LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 259, 10 April 1875, Page 3

LITERATURE.

FULL MEASURE. By Minnie Young. ‘ Back to tkyself is measured well All thou hast given; Thy neighbour’s wrong is thy present hell, His bliss thy heaven.’ Chapter I, * Did he not leave any message for me, Marion? ’ * No, dear ; none whatever. He only said that he was sorry not to have seen you to say good-bye.’ The girl was silent, but the hot tears welled up into her big blue eyes. ‘ I really would not worry myself about him, Hilda,’continued Mrs Burdett; ‘he is not worth it.’ Hilda Vaughan burst into tears. ‘You did not seem to think him so very unworthy, Marion, when you.asked him here day after day—’ ‘ At your request.’ ‘ Forgive me, Marion darling,’ poor Hilda sobbed out; ‘ I really don’t know what lam saying to-day, lam so miserable. I could not have believed that Ralph would be so false and heartless and cruel.’ ‘My dear child, I am very sorry for you, but I have always told you that men are all alike. You’ll get over it, Hilda.’ ‘ Never !’ ‘ Oh, yes, you will. Everybody says that; but fortunately nobody sticks to it. Life is made up of getting over things.’ ‘ I shall never get over this.’ ‘Nonsense'! If you were eight-and-twenty you might talk in this way, but at eighteen it is absurd. Why you have your life before you, Hilda, and a year or two hence you will look back upon this little episode and laugh to think that it ever cost you a sigh or a tear.’ But Hilda only maintained the more vehemently that she should never, never get over it it. ‘0 Marion,’ she exclaimed, after a few moments’ pause, ‘I do wish that I were more like you, that I looked dignified and intellectual. I know Ralph never believed that I loved him as dearly as I did, and I am sure that it was only because I look so foolish and childish. ’ ‘ And because you are so foolish and childish,’Mrs Burdett would have replied, had they been in the fabled Palace of Truth. As it was, however, she merely said, ‘ Come, come, Hilda, dry your eyes. Mr Gumming will be making his appearance directly— ’ ‘ I shall go away if he comes,’ interrupted Hilda pettishly. ‘ And he will be inquiring the cause of those tears. ’ ‘ Then you may tell him, if you like, that —’ ‘ That you are wearing the willow for a man who—a man who, after playing fast and loose with you for weeks, finally goes off to India without even bidding you good bye.’ ‘ Marion, do you think Ralph cares forme ?’ ‘ How can you ask such a question, Hilda ? No, I am sure he does not.’ Mrs Burdett spoke in a low abrupt voice and without once raising her eyes; she did not care to see the pain she knew she was inflicting. Hilda turned crimson, and 'without another word rose to take leave. ‘You are not going yet, are you ?’asked Mrs Burdett kindly. ‘Yes, Marion, I must, or aunt Janet will be flying into one of her tantrums; and goodness knows I have had enough to worry me to-day without that. ’ Mr Burdett did not press her to remain. At the best of times she did not find Hilda a congenial or an amusing companion, but today the sight of the girl’s sad tearful face inspired her with positive remorse. ‘ Would you like to dine with us on Wednesday, and go to the play afterwards ? Mr Gumming has sent us a box at the Haymai’ket for that evening,’ Mrs Burdett said, as Hilda was leaving the room. But Hilda declined. She should not be in spirits for going out, she declared; and she could not go if Mr Gumming was going, ‘ Hoav very absurd you are, Hilda !’ exclaimed Mr Burdett quite sharply ‘Mr Gumming is nob go ng to carry you offbodily and marry you between the acts. ’ But no, Hilda was not to be persuaded, After her visitor had departed, Marion Burdett lay back in her arm chair, and ga\e herself up to thought, and, to judge from the expression of her handsome face, her thoughts were not pleasant. She was a beautiful woman, with a head and throat that might have served as models for a sculptor, large liquid dark eyes, and a soft creamy complexion. It was not only a handsome but a very interesting face, as many; a man had thought; a face that you could watch for hours without growing weary of, for it possessed a charm that most very regular faces lack—great mobility of expression. Mrs Burdett’s boudoir was at the end of a long passage, quite cut off from the rest of the house. It had been built out expressly for her, and furnished entirely according to her taste Avith damask of that particular nuance (I believe it is called Vesuvienne), that looks orange by day and pink by candlelight. In her boudoir, Marion was safe from all intrusion, for no one Avas eA r er admitted without her express permission. There she could even speak her thoughts aloud, if she felt so inclined, without fear of being overheard. For some minutes after Hilda had departed, Marion sat gazing into the fire with an earnest determined expression on her face. ‘Ah, well,’ she exclaimed suddenly, ‘it is past recall hoav. I can’t unsay Avhat I have said even if I wished to do so. I haA r e broken the bridge doAvn behind me. I have told him that I gave her his note, and that she replied that she would rather not meet him. And I don’t regret it. Why should I ? It is for his good. She would never have made him happy —that weak little fool who Avill go about now whining over her love sorrows to everybody who will have the patience to listen to her. Ralph my darling !’ and her whole face softened as she spoke his name, and a smile parted her lips for a moment, and then her brow grew dark again Avith anger, *To think that she could Avin him when I failed ! Oh, hoAV I hate her when I remember that he loves her ! But she shall never know it, never. He must have left England by this time, and he is far too proud to make a second appeal; and long before they meet again she Avill have married Johnny Gumming, or the first rich man Avho asks her. Hilda will talk sentiment and marry money—these romantic little fools always do ; or if she does not, she is a greater goose than I take her for. What did Ralph see in her?—Come in.’ To he continued.