LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1446, 4 October 1878, Page 3

LITERATURE.

SACRIFICED TO AMBITION. By Stella. [“Tinsley.”] ( Continued.) It was indeed a brilliant assembly. Such an affair as had never been known in the county before Youth and beauty were there to suit ad tastes, but one and all agreed to give the palm to Florence Beverley, for the brilliancy of the others waned in the presence of her dazzling loveliness. Surely that was the right expression that one gigantic young Guardsman made use of when she entered the ballroom with her mother — ‘A magnificent girl, by Jupiter! ’ Yes, a magnificent girl she looked. The Hon. Adolphus Wotherspoon was there. He was there; that was sufficient, though he came in the early hours of the morning, and a telegraphic look was despatched from Florence Beverley to her rival, Fannie Claverton, when he arrived flushed and heated, and in spite of his elegant figure and easy languishing expression looking as if he had been crowding the doings of half a lifetime into the space of the past few months. As soon as his eye alighted on Florence Beverley, absorbed in an interesting conversation with a new admirer, who was ready at once to kneel at her feet and implore her to share his few hundreds a year, the Hon. Adolphus felt his heart jump as he had never felt it before. Perhaps the champagne that he had been so freely partaking of might help to account for it, though i and, as soon as opportunity offered, he made his way to the side of the girl with whom he had flirted desperately, bot for whom he had never nntil now felt any strong passion. * Miss Beverley, am I forgotten? Can you so easily forget ? Ah, what is one to you, who have all at your feet? Your card? Hum—full, of course ; unlucky fellow. But Miss—Miss Florence, cannot you plead—beg to be excused, you know—tired, too heated, anything ? There’s young Spanker—put him off, he has monopolised four valses,’ said Mr Wotherspoon, in broken sentences, and betraying great agitation, a thing that had remained dormant in his character until now. Florence Beverley raised her eyes sufficiently to show their depth and darkness, and replied, Mr Wotherspoon, I do not forget. I never forget—old friends ; but as to “putting off” one of my partners, much less Mr Spanker ’ (softening her voice into a sish as she breathed the name), * I—l would not —could not ’ ‘ Miss Beverley, our valse, I believe.’ The intruder was Mr Spanker himself, who. offering his arm to the young lady, carried her off, to the intenso chagrin of the Hon. Adolphus Wotherspoon, who fixing his mouth firmly, mutter F d something between his teeth that was certainly not a blessing, whatever else it may have been Florence Beverley from that moment could afford to be agreeable to all, and smiled so kindly on her adoring partner that he was transported to the eleventh realm of bliss, and thought, poor fellow, ‘ Ah, she prefers to he with me. After all she must like me better than that Wotherspoon fellow.’

At the conclusion of the dance they retired to the adjoining rooms, and Florence, who was never at a loss in cases of emergency, desired Mr Spanker to bring her some refreshment, knowing perfectly well that the eyes of another had followed her, ani that the ‘other’ was now threading his way through the hosts of people to reach her side.

Not many seconds had elapsed after the exit of the innocent young Spanker ere Mr Wothcrspoon made his appearance, with his naturally graceful abandon, and looking very handsome ; an unusual depth was apparent in his large dark eyes. ‘ Miss Florence—at last! I thought that confounded valse would never end. And Spanker—has he gone ?—he’s desperately in— ’

‘Mr Wothe v spoon, pray do not excite youself—it’s unbecoming. Mr Spanker has merely gone 3'or an ice ;heis so so—kind—and thoughtful-and-and —will be back again presently,’ said Florence, with a motive.

‘ Hum, back again in a moment, will he ? Then I must make the most of my time, Confound his impudence—running after you as ho does. 1 —l —’

‘ No, do not say that; Mr Spanker and I are—that is, he—' * Is in love with you, I know ; and a great piece rf presumption it is too. Bub time is liying, Miss Beverley. Florence, I love you. Don’t start —you’re not surprised—you expected it, of course, You must have done so. Everybody loves you, even young Spanker dares to, and—so do I. I—l—there—l love you!—adore you ! —worship you ! Will you be —my wife ?’ asked the Hon Adolphus, now worked up to a degree of excitement that he had never thought himself capable of feeling. With burning face, and seizing the beautiful girl’s hand, he gazed into her large soft eyes with a glance full of passion and entreaty. Florence, who was by far the more composed of the two, thought to ‘ strike the iron while it was hot,’ as the vulgar saying goes, and answered, with beating heart and a gentle p essuro of the hand that the hon. gentleman held, ‘Mr W otherspoon!—Adolphus ! I cannot —cannot understand—it’s so sudden; but—believe me—your love is not —not quite hopeless. I have —long—long loved you, Adolphus ’ (oh, how sweetly she pronounced that name! he thought. ‘My heart has been—yours since—since— ’ But since when was difficult to say, for Florence Beverley had neither felt the possession nor loss of such an encumbrance as a heart; but her cheeks flushed with pride and her eyes danced with a new light when she thought of her brilliant triumph, and Mr Wotherspoon mistook these signs for love, pure gi lish love, and rejoiced in the happiness that was in store for him. When Mr -pauker returned he was introduced to the girl whim he loved more than anything else on earth as the affianced bride of the Hon. Adolphus Wotherspoon. To have beheld the sudden pallor that overspread his genial face would have aroused a feeling of sympathy in even the cruellest of coquettes. Florence Beverley in her inmost heart did feel a twinge of conscience, and a voice of warning seemed to speak in her ear. But no, she heeded it not, and, alas, she knew not what she did In striving to gratify her ruling passion—ambition.

With what an air ot triumph she sailed into the ballroom on the arm of her fiance, the Hon. Adolphus Wotherspoon! How the news spread like lightning throughout the whole assemblage 1 And what a warm pressure of the hand was that that she got from her mother, after the latter had had a few moments’ private conversation with the lover, now almost another being, so changed was he from the lymphatic and indolent Adolphus ! Then there was Fannie Claverton. too, looking as envious as ever rival did look, and at the same time first a"d foremost in her best wishes and congratulations for and upon her ‘ dear friend’s ’ betrothal.

When Florence’s eye roamed round the room in search of Mr Spanker she could find him nowhere, for he had left the ball immediately after hearing the news of Florence Beverley’s engagement; his heart was too sore to allow him to listen to the expressions of regard and admiration that all were so eager to shower upon the future Mrs Adolphus Wotherspoon. The room suddenly became dark to him. The Hon. Adolphus noticed this, and gloried in it, and drew the hand of Florence Beverley through his arm, and acted like a kind of slow torture on poor young Spanker. So oue may enjoy himself at the expense of another’s direst misery. With an apology Mr Spanker sank upon a couch, and as soon as possible made his escape from the hall, a disappointed and heartbroken young man. And Mr "Wbtherspoon, with his intended bride on his arm, walked away, looking the picture of happiness and contentment.

How long would that picture retain its golden and roseate hue? {To he continued.)