LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 842, 6 March 1877, Page 3

LITERATURE.

MY MISFORTUNE AT MARSH COMMON.

{Concluded.)

We found the Thompsons' house ablaze with lights and flowers; no expense had been spared to make the ball a thorough success. Mr Thompson was evidently a liberal man. I wonder, thought lin parenthesis, what he will feel inclined to endow my Laura with ? He had employed for the party the same firms who contracted for the gorgeous City dinners where aldermen love to dine. If Greenland's icy mountains and India's coral strands had been eatable, they would have been found on Alderman Thompson's table on this memorable night. The hall and lower rooms, I observed, were for the first time hung with ancestral portraits. It was hinted that they owed their origin to a surreptitious visit paid by the alderman to Ward our street, Soho, where such luxuries can be had by the dozen; but people will say unkind things about such matters. Even the good alderman himself, someyeais ago, when he was a humble member of the Radical Buffers' Society, would speechify concerning ' Those poor puling aristocrats, who had the impudence to point with pride to what they called their ancestry, but what honest men would call a set of idle vagabonds, who never did nothink for their living, and gloried in the doing of it.' But times had changed, and with them had changed the sentiments of Alderman Thompson. He had at his command everything that money could buy ; he was also blessed with that health which no riches can insure ; and yet he was neither a contented nor a happy man. His position in the city, and his wealth, procured him to a certain extent a welcome into decent society. Being naturally gifted with quick observation, he soon found that, in spite of the formal politeness with which he was received into other men's houses, there was a hidden something, an uncomfortable feeling that he was not quite on a footing with these people, who talked about, and seemed to interest themselves in, subjects which had never been heard of in his own family circle, and which, plainly speaking, he could not understand. His daughters, too, whom he had idolised almost next to the Lord Mayor of London, who was to hint a god, disappointed him. They had been educated to an alarming extent. A French nur.se had reared them ; a Gorman governess had brooded them under her wings; foreign masters (most of whom claimed to be exiled noblemen) had given them constant tuition. (One of these had, in days gone by, been such an adept in the art of love that an elopement was planned, which scheme was at its maturity most cruelly spoilt by a stern parent.) They could paint in water-colours, and sing—O ye gods, how they could sing ! They could also make all kinds of things out of cardboard, silk, and stamped leather; which were ;;o uaetul bo sell at charitable bazaars, but useful, alas, for nothing else I

But to resume my story. The biOJ was at its height; the rooms were not alone crowded, but the very staircases were packed, sardine-like, with human beings. Merchant princes, sheriffs, common councilmeu, the county members—all were there. In fact, Mrs Thompson had committed the usual error of inviting double the number of people that her house could comfortably hold. There is no doubt that in these crowded assemblies there are many poor wedged-in mortals who suffer much 3 but whose politeness preserves a happy smile on their resigned features. I cannot complain that I was ono of these, unfortunates, for my intimacy with the family prevented it. Nevertheless, there was a sickness at my heart for which I could not account. I at first attributed my uueasy feelings to over exertion ; but when I saw in one of the snrrorfj that my face was very much flushed, I felt sure that my old enemy, was the cause of my trouble. I took what I thought to be the best remedy for mi eh a complaint, by joining in every dauco ; but the more I waltzed the more giddy and uneasy I became. 1 had already caused some remark b}' having so frequently chosen Laura for my partner, but I had as yet made no particular advances to her; indeed, the uneasy feeling which oppressed me seemed to take all such thoughts out of my mind. This was all the more provoking, as I had beforehand imagined a very pretty little drama, of

which she was the heroine and I the hero. I would, I had thought, dance with her only, and after a time would lead her to a quiet seat in one of the conservatories, and there declare my love for her. But now all the pretty thoughts that I had framed for the occasion had deserted me. The very bouquet, which I had composed of a few flowers having sweet meanings, had long ago been crushed to pieces in the struggle of mounting the stairs. But I regretted them not, for my memory was now a perfect blank as to the emblems they bore. The evening wore on heavily enough for me, for I now began to really feel so ill that I excused myself from any more dancing, and walked off to the library, which room was reserved for the amusement of those whose agile days were past. At one table sat two dowagers, with a chess board between tbem ; but judging by the whispered conversation, which they kept up behind their fans, chess had for some time given way to scandal. In another place, a clergyman and an elderly dame were playing draughts. The lady was evidently trying to please the parson, for she was ridiculing a neighbouring vicar's sermons ; and what more nattering unction could she offer to the clerical soul ?

