LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 185, 12 January 1875, Page 3

LITERATURE.

ESPERANZA.

AN INCIDENT OF LIFE AT SPA. Do you know the music-room in the Redouble at Spa? The large expanse in the centre of it is kept clear for dancing, and spectators whose minds and toes are not light or fantastic, remain in the cloisters which surround it, and which are well supplied with comfortable chairs and sofas. Sometimes it happens that the young men are indolent or timid, and the young ladies stiff, and then the smooth shining floor is a desert, and in spite of the floods of light and music, there is something depressing about the general aspect. But that was not the state of affairs one August night, although the majority of visitors present mere English. There had been a great deal of fraternisation at the tables d'hote of the different hotels; walking, riding, driving parties had been made up daily; the foreign element was just sufficient to correct the British stiffness, without being numerically strong enough to provoke its exclusiveness. Altogether, a very pleasant little society was formed in the place that season, Millicent Lund was an attractive member of it; a handsome, highcouraged girl; an orphan, sole surviving child of a drysalter, consequently an heiress. While at school, from the age of twelve to nineteen that is, she was happy, but her guardian’s wife had patronising manners, which Milly quietly put up with till she was twenty-one, and then took charge of herself —that is, she engaged one of her old governesses, who was getting too blind and deaf to teach, and would consequently have been otherwise destitute, to accept the nominal position of taking charge of her; but of course it was a sinecure. People were shocked; but much Milly cared for thatl She sat on a sofa behind one of the pillars, talking to a black-haired man of about thirty, who was dressed rather too well for the expression of his features, which was intelligent. ‘ 1 am afraid of you, Mr Bertram,’ she was saying. ‘ Are you?’ he replied. * How people are maligned; I heard that you were afraid of no one.’

‘Perhapsyou have been slandered also. ‘ Shall I tell you a romantic story V

‘ O yes; please.’ ‘Do not let your expectations rise,’ said Bertram; ‘ there is nothing sensational about it. Upwards of a year ago, I happened to be staying at Brussels during the Carnival. The Countess G. had a fancy to give a masked ball, and I received an invitation. It was a very brilliant affair, and at the same time the company was select, for the hostess received all her guests on arrival singly, and unmasked, in a small ante-room, so that none but those who were properly invited could gain admittance. I had not been in the room five minutes before I saw a blue domino, who produced the most extraordinary effect upon me that I have ever experienced. Up to that time I had laughed at mesmerism, presentiments, everything which is connected with a mysterious intercommunication of spirits. But now the fact of the existence of secret sympathies was forced upon me. I knew at once that this was the only woman I could ever love. Of course I had often thought myself in love before, but now I saw that I had given that name to a passing fancy, which never reached my heart. 1 spoke to her, I danced with her. How the night passed, I have nc idea ; it seemed gone before it had well begun.’ ‘ You saw her face before she left ?’ ‘ Not for a moment. Nor was I able to discover who she was, or where she came from, afterwards. That she was English, I am confident, though she spoke Italian all the evening,’ . . I am quite interested,’ said Miss Lund, ‘ What was her height and her figure V

‘ Like yours.’ ‘ Indeed ! And the colour of her hair ?

‘Yours exactly.’ . ‘ And you have never met her again ? * Not till this evening,’ ‘ Really, Mr Bertram,’ said Milly, laughing ‘ you look as if you were going to claim me as your mysterious domino.’ ‘ No ; I remember my promise.’ ‘And that was?’ ‘Not to claim her until she wrote or uttered the word Esperanza .’ ‘Really, you have kept your word, and told a veritable romance; the lady has only to turn out a ghost or a ghoul to make it complete,’ said Miss Lund; but as she spoke, she started and turned pale; it was only with an effort that she completed her sentence. Bertram, looking round for the cause of this emotion, saw that a new arrival at a man whom he knew slightly in England, had just entered the room, and he experienced

that pleasing thrill which animates a pointer on snuffing a gamey scent, or a dram itic author when the idea of a plot comes into his head, for he relieved the tedium of a somewhat lethargic existence by watching the little social romances going on around him. If he had been a tattler, this might have proved a mischievous propensity; but he kept his discoveries to himself, or only intimated th--m to the principal actors, for his amusement consisted in knowing what other people failed to perceive. The young man who had just entered moved up the room, looking right and left for acquaintances. Presently, he saw Bertram, who came forward and shook hands with him, asked him when he had arrived, what hotel he was staying at, and other little commonplaces, while he was answering which he saw Miss Lund, and could not prevent a slight start before he bowed coldly. The young lady replied with a distant bend of the neck. ‘ You know Miss Lund ? ’ said Bertram. 1 1 have met her once or twice. But they are going to dance again, and as I am not in a mood for violent exercise, having only just swallowed my dinner, 1 shall go and have a look at the Trente et Quarante .’ Though not a gossip himself, Bertram by no means objected to take advantage of the gleanings gathered by members of that fraternity, so he went and sat down by Mrs Cracket. ‘ So you have been making love to the heiress,’ said she. * Rash, under your very eyes, wasn’t it ?’ he replied. ‘ But what is there between her and Graham?’ ‘ Do you mean to tell me that you don’t know V * How should I ? I was not aware of Miss Lund’s existence till this evening.’ ‘ Well, they were engaged for ever so long ; he was at her house every day ; most improper, with only tha f - poor old Miss Corney to act as chaperone; when suddenly she broke off the match. The airs these parvenus give themselves 1’ ‘ Was there no cause then ?’ * Oh, I suppose it was some jealous whim, and there may have been occasion for it. You men are all alike.’

