LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1564, 22 February 1879, Page 3

LITERATURE.

LADY" CHARMRIGH'S DIAMONDS. ["London Society."] (Continued ) Chapter IT. All this was very fine; but Sir Peter Charmeith did not feel much like a hero He and the maker of the safe laid their heads together, and agreed that this triumph '-f mechanical craft ought never to have been burst open, and could not have been if the most ordinary rules of dynamics had followed in forcing it. They were like the historians, enumerating the hundred and one reasons why Waterloo ought not to have been won by the English r ) he safe-maker •*rote a letter to the "Times" on this subject, and Sir Peter gloomily recommended it to the perus»l of his wife, who, however, preterred to read the leading articles, in which her praises were set forth. the burglary she had adopted rather a hoityt ity attitude, as of ono who has asserted her wisdom beyond dispute. Sir Peter was humiliated, and there came a day when he seriously began to think that hia wife's pride required taking down a little. One is sorry to say that these views, too can 'idly expressed, led to some disagreeable scenes Sir Peter was a pompous man. who liked to play Sir Oracle in his own house, ana* his oc upation would have been gone if he had been obliged to give up fault-finding and counselling. The first time that he heard Lady Charmeigh yawn over some wise saw of his, it was as though the knell of marital au hority had sounded in bis ears, aud he expre9sed himself bitterly on this point to Dick Lyster, who was staying at the Hall. He could not have chosen a better confidant or a worse one : a better, for Dick liked him and gave him ready sympathy ; a worse one, for this same Dick was an incor rigible practical joker, who forthwith began turning over a plan for getting a good laugh out of the domestic situation. ' Look here,' said he to the Baronet, as they sat together over their walnuts and wine. 'You must teach Amy a lesion, or else she'll be losing her jewels from overconfidence.' ' That's what I'm always telling her, but she won't listen,' answered miserable Sir Peter. ' Those wretched newspapers have turned her head. She has no consideration for my feelings nor for my experience.' ' You must recover your prestige with a grand stroke,' remarked the Hussar. ' Suppose you prove to Amy that yon are right by stealing all her j'wels yourself.' ' I steal my wife's jewels ?' ' Yes ; you can make a capital joke of it Yon leave the Hall, faying you are going up to London on business for two days ; yu return quietly in the evening enter the house without being seen, and carry off the jewels in the night to your own dressing rem In the morning, after Amy has had a good scare, you come forward aud explain the pleasantry. I'll be bound you are master in your own house after that!' 'You have queer ideas, Dick,' said Sir Peter, amazed, but evidently tempted. ' If I were ten 3'ears younger I don't say—' ' What have ten years to do with it ? Y< u sra quite vourg enough to enter into a p<er:e cf fun. However just le'.ve the business tletails to mo ; I will be your c< nfo lerate an 1 help to mount this little comedy.' Sir had not sagacity enough to see that a husband who plots how he may inflict a deep woincl on hia wife's vanity is playing a dangerous game. He looked ordy to the recovery of hia supremacy, though, to do him justice, he really did feel very anxious about the Charmeighdia-nondi which were his family pride. When a family has nothing else to be proud of, it takes to being proud about its belongings ; and since the burglary, Sir Peter had often redict*d with indignation that it was a melanchuly

thinir to see a hundred thousand pounds' worth of vrop rty in the hands of a giddy K tie woman, who had vo pr>prr respect for her treasure. Why, that very evening Sir Peter had eeon a pihHess necklace lying on the dressing room tabic with no one present to guard it. On the whole, though, it is doub;ful whether the Ba-onet would have entered into Dick i.yster's scheme had not the Hussar plied him with a gl sa or two of rort in excess of h ; s usual ration. This set him rabbling about the obstmacy and f jolishness of women—subjects upon which country gentlemen are always very eloquent when they have well drunk. > y the end of an hour ho was almost game for anything, and kept chuckling to himself in anticipatr n of the triumph he should <?njoy when he heard his Amy ' screaming and wringing her Irnds all over the He was impart ; ng his vision of thn bliss to Dick, when the butler entered to sav that my lady's maid had a mrs'ase to deliver ; and next moment Patty Baggies came in to announce that Lady Charmoigh felt indisposed and had gone up to her ro' m, so that she begged the gen'lemen to excuse her for not meeting them at tea in the drawing room. As Dick and Sir P.ter were the only gent'emen in question, this incident was of not much consequence ; but it surprised Sir Peter to Bee Patty, whom he believed to be still away on her holiday. ' Whv, Patty, I did not know you had returned ' said he. ' Yes. Sir Peter I came back this even* ing,' rejoined the damsel, with a curtsey. * Home air seems to have done yon good ; your cheeks are like roses. Well, I Buppose you heard of the great burglary that took place here whilst you were gone ?' ' Yes, Sir Peter ; it gave me quite a turn. 0. those burglars! only to think of their wicked impudence! And then that rafe too, who'd ever have thought it would have let itself be butt open? But you see, Mr Peter, you and I was in the wrong, and my lady was right after all.' Sir Peter pulled a face, and Dick Lyster smiled.

