SHORT STORY.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 422, 26 May 1904, Page 7

SHORT STORY.

•Wilt then have this woman to be thy wedded wife V ' Marry, that will I!' There wbs a little stir of amusement amongst the elders at theyoung bridegroom's emphatic readiness. £_'Wilc thou "have this man to be thy wedded husband ?' The little maid in the long, stiff white satis frock, with the quaint lace cap, turned back lappets, and the rosettes on her tiny shoes looked sideways at the tall, grave paieon, in his bands and gown—at the bridegroom in satin and lace and jewels—at the circle of relations in the background. Shj swung a mutinous foot to and fro, posing herself insecurely on the other in a careless fashion that shocked her old nurse in the background. They had taken away her doll when they stood her up for tie solemn ceremony of her marriage, and she was rebellious and full of mocking mischief. The boy had black hair. She liked it, pretty and sunny, like her own and her little brother's, He was a grave boy, too, and would not be led into naughtiness by her little coquettish tricks aad wiles. So she pouted waywardly, and held her peace for a minute, long enough to make Parson Wynyard lower hia book and look at her in surprised rebuke, and to Eesd the female relatives iato an agony lest she might be going to disgrace herself. 'Wilt thou have this man to be thy wedded husband f The great tall black parson stooped down from his awful height to ask it again, almost sternly. Nurse Jenhyn half started forward in her anxiety over her nurseling's behaviour. Her mother leant over from behind and shook the little shoulder, so that Mistress Peg nearly toppled over, and her swinging foot had suddenly to Eeek the ground. _ 'Say yes, thou naughty babel' came / sharply in her ear in her mother's never-to-be-disobeyed voice. l Babby Peggy eaid_Jbhe yea required of her in haste. It was a child marriage,—one of those curious arrangements of bygone days, dear to the hearts of our Caroline ancestors. Bichard Tempest, the boy bridegroom, was the rich ward of Lord Kickmanworth, who thought himself a conscientious guardian in marrying him at the age of ten to Sir Anthony Chiahohn's little six-years-old daughter, who would have a fortune on her own aide. The Caisholmß were glad to be connected with Loid Bickmansworth and his powerful house, at a time when the waves of politics were growing turbulent. So came about this child-bridal, here in the little grey household chapel at Huntonby, with the wedding guests looking on as gravely as if it were the contract of two reasonable grown-up people, instead of the sport of babes. After the benedictions and the homily, the elders trooped off to the banquet, or afternoon light refreshment, set in the big hall, with its minstrels' gallery and dais, and its suite of armour hung up on the wall. The children had their cakes and posset, and then they slipped away, tired of the talk of their elders and of having to be good in company. They strayed out on the bowling green, with its velvet sward, and ite clipped yew peacock hedge about it, and they ex- ■«■• changed viewe of their two worlds. Little Peggy regarded her bridegroom from under her long lashes of pale gold with glances that were coy and critical. He was grave and quiet, he did not romp and shout when they had got out away from the eight of the elders, he did not pull the daisie b with cries of delight, and fling I them over his head as she did, or dance down the paved walk with steps that went on air. She was poutiag again before they had reached the fountain, where the swallows swooped in their swift flight to snatch a drink. He was a dull bridegroom, this of hers, he had no mischief 4n him. An impish desire awoke in her to stir him «P. The sober elders,, sitting over their cherries and junget in the great hall were suddenly aware of shrieks and tumult from the garden—angry cries and sobs in a child's voice. In from the paradise hurried Nurse Jenkyn, a ruffled, storming, crimson-faced little bride in her scandalised arms. ' By your leave, Dame 1' she panted, for she was growing scant of breath, 'Here is a pretty coil 1 I heard battle, and there I came on Mistress Peggy cuffing the ears of Master Bichard with her shoe I' And indeed, one stockinged foot struck out from the stiff satin robe guiltless of other covering. ' Tie criminal shoe dangled from its sandal in Nurse Jenkyn's indignant hand. ' Peg!' Her mother rose in judgment, her pretty, glittering curls shaken with her judicial wrath, 'What coil ißthis! And to yonr bridegroom! There shall be a whipping for this.' But Peggy only raised a stubborn, flushed face from Nurse Jenkyn's shoulder, and flashed back rebellion from wet, violet eyes. 'He tried to kiss me,' she sobbed, ' I wish I had bit him. I hate that boy I'

t Behind/ None Jenkyn'a portly form ; there stood a slim figure in pink satin, with long cavalier curls. One ear still blushed for his bride's buffet, and his face was very grave. Dune Chisholm looked past the little daughter she had soundly shaken in her vexation that a daughter of hers ebbuld demean herself bo with company looking on.. 'Why didst not cuff her baok, Dickon f ehe cried, 'sheis a bad maiden 1 Shouldat not let her treat thee bo 1*

