LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 266, 19 April 1875, Page 3

LITERATURE.

A TERRIBLE WEDDING TRIP. (Continued.) These possessions I presently learned to regard with positive dislike, perceiving, as I could not fail to do, that the responsibility of wealth, and the care of so much landed property, was a source of much solicitude to my lover. Indeed, as I thought, he allowed this anxiety to become oppressive ; for although it would have been difficult to have described in what it consisted, it seemed to me that a subtle change passed over Mr St Julien's face whenever his estates formed the subject of conversation, and that his dark eyes, usually so calm and intelligent, took a different expression, aud wandered from one object to another with a vague kind of uneasiness. This peculiarity did not, so far as I could perceive, attract mamma's observation ; but, convinced that it was altogether imagination upon my part, and attributing it to the cause I have mentioned, I quietly resolved that, so soon as we were married, I would persuade Mr St Julien to dispose of some of these estates, and thus to lessen his care. My determination upon this point was strengthened Avhen I found that, whilst I was myself better than I had ever been in my life, poor Herbert's health declined rather than otherwise from the time of our engagement. The headaches, from which he had before suffered at but rare intervals, now became of frequent occurrence, and were accompanied by nervous irritability, which had not previously characterised him. Knowing that he had been recommended to travel, and believing that this would be the most efficacious remedy for his indisposition, mamma and I endeavored to persuade him to leave Torquay at once for the continent, more especially as we were ourselves upon the point of returning to Westermoreland. But to this proposition he could not be induced to listen, except on one condition, and that was, that I should accompany him as his wife. And so persistently aud unremittingly, when this idea possession of his mind, did he urge that our marriage should take place at once, that mamma at last gave in, and passing over to his side, expressed her opinion that Herbert's proposed journey to the continent

might just as well be our wedding-trip. | Against these united forces, there was, of course, no reason for my holding out, and before long, I had given a not very reluctant consent that the marriage should take place within a month. Chapter 11. That month passed rapidly, a portion of it being spent in the absorbing occupation of purchasing a trousseau, and the rest in various preparations at Elstonlee. Herbert, who had left us in London, in order that he might return to Cambridgeshire, and make certain arrangements of his own, had promised to rejoin lis on the day before that fixed for the wedding. He did not, however, make his appearance at Woodbine Cottage until very late in the evening-so late, indeed, that mamma, annoyed by his dilatoriness, would scarcely permit him to enter the house, but insisting that ' Minna must have a good night's rest in order to be prepared for the long journey of the coming day,'hurried him off, almost before we had finished our greetings, to the hotel where he was to j>ass the night. At the same hotel, the only one in the village, my cousin, Hugh Fernley (with the exception of Dr Adair, the sole guest invited to the wedding), was already located; and the two young men were standing together at the door of the church when, upon the following morning, we arrived there. I had not seen my lover distinctly upon the previous evening, for during his momentary visit the lamp had burned low in our little hall. But now, as, in the clear light of a sunny April mojjning, he advanced to meet us, I -was much startled by the alteration which a fortnight's absence had wrought in his appearance. He looked pale and worn; but in addition to this, there was, I thought, a change in his expression—an indefinable peculiarity about his whole aspect, which alarmed me. ' Dear Herbert, you are ill!' I exclaimed, as, the salutations over, we turned to enter the church.

' 0 no ! I am not,' he replied hastily, drawing my hand through his arm, and passing beneath the porch. But stooping down when half-way up the aisle, he added in a whisper: ' Don't bo alarmed, dearest, but things are all wrong at my place near Madrid, and I'm anxious to be off. We must go to Spain at once. Come ! let us be quick and get married; and then I'll bear my llowcr. my tender blossom to the sunny south.' The forms of endearment employed in the last sentence were not such as Herbert had been accustomed to address to me, and I did not quite like them. Moreover, I felt greatly disappointed, for it had been arranged that our wedding-trip should have for its destination the Italian lakes ; and now appeared wc were to travel in Spain. Giving vent to my feelings of vexation, I whispered back, as we reached the altar : ' Then we shall have to give up Italy ?' ' Not at all; we shall do nothing of the kind,' he returned with a triumphant smile. ' We shall go to Spain, and Italy, and Kamtchatka too.' There was no time to ask what he meant, for the clergyman was already in his place, and the service commenced without delay. The hour which followed was one of much confusion, for, upon coming out of the church, we were informed by Mr Fernley, to whom the travelling arrangements had been confided, that, as he had that morning discovered, he had made a mistake about the time at which the London express from the north would pass a certain junction where we were to join it, and that it would be necessary for us to leave Elstonlee much earlier than we had intended. So our hurried breakfast was soon over, and a hastv leave taken of mamma. Accompanied by Dr Adair and Hugh, who had promised to see us as far as the junction referred to, we were off, almost before we knew it, upon the first stage of our wedding-tour. Upon entering the carriage, my husband had, of course, placed himself by my side, whilst my cousin and the doctor had taken the seats immediately opposite to us, and I had scarcely had time to regain my composure, after the bustle and excitement which had attended our abrupt departure from home, when it was again disturbed by the singular conduct of the latter.

