LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 718, 7 October 1876, Page 3

LITERATURE.

THE STORY OF BERYL KARR. Bv Mrs Alexander Fraser, ( Continued,.) ‘You have certainly treated him rudely, and all because he shows some sympathy in the pursuit for which you express such contempt. ’ * i do not believe in the man, ’ she blurted out hastily; and then she flushed, for she had not mennt to be so frank. ‘And why not?’ Carl questioned in a voice of concentrated auger. What can you possibly judge of his character in a few days ? 1 am astonished to find you so’ prejudiced and unjust.’

‘ I do not know anything about his character ; I do not care to know anything. I only feel that he is no,t to be trussed, and I wisfy you wo.uld send him away, Carl !’ ‘ Send him away ! Send a\yay a guest that I haye inyjted to remain for any time he Ijkes ! B.eryl, you aye. nnye^sauable,’

‘ bio, lam not unreasonable; but you wfll be sorry if you do not heed rue,’ said Beryl, with a sudden passionate meaning in her voice that made Carl fear she was on the high road to being distraught. ‘ I am sure of that, Carl; you will be sorry ail your life if you do not heed me.’ ‘ Why on earth should Ibe sorry ? Am I not sensible enough to know that no human being deceives without a motive, and that Lennard can have no motive in deceiving me ? You are prejudiced, like all your sex. Beryl, and that is the long and the short of it,’ said Carl, with a little masculine coh;suraciency and a good deal of dcggoUness. Beryl shrugged her .shoulders' and there was an expression of impatient annoyance on her face when she replied. ‘As yoh will. Of course it is no affair of mine ; but I repeat again that I distrust the i man and everything about him ; ;iml I know | that you will, repent ff6t listening’to my | warning,'Carl; You' maly think me' rrdicu- ! lorisly superstitious, but when I first heard | that the old wing was to be turned into a i laboratory, an instinct told me that it would ibe the spot of 'an awful tragedy. am in earnest, Carl. ’ ‘ Are you ?’ agd the. calm impassive voice in a manner h.-ld the effect of quieting tho evidf.lt agitation in the girFs frame. ‘ You must not bo childish, Beryl. And mark my words, you will end by liking Leimard as much as I do. lam certain of it.’ ‘ Indeed !’

And Bei-yl spoke this not ironically, but a little dreamily; and she did not say another wo’-d on the subject of her likes and dislikes, but quietly turned to some other matter.

The wing was speedily being converted by Carl’s efforts into a laboratory, to the vexation of his whole family. Alterations occupied, however, a few days, in spite of persistent energy and labor, and meanwhile time hung idly on Paul Lennard’s hands.

* Beryl, I shall take it as a personal favor if you will entertain Lennard occasionally while I am so engaged. You see, he is unused to a country life, and he will find it very dull,’ Carl said pathetically. ‘ I will do my best to amuse him, since you desire it,’ the girl answered, with a reluctance upon which it would have been difficult for any one, even herself, to decide whether it was or was not genuine. * But I warn you that 1 do not like him,’ she added, with a curious vehemence.

‘ Never mind that,’ was the fiat of her future husband.

* Carl has desired me to keep you from being bored to death while he is busy,’ she remarked a little later to Paul, who somehow was always lingering in her vicinity, in or out of the house. ‘ I wish Mr Leonard, you would teach me how to do it. You see I am only a stupid country girl, to whom a travelled fine gentleman is a rara avis —and rather a startling one,’ she went on, with just a slight curl of her lip. Paul forgave the curl for the sake of the beauty and freshness of those lips, and he smiled affably. ‘ Please do not call me anything so horrible as a travelled fine gentleman, Miss Karr. lam the farthest in the world from deserving of such a reproach or such a distinction, whichever you choose to call it. And besides, I am the most easily entertained man in the world. But even if I were exigeant as possible, it would be strange if I could not loiter away a few days in this charming old place without incurring the penalty of ennui. I feel like a traveller who has found an enchanted castle—and an enchanted princess,’ he added, smiling. *Do you ?’ And Beryl smiled too. It was not unpleasant to be likened to an enchanted princess. At this moment the instinct of distrust she felt for him (it had even amounted to dislike) lost its force.

