LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1544, 30 January 1879, Page 3

LITERATURE.

MR BIBB’S HALF NOTE. f“ Temple Bar.”] Mr PiLViNDER Bibb held, and still holds, a situation involving much responsibility and watchfulness, in the well known banking establishment of Coin and Alioy, Flint Lane, Lombard street Within, Mr S. Bibb is known to the facetious clientele of that highly respectable and flourishing concern as “ the man in the tank,” from the fact of his discharging his official duties in a sort of superannuated cistern haded within and mouldy without, the handles to the entrance of which so strongly rest mb!e brass watertaps as to induce aclv< nturous and daring youths to test the problem by turning them steal hily, in the fond but erroneous hope of beholding a violent rush of water flooding the fl )or of the cash office and of seeing the occupants thereof flying fur their respective lives. Mr Bibb’s appearance ia fishy, not in the slangy acceptation of the term, but in the actual. Bis eyes are small and round, and and his mouth occupies the rest of his face The remaining features are merely tenants at will, having t o lixity of tenure whatsoever. Be is possessed of a receding forehead like that of a c< dfi?h, and a receding chin like that of a flounder; snd, Bom the fact of being unable to übtain a hat to tit — all of his castors being either dismally tight or hopelessly loose —an ruleible ring appears upon h's cianium, leading one to imagine that the upper portion of Iris h ad hss been attached to the lower by some cunning and mysterious process onlv known to conjurers and to menders of broken china. Mr Bibb was a bachelor at the date at which this veritable history opens, ard possessor of an income of two hundred pounds per annum, less income tax a superior appetite, an alpaca umbrella, a pair of drab gaiters, and a superb set of bunnious. On * lovely morning in the “merrie” month of May—it doesn’t much matter about the year—a splendid ray of sunlight lay flat aor ss Mr Bibb's tank, like a treat a ►‘low satin ribbon. Mr 13 bb became involved in the >ay, and dived ti is way and that way, to av id the unu'ual and impertinent glare. The glorious sunlight did not suit this financial owl, and he rc'ired eh nd a grim-looking edifice of ledgers, and buried his rii ged head in their mouldy and unsavoury leaves * Will you kindly oblige me with chance ?’ exc’aima a voice as silvery as the sunlight was golden. Mr Bi 1 1> looked out. A crisp ten-pound Bank of England note, with the vigorous hi -tie of a girl’s first silk dress about r, lay opposite to him. ‘ <’an’t do it ’ ho snorted, and, affected ’■ y the yellow satin ribbon of light, dexterously retreated to his c ign of vatu: go. ‘ I shall feci so much obliged ; they arc so busy yonder and I’m in such a hurry,’ ph ad the silvery v ice. Spider like ilvander Bibb came forward and darted upon the negotiable liy, tossed it about, and, spitting it, like a woodcock,

