LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1545, 31 January 1879, Page 3

LITERATURE.

MU BIBB’S HALF NOTE.

[“Temple Bar.”! (Concluded ) Silvander Bibb was simply beside himself His animal spi'its went up lo twenty degrees, h.s eyes ro'led like tho e attached to a face upon the dials of a fancy clock, and he, the grave, the taciturn, the brusque, became actually facetious, and bandied mouldy jokes, not only with his brother officials, but with the general pubfic at large. The driver of the ’bus which bore Silvander into the heart of Camden Town expres-ed himself to a pal who sat beside somewhat in this fa hion : ‘ You seen that feller as was beside me, him as looked like a codfish? Well, if he ’aint on a drunk, blow me ? He vos a chuckbn’ and a talkin’ to hisself the ’ole wa , and a slapping of h'S spindle thigh. He’lt be worry bad af >re ni.ht.’ With a heart en rapport with the knocker, Mr Bi'v< t emulo.isly smote at the door of 'o. 290 Abyssinia Parade. ' ould she reply to his summons ? Would those I lack eyes sparkle upon h in when that elaboia'ely painted panel yawned ? He could hear a sharp female voice, not her- 1 though, impeaching a domestic for neglect ofdu ty. He could hear the same voice saying to a third party that a queer-looking little man. who looked like a tax-collector, was knocking. This was not reassuring. He was encased in his Sunday garments and gaiters, and was surrounded by his umbrella. Tax-collector, indeed! ‘Mrs Minniver at home?’ he asked, in faltering tones, of a very frowzy-looking. unkempt female. ‘ Miss Minniver is, Wot’s your business, young man ?’ This to an employe of Coin and Alloy. This to a geut'eman who fostered through his own proper person the financial interests of hundreds, nay, thousands of the capitalists of England ? * Woman !’ he exclaimed sternly, ‘ I am a banker. ’ The slipshod one became duly paralysed by this intelligence, and at once admitted him into toe hall The h use was of the petite cl/.ss, and furnished in a manner in dicative of a moderate income, piiid quarterly. '1 he parlor into which Air Bibb was ushered with great formality bespoke warmth in winter, average coolness in summer, and comfortable, if not luxurious, moHs at a 1 seasons. Iwo cosy mor- cco armchairs, a sidtboa'd garnished with an array of piquant sauce-bottles, all in full working older, a good bit of mahogany, well rubbed, in the

centre of the r.iora ; a toasting fork suspiciously near tha fi-eolace. These _anc. several other finger pests denoted the direct load to crealitre comfort in a manner discernible to the meanest capacity. ‘ Miss M nnim* will be with yon directly, please sir,’ observed the greasy young female with a Hopping curtsey, which wa« responded to by a click frun her dowu-at-the-heels slippers as she skipped out of the apartment

Mfss Minniver, then, was the being of whim he was in search —Martha Minniver, Martha wasn’t so pretty as Minniver; and Min iver could be changed, while Martha couldu t How strange was Destiny I Here was Fate working a rare and roseate pattern for him Yes ; this charming little hon«e would sirt him exactly. Forty minutes from the bank ; the ’bus within two minutes’ walk. The far armchair for Martha; the near one for himso'f. The ——

The opening of the do or arrested his musings ; t* e apparition of a mature female —age umer aia, with a lofty forehead, rat tailed, lanky, ci’y curls 5 eyes, one of which invariably bestowed a side glance at the room paper, and a straight body, as though i*. had been ironed out and had been placed between two hoard, with heavy weights thereupon to flatten it more effectually—caused him to stare to his feet, to gasp for breath, and to stare at her as though she had been a ghostly apparition. * I saw you r advertisement. You got my letter V exclaimed a v,.ice from beneath the flat surface.

‘You —you you are Miss Minniver !’ gasped t e bank elerk, ready to sob from sheer disap ointment ‘ I am ; and plea°e to let me know your business’ The word “business” brought Bibb to his senses.