The worthy alderman kept fussing in and out. of the room, 'hail-fellow well met' with everybody. she passed me, he inquire'! if I had left the ballroom to cool myself, foi I iooked "ot.' He accompanied this remark Avith a stinging slap on my back. Now if there is anything which disturbs my usually serene temper, that thing is a slap on the back. It is bad enough when lam in good health, but now when I felt really seedy and uncomfortable, it seemed a cruel addition to my sufferings. However, my host had vanished before he could see the disgust with which I received his kindly-meant blow.

I had been sitting here for some time, when I found that I was becoming an object of attention. The dowagers forgot their scandal, and looked at me through their eye glasses. The parson evidently regarded me with suspicion, for he actually shifted his seat, which before had been close to mine Every one was staring at me, and seemed to be whispering about me. ' What could be the matter ?' thought I. ' I will go away from these ill-mannered people.' But when I tried to rise I tottered on my legs, my brain became confused, the room seemed to swim round me, and everything but the rushing noise injniy ears was a horrid blank.

When I awoke to consciousness I found myself, with a bandage round my head, in my own room. Mrs Vere, her daughter Eleanor, and the family doctor, were standing round my bed, and were apparently holding a kind of inquest over me. While the doctor was congratulating me on the favourable sleep which I had enjoyed, I entreated him to tell me what on earth was the matter.

' Matter enough,' replied he. ' Why, you not only frightened all the guests at Thompson's party last night into the belief that they had a smallpox patient in their midst, but you battered their wainscot with your unfortunate head. Don't be afraid, though ; for as far as I can judge it is nothing more serious than measles.'

' Measles !' cried I; ' why, I had measles years ago !' 'There is no reason,'replied the doctor, ' why you should not have it again. It is a common error to suppose that measles can only appear once in a man's life, for I have now several cases which quite negative the idea.'

I soon resigned myself to my fate and to ,my measles, fox - measles it most undoubtedly was. Mrs Vere and Eleanor proved themselves to be capital nurses, and I had much reason to rejoice in having fallen into such kind hands.

The time that I was confined to my bed I seemed at first to drag along very heavily, for I could not help thinking about Laura Thompson, and brooding upon the ill-luck which had overtaken me. But as the time advanced, and as I daily saw Eleanor Vere moving in and out of my room, my thoughts took a new turn, and I could not help blaming myself for overlooking this treasure of a woman. I had before this bestowed very very little thought upon Eleanor; but now, when I saw her in a new light, as a ministering angel in a sick room (she had been from home when the children were ill), I eagerly watched for her visits, and rejoiced in the illness which privileged me to be tended by such gentle hand. A thousand little attentions, such as only a woman could devise, materially helped to hasten my recovery. When I thanked her for any new proof of her kindness she would pretend that it was her mother's thought, aud not hers ; but I always found, after questioning Mrs Vere, that her daughter was the source from which the kindness originated. It may easily be imagined that my thoughts of Laura Thompson now became less frequent, the more so as none of her family either came to see me, or even sent a messenger to inquire after me. This unaccountable behaviour on the part of such intimate friends somewhat puzzled me, until Mrs Vere furnished me with very good reasons for their neglect. In the first place, both she and I had mortally offended everybody by going to the late ball so soon after the illness of the children, the nature of which illness, by some strange chance, had not been known to the Thompsons. In the next place—it is with abject shame that I recall it—every girl with whom I danced on that unlucky night I had most innocently inoculated with my complaint. Kuch a load of guilt on my conscience would have infallibly sent me to a premature grave, had . not Eleanor Vere helped me to bear it. Indeed, her sympathy was so agreeable to me, and I found her comfort so necessary to my happiness, that I implored her to give me a .life interest in it, and to ha mine both in sickness and in hoalth.

Her answer was as I hoped it would be ; and in contemplation of my good fortune I almost forgot the circumstances which led to it. Others, however, had better memories. Every po3t brought me angry letters—some from comparative strangers; in fact, it is my belief that everybody within six miles of Marsh Common who had the measles at that time laid his or her misfortune at my unlucky door. The alderman was furious at the ' indignity,' as he called it, of his daughters —jouug ladies of their position—being subjectedto such a vulgar thing asmcaslcs. With shame I acknowledged that it was through me that these estimable creatures were pre vented from attending the Queen's Drawingroom. I tried hard to make peace ; but there was no such thing for me. I was from that time disgraced at Marsh Common. Neighbours never happened to be at home

when I called upon them ; and when I met them in the street, so much had the measles affected their eyes, that they did not see me. Luckily I had abundant consolation for being thus sent to Coventry, not only in my engagement, which was an intense happiness to me, but in an unlooked-for improvement in my official position, which enabled me to press Eleanor to fix our wedding day. We chose a new neighbourhood for our home, and from the number of kind friends that are gathered round us, I feel confident that I am not recognised as the same being who perpetrated such villanies at Marsh Common.