LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1286, 3 May 1878, Page 3

LITERATURE.

CHILDREN OBJECTED TO.

[Tinsley.]

Continued.

Mr Smith felt more puzzled than ever. He had believed that, except Sir William and Lady Barton, who had promised him absolute secrecy in the matter, no stranger knew aught of his intended marriage. Elisa had never even mentioned tho name of Mr Vermont, who so unexpectedly presented himself now as a most intimate friend of the young lady's, professedly sent by her to offer an explanation to him. He suddenly recollected that at the end of their last meeting she had said something about a confession she had to make, which had struck him at the time as rather strange, but which he had not thought of Binco.

'May I venture to ask you, Mr Vermont,' he said at last, after a long pause, 'the nature of the explanation you have to offer?'

' Why, of course you may, my dear sir !' replied that gentleman briskly. ' You are in your right. The matter is very simple in itself, very simple indeed. It is only considering what we now know to be your very peculiar personal views on the point—' Here he hesitated.

' Hang me if I can make out your drift, air !' cried Augustus impatieatly. • Will you come to the point ?' • I will, I will ! You see, I am only afraid there may just happen to be a little hitcb, The fact is, the lady ought not to have concealed from you a trifling circumstance—a trifling circumstance, which, if you are the sensible practical man rf the worli I believe you to be, can really make no difference in the contract between you and Elisa Wolfe There are two children, two—"

1 Two devils !' shouted poor Smith, starting bolt upright, as from the shock of a galvanic battery, his face perfectly aghast. ' What, in Heaven's name, can you mean, sir?'

' Children, not devils, sir !' cried Vermont indignantly. ' Two beautiful little boys, of three and two, which any man of sound sense and good feeling would bo proud to have in any house of his —proud, sir, proud I Devils indeed !' Augustus Smith looked stunned. What could it possibly mean ? Had this man come there with malice prepense to fling some vile joke at him? Had his cousin dared— No, no, absurd : it must all be a mistake, of course. If it was meant for a mystification, he would let the man know at once that he had better drop it. ' Let me warn you, sir,' he said, with impressive severity in voice and manner—' let me warn you, sir, not to go on further with this cursed nonsence. I will not stand it, sir. How dare you come here to utter your vile slanders, your insulting lies !' ' Well, if it comes to that, sir, how dare you impute lying and slandering to me ! How dare you insult me—a man old enough to be your father, and who has kuown the lady from a baby 1 Gracious heavens, where is the slander in telling you what she ought certainly to have told you herself, that she had two children -why, she had four of them, only two are dead !' ' Four children ! Better and better ! Now you are losing your senses altogether, sir I Ha, ha 1 I see clearly now that you do not even know the lady. Why, she is too young, at all events, to—' • Too young I Why, sir, she is thirty-two, if she is a day 1 I ought to know, I think - I grant you, of course, she wears remarkably well, and looks at least ten years younger than she is. But that does not prevent her having two children alive —the nicest, sweetest little cherubs—'

' Cherubs be banged! Do you mean to tell me, sir, in sober earnest, that the lady sent you ho' e to reveal this—this - this damnable fact to me ?'

' Damnable fact! Are you not ashamed, sir, to use such a term in connection with the lady and her children ? Taiinable fact! It is not manly to object to children in this —in this—this childish angry manner ? Qt course, I came here at Elisa Wolfe's urgent request.' • Are you mad or am I, sir ?' cried poor Augustus passionately, pressing his temples with his hands, and glaring fiercely upon Vermont, who began to feel rather uncomfortable and somewhat confused in his ideas.

' I hardly know what to say, my dear Mr Smith,'he replied, soothingly; ' I can only say that I am not mad, though I hare, no doubt, been very foolish in coming here. But who could possibly have foreseen that you would cut up so rough a bout a trifle, sir, which, after all is said and done, is no affair of yours, sir ; I only wish my old friend Wolfe was alive—the lady's deceased husban-'—'

' A widow, by Jove ! Better and bettor ! Ha, na T

•Yes, a widow, of course, sir. I trust,' with severest sternness, ' you do not mean to insinuate that you dared to look upon the lady as a spinster after what I have told you ?' 'Of course I did all along—she never told me to the contrary—and you have called her Miss Wolfe even now.' ' That's an old fashion in the Ptates. Have you never read "Sam Slick?" And why should she tell you she was a widow ? Surely that could be no affair of yours !' 'No affair of mine! What! With the engagement between us ?' • Engagement, indeed ! A mere agreement, which, let me tell you, sir, she shall not sign now. It shall be sent back to you, sir, if there were not another house to b 9 got in London—furnished or unfurnished. I wonder you are not ashamed of yourself, sir, objeoting to children in this mad manner. Why, sir, I am an old bachelor myself, but not a tithe so cranky as you, sir. I will receive Elisa and her sweet cherubs of children in my house, until she succeeds in finding something that may suit her equally well as that house of yours, sir—but with a more sensible landlord, sir. There, sir, I have done, sir.'

During the delivery of this impassioned address, Augustus Smith had b< • 1 staring at Vermont, first with vacant amazement, then with a gradual dawn of intelligence. He bethought him of his crotchety cousin Au3tin; then the image of the sweet pure maiden he loved so dearly rose before him. The convict'on flashed through his sorely perplexed brain that it was all a mistake, a ridiculous blunder—how brought about ? that he could not as yet see clearly. But, for the moment, it was quite sufficient for him to perceive that it must ba connected semehow with Austin and some of his queer letting-agreements. So he leant back in his chair, and laughed heartily—to Vermont's indignant surprise.

