LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 273, 27 April 1875, Page 3

LITERATURE.

I THE OTHER EAR-RING. From the Argosy. {Continued.) The lightning with which the play opened was real lightning to me ; the thunder real thunder. The gentleman who stood, when the curtain rose, gorgeously attired in a scarlet doublet, slashed with gold (something between a king and a bandit), with uplifted face of terror and drawn sword, calling the war of the elements ' tremendious,' was to me a greater potentate than nearly the world could contain ! The young lady, his daughter, in ringlets and spangles, who came flying on in the midst of it, and fell at his feet with upraised arms and a piteous appeal, ' Alas ! my father, and will you not consent to my marriage with Alphonso ?' seemed mora lovely to me than the Sultanas in the Arabian Nights, or the Princesses in Fairyland. I sat there entranced and speechless. A new world had opened to me—a world of delight. For weeks and weeks afterwards, with its wondrous beauties, its shifting scenes, it was present to me sleeping and waking. The ladies in spangles, the gentlemen in slashed doublets, were on the platforms of their respective shows to-day, dancing for the benefit of Pitchcroft. Now and again a a set wohld leave off, the music ceasing also, to announce that the performance was about to commence. lam not sure, but I should have gone up to see one, but for the presence of Tod and Harry Parker whom we had met on the course. There were learned pigs, and spotted calves, and striped zebras ; and ginger-bread and cake stalls; and boat-swings and merry-go-rounds—which had made me frightfully sick once when Hannah let me fgo in one. And there was the ever-increasing throng, augmenting incessantly; carriages, horsemen, shoals of foot passengers; conjurors and fortune-tellers; small tables for the game of ' thimble-rig,' their owners looking out very sharply for the constables who might chance to be looking for them; and the movable exhibitions of dancing dolls and Punch and Judy. Ay, the sounds and the sights are in my baain now. The bands of the different shows, mostly attired in scarlet and gold, all blowing and drumming as hard as they could drum and blow ; the shoutedout invitations to the admiring spectators, ' Walk up, ladies and gentlemen, the performance is just a-going to begin;' the scraping of the blind fiddlers; the screeching of the ballad singers ; the sudden uproar as a stray dog, seen crossing the course, is hunted up; the incessant jabber and the Babel of tongues; and the soft roll of wheels on the turf.

Hark ! The bell rings for the clearing of the course. People know what it means, and those who are cautious hasten at once to escape under the cords on either side. The gallop of a horse is heard, its rider, in his red coat and white smalls, loudly smacking his whip to clear it. The first race is about to begin. All the world presses towards the environs of the grand-stand to get a sight of the several horses entered for it. Here they come; the jockeys in their |distinguishing colours, trying their horses in a brisk canter, after having been weighed in the paddock. A few minutes, and the start is effected — and they are off. It is only a two-mile heat. The carriages are all drawn up against the cords ; the foot passengers press it; horsemen get where they can. And now the excitement is at its height ; the rush of the racers coming in to the winning post breaks on the ear. They fly like the wind. At that moment I canght sight of the sharply-eager face of a good-looking, dashing man, got up to perfection ; you might have taken him for a lord, at least. Arm-in-arm with him stood another, well-got-up also, as a sporting country gentleman ; he wore a green cut-away coat, top-boots, and a broad brimmed hat which shaded his face. If I say ' got up,' it is because I knew the one and I fancied I did the other. But the latter's face was partly turned from me, and hidden, as I have said, by the hat. Both watched the swiftly coming race horses ■with ill-concealed anxiety ; and both, as well-got-up gentlemen at ease, strove to appear indifferent. ' Tod, there's Captain Bird.' ' Captain Bird! Where ! You are always fancying things, Johnny.' * A few yards lower down. Close to the cords.' ' Oh, be shot to the scoundrel, and so it is! What a swell! Don't bother. Here they come.' ' Blue cap wins !' ' No; red sleeves gains on him !' ' Yellow stripes is first !' ' By Jove! the bay colt is distanced.' 'Purple wins by a neck.' With the hubbub of these called out different versions from the bystanders echoing on our ears, the horses flew past in a rush and a whirl. Black cap and white jacket was the winner. Amid the crowding and the pushing and the excitement that ensued, I tried to get nearer to Captain Bird. Not to see him : it was impossible to look at him with any patience, and contrast his dashing appearance with that of poor, faded Lucy's, but to see the other man. For he put me in mind of the gentlemen detective, Eccles, who had loomed upon us at Crab Cot that Sunday afternoon in the past winter, polished off the surloin of beef, crammed the Squire with anecdotes of his college life, and finally made with the other ear-ring. If you read the paper called Mrs Todlietley's Ear-rings, the circumstances may easily be recalled. She lost an ear-ring out of her ear: a beautiful ear-ring of pink topaz encircled with diamonds. It was supposed a tramp had picked it up ; and the Squire went about it to the police at Worcester. On the following Sunday a gentleman called introducing himself as Mr Eccles, a private detective connected with the said police, from whom he purported to come. The Squire was marvellously taken with him, ordered in the beef, not long gone out from the dinner, and was eager to entrust the earring to him (which he asked to be allowed to borrow for the purpose of comparing it with the lost one, to which he said a clue had been obtained), as he was to take it. That Eccles had been a gentleman once —at least, that he had mixed with gentlemen, was easy to be seen: and perhaps had also been an Oxford man) as he asserted; but he was tertainly a swindler now. He carried off the ear-ring ; and we had never seen him, or it, from that day to this. But I did think I saw him now on the racecourse. In the side face, and the tall, well-shaped figure of the

