe they totted up something -like £14,500. - -I had at no time a very intimate acquaintance with Mr. Beauvoir; during -our sojourn on the _Tarbox_ he was the chosen associate of a depraved and -vicious character named Phœnix. I am not averse from saying that I was -then a member of a profession rather different to my present one, being, -in fact, professor of metallurgy, and I saw much less, at that period, of -Mr. B. than I probably should now. - -Directly we landed at S. F., the object of your inquiries set out for the -gold region, without adequate preparation, like so many others did at that -time, and, I heard, fared very ill. - -I encountered him some six months later; I have forgotten precisely in -what locality, though I have a faint impression that his then habitat was -some cañon or ravine deriving its name from certain osseous deposits. -Here he had engaged in the business of gold-mining, without, perhaps, -sufficient grounds for any confident hope of ultimate success. I have his -I. O. U. for the amount of my fee for assaying several specimens from his -claim, said specimens being all iron pyrites. - -This is all I am able to call to mind at present in the matter of Mr. -Beauvoir. I trust his subsequent career was of a nature better calculated -to be satisfactory to himself; but his mineralogical knowledge was but -superficial; and his character was sadly deformed by a fatal taste for low -associates. - -I remain, gentlemen, your very humble and obd’t servant, - - TITUS W. PEEBLES. - -P. S.--Private. - -MY DEAR PIX: If you don’t feel inclined to pony up that little sum you are -out on the bay gelding, drop down to my place when I get back and I’ll -give you another chance for your life at the pasteboards. Constitution -going through. - - Yours, - - TITE. - - -PART FOURTH. - - -Document No. 24. - -_Extract from the New Centreville [late Dead Horse] “Gazette and Courier -of Civilization,” December 20th, 1878_: - - “Miss Nina Saville appeared last night at the Mendocino Grand Opera - House, in her unrivalled specialty of _Winona, the Child of the - Prairies_; supported by Tompkins and Frobisher’s Grand Stellar - Constellation. Although Miss Saville has long been known as one of - the most promising of California’s younger tragediennes, we feel - safe in saying that the impression she produced upon the large - and cultured audience gathered to greet her last night stamped - her as one of the greatest and most phenomenal geniuses of our - own or other times. Her marvellous beauty of form and feature, - added to her wonderful artistic power, and her perfect mastery - of the difficult science of clog-dancing, won her an immediate - place in the hearts of our citizens, and confirmed the belief - that California need no longer look to Europe or Chicago for - dramatic talent of the highest order. The sylph-like beauty, the - harmonious and ever-varying grace, the vivacity and the power of - the young artist who made her maiden effort among us last night, - prove conclusively that the virgin soil of California teems with - yet undiscovered fires of genius. The drama of _Winona, the Child - of the Prairies_, is a pure, refined, and thoroughly absorbing - entertainment, and has been pronounced by the entire press of - the country equal to if not superior to the fascinating _Lady of - Lyons_. It introduces all the favorites of the company in new - and original characters, and with its original music, which is a - prominent feature, has already received over 200 representations - in the principal cities in the country. It abounds in effective - situations, striking tableaux, and a most quaint and original - concert entitled ‘The Mule Fling,’ which alone is worth the price - of admission. As this is the first presentation in this city, the - theatre will no doubt be crowded, and seats should be secured early - in the day. The drama will be preceded by that prince of humorists, - Mr. Billy Barker, in his humorous sketches and pictures from life.” - -We quote the above from our esteemed contemporary, the Mendocino -_Gazette_, at the request of Mr. Zeke Kilburn, Miss Saville’s advance -agent, who has still further appealed to us, not only on the ground of -our common humanity, but as the only appreciative and thoroughly informed -critics on the Pacific Slope to “endorse” this rather vivid expression of -opinion. Nothing will give us greater pleasure. Allowing for the habitual -enthusiasm of our northern neighbor, and for the well-known chaste aridity -of Mendocino in respect of female beauty, we have no doubt that Miss Nina -Saville is all that the fancy, peculiarly opulent and active even for an -advance agent, of Mr. Kilburn has painted her, and is quite such a vision -of youth, beauty, and artistic phenomenality as will make the stars of -Paris and Illinois pale their ineffectual fires. - -Miss Saville will appear in her “unrivalled specialty” at Hank’s New -Centreville Opera House, to-morrow night, as may be gathered, in a -general way, from an advertisement in another column. - -We should not omit to mention that Mr. Zeke Kilburn, Miss Saville’s -advance agent, is a gentleman of imposing presence, elegant manners, and -complete knowledge of his business. This information may be relied upon as -at least authentic, having been derived from Mr. Kilburn himself, to which -we can add, as our own contribution, the statement that Mr. Kilburn is a -gentleman of marked liberality in his ideas of spirituous refreshments, -and of equal originality in his conception of the uses, objects and -personal susceptibilities of the journalistic profession. - - -Document No. 25. - -_Local item from the “New Centreville Standard,” December 20th, 1878_: - -Hon. William Beauvoir has registered at the United States Hotel. Mr. -Beauvoir is a young English gentleman of great wealth, now engaged in -investigating the gigantic resources of this great country. We welcome him -to New Centreville. - - -Document No. 26. - -_Programme of the performance given in the Centreville Theatre, Dec. 21st, -1878_: - - HANKS’ NEW CENTREVILLE OPERA HOUSE. - - A. JACKSON HANKS Sole Proprietor and Manager. - - FIRST APPEARANCE IN THIS CITY OF - - TOMPKINS & FROBISHER’S - - GRAND STELLAR CONSTELLATION, - - Supporting California’s favorite daughter, the young American - Tragedienne, - - MISS NINA SAVILLE, - - Who will appear in Her Unrivalled Specialty, - - “WINONA, THE CHILD OF THE PRAIRIE.” - - THIS EVENING, December 21st, 1878, - - Will be presented, with the following phenomenal cast, the accepted - American Drama, - - WINONA, THE CHILD OF THE PRAIRIE. - - WINONA } - MISS FLORA MACMADISON } - BIDDY FLAHERTY } - OLD AUNT DINAH (with Song, “Don’t Get Weary”) } Miss NINA - SALLY HOSKINS (with the old-time melody, } SAVILLE. - “Bobbin’ Around”) } - POOR JOE (with Song) } - FRAULINE LINA BOOBENSTEIN (with stammering } - Song, “I yoost landet”) } - SIR EDMOND BENNETT (specially engaged) E. C. GRAINGER - WALTON TRAVERS G. W. PARSONS - GIPSY JOE M. ISAACS - ’ANNABLE ’ORACE ’IGGINS BILLY BARKER - TOMMY TIPPER MISS MAMIE SMITH - PETE, the Man on the Dock SI HANCOCK - MRS. MALONE, the Old Woman in the Little House MRS. K. Y. BOOTH - ROBERT BENNETT (aged 5) LITTLE ANNIE WATSON - - Act I.--The Old Home. - - Act II.--Alone in the World. - - Act III.--The Frozen Gulf: - - THE GREAT ICEBERG SENSATION. - - Act IV.--Wedding Bells. - - “WINONA, THE CHILD OF THE PRAIRIE,” WILL BE PRECEDED BY - - A FAVORITE FARCE, - - In which the great BILLY BARKER will appear in one of his most - outrageously funny bits. - - NEW SCENERY by Q. Z. SLOCUM - - Music by Professor Kiddoo’s Silver Bugle Brass Band and - Philharmonic Orchestra. - - Chickway’s Grand Piano, lent by Schmidt, 2 Opera House Block. - - AFTER THE SHOW GO TO HANKS’ AND SEE A MAN! - - Pop Williams, the only legitimate Bill-Poster in New Centreville. - - (New Centreville Standard Print.) - - -Document No. 27. - -_Extract from the New Centreville [late Dead Horse] “Gazette and Courier -of Civilization,” Dec. 24th, 1878._ - -A little while ago, in noting the arrival of Miss Nina Saville of the New -Centreville Opera House, we quoted rather extensively from our esteemed -contemporary, the Mendocino _Times_, and commented upon the quotation. -Shortly afterwards, it may also be remembered, we made a very direct and -decided apology for the sceptical levity which inspired those remarks, -and expressed our hearty sympathy with the honest, if somewhat effusive, -enthusiasm with which the dramatic critic of Mendocino greeted the sweet -and dainty little girl who threw over the dull, weary old business of -the stage “sensation” the charm of a fresh and childlike beauty and -originality, as rare and delicate as those strange, unreasonable little -glimmers of spring sunsets that now and then light up for a brief -moment the dull skies of winter evenings, and seem to have strayed into -ungrateful January out of sheer pity for the sad earth. - -Mendocino noticed the facts that form the basis of the above -meteorological simile, and we believe we gave Mendocino full credit for -it at the time. We refer to the matter at this date only because in our -remarks of a few days ago we had occasion to mention the fact of the -existence of Mr. Zeke Kilburn, an advance agent, who called upon us at -the time, to endeavor to induce us, by means apparently calculated more -closely for the latitude of Mendocino, to extend to Miss Saville, before -her appearance, the critical approbation which we gladly extended after. -This little item of interest we alluded to at the time, and furthermore -intimated, with some vagueness, that there existed in Mr. Kilburn’s -character a certain misdirected zeal which, combined with a too keen -artistic appreciation, are apt to be rather dangerous stock-in-trade for -an advance agent. - -It was twenty-seven minutes past two o’clock yesterday afternoon. The -chaste white mystery of Shigo Mountain was already taking on a faint, -almost imperceptible hint of pink, like the warm cheek of a girl who hears -a voice and anticipates a blush. Yet the rays of the afternoon sun rested -with undiminished radiance on the empty pork-barrel in front of McMullin’s -shebang. A small and vagrant infant, whose associations with empty barrels -were doubtless hitherto connected solely with dreams of saccharine -dissipation, approached the bunghole with precocious caution, and retired -with celerity and a certain acquisition of experience. An unattached goat, -a martyr to the radical theory of personal investigation, followed in the -footsteps of infantile humanity, retired with even greater promptitude, -and was fain to stay its stomach on a presumably empty rend-rock can, -afterward going into seclusion behind McMullin’s horse-shed, before the -diuretic effect of tin flavored with blasting-powder could be observed by -the attentive eye of science. - -Mr. Kilburn emerged from the hostelry of McMullin. Mr. Kilburn, as we have -before stated at his own request, is a gentleman of imposing presence. It -is well that we made this statement when we did, for it is hard to judge -of the imposing quality in a gentleman’s presence when that gentleman is -suspended from the arm of another gentleman by the collar of the first -gentleman’s coat. The gentleman in the rear of Mr. Kilburn was Mr. William -Beauvoir, a young Englishman in a check suit. Mr. Beauvoir is not avowedly -a man of imposing presence; he wears a seal ring, and he is generally a -scion of an effete oligarchy, but he has, since his introduction into -this community, behaved himself, to use the adjectivial adverb of Mr. -McMullin, _white_, and he has a very remarkable biceps. These qualities -may hereafter enhance his popularity in New Centreville. - -Mr. Beauvoir’s movements, at twenty-seven minutes past two yesterday -afternoon, were few and simple. He doubled Mr. Kilburn up, after the -fashion of an ordinary jack-knife, and placed him in the barrel, -wedge-extremity first, remarking, as he did so, “She is, is she?” He then -rammed Mr. Kilburn carefully home, and put the cover on. - -We learn to-day that Mr. Kilburn has resumed his professional duties on -the road. - - -Document No. 28. - -_Account of the same event from the New Centreville “Standard,” December -24th, 1878._ - -It seems strange that even the holy influences which radiate from this -joyous season cannot keep some men from getting into unseemly wrangles. -It was only yesterday that our local saw a street row here in the quiet -avenues of our peaceful city--a street row recalling the riotous scenes -which took place here before Dead Horse experienced a change of heart -and became New Centreville. Our local succeeded in gathering all the -particulars of the affray, and the following statement is reliable. It -seems that Mr. Kilburn, the gentlemanly and affable advance agent of the -Nina Saville Dramatic Company, now performing at Andy Hanks’ Opera House -to big houses, was brutally assaulted by a ruffianly young Englishman, -named Beauvoir, for no cause whatever. We say for no cause, as it is -obvious that Mr. Kilburn, as the agent of the troupe, could have said -nothing against Miss Saville which an outsider, not to say a foreigner -like Mr. Beauvoir, had any call to resent. Mr. Kilburn is a gentleman -unaccustomed to rough-and-tumble encounters, while his adversary has -doubtless associated more with pugilists than gentlemen--at least anyone -would think so from his actions yesterday. Beauvoir hustled Mr. Kilburn -out of Mr. Mullin’s, where the unprovoked assault began, and violently -shook him across the new plank sidewalk. The person by the name of Clark, -whom Judge Jones for some reason now permits to edit the moribund but -once respectable _Gazette_, caught the eye of the congenial Beauvoir, -and, true to the ungentlemanly instincts of his base nature, pointed to a -barrel in the street. The brutal Englishman took the hint and thrust Mr. -Kilburn forcibly into the barrel, leaving the vicinity before Mr. Kilburn, -emerging from his close quarters, had fully recovered. What the ruffianly -Beauvoir’s motive may have been for this wanton assault it is impossible -to say; but it is obvious to all why this fellow Clark sought to injure -Mr. Kilburn, a gentleman whose many good qualities he of course fails -to appreciate. Mr. Kilburn, recognizing the acknowledged merits of our -job-office, had given us the contract for all the printing he needed in -New Centreville. - - -Document No. 29. - -_Advertisement from the New York “Clipper,” Dec. 21st, 1878._ - - WINSTON & MACK’S - GRAND INTERNATIONAL - MEGATHERIUM VARIETY COMBINATION, - COMPANY CALL. - - Ladies and Gentlemen of the Company will assemble for rehearsal, at - Emerson’s Opera House, San Francisco, on Wednesday, Dec. 27th, at - 12 M. sharp. Band at 11. - - J. B. WINSTON, } - EDWIN R. MACK, } Managers. - - Emerson’s Opera House, - San Francisco, Dec. 10th, 1878. - - Protean Artist wanted. Would like to hear from Nina Saville. - - 12--1t*. - - -Document No. 30. - -_Letter from Nina Saville to William Beauvoir._ - - NEW CENTREVILLE, December 26, 1878. - -MY DEAR MR. BEAUVOIR--I was very sorry to receive your letter of -yesterday--_very_ sorry--because there can be only one answer that I can -make--and you might well have spared me the pain of saying the word--No. -You ask me if I love you. If I did--do you think it would be true love -in me to tell you so, when I know what it would cost you? Oh indeed you -must never marry _me_! In your own country you would never have heard -of me--never seen me--surely never written me such a letter to tell me -that you love me and want to marry me. It is not that I am ashamed of my -business or of the folks around me, or ashamed that I am only the charity -child of two poor players, who lived and died working for the bread for -their mouths and mine. I am proud of them--yes, proud of what they did -and suffered for one poorer than themselves--a little foundling out of an -Indian camp. But I know the difference between you and me. You are a great -man at home--you have never told me how great--but I know your father is -a rich lord, and I suppose you are. It is not that I think _you_ care -for that, or think less of me because I was born different from you. I -know how good--how kind--how _respectful_ you have always been to me--_my -lord_--and I shall never forget it--for a girl in my position knows -well enough how you might have been otherwise. Oh believe me--_my true -friend_--I am never going to forget all you have done for me--and how good -it has been to have you near me--a man so different from most others--I -don’t mean only the kind things you have done--the books and the thoughts -and the ways you have taught me to enjoy--and all the trouble you have -taken to make me something better than the stupid little girl I was when -you found me--but a great deal more than that--the consideration you -have had for me and for what I hold best in the world. I had never met a -_gentleman_ before--and now the first one I meet--he is my _friend_. That -is a great deal. - -Only think of it! You have been following me around now for three months, -and I have been weak enough to allow it. I am going to do the right thing -now. You may think it hard in me _if you really mean what you say_, but -even if everything else were right, I would not marry you--because of your -rank. I do not know how things are at your home--but something tells me -it would be wrong and that your family would have a right to hate you and -never forgive you. Professionals cannot go in your society. And that is -even if I loved you--and I do not love you--I do not love you--_I do not -love you_--now I have written it you will believe it. - -So now it is ended--I am going back to the line I was first -in--variety--and with a new name. So you can never find me--I entreat -you--I beg of you--not to look for me. If you only put your mind to -it--you will find it so easy to forget me--for I will not do you the wrong -to think that you did not mean what you wrote in your letter or what you -said that night _when we sang Annie Laurie together_ the last time. - - Your sincere friend, - - NINA. - - -Documents Nos. 31 and 32. - -_Items from San Francisco “Figaro” of December 29th, 1878_: - -Nina Saville Co. disbanded New Centreville 26th. No particulars received. - -Winston & Mack’s Comb. takes the road December 31st, opening at Tuolumne -Hollow. Manager Winston announces the engagement of Anna Laurie, the -Protean change artiste, with songs, “Don’t Get Weary,” “Bobbin’ Around,” -“I Yoost Landet.” - - -Document No. 33. - -_Telegram from Zeke Kilburn, New Centreville, to Winston and Mack, -Emerson’s Opera House, San Francisco, Cal._ - - NEW CENTREVILLE, Dec. 28, 1878. - -Have you vacancy for active and energetic advance agent. - - Z. KILBURN. - (9 words 30 paid.) - - -Document No. 34. - -_Telegram from Winston and Mack, San Francisco, to Zeke Kilburn, New -Centreville_: - - SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 28, 1878. - -No. - - WINSTON & MACK. - (Collect 30 cents.) - - -Document No. 35. - -_Bill sent to William Beauvoir, United States Hotel, Tuolumne Hollow, -Cal._: - - _Tuolumne Hollow, Cal., Dec. 29, 1878._ - - _William Beauvoir, Esq._ - - Bought of HIMMEL & HATCH, - Opera House Block, - JEWELLERS & DIAMOND MERCHANTS, - - Dealers in all kinds of Fancy Goods, Stationery, and - Umbrellas, Watches, Clocks and Barometers. - - TERMS CASH. MUSICAL BOXES REPAIRED. - - Dec. 29, One diamond and enamelled locket $75.00 - One gold chain 48.00 - ------ - $123.00 - _Rec’d Payt._ - _Himmel & Hatch_, - _per S._ - - -PART FIFTH. - - -Document No. 36. - -_Letter from Cable J. Dexter, Esq., to Messrs. Pixley and Sutton, San -Francisco._ - - NEW CENTREVILLE, CAL., March 3, 1879. - -MESSRS. PIXLEY & SUTTON: - -GENTS: I am happy to report that I have at last reached the bottom level -in the case of William Beaver, _alias_ Beaver Bill, deceased through -Indians in 1861. - -In accordance with your instructions and check, I proceeded, on the -10th ult., to Shawgum Creek, when I interviewed Blue Horse, chief of -the Comanches, who tomahawked subject of your inquiries in the year -above mentioned. Found the Horse in the penitentiary, serving out a -drunk and disorderly. Though belligerent at date aforesaid, Horse is now -tame, though intemperate. Appeared unwilling to converse, and required -stimulants to awaken his memory. Please find enclosed memo. of account -for whiskey, covering extra demijohn to corrupt jailer. Horse finally -stated that he personally let daylight through deceased, and is willing -to guarantee thoroughness of decease. Stated further that aforesaid -Beaver’s family consisted of squaw and kid. Is willing to swear that -squaw was killed, the tribe having no use for her. Killing done by -Mule-Who-Goes-Crooked, personal friend of Horse’s. The minor child was -taken into camp and kept until December of 1863, when tribe dropped to -howling cold winter and went on government reservation. Infant (female) -was then turned over to U. S. Government at Fort Kearney. - -I posted to last-named locality on the 18th ult., and found by the -quartermaster’s books that, no one appearing to claim the kid, she had -been duly indentured, together with six Indians, to a man by the name -of Guardine or Sardine (probably the latter), in the show business. -The Indians were invoiced as Sage Brush Jimmy, Boiling Hurricane, -Mule-Who-Goes-Crooked, Joe, Hairy Grasshopper and Dead Polecat. Child -known as White Kitten. Receipt for Indians was signed by Mr. Hi. Samuels, -who is still in the circus business, and whom I happen to be selling -out at this moment, at suit of McCullum & Montmorency, former partners. -Samuels positively identified kid with variety specialist by name of Nina -Saville, who has been showing all through this region for a year past. - -I shall soon have the pleasure of laying before you documents to establish -the complete chain of evidence, from knifing of original subject of your -inquiries right up to date. - -I have to-day returned from New Centreville, whither I went after Miss -Saville. Found she had just skipped the town with a young Englishman by -the name of Bovoir, who had been paying her polite attentions for some -time, having bowied or otherwise squelched a man for her within a week or -two. It appears the young woman had refused to have anything to do with -him for a long period; but he seems to have struck pay gravel about two -days before my arrival. At present, therefore, the trail is temporarily -lost; but I expect to fetch the couple if they are anywhere this side of -the Rockies. - -Awaiting your further instructions, and cash backing thereto, I am, gents, -very resp’y yours, - - CABLE J. DEXTER. - - -Document No. 37. - -_Envelope of letter from Sir Oliver Beauvoir, Bart., to his son, William -Beauvoir._ - - +----------------------------------------+-----+ - | | | - | _Sent to Dead Letter Office_ | | - | | | - | +-----+ - | | - | _Mr. William Beauvoir_ | - | _Sherman House Hotel_ | - | _Chicago_ | - | _United States of America_ | - | | - | _Not here_ | - | _try Brevoort House_ | - | _N. Y._ | - +----------------------------------------------+ - - -Document No. 38. - -_Letter contained in the envelope above._ - - CHELSWORTH COTTAGE, March 30, 1879. - -MY DEAR BOY: In the sudden blow which has come upon us all I cannot -find words to write. You do not know what you have done. Your uncle -William, after whom you were named, died in America. He left but one -child, a daughter, the only grandchild of my father except you. And this -daughter is the Miss Nina Saville with whom you have formed so unhappy -a connection. She is your own cousin. She is a Beauvoir. She is of our -blood, as good as any in England. - -My feelings are overpowering. I am choked by the suddenness of this great -grief. I cannot write to you as I would. But I can say this: Do not let me -see you or hear from you until this stain be taken from our name. - - OLIVER BEAUVOIR. - - -Document No. 39. - -_Cable dispatch of William Beauvoir, Windsor Hotel, New York, to Sir -Oliver Beauvoir, Bart., Chelsworth Cottage, Suffolk, England._ - - NEW YORK, May 1, 1879. - -Have posted you Herald. - - WILLIAM BEAUVOIR. - - -Document No. 40. - -_Advertisement under the head of “Marriages,” from the New York “Herald,” -April 30th, 1879._ - -BEAUVOIR--BEAUVOIR.--On Wednesday, Jan. 1st, 1879, at Steal Valley, -California, by the Rev. Mr. Twells, William Beauvoir, only son of Sir -Oliver Beauvoir, of Chelsworth Cottage, Surrey, England, to Nina, only -child of the late William Beauvoir, of New Centreville, Cal. - - -Document No. 41. - -_Extract from the New York “Herald” of May 29th, 1879._ - -Among the passengers on the outgoing Cunard steamer _Gallia_, which left -New York on Wednesday, was the Honorable William Beauvoir, only son of -Sir Oliver Beauvoir, Bart., of England. Mr. Beauvoir has been passing his -honeymoon in this city, and, with his charming bride, a famous California -belle, has been the recipient of many cordial courtesies from members of -our best society. Mr. William Beauvoir is a young man of great promise -and brilliant attainments, and is a highly desirable addition to the -large and constantly increasing number of aristocratic Britons who seek -for wives among the lovely daughters of Columbia. We understand that the -bridal pair will take up their residence with the groom’s father, at his -stately country-seat, Chelsworth Manor, Suffolk. - - - - -VENETIAN GLASS. - -BY BRANDER MATTHEWS. - - -I. - -IN THE OLD WORLD. - -They had been to the Lido for a short swim in the slight but bracing -surf of the Adriatic. They had had a mid-day breakfast in a queer little -restaurant, known only to the initiated, and therefore early discovered -by Larry, who had a keen scent for a cook learned in the law. They had -loitered along the Riva degli Schiavoni, looking at a perambulatory -puppet-show, before which a delighted audience sturdily disregarded -the sharp wind which bravely fluttered the picturesque tatters of the -spectators; and they were moved to congratulate the Venetians on their -freedom from the monotonous repertory of the Anglo-American Punch and -Judy, which consists solely of a play really unique in the exact sense -of that much-abused word. They were getting their fill of the delicious -Italian art which is best described by an American verb--to loaf. And yet -they were not wont to be idle, and they had both the sharp, quick American -manner, on which laziness sits uneasily and infrequently. - -John Manning and Laurence Laughton were both young New Yorkers. Larry--for -so in youth was he called by everybody pending the arrival of years which -should make him a universal uncle, to be known of all men as “Uncle -Larry”--was as pleasant a travelling companion as one could wish. He was -the only son and heir of a father, now no more, but vaguely understood -when alive and in the flesh to have been “in the China trade;” although -whether this meant crockery or Cathay no one was able with precision to -declare. Larry Laughton had been graduated from Columbia College with the -class of 1860, and the following spring found him here in Venice after -a six months’ ramble through Europe with his old friend, John Manning, -partly on foot and partly in an old carriage of their own, in which they -enjoyed the fast-vanishing pleasures of posting. - -John Manning was a little older than Larry; he had left West Point in 1854 -with a commission as second lieutenant in the Old Dragoons. For nearly -six years he did his duty in that state of life in which it pleased the -Secretary of War and General Scott to call him; he had crossed the plains -one bleak winter to a post in the Rocky Mountains, and he had danced -through two summers at Fort Adams at Newport; he had been stationed for a -while in New Mexico, where there was an abundance of the pleasant sport -of Indian-fighting,--even now he had only to make believe a little to see -the tufted head of a Navajo peer around the columns supporting the Lion -of Saint Mark, or to mistake the fringe of _facchini_ on the edge of the -Grand Canal for a group of the shiftless half-breeds of New Mexico. In -time the Old Dragoons had been ordered North, where the work was then less -pleasant than on the border; and, in fact, it was a distinct unwillingness -to execute the Fugitive Slave Law which forced John Manning to resign his -commission in the army, although it was the hanging of John Brown which -drew from him the actual letter of resignation. Before settling down to -other work--for he was a man who could not and would not be idle--he had -gratified his long desire of taking a turn through the Old World. Larry -Laughton had joined him in Holland, where he had been making researches -into the family history, and proving to his own satisfaction at least -that the New York Mannings, in spite of their English name, had come from -Amsterdam to New Amsterdam. And now, toward the end of April, 1861, John -Manning and Laurence Laughton stood on the Rialto, hesitating _Fra Marco -e Todaro_, as the Venetians have it, in uninterested question whether -they should go into the Ghetto, among the hideous homes of the chosen -people, or out again to Murano for a second visit to the famous factory of -Venetian glass. - -“I say, John,” remarked Larry as they lazily debated the question, gazing -meanwhile on the steady succession of gondolas coming and going to and -from the steps by the side of the bridge, “I’d as lief, if not liefer, -go to Murano again, if they’ve any of their patent anti-poison goblets -left. You know they say they used to make a glass so fine that it was -shattered into shivers whenever poison might be poured into it. Of course -I don’t believe it, but a glass like that would be mighty handy in the -sample-rooms of New York. I’m afraid a man walking up Broadway could use -up a gross of the anti-poison goblets before he got one straight drink of -the genuine article, unadulterated and drawn from the wood.” - -“You must not make fun of a poetic legend, Larry. You have to believe -everything over here, or you do not get the worth of your money,” said -John Manning. - -“Well, I don’t know,” was Larry’s reply; “I don’t know just what to -believe. I was talking about it last night at Florian’s, while you were -writing letters home.” - -“I did not know Mr. Laughton had friends in Venice.” - -“Oh, I can make friends anywhere. And this one was lots of fun. He was a -priest, an _abbate_, I think he calls himself. He had read five newspapers -in the _caffè_ and paid for one tiny cup of coffee. When I finished the -_Débats_ I passed it to him for his sixth--and he spoke to me in French, -and I wasn’t going to let an Italian talk French to me without answering -back, so I just sailed in and began to swap stories with him.” - -“No doubt you gave him much valuable information.” - -“Well, I did; I just exuded information. Why the first thing he said, -when I told him I was an American, was to wonder whether I hadn’t met his -brother, who was also in America--in Rio Janeiro--just as if Rio was the -other side of the North River.” - -John Manning smiled at Larry’s disgusted expression, and asked, “What has -this _abbate_ to do with the fragile Venetian glass?” - -“Only this,” answered Larry. “I told him two or three Northwesters, just -as well as I could in French, and then he said that marvellous things were -also done here once upon a time. And he told me about the glass which -broke when poison was poured into it.” - -“It is a pleasant superstition,” said John Manning. “I think Poe makes use -of it, and I believe Shakespeare refers to it.” - -“But did either Poe or Shakespeare say anything about the two goblets just -alike, made for the twin brothers Manin nearly four hundred years ago? Did -they tell you how one glass was shivered by poison and its owner killed, -and how the other brother had to flee for his life? Did they inform you -that the unbroken goblet exists to this day, and is in fact now for sale -by an Hebrew Jew who peddles antiquities? Did they tell you that?” - -“Neither Edgar Allan Poe nor William Shakespeare ever disturbs my slumbers -by telling me anything of the sort,” laughed Manning. - -“Well, my _abbate_ told me just that, and he gave me the address of the -Shylock who has the surviving goblet for sale.” - -“Suppose we go there and see it,” suggested Manning, “and you can tell me -the whole story of the twin brothers as we go along.” - -“Shall we take a gondola or walk?” was Larry’s interrogative acceptance of -the suggestion. - -“It’s in the Ghetto, isn’t it?” - -“Most of the Jew curiosity dealers have left the Ghetto. Our Shylock has a -palace on the Grand Canal. I guess we had better take a gondola, though -it can’t be far.” - -So they sat themselves down in one of the aquatic cabs which ply the water -streets of the city in the sea. The gondolier stood to his oar and put -his best foot foremost, and as the boat sped forward on its way along the -great S of the Grand Canal, Larry told the tale of the twin brothers and -the shattered goblet. - -“Well, it seems that some time in the sixteenth century, say three hundred -years ago or thereabout, there were several branches of the great and -powerful Manin family--the same family to which the patriotic Daniele -Manin belonged, you know. And at the head of one of these branches were -the twin brothers Marco Manin and Giovanni Manin. Now, these brothers were -devoted to each other, and they had only one thought, one word, one deed. -When one of them happened to think of a thing, it often happened that -the other brother did it. So it was not surprising that they both fell -in love with the same woman. She was a dangerous-looking, yellow-haired -woman, with steel-gray eyes--that is, if her eyes were not really green, -as to which there was doubt. But there was no doubt at all that she was -powerfully handsome. The _abbate_ said that there was a famous portrait -of her in one of these churches as a Saint Mary Magdalen, with her hair -down. She was a splendid creature, and lots of men were running after -her besides the twin Manins. The two brothers did not quarrel with each -other about the woman, but they did quarrel with some of her other lovers, -and particularly with a nobleman of the highest rank and power, who was -supposed to belong not only to the Council of Ten, but to the Three. -Between this man and the Manins there was war to the knife and the knife -to the hilt. One day Marco Manin expressed a wish for one of these goblets -of Venetian glass so fine that poison shatters it, and so Giovanni went -out to Murano and ordered two of them, of the very finest quality, and -just alike in every particular of color and shape and size. You see the -twins always had everything in pairs. But the people at Murano somehow -misunderstood the order, and although they made both glasses they sent -home only one. Marco Manin was at table when it arrived, and he took it in -his hand at once, and after admiring its exquisite workmanship--you see, -all these old Venetians had the art-feeling strongly developed--he told -a servant to fill it to the brim with Cyprus wine. But as he raised the -flowing cup to his lips it shivered in his grasp and the wine was spilt on -the marble floor. He drew his sword and slew the servant who had sought to -betray him, and rushing into the street he found himself face to face with -the enemy whom he knew to have instigated the attempt. They crossed swords -at once, but, before Marco Manin could have a fair fight for his life, he -was stabbed in the back by a glass stiletto, the hilt of which was broken -off short in the wound.” - -“Where was his brother all this time?” was the first question with which -John Manning broke the thread of his friend’s story. - -“He had been to see the yellow-haired beauty, and he came back just in -time to meet his brother’s lifeless body as it was carried into their -desolate home. Holding his dead brother’s hand, as he had often held it -living, he promised his brother to avenge his death without delay and at -any cost. Then he prepared at once for flight. He knew that Venice would -be too hot to hold him when the deed was done; and besides, he felt that -without his brother life in Venice would be intolerable So he made ready -for flight. Twenty-four hours to a minute after Marco Manin’s death the -body of the hireling assassin was sinking to the bottom of the Grand -Canal, while the man who had paid for the murder lay dead on the same spot -with the point of a glass stiletto in his heart! And when they wanted to -send him the other goblet, there was no one to send it to: Giovanni Manin -had disappeared.” - -“Where had he gone?” queried John Manning. - -“That’s what I asked the _abbate_, and he said he didn’t know for sure, -but that in those days Venice had a sizable trade with the Low Countries, -and there was a tradition that Giovanni Manin had gone to the Netherlands.” - -“To Holland?” asked John Manning with unwonted interest. - -“Yes, to Amsterdam, or to Rotterdam, or to some one of those-dam towns, as -we used to call them in our geography class.” - -“It was to Amsterdam,” said Manning, speaking as one who had certain -information. - -“How do you know that?” asked Larry. “Even the _abbate_ said it was only a -tradition that he had gone to Holland at all.” - -“He went to Amsterdam,” said Manning; “that I know.” - -Before Larry could ask how it was that his friend knew anything about the -place of exile of a man whom he had never heard of ten minutes earlier, -the gondola had paused before the door of the palace in which dwelt -the dealer in antiquities who had in his possession the famous goblet -of Venetian glass. As they ascended to the sequence of rambling rooms -cluttered with old furniture, rusty armor, and odds and ends of statuary, -in which the modern Jew of Venice sat at the receipt of custom, both -Larry Laughton and John Manning had to give their undivided attention to -the framing in Italian of their wishes. Shylock himself was a venerable -and benevolent person, with a look of wonderful shrewdness and an -incomprehensibility of speech, for he spoke the Venetian dialect with -a harsh Jewish accent, either of which would have daunted a linguistic -veteran. Plainly enough, conversation was impossible, for he could barely -understand their American-Italian, and they could not at all understand -his Jewish-Venetian. But it would not do to let these _Inglesi_ go away -without paying tribute. - -“_Ciò!