LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1496, 2 December 1878, Page 3

LITERATURE.

A ROMANCE OVER WHITEBAIT. [“London Society.”] ‘ I’ve done it, Glyde !’ cried Edmond Dudley, as he entered his friend (Hyde’s roo ns in. Bond street on a brilliant Juno morning ‘Do you mean to say that you have not had your breakfast yet ?’ ‘ Now, don’t talk, but have a kidney'while it’s hot.’ responded (Hyde, poshing a chair towards his friend, and indicating the dish containing the dainty he had mentioned. ‘ No, no, my dear tellow,’ said Dudley, sinking into a chair, ‘I can’t eat.’ ‘ Can you drink ?’ asked Glyde laconically, * Ves, I fancy so,’ replied Dudley moodily, * Then all is not yet lost. Don’t howl and rail at your fate, and so on, if you can still enjoy your weed and your peg, ’ said Glyde. He finished his breakfast tranquilly, and when he had lit his cigar he said, ‘ What is it that you have done. Dudley? Murdered your tailor because of a misfit P

* I’ve proposed to the girl I mentioned to you, ’ said Dudley, almost sullenly. Glyde gave a long whistle. ‘Oh, I see,’ he muttered : ‘ and you have been accepted ?’ Dudley nodded, and went on smoking in sib nee. ‘1 don’t see, however,’ said Glyde presently, ‘why you should not look at the matter more cheerfully. Of course matri-

mony is a nuisance, because it is a tie, and one loses the plea' ant sensefof irresponsibility, which is the greatest charm of life, I think. But if you begin as you mean to go on, there is no reason why she should be too much of a tie upon you And then, think of the neat sum of money she represents. ‘ 1 know, I know, said Dudley fretfully ; ‘but just think of what all the fellows will go about and say of me everywhere—that I am mercenary, and that I am marrying in order to pay my debts.’ ‘As to that, you know,’ said Glyde, ‘when men tell the truth there is nothing— ’ ‘ But the point is that men, and much

less women, never do tell the truth, unless it be unpleasant,’ said Dudley. ‘There are plenty of truths about me that I should rather like to be circulated in society ; but depend upon it, not a word will ever be breathed but about the one iuefflent I would rather have kept quiet.’ ‘ When did do it?’ asked Glyde. ‘ Yesterday evening,’ said Dudley, his tone and aspect by no means those of an accepted lover. *We were at the Pomeroys together ; so I took her into the conserva tory, and swore, till I was black in the face, that my very life depended upon her answer. I thought at first that she was laughing at me ; but at all events she accepted me; so it does not much matter whether she were laughmg or not laughing ’ ‘ But what do you suppose was her reason

for accepting you?’ said Glyde. ‘ I’m sure I can’t tell,’ said Dudley—- ‘ that’s the most extraordinary part of it all ’

Here Glyde burst into a hearty laugh. ‘ You're a con - ivial suitor, I must own,’ he exclaimed,’ and I hope— ’ But his aspirations were never revealed ; for at that moment a third y ung man entered Glyde’s room, crying, ‘ Glyde, I’ve got a little party on to-day at Greenwich Will you join us ? ’ ‘ Very sorry, dear boy,’ responded Glyde gravely; ‘ but the calls of friendship are imperative, you know. I must stand by Dudley here in his affliction.’ ‘ I beg your pardon, Dudley,’ said the new comer ; ‘ I didn’t see you at first. How do you do ? What’s the matter—have you lest any one ? ’

‘ Oh, no; quite the contrary,’ said Glyde: ‘ he’s won some one—that’s what is the matter with him. Be has consented to try a remedy f r his ills in the form of mat imony: and though the pill he gilded with sixty thousand pounds, it sticks in his throat, VYe had better take him down to Greenwich, Russell; he will soon regain his spirits with us.' In vain Dudley protested that he had promised to call on Miss Lovel that very afternoon. His friends would heir no excuse. They forced him to write a note to her, pleading a previous engagement, and they insisted on his joining the merry, if not strictly reputable, party to Greenwich. Dudley was presently the gayest of the gay, and forgot his new duties and responsibilities in the piquant conversational charm cf certain ‘ light ’ ladies. The parties consisted of four men and two women; and when they all reached the Trafalgar, and a private room was suggested, the feminine element strongly resisted the idea. ‘ We do not want to hide ourselves,’ cried Mdlle Tata. ‘Nor our cavaliers,’ said Mdlle Toto. So a table was taken in the public room by the wall and near the window. The ladles, having divested themselves of their wraps, seated themselves at the table, and prepared to have ‘a good time.’ Russell, and his bosom friend Hobson, who were the hosts, ordered a considered quantity of wdne ; and jokes were falling so thick and fast that the laughter of the party attracted general attention. At one moment there was a sudden influx of visitors ; and Dudley, who was bending towards Mdlle Tata with great empressement, did not notice the new arrivals as they entered. He was sitting with his back to the public, and consequently could see very little of that which was going on in the room. ‘ By Jove ! what a handsome girl I’ cried Russell, who was opposite Dudley, as he looked straight over Dudley’s shoulder. The other men signifying their concurrence iu the opinion, Dudley turned round. His face fell considerably as he recognised in the object of his friend’s admiration Beatrice Lovel, his betrothed ! She was alone, with her father only a } ardor two off; and as he realised this bewildering state of things his eyes met hers and she smiled and bowed, while he responded with an awkward nod, muttering to himself that ho was the unluckiest dog alive.