‘ The e is a mistake hero, ma’am,’ he said. ‘I changed a into f'T twenty pounds for a young lady ’ —shame up n him, he laid great stress upon the adjective!—‘ and I got wrong ha vei.’ ‘ Have you the note with you, sir ?’ de* raanded Miss Minniver, in a tone fraught with suspicion. ‘ I have.’ ' Show it, please ?’ Silvander Bibb complied with her request. ‘ Vfs ; it’s all right,’ she exclaimed, ‘ What’s all right ?’ asked Bibb. ‘That is the note I gave my niece to change for me.’ ‘Your niece! where is she?’ exclaimed the hank clerk in eager, not to say ardent, tones * She’s in the house.’ ‘ Can 1 see her ?’ ‘The eis no necessity sir. This is how it happened. I was sent two twenty-pound notes fr >m my brother, at Hull, in halves. I joined the wr-mg halv-s Here,’ she added, exploring the recesses of a myste ious pocket h’dden in the voluminous folds of an apparently seam’ess garment, and, after a considerable struggle fishing a very worn pocket book to the surface; ‘ here is the * ther note: the halves are correct now. I’m sorry you had thi-< trouble.’ Now, whilst Miss Minniver was engaged in extiacting the “fiimsy” from the em braces of the mouldy pocket-book, Mr Bibb was eagerly turning in his mind the excuse proper for seeing the young lady who was ihe first great cause of all his toil and trouble.

‘lt is necessary, ma’am,’ he observed, with a well feigned assumption of coolness, ‘ that I shou’d see your niece for a minute or two, as I must, as a matter of form, get her t> sign this pape*,’ producing as he spoke a bill of the previous evening’s entertainment at the Oxford.

With a sniff, Miss Minniver exclaimed, 1 Oh, very well, sirand with a twin sniff, she called, * I ollie! Lollie!’ this with a hastiness of tone that vibrated through ihe head of Mr Bibb as though a miniature rail way-whistle had been blown close to his ear.

His heart bumped against his ribs as a can*l boat bumps against the sides of a lock. His sight became s me what obscured, and such was tin extremity of his emotion that he was c mp lied to resort to that which he was not invited to do, namely, a chair. Miss Minniver had not asked him to be seated during the interview, as she entertained ideas upon the subject of bank clerks which were somewhat mysteriously mingled with a dim, but nevertheless sufficiently welldefined background, consisting of the single but pregnant word, “Forge y.” ‘ Well, auntie !’ exclaimed a fresh, charming, musical voice, as the very identical little lady who smote Mr Bibb’s heart so heavily burst into the room, like a ray of sunlight, ‘ Tins is the young man from the bank,’ said Miss Minniver in a grating way, as though the words were so many nutmegs, and undergoing the process of being pulverised.

Oh, and so it is ! How do you do ? I’m so sorry you have had all this trouble and she advanced towards him, holding out a sung little hand, which said as plainly as a hand could say the words, ‘Shake me well; I 1 ke it.’

Bibb took the little hand at iti word and shook it. He gazed into the black eyes, but the glitter was to > much for him ; he could nut peer into their depths. He sighed, and mut ered something having an indirect reference to the state of the atmosphere. ‘ "Well—but it is astonishing !’ cried Miss Minniver’s niece; * isn’t it, aunt ?’ ‘ To what do you allude, child ?’ ‘ The likeness that I spoke about ; how like this gentleman is to Lncle George’s picture.’ Bibb retained sufficient presence of mind to eua le him to place himself in a becoming •nd graceful attitude. He inserted one hand witnin the bosom of his coat, whilst with the other he pres-ed a piece of pa’ er (the Oxford programme) against the table. T e curtain was behind him, md he went as near the portrait of a gentleman, as circnm stances would permit. Be should have given Mins Miuniver’s niece more of a front face. His fishy profile stood out like a pointed gable agsinst the sky of a setting sun.