_” said Shylock, smiling graciously at his futile attempts to open -communication with the enemy. Then he called Jessica from the deep window -where she had been at work on the quaint old account-books of the shop, as -great curiosities as anything in it, since they were kept in Venetian, but -by means of the Hebrew alphabet. She spoke Italian, and to her the young -men made known their wants. She said a few words to her father, and he -brought forth the goblet. - -It was a marvellous specimen of the most exquisite Venetian workmanship. -A pair of green serpents, with eyes that glowed like fire, writhed around -the golden stem of a blood-red bowl, and as the white light of the -cloudless sky fell on it from the broad window, it burned in the glory of -the sunshine and seemed to fill itself full of some mysterious and royal -wine. Shylock revolved it slowly in his hand to show the strange waviness -of its texture, and as it turned, the serpents clung more closely to the -stem and arched their heads and shot a glance of hate at the strangers who -came to gaze on them with curious fascination. - -John Manning looked at the goblet long and eagerly. “How did it come into -your possession?” he asked. - -And Jessica translated Shylock’s declaration that the goblet had been at -Murano for hundreds of years; it was _anticho_--_antichissimo_, as the -signor could see for himself. It was of the best period of the art. That -Shylock would guarantee. How came it into his possession? By the greatest -good fortune. It was taken from Murano during the troubles after the fall -of the Republic in the time of Napoleon. It had gone finally into the -hands of a certain count, who, very luckily, was poor. _Conte che non -conta, non conta niente._ So Shylock had been enabled to buy it. It had -been the desire of his heart for years to own so fine an object. - -“How much do you want for it?” asked John Manning. - -Shylock scented from afar the battle of bargaining, dear in Italy to both -buyer and seller. He gave a keen look at both the _Inglesi_, and took up -the glass affectionately, as though he could not bear to part with it. -Jessica interpreted. Shylock had intended that goblet for his own private -collection, but the frank and generous manner of their excellencies had -overcome him, and he would let them have it for five hundred florins. - -“Five hundred florins! Phew!” whistled Larry, astonished in spite of his -initiation into the mysteries of Italian bargaining. “Well, if you were to -ask me the Shakespearian conundrum, Hath not a Jew eyes? I shouldn’t give -it up; I should say he has eyes--for the main chance.” - -“Five hundred florins,” said John Manning. “Very well. I’ll take it.” - -Shylock’s astonishment at getting four times what he would have taken was -equalled only by his regret that he had not asked twice as much. - -“Can you pack it so that I can take it to New York safely?” - -“_Sicuro, signor_,” and Shylock agreed to have the precious object boxed -with all possible care and despatch, and delivered at the hotel that -afternoon. - -“_Servo suo!_” said Jessica, as they stood at the door. - -“_Bon di, Patron!_” responded Larry, in Venetian fashion; then as the door -closed behind them he said to John Manning, “Seems to me you were in a -hurry! You could have had that glass for half the money.” - -“Perhaps I could,” was Manning’s quiet reply, “but I was eager to get it -back at once.” - -“Get it back? Why, it wasn’t stolen from _you_, was it? I never did -suppose _he_ came by it honestly.” - -“It was not stolen from me personally, but it belonged to my family. It -was made for Giovanni Manin, who fled from Venice to Amsterdam three -hundred odd years ago. His grandson and namesake left Amsterdam for New -Amsterdam half a century later. And when the English changed New Amsterdam -into New York, Jan Mannin became John Manning--and I am his direct -descendant, and the first of my blood to return to Venice to get the -goblet Giovanni Manin ordered and left behind.” - -“Well, I’m damned!” said Larry, pensively. - -“And now,” continued John Manning as they took their seats in the gondola, -“tell the man to go to the church where the picture of Mary Magdalen is. I -want a good look at that woman!” - - * * * * * - -In the evening, as John Manning sat in a little _caffè_ under the arcades -of the Piazza San Marco, sipping a tiny cup of black coffee, Larry entered -with a rush of righteous indignation. - -“What’s the matter, Larry?” was John Manning’s calm query. - -“There’s the devil to pay at home. South Carolina has fired on the flag at -Sumter.” - - * * * * * - -Three weeks later Colonel Manning was assigned to duty drilling the raw -recruits soon to be the Army of the Potomac. - - -II. - -IN THE NEW WORLD. - -In the month of February, 1864, a chance newspaper paragraph informed -whom it might concern that Major Laurence Laughton, having three weeks’ -leave of absence from his regiment, was at the Astor House. In consequence -of this advertisement of his whereabouts, Major Laughton received many -cheerful circulars and letters, in most of which his attention was claimed -for the artificial limb made by the advertiser. He also received a letter -from Colonel John Manning, urgently bidding him to come out for a day at -least to his little place on the Hudson, where he was lying sick, and, -as he feared, sick unto death. On the receipt of this Larry cut short a -promising flirtation with a war-widow who sat next him at table, and took -the first train up the river. It was a bleak day, and there was at least -a foot of snow on the ground, as hard and as dry as though it had clean -forgot that it was made of water. As Larry left the little station, to -which the train had slowly struggled at last, an hour behind time, the -wind sprang up again and began to moan around his feet and to sting his -face with icy shot; and as he trudged across the desolate path which led -to Manning’s lonely house he discovered that rude Boreas could be as keen -a sharp-shooter as any in the rifle-pits around Richmond. A hard walk -up-hill for a quarter of an hour brought him to the brow of the cliff on -which stood the forlorn and wind-swept house where John Manning lay. -An unkempt and hideous old crone as black as night opened the door for -him. He left in the hall his hat and overcoat and a little square box he -had brought in his hand; and then he followed the ebony hag upstairs to -Colonel Manning’s room. Here at the door she left him, after giving a -sharp knock. A weak voice said, “Come in!” - -Laurence Laughton entered the room with a quick step, but the -light-hearted words with which he had meant to encourage his friend died -on his lips as soon as he saw how grievously that friend had changed. -John Manning had faded to a shadow of his former self; the light of his -eye was quenched, and the spirit within him seemed broken; the fine, -sensitive, noble face lay white against the pillow, looking weary and wan -and hopeless. The effort to greet his friend exhausted him and brought on -a hard cough, and he pressed his hand to his breast as though some hidden -malady were gnawing and burning within. - -“Well, John,” said Larry, as he took a seat by the bedside, “why didn’t -you let me know before now that you were laid up? I could have got away a -month ago.” - -“Time enough yet,” said John Manning slowly; “time enough yet. I shall not -die for another week, I fear.” - -“Why, man, you must not talk like that. You are as good as a dozen dead -men yet,” said Larry, trying to look as cheerful as might be. - -“I am as good as dead myself,” said his friend seriously, as befitted a -man under the shadow of death; “and I have no wish to live. The sooner I -am out of this pain and powerlessness the better I shall like it.” - -“I say, John, old man, this is no way for you to talk! Brace up, and you -will soon be another man!” - -“I shall soon be in another world, I hope,” and the helpless misery of the -tone in which these few words were said smote Laurence Laughton to the -heart. - -“What’s the matter with you?” he asked with as lively an air as he could -attain, for the ominous and inexplicable sadness of the situation was fast -taking hold on him. - -“I have a bullet through the lungs and a pain in the heart.” - -“But men do not die of a bullet in the lungs and a pain in the heart,” was -Larry’s encouraging response. - -“I shall.” - -“Why should you more than others?” - -“Because there is something else--something mysterious, some unknown -malady--which bears me down and burns me up. There is no use trying to -deceive me, Larry. My papers are made out, and I shall get my discharge -from the Army of the Living in a very few days now. But I must not waste -the little breath I have left in talking about myself. I sent for you to -ask a favor.” - -Larry held out his hand, and John Manning took it, and seemed to gain -strength from the firm clasp. - -“I knew I could rely on you,” he said, “for much or for little. And this -is not much, for I have not much to leave. This worn old house, which -belonged to my grandmother, and in which I spent the happiest hours of -my boyhood, this and a few shares of stock here and there are all I have -to leave. I do not know what the house is worth, and I shall be glad when -I am gone from it. If I had not come here, I think I might perhaps have -got well. There seems to be something deadly about the place.” The sick -man’s voice sank to a wavering whisper, as if it were borne down by a -sudden weight of impending danger against which he might struggle in vain; -he gave a fearful glance about the room, as though seeking a mystic foe, -hidden and unknown. “The very first day we were here the cat lapped its -milk by the fire and then stretched itself out and died without a sign. -And I had not been here two days before I felt the fatal influence: the -trouble from my wound came on again, and this awful burning in my breast -began to torture me. As a boy, I thought that heaven must be like this -house; and now I should not want to die if I thought hell could be worse!” - -“Why don’t you leave the hole, since you hate it so?” asked Larry, with -what scant cheeriness he could muster; he was yielding himself slowly to -the place, though he fought bravely against his superstitious weakness. - -“Am I fit to be moved?” was Manning’s query in reply. - -“But you will be better soon, and then”-- - -“I shall be worse before I am better, and I shall never be better in this -life or in this place. No, no, I must die in my hole, like a dog. Like a -dog!” and John Manning repeated the words with a wistful face, “Do you -remember the faithful beast who always welcomed me here when we came up -before we went to Europe?” - -“Of course I do,” said Larry, glad to get the sick man away from his -sickness, and to ease his mind by talk on a healthy topic; “he was a -splendid fellow, too. Cæsar, that was his name, wasn’t it?” - -“Cæsar Borgia I called him,” was Manning’s sad reply. “I knew you could -not have forgotten him. He is dead. Cæsar Borgia is dead. He was the last -living thing that loved me--except you, Larry, I know--and he is dead. He -died this morning. He came to my bedside as usual, and he licked my hand -gently and looked up in my face, and laid him down alongside of me on the -carpet here and died. Poor Cæsar Borgia--he loved me, and he is dead! And -you, Larry, you must not stay here. The air is fatal. Every breath may be -your last. When you have heard what I want, you must be off at once. If -you like, you may come up again to the funeral before your leave is up. I -saw you had three weeks.” - -Laurence Laughton moved uneasily in his chair and swallowed with -difficulty. “John,” he managed to say after an effort, “if you talk to me -like that, I shall go at once. Tell me what it is you want me to do for -you.” - -“I want you to take care of my wife and of my child, if there be one born -to me after my death.” - -“Your wife?” repeated Larry, in staring surprise. - -“You did not know I was married? I knew it at the time, as the boy said,” -and John Manning smiled bitterly. - -“Where is she?” was Larry’s second query. - -“Here.” - -“Here?” - -“In this house. You shall see her before you go. And after the funeral -I want you to get her away from here with what speed you can. Sell this -house for what it will bring, and put the money into government bonds. -You may find it hard to persuade her to move, for she seems to have a -strange liking for this place. She breathes freely in the deadly air that -suffocates me. But you must not let her remain here; this is no place for -her now that a new life and new duties are before her.” - -“How was it I did not know of your marriage?” asked Larry. - -“I knew nothing about it myself twenty-four hours before it happened,” -answered John Manning. “You need not look surprised. It is a simple story. -I had this shot through the breast at Gettysburg last Fourth of July. I -lay on the hillside a day and a night before relief came. Then a farmer -took me into his house. A military surgeon dressed my wounds, but I owed -my life to the nursing and care and unceasing attention of a young lady -who was staying with the farmer’s daughter. She had been doing her duty -as a nurse as near to the field as she could go ever since the first Bull -Run. She saved my life, and I gave it to her--what there was of it. She -was a beautiful woman, indeed I never saw a more beautiful--and she has a -strange likeness to--but that you shall see for yourself when you see her. -She is getting a little rest now, for she has been up all night attending -to me. She _will_ wait on me in spite of all I say; of course I know there -is no use wasting effort on me now. She is the most devoted nurse in the -world; and we shall part as we met--she taking care of me at the last as -she did at the first. Would God our relation had never been other than -patient and nurse! It would have been better for both had we never been -husband and wife!” And John Manning turned his face to the wall with a -weary sigh; then he coughed harshly, and raised his hand to his breast as -though to stifle the burning within him. - -“It seems to me, John, that you ought not to talk like that of the woman -you loved,” said Laurence Laughton, with unusual seriousness. - -“I never loved her,” answered Manning, coldly. Then he turned, and asked -hastily, “Do you think I should want to die if I loved her?” - -“But she loves you,” said Laurence. - -“She never loved me!” was Manning’s impatient retort. - -“Then why were you married?” - -“That’s what I would like to know. It was fate, I suppose. What is to be, -is. I never used to believe in predestination, but I know that of my own -free will I could never have done what I did.” - -“I confess I do not understand you,” said Larry. - -“I do not understand myself. There is so much in this world that is -mysterious--I hope the next will be different. I was under the charm, I -fancy, when I married her. She is a beautiful woman, as I told you, and I -was a man, and I was weak, and I had hope. Why she married me that early -September evening I do not know. It was not long before we both found out -our mistake. And it was too late then. We were man and wife. Don’t suppose -I blame her--I do not. I have no cause of complaint. She is a good wife -to me, as I have tried to be a good husband to her. We made a mistake in -marrying each other, and we know it--that’s all!” - -Before Laurence Laughton could answer, the door opened gently and Mrs. -Manning entered the room. Laurence rose to greet his friend’s wife, but -the act was none the less a homage to her resplendent beauty. In spite -of the worn look of her face, she was the most beautiful woman he had -ever seen. She had tawny, tigress hair, and hungry, tigress eyes. The -eyes, indeed, were fathomless and indescribable, and their fitful glance -had something uncanny about it. The hair was nearly of the true Venetian -color, and she had the true Venetian sumptuousness of appearance, simple -as was her attire. She seemed as though she had just risen from the -couch whereon she reclined before Titian or Tintoretto, and, having -clothed herself, had walked forth in this nineteenth century and these -United States. She was a strange and striking figure, and Laurence found -it impossible to analyze exactly the curious and weird impression she -produced on him. Her voice, as she greeted him, gave him a peculiar -thrill; and when he shook hands with her he seemed to feel himself face -to face with some strange being from another land and another century. -She inspired him with a supernatural awe he was not wont to feel in the -presence of woman. He had a dim consciousness that there lingered in his -memory the glimmering image of some woman seen somewhere, he knew not -when, who was like unto the woman before him. - -As she took her seat by the side of the bed she gave Laurence Laughton a -look that seemed to peer into his soul. Laurence felt himself quiver under -it. It was a look to make a man fearful. Then John Manning, who had moved -uneasily as his wife entered, said, “Laurence, can you see any resemblance -in my wife to any one you ever saw before?” - -Their eyes met again, and again Laurence had a vague remembrance as though -he and she had stood face to face before in some earlier existence. Then -his wandering recollections took shape, and he remembered the face and the -form and the haunting mystery of the expression, and he felt for a moment -as though he had been permitted to peer into the cabalistic darkness -of an awful mystery, though he failed wholly to perceive its occult -significance--if significance there were of any sort. - -“I think I do remember,” he said at last. “It was in Venice--at the Church -of Santa Maria Magdalena--the picture there that”-- - -“You remember aright!” interrupted John Manning. “My wife is the living -image of the Venetian woman for whose beauty Marco Manin was one day -stabbed in the back with a glass stiletto, and Giovanni Manin fled from -the place of his birth and never saw it again. It is idle to fight against -the stars in their courses. We met here in the New World, she and I, as -they met in the Old World so long ago--and the end is the same. It was to -be--it was to be!” - -Laurence Laughton gave a swift glance at his friend’s wife to see what -effect these words might have on her, and he was startled to detect on her -face the same enigmatic smile which was the chief memory he had retained -of the Venetian picture. Truly the likeness between the painting and the -wife of his friend was marvellous; and Laurence tried to shake off a -morbid wonder whether there might be any obscure and inscrutable survival -from one generation to another across the seas and across the years. - -“If you remember the picture,” said John Manning, “perhaps you remember -the quaint goblet of Venetian glass I bought the same day?” - -“Of course I do,” said Larry, glad to get Manning started on a topic of -talk a little less personal. - -“Perhaps you know what has become of it?” asked Manning. - -“I can answer ‘of course’ to that, too,” replied Larry, “because I have it -here.” - -“Here?” - -“Here--in a little square box, in the hall,” answered Larry. “I had it -in my trunk, you know, when we took passage on the _Vanderbilt_ at Havre -that May morning. I forgot to give it to you in the hurry of landing, and -I haven’t had a chance since. This is the first time I have seen you for -nearly three years. I found the box this morning, and I thought you might -like to have it again, so I brought it up.” - -John Manning rang the bell at the head of his bed. The black crone -answered it, and soon returned with the little square box. Manning -impatiently broke the seals and cords that bound its cover and began -eagerly to release the goblet from the cotton and tissue paper in which -it had been carefully swathed and bandaged. Mrs. Manning, though her -moods were subtler and more intense, showed an anxiety to see the goblet -quite as feverish as her husband’s. In a minute the last wrapping was -twisted off and the full beauty of the Venetian glass was revealed to -them. Assuredly no praise was too loud for its delicate and exquisite -workmanship. - -“Does Mrs. Manning know the story of the goblet?” asked Larry; “has she -been told of the peculiar virtue ascribed to it?” - -“She has too great a fondness for the horrible and the fantastic not to -have heard the story in its smallest details,” said Manning. - -Mrs. Manning had taken the glass in her fine, thin hands. Evidently it -and its mystic legend had a morbid fascination for her. A strange light -gleamed in her wondrous eyes, and Laughton was startled again to see the -extraordinary resemblance between her and the picture they had looked at -on the day the goblet had been bought. - -“When the poison was poured into it,” she said at last, with quick and -restless glances at the two men, “the glass broke--then the tale was -true?” - -“It was a coincidence only, I’m afraid,” said her husband, who had rallied -and regained strength under the unwonted excitement. - -Just then the old-fashioned clock on the stairs struck five. Mrs. Manning -started up, holding the goblet in her hand. - -“It is time for your medicine,” she said. - -“As you please,” answered her husband wearily, sinking back on his pillow. -“My wife insists on giving me every drop of my potions with her own hands. -I shall not trouble her much longer, and I doubt if it is any use for her -to trouble me now.” - -“I shall give you everything in this glass after this,” she said. - -“In the Venetian glass?” asked Larry. - -“Yes,” she said, turning on him fiercely; “why not?” - -“Do you think the doctor is trying to poison me?” asked her husband. - -“No, I do not think the doctor is trying to poison you,” she repeated -mechanically, as she moved toward a little sideboard in a corner of the -room. “But I shall give you all your medicines in this hereafter.” - -She stood at the little sideboard, with her back toward them, and she -mingled the contents of various phials in the Venetian goblet. Then she -turned to cross the room to her husband. As she walked with the glass -in her hand there was a rift in the clouds high over the other side of -the river, and the rays of the setting sun thrust themselves through the -window and lighted up the glory of her hair and showed the strange gleam -in her staring eyes. Another step, and the red rays fell on the Venetian -glass, and it burned and glowed, and the green serpents twined about its -ruby stem seemed to twist and crawl with malignant life, while their -scorching eyes shot fire. Another step, and she stood by the bedside. As -John Manning reached out his hand for the goblet, a tremor passed through -her, her fingers clinched the fragile stem, and the glass fell on the -floor and was shattered to shivers as its fellow had been shattered three -centuries ago and more. She still stared steadily before her; then her -lips parted, and she said, “The glass broke--the glass broke--then the -tale is true!” And with one hysteric shriek she fell forward amid the -fragments of the Venetian goblet, unconscious thereafter of all things. - - - - -THE RED SILK HANDKERCHIEF. - -BY H. C. BUNNER. - - -The yellow afternoon sun came in through the long blank windows of the -room wherein the Superior Court of the State of New York, Part II., -Gillespie, Judge, was in session. The hour of adjournment was near at -hand, a dozen court-loungers slouched on the hard benches in the attitudes -of cramped carelessness which mark the familiar of the halls of justice. -Beyond the rail sat a dozen lawyers and lawyers’ clerks, and a dozen weary -jurymen. Above the drowsy silence rose the nasal voice of the junior -counsel for the defence, who in a high monotone, with his faint eyes fixed -on the paper in his hand, was making something like a half-a-score of -“requests to charge.” - -Nobody paid attention to him. Two lawyers’ clerks whispered like -mischievous schoolboys, hiding behind a pile of books that towered upon -a table. Junior counsel for the plaintiff chewed his pencil and took -advantage of his opportunity to familiarize himself with certain neglected -passages of the New Code. The crier, like a half-dormant old spider, sat -in his place and watched a boy who was fidget ting at the far end of the -room, and who looked as though he wanted to whistle. - -The jurymen might have been dream-men, vague creations of an autumn -afternoon’s doze. It was hard to connect them with a world of life and -business. Yet, gazing closer, you might have seen that one looked as if -he were thinking of his dinner, and another as if he were thinking of the -lost love of his youth; and that the expression on the faces of the others -ranged from the vacant to the inscrutable. The oldest juror, at the end -of the second row, was sound asleep. Everyone in the court-room, except -himself, knew it. No one cared. - -Gillespie, J., was writing his acceptance of an invitation to a dinner set -for that evening at Delmonico’s. He was doing this in such a way that he -appeared to be taking copious and conscientious notes. Long years on the -bench had whitened Judge Gillespie’s hair, and taught him how to do this. -His seeming attentiveness much encouraged the counsel for the defence, -whose high-pitched tone rasped the air like the buzzing of a bee that has -found its way through the slats of the blind into some darkened room, of a -summer noon, and that, as it seeks angrily for egress, raises its shrill -scandalized protest against the idleness and the pleasant gloom. - -“We r’quest y’r Honor t’ charge: First, ’t forcible entry does not -const’oot tresp’ss, ’nless intent’s proved. Thus, ’f a man rolls down a -bank”-- - -But the judge’s thoughts were in the private supper-room at Delmonico’s. -He had no interest in the sad fate of the hero of the suppositious case, -who had been obliged, by a strange and ingenious combination of accidents, -to make violent entrance, incidentally damaging the persons and property -of others, into the lands and tenements of his neighbor. - -And further away yet the droning lawyer had set a-travelling the thoughts -of Horace Walpole, clerk for Messrs. Weeden, Snowden & Gilfeather; for the -young man sat with his elbows on the table, his head in his hands, a sad -half-smile on his lips, and his brown eyes looking through vacancy to St. -Lawrence County, New York. - -He saw a great, shabby old house, shabby with the awful shabbiness of a -sham grandeur laid bare by time and mocked of the pitiless weather. There -was a great sham Grecian portico at one end; the white paint was well-nigh -washed away, and the rain-streaked wooden pillars seemed to be weeping -tears of penitence for having lied about themselves and pretended to be -marble. - -The battened walls were cracked and blistered. The Grecian temple on the -hillock near looked much like a tomb, and not at all like a summer-house. -The flower-garden was so rank and ragged, so overgrown with weed and vine, -that it was spared the mortification of revealing its neglected maze, the -wonder of the county in 1820. All was sham, save the decay. That was real; -and by virtue of its decrepitude the old house seemed to protest against -modern contempt, as though it said: “I have had my day. I was built when -people thought this sort of thing was the right sort of thing; when we had -our own little pseudo-classic renaissance in America. I lie between the -towns of Aristotle and Sabine Farms. I am a gentleman’s residence, and -my name is Montevista. I was built by a prominent citizen. You need not -laugh through your lattices, you smug new Queen Anne cottage, down there -in the valley! What will become of you when the falsehood is found out of -your imitation bricks and your tiled roof of shingles, and your stained -glass that is only a sheet of transparent paper pasted on a pane? You are -a young sham; I am an old one. Have some respect for age!” - -Its age was the crowning glory of the estate of Montevista. There was -nothing new on the place except a third mortgage. Yet had Montevista villa -put forth a juster claim to respect, it would have said: “I have had -my day. Where all is desolate and silent now, there was once light and -life. Along these halls and corridors, the arteries of my being, pulsed -a hot blood of joyous humanity, fed with delicate fare, kindled with -generous wine. Every corner under my roof was alive with love and hope -and ambition. Great men and dear women were here; and the host was great -and the hostess was gracious among them all. The laughter of children -thrilled my gaudily decked stucco. To-day an old man walks up and down my -lonely drawing-rooms, with bent head, murmuring to himself odds and ends -of tawdry old eloquence, wandering in a dead land of memory, waiting till -Death shall take him by the hand and lead him out of his ruinous house, -out of his ruinous life.” - -Death had indeed come between Horace and the creation of his spiritual -vision. Never again should the old man walk, as to the boy’s eyes he -walked now, over the creaking floors, from where the Nine Muses simpered -on the walls of the south parlor to where Homer and Plutarch, equally -simpering, yet simpering with a difference,--severely simpering,--faced -each other across the north room. Horace saw his father stalking on his -accustomed round, a sad, familiar figure, tall and bent. The hands were -clasped behind the back, the chin was bowed on the black stock; but every -now and then the thin form drew itself straight, the fine, clean-shaven, -aquiline face was raised, beaming with the ghost of an old enthusiasm, and -the long right arm was lifted high in the air as he began, his sonorous -tones a little tremulous in spite of the restraint of old-time pomposity -and deliberation,-- - -“Mr. Speaker, I rise;”--or, “If your Honor please”-- - -The forlorn, helpless earnestness of this mockery of life touched Horace’s -heart; and yet he smiled to think how different were the methods and -manners of his father from those of brother Hooper, whose requests still -droned up to the reverberating hollows of the roof, and there were lost in -a subdued boom and snarl of echoes such as a court-room only can beget. - -Two generations ago, when the Honorable Horace Kortlandt Walpole was the -rising young lawyer of the State; when he was known as “the Golden-Mouthed -Orator of St. Lawrence County,” he was in the habit of assuming that he -owned whatever court he practised in; and, as a rule, he was right. The -most bullock-brained of country judges deferred to the brilliant young -master of law and eloquence, and his “requests” were generally accepted -as commands and obeyed as such. Of course the great lawyer, for form’s -sake, threw a veil of humility over his deliverances; but even that he -rent to shreds when the fire of his eloquence once got fairly aglow. - -“May it please your Honor! Before your Honor exercises the sacred -prerogative of your office--before your Honor performs the sacred duty -which the State has given into your hands--before, with that lucid -genius to which I bow my head, you direct the minds of these twelve good -men and true in the path of strict judicial investigation, I ask your -Honor to instruct them that they must bring to their deliberations that -impartial justice which the laws of our beloved country--of which no abler -exponent than your Honor has ever graced the bench,--which the laws of -our beloved country guarantee to the lowest as well as to the loftiest of -her citizens--from the President in the Executive Mansion to the humble -artisan at the forge--throughout this broad land, from the lagoons of -Louisiana to where the snow-clad forests of Maine hurl defiance at the -descendants of Tory refugees in the barren wastes of Nova Scotia”-- - -Horace remembered every word and every gesture of that speech. He recalled -even the quick upward glance from under the shaggy eyebrows with which -his father seemed to see again the smirking judge catching at the gross -bait of flattery; he knew the little pause which the speaker’s memory -had filled with the applause of an audience long since dispersed to -various silent country graveyards; and he wondered, pityingly, if it -were possible that even in his father’s prime that wretched allusion to -old political hatreds had power to stir the fire of patriotism in the -citizen’s bosom. - -“Poor old father!” said the boy to himself. The voice which had for so -many years been but an echo was stilled wholly now. Brief victory and long -defeat were nothing now to the golden-mouthed orator. - -“Shall I fail as he failed?” thought Horace: “No! I can’t. Haven’t I got -_her_ to work for?” - -And then he drew out of his breast pocket a red silk handkerchief and -turned it over in his hand with a movement that concealed and caressed at -the same time. - -It was a very red handkerchief. It was not vermilion, nor “cardinal,” nor -carmine,--a strange Oriental idealization of blood-red which lay well on -the soft, fine, luxurious fabric. But it was an unmistakable, a shameless, -a barbaric red. - -And as he looked at it, young Hitchcock, of Hitchcock & Van Rensselaer, -came up behind him and leaned over his shoulder. - -“Where did you get the handkerchief, Walpole?” he whispered; “you ought to -hang that out for an auction flag, and sell out your cases.” - -Horace stuffed it back in his pocket. - -“You’d be glad enough to buy some of them, if you got the show,” he -returned; but the opportunity for a prolonged contest of wit was cut -short. The judge was folding his letter, and the nasal counsel, having -finished his reading, stood gazing in doubt and trepidation at the -bench, and asking himself why his Honor had not passed on each point as -presented. He found out. - -“Are you prepared to submit those requests in writing?” demanded -Gillespie, J., sharply and suddenly. He knew well enough that that poor -little nasal, nervous junior counsel would never have trusted himself to -speak ten consecutive sentences in court without having every word on -paper before him. - -“Ye-yes,” the counsel stammered, and handed up his careful manuscript. - -“I will examine these to-night,” said his Honor, and, apparently, he made -an endorsement on the papers. He was really writing the address on the -envelope of his letter. Then there was a stir, and a conversation between -the judge and two or three lawyers, all at once, which was stopped when -his Honor gave an Olympian nod to the clerk. - -The crier arose. - -“He’ ye! he’ ye! he’ ye!” he shouted with perfunctory vigor. -“Wah--wah--wah!” the high ceiling slapped back at him; and he declaimed, -on one note, a brief address to “Awperns han bins” in that court, of which -nothing was comprehensible save the words “Monday next at eleven o’clock.” -And then the court collectively rose, and individually put on hats for the -most part of the sort called queer. - -All the people were chattering in low voices; chairs were moved noisily, -and the slumbering juror opened his weary eyes and troubled himself with -an uncalled-for effort to look as though he had been awake all the time -and didn’t like the way things were going, at all. Horace got from the -clerk the papers for which he had been waiting, and was passing out, when -his Honor saw him and hailed him with an expressive grunt. - -Gillespie, J., looked over his spectacles at Horace. - -“Shall you see Judge Weeden at the office? Yes? Will you have the kindness -to give him this--yes? If it’s no trouble to you, of course.” - -Gillespie, J., was not over-careful of the feelings of lawyers’ clerks, as -a rule; but he had that decent disinclination to act _ultra præscriptum_ -which marks the attitude of the well-bred man toward his inferiors -in office. He knew that he had no business to use Weeden, Snowden & -Gilfeather’s clerk as a messenger in his private correspondence. - -Horace understood him, took the letter, and allowed himself a quiet smile -when he reached the crowded corridor. - -What mattered, he thought, as his brisk feet clattered down the wide -stairs of the rotunda, the petty insolence of office _now_? He was -Gillespie’s messenger to-day; but had not his young powers already -received recognition from a greater than Gillespie? If Judge Gillespie -lived long enough he should put his gouty old legs under Judge Walpole’s -mahogany, and prose over his port--yes, he should have port, like -the relic of mellow old days that he was--of the times “when your -father-in-law and I, Walpole, were boys together.” - -Ah, there you have the spell of the Red Silk Handkerchief! - -It was a wonderful tale to Horace; for he saw it in that wonderful light -which shall shine on no man of us more than once in his life--on some of -us not at all, Heaven help us!--but, in the telling, it is a simple tale: - -“The Golden-Mouthed Orator of St. Lawrence” was at the height of his -fame in that period of storm and stress which had the civil war for its -climax. His misfortune was to be drawn into a contest for which he was not -equipped, and in which he had little interest. His sphere of action was -far from the battle-ground of the day. The intense localism that bounded -his knowledge and his sympathies had but one break--he had tasted in his -youth the extravagant hospitality of the South, and he held it in grateful -remembrance. So it happened that he was a trimmer,--a moderationist he -called himself,--a man who dealt in optimistic generalities, and who -thought that if everybody--the slaves included--would only act temperately -and reasonably, and view the matter from the standpoint of pure policy, -the differences of South and North could be settled as easily as, through -his own wise intervention, the old turnip-field feud of Farmer Oliver and -Farmer Bunker had been wiped out of existence. - -His admirers agreed with him, and they sent him to Congress to fill -the unexpired short term of their representative, who had just died in -Washington of what we now know as a malarial fever. It was not to be -expected, perhaps, that the Honorable Mr. Walpole would succeed in putting -a new face on the great political question in the course of his first -term; but they all felt sure that his first speech would startle men who -had never heard better than what Daniel Webster had had to offer them. - -But the gods were against the Honorable Mr. Walpole. On the day set -for his great effort there was what the theatrical people call a -counter-attraction. Majah Pike had come up from Mizourah, sah, to cane -that demn’d Yankee hound, Chahles Sumnah, sah,--yes, sah, to thrash -him like a dawg, begad! And all Washington had turned out to see the -performance, which was set down for a certain hour, in front of Mr. -Sumner’s door. - -There was just a quorum when the golden-mouthed member began his great -speech,--an inattentive, chattering crowd, that paid no attention to his -rolling rhetoric and rococo grandiloquence. He told the empty seats what -a great country this was, and how beautiful was a middle policy, and he -illustrated this with a quotation from Homer, in the original Greek (a -neat novelty: Latin was fashionable for parliamentary use in Webster’s -time), with, for the benefit of the uneducated, the well-known translation -by the great Alexander Pope, commencing: - - “To calm their passions with the words of Age, - Slow from his seat arose the Pylian sage, - Experienced Nestor, in Persuasion skilled, - Words sweet as honey from his lips distilled”-- - -When Nestor and Mr. Walpole closed, there was no quorum. The member from -New Jersey, who had engaged him in debate, was sleeping the sleep of -honorable intoxication in his seat. Outside, all Washington was laughing -and cursing. Majah Pike had not appeared. - -It was the end of the golden-mouthed orator. His voice was never heard -again in the House. His one speech was noticed only to be laughed at, and -the news went home to his constituents. They showed that magnanimity which -the poets tell us is an attribute of the bucolic character. They, so to -speak, turned over the pieces of their broken idol with their cow-hide -boots, and remarked that they had known it was clay, all along, and dern -poor clay at that. - -So the golden-mouthed went home, to try to make a ruined practice repair -his ruined fortune; to give mortgages on his home to pay the debts his -hospitality had incurred; to discuss with a few feeble old friends ways -and means by which the war might have been averted; to beget a son of his -old age, and to see the boy grow up in a new generation, with new ideas, -new hopes, new ambitions, and a lifetime before him to make memories in. - -They had little enough in common, but they came to be great friends as the -boy grew older, for Horace, inherited all his traits from the old man, -except a certain stern energy which came from his silent, strong-hearted -mother, and which his father saw with a sad joy. - -Mr. Walpole sent his son to New York to study law in the office of Messrs. -Weeden, Snowden & Gilfeather, who were a pushing young firm in 1850. -Horace found it a very quiet and conservative old concern. Snowden and -Gilfeather were dead; Weeden had been on the bench and had gone off the -bench at the call of a “lucrative practice;” there were two new partners, -whose names appeared only on the glass of the office door and in a corner -of the letter-heads. - -Horace read his law to some purpose. He became the managing clerk of -Messrs. Weeden, Snowden & Gilfeather. This particular managing clerkship -was one of unusual dignity and prospective profit. It meant, as it always -does, great responsibility, little honor, and less pay. But the firm was -so peculiarly constituted that the place was a fine stepping-stone for -a bright and ambitious boy. One of the new partners was a business man, -who had put his money into the concern in 1860, and who knew and cared -nothing about law. He kept the books and managed the money, and was beyond -that only a name on the door and a terror to the office-boys. The other -new partner was a young man who made a specialty of collecting debts. -He could wring gold out of the stoniest and barrenest debtor; and there -his usefulness ended. The general practice of the firm rested on the -shoulders of Judge Weeden, who was old, lazy, and luxury-loving, and who, -to tell the honest truth, shirked his duties. Such a state of affairs -would have wrecked a younger house; but Weeden, Snowden & Gilfeather had a -great name, and the consequences of his negligent feebleness had not yet -descended upon Judge Weeden’s head. - -That they would, in a few years, that the Judge knew it, and that he was -quite ready to lean on a strong young arm, Horace saw clearly. - -That his own arm was growing in strength he also saw; and the Judge knew -that, too. He was Judge Weeden’s pet. All in the office recognized the -fact. All, after reflection, concluded that it was a good thing that he -was. New blood had to come into the firm sooner or later, and although it -was not possible to watch the successful rise of this boy without a little -natural envy and heart-burning, yet it was to be considered that Horace -was one who would be honorable, just, and generous wherever fortune put -him. - -Horace was a gentleman. They all knew it. Barnes and Haskins, the business -man and the champion collector, knew it down in the shallows of their -vulgar little souls. Judge Weeden, who had some of that mysterious ichor -of gentlehood in his wine-fed veins, knew it and rejoiced in it. And -Horace--I can say for Horace that he never forgot it. - -He was such a young prince of managing clerks that no one was surprised -when he was sent down to Sand Hills, Long Island, to make preparations for -the reorganization of the Great Breeze Hotel Company, and the transfer of -the property known as the Breeze Hotel and Park to its new owners. The -Breeze Hotel was a huge “Queen Anne” vagary which had, after the fashion -of hotels, bankrupted its first owners, and was now going into the hands -of new people, who were likely to make their fortunes out of it. The -property had been in litigation for a year or so; the mechanics’ liens -were numerous, and the mechanics clamorous; and although the business was -not particularly complicated, it needed careful and patient adjustment. -Horace knew the case in every detail. He had drudged over it all the -winter, with no especial hope of personal advantage, but simply because -that was his way of working. He went down in June to the mighty barracks, -and lived for a week in what would have been an atmosphere of paint and -carpet-dye had it not been for the broad sea wind that blew through the -five hundred open windows, and swept rooms and corridors with salty -freshness. The summering folk had not arrived yet; there were only the -new manager and his six score of raw recruits of clerks and servants. But -Horace felt the warm blood coming back to his cheeks, that the town had -somewhat paled, and he was quite content; and every day he went down to -the long, lonely beach, and had a solitary swim, although the sharp water -whipped his white skin to a biting red. The sea takes a long while to warm -up to the summer, and is sullen about it. - -He was to have returned to New York at the end of the week, and Haskins -was to have taken his place; but it soon became evident to Weeden, Snowden -& Gilfeather that the young man would attend to all that was to be done at -Sand Hills quite as well as Mr. Haskins, or--quite as well as Judge Weeden -himself, for that matter. He had to shoulder no great responsibility; the -work was mostly of a purely clerical nature, vexatious enough, but simple. -It had to be done on the spot, however; the original Breeze Hotel and Park -Company was composed of Sand Hillers, and the builders were Sand Hillers, -too, the better part of them. And there were titles to be searched; -for the whole scheme was an ambitious splurge of Sand Hills pride and -it had been undertaken and carried out in a reckless and foolish way. -Horace knew all the wretched little details of the case, and so Horace -was entrusted with duties such as do not often devolve upon a man of his -years; and he took up his burden proudly, and with a glowing consciousness -of his own strength. - -Judge Weeden missed his active and intelligent obedience in the daily -routine of office business; but the Judge thought it was just as well that -Horace should not know that fact. The young man’s time would come soon -enough, and he would be none the worse for serving his apprenticeship in -modesty and humility. The work entrusted to him was an honor in itself. -And then, there was no reason why poor Walpole’s boy shouldn’t have a sort -of half-holiday out in the country, and enjoy his youth. - -He was not recalled. The week stretched out. He worked hard, found time to -play, hugged his quickened ambitions to his breast, wrote hopeful letters -to the mother at Montevista, made a luxury of his loneliness, and felt a -bashful resentment when the “guests” of the hotel began to pour in from -the outside world. - -For a day or two he fought shy of them. But these first comers were -lonely too, and not so much in love with loneliness as he thought he -was, and very soon he became one of them. He had found out all the walks -and drives; he knew the times of the tides; he had made friends with the -fishermen for a league up and down the coast, and he had amassed a store -of valuable hints as to where the first blue-fish might be expected to -run. Altogether he was a very desirable companion. Besides, that bright, -fresh face of his, and a certain look in it, made you friends with him at -once, especially if you happened to be a little older, and to remember a -look of the sort, lost, lost forever, in a boy’s looking-glass. - -So he was sought out, and he let himself be found, and the gregarious -instinct in him waxed delightfully. - -And then It came. Perhaps I should say She came; but it is not the woman -we love; it is our dream of her. Sweet and tender, fair and good, she may -be; but let it be honor enough for her that she has that glory about her -face which our love kindles to the halo that lights many a man’s life to -the grave, though the face beneath it be dead or false. - -I will not admit that it was only a pretty girl from Philadelphia who came -to Sand Hills that first week in July. It was the rosy goddess herself, -dove-drawn across the sea, in the warm path of the morning sun--although -the tremulous, old-fashioned handwriting on the hotel register only showed -that the early train had brought-- - - “_Samuel Rittenhouse, Philadelphia. - Miss Rittenhouse, do._” - -It was the Honorable Samuel Rittenhouse, ex-Chief-Justice of Pennsylvania, -the honored head of the Pennsylvania bar, and the legal representative of -the Philadelphia contingent of the new Breeze Hotel and Park Company. - -In the evening Horace called upon him in his rooms with a cumbersome stack -of papers, and patiently waded through explanations and repetitions -until Mr. Rittenhouse’s testy courtesy--he had the nervous manner of -age apprehensive of youthful irreverence--melted into a complacent and -fatherly geniality. Then, when the long task was done and his young guest -arose, he picked up the card that lay on the table and trained his glasses -on it. - -“‘H. K. Walpole?’” he said: “are you a New Yorker, sir?” - -“From the north of the State,” Horace told him. - -“Indeed, indeed. Why, let me see--you must be the son of my old friend -Walpole--of Otsego--wasn’t it?” said the old gentleman, still tentatively. - -“St. Lawrence, sir.” - -“Yes, St. Lawrence--of course, of course. Why, I knew your father well, -years ago, sir. We were at college together.” - -“At Columbia?” - -“Yes--yes. Why, bless me,” Judge Rittenhouse went on, getting up to look -at Horace: “you’re the image of your poor father at your age. A very -brilliant man, sir, a very able man. I did not see much of him after we -left college--I was a Pennsylvanian, and he was from this State--but I -have always remembered your father with respect and regard, sir,--a very -able man. I think I heard of his death some years ago.” - -“Three years ago,” said Horace. His voice fell somewhat. How little to -this old man of success was the poor, unnoticed death of failure! - -“Three years only!” repeated the judge, half apologetically; “ah, people -slip away from each other in this world--slip away. But I’m glad to have -met you, sir--very much pleased indeed. Rosamond!” - -For an hour the subdued creaking of a rocking-chair by the window had -been playing a monotonously pleasant melody in Horace’s ears. Now and -then a coy wisp of bright hair, or the reflected ghost of it, had flashed -into view in the extreme lower left-hand corner of a mirror opposite him. -Once he had seen a bit of white brow under it, and from time to time the -low flutter of turning magazine leaves had put in a brief second to the -rocking-chair. - -All this time Horace’s brains had been among the papers on the table; -but something else within him had been swaying to and fro with the -rocking-chair, and giving a leap when the wisp of hair bobbed into sight. - -Now the rocking-chair accompaniment ceased, and the curtained corner by -the window yielded up its treasure, and Miss Rittenhouse came forward, -with one hand brushing the wisp of hair back into place, as if she were on -easy and familiar terms with it. Horace envied it. - -“Rosamond,” said the judge: “This is Mr. Walpole, the son of my old friend -Walpole. You have heard me speak of Mr. Walpole’s father.” - -“Yes, papa,” said the young lady, all but the corners of her mouth. And, -oddly enough, Horace did not think of being saddened because this young -woman had never heard of his father. Life was going on a new key, all of a -sudden, with a hint of a melody to be unfolded that ran in very different -cadences from the poor old tune of memory. - -My heroine, over whose head some twenty summers had passed, was now in the -luxuriant prime of her youthful beauty. Over a brow whiter than the driven -snow fell clustering ringlets, whose hue-- - -That is the way the good old novelists and story-tellers of the Neville -and Beverley days would have set out to describe Miss Rittenhouse, had -they known her. Fools and blind! As if anyone could describe--as if a -poet, even, could more than hint at what a man sees in a woman’s face -when, seeing, he loves. - -For a few moments the talkers were constrained, and the talk was meagre -and desultory. Then the Judge, who had been rummaging around among the -dust-heaps of his memory, suddenly recalled the fact that he had once, -in stage-coach days, passed a night at Montevista, and had been most -hospitably treated. He dragged this fact forth, professed a lively -remembrance of Mrs. Walpole,--“a fine woman, sir, your mother; a woman of -many charms,”--asked after her present health; and then, satisfied that he -had acquitted himself of his whole duty, withdrew into the distant depths -of his own soul and fumbled over the papers Horace had brought him, trying -to familiarize himself with them, as a commander might try to learn the -faces of his soldiers. - -Then the two young people proceeded to find the key together, and began -a most harmonious duet. Sand Hills was the theme. Thus it was that they -had to go out on the balcony, where Miss Rittenhouse might gaze into the -brooding darkness over the sea, and watch it wink a slow yellow eye with -a humorous alternation of sudden and brief red. Thus, also, Horace had to -explain how the lighthouse was constructed. This moved Miss Rittenhouse -to scientific research. She must see how it was done. Mr. Walpole would -be delighted to show her. Papa was so much interested in those mechanical -matters. Mr. Walpole had a team and light wagon at his disposal, and -would very much like to drive Miss Rittenhouse and her father over to the -lighthouse. Miss Rittenhouse communicated this kind offer to her father. -Her father saw what was expected of him, and dutifully acquiesced, like -an obedient American father. Miss Rittenhouse had managed the Rittenhouse -household and the head of the house of Rittenhouse ever since her mother’s -death. - -Mr. Walpole really had a team at his disposal. He came from a country -where people do not chase foxes, nor substitutes for foxes; but where they -know and revere a good trotter. He had speeded many a friend’s horse in -training for the county fair. When he came to Sand Hills his soundness in -the equine branch of a gentleman’s education had attracted the attention -of a horsey Sand-Hiller, who owned a showy team with a record of 2.37. -This team was not to be trusted to the ordinary summer boarder on any -terms; but the Sand-Hiller was thrifty and appreciative, and he lured -Horace into hiring the turnout at a trifling rate, and thus captured every -cent the boy had to spare, and got his horses judiciously exercised. - -There was a showy light wagon to match the team, and the next day the -light wagon, with Horace and the Rittenhouses in it, passed every carriage -on the road to the lighthouse, where Miss Rittenhouse satisfied her -scientific spirit with one glance at the lantern, after giving which -glance she went outside and sat in the shade of the white tower with -Horace, while the keeper showed the machinery to the Judge. Perhaps she -went to the Judge afterward, and got him to explain it all to her. - -Thus it began, and for two golden weeks thus it went on. The reorganized -Breeze Hotel and Park Company met in business session on its own property, -and Horace acted as a sort of honorary clerk to Judge Rittenhouse. The -company, as a company, talked over work for a couple of hours each day. -As a congregation of individuals, it ate and drank and smoked and played -billiards and fished and slept the rest of the two dozen. Horace had -his time pretty much to himself, or rather to Miss Rittenhouse, who -monopolized it. He drove her to the village to match embroidery stuffs. -He danced with her in the evenings when two stolidly soulful Germans, -one with a fiddle and the other with a piano, made the vast dining-room -ring and hum with Suppé and Waldteufel,--and this was to the great -and permanent improvement of his waltzing. She taught him how to play -lawn-tennis--he was an old-fashioned boy from the backwoods, and he -thought that croquet was still in existence, so she had to teach him to -play lawn-tennis--until he learned to play much better than she could. On -the other hand, he was a fresh-water swimmer of rare wind and wiriness, -and a young sea-god in the salt, as soon as he got used to its pungent -strength. So he taught her to strike out beyond the surf-line, with broad, -breath-long sweeps, and there to float and dive and make friends with the -ocean. Even he taught her to fold her white arms behind her back, and swim -with her feet. As he glanced over his shoulder to watch her following -him, and to note the timorous, admiring crowd on the shore, she seemed a -sea-bred Venus of Milo in blue serge. - -I have known men to be bored by such matters. They made Horace happy. He -was happiest, perhaps, when he found out that she was studying Latin. -All the girls in Philadelphia were studying Latin that summer. They had -had a little school Latin, of course; but now their aims were loftier. -Miss Rittenhouse had brought with her a Harkness’s Virgil, an Anthon’s -dictionary, an old Bullion & Morris, and--yes, when Horace asked her, she -had brought an Interlinear; but she didn’t mean to use it. They rowed out -to the buoy, and put the Interlinear in the sea. They sat on the sands -after the daily swim, and enthusiastically labored, with many an unclassic -excursus, over P. V. Maronis Opera. Horace borrowed some books of a small -boy in the hotel, and got up at five o’clock in the morning to run a -couple of hundred lines or so ahead of his pupil, “getting out” a stint -that would have made him lead a revolt had any teacher imposed it upon his -class a few years before--for he was fresh enough from schooling to have a -little left of the little Latin that colleges give. - -He wondered how it was that he had never seen the poetry of the lines -before. _Forsan et hæc olim meminisse juvabit_--for perchance it will joy -us hereafter to remember these things! He saw the wet and weary sailors -on the shore, hungrily eating, breathing hard after their exertions; he -heard the deep cheerfulness of their leader’s voice. The wind blew toward -him over the pine barrens, as fresh as ever it blew past Dido’s towers. A -whiff of briny joviality and adventurous recklessness seemed to come from -the page on his knee. And to him, also, had not She appeared who saw, hard -by the sea, that pious old buccaneer-Lothario, so much tossed about on -land and upon the deep? - -This is what the moderns call a flirtation, and I do not doubt that it was -called a flirtation by the moderns around these two young people. Somehow, -though, they never got themselves “talked about,” not even by the stranded -nomads on the hotel verandas. Perhaps this was because there was such a -joyous freshness and purity about both of them that it touched the hearts -of even the slander-steeped old dragons who rocked all day in the shade, -and embroidered tidies and talked ill of their neighbors. Perhaps it was -because they also had that about them which the mean and vulgar mind -always sneers at, jeers at, affects to disbelieve in, always recognizes -and fears,--the courage and power of the finer strain. Envy in spit-curls -and jealousy in a false front held their tongues, may be, because, though -they knew that they, and even their male representatives, were safe from -any violent retort, yet they recognized the superior force, and shrunk -from it as the cur edges away from the quiescent whip. - -There is a great difference, too, between the flirtations of the -grandfatherless and the flirtations of the grandfathered. I wish you -to understand that Mr. Walpole and Miss Rittenhouse did not _sprawl_ -through their flirtation, nor fall into that slipshod familiarity which -takes all the delicate beauty of dignity and mutual respect out of such a -friendship. Horace did not bow to the horizontal, and Miss Rittenhouse did -not make a cheese-cake with her skirts when he held open the door for her -to pass through; but the bond of courtesy between them was no less sweetly -gracious on her side, no less finely reverential on his, than the taste -of their grandparents’ day would have exacted,--no less earnest, I think, -that it was a little easier than puff and periwig might have made it. - -Yet I also think, whatever was the reason that made the dragons let them -alone, that a simple mother of the plain, old-fashioned style is better -for a girl of Miss Rosamond Rittenhouse’s age than any such precarious -immunity from annoyance. - -Ah, the holiday was short! The summons soon came for Horace. They went to -the old church together for the second and last time, and he stood beside -her, and they held the hymn-book between them. - -Horace could not rid himself of the idea that they had stood thus -through every Sunday of a glorious summer. The week before he had sung -with her. He had a boyish baritone in him, one of those which may be -somewhat extravagantly characterized as consisting wholly of middle -register. It was a good voice for the campus, and, combined with that -startling clearness of utterance which young collegians acquire, had -been very effective in the little church. But to-day he had no heart -to sing “Byefield” and “Pleyel”; he would rather stand beside her and -feel his heart vibrate to the deep lower notes of her tender contralto, -and his soul rise with the higher tones that soared upward from her -pure young breast. And all the while he was making that act of devotion -which--“uttered or unexpressed”--is, indeed, all the worship earth has -ever known. - -Once she looked up at him as if she asked, “Why don’t you sing?” But her -eyes fell quickly, he thought with a shade of displeasure in them at -something they had seen in his. Yet as he watched her bent head, the cheek -near him warmed with a slow, soft blush. He may only have fancied that her -clear voice quivered a little with a tremolo not written in the notes at -the top of the page. - -And now the last day came. When the work-a-day world thrust its rough -shoulder into Arcadia, and the hours of the idyll were numbered, they set -to talking of it as though the two weeks that they had known each other -were some sort of epitomized summer. Of course they were to meet again, -in New York or in Philadelphia; and of course there were many days of -summer in store for Miss Rittenhouse at Sand Hills, at Newport, and at -Mount Desert; but Horace’s brief season was closed, and somehow she seemed -to fall readily into his way of looking upon it as a golden period of -special and important value, their joint and exclusive property--something -set apart from all the rest of her holiday, where there would be other men -and other good