Fixing his eyes upon Mr St Julien's face, the physican appeared to be studying him closely, and put to him question after question, as if to draw him into conversation. I could not attribute this to jealousy, for there was no sign of the existence of that feeling; but I began to feel seriously annoyed with what I considered his rudeness, especially when I saw that Herbert noticed and disliked his obstrusive attention. That he did so was evident, for whilst he replied to all his questions very quietly, he seemed to grow uneasy beneath the fixity of the doctor's gaze, and once or twice I caught him returning it with a resentful glance. We had to wait a few mintues at the station; and whilst Herbert, apparently glad to escape further impertinent observa tion, promenaded the platform with Hugh, Dr Adair drew me a little aside, and placing his hand upon my arm, he said, in a tone of much solicitude : ' Pray, tell me, do you notice anything peculiar about Mr St Julien's aspect this morning ?'

• 0 doctor ! do you think he is ill ?' I inquired in return, alarmed by my friend's serious manner, and look of disquietude. . 'Well, no; I do not think that,' he replied meditatively; 'but, but—you will excuse me, I hope—but I fancy he seems more excited than the occasion warrants ; and I'

' Excuse me,' I interrupted angrily ; ' but I cannot listen to such remarks about my husband's appearance, Dr Adair.' And turning away with a feeling of relief at his assurance that Herbert was not unwell, but of extreme annoyance at his last remark, I was about to leave him.

' I will say nothing more to offend you, Mrs St. Julien,' said the doctor, following me with an apology. And immediately introducing another subject of conversation, he drew my attention to a cord which ran along at the tops of the carriages, and extended the whole length of a train near which we were standing. This, he explained to me, was a signal which any person might use who desired to stop the train when in motion between one station and another. And whilst I listened with a cold politeness, which was the effect of my previous displeasure, _he carefully pointed out to me the manner in which it was to be worked.

Scarcely had he finished his instructions, when the express rushed into the station; and in another instant Herbert and I had taken our places in a carriage which we Avere glad to have been able to secure for ourselves alone.

My good-bye to Dr Adair had not been a very warm one j and jjust as the train, was