‘ He is like, strangely like !’ observed Miss Minniver, scrutinising each feature of the now blushing bank clerk: ‘the nose, the recoding chin, the want of eyebrows. Then, turning to her mece, the exclaimed, * Run upstairs and fetch me the two ponraits, for this is a very remarkable likeness.’ The young lady disappeared, to reappear in about the space of half a minute bearing the picture referred to, one of them in a large and showy frame, with which the smaller Miss Minniver proceeded to deal. This was a profile cut out of black paper and pasted upon a white background Now, if Mr Bibb had piepared himself for neg o minstrelsy, with a view of never performing out of London, and had pla' ed himself en profile against a white tablecloth for inspect! m, the resemblance could not have been more perfect. Miss Minniver’s niece clapped her bands and screamed with a pleased excitement Mr Bibb, when appealed to, could not see the likeness. In truth, he considered it bore no very remote resemblance to a swordfish. The larger portrait was more pretentious. It was a half length of a fish-faced gentleman in oil. It might have been Mr Bibb’s father, certainly his uncle—one of the Bibb family to a moral certainty. An idea struck Miss Minn'ver’s niece. ‘ What is your name?’ she asked of the bank clerk. ' Bibb,’ was the prompt reply. ‘ ■ h b 1’ jtr wled Miss Minniver. ‘ Bibb !’ sbri ked the ni-ce. ‘ v\ hat Bibb ?’ demanded Mi*s Minniver. 1 Yea, what Bibb ?’ echoed the niece. They had both approached him closely upon either side. ‘ Silvander Bibb ’ he began, but was taken de ! t-y and rapidly up by the ladies, like a lost stitch. ‘ Your father was in the merchant service ?’ ixelaimol Mi s Minniver. ‘ And va drowned oil Lae Gape of Good Mope? add d the nitce. ‘ i'our mother died in giving you birth?’ ‘ nd you \\u re lost in Loudon ?’ Li b turned from one to the other in mute an 1 gaping astonishment, ‘ Speak, man, isn’t this so ?’ ‘ Idon’t stare, but speak..’

' It’s quite true.’ gasped Bibb ‘l’m your aunt.’ and Mies Mmmver dropped upon the right arm of Bibb. * I’m your cousin,’ and Miss Minniver s niece, following suit, was duly received by the astonished '-ilvander ; but whilst he was willing, and did somehow manage to retain his newly-found relative (the younger) within the fold of hia left am for a longer space of time than was absolutely nec n ssary', he rather unceremoniously dispos-d of the elder with a jerk flinging that straightlaned female somewhat roughly aga’nst the corner of the snug-looking sideboard, and causing a general commotion and ynele amongst the bottles containing the riquant sauces, Explanations ensued. Mr Bibb established hia claim, and was admitted, within the fold. He forthwith gave notice to hia landlady at Clanham Rise, with a view to establishing himself in the vicinitv of Aby=fiirda Parade, H’s landlady wouldn’t receive it, stating that she had made arrangements for his stopping under h"r roof so long as she was in the fle«h. Ultimately, however, he succeded in ca’ vying out his intentions.

Of course he made love to his cousin. It was si’ent and undemonstrative at first, but it sndidenly burst into vitality upon the occasion of the vi«it of a dapper young gentl man who was engaged in mercantile pursuits somewhere about London Bridge, This yonng gentleman insisted upon escorting Miss Minniver. junior, to the city for the Purpose of seeing the 1 ord Mayor’s Show. Bibb energetically objected. ‘ You’ll go with me Lollie. won’t you!’ he pleaded, in languishing tones. * Von’d better take care of aunt/ replied his cousin, somewhat snappishly. * * * * •

Miss Lollie Minniver is married to that dapper young man, Silv'ander Bibb periodically purchases silver roue's and cas p a containing knives and forks and sp'ors. He groans during official and he includes half notes amongst the seven deadly sins.