upon an adjacent brass mount, doled out ten shining pieces of gold, which endeavored in bnlbancy to vie with the ray of sunlight, but failed, as rouge and pearl-powder blench before the blush and hue of innocence and youth. ‘ Oh, I am so much obliged !’ Bibo had finished his tot, and now looked up over the ledger; and ju«t as his little round eyes had c eared the serrated calfskin, they Hopped upon the person who had a«ked to be aco mmodated with change. Now, 'divan ler bibb had hitherto resisted the blandishments of those eminent scientific professors at the Crystal Palace and Polytechnic to induce him to experimentalise in electricity, by submitting to the somewhat unnerving process of au electric shock ; but he now made up for all shortcomings by the thrill that vibrated through his system by encountering the glance of two of the blackest eyes that could by any possibility be set in the head of a pretty woman, Bhe was petite, but faultlessly formed ; and her black silk was as perfect of construction as the model which it enshrouded. Her face was pale, but rota delicate paleness, and her lips were as rod as the beat sealing-wax in the bank, ‘lm sorry I refused you, miss,’ exclaimed Bibb; and his mouth opened with a spasm, and closed with a click. ‘ Oh, don’t mention it!’ ‘ Can Ido anything else for you ?' And he leaned across the mahogany counter, as if he were enjoying a wooden swim, and until he broke the glass of his silver watch into ten thousand fragments. The little lady paused,as if in meditation; then op niug a small black leather bag, with a coquettish clasp, especially constructed for the purpose of keeping her little plump fingers toying with it, extracted a sealskin purse with another roguish clasp, and unfolding a bank-note for twenty pounds, timidly asked for change. ‘ Certainly,’ said Bibb, applying himself to the handle of an adjacent drawer, and giving it a pull, much as the skilful and beau iful young ladies at the Criterion clutch tho-e magic levers which can conjure be< ry treasures from the vatty deep. ‘ What way will you ’ave it ?’ Lx his excitement he left the “h ” to take care of itself, and it did not come to the surface. ‘ A tm-poond note and two five-pound notes, if you please.’ With that dexterity of manipulation only attainable by banking officials, Silvandei’ Bibb d g’s-eared the required notes, and gracefully folding, handed them across the mahogany desert, but in such a way as to touch the lady’s hand, and thereby to receive another rap urous sensation, and one which sent the blood Hying about his body in an agitating but not utterly unpleasant, manner. She deposited the notes in the purse, the purse in the bag. and prepared to leave. ‘ What a lovely day !’ gasped the clerk in a sickly attempt at detaining her. ‘ Beautiful ! Exquisite ? Rose light and a sentiment in the air !’ This very gushingly. ‘ Do you live in the country, miss ?’ ‘ I should die in the town.’ ‘ Richmond way ?’ —Artful of Bibb, * > o. ’ ‘ ’lghgate ?’ ‘No Good morning, and thanks.’ One more effort before she disappeared, perhaps for ever ; and throwing himself as Hat as a flounder upon the mahogany counter, ho snorted rather than spoke—- ‘ If you require anything to be done in the banking way, won’t you promise to come to me ?’ ‘ Most willingly; I shall make it my business ’ And, bestowing a glance upon him that filled him with bounding ecstasy and yet unspeakable misery, she was gone. ‘ Only for that cursed Smiffins’ illness, I could follow her, and find out all about her; but I can’t stir. Such eyes ! such a figure! such a voice I That l ist look !’ And Mr Bibb repaired to the back of the tank, and, detaching a cracked, starred mirror, in a vermillion frame, from a shaky peg, sought a glim) se of h ; s own features, in order to ascertain to a nicety the exact bearings of his personal appearance, and if the stray lock of hair with a curl at the extremity, which usually hung down behind his ear, like the pull of a shower-bath instead of hanging over it, was in its right place, and his false tooth (he had only one) well in range. ‘ Why did I not get her name on the back of the note ? It would have been a clue. Perhaps it, may b~ there.’ Eauerly he clutched the notes and examined them. Why does he turn the color of parchment ? Why do his eyes roll like peas in a porringer ? Why does his false tooth protrude itself and threaten to glide down his cliin upon its own responsibility ? The twenty-pound note had been divided, and the halves did not correspond. Now, wh -t was Mr Bibb to do ?’ To smd out to look for the fair unknown would be equivalent to seeking a sixpence in a field of clover. He cursed his own stupidity and smote his forehead. Smiting one’s forehead is strictly in accordance with the dramatic principles for displaying agitation cf an excruciating nature. Large beads of perspiration came rolling down. He smacked them flat with a moist and ink-besmeared palm. Advertise ! Euxvka ! Happy thought ! El Dorado ! In any case he would have to bear the brunt of a wigging from the head of the department, au awful man, with a seme of importance as great as his feeling for his subordinates was small; but then Bibb could show that he had iaken prompt action, that he did not lose a moment. So he forthwith sent the following a Ivertisement to the “Echo,” ai’guing rhat, if she had to go to the country, she would fetch home the latent intelligence to her aunt (pretty gixds always have aunts), and dispose of a tmuble ome halfpenny wnich she would inevitably receive in change at some milliner’s or pastrycook’s in the purchase of the latest edition : ‘£2o Note! —The young lady who received change of a note for £lO and a note for £2O this day at Coin and Alloy’s Bank will much oblige by favoring the offi dal who att nded her or the Secret*ry of the Bank with her name and address at her earliest convenience Sdvsnder Bibb was solemnly interviewed by the head of the department, and threatened with dire consequences. That gentleman deplored the condition cf mind of the obscure creature who canid fall into such an er/or, and hinted that so despicable an uti 'erfiauding was unworthy of any status, however humble, beneath bis exalted seif. ‘ If this money is not forthcoming, sir, it will be n.y duty, sir—d"ty to myself as well a-j to my directors—to visit you with a diap eaaure which at present is not even ripe enough for words. The wffi le of the following day Silvander Bibb stared fixedly in the direction of the glass doors by which the general public entered the cash office, and his heart was up immedi-tely beneath the red rim on his f rehead whenever a petite female form appeared noon the scene; hut although he continued, SiVer Anne fashion, to keep his ii by little eyes upon the aforesaid doors, and although they opened and shut during ‘■he (ffi ia! ours about two thousand times «t iho very least, they opened and closed not u on the fair unknown vi 1 h the black eyes ; ar.it Bibb at four o’clock buttoned on his g-.i’er • and clutched his umbrella, a sad but slid alx pefnlman. The hea lcf the department rent him a letter upon the following morning, which had been addressed to and j . pemd by the secretary. Bib <’« heart ceased to beat altogether, and his bi md b, came as solid as sealing-wax. It was in a female ha d, and it ran thus : ‘ ‘290 .-iby-sinia Parade, Camden Town, ‘ Moo day evening. ‘Sir, —My niece got change at your bank this morning. Your adverii.-ement must r< far to her. 1 read it in vim ‘‘ hcho,” and if the young mvi calls, aiul if the advertise nient is meant for her, he can tell whatever the business is about. ‘ lam, sir, yours respectfully, ‘ M AUTJIA Ml STIVER.’ {To le continued.)