' I never much liked that girl,' remarked the Baronet when Patty left the Dick, making the most of his opportunity, observed that it was time for Sir Peter to re up and stirring, since his servants were criticising his judgment. Then abruptly—--1 But why not act this very night ? The occasion is most propitious. -Amy has gone to bed early, the maid wi'l be busy chattering about her holiday adventures in the servants' hall. I am sure that jewelry will be lying about in heaps on all the tables.' 4 But how am I to-night?' asked Sir Peter, feeling a little of his valour ooze out of him. ' Why, we'll sit up until all the household are in bed, and then go into the garden and see if it isn't possible for you to effect an c>t'ance through Rome window or unlocked door that will give you an opportunity of testing the vigilance of your servants.' • Isn't it rather a queer thing to do ? I think I should look very foolish if caught climbing through a window with a ladder. Why, one of the servants might send a charge of shot into my back.' 'No fear; we'll manage so as not to be seen.' ' But, I say, don't you feel it's rather a old night? Shouldn't we do well to put the thing off till we have matured our plans'?' Sir Peter was evidently trying to back out; but Dick Lyster would not allow him t > do this 'No,' said he, giving him a slap on the thiffh ; ' I want to * oh you wearing the domestic crown again. I'll make a potentate of you in your own despite. No funking now." # # # # A couple of hours later, when midnight had struck, and all Charmeigh Hall was hushed ia repose, two figures might have been seen groping their way like malefactors in the obsnurity of the garden. It was a very darkn'ght iudeed, and Sir Peter's teeth chattered partly from cold and partly from nervousness, though he had sought to steadv himself t with pretty deep potations, Dick Lyster was crinning like a Cheshire cat. As he made for the shed where the gardeners kept their ladders he oould not help laughing at the remarkable aspect of Sir Peter, who, to equip himself for his burglary, had put on a thick overcoat, furred gloves, and a flannel cricket cap, which he had tied down on his head with a silk pocket handkerchief, iatended to protect his ears. He could no more have ru", if chevied, than a winetun can gallop. However, theie were impulses of resolution iu his demeanour, and he kept on repeating that he was doing all this solely to asaert his dignity. ' A mau mu't be a man,' said he dolefully, as his teeth chattered. A ladder was soon found, and the two men carrying it across the garden with stea T thy steps planted it under the window of 1 ady Charmeigh's dressing room- Dick, who was a nimble gymnast, then hast« to climb the ladder, and on reaching the top tried the wiudow, which by an almost miraculous coincidence proved to be open. I his Dick announced, when he had slid down like a monkey, and the news exasperated Sir Peter, who saw it in another proof of his wife's incurable giddiness, for he * ever suspected that Dick himself had unfastened the bolt that afternoon. ' Why, Amy must be mad to act in this way less than a month after the burglary ; and a window open iu November too !' ' Such a woman deserves to lose her jewel?,' concurred the Hussar feelingly. ' She never deserved to have any ; and I say when I've got them, I've a good mind to lodge them in the bank ; that will tease her ' Eight you are ; your thoughts are those of a sage. But look sharp now.' ' That ladder seems a very tall one, observed Sir Peter, with his foot oa tho lowest rung. ' But mind you, I am only doing this strange thing out of regard for my dignity.' ' Of course; and I'll mount guard below from the pame feeling,' laughed Dick. ' Up you go.' The assent of Sir Peter np the ladder did not prove tuch an easy and graceful affair as Dick's had been. It rather resembled the progress of a stout bear up a pole. Twice the corpu'ent Ha>oaet paused andlistened to the sad soughing of the wind through the chestnut trees of his park, for it seemed as though he heard voices mocking him. Once he uttered an exclamation on feeling the ladder creak ; and when he got to the top and placed his hand on the cold stone of the window-sill a shiver ran through his limbs. Here a little pieca of high gymnastics became necessary, for the problem to be solved was how to get into the room without any noise. To an agile ma i th s would have been easy ; but to a fat one it was a thing of trouble, causing wheezes and puffilngs, besides profuse perspiration. Intent on his digninei purpose, though, Sir Peter made his best exertions, and contrived somehow to land himself into the dressing-'oom on his back with a soft thump like that of a bag of linen for the wash. Luckily the carpet was thick, and the noise woke m eohoes Crawling to his in the dim light—for there were embers of a fire still aglow in the grate —Sir Pet'<r leaned out of the window, and signalled to Dick that it was ' all right' by waving his handkerc ief. Then he trust a match against a red couj, asid proceeded to light one of the chi lies on the chimr ey-piece. This was a delicate moment. If Lady Charmeigh saw the light through her bedroom door, which s L ood ajar, the whole enterprise would break dowa. But her ladyship was sound asleep Sir Peter SiU<-fi d himsalf about that by entering the room on tiptoe, and listening to her breathing soft and regular as aa infant's. ' Foolish woman,' he repeated, as ho stood by the bed. ' H<ro now, if I were a real bu glsr, I oou'd kill her outright.' The th ught made him shudder, but it al j o impelled him with the desire to do his work quickly, and to do it well. He caught night of himself in a glass, a >il felt that he looked like a real burglar, insomuch that he was startled by the expression of raoine imprinted on his slee b face. It is a fact that the countenances of men reflect their oocupations pretty vividly. Sir Peter exhibited quite a burglarious dexterity of touch in

running his hands' oiei the toUot table in tti« bedroom to find out whether tfa'jr* were any valuables there. We du>«t not bring a hgM into the room, *nd it was some momenta before he could accustom his eyes to the semi'ob*cU'ity. When he did so he percivel that there were no trinket* at all ljiug about. The only thing on the table was a gold portc-uonhvr, with the key of the famous safe attached *o it by a chain. Sir Heter looked into the wardrobe, whose door was open —same result. Not an article of any sort that thieves would care to take" wai visible. 'Why,' soliloquised the disgusted Baronet, 'I shouldn't wonder, if, now that the secret of the safe is exploded, Amy had taken to lodging her jewels there just to spite me.' (To bo Continued.)