times and no Horace. - -It was done with much banter and merriment; but through it all Horace -listened for delicate undertones that should echo to his ear the -earnestness which sometimes rang irrepressibly in his own speech. In -that marvellous instrument, a woman’s voice, there are strange and -fine possibilities of sound that may be the messengers of the subtlest -intelligence or the sweet falterings of imperfect control. So Horace, with -love to construe for him, did not suffer too cruelly from disappointment. - -On the afternoon of that last day they sat upon the beach and saw the -smoke of Dido’s funeral pile go up, and they closed the dog’s-eared -Virgil, and, looking seaward, watched the black cloud from a coaling -steamer mar the blinding blue where sea and sky blent at the horizon; -watched it grow dull and faint, and fade away, and the illumined turquoise -reassert itself. - -Then he was for a farewell walk, and she, with that bright acquiescence -with which a young girl can make companionship almost perfect, if she -will, accepted it as an inspiration, and they set out. They visited -together the fishermen’s houses, where Horace bade good-bye to -mighty-fisted friends, who stuck their thumbs inside their waistbands and -hitched their trousers half way up to their blue-shirted arms, and said to -him, “You come up here in Orgust, Mr. Walpole--say ’bout the fus’ t’ the -third week ’n Orgust, ’n’ we’ll give yer some bloo-fishin’ ’t y’ won’t -need t’ lie about, neither.” They all liked him, and heartily. - -Old Rufe, the gruff hermit of the fishers, who lived a half-mile beyond -the settlement, flicked his shuttle through the net he was mending, and -did not look up as Horace spoke to him. - -“Goin’?” he said; “waal, we’ve all gotter go some time oruther. The’ -aint no real perma-nen-cy on this uth. Goin’? Waal, I’m”--he paused, -and weighed the shuttle in his hand as though to aid him in balancing -some important mental process. “Sho! I’m derned ’f I ain’t sorry. Squall -comin’ up, an’ don’t y’ make no mistake,” he hurried on, not to be further -committed to unguarded expression; “better look sharp, or y’ ’ll git a -wettin’.” - -A little puff of gray cloud, scurrying along in the south-east, had -spread over half the sky, and now came a strong, eddying wind. A big -raindrop made a dark spot on the sand before them; another fell on Miss -Rittenhouse’s cheek, and then, with a vicious, uncertain patter, the rain -began to come down. - -“We’ll have to run for Poinsett’s,” said Horace, and stretched out his -hand. She took it, and they ran. - -Poinsett’s was just ahead--a white house on a lift of land, close back -of the shore-line, with a long garden stretching down in front, and two -or three poplar trees. The wind was turning up the pale under-sides of -grass-blade and flower leaf, and whipping the shivering poplars silver -white. Cap’n Poinsett, late of Gloucester, Massachusetts, was tacking down -the path in his pea-jacket, with his brass telescope tucked under his -arm. He was making for the little white summer-house that overhung the -shore; but he stopped to admire the two young people dashing up the slope -toward him, for the girl ran with a splendid free stride that kept her -well abreast of Horace’s athletic lope. - -“Come in,” he said, opening the gate, and smiling on the two young faces, -flushed and wet; “come right in out o’ the rain. Be’n runnin’, ain’t -ye? Go right int’ the house. Mother!” he called, “here’s Mr. Walpole -’n’ his young lady. You’ll hev to ex-cuse me; I’m a-goin’ down t’ my -observa_tor_y. I carn’t foller the sea no longer myself, but I can look at -them that dooz. There’s my old woman--go right in.” - -He waddled off, leaving both of them redder than their run accounted for, -and Mrs. Poinsett met them at the door, her arms folded in her apron. - -“Walk right in,” she greeted them; “the cap’n he mus’ always go down t’ -his observa_tor_y, ’s he calls it, ’n’ gape through thet old telescope of -hisn, fust thing the’s a squall--jus’s if he thought he was skipper of all -Long Island. But you come right int’ the settin’-room ’n’ make yourselves -to home. Dear me suz! ’f I’d ’a’ thought I’d ’a’ had company I’d ’a’ -tidied things up. I’m jus’ ’s busy _as_ busy, gettin’ supper ready; but -don’t you mind _me_--jus’ you make yourselves to home,” and she drifted -chattering away, and they heard her in the distant kitchen amiably nagging -the hired girl. - -It was an old-time, low-ceiled room, neat with New England neatness. The -windows had many panes of green flint glass, through which they saw the -darkening storm swirl over the ocean and ravage the flower-beds near by. - -And when they had made an end of watching Cap’n Poinsett in his little -summer-house, shifting his long glass to follow each scudding sail far -out in the darkness; and when they had looked at the relics of Cap’n -Poinsett’s voyages to the Orient and the Arctic, and at the cigar-boxes -plastered with little shells, and at the wax fruit, and at the family -trousers and bonnets in the album, there was nothing left but that Miss -Rittenhouse should sit down at the old piano, bought for Amanda Jane in -the last year of the war, and bring forth rusty melody from the yellowed -keys. - -“What a lovely voice she has!” thought Horace as she sang. No doubt he -was right. I would take his word against that of a professor of music, -who would have told you that it was a nice voice for a girl, and that the -young woman had more natural dramatic expression than technical training. - -They fished out Amanda Jane’s music-books, and went through “Juanita,” and -the “Evergreen Waltz,” and “Beautiful Isle of the Sea;” and, finding a -lot of war songs, severally and jointly announced their determination to -invade Dixie Land, and to annihilate Rebel Hordes; and adjured each other -to remember Sumter and Baltimore, and many other matters that could have -made but slight impression on their young minds twenty odd years before. -Mrs. Poinsett, in the kitchen, stopped nagging her aid, and thought -of young John Tarbox Poinsett’s name on a great sheet of paper in the -Gloucester post-office, one morning at the end of April, 1862, when the -news came up that Farragut had passed the forts. - -The squall was going over, much as it had come, only no one paid attention -to its movements now, for the sun was out, trying to straighten up the -crushed grass and flowers, and to brighten the hurrying waves, and to -soothe the rustling agitation of the poplars. - -They must have one more song. Miss Rittenhouse chose “Jeannette and -Jeannot,” and when she looked back at him with a delicious coy mischief in -her eyes, and sang,-- - - “There is no one left to love me now, - And you too may forget”-- - -Horace felt something flaming in his cheeks and choking in his breast, and -it was hard for him to keep from snatching those hands from the keys and -telling her she knew better. - -But he was man enough not to. He controlled himself, and made himself very -pleasant to Mrs. Poinsett about not staying to supper, and they set out -for the hotel. - -The air was cool and damp after the rain. - -“You’ve been singing,” said Horace, “and you will catch cold in this air, -and lose your voice. You must tie this handkerchief around your throat.” - -She took his blue silk handkerchief and tied it around her throat, and -wore it until just as they were turning away from the shore, when she -took it off to return to him; and the last gust of wind that blew that -afternoon whisked it out of her hand, and sent it whirling a hundred -yards out to sea. - -“Now, don’t say a word,” said Horace; “it isn’t of the slightest -consequence.” - -But he looked very gloomy over it. He had made up his mind that that silk -handkerchief should be the silk handkerchief of all the world to him, from -that time on. - - * * * * * - -It was one month later that Mr. H. K. Walpole received, in care of Messrs. -Weeden, Snowden & Gilfeather, an envelope postmarked Newport, containing -a red silk handkerchief. His initials were neatly--nay, beautifully, -exquisitely--stitched in one corner. But there was absolutely nothing -about the package to show who sent it, and Horace sorrowed over this. Not -that he was in any doubt; but he felt that it meant to say that he must -not acknowledge it; and, loyally, he did not. - -And he soon got over that grief. The lost handkerchief, whose origin was -base and common, like other handkerchiefs, and whose sanctity was purely -accidental--what was it to _this_ handkerchief, worked by her for him? - -This became the outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual grace -that had changed the boy’s whole life. Before this he had had purposes -and ambitions. He had meant to take care of his mother, to do well in the -world, and to restore, if he could, the honor and glory of the home his -father had left him. Here were duty, selfishness, and an innocent vanity. -But now he had an end in life, so high that the very seeking of it was a -religion. Every thought of self was flooded out of him, and what he sought -he sought in a purer and nobler spirit than ever before. - -Is it not strange? A couple of weeks at the sea-side, a few evenings under -the brooding darkness of hotel verandas, the going to and fro of a girl -with a sweet face, and this ineradicable change is made in the mind of a -man who has forty or fifty years before him wherein to fight the world, to -find his place, to become a factor for good or evil. - -And here we have Horace, with his heart full of love and his head full of -dreams, mooning over a silk handkerchief, in open court. - -Not that he often took such chances. The daws of humor peck at the -heart worn on the sleeve; and quite rightly, for that is no place for -a heart. But in the privacy of his modest lodging-house room he took -the handkerchief out, and spread it before him, and looked at it, and -kissed it sometimes, I suppose,--it seems ungentle to pry thus into the -sacredness of a boy’s love,--and, certainly, kept it in sight, working, -studying, or thinking. - -With all this, the handkerchief became somewhat rumpled, and at last -Horace felt that it must be brought back to the condition of neatness in -which he first knew it. So, on a Tuesday, he descended to the kitchen -of his lodging-house, and asked for a flat-iron. His good landlady, at -the head of an industrious, plump-armed Irish brigade, all vigorously -smoothing out towels, stared at him in surprise. - -“If there’s anything you want ironed, Mr. Walpole, bring it down here, and -I’ll be _more’n_ glad to iron it for you.” - -Horace grew red, and found his voice going entirely out of his control, -as he tried to explain that it wasn’t for that--it wasn’t for ironing -clothes--he was sure nobody could do it but himself. - -“Do you want it hot or cold?” asked Mrs. Wilkins, puzzled. - -“Cold!” said Horace desperately. And he got it cold, and had to heat it at -his own fire to perform his labor of love. - -That was of a piece with many things he did. Of a piece, for instance, -with his looking in at the milliners’ windows and trying to think which -bonnet would best become her--and then taking himself severely to task -for dreaming that she would wear a ready-made bonnet. Of a piece with his -buying two seats for the theatre, and going alone and fancying her next -him, and glancing furtively at the empty place at the points where he -thought she would be amused, or pleased, or moved. - -What a fool he was! Yes, my friend, and so are you and I. And remember -that this boy’s foolishness did not keep him tossing, stark awake, through -ghastly nights; did not start him up in the morning with a hot throat -and an unrested brain; did not send him down to his day’s work with the -haunting, clutching, lurking fear that springs forward at every stroke -of the clock, at every opening of the door. Perhaps you and I have known -folly worse than his. - -Through all the winter--the red handkerchief cheered the hideous first -Monday in October, and the Christmas holidays, when business kept him -from going home to Montevista--he heard little or nothing of her. His -friends in the city, or rather his father’s friends, were all ingrained -New Yorkers, dating from the provincial period, who knew not Philadelphia; -and it was only from an occasional newspaper paragraph that he learned -that Judge Rittenhouse and his daughter were travelling through the South, -for the Judge’s health. Of course, he had a standing invitation to call -on them whenever he should find himself in Philadelphia; but they never -came nearer Philadelphia than Washington, and so he never found himself -in Philadelphia. He was not so sorry for this as you might think a lover -should be. He knew that, with a little patience, he might present himself -to Judge Rittenhouse as something more than a lawyer’s managing clerk. - -For, meanwhile, good news had come from home, and things were going well -with him. Mineral springs had been discovered at Aristotle--mineral -springs may be discovered anywhere in north New York, if you only try; -though it is sometimes difficult to fit them with the proper Indian -legends. The name of the town had been changed to Avoca, and there was -already an Avoca Improvement Company, building a big hotel, advertising -right and left, and prophesying that the day of Saratoga and Sharon and -Richfield was ended. So the barrens between Montevista and Aristotle, -skirting the railroad, suddenly took on a value. Hitherto they had been -unsalable, except for taxes. For the most part they were an adjunct of -the estate of Montevista; and in February Horace went up to St. Lawrence -County and began the series of sales that was to realize his father’s most -hopeless dream, and clear Montevista of all incumbrances. - -How pat it all came, he thought, as, on his return trip, the train -carried him past the little old station, with its glaring new sign, -AVOCA, just beyond the broad stretch of “Squire Walpole’s bad land,” now -sprouting with the surveyors’ stakes. After all was paid off on the old -home, there would be enough left to enable him to buy out Haskins, who -had openly expressed his desire to get into a “live firm,” and who was -willing to part with his interest for a reasonable sum down, backed up -by a succession of easy installments. And Judge Weeden had intimated, as -clearly as dignity would permit, his anxiety that Horace should seize the -opportunity. - - * * * * * - -Winter was still on the Jersey flats on the last day of March; but Horace, -waiting at a little “flag station,” found the air full of crude prophecies -of spring. He had been searching titles all day, in a close and gloomy -little town-hall, and he was glad to be out-of-doors again, and to think -that he should be back in New York by dinner time, for it was past five -o’clock. - -But a talk with the station-master made the prospect less bright. No train -would stop there until seven. - -Was there no other way of getting home? The lonely guardian of the Gothic -shanty thought it over, and found that there was a way. He talked of the -trains as though they were whimsical creatures under his charge. - -“The’s a freight comin’ down right now,” he said, meditatively, “but I -can’t do nothin’ with her. She’s gotter get along mighty lively to keep -ahead of the Express from Philadelphia till she gets to the junction and -goes on a siding till the Express goes past. And as to the Express--why, -I couldn’t no more flag her than if she was a cyclone. But I tell you -what you do. You walk right down to the junction--’bout a mile ’n’ a -half down--and see if you can’t do something with number ninety-seven on -the other road. You see, she goes on to New York on our tracks, and she -mostly’s in the habit of waiting at the junction ’bout--say five to seven -minutes, to give that Express from Philadelphia a fair start. That Express -has it pretty much her own way on this road, for a fact. You go down to -the junction--walk right down the line--and you’ll get ninety-seven--there -ain’t no kind of doubt about it. You can’t see the junction; but it’s just -half a mile beyont that curve down there.” - -So there was nothing to be done but to walk to the junction. The railroad -ran a straight, steadily descending mile on the top of a high embankment, -and then suddenly turned out of sight around a ragged elevation. Horace -buttoned his light overcoat, and tramped down the cinder-path between the -tracks. - -Yes, spring was coming. The setting sun beamed a soft, hopeful red over -the shoulder of the ragged elevation; light, drifting mists rose from the -marsh land below him, and the last low rays struck a vapory opal through -them. There was a warm, almost prismatic purple hanging over the outlines -of the hills and woods far to the east. The damp air, even, had a certain -languid warmth in it; and though there was snow in the little hollows -at the foot of the embankment, and bits of thin whitish ice were in the -swampy pools, it was clear enough to Horace that spring was at hand. -Spring--and then summer; and, by the sea or in the mountains, the junior -partner of the house of Weeden, Snowden & Gilfeather might hope to meet -once more with Judge Rittenhouse’s daughter. - -The noise of the freight-train, far up the track behind him, disturbed -Horace’s springtime revery. A forethought of rocking gravel-cars -scattering the overplus of their load by the way, and of reeking -oil-tanks, filling the air with petroleum, sent him down the embankment to -wait until the way was once more clear. - -The freight-train went by and above him with a long-drawn roar and -clatter, and with a sudden fierce crash, and the shriek of iron upon iron, -at the end, and the last truck of the last car came down the embankment, -tearing a gully behind it, and ploughed a grave for itself in the marsh -ten yards ahead of him. - -And, looking up, he saw a twisted rail raising its head like a shining -serpent above the dim line of the embankment. A furious rush took Horace -up the slope. A quarter of a mile below him the freight-train was slipping -around the curve. The fallen end of the last car was beating and tearing -the ties. He heard the shrill creak of the brakes and the frightened -whistle of the locomotive. But the grade was steep, and it was hard to -stop. And if they did stop they were half a mile from the junction--half a -mile from their only chance of warning the Express. - -Horace heard in his ears the station-master’s words: “She’s gotter get -along mighty lively to keep ahead of the Express from Philadelphia.” - -“Mighty lively--mighty lively,”--the words rang through his brain to the -time of thundering car-wheels. - -He knew where he stood. He had made three-quarters of the straight mile. -He was three-quarters of a mile, then, from the little station. His -overcoat was off in half a second. Many a time had he stripped, with that -familiar movement, to trunks and sleeveless shirt, to run his mile or his -half-mile; but never had such a thirteen hundred yards lain before him, up -such a track, to be run for such an end. - -The sweat was on his forehead before his right foot passed his left. - -His young muscles strove and stretched. His feet struck the soft, unstable -path of cinders with strong, regular blows. His tense forearms strained -upward from his sides. Under his chest, thrown outward from his shoulders, -was a constricting line of pain. His wet face burnt. There was a fire -in his temples, and at every breath of his swelling nostrils something -throbbed behind his eyes. The eyes saw nothing but a dancing dazzle of -tracks and ties, through a burning blindness. And his feet beat, beat, -beat till the shifting cinders seemed afire under him. - -That is what this human machine was doing, going at this extreme -pressure; every muscle, every breath, every drop of blood alive with the -pain of this intense stress. Looking at it you would have said, “A fleet, -light-limbed young man, with a stride like a deer, throwing the yards -under him in fine style.” All we know about the running other folks are -making in this world! - -Half-way up the track Horace stopped short, panting hard, his heart -beating like a crazy drum, a nervous shiver on him. Up the track there was -a dull whirr, and he saw the engine of the express-train slipping down on -him--past the station already. - -The white mists from the marshes had risen up over the embankment. The -last rays of the sunset shot through them, brilliant and blinding. Horace -could see the engine; but would the engineer see him, waving his hands in -futile gestures, in time to stop on that slippery, sharp grade? And of -what use would be his choking voice when the dull whirr should turn into -a roar? For a moment, in his hopeless disappointment, Horace felt like -throwing himself in the path of the train, like a wasted thing that had no -right to live, after so great a failure. - -As will happen to those who are stunned by a great blow, his mind ran -back mechanically to the things nearest his heart, and in a flash he went -through the two weeks of his life. And then, before the thought had time -to form itself, he had brought a red silk handkerchief from his breast, -and was waving it with both hands, a fiery crimson in the opal mist. - -Seen. The whistle shrieked; there was a groan and a creak of brakes, -the thunder of the train resolved itself into various rattling noises, -the engine slipped slowly by him, and slowed down, and he stood by the -platform of the last car as the express stopped. - -There was a crowd around Horace in an instant. His head was whirling, -but in a dull way he said what he had to say. An officious passenger, -who would have explained it all to the conductor if the conductor had -waited, took the deliverer in his arms--for the boy was near fainting--and -enlightened the passengers who flocked around. - -Horace hung in his embrace, too deadly weak even to accept the offer of -one of the dozen flasks that were thrust at him. Nothing was very clear in -his mind; as far as he could make out, his most distinct impression was of -a broad, flat beach, a blue sea and a blue sky, a black steamer making a -black trail of smoke across them, and a voice soft as an angel’s reading -Latin close by him. Then he opened his eyes and saw the woman of the voice -standing in front of him. - -“Oh, Richard,” he heard her say,“it’s Mr. Walpole!” - -Horace struggled to his feet. She took his hand in both of hers and drew -closer to him; the crowd falling back a little, seeing that they were -friends. - -“What can I ever say to thank you?” she said. “You have saved our lives. -It’s not so much for myself, but”--she blushed faintly, and Horace felt -her hands tremble on his; “Richard--my husband--we were married to-day, -you know--and”-- - -Something heavy and black came between Horace and life for a few minutes. -When it passed away he straightened himself up out of the arms of the -officious passenger and stared about him, mind and memory coming back to -him. The people around looked at him oddly. A brakeman brought him his -overcoat, and he stood unresistingly while it was slipped on him. Then he -turned away and started down the embankment. - -“Hold on!” cried the officious passenger excitedly; “we’re getting up a -testimonial”-- - -Horace never heard it. How he found his way he never cared to recall; but -the gas was dim in the city streets, and the fire was out in his little -lodging-house room when he came home; and his narrow white bed knows all -that I cannot tell of his tears and his broken dreams. - - * * * * * - -“Walpole,” said Judge Weeden, as he stood between the yawning doors of -the office safe, one morning in June, “I observe that you have a private -package here. Why do you not use the drawer of our--our late associate, -Mr. Haskins? It is yours now, you know. I’ll put your package in it.” -He poised the heavily sealed envelope in his hand. “Very odd _feeling_ -package, Walpole. Remarkably soft!” he said. “Well, bless me, it’s none of -my business, of course. Horace, how much you look like your father!” - - - - -THE SEVEN CONVERSATIONS OF DEAR JONES AND BABY VAN RENSSELAER. - -BY BRANDER MATTHEWS AND H. C. BUNNER. - - -I. - -THE FIRST CONVERSATION. - - TUESDAY, February 14, 1882. - -The band was invisible, but, unfortunately, not inaudible. It was in the -butler’s pantry, playing Waldteufel’s latest waltz, “Süssen Veilchen.” -The English butler, who resented the intrusion of the German leader, was -introducing an _obbligato_ unforeseen by the composer. This was the second -of Mrs. Martin’s charming Tuesdays in February. Mrs. Martin herself, -fondly and familiarly known as the “Duchess of Washington Square,” -stopped a young man as he was making a desperate rush for his overcoat, -then reposing under three strata of late comers’ outer garments in the -second-floor back, and said to him: - -“O Dear Jones”--the Duchess always called him Dear Jones--“I want to -introduce you to Baby Van Rensselaer--Phyllis Van Rensselaer, you -know--they always called her Baby Van Rensselaer, though I’m sure I don’t -know why--Phyllis is such a lovely name--don’t you think so?--and your -grandfathers were such friends.” [Dear Jones executed an _ex post facto_ -condemnation upon his ancestor and hers.] “You know Major Van Rensselaer -was your grandfather’s partner until that unfortunate affair of the -embezzlement--O Baby dear--there you are, are you? I was wondering where -you were all this time. This is Mr. Jones, dear, one of your grandfather’s -most intimate friends. Oh, I don’t mean that, of course--you know what I -mean--and I do so want you two to know each other.” - -DEAR JONES: What in the name of the prophet does the Duchess mean by -introducing me to More Girls? - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: I do wish the Duchess wouldn’t insist on tiring me -out with slim young men; I never can tell one from the other. - - These remarks were not uttered. They remained in the privacy of the - inner consciousness. What they really said was: - -DEAR JONES [_inarticulately_]: Miss Van Rensselaer. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER [_inattentively_]: Yes, it is rather warm.… - -And they drifted apart in the crowd. - - -II. - -THE SECOND CONVERSATION. - - THURSDAY, April 13, 1882. - -Of course, Dear Jones was the last to arrive of the favored children of -the world who had been invited to dine at Judge Gillespie’s “to meet the -Lord Bishop of Barset,” just imported from England per steamer “Servia.” -In the hall, the butler, whose appearance was even more dignified and -clerical than the Bishop’s, handed Dear Jones an unsealed communication. - -DEAR JONES [_examining the contents_]: Who in Heligoland is Miss Van -Rensselaer? - -As Dear Jones entered, Mrs. Sutton--the Judge’s daughter, you -know--married Charley Sutton, who came from San Francisco--Mrs. -Sutton gave a little sigh of relief, nodded to the butler, and said -in perfunctory answer to the apologies Dear Jones had not made: “Oh, -no; you’re not a bit late--we haven’t been waiting for you at all--the -Bishop has only just come”--(confidentially in his ear) “I’ve given you a -charming girl.” [Dear Jones shuddered: he knew what that generally meant.] -“You know Baby Van Rensselaer? Of course--there she is--now, go--and do be -bright and clever.” And after thus handicapping an inoffensive young man, -she took the Bishop’s arm in the middle of his ante-prandial anecdote. - -DEAR JONES [_marching to his fate_]: It’s the Duchess’s girl again, by -Jove! It’s lucky Uncle Larry is going to take me off at ten sharp. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Why, it’s _that_ Mr. Jones! - - These remarks were not uttered. They remained in the privacy of the - inner consciousness. What they really said was: - -DEAR JONES [_with audacious hypocrisy_]: Of course, _you_ don’t remember -me, Miss Van Rensselaer.… - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER [_trumping his card unabashed_]: I really don’t quite.… - -DEAR JONES [_offering his arm_]: Er … don’t you remember the Duch--Mrs. -Martin’s--that hideously rainy afternoon, just before Lent? - -Here there was a gap in the conversation as the procession took up its -line of march, and moved through a narrow passage into the dining-room. - -DEAR JONES [_making a brave dash at the “bright and clever”_]: Well, in -_my_ house, the door into the dining-room shall be eighteen feet wide. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER [_literal, stern, and cold_]: Are you building a -house, Mr. Jones? - -DEAR JONES [_calmly_]: I am at present, Miss Van Rensselaer, building--let -me see--four--five--seven houses. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER [_coldly and suspecting flippancy_]: Ah, indeed--are -you a billionaire? - -DEAR JONES: No; I’m an architect. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER [_in confusion_]: Oh, I’m sure I beg your pardon-- - -DEAR JONES: You needn’t. I shouldn’t be at all ashamed to be a billionaire. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Oh, of course not--I didn’t mean _that_-- - -DEAR JONES [_unguardedly_]: Well, if it comes to that; I’m not ashamed of -my architecture either. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER [_calmly_]: Indeed? I have never seen any of it. - -DEAR JONES: You sit here, I think. This is your card with the little lady -in the powdered wig--a cherubic Madame de Staël. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: And this is yours with a Cupid in a basket--a -nineteenth century Moses. - -DEAR JONES [_taking his seat beside her_]: Talking about dinner cards--and -billionaires, you heard of that dinner old Creasers gave to fifty-two of -his friends of the new dispensation. I believe there _was_ one poor fellow -there whose wife had only half a peck of diamonds. He assembled his hordes -in the picture-gallery, as the dining-room wasn’t large enough--you see, I -didn’t build _his_ house. And to carry out the novelty of the thing, his -dinner cards were-- - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Playing-cards? - -DEAR JONES: Just so--but they were painted, “hand-painted” on satin. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: And what did he take for himself--the king of -diamonds? - -DEAR JONES: For the only time in his life he forgot himself--and he had to -put up with the Joker. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: What sort of people were there? - -DEAR JONES: Very good sort, indeed. There was a M. Meissonnier and M. -Gérôme and a M. Corot--besides the man who sold them to him. - -Everybody knows how a conversation runs on at dinner, when it does run -on. On this occasion it ran on for seventy minutes and six courses. Dear -Jones and Baby Van Rensselaer discussed the usual topics and the usual -bill-of-fare. Then, as the butler served the bombe _glacée à la Demidoff_-- - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Oh, I’m so glad you liked her. We were at school -together, you know, and she was with us when we went up the Saguenay last -August. - -DEAR JONES: Why, _I_ went up the Saguenay last August. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER [_earnestly_]: And we didn’t meet? How miserably -absurd! - -DEAR JONES: I’ll tell you whom I did meet--your father’s partner, Mr. -Hitchcock. He had his daughter with him, too--a very bright girl. You know -her, of course. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER [_coldly_]: I have heard she is quite clever. [A -pause.] The Hitchcocks--I believe--go more in the--New England set. I have -met her brother, though--Mr. Mather Hitchcock.… - -DEAR JONES: Mat Hitchcock; that little cad? - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Is he a little cad? I thought he was rather--bright. - -After this, conversation was desultory; and soon the male guests were left -to their untrammeled selves, tobacco and the Bishop. At eleven minutes -past ten, in the vestibule of Judge Gillespie’s house, a young man and -a man not so young were buttoning their overcoats and lighting their -cigarettes. In the parlor behind them a soft contralto voice was lingering -on the rich, deep notes of “Der Asra,” the sweetest song of Jewish -inspiration, the song of Heine and of Rubinstein. They paused a moment as -the voice died away in - - “Und mein Stamm sind jene Asra, - Welche sterben wenn sie lieben!” - -The man not so young said: “Well, come along. What are you waiting for?” - -DEAR JONES: What the devil are you in such a hurry for, Uncle Larry? It -looked abominably rude to leave those people in that way! - - -III. - -THE THIRD CONVERSATION. - - TUESDAY, May 30, 1882. - -As the first band of the Decoration Day procession struck up “Marching -through Georgia” and marched past Uncle Larry’s house, a cheerfully -expectant party filed out of the parlor windows upon the broad stone -balcony, draped with the flag that had floated over the building for the -four long years the day commemorated. Uncle Larry had secured the Duchess -to matronize the annual gathering of young friends, the final friendly -meeting before the flight out of town; and many of those who accepted him -as the universal uncle had accepted also this invitation. Dear Jones and -Baby Van Rensselaer were seated in the corner of the balcony that caught -the southern sun, Baby Van Rensselaer, in Uncle Larry’s own study chair, -while Dear Jones was comfortably and gracefully perched on the broad -brown-stone railing of the balcony. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Now, _doesn’t_ that music make your heart leap? - -DEAR JONES: M’--yes. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: You know I haven’t the least bit of sympathy with -that affected talk about not being moved by these things, and thinking it -vulgar and all that. I’m proud to say I love my country, and I do love to -see my country’s soldiers. Don’t you? - -DEAR JONES: M’--yes. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Of course, I can’t really remember anything about the -war, but I try to pretend to myself that I do remember when I was held up -at the window to see the troops marching back from the grand review at -Washington. (_Rather more softly._) Mama told me about it often before she -died. And “Marching through Georgia” always makes the tears come to my -eyes; don’t it yours? - -DEAR JONES: M’--yes. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: “Yes!” How queerly you say that! - -DEAR JONES (_grimly_): I’m rather more inclined to cry when the band makes - - “Stream and forest, hill and strand, - Reverberate with ‘Dixie.’” - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER (_coldly_): I’m afraid, Mr. Jones, I do not understand -you. And you appear to have a very peculiar feeling about these things. - -DEAR JONES [_rather absently_]: Well, yes, it is rather a matter of -feeling with me. Weak, I suppose--but the fact is, Miss Van Rensselaer, it -just breaks me up to see all this. You know, the war hit me pretty hard. I -lost my brother in hospital after Seven Pines--and then I lost my father, -the best friend I ever had, at Gettysburg, on the hill, you know, when he -was leading his regiment, and his men couldn’t make him stay back. So, -you see, I wouldn’t have come here at all to-day if--if-- - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Oh, Mr. Jones, I’m _so sorry_. - -DEAR JONES [_surprised_]: Sorry? Why? - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: I didn’t quite understand you--but I do now. Why, -you’re taking off your hat. What is it? Oh, the battle-flags! - -DEAR JONES: My father’s regiment. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER [_to herself_]: I wonder if that is the regiment I saw -coming back from Washington? - - -IV. - -THE FOURTH CONVERSATION. - - TUESDAY, August 22, 1882. - -The train rattled hotly along on its sultry journey from one end of -Long Island to the other, a journey the half of which it had nearly -accomplished with much fuss and fret. Leaving his impediments of travel in -the smoker, Dear Jones entered the forward end of the parlor car in search -of an uncontaminated glass of water. As he set down the glass he glanced -along the car, and his manner changed at once. He opened the door for an -instant and threw on the down track his half-smoked cigarette; and then, -smiling pleasantly, he walked firmly down the car, past a rustic bridal -couple, and took a vacant seat just in front of Baby Van Rensselaer. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Why, Mr. Jones! - -DEAR JONES: Why, Miss Van Rensselaer! - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Who would have thought of seeing you here in this hot -weather? - -DEAR JONES: Can I have this seat or is it that I _mank_ at the -_convenances_--as the French say? - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: It’s Uncle Larry’s chair--he’s gone back to talk to -one of his vestrymen--he’s taking me to Shelter Island. - -DEAR JONES: Shelter Island? How long are you going to stay there? - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: And where are you going? - -DEAR JONES: I’m going to Sag Harbor to build a house for one of my -billionaires. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Sag Harbor? What an extraordinary place for a house. - -DEAR JONES: Oh, that’s nothing. Last year I had to build a house up in -Chemung county. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Chemung? - -DEAR JONES [_spelling it_]: C-h-e-m-u-n-g´--accent on the mung. You -probably call it Cheémung, but it is really Sh’mung. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Where is it? and how do you get there? - -DEAR JONES: By the _Chemung de fer_, of course. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Oh, Mr. Jones. - -DEAR JONES: You see, my mind is relaxed by the effort to build a house on -the model of the one occupied by the old woman who lived in a shoe--and -that variety of early English architecture is very wearing on the taste. -What sort of a house is it you are going to at Shelter Island? And how -long are you going to stay there? - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Oh, it’s a stupid, old-fashioned place [_pause_]. Do -you think that bride is pretty? I have been watching them ever since we -left New York. They have been to town on their wedding-trip. - -DEAR JONES: She is ratherish pretty. And he’s a shrewd fellow and likely -to get on. I shouldn’t wonder if he was the chief wire-puller of his -“deestrick.” - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: A village Hampden? - -DEAR JONES: Some day he’ll withstand the little tyrant of the fields -and lead a revolt against the garden-sass monopoly, and so sail into -the legislature. I fear the bride is destined to ruin her digestion in -an Albany boarding-house, while the groom gives his days and nights to -affairs of state. - - Here the train slackened its speed as it approached a small station - from which shrill notes of music arose. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Look, the bride is going to leave us. - -DEAR JONES: He lives here, and the local fife and drum corps have come to -welcome him home. Dinna ye hear that strident “Hail to the Chief,” they -have just executed? - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: How proudly she looks up at him! I think the band -ought to play something for her--but they are men, and they’ll never think -of it. - -DEAR JONES: You cannot expect much tact from two fifes and a bass -drum, but unless my ears deceive me they have greeted the bride with a -well-meant attempt at “Home, Sweet Home.” - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: - - “And each responsive soul has heard - That plaintive note’s appealing. - So deeply ‘Home, Sweet Home’ has stirred - The hidden founts of feeling.” - -DEAR JONES [_surprised_]: Why--how did you know that poem? - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Oh, I heard somebody quote it last Decoration Day--I -don’t know who--it struck me as very pretty and I looked it up. - -DEAR JONES [_pleased_]: Oh, I remember. It has always been a favorite of -mine. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER [_coldly_]: Indeed? - -DEAR JONES [_as the train starts again_]: Bride and groom, fife and drum, -fade away from sight and hearing. I wonder if we shall ever think of them -again? - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: I shall, I’m sure. She was so pretty. And, besides, -the music was lively. I shan’t have anything half as amusing as that at -Shelter Island. - -DEAR JONES: Don’t you like it, then? - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Oh, dear no! I shall be glad to get away to my aunt’s -place at Watch Hill. It’s very poky indeed, at Shelter Island (_sighs_). -And to think that I shall have to spend just two weeks of primness and -propriety there. - -DEAR JONES: Just two weeks? Ah! - - -V. - -THE FIFTH CONVERSATION. - - TUESDAY, September 5, 1882. (Afternoon.) - -Although it is difficult to tell the length from the breadth of the small -steamer that plies between Sag Harbor and New London, it is safe to assume -that it was the bow that was pointing away from the Shelter Island dock as -Baby Van Rensselaer stepped out of the cabin and Dear Jones walked up to -her, lifting his hat with an expression of surprise on his face that might -have been better, considering that he had rehearsed it a number of times -since he left Sag Harbor. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Why, Mr. Jones! - -DEAR JONES [_forgetting his lines, and improvising_]: How--how--odd we -should meet again just here. Funny, isn’t it? - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: It is exceedingly humorous. - -DEAR JONES: I did not tell you, did I!--when I saw you on the train, you -know--that I had to go to New London, after I’d finished my work at Sag -Harbor. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER [_uncompromisingly_]: I don’t think you said anything -about New London at all. - -DEAR JONES: I probably said the Pequot House. It’s the same thing, -you know. I have to go to New London to inspect the Race Rock -lighthouse--you’ve heard of the famous lighthouse at Race Rock, of course. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: I don’t think its fame has reached me. - -DEAR JONES: It’s a very curious structure, indeed. And, the fact is, one -of my--my billionaires--wants a lighthouse. He has an extraordinary notion -of building a lighthouse near his place on the seashore--a lighthouse of -his own. Odd idea, isn’t it? - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: It is a very odd proceeding altogether, I should say. - -DEAR JONES: I suppose you mean that _I_ am a very odd proceeding. -Well, I will confess, and throw myself on your mercy. I _did_ hope to -meet you--and the Duch--Mrs. Martin. After two weeks of the society of -billionaires, I think I’m excusable.… [_A painful pause._] And I _had_ -to go to Race Rock, so I got off a day earlier than I had meant to, by -cutting one of the turrets out of my original plan--he didn’t mind--there -are eleven left--and--and--will you forgive me? - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Really, I have nothing to forgive, Mr. Jones. I’ve no -doubt my aunt will be very glad to see you. - -DEAR JONES: Ah--how _is_ Mrs. Martin? - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: She is in the cabin. She is quite well at present; -but she is always very nervous about sea-sickness, and she prefers to lie -down. I must go in and sit with her. - -DEAR JONES [_quickly_]: Indeed--I didn’t know Mrs. Martin suffered from -sea-sickness. She’s crossed the ocean so many times, you know. How many is -it? - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Six, I think. - -DEAR JONES: No; eight, isn’t it? I’m almost sure it’s eight. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Very possibly. But she is a great sufferer. I must go -and see how she is. - -DEAR JONES: Yes, we’ll go. I want to see Mrs. Martin. One of the -disadvantages of the summer season is that one can’t see the Duchess at -regular intervals to exchange gossip. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Well, if you have any confidential gossip for the -Duchess, I will wait here until you come out. I want to get all the fresh -air possible, if I have to sit in the cabin for the rest of the trip. - -DEAR JONES [_asserting himself_]: Very well. I have the contents of four -letters from Newport to pour into the Duchess’s ear. You know I was -staying at the Hitchcocks’ for a fortnight, before I went to Sag Harbor. - -He went into the stuffy little cabin, where the Duchess was lying on -a bench, in a wilderness of shawls. Baby Van Rensselaer waited a good -half-hour, but heard no sound of returning footsteps from that gloomy -cave. Finally she went in to investigate, and was told by the Duchess that -“Dear Jones has gone after, or whatever you call it, to smoke a cigar.” -Baby Van Rensselaer made up her mind that under those circumstances she -would go forward and read her book. She also made up her mind that Mr. -Jones was extremely rude. His rudeness, she found, as she sat reading -at the bow of the boat, really spoiled her book. She knew that she ought -not to let such little things annoy her; but then, it was a very stupid -chapter, and the fresh sea breeze blew the pages back and forward, and her -veil would not stay over her hair, and she always had hated traveling, -and it was so disagreeable to have people behave in that way--especially -people--well, any people. Just here she turned her head, and saw Dear -Jones advancing from the cabin with a bright and smiling face. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER [_about to rise_]: My aunt wants me, I suppose. - -DEAR JONES: Not at all--not in the least--at present. I just came through -the cabin--on tiptoe--and she was fast asleep. In fact, not to speak it -profanely, she was--she was audible. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Oh! - -DEAR JONES: I’m glad to see you’re getting the benefit of the fresh air. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: I was afraid of waking my aunt with the rustling of -the leaves of my book, so I came out here. - -DEAR JONES: I’m glad you did. It would be a shame for you to have to sit -in that close cabin. That’s the reason I didn’t come back to you when I -left Mrs. Martin. I played a pious fraud on you for the benefit of your -health. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: You were very considerate. - -DEAR JONES [_enthusiastically_]: Oh, not at all. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER [_calmly_]: And if you’ll excuse me, I’ll finish my -book. I can’t read in the cabin. - -Baby Van Rensselaer resumed her reading and found the book improved a -little. After a while she looked up and saw Dear Jones sitting on the -rail, meekly twirling his thumbs. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER [_after an effort at silence_]: Don’t be so -ridiculously absurd. What are you doing there? - -DEAR JONES: I’m waiting to be spoken to. - -Baby Van Rensselaer smiled. The boat had just swung out of the jaws of -the bay. Overhead was the full glory of a sky which made one believe that -there never was such a thing as a cloud. And they sped along over the sea -of water in a sea of light. Just then there came from the depths under the -cabin the rise and fall of a measured, mocking melody, high and clear as -the notes of a lark. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Why, that must be a bird whistling--only birds don’t -whistle “Amaryllis.” - -DEAR JONES: ’Tisn’t a bird--it’s an engineer. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: An engineer? - -DEAR JONES: A grimy engineer. Quite a pathetic story, too. Some of the -Sag Harbor people took him up as a boy. He had a wonderful ear and an -extraordinary tenor voice. They were going to make a Mario of him. They -paid for his education in New York, and then sent him over to Paris to the -Conservatory to be finished off. And he hadn’t been there six weeks before -he caught the regular Paris pleurisy--it’s an _article de Paris_, you -know, and lost his voice utterly and hopelessly. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Oh! - -DEAR JONES: And so he had to come back and engineer for his living. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: How very sad. Now I can scarcely bear to hear him -whistle. - -DEAR JONES [_to himself_]: Well, I didn’t mean to produce that effect. -[_To her._] Oh, he doesn’t mind it a bit. Hear him now. - - The engineer was executing a series of brilliant variations on the - “Air du Roi Louis XIII.,” melting by ingenious gradations into the - “Babies on our Block.” - -DEAR JONES [_hastily_]: Race Rock lies over that way. You can’t see it -yet--but you will after a while. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Oh, then there _is_ a Race Rock? - -DEAR JONES: Why, certainly.… - -With this starter, it may readily be understood that a man of Dear Jones’s -fecundity of intellect and fine imaginative powers was able to fill the -greater part of the afternoon with fluent conversation. Two or three times -Baby Van Rensselaer made futile attempts to go into the cabin to see how -the Duchess was sleeping; but as many times she forgot her errand. There -was a fair breeze blowing from the northeast, but the sea was smooth, and -the little boat scarcely rocked on the long, low waves. It was getting -toward four o’clock when there was a sudden stoppage of the engineer’s -whistling, and of the machinery of the boat. Baby Van Rensselaer sent -Dear Jones back to inquire into the cause, for they were alone on the -broad sea, with only a tantalizing glimpse of New London harbor stretching -out welcoming arms of green, with the Groton monument stuck like a huge -clothes-pin on the left arm. Dear Jones came back, trying hard to look -decently perturbed and gloomy, but with a barbarian joy lighting up his -bronzed features. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: What is it? - -DEAR JONES: The machinery is on a dead centre. And the whistling engineer -says that he’ll have to wait until he can get into port and hitch a horse -to the crank to start her off again. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: But how are we to get into port? - -DEAR JONES: The whistling engineer further says that we are now drifting -toward Watch Hill. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: That’s just where we want to go. - -DEAR JONES: Yes. [_An unholy toot from the steam whistle._] And there he -is signalling that yacht to take us off! - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: I must go to my aunt now. - -DEAR JONES: Why--there’s no hurry. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: No, but she’ll be so frightened--she’ll think it’s -going to blow up or something. - -Baby Van Rensselaer disappeared in the depths of the cabin. Dear Jones -disconsolately walked the deck in solitary silence for five minutes. When -Baby Van Rensselaer reappeared, his spirits rose. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: My aunt is afraid you may have difficulty in reaching -New London to-night. She wants me to ask you if you won’t stay over-night -at her place at Watch Hill? - -DEAR JONES: Won’t I? Well, I will--have much pleasure in accepting your -aunt’s invitation. - - -VI. - -THE SIXTH CONVERSATION. - - TUESDAY, September 5, 1882. (Evening.) - -A row of Japanese lanterns shed a Cathayan light along the little path -leading from the Duchess’s house on a rocky promontory to the little beach -which nestled under its shoulder. The moon softly and judiciously lit up -the baby breakers which in Long Island Sound imitate the surf of the outer -sea. It threw eerie shadows behind the bath-houses, and fell with gentle -radiance upon two dripping but shapely figures emerging from the water, -where the other bathers were unwisely lingering. - -DEAR JONES: I think this is simply delightful. I really never got the -perfect enjoyment of an evening swim before. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: I am glad you enjoyed it. - -DEAR JONES: There is something so charming in this aristocratic seclusion, -with the shouts and laughter of the vulgar herd just far enough off to be -picturesque--if you can call a noise picturesque. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER [_coldly_]: I think this beach might be a little more -private--it’s shared in common by these three cottages. - -DEAR JONES: But they seem to be very nice people here. And they all swim -so well, it quite put me on my mettle. You are really a splendid swimmer, -do you know it? And that girl I towed out to the buoy, who is she? - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER [_explosively_]: Mr. Jones, this is positively -insulting! - -DEAR JONES: Wh--what--wh--why? I don’t understand you. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: To pretend that you don’t know that Hitchcock woman! - -DEAR JONES [_innocently_]: Was that Miss Hitchcock? I didn’t recognize her. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: If this is your idea of humor, Mr. Jones, it is -simply offensive! - -DEAR JONES: But, upon my soul, I didn’t know the girl--nor she me! - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: You didn’t know her? After you have been staying two -weeks at her house at Newport? - -DEAR JONES [_with something like dignity_]: I was staying at her father’s -house, Miss Van Rensselaer, and Miss Hitchcock was away on a visit. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Up the Saguenay, perhaps? - -DEAR JONES: Very likely. Miss Hitchcock may have left a large part of the -Saguenay unexplored for all I know. I was introduced to her party only -half an hour before we got off the boat at Quebec. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Long enough, however, to discover that she was -“bright.” - -DEAR JONES: Quite long enough, Miss Van Rensselaer. One may find out a -great deal of another’s character in half an hour. - - There was a pause, which was filled by the strains of a Virginia - reel, coming from one of the cottages high up on the bank, where - an impromptu dance was just begun. The moonlight fell on Baby Van - Rensselaer’s little white teeth, set firmly between her parted - lips. The pause was broken. - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: If you propose to descend to brutality of this sort, -Mr. Jones, I think we need prolong neither the conversation--nor the -acquaintance. - -DEAR JONES [_honestly_]: No--you can’t mean that--Miss Van -Rensselaer--Baby-- - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: What, sir! Your familiarity is--I can’t stand -familiarity from you! (_She clenches her little hands._) - -DEAR JONES: You have no right to treat me like this. If I am familiar it -is because I love you--and you know it! - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: This is the first I have heard of it, sir. I trust it -will be the last. Will you kindly permit me to pass, or must I-- - -DEAR JONES: You may go where you wish, Miss Van Rensselaer--No, come, this -is ridiculous-- - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Is it? - -DEAR JONES: I mean it is foolish. Don’t let us-- - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: Don’t let us see each other again! - - -VII. - -THE SEVENTH CONVERSATION. - - THURSDAY, February 14, 1884. - -As the soft, low notes of the wedding-march from “Lohengrin” fell gently -from the organ-loft over the entrance of Grace Church, the quartet of -able-bodied ushers passed up the centre aisle and parted the white -ribbons--a silken barrier which they had gallantly defended for an -hour in a vain effort to keep the common herd of acquaintance separate -from the chosen many of the family. Behind them came two pretty little -girls, strewing the aisle with white flowers from their aprons. The four -bridesmaids, two abreast, passed up the aisle after the little girls, -proud in their reflected glory. Then came the bride, leaning on Judge -Gillespie’s arm, and radiant with youth and beauty and happiness. As the -procession drew near the chancel-rail, the groom came from the vestry -and advanced to meet her, accompanied by his best man, Uncle Larry, who -relieved him of his hat and overcoat, the which he would dextrously return -to him when the happy couple should leave the church man and wife. And in -due time the Bishop asked, “Wilt thou have this Woman to thy wedded wife?” - -DEAR JONES: I will. - -The Bishop asked again, “Wilt thou have this Man to thy wedded husband?” - -BABY VAN RENSSELAER: I will. - - As they knelt at the altar the sun came out and fell through the - window, and the stained glass sifted down on them the mingled hues - of hope and of faith and love; and the Bishop blessed them. - - - - -THE RIVAL GHOSTS. - -BY BRANDER MATTHEWS. - - -The good ship sped on her way across the calm Atlantic. It was an outward -passage, according to the little charts which the company had charily -distributed, but most of the passengers were homeward bound, after a -summer of rest and recreation, and they were counting the days before -they might hope to see Fire Island Light. On the lee side of the boat, -comfortably sheltered from the wind, and just by the door of the captain’s -room (which was theirs during the day), sat a little group of returning -Americans. The Duchess (she was down on the purser’s list as Mrs. Martin, -but her friends and familiars called her the Duchess of Washington Square) -and Baby Van Rensselaer (she was quite old enough to vote, had her sex -been entitled to that duty, but as the younger of two sisters she was -still the baby of the family)--the Duchess and Baby Van Rensselaer were -discussing the pleasant English voice and the not unpleasant English -accent of a manly young lordling who was going to America for sport. Uncle -Larry and Dear Jones were enticing each other into a bet on the ship’s run -of the morrow. - -“I’ll give you two to one she don’t make 420,” said Dear Jones. - -“I’ll take it,” answered Uncle Larry. “We made 427 the fifth day last -year.” It was Uncle Larry’s seventeenth visit to Europe, and this was -therefore his thirty-fourth voyage. - -“And when did you get in?” asked Baby Van Rensselaer. “I don’t care a bit -about the run, so long as we get in soon.” - -“We crossed the bar Sunday night, just seven days after we left -Queenstown, and we dropped anchor off Quarantine at three o’clock on -Monday morning.” - -“I hope we sha’n’t do that this time. I can’t seem to sleep any when the -boat stops.” - -“I can; but I didn’t,” continued Uncle Larry; “because my stateroom was -the most for’ard in the boat, and the donkey-engine that let down the -anchor was right over my head.” - -“So you got up and saw the sunrise over the bay,” said Dear Jones, “with -the electric lights of the city twinkling in the distance, and the first -faint flush of the dawn in the east just over Fort Lafayette, and the rosy -tinge which spread softly upward, and”-- - -“Did you both come back together?” asked the Duchess. - -“Because he has crossed thirty-four times you must not suppose he has a -monopoly in sunrises,” retorted Dear Jones. “No; this was my own sunrise; -and a mighty pretty one it was, too.” - -“I’m not matching sunrises with you,” remarked Uncle Larry calmly; “but -I’m willing to back a merry jest called forth by my sunrise against any -two merry jests called forth by yours.” - -“I confess reluctantly that my sunrise evoked no merry jest at all.” Dear -Jones was an honest man, and would scorn to invent a merry jest on the -spur of the moment. - -“That’s where my sunrise has the call,” said Uncle Larry complacently. - -“What was the merry jest?” was Baby Van Rensselaer’s inquiry, the natural -result of a feminine curiosity thus artistically excited. - -“Well, here it is. I was standing aft, near a patriotic American and a -wandering Irishman, and the patriotic American rashly declared that you -couldn’t see a sunrise like that anywhere in Europe, and this gave the -Irishman his chance, and he said, ‘Sure ye don’t have ’m here till we’re -through with ’em over there.’” - -“It is true,” said Dear Jones thoughtfully, “that they do have some things -over there better than we do; for instance, umbrellas.” - -“And gowns,” added the Duchess. - -“And antiquities”--this was Uncle Larry’s contribution. - -“And we do have some things so much better in America!” protested Baby Van -Rensselaer, as yet uncorrupted by any worship of the effete monarchies of -despotic Europe. “We make lots of things a great deal nicer than you can -get them in Europe--especially ice-cream.” - -“And pretty girls,” added Dear Jones; but he did not look at her. - -“And spooks,” remarked Uncle Larry casually. - -“Spooks?” queried the Duchess. - -“Spooks. I maintain the word. Ghosts, if you like that better, or -spectres. We turn out the best quality of spook”-- - -“You forget the lovely ghost stories about the Rhine, and the Black -Forest,” interrupted Miss Van Rensselaer, with feminine inconsistency. - -“I remember the Rhine and the Black Forest and all the other haunts -of elves and fairies and hobgoblins; but for good honest spooks there -is no place like home. And what differentiates our spook--_spiritus -Americanus_--from the ordinary ghost of literature is that it responds -to the American sense of humor. Take Irving’s stories, for example. -_The Headless Horseman_, that’s a comic ghost story. And Rip Van -Winkle--consider what humor, and what good-humor, there is in the telling -of his meeting with the goblin crew of Hendrik Hudson’s men! A still -better example of this American way of dealing with legend and mystery is -the marvellous tale of the rival ghosts.” - -“The rival ghosts?” queried the Duchess and Baby Van Rensselaer together. -“Who were they?” - -“Didn’t I ever tell you about them?” answered Uncle Larry, a gleam of -approaching joy flashing from his eye. - -“Since he is bound to tell us sooner or later, we’d better be resigned, -and hear it now,” said Dear Jones. - -“If you are not more eager, I won’t tell it at all.” - -“Oh, do, Uncle Larry; you know I just dote on ghost stories,” pleaded Baby -Van Rensselaer. - -“Once upon a time,” began Uncle Larry--“in fact, a very few years -ago--there lived in the thriving town of New York a young American called -Duncan--Eliphalet Duncan. Like his name, he was half Yankee and half -Scotch, and naturally he was a lawyer, and had come to New York to make -his way. His father was a Scotchman, who had come over and settled in -Boston, and married a Salem girl. When Eliphalet Duncan was about twenty -he lost both of his parents. His father left him with enough money to -give him a start, and a strong feeling of pride in his Scotch birth; you -see there was a title in the family in Scotland, and although Eliphalet’s -father was the younger son of a younger son, yet he always remembered, and -always bade his only son to remember, that his ancestry was noble. His -mother left him her full share of Yankee grit, and a little old house in -Salem which had belonged to her family for more than two hundred years. -She was a Hitchcock, and the Hitchcocks had been settled in Salem since -the year 1. It was a great-great-grandfather of Mr. Eliphalet Hitchcock -who was foremost in the time of the Salem witchcraft craze. And this -little old house which she left to my friend Eliphalet Duncan was haunted.” - -“By the ghost of one of the witches, of course,” interrupted Dear Jones. - -“Now how could it be the ghost of a witch, since the witches were all -burned at the stake? You never heard of anybody who was burned having a -ghost, did you?” - -“That’s an argument in favor of cremation, at any rate,” replied Jones, -evading the direct question. - -“It is, if you don’t like ghosts. I do,” said Baby Van Rensselaer. - -“And so do I,” added Uncle Larry. “I love a ghost as dearly as an -Englishman loves a lord.” - -“Go on with your story,” said the Duchess, majestically overruling all -extraneous discussion. - -“This little old house at Salem was haunted,” resumed Uncle Larry. “And by -a very distinguished ghost--or at least by a ghost with very remarkable -attributes.” - -“What was he like?” asked Baby Van Rensselaer, with a premonitory shiver -of anticipatory delight. - -“It had a lot of peculiarities. In the first place, it never appeared to -the master of the house. Mostly it confined its visitations to unwelcome -guests. In the course of the last hundred years it had frightened away -four successive mothers-in-law, while never intruding on the head of the -household.” - -“I guess that ghost had been one of the boys when he was alive and in the -flesh.” This was Dear Jones’s contribution to the telling of the tale. - -“In the second place,” continued Uncle Larry, “it never frightened anybody -the first time it appeared. Only on the second visit were the ghost-seers -scared; but then they were scared enough for twice, and they rarely -mustered up courage enough to risk a third interview. One of the most -curious characteristics of this well-meaning spook was that it had no -face--or at least that nobody ever saw its face.” - -“Perhaps he kept his countenance veiled?” queried the Duchess, who was -beginning to remember that she never did like ghost stories. - -“That was what I was never able to find out. I have asked several people -who saw the ghost, and none of them could tell me anything about its face, -and yet while in its presence they never noticed its features, and never -remarked on their absence or concealment. It was only afterward when -they tried to recall calmly all the circumstances of meeting with the -mysterious stranger, that they became aware that they had not seen its -face. And they could not say whether the features were covered, or whether -they were wanting, or what the trouble was. They knew only that the face -was never seen. And no matter how often they might see it, they never -fathomed this mystery. To this day nobody knows whether the ghost which -used to haunt the little old house in Salem had a face, or what manner of -face it had.” - -“How awfully weird!” said Baby Van Rensselaer. “And why did the ghost go -away?” - -“I haven’t said it went away,” answered Uncle Larry, with much dignity. - -“But you said it _used_ to haunt the little old house at Salem, so I -supposed it had moved. Didn’t it?” - -“You shall be told in due time. Eliphalet Duncan used to spend most of -his summer vacations at Salem, and the ghost never bothered him at all, -for he was the master of the house--much to his disgust, too, because he -wanted to see for himself the mysterious tenant at will of his property. -But he never saw it, never. He arranged with friends to call him whenever -it might appear, and he slept in the next room with the door open; and -yet when their frightened cries waked him the ghost was gone, and his -only reward was to hear reproachful sighs as soon as he went back to -bed. You see, the ghost thought it was not fair of Eliphalet to seek an -introduction which was plainly unwelcome.” - -Dear Jones interrupted the story-teller by getting up and tucking a heavy -rug more snugly around Baby Van Rensselaer’s feet, for the sky was now -overcast and gray, and the air was damp and penetrating. - -“One fine spring morning,” pursued Uncle Larry, “Eliphalet Duncan received -great news. I told you that there was a title in the family in Scotland, -and that Eliphalet’s father was the younger son of a younger son. Well, it -happened that all Eliphalet’s father’s brothers and uncles had died off -without