LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 729, 20 October 1876, Page 3

LITERATURE.

THE WIDOW'S RUSE. Chapter 111. (Continued.) And then she would suddenly stop, as if conscious she had gone too far, and would look as innocently confused as a child who had blundered into an indiscretion. When the conversation turned upon any subject more profound than usual—upon politics, or science, or such matters—she would always turn to Ralph Denvil for some explanation of the subject, and would listen with such admiring attention while he explained it, and would show such a thorough appreciation of his information, that he could not but feel highly gratified and flattered. And thus, within a very few weeks after their first introduction, a confidential intimacy had ripened between them such as is rarely found but after years of acquaintance and friendship. Ralph Denvil could not be unaware of the widow's favorable feelings towards him; he could not but be aware that he had but to ask her hand and to obtain it; and yet he paused and hesitated and postponed any definite proposal. In truth, he was not quite sure that the step would be a ' prudent' one. Apparently it was true that the widow was immensely wealthy ; evidently she was living in a style which only a large fortune could sustain. But where did the money come from ? What was the amount of the fortune? How was it disposed 1 These were the questions which troubled Ralph Denvil's thoughts by day and drove sleep from his eyes at night. How to obtain reliable information on these points he did not know; none of the widow's friends whom he judiciously ' pumped' could give any satisfactory answer. She was immensely rich—there could be no mistake about that—but as to the exact figure, and the manner in which it was settled, well, they really did not know.

Ralph Denvil was too cautious a man to be satisfied with mere vague surmise ; he was not one to commit himself to anything without knowing exactly the nature and extent of the risk he ran, He was scarcely disposed to marry Mrs Vesey, wealthy as she apparently was, without being satisfied that her wealth was real; hence he procrastinated and paused and hesitated to take any definite step until he was better informed. One day, as he sat at his desk in his inner office, glancing over a parchment relating to hundreds of thousands of pounds, but with thoughts busily pre-occupied with Mrs Vesey and her fortune, he was not a little surprised to receive a note from that lady herself, requesting him to call upon her that very afternoon in his professional capacity, as she had certain legal business to transact. Wondering what could be in the wind, and trusting to chance to bring to light what he so much wished to know, at the ajjpointed time he hastened to obey the summons. He found the little widow reclining upon a sofa, looking somewhat paler and more languid than usual; but she greeted him with her usual sAveetness and directed him to a chair near her couch. ' You'll be surprised, I'm sure, Mr Denvil,' she said, with a faint smile. ' Very strange, isn't it, that I should a3k you to favour me with a call at this hour ?' ' Oh, not at all, my dear Mrs Vesey, not at all! You know we professional men are permitted to dispense with the etiquette of society in the discharge of our duty.' 'Are you, though? Only think what dreadful men you must be to dispense with the etiquette of society ! But what do you think I want to sec you for ? Just guess now.' ' Ifay, madam,' responded the lawyer with a shrug, ' I never was a good guesser of nldles. Perhaps you wish to consult me as to an investment, or a lawsuit, or the validity of a title-deed—in short, I don't know vhat.' ' To Uake my will!' Ralph Denvil started. To make her will! A better chance of gaining that information as to her affairs which he so much coveted could not *, e conceived. In order to draw up her will it WO uld, of course, be necessary for her to u v before him a complete statement of her possessions—that was all he wanted to know. 'You appear surprised,' she <x>ntinued, ' that I should think of such a thing ; but then, you know, life is so uncertain—wc none of us know what may happen. And