This was quite enough for Bertram to start upon, and he made no more inquiries. But he enlisted in the troop of the heiress’s admirers, which was pretty numerous, ‘ took the Lund shilling,’ as he himself expressed it, and being an adept in the art of making himself agreeable, was soon promoted to the rank of leading partner and first shawl-carrier, vice Williams and Venables, ' told off respectively to Mies Corney and the lapdog. This distinction did not puff him up unduly, for the discriminating young man perceived that the preference was afforded him because he seldom approached the topics of love or matrimony, and when he did, it was always in a tone of badinage.

Yet there were times when she assumed a coquettish air, which seemed to invite him to more serious flirtation, but this wa* invariably when Graham was present, and appeared to be observing her. ‘Now,’ said Bertram to himself, ‘there are two courses for the male spoon to pursue; either to clear out of the place altogether, or to follow the female spoon’s lead.’ Graham adopted the latter course, and harnessed himself to the car of a handsome young widow, who dressed gorgeously, rode fearlessly, talked slangily, danced • untiringly, and sat down to play. The manners of the little English community assembled at Spa were very much relaxed from the standard set up by each individual member at home. Persons, even of different sexes, spoke to one another without a formal introduction; young ladies danced sometimes twice consecutively with the same partner. The majority only went once to church on Sunday, aud devoted the rest of the day to long walks in the woods, the perusal of secular journals, aud listening to the band, which played other music than Handel’s. Many who frowned at sixpenny whist at home as gambling, staked their florins and five-franc pieces at roulette and rouge-et-noir. But there was one tacit law which the female portion of the British visitors adhered to religiously, and that forbade them to take seats at either of the playtables. They might stand behind, and make their little stakes over people’s shoulders, with an air of assumed indifference as to whether they lost or won, if they pleased. That was considered to be mere looking-ou. But to sit down like a regular Gambler, with a big G, was held to be a fearful breach of propriety. And this crime Mrs Geylass, the young widow, committed. She constantly took a seat, which was obsequiously vacated for her, at the unsocial board, removed her gloves, took a card and pin, piled her stock of napoleons into little heaps in front of her, and went in for the thing in the most businesslike way, her admirers clustering round, and backing her luck; on the principle, I suppose, that imitation is the sincerest flattery. The admirers alluded to were all men; their mothers, wives, and sisters abhorred her to a woman. They would have cut her, only her late husband’s cousin was a lord, and her own father a baronet, and she was rich. Blood and money cover more sins than charity, so they bowed and smiled, and answered when she spoke to them. But that was not very often, for the widow preferred masculine conversation.

Ibis was the lady to whom Graham now devoted himself; he procured nosegays for her; he contended for the honor of her hand in the ball-room, and her foot when she mounted on horseback, and his attentions were always most earnest when Milly Lund was present. Bertram smiled approval. ‘Graham is no fool,’ thought he; J he has selected the next most attractive girl; just as the Lund has selected the next (in her blinded judgment) most attractive man.’ This soliloquiser had no false modesty, you see. Having thus ascertained that these two young people were desperately in love with one another, Bertram no longer gave himself the trouble of paying so assiduous a court to Miss Lund, and cultivated the acquaintance of Graham, who was too much a man of the world to shew a reserve which might betray jealousy, if he felt any, which is doubtful. The two men had not chanced to meet often, but they had been thrown together some two years before in the settlement of a domestic matter in which Graham had behaved in a manner calculated to excite Bertram s esteem, and he was inclined to like the man who knew better of him than most other people did. For our loves and friendships depend quite as much upon men and women s opinion of ourselves as upon their own intrinsic merits. They breakfasted at the same little table; they strolled afterwards in the hotel garden, smoking; they also consumed their last