male issue except the eldest son of the eldest, and he, of course, -bore the title, and was Baron Duncan of Duncan. Now the great news that -Eliphalet Duncan received in New York one fine spring morning was that -Baron Duncan and his only son had been yachting in the Hebrides, and they -had been caught in a black squall, and they were both dead. So my friend -Eliphalet Duncan inherited the title and the estates.” - -“How romantic!” said the Duchess. “So he was a baron!” - -“Well,” answered Uncle Larry, “he was a baron if he chose. But he didn’t -choose.” - -“More fool he!” said Dear Jones sententiously. - -“Well,” answered Uncle Larry, “I’m not so sure of that. You see, Eliphalet -Duncan was half Scotch and half Yankee, and he had two eyes to the main -chance. He held his tongue about his windfall of luck until he could find -out whether the Scotch estates were enough to keep up the Scotch title. He -soon discovered that they were not, and that the late Lord Duncan, having -married money, kept up such state as he could out of the revenues of the -dowry of Lady Duncan. And Eliphalet, he decided that he would rather be a -well-fed lawyer in New York, living comfortably on his practice, than a -starving lord in Scotland, living scantily on his title.” - -“But he kept his title?” asked the Duchess. - -“Well,” answered Uncle Larry, “he kept it quiet. I knew it, and a friend -or two more. But Eliphalet was a sight too smart to put Baron Duncan of -Duncan, Attorney and Counsellor at Law, on his shingle.” - -“What has all this got to do with your ghost?” asked Dear Jones -pertinently. - -“Nothing with that ghost, but a good deal with another ghost. Eliphalet -was very learned in spirit lore--perhaps because he owned the haunted -house at Salem, perhaps because he was a Scotchman by descent. At all -events, he had made a special study of the wraiths and white ladies and -banshees and bogies of all kinds whose sayings and doings and warnings -are recorded in the annals of the Scottish nobility. In fact, he was -acquainted with the habits of every reputable spook in the Scotch peerage. -And he knew that there was a Duncan ghost attached to the person of the -holder of the title of Baron Duncan of Duncan.” - -“So, besides being the owner of a haunted house in Salem, he was also a -haunted man in Scotland?” asked Baby Van Rensselaer. - -“Just so. But the Scotch ghost was not unpleasant, like the Salem -ghost, although it had one peculiarity in common with its transatlantic -fellow-spook. It never appeared to the holder of the title, just as the -other never was visible to the owner of the house. In fact, the Duncan -ghost was never seen at all. It was a guardian angel only. Its sole duty -was to be in personal attendance on Baron Duncan of Duncan, and to warn -him of impending evil. The traditions of the house told that the Barons of -Duncan had again and again felt a premonition of ill fortune. Some of them -had yielded and withdrawn from the venture they had undertaken, and it had -failed dismally. Some had been obstinate, and had hardened their hearts, -and had gone on reckless to defeat and to death. In no case had a Lord -Duncan been exposed to peril without fair warning.” - -“Then how came it that the father and son were lost in the yacht off the -Hebrides?” asked Dear Jones. - -“Because they were too enlightened to yield to superstition. There is -extant now a letter of Lord Duncan, written to his wife a few minutes -before he and his son set sail, in which he tells her how hard he has had -to struggle with an almost overmastering desire to give up the trip. Had -he obeyed the friendly warning of the family ghost, the latter would have -been spared a journey across the Atlantic.” - -“Did the ghost leave Scotland for America as soon as the old baron died?” -asked Baby Van Rensselaer, with much interest. - -“How did he come over,” queried Dear Jones--“in the steerage, or as a -cabin passenger?” - -“I don’t know,” answered Uncle Larry calmly, “and Eliphalet, he didn’t -know. For as he was in no danger, and stood in no need of warning, he -couldn’t tell whether the ghost was on duty or not. Of course he was on -the watch for it all the time. But he never got any proof of its presence -until he went down to the little old house of Salem, just before the -Fourth of July. He took a friend down with him--a young fellow who had -been in the regular army since the day Fort Sumter was fired on, and who -thought that after four years of the little unpleasantness down South, -including six months in Libby, and after ten years of fighting the bad -Indians on the plains, he wasn’t likely to be much frightened by a ghost. -Well, Eliphalet and the officer sat out on the porch all the evening -smoking and talking over points in military law. A little after twelve -o’clock, just as they began to think it was about time to turn in, they -heard the most ghastly noise in the house. It wasn’t a shriek, or a howl, -or a yell, or anything they could put a name to. It was an undeterminate, -inexplicable shiver and shudder of sound, which went wailing out of the -window. The officer had been at Cold Harbor, but he felt himself getting -colder this time. Eliphalet knew it was the ghost who haunted the house. -As this weird sound died away, it was followed by another, sharp, short, -blood-curdling in its intensity. Something in this cry seemed familiar to -Eliphalet, and he felt sure that it proceeded from the family ghost, the -warning wraith of the Duncans.” - -“Do I understand you to intimate that both ghosts were there together?” -inquired the Duchess anxiously. - -“Both of them were there,” answered Uncle Larry. “You see, one of them -belonged to the house, and had to be there all the time, and the other -was attached to the person of Baron Duncan, and had to follow him there; -wherever he was, there was that ghost also. But Eliphalet, he had -scarcely time to think this out when he heard both sounds again, not one -after another, but both together, and something told him--some sort of -an instinct he had--that those two ghosts didn’t agree, didn’t get on -together, didn’t exactly hit it off; in fact, that they were quarrelling.” - -“Quarrelling ghosts! Well, I never!” was Baby Van Rensselaer’s remark. - -“It is a blessed thing to see ghosts dwell together in unity,” said Dear -Jones. - -And the Duchess added, “It would certainly be setting a better example.” - -“You know,” resumed Uncle Larry, “that two waves of light or of sound may -interfere and produce darkness or silence. So it was with these rival -spooks. They interfered, but they did not produce silence or darkness. On -the contrary, as soon as Eliphalet and the officer went into the house, -there began at once a series of spiritualistic manifestations, a regular -dark séance. A tambourine was played upon, a bell was rung, and a flaming -banjo went singing around the room.” - -“Where did they get the banjo?” asked Dear Jones skeptically. - -“I don’t know. Materialized it, maybe, just as they did the tambourine. -You don’t suppose a quiet New York lawyer kept a stock of musical -instruments large enough to fit out a strolling minstrel troupe just on -the chance of a pair of ghosts coming to give him a surprise party, do -you? Every spook has its own instrument of torture. Angels play on harps, -I’m informed, and spirits delight in banjos and tambourines. These spooks -of Eliphalet Duncan’s were ghosts with all the modern improvements, and -I guess they were capable of providing their own musical weapons. At all -events, they had them there in the little old house at Salem the night -Eliphalet and his friend came down. And they played on them, and they rang -the bell, and they rapped here, there, and everywhere. And they kept it up -all night.” - -“All night?” asked the awe-stricken Duchess. - -“All night long,” said Uncle Larry solemnly; “and the next night, too. -Eliphalet did not get a wink of sleep, neither did his friend. On the -second night the house ghost was seen by the officer; on the third night -it showed itself again; and the next morning the officer packed his -grip-sack and took the first train to Boston. He was a New Yorker, but he -said he’d sooner go to Boston than see that ghost again. Eliphalet, he -wasn’t scared at all, partly because he never saw either the domiciliary -or the titular spook, and partly because he felt himself on friendly terms -with the spirit world, and didn’t scare easily. But after losing three -nights’ sleep and the society of his friend, he began to be a little -impatient, and to think that the thing had gone far enough. You see, while -in a way he was fond of ghosts, yet he liked them best one at a time. Two -ghosts were one too many. He wasn’t bent on making a collection of spooks. -He and one ghost were company, but he and two ghosts were a crowd.” - -“What did he do?” asked Baby Van Rensselaer. - -“Well, he couldn’t do anything. He waited awhile, hoping they would get -tired; but he got tired out first. You see, it comes natural to a spook to -sleep in the daytime, but a man wants to sleep nights, and they wouldn’t -let him sleep nights. They kept on wrangling and quarrelling incessantly; -they manifested and they dark-séanced as regularly as the old clock on the -stairs struck twelve; they rapped and they rang bells and they banged the -tambourine and they threw the flaming banjo about the house, and, worse -than all, they swore.” - -“I did not know that spirits were addicted to bad language,” said the -Duchess. - -“How did he know they were swearing? Could he hear them?” asked Dear Jones. - -“That was just it,” responded Uncle Larry; “he could not hear them--at -least not distinctly. There were inarticulate murmurs and stifled -rumblings. But the impression produced on him was that they were -swearing. If they had only sworn right out, he would not have minded it so -much, because he would have known the worst. But the feeling that the air -was full of suppressed profanity was very wearing, and after standing it -for a week, he gave up in disgust and went to the White Mountains.” - -“Leaving them to fight it out, I suppose,” interjected Baby Van Rensselaer. - -“Not at all,” explained Uncle Larry. “They could not quarrel unless he was -present. You see, he could not leave the titular ghost behind him, and the -domiciliary ghost could not leave the house. When he went away he took the -family ghost with him, leaving the house ghost behind. Now spooks can’t -quarrel when they are a hundred miles apart any more than men can.” - -“And what happened afterward?” asked Baby Van Rensselaer, with a pretty -impatience. - -“A most marvellous thing happened. Eliphalet Duncan went to the White -Mountains, and in the car of the railroad that runs to the top of Mount -Washington he met a classmate whom he had not seen for years, and -this classmate introduced Duncan to his sister, and this sister was a -remarkably pretty girl, and Duncan fell in love with her at first sight, -and by the time he got to the top of Mount Washington he was so deep in -love that he began to consider his own unworthiness, and to wonder whether -she might ever be induced to care for him a little--ever so little.” - -“I don’t think that is so marvellous a thing,” said Dear Jones, glancing -at Baby Van Rensselaer. - -“Who was she?” asked the Duchess, who had once lived in Philadelphia. - -“She was Miss Kitty Sutton, of San Francisco, and she was a daughter of -old Judge Sutton, of the firm of Pixley and Sutton.” - -“A very respectable family,” assented the Duchess. - -“I hope she wasn’t a daughter of that loud and vulgar old Mrs. Sutton whom -I met at Saratoga, one summer, four or five years ago?” said Dear Jones. - -“Probably she was.” - -“She was a horrid old woman. The boys used to call her Mother Gorgon.” - -“The pretty Kitty Sutton with whom Eliphalet Duncan had fallen in love was -the daughter of Mother Gorgon. But he never saw the mother, who was in -’Frisco, or Los Angeles, or Santa Fé, or somewhere out West, and he saw -a great deal of the daughter, who was up in the White Mountains. She was -travelling with her brother and his wife, and as they journeyed from hotel -to hotel, Duncan went with them, and filled out the quartette. Before the -end of the summer he began to think about proposing. Of course he had lots -of chances, going on excursions as they were every day. He made up his -mind to seize the first opportunity, and that very evening he took her out -for a moonlight row on Lake Winnipiseogee. As he handed her into the boat -he resolved to do it, and he had a glimmer of a suspicion that she knew he -was going to do it, too.” - -“Girls,” said Dear Jones, “never go out in a row-boat at night with a -young man unless you mean to accept him.” - -“Sometimes it’s best to refuse him, and get it over once for all,” said -Baby Van Rensselaer. - -“As Eliphalet took the oars he felt a sudden chill. He tried to shake it -off, but in vain. He began to have a growing consciousness of impending -evil. Before he had taken ten strokes--and he was a swift oarsman--he was -aware of a mysterious presence between him and Miss Sutton.” - -“Was it the guardian-angel ghost warning him off the match?” interrupted -Dear Jones. - -“That’s just what it was,” said Uncle Larry. “And he yielded to it, and -kept his peace, and rowed Miss Sutton back to the hotel with his proposal -unspoken.” - -“More fool he,” said Dear Jones. “It will take more than one ghost to keep -me from proposing when my mind is made up.” And he looked at Baby Van -Rensselaer. - -“The next morning,” continued Uncle Larry, “Eliphalet overslept himself, -and when he went down to a late breakfast he found that the Suttons had -gone to New York by the morning train. He wanted to follow them at once, -and again he felt the mysterious presence overpowering his will. He -struggled two days, and at last he roused himself to do what he wanted -in spite of the spook. When he arrived in New York it was late in the -evening. He dressed himself hastily, and went to the hotel where the -Suttons put up, in the hope of seeing at least her brother. The guardian -angel fought every inch of the walk with him, until he began to wonder -whether, if Miss Sutton were to take him, the spook would forbid the -banns. At the hotel he saw no one that night, and he went home determined -to call as early as he could the next afternoon, and make an end of it. -When he left his office about two o’clock the next day to learn his fate, -he had not walked five blocks before he discovered that the wraith of the -Duncans had withdrawn his opposition to the suit. There was no feeling -of impending evil, no resistance, no struggle, no consciousness of an -opposing presence. Eliphalet was greatly encouraged. He walked briskly to -the hotel; he found Miss Sutton alone. He asked her the question, and got -his answer.” - -“She accepted him, of course,” said Baby Van Rensselaer. - -“Of course,” said Uncle Larry. “And while they were in the first flush -of joy, swapping confidences and confessions, her brother came into the -parlor with an expression of pain on his face and a telegram in his hand. -The former was caused by the latter, which was from ’Frisco, and which -announced the sudden death of Mrs. Sutton, their mother.” - -“And that was why the ghost no longer opposed the match?” questioned Dear -Jones. - -“Exactly. You see, the family ghost knew that Mother Gorgon was an awful -obstacle to Duncan’s happiness, so it warned him. But the moment the -obstacle was removed, it gave its consent at once.” - -The fog was lowering its thick damp curtain, and it was beginning to -be difficult to see from one end of the boat to the other. Dear Jones -tightened the rug which enwrapped Baby Van Rensselaer, and then withdrew -again into his own substantial coverings. - -Uncle Larry paused in his story long enough to light another of the tiny -cigars he always smoked. - -“I infer that Lord Duncan”--the Duchess was scrupulous in the bestowal of -titles--“saw no more of the ghosts after he was married.” - -“He never saw them at all, at any time, either before or since. But they -came very near breaking off the match, and thus breaking two young hearts.” - -“You don’t mean to say that they knew any just cause or impediment why -they should not forever after hold their peace?” asked Dear Jones. - -“How could a ghost, or even two ghosts, keep a girl from marrying the man -she loved?” This was Baby Van Rensselaer’s question. - -“It seems curious, doesn’t it?” and Uncle Larry tried to warm himself by -two or three sharp pulls at his fiery little cigar. “And the circumstances -are quite as curious as the fact itself. You see, Miss Sutton wouldn’t be -married for a year after her mother’s death, so she and Duncan had lots -of time to tell each other all they knew. Eliphalet, he got to know a -good deal about the girls she went to school with, and Kitty, she learned -all about his family. He didn’t tell her about the title for a long time, -as he wasn’t one to brag. But he described to her the little old house -at Salem. And one evening toward the end of the summer, the wedding-day -having been appointed for early in September, she told him that she didn’t -want a bridal tour at all; she just wanted to go down to the little old -house at Salem to spend her honeymoon in peace and quiet, with nothing to -do and nobody to bother them. Well, Eliphalet jumped at the suggestion: -it suited him down to the ground. All of a sudden he remembered the -spooks, and it knocked him all of a heap. He had told her about the Duncan -banshee, and the idea of having an ancestral ghost in personal attendance -on her husband tickled her immensely. But he had never said anything about -the ghost which haunted the little old house at Salem. He knew she would -be frightened out of her wits if the house ghost revealed itself to her, -and he saw at once that it would be impossible to go to Salem on their -wedding trip. So he told her all about it, and how whenever he went to -Salem the two ghosts interfered, and gave dark séances and manifested and -materialized and made the place absolutely impossible. Kitty, she listened -in silence, and Eliphalet, he thought she had changed her mind. But she -hadn’t done anything of the kind.” - -“Just like a man--to think she was going to,” remarked Baby Van Rensselaer. - -“She just told him she could not bear ghosts herself, but she would not -marry a man who was afraid of them.” - -“Just like a girl--to be so inconsistent,” remarked Dear Jones. - -Uncle Larry’s tiny cigar had long been extinct. He lighted a new one, -and continued: “Eliphalet protested in vain. Kitty said her mind was -made up. She was determined to pass her honeymoon in the little old -house at Salem, and she was equally determined not to go there as long as -there were any ghosts there. Until he could assure her that the spectral -tenant had received notice to quit, and that there was no danger of -manifestations and materializing, she refused to be married at all. She -did not intend to have her honeymoon interrupted by two wrangling ghosts, -and the wedding could be postponed until he had made ready the house for -her.” - -“She was an unreasonable young woman,” said the Duchess. - -“Well, that’s what Eliphalet thought, much as he was in love with her. And -he believed he could talk her out of her determination. But he couldn’t. -She was set. And when a girl is set, there’s nothing to do but to yield to -the inevitable. And that’s just what Eliphalet did. He saw he would either -have to give her up or to get the ghosts out; and as he loved her and did -not care for the ghosts, he resolved to tackle the ghosts. He had clear -grit, Eliphalet had--he was half Scotch and half Yankee, and neither breed -turns tail in a hurry. So he made his plans and he went down to Salem. As -he said good-by to Kitty he had an impression that she was sorry she had -made him go, but she kept up bravely, and put a bold face on it, and saw -him off, and went home and cried for an hour, and was perfectly miserable -until he came back the next day.” - -“Did he succeed in driving the ghosts away?” asked Baby Van Rensselaer, -with great interest. - -“That’s just what I’m coming to,” said Uncle Larry, pausing at the -critical moment, in the manner of the trained story-teller. “You see, -Eliphalet had got a rather tough job, and he would gladly have had an -extension of time on the contract, but he had to choose between the girl -and the ghosts, and he wanted the girl. He tried to invent or remember -some short and easy way with ghosts, but he couldn’t. He wished that -somebody had invented a specific for spooks--something that would make the -ghosts come out of the house and die in the yard. He wondered if he could -not tempt the ghosts to run in debt, so that he might get the sheriff to -help him. He wondered also whether the ghosts could not be overcome with -strong drink--a dissipated spook, a spook with delirium tremens, might -be committed to the inebriate asylum. But none of these things seemed -feasible.” - -“What did he do?” interrupted Dear Jones. “The learned counsel will please -speak to the point.” - -“You will regret this unseemly haste,” said Uncle Larry, gravely, “when -you know what really happened.” - -“What was it, Uncle Larry?” asked Baby Van Rensselaer. “I’m all -impatience.” - -And Uncle Larry proceeded: - -“Eliphalet went down to the little old house at Salem, and as soon as -the clock struck twelve the rival ghosts began wrangling as before. Raps -here, there, and everywhere, ringing bells, banging tambourines, strumming -banjos sailing about the room, and all the other manifestations and -materializations followed one another just as they had the summer before. -The only difference Eliphalet could detect was a stronger flavor in the -spectral profanity; and this, of course, was only a vague impression, for -he did not actually hear a single word. He waited awhile in patience, -listening and watching. Of course he never saw either of the ghosts, -because neither of them could appear to him. At last he got his dander -up, and he thought it was about time to interfere, so he rapped on the -table, and asked for silence. As soon as he felt that the spooks were -listening to him he explained the situation to them. He told them he was -in love, and that he could not marry unless they vacated the house. He -appealed to them as old friends, and he laid claim to their gratitude. -The titular ghost had been sheltered by the Duncan family for hundreds of -years, and the domiciliary ghost had had free lodging in the little old -house at Salem for nearly two centuries. He implored them to settle their -differences, and to get him out of his difficulty at once. He suggested -that they had better fight it out then and there, and see who was master. -He had brought down with him all needful weapons. And he pulled out his -valise, and spread on the table a pair of navy revolvers, a pair of -shot-guns, a pair of duelling swords, and a couple of bowie-knives. He -offered to serve as second for both parties, and to give the word when -to begin. He also took out of his valise a pack of cards and a bottle -of poison, telling them that if they wished to avoid carnage they might -cut the cards to see which one should take the poison. Then he waited -anxiously for their reply. For a little space there was silence. Then he -became conscious of a tremulous shivering in one corner of the room, and -he remembered that he had heard from that direction what sounded like a -frightened sigh when he made the first suggestion of the duel. Something -told him that this was the domiciliary ghost, and that it was badly -scared. Then he was impressed by a certain movement in the opposite corner -of the room, as though the titular ghost were drawing himself up with -offended dignity. Eliphalet couldn’t exactly see these things, because he -never saw the ghosts, but he felt them. After a silence of nearly a minute -a voice came from the corner where the family ghost stood--a voice strong -and full, but trembling slightly with suppressed passion. And this voice -told Eliphalet it was plain enough that he had not long been the head of -the Duncans, and that he had never properly considered the characteristics -of his race if now he supposed that one of his blood could draw his sword -against a woman. Eliphalet said he had never suggested that the Duncan -ghost should raise his hand against a woman, and all he wanted was that -the Duncan ghost should fight the other ghost. And then the voice told -Eliphalet that the other ghost was a woman.” - -“What?” said Dear Jones, sitting up suddenly. “You don’t mean to tell me -that the ghost which haunted the house was a woman?” - -“Those were the very words Eliphalet Duncan used,” said Uncle Larry; -“but he did not need to wait for the answer. All at once he recalled the -traditions about the domiciliary ghost, and he knew that what the titular -ghost said was the fact. He had never thought of the sex of a spook, -but there was no doubt whatever that the house ghost was a woman. No -sooner was this firmly fixed in Eliphalet’s mind than he saw his way out -of the difficulty. The ghosts must be married!--for then there would be -no more interference, no more quarrelling, no more manifestations and -materializations, no more dark séances, with their raps and bells and -tambourines and banjos. At first the ghosts would not hear of it. The -voice in the corner declared that the Duncan wraith had never thought of -matrimony. But Eliphalet argued with them, and pleaded and persuaded and -coaxed, and dwelt on the advantages of matrimony. He had to confess, of -course, that he did not know how to get a clergyman to marry them; but the -voice from the corner gravely told him that there need be no difficulty -in regard to that, as there was no lack of spiritual chaplains. Then, for -the first time, the house ghost spoke, in a low, clear, gentle voice, and -with a quaint, old-fashioned New England accent, which contrasted sharply -with the broad Scotch speech of the family ghost. She said that Eliphalet -Duncan seemed to have forgotten that she was married. But this did not -upset Eliphalet at all; he remembered the whole case clearly, and he told -her she was not a married ghost, but a widow, since her husband had been -hung for murdering her. Then the Duncan ghost drew attention to the great -disparity in their ages, saying that he was nearly four hundred and fifty -years old, while she was barely two hundred. But Eliphalet had not talked -to juries for nothing; he just buckled to, and coaxed those ghosts into -matrimony. Afterward he came to the conclusion that they were willing to -be coaxed, but at the time he thought he had pretty hard work to convince -them of the advantages of the plan.” - -“Did he succeed?” asked Baby Van Rensselaer, with a young lady’s interest -in matrimony. - -“He did,” said Uncle Larry. “He talked the wraith of the Duncans and the -spectre of the little old house at Salem into a matrimonial engagement. -And from the time they were engaged he had no more trouble with them. -They were rival ghosts no longer. They were married by their spiritual -chaplain the very same day that Eliphalet Duncan met Kitty Sutton in front -of the railing of Grace Church. The ghostly bride and bridegroom went away -at once on their bridal tour, and Lord and Lady Duncan went down to the -little old house at Salem to pass their honeymoon.” - -Uncle Larry stopped. His tiny cigar was out again. The tale of the rival -ghosts was told. A solemn silence fell on the little party on the deck of -the ocean steamer, broken harshly by the hoarse roar of the fog-horn. - - - - -A LETTER AND A PARAGRAPH. - -BY H. C. BUNNER. - - -I. - -THE LETTER. - - NEW YORK, Nov. 16, 1883. - -MY DEAR WILL:-- - -You cannot be expected to remember it, but this is the fifth anniversary -of my wedding-day, and to-morrow--it will be to-morrow before this letter -is closed--is my birthday--my fortieth. My head is full of those thoughts -which the habit of my life moves me to put on paper, where I can best -express them; and yet which must be written for only the friendliest of -eyes. It is not the least of my happiness in this life that I have one -friend to whom I can unlock my heart as I can to you. - -The wife has just been putting your namesake to sleep. Don’t infer that, -even on the occasion of this family feast, he has been allowed to sit up -until half past eleven. He went to bed properly enough, with a tear or -two, at eight; but when his mother stole into his room just now, after her -custom, I heard his small voice raised in drowsy inquiry; and I followed -her, and slipped the curtain of the doorway aside, and looked. But I did -not go into the room. - -The shaded lamp was making a yellow glory in one spot--the head of the -little brass crib where my wife knelt by my boy. I saw the little face, -so like hers, turned up to her. There was a smile on it that I knew was a -reflection of hers. He was winking in a merry half-attempt to keep awake; -but wakefulness was slipping away from him under the charm of that smile -that I could not see. His brown eyes closed, and opened for an instant, -and closed again as the tender, happy hush of a child’s sleep settled down -upon him, and he was gone where we in our heavier slumbers shall hardly -follow him. Then, before I could see my wife’s face as she bent and kissed -him, I let the curtain fall, and crept back here, to sit by the last of -the fire, and see that sacred sight again with the spiritual eyes, and -to dream wonderingly over the unspeakable happiness that has in some -mysterious way come to me, undeserving. - -I tell you, Will, that moment was to me like one of those moments of -waking that we know in childhood, when we catch the going of a dream too -subtly sweet to belong to this earth--a glad vision, gone before our eyes -can open wide; not to be figured into any earthly idea, leaving in its -passage a joy so high and fine that the poets tell us it is a memory of -some heaven from which our young souls are yet fresh. - -You can understand how it is that I find it hard to realize that there can -be such things in my life; for you know what that life was up to a few -years ago. I am like a man who has spent his first thirty years in a cave. -It takes more than a decade above ground to make him quite believe in the -sun and the blue of the sky. - -I was sitting just now before the hearth, with my feet in the bearskin -rug you sent us two Christmases ago. The light of the low wood fire was -chasing the shadows around the room, over my books and my pictures, and -all the fine and gracious luxuries with which I may now make my eyes and -my heart glad, and pamper the tastes that grow with feeding. I was taking -count, so to speak, of my prosperity--the material treasures, the better -treasure that I find in such portion of fame as the world has allotted me, -and the treasure of treasures across the threshold of the next room--in -the next room? No--there, here, in every room, in every corner of the -house, filling it with peace, is the gentle and holy spirit of love. - -As I sat and thought, my mind went back to the day that you and I first -met, twenty-two years ago--twenty-two in February next. In twenty-two -years more I could not forget that hideous first day in the city room of -the _Morning Record_. I can see the great gloomy room, with its meagre -gas-jets lighting up, here and there, a pale face at a desk, and bringing -out in ghastly spots the ugliness of the ink-smeared walls. A winter rain -was pouring down outside. I could feel its chill and damp in the room, -though little of it was to be seen through the grimy window-panes. The -composing-room in the rear sent a smell of ink and benzine to permeate -the moist atmosphere. The rumble and shiver of the great presses printing -the weekly came up from below. I sat there in my wet clothes and waited -for my first assignment. I was eighteen, poor as a church mouse, green, -desperately hopeful after a boy’s fashion, and with nothing in my head -but the Latin and Greek of my one single year at college. My spirit had -sunk down far out of sight. My heart beat nervously at every sound of that -awful city editor’s voice, as he called up his soldiers one by one and -assigned them to duty. I could only silently pray that he would “give me -an easy one,” and that I should not disgrace myself in the doing of it. By -Jove, Will, what an old martinet Baldwin was, for all his good heart! Do -you remember that sharp, crackling voice of his, and the awful “Be brief! -be brief!” that always drove all capacity for condensation out of a man’s -head, and set him to stammering out his story with wordy incoherence? -Baldwin is on the _Record_ still. I wonder what poor devil is trembling at -this hour under that disconcerting adjuration. - -A wretched day that was! The hours went slow as grief. Smeary little -bare-armed fiends trotted in from the composing-room and out again, -bearing fluttering galley-proofs. Bedraggled, hollow-eyed men came in -from the streets and set their soaked umbrellas to steam against the -heater, and passed into the lion’s den to feed him with news, and were -sent out again to take up their half-cooked umbrellas and go forth -to forage for more. Everyone, I thought, gave me one brief glance of -contempt and curiosity, and put me out of his thoughts. Everyone had some -business--everyone but me. The men who had been waiting with me were -called up one by one and detailed to work. I was left alone. - -Then a new horror came to torture my nervously active imagination. Had my -superior officer forgotten his new recruit? Or could he find no task mean -enough for my powers? This filled me at first with a sinking shame, and -then with a hot rage and sense of wrong. Why should he thus slight me? Had -I not a right to be tried, at least? Was there any duty he could find that -I would not perform or die? I would go to him and tell him that I had come -there to work; and would make him give me the work. No, I should simply be -snubbed, and sent to my seat like a school-boy, or perhaps discharged on -the spot. I must bear my humiliation in silence. - -I looked up and saw you entering, with your bright, ruddy boy’s face -shining with wet, beaming a greeting to all the room. In my soul I cursed -you, at a venture, for your lightheartedness and your look of cheery -self-confidence. What a vast stretch of struggle and success set you above -me--you, the reporter, above me, the novice! And just then came the awful -summons--“Barclay! Barclay!”