top-booted country gentleman "with the heavybunch of seals hanging to his watch-chain, who leaned on that man Coptain Bird's arm, there was a great resemblance to him. The other ear-ring, lost first, was found in the garden under a small fir-tree when the snow melted away; where it must have dropped unseen from Mrs Todhetley's ear, as she stopped in the path to shake the snow from the tree. But the rush of people, sweeping by, was too great. Captain Bird and he were nowhere to be seen. In the confusion also I lost Tod and Harry Parker. The country gentleman I meant to find if I could, and went about looking for him. The carriages were coming away from their standing places near the ropes to drive about the course, as was the custom in those days. Such a thing as taking the horses out of a carriage and letting it stay where it was until the end of the day, was not known on Worcester racecourse. You might count the carriages-and-four there then, their inmates exchanging greetings with each other in passing, as they drove to and fro. It was a sight to see the noblemen's turn-outs ; the glittering harness, the array of servants in their sumptuous liveries ; for they come in style to the races. The meeting on the course was the chief local event of the year, when all the ceuntry assembled to see each other and look their best. * Will you get up now, Johnny ?' The soft bowling of the Squire's carriagewheels arrested itself, as he drew up to speak to me. The Martley old gentleman sat with him, and there was a vacant place by Giles behind, 'No thank you, sir. I would rather be on foot.' 'As you will lad. Is your watch safe?' ' Oh, yes.' 'Where's Joe?' ' Somewhere about. He is with Harry Parker. I've only just missed them.' ' Missed them ! Oh, and I suppose you are looking for them. A capital race, that last.' ' Yes, sir." ' Mind you take care of yourself Johnny,' he called back, as he touched up Bob and Clister, to drive on. I generally did take care of myself, but the Squire never forgot to remind me to do it. The afternoon went on, and my search with it in the intervals of the racing. I could see nothing of those I wanted to see, or of Tod or Harry Parker. Our meeting, or not meeting, was just a chance, amid those crowds and crowds of human beings, constantly moving. Three o'clock had struck ; and as soon as the next race should be over —a four-mile heat—it would be nearly time to think about keeping my appointment with Lucy Bird. And now once more set in all the excitement of the running. A good field started for the four-mHe heat, more horses than had run yet. I liked those four-mile heats on Worcester racecourse : when we watched the jockeys in their gay and varied colors describing the figure of eight, and coming in, hot and panting at the end. The favorites this time were two horses named ' Swallower and Master Ben.' Each horse was woll liked : and some betters backed one, some the other. Now they are off! The running began, slow and steady; the two favorites just ahead; a black horse (I forget his name, but his jockey wore crimson and purple) hanging on to them ; most of the other horses lying outside. The two kept together all the way, and as they came in for the fiual run the excitement was intense. ' Swallower has it by a neck!' ' No, Master Ben heads him !' ' Ben wins; Swallower loses ?' ' Swallower has it; Ben's jockey is dead beat!' and so on. Amid the shouts and the commotion the result was announced a dead heat. So the race must be run again. I looked at my watch (which you may be sure I had kept carefully buttoned up under my jacket) wondering whether 1 could stay for it. That was uncertain ; there was no knowing how long an interval would be allowed for breathing time. Suddenly there arose frightful commotion above .all the natural commotion of the course. People rushed towards one point ; horsemen galloped thither, carriages bowled cautiously in their wake. The centre of attraction appeared to be on the banks of the river, just beyond the grand stand. What was it ? What had occurred ? The yells were deafening ; the pushing was fearful. At last the cause was known —King Mob was ducking some offender in the Severn. To get near so as to see anything of the fun was impossible ; it was equally impossible to gather what he had done ; whether picked a pocket or cheated at betting. Those are the two offences that on Pitchcroft were then deemed deserving of the water. This time, I think, it was connected with betting. Soon the yells became louder and nearer. Execrations filled the air. The crowd opened, and a wretched looking individual emerged out of it on the hard run, his clothes dripping water, his lank hair hanging, about his face like the slim tails of so many rats. On he came, the mob shouting and hallooing in his wake, and brushed close past me. Why it was surely the country gentleman I had seen with Bird! I knew him again at once. But whether it was the man Eccles or not, I did not see: he tore by swiftly,' his head kept down. A broad brimmed hat came flying after him, propelled by the feet of the crowd. He stooped to catch it up, aud then kept on his way right across the course, no doubt to make his escape from it. Yes it was the same man in his top-boots. I was sure of that. Scampering close to his heels, fretting and yelling furiously, was a half-starved white dog with a tin-kettle tied to his tail. I wondered which of the two was the more frightened—the dog or the man. And standing Very closely to me, as I saw then, was Captain Bird. Not|running, nor shouting; simply looking on with a countenance of supreme indifference, that seemed to express no end of languid contempt of the fun. Not a sign of recognition crossed his face as the half-drowned wight swept past him : nobody could have supposed he ever set eyes on him before. And when the surging crowd had passed, he sauntered away in the direction of the saddling place. But I lost the race. Though I stayed a little late, hoping at last to see the horses out for the second start, and how many of the former field would compete for it. Making a bolt across Pitchcroft and up Salt Lane, went I, full split, over the Tything slantwise, and so down to Sansome Walk. St Oswald's clock was ■ tinkling out four as I reached it. (Tobe continued.)