cigars at night in company, and waxed confidential. At least, the one jrko_ , thing to confide did it, and Bertram learned that Graham was on the point of going ont to Africa, to shoot big game. The other visitors at Spa made a totally different arrangement for the young man, and decreed that he was about to marry the lively widov forthwith, Mrs Cracket announced the forthcoming event to Millioent Lund as an ascertained fact, and the young lady, believing it, went mad. Ido not mean that she required a strait-waistcoat, or put wild-flowers in her hair, or sang scraps of song, or danced with her shadow. She did not even shew any emotion before Mrs Cracket and the gossips, but smiled, and remarked that she supposed it was a good match; for she was not of an hysterical nature. But her mind was for the time unhinged, for all that; and she was quite capable of doing some desperate thing which society would have brought in Temporary Insanity. It was quite true that she had broken with Graham, but then he had no business to mairy any one else; &c. How could she appease her resentment; bow prove that she did not care one iota for the man she bad once been betrothed to? If she could only take the initiative; that would be better still. No one can throw off the restraints conventionally imposed by their fellow-creatures with impunity; if Milly Lund had not indulged her tastes for independence and originality to such an extent; if she had had any experienced friend of her own sex in whom shehad confidence, to advise her, she would never have been guilty of writing, on a sheet of lemon-colored notepaper : ‘ Let me see you to-morrow morning —M.L. and dropping it, with her handkerchief, at the Redoubte, when only Bertram was near enough to pick it up. The wisp of paper was not addressed to anybody in particular ; that was the only shied of prudence she shewed ; but then she gave it almost with her own hand, which was very shocking.

1 If Graham had known that I bad this in my pocket, he would hardly have bidden me such a friendly good night I’ said Bertram, on examining the note before going to bed. And then he put it carefully away in his pocket book. When he called at Millicent’s lodgings, he found her alone, not even Miss Corney being present; She had a wild, excited look iu her eyes, and a deep flush on her cheek ; and directly the door was closed, she stepped hurriedly towards him. *Do you know why I have invited yon here V she asked. Bertram looked as many volumes as he could, and bowed discreetly. ‘ Esperanza !’ said she turning away. ‘ What 1’ cried Bertram. ‘My sympathies were true ; you are really—‘The blue domino!’ Instead of throwing himself at her feet, seizing her hand, and calling her by her Christian name, as he ought to have done, Bertram said, in a musing tone : * Curious! I was never at a ball in Brussels in my life.’ ‘Oh !’ cried Millicent, shrinking away, covering her face with her hands, and shedding tears of bitter shame and humiliation. ‘ I hope you will forgive me,’ Bertram continued. ‘ I had no idea you would believe my rodomontade, which was only made up at the moment for fun. Pray, do not be distressed ; I know all about it. It is pique which |.has impelled you to listen to the suit of so unworthy an individual; if it were otherwise, I should indeed esteem myself the most fortunate of men. As it is, it is happy that I am neither a needy adventurer, nor an unscrupulous lover, or perhaps you might have been hurried into a marriage which would have proved the misery of your life ; and Graham would be eaten by lions, hugged to death by gorillas, stamped out by elephants, poisoned by snakes and quinine, and—and all sorts of things. By-the-bye, do you know that he is off to the Cape next month V

Millicent was too much overwhelmed by appreciation of the position she had placed herself in, to reply; so Bertram went on: * They have made up a story about his engagement to Mrs Geylass. Absurd 1 If he cannot marry one lady, I am certain he will never take to another, unless perhaps an Ashantee. Not even for piqup. I do wish, dear Miss Lund, that yon would make a friend of me, and tell me the real cause of offence in Graham. Do not think me curious and impertinent; I only ask because I have a suspicion that I might be able to remove some false impressions. I was left trustee to a'young lady, a cousin of my own, to whom Graham was once engaged; and I knew that when the affair was broken off, he was very much blamed. Can this sad business have caused you to think badly of him 7’ ‘ Had I—not —a right—to do so ? ’ sobbed Millicent.

‘ Far be it from me to place a limit to the Rights of Women I ’ said Bertram. ‘ I only know that Graham was not one iota to blame in that sad affair, the fault being entirely on the lady’s side; that he could have cleared himself in your estimation at her expense, if he had not pledged himself to silence; and that he kept that pledge, when the happiness of his life was at stake, is very much to his credit. It is no romance that I am telling you this time, Miss Lund; I give you my word of honor that what I say is true. I was one of those to whom Graham made the promise of secresy. 1 When you have nothing more to say to a woman who is crying, it is best to go away. So Bertram went. When he parted from Graham that night, he said: ‘ By-the-bye, I hare isomething to give you, old fellow.’ And opening his pocket-book, he produced the littleundireoted note, and handed it over. On the following morning, Millicent had another caller; an unexpected one this time.

‘ I have got your note,’ said Graham, seeing that she looked startled. ‘What may I hope ? ’ ‘ My note 1 ’ Graham held it in his hand open. She took it, and read : ‘ Let me see you to-morrow morning— M.L. ‘I have been informed that I—was hasty once,’ she said, blushing over neck and forehead ; ‘and, if so, I am sorry for any unjust expressions I may have used.’ She could not think what else to say. It did well enough. ‘But,’ said Millicent, after an hour’s conversation, * you were very proud yourself, you know, Harry, not to make any appeal to the trustee people to explain.’ And though he did not think so, he owned it; just as he would have owned anything just then. He did not go to Africa to shoot gorillas ; hestopped at home, and married the heiress. He is very fond of Bertram ; but I do not think his wife likes his friend so well as she professes. . That little scene was too humiliating.