'Do not be offended, my dear Mr Vermont,' he said cordially and apologettically ; 1 forgive my apparent levity. lam convinced now in my mind that there must be some very abaurd qui pro quo in this. Will you kindly tell me, did Sir William Barton's governess really send you to me ?' ' Don't know anything about Sir William Barton's governess,' cried Vermont slightly ruflled. ' I tell you I came here simply to ask you to rescind that ridiculous clause in your agreement which you have sent to Miss Wolfe.' ' You were sent to Austin Smith, then, not to Augustus. Austin's office is No. 17. Come along with me, my dear sir ; I will take you there to clear up this strange and most perplexing mystery.' And the two proceeded at once to No. 17. Meanwhile Mr Austin Smith also was holding converse with another visitov to West Australia Avenue —a most charming young lady. Miss Emily Hunter had been very much struck with her dear friend Elisa's enthusiastic description of her lover. This strongminded young woman, whilst manfully striving, if the expression may be permitted to pass, to regard herself in the light of a pronounced female gradgrind, dealing only with the dry hard facts of life, and leaving the sentimental side to 'romantic young fools, like poor darling Elisa,' had, almost unsuspected by herself, a very considerable spice of romance in her own composition. Her curiosity was excited. She was eager to see this male creature face to face who professed such exalted notions of the moral obligations of the marital state, and of the absolute necessity of full truth and candour in all relations of life. She felt mischievously inclined to test the strength and sincerity of these professions. She knew the power of her charms, and she resolved to exercise that power to the full upon her friend's lover. No harm, surely, could come of it. If the creature stood the test, why, well and good ; it would presage a happy future for her darling Elisa. If not, it would be a true act of friendship to save the deceived poor girl from the clutches of a hollow pretender. So, laudably intent upon not Bimply conciliating, but actually captivating this ' man Smith,' Miss Emily, exquisitely attired, with an arsenal of witching smiles ambushed about her rosy lips and dimpled damask cheeks, and quivers full of enchanting, love-com-pelling glances lurking in her sweet dark eyes, made her way up the staircase to the first floor of West Australia Avenue, of course, with the persistent perversity of blundering characteristic of a comedy of errors, from the side opposite to the right one. 'Now then for my gentleman,' she muttered to herself; ' third door to the left. Why this is No. 17-Elisa told me No. 7 little fool! Love has got into her head, clearly. She confuses figures, which is a bad sign. For here Ave have Mr Austin Smith on the plate—Augustus she told mc was his name. I suppose Augustus sounds more grand and lovely. Bah! Romantic child! All sentiment and bread-and-butter. Well, here goes!' She knocked. A pleasant voice invited her to enter. A moment after, she found herself in presence of a good-looking gentleman of about thirty, who, politely inviting her to a seat, courteously inquired what was procuring him the honor of the lady's call. Austin Smith was, as we have seen, a professed woman-hater with a vehemently avowed, peculiar, strong aversion to children superadded. He delighted in loudly proclaiming before the world these unamiable features in his character. With anyway clearsighted people, however, he obtained but scant credence of his professed 'misogynic and misopedic idiosyncracy.' They saw through the pretence, which was, in very truth, the merest sui'facc-coating; the very violence of his protestations to the contrary, and the practical support which he strove to give these protestations by ungracious acts and deeds, were, after all, in a measure assumed to persuade himself into the belief in the bone-fide reality of the existence of such feeling in his heart and mind. Some people have strange whims. His cousin Augustus was quite right when he told him that he had a susceptible heart, and warned him against the possible dangerous effects of Elisa's charms. So these two professed haters and contemners of the opposite sex were face to face in a tete-a-tete, for which the lady had made all due provision, whilst the gentleman was altogether unprepared. ' What a beautiful girl!' thought Austin. ' What a bewitching face ! What sparkling eyes !' 'Hm! rather a good-looking creature this !' thought Miss Emily. 'At least she has pretty good taste, my little Elisa.' Then aloud, addressing the gentleman, with a most sweet witching smile, 'My name is Hunter ; Miss Emily Hunter ; I am an American hailing from New York.' 'A Yankee !'said Smith to himßelf,"somewhat disenchanted ; 'a Yankee hailing from New York. Pooh! there is an expression to use for an elegant young woman. But she's a clipper, for all that.' ' I take the liberty of calling upon you.' Hero Mr Smith bowed, murmuring something about the lady 'doing him proud,' which brought an unmistakable grimace to Miss Emily's face. ' What unmeaning trash the creature is uttering,' she said to herself—- ' doing him proud! Here is a saying for a man who calls himself sensible, I daresay. Still he is a good-looking fellow for all that. What splendid teeth he has got.' Then again aloud, ' I take the liberty of calling upon you, Mr Smith, on behalf and in the interest —' (' Just like a commercial traveller,' muttered Smith to himself ; ' I wonder what she wants. If she has anything to sell, I am afraid I shall make a fool of myself, and buy at her own price. What glorious dimples in her cheeks !') —'in the interest of a dear friend of mine, a young lady with whom I have been given to understand you are intimately acquainted—Miss Elisa Wolfe.' ' Miss Elisa Wolfe,' repeated Austin slowly, searching for the name in his memory; ' Miss Elisa Wolfe ! I really cannot for the moment recollect—' ' Gracious heavens, sir, you do not mean to tell me you don't recollect! Why, I have been told there is an engagement between you—' (2b be continued.)