LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 654, 25 July 1876, Page 3

LITERATURE.

A SLIGHT FLIRTATION. ( Continued.) ‘ Seemed to care ! Oh, Mr Armidale, did you ever take the trouble to look beneath this seeming ?’ * I don’t think I ever felt inclined to do so till I met you.’ *Mr Armidale !’ And Rosie made as if she was going to rise from the sofa; but Arthur restrained her with a light touch upon her arm, as he continued passionately : ‘ Oh, let me speak seriously, most seriously, Rosie. Till I saw you I never really knew what love was. I admit that I have, more than once perhaps, dreamed that I was in love; but I soon woke to find that it was nothing but a slight flirtation, and I persuaded myself that no such thing existed as lifelong affection, Rosie, I know better now. This time it is no dream. 1 am awake, and realise in all its depths the love I bear for yon.’ Rosie again made as if she must jump up from the sofa; but there was something magnetic in Arthur’s touch as his hand closed upon hers, so she remained where she was, and stammered out : ‘Mr Armidale, I never thought that you would speak to me like this.’ ‘ But you won’t tell me to be silent ? ’ said Arthur softly. ‘ Oh, Rosie, dear Rosie, do you think you can ever care a little bit about me ?’ ‘Perhaps I might, if I tried very hard,’ admitted Rosie, as she turned her blushing face away. ‘ Then try, Rosie, try, and perhaps some day you will consent to be my wife,’ * Oh, Mr Armidale—Arthur—what would papa say ?’ ‘ I’ll ask his opinion by and by; but in the meantime you must give me the slightest suspicion of a hope.’ ‘ I shall give you no such thing. But you may take it, if you like,’ ‘ And may I take this, too ?’ cried the rapturous Arthur, as he endeavoured to touch her cheeks with his lips. ‘No, no !’ exclaimed Rosie, starting up this time in good earnest. ‘ You have got quite as much as you deserve.’ And Miss Rosie, with a complexion like her name, darted out of the room, ‘As much as I deserve!’ said Arthur aloud, as he rose slowly from the sofa, the joyous expression fading from his face. ‘ More than I deserve, perhaps. Oh, what a fool I have been !’ ‘ Hear, hear!’ said a voice at the open garden windows. ‘My dear Armidale, I congratulate you upon your candour. And what a great thing it is to know oneself.’ * Bodmin !’ exclaimed Arthur. ‘ How long have you been standing there ?’ ‘About a second and a half, I should think,’ returned the Doctor.' ‘ And what did you hear me say ?’ ‘ That you had been a fool; and it would obviously be impertinent on my part to deny the accuracy of your statement.’ ‘ Ah, Bodmin! But you don’t know all.’ ‘ All what ?’ ‘All my folly.’ * Certainly not, my dear young friend. My capacity for acquiring information is limited ’ ‘Don’t chaff me, Bodmin,’ said Arthur imploringly. ‘Do be serious. Heaven knows, I am miserable enough.’ The Doctor looked a little puzzled, and then begged Armidale not to talk as if he was a double acrostic in a weekly journal. ‘ Did I ever tell you how 1 became acquainted with Mr Maldon and Rosie ?’ asked Arthur, after a pause. ‘Ah !’ exclaimed Bodmin. ‘ No. Met them in society, I suppose.’ * Not exactly. Do you know the elder daughter ?’ * Georgie Maldon ? Of course, I do. She is my patient. She has a painfully delicate constitution, and under my advice she has been spending the winter and early spring in Italy.’ ‘ I mot her at Rome,’ returned Arthur slowly, and walking to the window, ‘ travelling with some friends of her father’s, and because I became acquainted with her there, I took the liberty of calling here when I returned to England. She had mentioned my name to her father and sister in her letters, and I was warmly welcomed. The fact is ’ Arthur paused. The Doctor drily observed : * You seem slightly confused—take time.’ ‘Well—hang it!’ said Arthur, leaving the window and Avalking up and down the room. ‘ The fact is, I very much admired Miss Maldon—paid her considerable attention. She did not appear to object—and ’ ‘ In short, the fact is you fell in love with each other.,’ Well, something of the kind,’ said Arthur, throwing himself into an arm-chair. ‘ But I see now that it was nothing but a slight flirtation ; and—and—l love Rosie fifty thousand times better, and I want to marry her.’ ‘ Indeed ! And I suppose you told Georgie that you loved her, and wanted to marry her. ’ ‘ No, no !’ exclaimed Arthur, jumping up; ‘ I never got quite so far as that.’ ‘ Quite so far !’ echoed the Doctor. ‘ But probably, if your lips did not speak the words, your eyes insinuated the sense. Well, and how did you make peace with your own mind? Tossed up, I suppose. Heads— Georgie ; tails, Rosie ; and tails won. Oh, don’t look angry. Marriage is always a game of hazard —especially in the case of flirts like you.’ ‘ Flirts ! Bodmin, you do not know how you pain me.’ ‘1 mean to pain you, answered the Doctor emphatically ; ‘ I want to pain you. How I should like to perform a surgical operation upon you without the use of chloroform ! Confound it, man I do you think you can pass your youth in playing with young affections, and never feel a pang yourself ? You use your abominable arts of fascination in winning poor G eorgie Maiden’s heart, and then come with a meek air of apologetic satisfaction, and call it a slight flirtation! I tell you, Armidale, that, in her state of health, your conduct is enough to break her heart. ’ ‘Oh, nonsense!’ cried Arthur. ‘You, too, believe in the possibility of a broken heart V ‘ As firmly as I do in the Battle of Waterloo. Now, look here, my friend, take my advice, and take, at the same time, a Cook’s ticket for an excursion round the world, and coqie back a better and a wiser man.’