Dickon drew himself up a little. His grave datk eyes looked steadily across to those of his new mother-in-law. 'I would never lift my hand to any maid,' he said resentfully,' least of all when she is wife to me, and of a truth methought that hußbands kissed their wives 1' That little scene of storm and fury wss the last that the child-couple shared for many a day. Dickon Tempest went back to his guardian, to the playing meads of Winchester, and to Oxford groves. Peggy grew: up in the peace and seclusion of Huatonby, romping with her younger brother, and learning to sew her sampler and construe her Latin, and play the late'. From the outside world came slowly the echo of a gathering storm and tumult—the convulsion of a kingdom, the clash and clang of arms. Marston Moor and a> Naseby had betn fought and lost—the & royalist cause was down. Deep and bitter was the mourning at Huntonby—loud and long the resentment and the grief. Sir Anthony Chisholm was too old and too infirm to fight for the king's cause, as he longed, and Tony, his only son and heir, was too young. ' They could only sit at home and rage impotently as one post after another brought news of bitterer reverses —the king a prisoner, the commons round the throne Mistress Peggy was still an unclaimed wife in her old home. When the war first began, her husband had jost made proposals to take her thence. One thing ' after another had delayed tho completiag of tbat long-ago marriage, till Margaret was far past the sge of most joung wives of her time. Her father's failing health —Bichard Tempest's journey to France—theiewere constant delays. Now, when

The Treason of a Window Pane.

By JLillias Campbell Davidson.

he sent his grave and ceremonious proposal iihat he should take her to his own home, she flamed ont in passion. It was too late.' 'Whatl Go to be mistress over a Soundhead household 1 - Wife a parliamentary Boldier!' she cried. 'Sooner would I go to my buying than to his home! Is there no way to be rid of this hateful marriage P I will neror.be wife to that man]' And rare as <^ B such high-spirited interference °a a daughter's part with the destiny assigned her by her parents, those parents could only find it in their hearts to applaud. Political feeling burned with frenzy in those agitated days. To such staunch royalists as the Ghisholmß in their quiet country home, it was handing their child over to a traitor and a rebel—to give her to the keeping of' a Parliamentarian. There was no way to annul the marriage —it stood good, but if there were mutual consent not to ratify it, they might still keep apart. Sir Eichard Tempest, in answer to his father-in-law's letter conveying the protests of a reluctant wife, was curt and chilL If he were stunc with wounded pride, it could be no warmer feeling that Buffered. Perhaps, her too, might be glad to see no more of his little termagant bride. . They were both young. The chances of life might release one or the other, while there still remained time for happiness in store. To Peg it was enough that the bridegroom Bhe rebelled from did not desire to have her. She went on with life at Huatonby on the old free, happy lines. When she heard the name of Eichard Tempest as fighting hard and winning fame for himself on the side she thought forsworn and traitorous, her lip curled scornfully, fie might be acclaimed by every Soundhead voice in the country —it only edded. fuel to the fire of her aversion to him. Matters stood bo, when there rcse a need for Mistress Peggy and her young brother to ride to London, where Sir Antony had been moved for treatment such as could not be had down in the country. They started on their journey with no escort but her woman and a groom or two. In. those still surging times of civil conflict the attendance of an escort such as- fitted people of their position was better dispensed with. They went safer without armed men. Peggy's long gown and muffler, her riding mask and hood, converted her into any ordinary middle-class damsel. She rode on a pillion behind Hob, the old coachman, and Tony rode beside her. Her woman and their few small mails came on the hones with the grooms. The second night of their journey found them at an inn in a small town on London road. It was wet and stormy and late when they rode into the stable yard, yet they would have promptly nrned -out into the wind .and darkness, once more; at the tinkle of chargers' trappings and the flash of soldiers' steel caps in the lamp light, if there had been another inn in the town; for the 'Green Dragon' was fall of a troop of Parliamentary horse, and the ring of the 'troopers* heels on the cobbles filled their young, hot souls with wrath. Even the sitting-room, where they were shown, was Bhared with the officer in charge; the coffee-room was swamped with the corporals and sergeants, and there was no other private room. There was no help for it, but they crossed the threshold with a frosty dignity, and returned with extreme distant reserve the salute of the Parliamentary officer as he rose and deeply bowed. A gentleman—for he left his chair by the glowing fire and insisted on Peg's occupation of it—a gentleman, and a handsome man, as one looked closer, well setup, well-bred, well-looking—a pity he was in the.enemy's camp. Peggy sat and warmed her feet, and she could not help a glance now and then as he sat by the window recess where he had withdrawn himself. Handsome to a girl's view, with his dark grave eyes and his quiet self* possession, he would have made a good soldier: in the king's cause. The young people -were silenced by hie presence. Their gay talk, and laughter of the road died away while he was there. Yet, when he had occasion again to speak a word or two, they were constrained by the very force of his courteous dignity to answer with more approach to sociability than they had been prepared to show. He apologised for intruding on their privacy, as if they had been the first comers, not he. He kept from the fire, till Peggy was fain for very self-reproach to invite him nearer to it While they took their supper, he read from a book he took from the pocket of his coat. He rose and took leave of them bo soon after, and they both had a kind of compunction at driving him from his own room. ' A gentleman, and a good fellow!' said young Toßy Chisholm, as the door closed behind him. ' Ten thousand pities he's ' on'that cursed Bide. How any man with a conscience and good blood in his veins can fight under that blackguard ■ Noll's commission passes me.' •He waa too pretty si man for a' Soundhead!' 'said Peggy, with » faint blush. There had been that in his air and nis dark eyes that had compelled her girlish admiration. She had never seen a man less like her idea of a Parliamentarian. 'To think of our having to sleep under the roof that shelters these vagabonds!' cried Tony, with boyish hotheadedness, ' I'd see the hanging of the crew with all the joy in life!' He was standing by the window, with its small square panes, and he drummed on it with his fingertips, watching the red glow of their fire flash back from against the wall of night outside. He took from his finger the big diamond ring that had been his mother's, and he began to scrawl something with it on the glass. • What are you writing ?' Peggy looked up from her seat by the hearth. Her brother nodded hie head, vouchsafing no answer. He was intent on forming his letters, and racking his brain to think of the spelling—a thing original and unfqne in-those days. Peggy sprang up from the settle, and came to look over his shoulder. The lines of sharp scratches grew under her very eyes :—