--I shall hear that strident note at the -judgment day. I went in and got my orders, and came out with them, all in -a sort of daze that must have made Baldwin think me an idiot. And then you -came up to me and scraped acquaintance in a desultory way, to hide your -kind intent; and gave me a hint or two as to how to obtain a full account -of the biennial meeting of the Post-Pliocene Mineralogical Society, or -whatever it was, without diving too deeply into the Post-Pliocene period. -I would have fought for you to the death, at that moment. - -’Twas a small matter, but the friendship begun in manly and helpful -kindness has gone on for twenty-two years in mutual faith and loyalty; and -the growth dignifies the seed. - -A sturdy growth it was in its sapling days. It was in the late spring that -we decided to take the room together in St. Mark’s Place. A big room and a -poor room, indeed, on the third story of that “battered caravanserai,” and -for twelve long years it held us and our hopes and our despairs and our -troubles and our joys. - -I don’t think I have forgotten one detail of that room. There is the -generous old fireplace, insultingly bricked up by modern poverty, all save -the meagre niche that holds our fire--when we can have a fire. There is -the great second-hand table--our first purchase--where we sit and work -for immortality in the scant intervals of working for life. Your drawer, -with the manuscript of your “Concordance of Political Economy,” is to -the right. Mine is to the left; it holds the unfinished play, and the -poems that might better have been unfinished. There are the two narrow -cots--yours to the left of the door as you enter; mine to the right. - -How strange that I can see it all so clearly, now that all is different! - -Yet I can remember myself coming home at one o’clock at night, dragging -my tired feet up those dark, still, tortuous stairs, gripping the shaky -baluster for aid. I open the door--I can feel the little old-fashioned -brass knob in my palm even now--and I look to the left. Ah, you are -already at home and in bed. I need not look toward the table. There is -money--a little--in the common treasury; and, in accordance with our -regular compact, I know there stand on that table twin bottles of beer, -half a loaf of rye bread, and a double palm’s-breadth of Swiss cheese. -You are staying your hunger in sleep; for one may not eat until the other -comes. I will wake you up, and we shall feast together and talk over the -day that is dead and the day that is begun. - -Strange, is it not, that I should have some trouble to realize that this -is only a memory,--I, with my feet in the bearskin rug that it would have -beggared the two of us, or a dozen like us, to purchase in those days. -Strange that my mind should be wandering on the crude work of my boyhood -and my early manhood. I who have won name and fame, as the world would -say. I, to whom young men come for advice and encouragement, as to a tried -veteran! Strange that I should be thinking of a time when even your true -and tireless friendship could not quench a subtle hunger at my heart, a -hunger for a more dear and intimate comradeship. I, with the tenderest of -wives scarce out of my sight; even in her sleep she is no further from me -than my own soul. - -Strangest of all this, that the mad agony of grief, the passion of -desolation that came upon me when our long partnership was dissolved -for ever, should now be nothing but a memory, like other memories, to -be summoned up out of the resting-places of the mind, toyed with, idly -questioned, and dismissed with a sigh and a smile! What a real thing it -was just ten years ago; what a very present pain! Believe me, Will,--yes, -I want you to believe this--that in those first hours of loneliness I -could have welcomed death; death would have fallen upon me as calmly as -sleep has fallen upon my boy in the room beyond there. - -You knew nothing of this then; I suppose you but half believe it now; for -our parting was manly enough. I kept as stiff an upper lip as you did, -for all there was less hair on it. Perhaps it seems extravagant to you. -But there was a deal of difference between our cases. You had turned your -pen to money-making, at the call of love; you were going to Stillwater to -marry the judge’s daughter, and to become a great land-owner and mayor -of Stillwater and millionaire--or what is it now? And much of this you -foresaw or hoped for, at least. Hope is something. But for me? I was left -in the third-story of a poor lodging-house in St. Mark’s Place, my best -friend gone from me; with neither remembrance nor hope of Love to live on, -and with my last story back from _all_ the magazines. - -We will not talk about it. Let me get back to my pleasant library with the -books and the pictures and the glancing fire-light, and me with my feet in -your bearskin rug, listening to my wife’s step in the next room. - -To your ear, for our communion has been so long and so close that to -either one of us the faintest inflection of the other’s voice speaks -clearer than formulated words; to your ear there must be something akin -to a tone of regret--regret for the old days--in what I have just said. -And would it be strange if there were? A poor soldier of fortune who had -been set to a man’s work before he had done with his meagre boyhood, who -had passed from recruit to the place of a young veteran in that great, -hard-fighting, unresting pioneer army of journalism; was he the man, all -of a sudden, to stretch his toughened sinews out and let them relax in -the glow of the home hearth? Would not his legs begin to twitch for the -road; would he not be wild to feel again the rain in his weather-beaten -face? Would you think it strange if at night he should toss in his white, -soft bed, longing to change it for a blanket on the turf, with the broad -procession of sunlit worlds sweeping over his head, beyond the blue spaces -of the night? And even if the dear face on the pillow next him were to -wake and look at him with reproachful surprise; and even if warm arms drew -him back to his new allegiance; would not his heart in dreams go throbbing -to the rhythm of the drum or the music of songs sung by the camp-fire? - -It was so at the beginning, in the incredible happiness of the first year, -and even after the boy’s birth. Do you know, it was months before I could -accept that boy as a _fact_? If, at any moment, he had vanished from my -sight, crib and all, I should not have been surprised. I was not sure of -him until he began to show his mother’s eyes. - -Yes, even in those days some of the old leaven worked in me. I had moments -of that old barbaric freedom which we used to rejoice in--that feeling of -being answerable to nothing in the world save my own will--the sense of -untrammeled, careless power. - -Do you remember the night that we walked till sunrise? You remember how -hot it was at midnight, when we left the office, and how the moonlight -on the statue above the City Hall seemed to invite us fieldward, where -no gaslight glared, no torches flickered. So we walked idly northward, -through the black, silence-stricken down-town streets; through that -feverish, unresting central region that lies between the vileness of -Houston Street and the calm and spacious dignity of the brown-stone ways, -where the closed and darkened dwellings looked like huge tombs in the -pallid light of the moon. We passed the suburban belt of shanties; we -passed the garden-girt villas beyond them, and it was from the hill above -Spuyten Duyvil that we saw the first color of the morning upon the face of -the Palisades. - -It would have taken very little in that moment to set us off to tramping -the broad earth, for the pure joy of free wayfaring. What was there to -hold us back? No tie of home or kin. All we had in the world to leave -behind us was some futile scribbling on various sheets of paper. And of -that sort of thing both our heads were full enough. I think it was but the -veriest chance that, having begun that walk, we did not go on and get our -fill of wandering, and ruin our lives. - -Well, that same wild, adventurous spirit came upon me now and then. There -were times when, for the moment, I forgot that I had a wife and a child. -There were times when I remembered them as a burden. Why should I not say -this? It is the history of every married man,--at least of every manly -man,--though he be married to the best woman in the world. It means no -lack of love. It is as unavoidable as the leap of the blood in you that -answers a trumpet-call. - -At first I was frightened, and fought against it as against something -that might grow upon me. I reproached myself for disloyalty in thought. -Ah! what need had _I_ to fight? What need had I to choke down rebellious -fancies, while my wife’s love was working that miracle that makes two -spirits one. - -What is it, this union that comes to us as a surprise, and remains for all -outside an incommunicable mystery? What is this that makes our unmarried -love seem so slight and childish a thing? You and I, who know it, know -that it is no mere fruit of intimacy and usage, although in its growth it -keeps pace with these. We know that in some subtle way it has been given -to a man to see a woman’s soul as he sees his own, and to a woman to look -into a man’s heart as if it were, indeed, hers. But the friend who sits -at my table, seeing that my wife and I understand each other at a simple -meeting of the eyes, makes no more of it than he does of the glance of -intelligence which, with close friends, often takes the place of speech. -He never dreams of the sweet delight with which we commune together in a -language that he cannot understand--that he cannot hear--a language that -has no formulated words, feeling answering feeling. - -It is not wonderful that I should wish to give expression to the gratitude -with which I have seen my life made to blossom thus; my thankfulness for -the love which has made me not only a happier, but, I humbly believe, a -wiser and a better-minded man. But I know too well the hopelessness of -trying to find words to describe what, were I a poet, my best song might -but faintly, faintly echo. - -I thought I heard a rustle behind me just now. In a little while my wife -will come softly into the room, and softly up to where I am sitting, -stepping silently across your bearskin rug, and will lay one hand softly -on my left shoulder, while the other slips down this arm with which I -write, until it falls and closes lightly, yet with loving firmness, on my -hand that holds the pen. And I shall say, “Only the last words to Will and -his wife, dear.” And she will release my hand, and will lift her own, I -think, to caress the patch of gray hair on my temple; it is a way she has, -as though it were some pitiful scar, and she will say, “Give them my love, -and tell them they must not fail us this Christmas. I want them to see -how our Willy has grown.” And when she says “Our Willy,” the hand on my -shoulder will instinctively close a little, clingingly; and she will bend -her head, and put her face close to mine, and I shall turn to look into -her eyes. - - * * * * * - -Bear with me, my dear Will, until I have told you why I have written this -letter and what it means. I have concealed one thing from you for the last -six months. I have disease of the heart, and the doctor has told me that -I may die at any moment. Somehow, I think--I know the moment is close at -hand; I shall soon go to that narrow cot on the right of the door, and I -do not believe I shall wake up in the morning with the sun in my eyes, to -look across the room and see that its companion is gone. - -For I am in the old room, Will, as you know, and it is not ten years since -you went away, but two days. The picture that has seemed real to me as I -wrote these pages is fading, and the thin gas-jet flickers and sinks as it -always did in these first morning hours. I can hear the roar of the last -Harlem train swell and sink, and the sharp clink of car-bells break the -silence that follows. The wind is gasping and struggling in the chimney, -and blowing a white powdery ash down on the hearth. I have just burnt my -poems and the play. Both the table drawers are empty now; and soon enough -the two empty chairs will stare at each other across the bare table. What -a wild dream have I dreamt in all this emptiness! Just now, I thought -indeed that it was true. I thought I heard a woman’s step behind me, and I -turned-- - -Peace be with you, Will, in the fullness of your love. I am going to -sleep. Perhaps I shall dream it all again, and shall hear that soft -footfall when the turn of the night comes, and the pale light through the -ragged blind, and the end of a long loneliness. - -After I am dead, I wish you to think of me not as I was, but as I wanted -to be. I have tried to show you that I have led by your side a happier and -dearer life of hope and aspiration than the one you saw. I have tried to -leave your memory a picture of me that you will not shrink from calling -up when you have a quiet hour and time for thought of the friend whom you -knew well; but whom you may, perhaps, know better now that he is dead. - - REGINALD BARCLAY. - - -II. - -THE PARAGRAPH. - -[From the _New York Herald_ of Nov. 18, 1883.] - -Reginald Barclay, a journalist, was found dead in his bed at 15 St. -Mark’s Place, yesterday morning. No inquest was held, as Mr. Barclay -had been known to be suffering from disease of the heart, and his death -was not unexpected. The deceased came originally from Oneida County, -and was regarded as a young journalist of considerable promise. He had -been for some years on the city staff of the _Record_, and was the -correspondent of several out-of-town papers. He had also contributed to -the monthly magazines, occasional poems and short stories, which showed -the possession, in some measure, of the imaginative faculty. Mr. Barclay -was about thirty years of age, and unmarried. - - - - -PLAYING A PART: A COMEDY FOR AMATEUR ACTING. - -BY BRANDER MATTHEWS. - - -_The Scene is a handsomely-furnished parlor, with a general air of home -comfort. A curtained window on each side of the central fireplace would -light the room if it were not evening, as the lamp on the work-table in -the centre of the room informs us. At one side of the work-table is the -wife, winding a ball of worsted from a skein which her husband holds in -his hands._ - -_He_ (_looking at watch, aside_). This wool takes as long to wind up as a -bankrupt estate. (_Fidgets._) - -_She._ Do keep still, Jack! Stop fidgeting and jumping around. - -_He._ When you pull the string, Jenny, I am always a jumping-jack to dance -attendance on you. - -_She_ (_seriously_). Very pretty, indeed! It was true too--once--before we -were married: now you lead me a different dance. - -_He._ I am your partner still. - -_She_ (_sadly_). But the figure is always the Ladies’ Chain. - -_He_ (_aside_). If I don’t get away soon I sha’n’t be able to do any work -to-night.--(_Aloud_). What do you mean by that solemn tone? - -_She._ Oh, nothing--nothing of any consequence. - -_He_ (_aside_). We look like two fools acting in private theatricals. - -_She_ (_finishing ball of worsted_). That will do: thank you. Do not let -me detain you: I know you are in a hurry. - -_He._ I have my work to do. - -_She._ So it seems; and it takes all day and half the night. - -_He_ (_rising and going to fireplace_). I am working hard for our future -happiness. - -_She_ (_quietly_). I should like a little of the happiness now. - -_He_ (_standing with back to fireplace_). Are you unhappy? - -_She._ Oh no--not very. - -_He._ Do you not have everything you wish? - -_She._ Oh yes--except the one thing I want most. - -_He._ Well, my dear, I am at home as much as I can be. - -_She._ So you think I meant you? - -_He_ (_embarrassed_). Well--I did suppose--that-- - -_She._ Yes, I used to want you. The days were long enough while you were -away, and I waited for your return. Now I have been alone so much that I -am getting accustomed to solitude. And I do not really know what it is I -do want. I am listless, nervous, good-for-nothing-- - -_He_ (_gallantly_). You are good enough for me. - -_She._ You did think so once; and perhaps you would think so again--if you -could spare the time to get acquainted with me. - -_He_ (_surprised_). Jenny, are you ill? - -_She._ Not more so than usual. I was bright enough two years ago, when we -were married. But for two years I have not lived, I have vegetated; more -like a plant than a human being; and even plants require some sunshine. - -_He_ (_aside_). I have never heard her talk like this before. I don’t -understand it.--(_Aloud._) Why, Jenny, you speak as if I were a cloud over -your life. - -_She._ Do I? Well, it does not matter. - -_He._ I try to be a good husband, don’t I? - -_She_ (_indifferently_). As well as you know how, I suppose. - -_He._ Do I deprive you of anything you want? - -_She_ (_impatiently_). Of course you do not. - -_He._ I work hard, I know, but when I go out in the evening now and then-- - -_She_ (_aside_). Six nights every week. (_Sighing._) - -_He._ I really work. There are husbands who say they are at work when they -are at the club playing poker: now I am really working. - -_She_ (_impatiently_). You have no small vices. (_Rising._) Is there no -work calling you away to-night? Why are you not off? - -_He_ (_looking at watch_). I am a little late, that’s a fact: still, I can -do what I have to do if I work like a horse. - -_She._ Have you to draw a conveyance? That is the old joke. - -_He._ This is no joke. It’s a divorce suit. - -_She_ (_quickly_). Is it that Lightfoot person again? - -_He._ It is Mrs. Lightfoot’s case. She is a very fine woman, and her -husband has treated her shamefully. - -_She._ Better than the creature deserved, I dare say. You will win her -case for her? - -_He._ I shall do my best. - -_She_ (_sarcastically_). No doubt.--(_Aside._) I hate that woman! -(_Crosses the room and sits on sofa on the right of the fireplace._) - -_He._ But the result of a lawsuit is generally a toss-up; and heads do not -always win. - -_She._ I wish you luck this time--for her husband’s sake: he’ll be glad to -be rid of her. But I doubt it: you can’t get up any sympathy by exhibiting -her to the jury: she isn’t good-looking enough. - -_He_ (_quickly_). She’s a very fine woman indeed. - -_She_ (_aside_). How eagerly he defends her!--(_Aloud._) She’s a great -big, tall, giantess creature, with a face like a wax doll and a head of -hair like a Circassian Girl. No juryman will fall in love with her. - -_He._ How often have I told you that Justice does not consider persons! -Now, in the eye of the law-- - -_She_ (_interrupting_). Do you acknowledge that the law has but one eye -and can see only one side? - -_He._ Are you jealous? (_Crossing and standing in front of her._) - -_She._ Jealous of this Mrs. Lightfoot? (_Laughs._) Ridiculous! - -_He._ I am glad of it, for I think a jealous woman has a very poor opinion -of herself. - -_She_ (_forcibly_). And it is her business which takes you out to-night? - -_He_ (_going toward the left-hand door_). I have to go across to the Bar -Association to look up some points, and-- - -_She_ (_rising quickly_). And you can just send me a cab. I shall go to -Mrs. Playfair’s to rehearse again for the private theatricals. - -_He_ (_annoyed, coming back_). But I had asked you to give it up. - -_She_ (_with growing excitement_). And I had almost determined to give it -up, but I have changed my mind. That’s a woman’s privilege, isn’t it? I am -tired of spending my evenings by myself. - -_He._ Now be reasonable, Jenny: I must work. - -_She._ And I must play--in the private theatricals. - -_He._ But I don’t like private theatricals. - -_She._ Don’t you? I do. - -_He._ And I particularly dislike amateur actors. - -_She._ Do you? I don’t. I like some of them very much; and some of them -like me, too. - -_He._ The deuce they do! - -_She._ Tom Thursby and Dick Carey and Harry Wylde were all disputing who -should make love to me. - -_He._ Make love to you? - -_She._ In the play--in _Husbands and Wives_. - -_He._ Do you mean to say that you are going to act on the stage with those -brainless idiots? - -_She_ (_interrupting_). Do not call my friends names: it is in bad taste. - -_He._ What will people say when they see my wife pawed and clawed by those -fellows? - -_She._ Let them say what they please. Do you think I care for the -tittle-tattle of the riffraff of society? - -_He._ But, Jenny--(_Brusquely._) Confound it! I have no patience with you! - -_She._ So I have discovered. But you need not lose your temper here, and -swear. Go outside and do it, and leave me alone, as I am every evening. - -_He._ You talk as if I ill-treated you. - -_She_ (_sarcastically_). Do I? That is very wicked of me, isn’t it? You -take the best possible care of me, you are ever thinking of me, and you -never leave my side for a moment. Oh no, you do not ill-treat me--or -abuse me--or neglect me (_breaking down_)--or make me miserable. There is -nothing the matter with me, of course. But you never will believe I have a -heart until you have broken it! (_Sinking on chair, C._) - -_He_ (_crossing to her_). You are excited, I see; still, I must say this -is a little too much. - -_She_ (_starting up_). Don’t come near me! (_Sarcastically._) Don’t let me -keep you from your work (_going to door R. 2d E_), and don’t fail to send -me a cab. At last I revolt against your neglect. - -_He_ (_indignantly protesting_). My neglect? Do you mean to say I neglect -you? My conscience does not reproach me. - -_She_ (_at the door on the right_). That’s because you haven’t any! -(_Exit, slamming door_). - -_He_ (_alone_). I never saw her go on that way before. What can be the -matter with her? She is not like herself at all: she is low-spirited -and nervous. Now, I never could see why women had any nerves. I wonder -if she really thinks that I neglect her? I should be sorry, very sorry, -if she did. I’ll not go out to-night: I’ll stay at home and have a quiet -evening at my own fireside. (_Sits in chair in the centre._) I think -that will bring her round. I’d like to know what has made her act like -this. Has she been reading any sentimental trash, I wonder? (_Sees book -in work-basket._) Now, here’s some yellow-covered literature. (_Takes -it up._) Why, it’s that confounded play, _Husbands and Wives_. Let me -see the silly stuff. (_Reads:_) “My darling, one more embrace, one last, -long, loving kiss;” and then he hugs her and kisses her. (_Rising._) And -she thinks I’ll have her play a part like that? How should I look while -that was going on? Can’t she find something else? (_At work-table._) -Here is another. (_Takes up second pamphlet._) No, it is a _Guide to -the Passions_. I fear I need no guide to get into a passion. I doubt -if there’s as much hugging and kissing in this as in the other one. -(_Reads:_) “It is impossible to describe all the effects of the various -passions, but a few hints are here given as to how the more important -may be delineated.” (_Spoken._) This is interesting. If ever I have to -delineate a passion I shall fall back on this guide. (_Reads:_) “Love -is a--” (_Reads hastily and unintelligibly:_) “When successful, love -authorizes the fervent embrace of the beloved!” The deuce it does! And I -find my wife getting instruction from this Devil’s text-book! A little -more and I should be jealous. (_Looks at book._) Ah, here is jealousy: -now let’s see how I ought to feel. (_Reads:_) “Jealousy is a mixture -of passions and--” (_Reads hastily and unintelligibly._) Not so bad! I -believe I could act up to these instructions. (_Jumping up._) And I will! -My wife wants acting: she shall have it! She complains of monotony: she -shall have variety! “Jealousy is a mixture of passions.” I’ll be jealous: -I’ll give her a mixture of passions. I’ll take a leaf out of her book, -and I’ll find a cure for these nerves of her’s. I’ll learn my part at -once: we’ll have some private theatricals to order. (_Walks up and down, -studying book._) - - _She re-renters, with bonnet on and cloak over her arm, and stands - in surprise, watching him._ - -_She._ You here still? - -_He._ Yes. - -_She._ Have you ordered a cab for me? - -_He._ No. - -_She._ And why not? - -_He_ (_aside_). Now’s my chance. Mixture of passions--I’ll try suspicion -first.--(_Aloud._) Because I do not approve of the people you are going to -meet--these Thursbys and Careys and Wyldes. - -_She_ (_calmly sitting on sofa_). Perhaps you would like to revise my -visiting-list, and tell the servant whom I am to receive. - -_He._ You may see what ladies you please-- - -_She_ (_interrupting_). Thank you; still, I do not please to see Mrs. -Lightfoot. - -_He_ (_annoyed_). I say nothing of her. - -_She._ Oh dear, no! I dare say you keep it as secret as you can. - -_He_ (_aside_). Simple suspicion is useless. What’s next? (_Glances -in pamphlet:_) “Peevish personalities.” I will pass on to peevish -personalities.--(_Aloud._) Now, these men, these fellows who strut about -the stage for an idle hour, who are they? This Tom Thursby, who wanted to -make love to you--who is he? - -_She._ Are you going to ask many questions? Is this catechism a long one? -If it is, I may as well lay aside my shawl. - -_He._ Who is he, I say, I insist upon knowing. - -_She._ He’s a good enough fellow in his way. - -_He_ (_sternly_). He had best beware how he gets in _my_ way. - -_She_ (_aside_). There’s a great change in his manner: I do not understand -it. - -_He._ And this Dick Carey--who is he? (_Stalking toward her._) - -_She_ (_starting up and crossing_). Are you trying to frighten me by this -violence? - -_He_ (_aside_). It is producing an effect. - -_She._ But I am not afraid of you, if I am a weak woman and you are a -strong man. - -_He_ (_aside_). It is going all right.--(_Aloud, fiercely._) Answer me at -once! Is this Carey married? - -_She._ I believe he is. - -_He._ You believe! Don’t you know? Does his wife act with these strollers? -Have you not seen her? - -_She._ I have never seen her. She and her husband are like the two buckets -in a well: they never turn up together. They meet only to clash, and one -is always throwing cold water on the other. - -_He._ And Harry Wylde! Is he married? - -_She._ Yes; and his wife is always keeping him in hot water. - -_He._ And so he comes to you for consolation? - -_She_ (_laughing_). He needs no consoling: he has always such a flow of -spirits. - -_He._ I’ve heard the fellow drank. - -_She_ (_surprised, aside_). Can Jack be jealous? I wish I could think so, -for then I might hope he still loved me. - -_He._ And do you suppose I can allow you to associate with these fellows, -who all want to make love to you? - -_She_ (_aside, joyfully_). He _is_ jealous! The dear boy! - -_He_ (_fiercely_). Do you think I can permit this, madam? - -_She_ (_aside_). “Madam!” I could hug him for loving me enough to call me -“madam” like that. But I must not give in too soon. - -_He._ Have you nothing to say for yourself? Can you find no words to -defend yourself, woman? - -_She_ (_aside_). “Woman!” He calls me “woman!” I can forgive him anything -now. - -_He._ Are you dumb, woman? Have you naught to say? - -_She_ (_gleefully, aside_). I had no idea I had married an Othello! (_She -sees the pillow on the sofa, and, crossing to it quietly, hides the pillow -behind the sofa._) - -_He_ (_aside_). What did she mean by that?--(_Aloud, fiercely._) Do you -intend to deny-- - -_She_ (_interrupting_). I have nothing to deny, I have nothing to conceal. - -_He._ Do you deny that you confessed these fellows sought to make love to -you? - -_She._ I do not deny that. (_Mischievously._) But I never thought you -would worry about such trifles. - -_He._ Trifles! madam? Trifles, indeed! (_Glances in book, and quoting:_) - - “Trifles light as air - Are to the jealous confirmations strong - As proofs of holy writ.” - -_She_ (_surprised aside_). Where did he get his blank verse? - -_He_ (_aside_). That seemed to tell. I’ll give her some more. (Glancing in -pamphlet, and quoting:) - - “But, alas, to make me - A fixed figure for the time of scorn - To point his slow, unmoving finger at!” - -_She_ (_aside, jumping up with indignation_). Why, it is _Othello_ he is -quoting! He is acting! He is positively playing a part! It is shameful of -him! It’s not real jealousy: it’s a sham. Oh, the wretch! But I’ll pay him -back! I’ll make him jealous without any make-believe. - -_He_ (_aside_). I’m getting on capitally. I’m making a strong impression: -I am rousing her out of her nervousness. I doubt if she will want any -more private theatricals now. I don’t think I shall have to repeat the -lesson. This _Guide to the Passions_ is a first-rate book: I’ll keep one -in the house all the time. - -_She_ (_aside_). If he plays Othello, I can play Iago. I’ll give his -jealousy something to feed on. I have no blank verse for him, but I’ll -make him blank enough before I am done with him. Oh, the villain! - -_He_ (_aside_). Now let me try threatening. (_Glancing in book:_) “Pity -the sorrows of a poor old man”--I’ve got the wrong place. That’s not -threatening--that’s senility. (_Turning over page._) Ah, here it is. - -_She_ (_aside_). And he thinks he can jest with a woman’s heart and not be -punished? Oh, the wickedness of man!--(_Forcibly._) Oh, if mamma were only -here, now! - -_He_ (_threateningly_). Who are these fellows? This Tom, Dick and Harry -are--are they--(_hesitates, and glances in pamphlet_) are they “framed to -make women false?” - -_She_ (_aside_). Why, he’s got a book! It’s my _Guide to the Passions_. -The wretch has actually been copying his jealousy out of my own book. -(_Aloud, with pretended emotion._) Dear me, Jack, you never before -objected to my little flirtations. (_Aside, watching him._) How will he -like that? - -_He_ (_aside, puzzled_). “Little flirtations!” I don’t like that--I don’t -like it at all. - -_She._ They have all been attentive, of course-- - -_He_ (_aside_). “Of course!” I don’t like that, either. - -_She._ But I did not think you would so take to heart a few innocent -endearments. - -_He_ (_starting_). “Innocent endearments!” Do you mean to say that they -offer you any “innocent endearments?” - -_She_ (_quietly_). Don’t be so boisterous, Jack: you will crush my book. - -_He_ (_looking at pamphlet crushed in his hand, and throwing it from him, -aside_). Confound the book! I do not need any prompting now.--(_Aloud._) -Which of these men has dared to offer you any “innocent endearments?” - -_She_ (_hesitatingly_). Well--I don’t know--that I ought to tell -you--since you take things so queerly. But Tom-- - -_He_ (_forcibly_). Tom? - -_She._ Mr. Thursby, I mean. He and I are very old friends, you know--I -believe we are third cousins or so--and of course I don’t stand on -ceremony with him. - -_He._ And he does not stand on ceremony with you, I suppose? - -_She._ Oh, no. In fact, we are first-rate friends. Indeed, when Dick Carey -wanted to make love to me, he was quite jealous. - -_He._ Oh, _he_ was jealous, was he? The fellow’s impudence is amazing! -When I meet him I’ll give him a piece of my mind. - -_She_ (_demurely_). Are you sure you can spare it! - -_He._ Don’t irritate me too far, Jenny: I’ve a temper of my own. - -_She._ You seem to have lost it now. - -_He._ Do you not see that I am in a heat about this thing? How can you sit -there so calmly? You keep cool like a--(_hesitates_) like a-- - -_She_ (_interrupting_). Like a burning-glass, I keep cool myself while -setting you on fire? Exactly so, and I suppose you would prefer me to be a -looking-glass in which you could see only yourself? - -_He._ A wife should reflect her husband’s image, and not that of a pack of -fools. - -_She._ Come, come, Jack, you are not jealous? - -_He._ “Jealous!” Of course I am not jealous, but I am very much annoyed. - -_She._ I am glad that you are not jealous, for I have always heard that a -jealous man has a very poor opinion of himself.