From that moment all Dudley’s vivacity and enjoyment were over. Her exerted himself by tits and starts to talk and langh. He tried to resume his jokes and absurdities, ho was assiduous in passing the wine, he paid the most forced compliments to his pretty neighbour, he related the wildest anecdotes ; but there was no real animation in it all, and the boisterous party soon began to joke him about his sudden digression, ‘Dudley, you must have seen a ghost,’ said one. ‘ Or a creditor, ’ said another, * Or the pater, *' suggested a third. ‘ Perhaps Mr Dudley thinks his wife is not far off,’ hazarded Mdlle. Toto, with a malicious smile, ‘impossible, I assure you,’ began Dudley. ‘ Perhaps he’s not married yet,’ added Clyde significantly. ‘I see,’ said Mdlle. Tata ; ‘then perhaps he has seen a vision of the chosen fair ono. That would of course bo very terrible, especially if Mr Dudley were considering matrimony as a genteel form of bankruptcy.’ There was a general laugh at Mdlle Tata’s speech, and Dudley muttered to himself that they were all deucedly ill-bred, and that ho was deucedly sorry he had ever consented to join the expedition. His game was of course entirely up; Miss Lovel would never forgive him—women were invariably severe on such matters—the sixty thousand had disappeared, as far as he was c' ncerned ; and not only was he distressed about the money, but he felt as well a vague and lingering regret which he would ha e been puzzled to define What could he do to mend matters ? he asked himself again and again. He could not leave his party and join the L >vels : to begin with, it would bo monstrously ill-bred on his part; also, Miss Loved would certainly not receive him well; and 1m should only be laughed at generally. X’ct it would bo decidedly unpleasant to see her leave the room with bar father, a,nd to, know that she had

made up her mind to throw him over. He was utterly bewildered; and in order to get rid of the tiresome influence of these thoughts, ho helped himself copiously to champagne, and certainly succeeded in making his troubles seem lighter. In the mean time, the young lady at the neighbouring table had been by no means unobservant. She and her father had only been seated a few momenta when she leant across to him and asked, ‘ Po you see whom we have close to us, papa dear ? ’ Mr Lovel, who was a good-hearted easygoing man in everything disconnected with the business in which he had made his fortune, had seen his future son-in-law immediately on entering the room, but would not have drawn his daughter’s attention to the tact. ‘ Well yes, my dear, I do see, he answered now. ‘ But what’s to be done, papa ? ’ inquired Miss Lovel. ‘lean really hardly say,’ answered Mr Lovel tentatively. * What do you think of it?’ * I think, then, we won’t talk of it just now, papa dear,’ replied the young lady decisively. ‘ You shall have your dinner in peace, and we will return to the subject after the whitebait.’ ‘ Po be it,’ said Mr Lovel, nothing loth ; and the father and daughter went very tranquilly through the lengthy list of dishes, disturbed only now and then by the boisterous merriment at the table beside them. When the four successive dishes of white bait had been placed before them, and the exquisite fish in their different dresses had been duly tasted, Beatrice Lovel said quietly to her father,

‘ I hope you don’t feel verv angry with Mr Dudley, papa, because of being with that party—a very mixed party, is it not ? ’ ‘Well, my child, the party certainly is mixed—indeed, excessively mixed—and I’m afraid there is very little character to speak of at the table,’ replied Mr Lovel, glancing discreetly at Dudley's companions as he spoke ; * still I am not so irate at Mr Dudley’s behaviour as some persons might be. You know young men are led into things without thinking.’ ‘ I know, papa,’ said Miss]Lovel, ‘and that is why I am not inclined to bo so severe. The thing is, that if we are judicious, we may save him from future harm.’

‘ Gad bless my soul! ’ muttered Mr Level, looking up at his daughter in amazement, • I never heard such a generous speech come from a woman before.’

‘ But do you think I am wrong, papa ? ’ asked Miss Level.

‘ Certainly not, ray dear,’ replied her father. ‘ I think that if women could more often be as liberal young men would not be so unmanageable. Still, I don’t quite understand what you see in young Dudley to induce you to overlook so much.’

‘ My dear papa,’ said Miss Lovol, ‘ T was interested in him when I first, met him, because I thought there was something in him —something go id in his nature—and I devised a little scheme by which I hoped to do him a genuine service that will be of use throughout life. Yon have allowed me to do what I like—have you not?—and now I am going to surprise you.’ {To he continued.)