' Iffe I had my wille, doe you know what I'd doe P I won'd hang uppe olde Noll, and the " whoal of his orewe T

•Oh, Tony J' yet she could not help laughing, and her laugh was applause to Tony. "He struck out a brave leg, and cocked his arm on his side, and threw back hia head, prepared to fight the world of Cromwelliana. Neither of them heard the doer behind the leather screen open noiselessly. The Cromwellian soldier had returned for his plain flap hat and his buff gauntlets, laid on the squire seated chair just inside the room. He saw the little scene at the window, the rose-diamond in Tony's daring fingers, the defiance in his pose, the half diverted, half chiding face of Peggy, her frank, girlish laugh. He lifted his possessions and retired as quietly ae be had come.

The beds at the Green Dragon were

stuffed with picked feathers, the curtainß weie thick and heavy around them, and the two young travellers slept well. Peffgy tob not prepared for her woman's frightened rash in upon her. in the frosty morning, with the cry, * Lawks-a-daisy, Mistress! Here's a mortal coil! The landlord and the house is roused, the Mayor's sent for, and there's old Nick to pay! They say it will be a prison matter —'tis treason to the Government!' She threw her wide apron over her cap and pinnere and began to cry.' "'■ • What's to do!' Pegpy started'up. in her bed, the white night-rail and the little night-cap bo whiter than her cheeks. ' Tony—what has gone with him I Is, \t hei P Speak, girl; don't stand there weeping like a gowk 1' 'Aye, 'tis Master Tony. They eay someone scratched a couple on the window of the room yon supped in, and 'tis nigh treason to the Parliament. They're fcs clapping him in jail-, and the Lord above knows what more they'll do to him, Shooting, may be. L would we.vwere At home in Huntonby!' Her dolorous tears i came the faster. Peggy made one spring from the great four-posted bed to the polished floor. ' They shall not dare! They could not imprison one for such a thing 1' * Aye, but they swear they will 1 There's been too much tarmoil and disloyalty in the country here roundabout. The Parliament has spoken more than once pretty sharply, and the troop is down here now to put it down with a high hind- Disloyalty, quotha I I called it loyal, with a crowned, anointed king that's flying from his foes, and an upstart knave in his shoes! The Mayor is in a flae taking! He says it will ruin the town and his credit in Cromwell's eyes. He's minded to make an example of the one that did it. Wait, Mistress! you are getting into your kirtla wrong side before! Let me help you—yon'xe Hever trying to tire yourself V 'Qdick, then, quick! Speed all you can! I must dress me and go down!' In her wildly throbbing heart there was a swift n solution. Tony should not be blamed for this, his own foolish, boyish trick—they would visit it on him to his hurt, even though he was only a lad. She would let them think she had done it; that was her fault, not his. 'lf they were Cavaliers, they would let any misdeed go, so that it was done by a woman,' she thought to herself. ' Surely even Boundheads are men, aßd if someone is punished, let it be me, not Tony. I was to blame, too; I laughed, and did not score his lines out |» (To be concluded next week.)