upon the point of starting, a sudden remorse came over me. Letting down the sash, I looked out of the window with the intention of signing him a more t indly farewell. As I did so, a head was hastily drawn into the next carriage. An absurd fancy seized me that it was his, and in order to dissipate it, I turned to the platform. Hugh stood alone where we had left him ; and though my eyes rapidly scanned every portion of the station, Dr Adair was nowhere to be seen. Calling my husband to the window, and pointing to the disappearing platform, and the solitary figure of my cousin, I asked what he thought could have become of the physician. And then, at the risk of being laughed at, 1 told him of the impression I had that the head I had momentarily seen protruded from the adjoinging carriage was Dr Adair's. 'No, no; I know better than that,'was the reply I received, in a tone which startled me by its vehemence ; and drawing me back into the carriage, Mr St Julien closed the window with a bang. Then stooping down and bringing his face to a level with my own, he added in a loud whisper : • I'll tell you what; that man's the devil, and I'm glad he's gone.' I was so thunderstruck, by these words, and by Herbert's singular and unloverlike manner, that I sat staring at him in silent surprise, wondering how he could have allowed his resentment at Dr Adair's conduct to have carried him so far. But if 1 expected any apology, I was doomed to disappointment, and Herbert himself appeared to be quite unconscious that he had given me occasion for offence. After sitting for a considerable length of time, with his gaze directed through the window, and his brows knit, as though in deep thought, he rose, and without taking any further notice of me, drew out a large travelling-bag, which he had insisted upon having placed beneath the seat at the fm*ther end of the carriage. This he unlocked, and, whilst I still gazed at him in indignant astonishment, proceeded to extract from it what appeared to be a heterogeneous mass of rubbish ; and selecting from amongst it a brilliant scarlet and white cricketing-cap, he placed it upon his head, with the peak turned towards the back ; then, seating himself in front of me, he asked how I liked it. Trembling, as an indefinite terror was creeping over me, 1 replied, that it was, very pretty ;' and stretching out my my hand, with a pretence at a playfulness I did not feel, I attempted to adjust it correctly upon his head. 'Let it alone!' he exclaimed angrily, seizing my hand with a rough grasp. ' Don't you see that it's more like a turban that way? And as we're going to Turkey, we must do in Turkey as the Turkeys do.' 'Going to Turkey! What do you mean, dear Herbert?' I cried, in serious alarm. ' How can we go to Spain, and Italy, and Turkey, and get back to England in a month, as Ave promised mamma to do ? Oh, Herbert, you are ill ! I am sure of it,' I continued, bursting into tears. ' You ai'e so dreadfully pale, ond you don't act or look in in the least like yourself.' 'I don't look in the least like myself, don't I?' he repeated, bursting into a loud laugh. ' Ha, ha! that's good. Probably, then, I look like a Chinaman?' And lowering his voice again to the mysterious tone in which he had already twice addressed me, he added, ' Do you know, love—don't mention it on any account, pray, but I had a letter this morning from the Emperor of China, in which he tells me that three large estates of mine at Pekin have been burned to the ground by the natives. The news has rather upset me.' 'O Herbert!' I began; but

' I say, arc you my tirst wife or my second?' was the irrelevant remark with which my pleadings were interrupted. I looked at my husband in dismay. Was he drunk? or—what was the matter with him? 'Herbert, Herbert!' 1 cried, shaking in every limb, as a dreadful suspicion suggested itself, ' please, please, don't frighten rae so! You know very well that you never had any other wife than myself. Why will you persist in saying such odd things?' ' Was it a diddle-diddle darling, then'exclaimed my companion, his excitement evidently roused to a high pitch by the ex" pression of my alarm. And throwing his arms round me, he continued, in a loud and jaunty tone, ' Don't cry, Ada; we're going to visit our estates, you know, one after another of them. We're off to Spain and Portugal, and the north pole and south, and the meridian and the new moon. We'll set everything in order, and bring home cartloads of diamonds and rubies and banknotes. You shall have a palace of pearls, and I'll crown you like a queen, for I'm as rich as Croesus. Rich! rich! rich!' The last words rose to a shrill scrc;«m, and Mr St Julien's arms moved in wild gesticulations as he uttered them.

My horrible suspicion passed into a still more horrible certainty. In that instant, a great change passed over me. My courage and spirits rose to meet the emergency, and from a timid, helpless girl, I was transformed at once into a woman strong and self-dependent. Collecting my faculties, I endeavored to grasp the situation in which I was placed. In ail innocence and unsuspicion, I had that morning married this man ; and now I was alone with him in a compartment of an express train ! What was to be done ? With an air of as much unconcern as I could assume, I took up a Railway Guide which lay by my side, and whilst turning its pages with apparent carelessness, consulted it with the deepest anxiety in order to learn at what station the tiain would first stop. To my dismay, I found that at least an hour must elapse before there would be any chance of escape ; and I could only resolve to remain perfectly quiet find self-possessed, and to pray that Herbert might not in the meantime become violent. My resolution was soon put to a severe test. I was with difficulty striving to make a soothing reply to a remark which he had just made, when, with a shrill whistle, the train rushed into the darkness of a long tunnel. Another instant, and I was cowering in abject terror in a corner of the carriage, for, above the reverberating thunder of the train, had arisen a sound which made. my ilesh creep as 1 listened. A strange unearthly laugh, ending in a wild shriek, was uttered close by my side, followed, almost ere it was ended, by another, and yet another. To my terrified imagination, hours instead of minutes elapsed before the train glided out again into the blinding daylight. As it did so, 1 glanced at Herbert, and perceived that he had now grown perfectly calm. There was, however, a new expression in his eyes, which warned me to keep full possession of all my powers of Blind. To be continued.