‘ No, returned Arthur flatly; * I can’t give Rosie up.’ And he bounced out into the garden. Dr Bodmin’s stern countenance relaxed into a compassionate smile as he watched Armidale’s impetuous exit. They had known each other for seveial years, having originally met in boyish days at school, though Bodmin was some years the senior of the two. Although he had spoken harshly, he was sorry for Armidale, for he considered him to be a good fellow at bottom, notwithstanding the large amount of nonsense and vanity about him on the surface. But whatever reflections he may have been inclined to indulge in were interrupted by the entrance of Mr Maldon, who immediately began to cross-examine the Doctor as to the grounds for the opinion he had ventured to express in the garden to the effect that conservatories and hothouses were much superior when constructed of wood instead of iron. The Doctor’s answers might or might not have been satisfactory to the imaginary judge and jury before whom Mr Maldon was conducting the inquiry ; but the examination Was abruptly stopped by the witness asking the learned counsel whether he had heard from his daughter Georgie lately. *To be sure,’ replied Mr Maldon. ‘She and our friends arc cruising about in the Mediterranean.’ * And how is she V ‘ Much better—quite well, indeed, she reports herself. Ah, Doctor, you take too serious a view of her case, I think.’ * I hope I do,’ returned the Doctor drily. Enter Rosie, hurriedly. ‘ Papa, papa 1’ exclaimed the young lady, eagerly ; ‘ there is some one coming to stay here, and you never told me ! It’s so like you, and too provoking !’ * Why, what in the world do you mean, my dear ?’ inquired Mr Maldon, amazed, ‘ Hark ! The front door bell! I saw a carriage come up the drive just now, and there was luggage on the top. Who can it be?’ Mr Maldon mused awhile, and then murmured to Bodmin that he certainly dined at the club when he was in town last week; that he admitted that he did not accurately remember everything that occurred after dinner, beyond that he had lost a few sovereigns at whist; and he did not think that he could have insisted upon anybody coming down to stay with him. The mystery of the arrival was quickly solved by the hasty appearance of a charming young lady, who precipitated herself into Mr Maldon’s arms. * What, Georgie !’ he exclaimed. ‘ Oh, papa ! dear papa ! I am so glad to be at home again ! Darling Rosie !’ and the two sisters embraced and kissed, as only youthful and innocent sisters can embrace and kiss under such circumstances, ‘ Isn’t this a surprise ?’ ‘Yes, by Jove! it is, for some of us,’ thought Dr Bodmin. To he continued.