HABD LUCK FOB THE CHILPBEN. A lady who bad two children sick with the measles wrote to a friend for the best remedy. The friend had received a note from another lady inquiring the way to make -pickles.- To her confusion the lady who inquired about the pickles got the remedy for the measles, and the anxious mother of the sick children read with horror the following :»''Scald them three times in boiling vinegar, sprinkle them with ealt, and in a few days they will be cnred. IN A SCOTCH CHUECH. An old Scottish minister took it into his head to marry his housekeeper. His precentor being ill on the day when the banns were to be proclaimed, the minister, not caring to make the intimation himself, arranged with his herd boy to do it. ' Now/ he said, ' you just call out in a loud voice —' Proclamation of marriage between the Bev. Mr Murray, of this parish, and Jean Lowe, o' the same.' Ha, hal' laughed the mißister, as he concluded, Wha'd hae thocht it V The Sabbath came round, and the congregation assembled. When the moment arrived the lad, who had duly prepared himself, rose and called out—' Proclamation of marriage between the Bev. Mr Murray, of this parish, and Jean Lowe, o* the same". Ha, ha I' he laughed, thinking this to be a part of the proclamation, 'wha'dhae thocht it?' The effect on the minister and the congregation can be imagined. THE WBONG BOY.

The small boy in a railway carriage is like a fish in water. He desires nothing more than to be left to. his own resources.

A traveller journeying northward left his son, aged eipht, in the carriage while he transacted some buiiness with a railway official, and, as was only natural, he gave the youngster careful instructions as to behaviour.

' Sit where you are,' said he,' and do not move hand or foot. If you do, there'll be chastisement when I come back. Don't pnt your head out of the window, or you might get it taken off, and you'd get the chastisement besides.'

With this formidable injunction the anxious parent left the carriage. The train started before he was quite ready for it, hut he sprang into another compartment It was a corridor train, and he would be able to walk through to his proper seat.

On the way he stopped to chat with a friend. ■ When he regained his own compartment the train was humming at top speed. Suddenly he uttered a cry of horror. There was tbe boy, with only bis legs sticking in through the > widow. He appeared to be more outside than inside, ana whenever a telegraph pole whizzed by the enthusiastic youngster made a lunge for it, as if trying to catch it. Tbe father did not hesitate long. He made a grab for the boy just as the latter was making a lunge for a pole. He pulled 'him in by the heels, 1 and began to fulfil his promise. The little fellow yelled and yelled until he almost drowned the noise of the train; but during a lull in the uproar the father heard a chuckle behind him. He laid the boy down, and turned to see what it meant. - ; There was his boh, two seats behind,' with four fingers thrust in his mouth to keep his merriment in. He looked at the boy before him. Behind the tears was a face which he had never seen before. He had chastised some other man's Eon! .1 «,*•'•.

She: ' There goes -General "Chutney with his daughter.' *. He: 'So I see—and they say that the daughter has been!: hrough more engagements than her "father the General.' She: 'Are you really so much better since you returned from abroad ?' He: ' Yes. I'm quite another man.' She: « Well, I'm sure all your friends will be delighted to hear it'J' And he is now wondering if she. meant anything. 'ls this a poor parish V inquired the stranger of the deacon. «Well,' replied the deacon, ' the parish is rather poor at present; but the minister is engaged to a rich widow, and we are very hopeful,' 'Necessity,' remarked the man with the chronic quotation habit, 'is the mother of invention.' ' There's where you've got a flat wheel,' said the contrary person. ' Invention is the parent of necessity.' ' How do vou figure that out ?* ' Well, take the telephone, for example. There was no necessity for it until after it was invented.'