if one's affairs are not in some sort of order, there's such a terrible deal of bother afterwards—more especially, you know, if one has no immediate heirs.' 'Certainly, my dear madame,' responded Ralph Denvil, approvingly—'certainly. You are quite right. Your remarks are most sensible. The course you propose is an eminently wise and prudent one.' Thereupon he proceeded to take her instructions for the disposal of her property. The total amount of it, he learned, was upwards of sixty thousand pounds, and was invested in sundry snug and secure investments. The bulk of the amount, after several small legacies and annuities, was bequeathed to the family of some distant connection, some second or third cousin, who, it appeared, was her nearest relative. ' Not that I know anything of them, you know, Mr Denvil,' she said—'indeed I've never seen any of them in my life—but one must leave one's money to some one, and they are the only relatives I have.' Ralph Denvil would have been surprised at the ease with which the artless little woman grasped all the complicated bearings of the subject, at the familiarity with which she spoke of bonds and funds and securities, and at the thorough business knowledge and capacitj she exhibited in the whole affair—he would have been surprised at all this but that his thoughts were otherwise engaged. Sixty thousand pounds. That was undeniably a prize worth securing. Sixty thousand pounds, all in her own right, and most admirably placed 1 He resolved to delay no longer. He determined to take the first opportunity of proposing for her hand, convinced that he had but to ask and to have. Here were sixty thousand pounds actually going a-begging—and he was not the man to let them pass his door unheeded. The opportunity occurred the next evening. They met at a conversazione at the house of one of their acquaintances, and, having wandered away from the crowd of fashionable idlers out into the conservatory, there, beneath the pale light of the full summer moon, Ralph Denvil, in calm, well-chosen words, as became his age and dignity, declared his love, and was accepted. Ere the season was over, St. George's, Hanover Square, witnessed a grand wedding, and the Times of the next day contained the announcement of the union of 'Ralph Denvil, Esq., of Gray's Inn and Bloomsbury, eldest son of the late Rev Ralph Denvil, Wesleyan Minister, to Eleanor, relict of William Vesey, late of Manchester.'

Chapter IV., and Last. Ralph Denvil and his wife spent a very happy honeymoon in the south of France and in Italy, and at the end of the month returned to London. He had taken a large house in Belgrave Square, and had resolved to dispose of his legal connection now that he had no further need of it. With this object in view he was soon deeply engaged in making out a clear statement of the exact state of the business. In the midst of this pursuit he was not a little astounded at the receipt from various tradesmen of a number of bills for goods supplied to his wife previously to their marriage. There was half a year's rent owing for the grand house she had inhabited; were bills for furniture, for dress, for horses and carriages, for jewelry, for entertainments—for a dozen things which it seemed she had ordered and forgotten to pay for. Ralph Denvil could scarcely believe his eyes. Ho thought all the tradsmen in the metropolis must have conspired together to defraud him. With the pared of bills in his hand, he rushed to his wife's apartment to seek some explanation. Mrs Denvil was reclining lazily on a couch, languidly perusing a novel, and when her husband burst into the room she greeted him with her usual sweet smile. ' Just look here, Eleanor!' he broke out indignantly, flinging the bills on to the table beside her. ' There is a set of rascally tradesmen who actually have the impudence to send in these bills for goods they assert to have been supplied to you previously to our marriage. I'll have every one of the rascals indicted for a conspiracy to defraud'.' ' Oh, no, my dear husband, don't act so rashly !' she said, gently. 'ln fact, I believe there are some trifling accounts owing to them.' ' Trifling accounts ! Do you know, Eleanor, how much those bills amount to ? The sum total is no less than three thousand two hundred and sixty-five pounds.' ' Well, my dear Ralph,' she| auswered languidly, ' I dare say that may be the amount —or, at any rate, four thousand will I cover all. I was obliged, you know, to obtain things on credit now and then. One can't always have loose cash in hand.' 'Do you mean to tell me, Eleanor,' exclaimed her husband, amazed beyond measure at her coolness, ' that a rich woman like you, the uncontrolled possessor of sixty thousand pounds, has been obliged to run four thousand pounds into debt ?' 'lndeed I fear it's too true, Ralph,' she replied, with a shrug. 'ln fact I'm scarcely so rich as some people take me to be.' ' Why, Eleanor, what do you mean ?' ' Well, simply this, Ralph,' she answered, throwing her book aside, and leaning her chin upon her hand that she might see him the better. ' I may as well tell you all. It must come out some time, and the sooner the better. Misunderstanding, are so unpleasant, you know, especially between married people. I may as well tell you all at once.' * Tell me all!' echoed Ralph Denvil, utterly astounded. ' Why, woman, what can you mean ? Are you mad ?' r To oe continued,~\