She saw only a wonderfully handsome man, who looked at her with evident admiration—a man who seemed to bring into her wearisome life a glimpse of that world for which all her eager fancy, all her overflowing vitality longed. * But the knights who found enchanted castles usually had rather a hard time of it, had they not ? ’ she asked demurely. ‘ They found the princess, however, and that made amends for everything. It was all child’s play compared with that reward, you know.’ * Princesses must have been worth a good deal in the old days,’ Beryl laughed. ‘Not mote than in these. The trouble now, as then, is to find them.’ ‘ One might say the same of dragons and unicorns.’ ‘ Dragons and unicorns were mythical, but princesses were not so,’ Paul answered with a gravity scarcely fit for the subject, ‘ They exist now as they existed then; and one finds them sometimes. If I were lucky enough to do so, I should tell the captive that, according to all rules of romance and chivalry, the discoverer should be the deliverer. ’ * Let me remind you of the recipe for cooking a hare. First find your princess, Mr Lennard, and then decide what you will say to her. Not but that it is very easy to predict what you would say,’ she went on coolly. ‘ Is it ? ’ he asked, with rather a cynical voice. ‘ Tell me what it would be.’ ‘ Knights were very much like men now-a-days, I fancy. They paid pretty compliments, and the princesses believed them, just like other foolish women do. Then when the novelty was over no more pretty speeches came. The knights, as a rule, found the castle very dull, ordered thenhorses, and rode off, to repeat their amusement (with variations) at the next enchanted chateau. ‘ But you forget that there are women and women. Some never loose their charm of novelty.’ And ho gazed at her with the old stereotyped expression, ‘just, as if hisjsoul was in his eyes.’ And to converse like this Paul contrived to to pass away the hours agreeably enough while the preparations for the laboratory were in progress ; and Beryl, unconsciously to herself, began to feel something of that subtle intoxication which the fumes of flattery soon produce on all save the steadiest brains. Gradually she found in this man an attraction which would soon be irresistible. Besides gratified vanity there was the freshness of novelty, the glow of excitement, and that thrill of conscious power which to many of the sex makes the chief fascination of that dangerous pastime which the world has christened ‘ flirtation.’ It was unfortunate that there was no one to utter a ■warping to the girl. Carl was busy with his beloved ‘ idea,’ Mrs Pelham with housekeeping, and her lord and master never regarded the matter at all- So Beryl went her own way, and talked to and rode with Paul without let or hindrance.

It was after one of these rides, which had extended far into the country, into the lonely woods, and under the summer st-irs, that she stood before her mirrior, looking critically at her own face, that, vivid with colour and illuminated with animation, gazed back at her from the glass. As she regarded it a smile, half saucy, half triumphant, curved her scarlet lips. ‘ How pretty I am!’ s);u said. No wonder that he thinks it, piieasaut to flirt with me. But I wonder 'if ho will think it equall pleasant if 1 turn the tables and amuse myself with him? It is only pour passer le tom vs, and it would put a little spice into, n,iy life—■ a little taste of which fa said; to, be so sweet. Men of Mr Lymiards class arc not troubled with, hearts to, lose or break : and Gpvl—well, he would not be jealous if I flirted with every one I met.’ After this little conversation with herself, Beryl was disappointed and rather angry that directly thp alterations were finished Pan,- dvpevtpd hex society and devoted himself to, chemistry. It anpved her considerably to believe that idter all she had been only a plaything for his idle hours. vSV»c began to find the days intolerably dull and tedious without the flavor of his presencc. His sudden neglect stung her ; not so much because her heart or her fancy had become interested, but because her vanity missed the worship upon which it had fed ; and she determined to try her beat to win back her slave, 4 Carl, I should like to see some of Mr Lennard’s experiments. Do you think he would object if I went to the laboratory?’ she asked indifferently,

‘ I am sure he would be glad to see you aud to explain anything you cared to know,’ replied stolid unsuspicious Carl, pleased at this first token of interest in his pursuit. A little later, Paul, roused out of his study of some abstruse chemical work by the sound of voices, turned to she Beryl standing at the door. For a minute he did not utter a word; he only caught his breath quickly, startled out of his usual coolness by the glowing beauty of the face that looked at him. There was a softness and rose brilliancy on her skin, a cleft scarlet on her lip, a bronze sheen on her hair, and a liquid lustre in her eyes that he had never noticed before.

It was Carl’s honest lazy voice that broke the spell of silence. * I have brought Beryl round to see some experiments, Lennard,’ he said. * I suppose you will not mind showing her a few simple ones ? lam obliged to go out meanwhile.’ * I thought you did not care for chemistry. Miss Karr ? ’

I No more I do,’ said Beryl carelessly ; 1 only I am curious, like all Eve’s daughters. May I take the stopper out of this?’ she asked, laying her hand on part of the apparatus on the table. f To be continued .]