--(_Aside._) There’s one -for him. - -_He._ I am not jealous, but I will probe this thing to the bottom; I must -know the truth. - -_She_ (_aside_). He _is_ jealous now; and this is real: I am sure it is. - -_He._ Go on, tell me more: I must get at the bottom facts. There’s nothing -like truth. - -_She_ (_aside_). There is nothing like it in what he’s learning. - -_He_ (_aside_). This Carey is harmless enough, and he can’t help talking. -He’s a--he’s a telescope; you have only to draw him out, and anybody can -see through him. I’ll get hold of him, draw him out, and then shut him up! -(_Crossing excitedly._) - -_She_ (_aside_). How much more his real jealousy moves me than his -pretence of it! He seems very much affected: no man could be as jealous -as he is unless he was very much in love. - -_He_ (_with affected coolness_). You have told me about Tom and Dick; -pray, have you nothing to say about Harry? - -_She._ Mr. Wylde? (_Enthusiastically._) He is a man after my own heart! - -_He._ So he is after it? (_Savagely._) Just let me get after him! - -_She_ (_coolly_). Well, if you do not like his attentions, you can take -him apart and tell him so. - -_He_ (_vindictively_). If I took him apart he’d never get put together -again! - -_She._ Mr. Wylde is very much afraid of his wife, but when she is not -there he is more devoted than either of the others. - -_He._ “More devoted!” What else shall I hear, I wonder? - -_She._ It was he who had to kiss me. - -_He_ (_startled_). What? - -_She._ I told him not to do it. I knew I should blush if he kissed me: I -always do. - -_He_ (_in great agitation_). You always do? Has this man ever--(_breaking -down._) Oh, Jenny! Jenny! you do not know what you are doing. I do not -blame you--it is not your fault: it is mine. I did not know how much I -loved you, and I find it out now, when it is perhaps too late. - -_She_ (_aside_). How I have longed for a few words of love like these! and -they have come at last! - -_He._ I have been too selfish; I have thought too much of my work and too -little of your happiness. I see now what a mistake I have made. - -_She_ (_aside_). I cannot sit still here and see him waste his love in the -air like this. - -_He._ I shall turn over a new leaf. If you will let me I shall devote -myself to you, taking care of you and making you happy. - -_She_ (_aside_). If he had only spoken like that before! - -_He._ I will try to win you away from these associates: I am sure that in -your heart you do not care for them. (_Crossing to her._) You know that I -love you: can I not hope to win you back to me? - -_She_ (_aside_). Once before he spoke to me of his love: I can remember -every tone of his voice, every word he said. - -_He._ Jenny, is my task hopeless? - -_She_ (_quietly crossing to arm-chair_). The task is easy, Jack. -(_Smiling._) Perhaps you think too much of these associates: perhaps you -think a good deal more of them than I do. In fact, I am sure that to-night -you were the one who took to private theatricals first. By the way, -where’s my _Guide to the Passions_? Have you seen it lately? - -_He_ (_half comprehending_). Your _Guide to the Passions_? A book with a -yellow cover? I think I _have_ seen it. - -_She._ I saw it last in your hand--just after you had been quoting -_Othello_. - -_He._ _Othello?_ Oh, then you know-- - -_She_ (_smiling_). Yes, I know. I saw, I understood, and I retaliated on -the spot. - -_He._ You retaliated? - -_She._ I paid you off in your own coin--counterfeit, like yours. - -_He_ (_joyfully_). Then Tom did not make love to you? - -_She._ Oh, yes he did--in the play. - -_He._ And Dick is not devoted? - -_She._ Yes, he is--in the play. - -_He._ And Harry did not try to kiss you? - -_She._ Indeed he did--in the play. - -_He._ Then you have been playing a part? - -_She._ Haven’t you? - -_He._ Haven’t I? Certainly not. At least--Well, at least I will say -nothing more about Tom or Dick or Harry. - -_She._ And I will say nothing more of Mrs. Lightfoot. - -_He_ (_dropping in chair to her right_). Mrs. Lightfoot is a fine woman, -my dear (_she looks up_), but she is not my style at all. Besides, you -know, it was only as a matter of business, for the sake of our future -prospects, that I took her part. - -_She_ (_throwing him skein of wool_). And it is only for the sake of our -future happiness that I have been playing mine. - - _He holds the wool and she winds the ball, and the curtain falls, - leaving them in the same position its rising discovered them in._ - - - - -LOVE IN OLD CLOATHES. - - - NEWE YORK, yᵉ 1ˢᵗ Aprile, 1883. - -Yᵉ worste of my ailment is this, yᵗ it groweth not Less with much -nursinge, but is like to those fevres wᶜʰ yᵉ leeches Starve, ’tis saide, -for that yᵉ more Bloode there be in yᵉ Sicke man’s Bodie, yᵉ more foode -is there for yᵉ Distemper to feede upon.--And it is moste fittinge yᵗ I -come backe to yᵉ my Journall (wherein I have not writt a Lyne these manye -months) on yᵉ 1ˢᵗ of Aprile, beinge in some Sort myne owne foole and yᵉ -foole of Love, and a poore Butt on whome his hearte hath play’d a Sorry -tricke.-- - -For it is surelie a strange happenninge, that I, who am ofte accompted a -man of yᵉ Worlde, (as yᵉ Phrase goes,) sholde be soe Overtaken and caste -downe lyke a Schoole-boy or a countrie Bumpkin, by a meere Mayde, & sholde -set to Groaninge and Sighinge, &, for that She will not have me Sighe to -Her, to Groaninge and Sighinge on paper, wᶜʰ is yᵉ greter Foolishnesse -in Me, yᵗ some one maye reade it Here-after, who hath taken his dose of -yᵉ same Physicke, and made no Wrye faces over it; in wᶜʰ case I doubte I -shall be much laugh’d at.--Yet soe much am I a foole, and soe enamour’d -of my Foolishnesse, yᵗ I have a sorte of Shamefull Joye in tellinge, even -to my Journall, yᵗ I am mightie deepe in Love withe yᵉ yonge Daughter -of Mistresse Ffrench, and all maye knowe what an Angell is yᵉ Daughter, -since I have chose Mʳˢ. French for my Mother in Lawe.--(Though she will -have none of my choosinge.)--and I likewise take comforte in yᵉ Fancie, yᵗ -this poore Sheete, whᵒⁿ I write, may be made of yᵉ Raggs of some lucklesse -Lover, and maye yᵉ more readilie drinke up my complaininge Inke.-- - -This muche I have learnt yᵗ Fraunce distilles not, nor yᵉ Indies growe -not, yᵉ Remedie for my Aile.--For when I 1ˢᵗ became sensible of yᵉ folly -of my Suite, I tooke to drynkinge & smoakinge, thinkinge to cure my minde, -but all I got was a head ache, for fellowe to my Hearte ache.--A sorrie -Payre!--I then made Shifte, for a while, withe a Bicycle, but breakinge of -Bones mendes no breakinge of Heartes, and 60 myles a Daye bringes me no -nearer to a Weddinge.--This being Lowe Sondaye, (wᶜʰ my Hearte telleth me -better than yᵉ Allmanack,) I will goe to Churche; wh. I maye chaunce to -see her.--Laste weeke, her Eastre bonnett vastlie pleas’d me, beinge most -cunninglie devys’d in yᵉ mode of oure Grandmothers, and verie lyke to a -coales Scuttle, of white satine.-- - - 2ⁿᵈ Aprile. - -I trust I make no more moane, than is just for a man in my case, but there -is small comforte in lookinge at yᵉ backe of a white Satine bonnett for -two Houres, and I maye saye as much.--Neither any cheere in Her goinge -out of yᵉ Churche, & Walkinge downe yᵉ Avenue, with a Puppe by yᵉ name of -Williamson. - - 4ᵗʰ Aprile. - -Because a man have a Hatt with a Brimme to it like yᵉ Poope-Decke of a -Steam-Shippe, and breeches lyke yᵉ Case of an umbrella, and have loste -money on Hindoo, he is not therefore in yᵉ beste Societie.--I made this -observation, at yᵉ Clubbe, last nighte, in yᵉ hearinge of Wᵐˢᵒⁿ, who made -a mightie Pretence to reade yᵉ Spᵗ of yᵉ Tymes.--I doubte it was scurvie -of me, but it did me muche goode. - - 7ᵗʰ Aprile. - -Yᵉ manner of my meetinge with Her and fallinge in Love with Her (for -yᵉ two were of one date) is thus.--I was made acquainte withe Her on a -Wednesdaie, at yᵉ House of Mistresse Varick, (’twas a Reception,) but -did not hear Her Name, nor She myne, by reason of yᵉ noise, and of Mʳˢˢᵉ -Varick having but lately a newe sett of Teethe, of wh. she had not yet -gott, as it were, yᵉ just Pitche and accordance.--I sayde to Her that yᵉ -Weather was warm for that season of yᵉ yeare.--She made answer She thought -I was right, for Mʳ Williamson had saide yᵉ same thinge to Her not a -minute past.--I tolde Her She muste not holde it originall or an Invention -of Wᵐˢᵒⁿ, for yᵉ Speache had beene manie yeares in my Familie.--Answer was -made, She wolde be muche bounden to me if I wolde maintaine yᵉ Rightes -of my Familie, and lett all others from usinge of my propertie, when -perceivinge Her to be of a livelie Witt, I went about to ingage her in -converse, if onlie so I mightie looke into Her Eyes, wh. were of a coloure -suche as I have never seene before, more like to a Pansie, or some such -flower, than anything else I can compair with them.--Shortlie we grew -most friendlie, so that She did aske me if I colde keepe a Secrett.--I -answering I colde, She saide She was anhungered, having Shopp’d all yᵉ -forenoone since Breakfast.--She pray’d me to gett Her some Foode.--What, -I ask’d.--She answer’d merrilie, a Beafesteake.--I tolde Her yᵗ that -_Confection_ was not on yᵉ Side-Boarde; but I presentlie brought Her such -as there was, & She beinge behinde a Screane, I stoode in yᵉ waie, so yᵗ -none mighte see Her, & She did eate and drynke as followeth, to witt-- - - iij cupps of Bouillon (wᶜʰ is a Tea, or Tisane, of - Beafe, made verie hott & thinne) - iv Alberte biscuit - ij éclairs - i creame-cake - -together with divers small cates and comfeits whᵒᶠ I know not yᵉ names. - -So yᵗ I was grievously afeared for Her Digestion, leste it be over-tax’d. -Saide this to Her, however addinge it was my Conceite, yᵗ by some -Processe, lyke Alchemie, whᵇʸ yᵉ baser metals are transmuted into golde, -so yᵉ grosse mortall foode was on Her lippes chang’d to yᵉ fabled Nectar -& Ambrosia of yᵉ Gods.--She tolde me ’t was a sillie Speache, yet seam’d -not ill-pleas’d withall.--She hath a verie prettie Fashion, or Tricke, of -smilinge, when She hath made an end of speakinge, and layinge Her finger -upon Her nether Lippe, like as She wolde bid it be stille.--After some -more Talke, whⁱⁿ She show’d that Her Witt was more deepe, and Her minde -more seriouslie inclin’d, than I had Thoughte from our first Jestinge, -She beinge call’d to go thence, I did see Her mother, whose face I knewe, -& was made sensible, yᵗ I had given my Hearte to yᵉ daughter of a House -wh. with myne owne had longe been at grievous Feud, for yᵉ folly of oure -Auncestres.--Havinge come to wh. heavie momente in my Tale, I have no -Patience to write more to-nighte. - - 22ⁿᵈ Aprile. - -I was mynded to write no more in yˢ journall, for verie Shame’s sake, yᵗ -I shoude so complayne, lyke a Childe, whose toie is taken fᵐ him, butt -(mayhapp for it is nowe yᵉ fulle Moone, & a moste greavous period for them -yᵗ are Love-strucke) I am fayne, lyke yᵉ Drunkarde who maye not abstayne -fᵐ his cupp, to sett me anewe to recordinge of My Dolorous mishapp.--When -I sawe Her agayn, She beinge aware of my name, & of yᵉ division betwixt -oure Houses, wolde have none of me, butt I wolde not be putt Off, & -made bolde to question Her, why She sholde showe me suche exceedᵍ -Coldness.--She answer’d ’twas wel knowne what Wronge my Grandefather had -done Her G.father.--I saide, She confounded me with My G.father--we were -nott yᵉ same Persone, he beinge muche my Elder, & besydes Dead.--She wᵈ -have it, ’twas no matter for jestinge.--I tolde Her I wolde be resolv’d, -what grete Wronge yⁱˢ was.--Yᵉ more for to make Speache thⁿ for mine owne -advertisemᵗ, for I knewe wel yᵉ whole Knaverie, wh. She rehears’d, Howe -my G.father had cheated Her G.father of Landes upp yᵉ River, with more, -howe my G.father had impounded yᵉ Cattle of Hern.--I made answer, ’twas -foolishnesse, in my mynde, for yᵉ iiiᵈ Generation to so quarrell over a -Parsel of rascallie Landes, yᵗ had long ago beene solde for Taxes, yᵗ as -to yᵉ Cowes, I wolde make them goode, & thʳ Produce & Offspringe, if it -tooke yᵉ whole Washᵗⁿ Markett.--She however tolde me yᵗ yᵉ Ffrenche family -had yᵉ where wᵃˡ to buye what they lack’d in Butter, Beafe & Milke, and -likewise in _Veale_, wh. laste I tooke muche to Hearte, wh. She seeinge, -became more gracious &, on my pleadinge, accorded yᵗ I sholde have yᵉ -Privilege to speake with Her when we next met.--Butt neyther then, nor at -any other Tyme thᵃᶠᵗᵉʳ wolde She suffer me to visitt Her. So I was harde -putt to it to compass waies of gettinge to see Her at such Houses as She -mighte be att, for Routs or Feasts, or yᵉ lyke.-- - -But though I sawe Her manie tymes, oure converse was ever of yⁱˢ Complexⁿ, -& yᵉ accursed G.father satt downe, and rose upp with us.--Yet colde I -see by Her aspecte, yᵗ I had in some sorte Her favoure, & yᵗ I mislyk’d -Her not so gretelie as She wᵈ have me thinke.--So yᵗ one daie, (’twas in -Januarie, & verie colde,) I, beinge moste distrackt, saide to Her, I had -tho’t ’twolde pleasure Her more, to be friends w. a man, who had a knave -for a G.father, yⁿ with One who had no G.father att alle, lyke Wᵐˢᵒⁿ (yᵉ -Puppe).--She made answer, I was exceedinge fresshe, or some such matter. -She cloath’d her thoughte in phrase more befittinge a Gentlewoman.--Att -this I colde no longer contayne myself, but tolde Her roundlie, I lov’d -Her, & ’twas my Love made me soe unmannerlie.--And w. yⁱˢ speache I -att yᵉ leaste made an End of my Uncertantie, for She bade me speake w. -Her no more.--I wolde be determin’d, whether I was Naught to Her.--She -made Answer She colde not justlie say I was Naught, seeing yᵗ whᵉᵛᵉʳ -She mighte bee, I was One too manie.--I saide, ’twas some Comforte, I -had even a Place in Her thoughtes, were it onlie in Her disfavour.--She -saide, my Solace was indeede grete, if it kept pace with yᵉ measure of -Her Disfavour, for, in plain Terms, She hated me, & on her intreatinge of -me to goe, I went.--Yⁱˢ happ’d att ye house of Mʳˢˢ Varicke, wh. I 1ˢᵗ -met Her, who (Mʳˢˢ Varicke) was for staying me, yᵗ I might eate some Ic’d -Cream, butt of a Truth I was chill’d to my Taste allreadie.--Albeit I -afterwards tooke to walkinge of yᵉ Streets till near Midnight.--’Twas as I -saide before in Januarie & exceedinge colde. - - 20ᵗʰ Maie. - -How wearie is yⁱˢ dulle procession of yᵉ Yeare! For it irketh my Soule yᵗ -each Monthe shoude come so aptlie after yᵉ Month afore, & Nature looke so -Smug, as She had done some grete thinge.--Surelie if she make no Change, -she hath work’d no Miracle, for we knowe wel, what we maye look for.--Yᵉ -Vine under my Window hath broughte forth Purple Blossoms, as itt hath -eache Springe these xii Yeares.--I wolde have had them Redd, or Blue, or -I knowe not what Coloure, for I am sicke of likinge of Purple a Dozen -Springes in Order.--And wh. moste galls me is yⁱˢ, I knowe howe yⁱˢ sadd -Rounde will goe on, & Maie give Place to June, & she to July, & onlie my -Hearte blossom not nor my Love growe no greener. - - 2ⁿᵈ June. - -I and my Foolishnesse, we laye Awake last night till yᵉ Sunrise gun, -wh. was Shott att 4½ o’ck, & wh. beinge hearde in yᵗ stillnesse fm. an -Incredible Distance, seem’d lyke as ’t were a Full Stopp, or Period putt -to yⁱˢ Wakinge-Dreminge, whᵃᵗ I did turne a newe Leafe in my Counsells, -and after much Meditation, have commenc’t a newe Chapter, wh. I hope -maye leade to a better Conclusion, than them yᵗ came afore.--For I am -nowe resolv’d, & havinge begunn wil carry to an Ende, yᵗ if I maie not -over-come my Passion, I maye at yᵉ least over-com yᵉ Melanchollie, & -Spleene, borne yᵒᶠ, & beinge a Lover, be none yᵉ lesse a Man.--To wh. Ende -I have come to yⁱˢ Resolution, to depart fm. yᵉ Towne, & to goe to yᵉ -Countrie-House of my Frend, Will Winthrop, who has often intreated me, & -has instantly urg’d, yᵗ I sholde make him a Visitt.--And I take much Shame -to myselfe, yᵗ I have not given him yⁱˢ Satisfaction since he was married, -wh. is nowe ii Yeares.--A goode Fellowe, & I minde me a grete Burden to -his Frends when he was in Love, in wh. Plight I mockt him, who am nowe, I -much feare me, mockt myselfe. - - 3ʳᵈ June. - -Pack’d my cloathes, beinge Sundaye. Yᵉ better yᵉ Daie, yᵉ better yᵉ Deede. - - 4ᵗʰ June. - -Goe downe to Babylon to-daye. - - 5ᵗʰ June. - -Att Babylon, att yᵉ Cottage of Will Winthrop, wh. is no Cottage, but a -grete House, Red, w. Verandahs, & builded in yᵉ Fashⁿ of Her Maiestie -Q. Anne.--Found a mighty Housefull of People.--Will, his Wife, a verie -proper fayre Ladie, who gave me moste gracious Reception, Mʳˢˢ Smithe, yᵉ -ii Gresham girles (knowne as yᵉ Titteringe Twins), Bob White, Virginia -Kinge & her Mothʳ, Clarence Winthrop, & yᵉ whole Alexander Family.--A -grete Gatheringe for so earlie in yᵉ Summer.--In yᵉ Afternoone play’d -Lawne-Tenniss.--Had for Partner one of yᵉ Twinns, agˢᵗ Clarence Winthrop -& yᵉ other Twinn, wh. by beinge Confus’d, I loste iii games.--Was voted -a Duffer.--Clarence Winthrop moste unmannerlie merrie.--He call’d me yᵉ -Sad-Ey’d Romeo, & lykewise cut down yᵉ Hammocke whⁱⁿ I laye, allso tied -up my Cloathes wh. we were att Bath.--He sayde, he Chaw’d them, a moste -barbarous worde for a moste barbarous Use.--Wh. we were Boyes, & he did -yⁱˢ thinge, I was wont to trounce him Soundlie, but nowe had to contente -Myselfe w. beatinge of him iii games of Billyardes in yᵉ Evg., & w. -daringe of him to putt on yᵉ Gloves w. me, for Funne, wh. he mighte not -doe, for I coude knocke him colde. - - 10ᵗʰ June. - -Beinge gon to my Roome somewhatt earlie, for I found myselfe of a peevish -humour, Clarence came to me, and prayᵈ a few minutes’ Speache.--Sayde -’twas Love made him so Rude & Boysterous, he was privilie betroth’d to -his Cozen, Angelica Robertes, she whose Father lives at Islipp, & colde -not containe Himselfe for Joye.--I sayinge, there was a Breache in yᵉ -Familie, he made Answer, ’twas true, her Father & His, beinge Cozens, did -hate each other moste heartilie, butt for him he cared not for that, & for -Angelica, She gave not a Continentall.--But, sayde I, Your Consideration -matters mightie Little, synce yᵉ Governours will not heare to it.--He -answered ’twas for that he came to me, I must be his allie, for reason -of oure olde Friendˢᵖ. With that I had no Hearte to heare more, he made -so Light of suche a Division as parted me & my Happinesse, but tolde him -I was his Frend, wolde serve him when he had Neede of me, & presentlie -seeing my Humour, he made excuse to goe, & left me to write downe this, -sicke in Mynde, and thinkinge ever of yᵉ Woman who wil not oute of my -Thoughtes for any change of Place, neither of employe.--For indeede I -doe love Her moste heartilie, so yᵗ my Wordes can not saye it, nor will -yⁱˢ Booke containe it.--So I wil even goe to Sleepe, yᵗ in my Dreames -perchaunce my Fancie maye do my Hearte better Service. - - 12ᵗʰ June. - -She is here.--What Spyte is yⁱˢ of Fate & yᵉ alter’d gods! That I, who -mighte nott gett to see Her when to See was to Hope, muste nowe daylie -have Her in my Sight, stucke lyke a fayre Apple under olde Tantalus his -Nose.--Goinge downe to yᵉ Hotell to-day, for to gett me some Tobackoe, -was made aware yᵗ yᵉ Ffrench familie had hyred one of yᵉ Cottages -round-abouts.--’Tis a goodlie Dwellinge Without--Would I coude speake -with as much Assurance of yᵉ Innsyde! - - 13ᵗʰ June. - -Goinge downe to yᵉ Hotell againe To-day for more Tobackoe, sawe yᵉ -accursed name of Wᵐˢᵒⁿ on yᵉ Registre.--Went about to a neighboringe Farm -& satt me downe behynd yᵉ Barne, for a ½ an Houre.--Frighted yᵉ Horned -Cattle w. talkinge to My Selfe. - - 15ᵗʰ June. - -I wil make an Ende to yⁱˢ Businesse.--Wil make no onger Staye here.--Sawe -Her to-day, driven Home fm. ye Beache, about 4½ of yᵉ Afternoone, by Wᵐˢᵒⁿ -in his Dogge-Carte, wh. yᵉ Cadde has broughten here.--Wil betake me to yᵉ -Boundlesse Weste--Not yᵗ I care aught for yᵉ Boundlesse Weste, butt yᵗ I -shal doe wel if haplie I leave my Memourie amᵍ yᵉ Apaches & bringe Home my -Scalpe. - - 16ᵗʰ June. - -To Fyre Islande, in Winthrop’s Yacht--yᵉ Twinnes w. us, so Titteringe & -Choppinge Laughter, yᵗ ’twas worse yⁿ a Flocke of Sandpipers.--Found a -grete Concourse of people there, Her amonge them, in a Suite of blue, -yᵗ became Her bravelie.--She swimms lyke to a Fishe, butt everie Stroke -of Her white Arms (of a lovelie Roundnesse) cleft, as ’twere my Hearte, -rather yⁿ yᵉ Water.--She bow’d to me, on goinge into yᵉ Water, w. muche -Dignitie, & agayn on Cominge out, but yⁱˢ Tyme w. lesse Dignitie, by -reason of yᵉ Water in Her Cloathes, & Her Haire in Her Eyes.-- - - 17ᵗʰ June. - -Was for goinge awaie To-morrow, but Clarence cominge againe to my -Chamber, & mightilie purswadinge of me, I feare I am comitted to a verie -sillie Undertakinge.--For I am promis’d to Help him secretlie to wedd -his Cozen.--He wolde take no Deniall, wolde have it, his Brother car’d -Naughte, ’twas but yᵉ Fighte of theyre Fathers, he was bounde it sholde be -done, & ’twere best I stoode his Witnesse, who was wel lyked of bothe yᵉ -Braunches of yᵉ Family.--So ’twas agree’d, yᵗ I shal staye Home to-morrowe -fm. yᵉ Expedition to Fyre Islande, feigning a Head-Ache, (wh. indeede I -meante to do, in any Happ, for I cannot see Her againe,) & shall meet him -at yᵉ little Churche on yᵉ Southe Roade.--He to drive to Islipp to fetch -Angelica, lykewise her Witnesse, who sholde be some One of yᵉ Girles, she -hadd not yet made her Choice.--I made yⁱˢ Condition, it sholde not be -either of yᵉ Twinnes.--No, nor Bothe, for that matter.--Inquiringe as to -yᵉ Clergyman, he sayde yᵉ Dominie was allreadie Squar’d. - - NEWE YORK, Yᵉ BUCKINGHAM HOTELL, 19ᵗʰ June. - -I am come to yᵉ laste Entrie I shall ever putt downe in yˢ Booke, and -needes must yᵗ I putt it downe quicklie, for all hath Happ’d in so -short a Space, yᵗ my Heade whirles w. thynkinge of it. Yᵉ after-noone -of Yesterdaye, I set about Counterfeittinge of a Head-Ache, & so wel -did I compasse it, yᵗ I verilie thinke one of yᵉ Twinnes was mynded to -Stay Home & nurse me.--All havinge gone off, & Clarence on his waye to -Islipp, I sett forth for yᵉ Churche, where arriv’d I founde it emptie, -w. yᵉ Door open.--Went in & writh’d on yᵉ hard Benches a ¼ of an Houre, -when, hearinge a Sounde, I look’d up & saw standinge in yᵉ Door-waye, -Katherine Ffrench.--She seem’d muche astonished, saying You Here! or yᵉ -lyke.--I made Answer & sayde yᵗ though my Familie were greate Sinners, yet -had they never been Excommunicate by yᵉ Churche.--She sayde, they colde -not Putt Out what never was in.--While I was bethynkinge me wh. I mighte -answer to yⁱˢ, she went on, sayinge I must excuse Her, She wolde goe upp -in yᵉ Organ-Lofte.--I enquiring what for? She sayde to practice on yᵉ -Organ.--She turn’d verie Redd, of a warm Coloure, as She sayde this.--I -ask’d Do you come hither often? She replyinge Yes, I enquir’d how yᵉ Organ -lyked Her.--She sayde Right well, when I made question more curiously (for -She grew more Redd eache moment) how was yᵉ Action? yᵉ Tone? how manie -Stopps? Whᵃᵗ She growinge gretelie Confus’d, I led Her into yᵉ Churche, -& show’d Her yᵗ there was no Organ, yᵗ Choire beinge indeede a Band, of -i Tuninge-Forke, i Kitt, & i Horse-Fiddle.--At this She fell to Smilinge -& Blushinge att one Tyme.--She perceiv’d our Errandes were yᵉ Same, & -crav’d Pardon for Her Fibb.--I tolde Her, If She came Thither to be -Witness at her Frend’s Weddinge, ’twas no greate Fibb, ’twolde indeede be -Practice for Her.--This havinge a rude Sound, I added I thankt yᵉ Starrs -yᵗ had bro’t us Together. She sayde if yᵉ Starrs appoint’d us to meete no -oftener yⁿ this Couple shoude be Wedded, She was wel content. This cominge -on me lyke a last Buffett of Fate, that She shoude so despitefully -intreate me, I was suddenlie Seized with so Sorrie a Humour, & withal so -angrie, yᵗ I colde scarce Containe myselfe, but went & Sat downe neare -yᵉ Doore, lookinge out till Clarence shd. come w. his Bride.--Looking -over my Sholder, I sawe yᵗ She wente fm. Windowe to Windowe within, -Pluckinge yᵉ Blossoms fm. yᵉ Vines, & settinge them in her Girdle.--She -seem’d most tall and faire, & swete to look uponn, & itt Anger’d me yᵉ -More.--Meanwhiles, She discours’d pleasantlie, asking me manie questions, -to the wh. I gave but shorte and churlish answers. She ask’d Did I nott -Knowe Angelica Roberts was Her best Frend? How longe had I knowne of yᵉ -Betrothal? Did I thinke ’twolde knitt yᵉ House together, & Was it not -Sad to see a Familie thus Divided?--I answer’d Her, I wd. not robb a Man -of yᵉ precious Righte to Quarrell with his Relations.--And then, with -meditatinge on yᵉ goode Lucke of Clarence, & my owne harde Case, I had -suche a sudden Rage of peevishness yᵗ I knewe scarcelie what I did.--Soe -when she ask’d me merrilie why I turn’d my Backe on Her, I made Reply I -had turn’d my Backe on much Follie.--Wh. was no sooner oute of my Mouthe -than I was mightilie Sorrie for it, and turninge aboute, I perceiv’d She -was in Teares & weepinge bitterlie. Whᵃᵗ my Hearte wolde holde no More, & -I rose upp & tooke Her in my arms & Kiss’d & Comforted Her, She makinge no -Denyal, but seeminge greatlie to Neede such Solace, wh. I was not Loathe -to give Her.--Whiles we were at This, onlie She had gott to Smilinge, & -to sayinge of Things which even yⁱˢ paper shal not knowe, came in yᵉ -Dominie, sayinge He judg’d We were the Couple he came to Wed.--With him -yᵉ Sexton & yᵉ Sexton’s Wife.--My swete Kate, alle as rosey as Venus’s -Nape, was for Denyinge of yⁱˢ, butt I wolde not have it, & sayde Yes.--She -remonstrating w. me, privilie, I tolde Her She must not make me Out a -Liar, yᵗ to Deceave yᵉ Man of God were a greavous Sinn, yᵗ I had gott Her -nowe, & wd. not lett her Slipp from me, & did soe Talke Her Downe, & w. -such Strengthe of joie, yᵗ allmost before She knewe it, we Stoode upp, & -were Wed, w. a Ringe (tho’ She Knewe it nott) wh. belong’d to My G father. -(Him yᵗ Cheated Herⁿ.)-- - -Wh was no sooner done, than in came Clarence & Angelica, & were Wedded in -theyre Turn.--The Clergyman greatelie surprised, but more att yᵉ Largeness -of his Fee. - -This Businesse being Ended, we fled by yᵉ Trayne of 4½ o’cke, to yⁱˢ -Place, where we wait till yᵉ Bloode of all yᵉ Ffrenches have Tyme to coole -downe, for yᵉ wise Mann who meeteth his Mother in Lawe yᵉ 1ˢᵗ tyme, wil -meete her when she is Milde.-- - -And so I close yⁱˢ Journall, wh., tho’ for yᵉ moste Parte ’tis but a -peevish Scrawle, hath one Page of Golde, whᵒⁿ I have writt yᵉ laste -strange Happ whᵇʸ I have layd Williamson by yᵉ Heeles & found me yᵉ -sweetest Wife yᵗ ever stopp’d a man’s Mouthe w. kisses for writinge of Her -Prayses. - - - - -Stories by American Authors - - - “A brilliant series.”--_Boston Courier._ - -MESSRS. CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS have in hand a publication of unusual -importance and interest, in the volumes of “Stories by American Authors,” -of which they have just begun the issue. - -The books carry their sufficient explanation in their brief title. They -are collections of the more noteworthy short stories contributed by -American writers during the last twenty-five years--and especially during -the last ten--either to periodicals or publications now for some reason -not easily accessible. - -It is surprising that such a collection has not been attempted earlier, in -view of the extraordinarily large proportion of strong work in American -fiction which has been cast in the form of the short story. - -If the publishers of the present collection are right, it will not only -show the remarkably large number of contemporary American authors who have -won general acknowledgment of their excellence in this field, but will -surprise most readers by the number of capital and striking stories by -less frequent writers, which are scattered through our recent periodical -literature. - -In England, in the well-known “Tales from Blackwood,” the experiment was -tried of publishing such stories taken from a single magazine within a -limited time. But the noticeable feature of the present volumes will be -seen to be the extent of the field from which they draw, and their fully -representative character. - -Cloth, 16mo, 50 cents each. - - “Literary relishes that will give as good seasoning as one could - wish to one’s moments of leisure or of dullness.”--_Boston - Advertiser._ - -_The following is an alphabetical list of the stories contained in the -first six volumes of the series which are now ready:_ - -Balacchi Brothers, The. By Rebecca Harding Davis. Vol. I. - -Brother Sebastian’s Friendship. By Harold Frederic. Vol. VI. - -Denver Express, The. By A. A. Hayes. Vol. VI. - -Dinner Party, A. By John Eddy. Vol. II. - -Documents in the Case, The. By Brander Matthews and H. C. Bunner. Vol. I. - -End of New York, The. By Park Benjamin. Vol. V. - -Friend Barton’s Concern. By Mary Hallock Foote. Vol. IV. - -Heartbreak Cameo, The. By Lizzie W. Champney. Vol. VI. - -Inspired Lobbyist, An. By J. W. De Forest. Vol. IV. - -Light Man, A. By Henry James. Vol. V. - -Lost in the Fog. By Noah Brooks. Vol. IV. - -Love in Old Cloathes. By H. C. Bunner. Vol. IV. - -Martyr to Science, A. By Mary Putnam Jacobi, M.D. Vol. II. - -Memorable Murder, A. By Celia Thaxter. Vol. III. - - “These volumes are as sure to delight and please the general reader - as to satisfy the exactions of the critical.”--_Washington National - Tribune._ - -Miss Grief. By Constance Fenimore Woolson. Vol. IV. - -Miss Eunice’s Glove. By Albert Webster. Vol. VI. - -Misfortunes of Bro’ Thomas Wheatley, The. By Lina Redwood Fairfax. Vol. VI. - -Mount of Sorrow, The. By Harriet Prescott Spofford. Vol. II. - -Mrs. Knollys. By “J. S. of Dale.” Vol. II. - -Operation in Money, An. By Albert Webster. Vol. I. - -Poor Ogla-Moga. By David D. Lloyd. Vol. III. - -Sister Silvia. By Mary Agnes Tincker. Vol. II. - -Spider’s Eye, The. By Lucretia P. Hale. Vol. III. - -Story of the Latin Quarter, A. By Frances Hodgson Burnett. Vol. III. - -Tachypomp, The. By E. P. Mitchell. Vol. V. - -Thirty Pieces, One of the. By W. H. Bishop. Vol. I. - -Transferred Ghost, The. By Frank R. Stockton. Vol. II. - -Two Buckets in a Well. By N. P. Willis. Vol. IV. - -Two Purse Companions. By George Parsons Lathrop. Vol. III. - -Venetian Glass. By Brander Matthews. Vol. III. - -Village Convict, The. By C. H. White. Vol. VI. - -Who was She? By Bayard Taylor. Vol. I. - -Why Thomas was Discharged. By George Arnold. Vol. V. - -Yatil. By F. D. Millet. Vol. V. - - * * * * * - -_The Theatres of Paris._ - -By BRANDER MATTHEWS. - -_With illustrations by Sarah-Bernhardt, Carolus Duran, Madrazo, Gaucherel, -and others._ - -One Volume, 16mo, cloth, $1.25. - -“An interesting, gossipy, yet instructive little book.”--_Academy -(London.)_ - -“A very readable and discriminating account of the leading theatres and -actors of the French capital.”--_Christian Union, (New York.)_ - -“Mr. Matthews has chosen a subject of great interest to most people, and -he has the additional advantage of knowing what he is writing about. The -chapters on the Grand Opéra and on the Théâtre Français, the two most -perfect establishments of the kind in the world, are full of valuable -details and statistics.”--_Nation._ - - * * * * * - -_French Dramatists of the XIXth Century._ - -By BRANDER MATTHEWS. - -1 Vol., crown 8vo, vellum cloth, gilt top, $2.00. - -“Mr. Brander Matthews’s studies are made with intelligence and -conscientiousness. The characteristics of the work of noted stage-writers, -from Hugo to M. Zola, are carefully presented in an entertaining way, -while the personality and life of each are not neglected. There is no -book from which the English reader can obtain so trustworthy a view -of the contemporary French drama, and none surely in which a theme so -complex is so pleasantly unfolded. The analysis of the realistic school, -its methods and aims, is, in spite of its brevity, an excellent thing, -excellently well done. The volume is made up in a manner very creditable -to the scholarly tastes of the author. A chronology of the French -drama is prefixed, there are valuable notes and references, largely -bibliographical, and a good index.”--_Boston Traveller._ - - * * * * * - -TWO CHARMING VOLUMES OF POETRY. - -_Airs from Arcady and Elsewhere_ - -By H. C. BUNNER. - -1 Vol., 12mo, Gilt Top, $1.25. - -“It is not often that we have in our hands a volume of sweeter or more -finished verses.… In choosing Love for a conductor, who alone may open the -way to Arcady, the poet indicates the theme on which he sings best, and -which reflects at some angle, or repeats in some strain the inspiration -of the great poetic and dramatic passion of life. His poems are thrown -together in a delicately concealed order, which is just perceptible enough -to give an impression of progress and movement.”--_The Independent._ - - * * * * * - -_Ballades and Verses Vain._ - -By ANDREW LANG. - -1 Vol., 12mo, Gilt Top, $1.50. - -“The book is a little treasury of refined thought, graceful verse, -world-philosophy, quiet humor, and sometimes a gentle cynicism. The -versification is always polished, the sentiment delicate, and the diction -vigorous and varied. It is a wholly charming production.”--_Boston -Saturday Evening Gazette._ - - ⁂ _For sale by all booksellers, or sent, post-paid, upon - receipt of price, by_ - - CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS, Publishers, - 743 AND 745 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. - - * * * * * - -ATTRACTIVE BOOKS - -_IN PAPER COVERS._ - - GUERNDALE: An Old Story. - -By J. S. OF DALE. 1 vol., 12mo, 50 cts. - - NEWPORT: A Novel. - -By GEORGE PARSONS LATHROP. 1 vol., 12mo, 50 cts. - - JOHN BULL AND HIS ISLAND. - -By MAX O’RELL. Eleventh thousand. 1 vol., 12mo, 50 cts. - - LUTHER: A Short Biography. - -By JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE, M.A. 1 vol., 12mo, 30 cts. - - OLD CREOLE DAYS. - -By GEORGE W. CABLE. In two parts--each complete in itself--per volume, 30 -cts. - - MY HOUSE: An Ideal. - -By O. B. BUNCE. 1 vol., 16mo, 50 cts. - - RUDDER GRANGE. - -By FRANK R. STOCKTON. 1 vol., 12mo, 60cts. - - SOCRATES. - -A Translation of the Apology, Crito, and parts of the Phædo of Plato. New -edition. 1 vol., 12mo, 50 cts. - - A DAY IN ATHENS WITH SOCRATES. - -1 vol., 12mo, 50 cts. - - MRS. BURNETT’S EARLIER STORIES. - -LINDSEY’S LUCK, 30 cts.; PRETTY POLLY PEMBERTON, 40 cts.; KATHLEEN, 40 -cts.; THEO, 30 cts.; MISS CRESPIGNY, 30 cts. Beautifully bound in -ornamental paper covers. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of In Partnership, by -Brander Matthews and H. C. Bunner - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN PARTNERSHIP *** - -***** This file should be named 53729-0.txt or 53729-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/7/2/53729/ - -Produced by Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - -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. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - 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'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - |