LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1590, 25 March 1879, Page 3

LITERATURE.

HAROLD RIVERS. [“All the Year Round.”] Con tinned. Chapter V, Harold Rivers contrived to reach his bedroom without being seen by a .y one belonging t > the ho*el After cVan ing his clothes he went downstairs again, and lighting a oig«r, he joined other smokers on the lawn. There he was doomed to hear his adv nture canvas-ad by half a dozen different speakers, none of whose faces he could see. Every one praised the unknown ho os bravery, aad every one wondered why he had disappeared so mysteriously. The general opini n seemed to he that ha would turn un on the jr.oiT w, with the view either of being rewarded for his heroism or of having it proclaimed on the house-tops—in other words, of having it duly eumgised in the newspapers. Next morning Harold wont back to Loudon. Ho would writ a week or two till the excitement earned by his last night’s adventure bad subsided, ami then he would go back to Sandport. But it was not til l the end of two mouths that he saw Sandport again. His sudden ducking gave him what the doctors called ‘ a chill ’ and that in turn developed into a kind of low fever, which stole away his apretit i and wasted his strength and laid him by the heels for several wee 1 - s When he got hack to his rooms at Sandport, neither the landlord ir r the waiters recognLod him aga rs. He looked like the skActon of his fo nmr self. To Emilia, meanwhile this was a period of utter wr tchediKss. Her first great fear had been that her child was lost to her ior ever. Bub when this fear was dDpefled, snd Daisy lay sleeping as calmly on her bosom a, though no accident had ever befallen her, h r thoughts iLw at once t. > her husband. Next cl-.y and the day after th >t, she never stirred out of do -s, hoping, dreading evpeo i.v e or/ minute that he would e .11. Aide- that she gave up hoping, and tried to persuade herself that slu had n ver honed at all. Had she not banished him from her presence of her own accord ? Had s e not forbid mn him - v r t > approa ii her again ? 11»- wa only fulfilling her own behest-!. Her I nd ady brought her the 10 sip of the 1 fctlj t wn. Everybody 1 oo dered, nobody seemed to know, who the mysterious stranger could possibly bo. An

unknown at in, he had stopped out of the crowd off limiting that cry of distress; ho had done his deed, and had disappeared without a word to any one. But Emilia kept her own counsel,' nd professed tt» know no more than her neighbours : o !yin Daisy’s prayers a little extra path ion was inserted : ‘ Pray God bless dear ; v3r Wivers, and make him a happy man.’ Da sy wanted to say 'a happv ger tleman,’ and thought it was hardly trea ing Harold with proper respect to call him n> thing netto? then a ' man,’ Sometimes Emilia thought that she would write to Harold and lumrami him to her sdo She began a aoo'e of letters at different t ines, bur. never finished one of them Tiuth to tell, her mo da varied a dozen times a day Do what she might, and cherish though she did a sweet and tender recollection of the dead, her heart sfill y arned towards that living love to which she had vowed herso’f. and which even now was waiting with open arms to recei e her. In her estimate of the tw> men, of her dead husband and her living one, when she came to weiuh them in her th ughts one *gainst the oth-r, she could not help acknowledging to herself how superior in everyway, in education in accomplishment l , in all that constitutes true manhood, was Harold Rivers to George Warrener, Put round the memory of her first lore the-e s’ill clung a halo of romance; and then the t‘-rrib!e way in which she had been bereft of him lent an • d ied tenderness to her rec' lleet’ons, Above :]!, it W'S impossible to forget that one man h >d met with his death at the hands of the ther. Knowing what She knew of Hamid ivers, how was it posaD le that sm couhi ever live wit 1 him as his wife, ever sleep by his side? Waking mid nly io the dumb watches of the nicht, might she not well look to r-ee the t hostly face of her dead low bent over her in terrible re roach And yet with all this, her he-srt we l *■ out towards the man whom she had bidden nev 4 % come into her presence again By-and by, in some occur i way wiucn -'he Ivre-f non hi not have expl mod, alio became ft ware that P avoid was near hr again, .‘-he never met him face to face ; she never passed him when afc'c was out, walking, and yet she felt that he was close at hand, '-‘ometimes she thought she recognised Ins j figure iu the distance, but so indistinctly j that she conld not make sure it was he She felt his influence upon her, ai we feel the influence of spring before t m flowers have yet budded. It was like the influence,of s ring in that it was sweet and so 1 De, full of vague languors and deli ions nams, and \et with that ylad resfles n-si which comes alike to birds and trees and flowers when 1 winter’s reign is neir'y aided, j Emilia as a rule did not cars to associate with any of the other visitors who had apartments in the n=me house as herself; but this autumn brought a certain Mrs Tmray whom few people c uld not help liking, and with wh m she soon struck up a ph-asnnt acquaintanceship. Truth to ted, Emilia fdt hersi if ru ting for want of a little congenial so- iety. The ink >hnt first brought the two women together was their chil reri Each of them hid a little daughter. The two girls I ecama bosom friends which meant kisdng and quarrelling and making it up aga : n ha f-a cozen times a day The two mammas soon got in f o <: nversation, ai d by He end of a week each had contracted a sincere I king f -r the other Mrs I-may was the wife of a gentleman who was junior partner in a certain Loudon firm iVir Imray’s business engagements took him abroad for,three months every summer. Du i g these enforced absences of her husband, Mrs Iraray generally took up her abode at some unpretentious wateringplace ; hence the reason of her present residence in Sa clport.

The two women walked and road and did th‘ ir fanny work together, and interchanged ideis on a hundred different topics. One pleasant morning as they sat together on the beach, pretending to be hard at work, hut in reality sce ng everything that was going on around them, and always keeping ha f an eye on the children, busy with their spades ■md buckets no great distance away, the conversation f 11 on shipwrecks and the loss cf life at sea.

‘ I often wish,’ said Mrs Imray with a sigh, ‘ that Harry’s absences from home did not involve such long journeys by water. Twi e he has been in the greatest danger < f his life ; once by shipwreck, and once by bnrni >g of the ship in which he was a passenger.’ ‘ in danger of his life from shipwreck ! ’ said Emilia with aroused i terrst, ‘Do phase tlt me about it dear Mrs ‘mray.’ ‘There is very little to t 11/ said Mrs Imra} 7 quiVly, as ►ho proceeded to re-thread, her needle. ‘lt happened between fur and live years ago. on a voyage from Bristol to Haliftx. Nova Scotia.’ ‘ From Bristol to Halifax ! ’ cried Emilia, layi l g a hand that trembled with excitement on her companion’s arm. ‘Do you happen to rememb r the name of the vessel ? ’ ‘V- rv well indeed. The ship was called the Daphne.’ ‘ 11 he same, the very same ! ’ exclaimed 1 milia, with clasped hands and blanched fv e ‘ i ! id you then happen to know any one who was wrecked on board the aphne?’ r.s'-ed Mrs Imray, turning with some wonder t > her companion. ‘Yes; I knew one gentleman, like*your husband, a passenger.’ ‘ v hat was his uarn ■?’ ‘ He was shot in some sort of a brawl soon fter the ship had sprung a leak.’ ans er-d Kmbia, without heeding Mrs Imray’s quest.i m. ‘I have of-en he -rd my husband speak about it. His name was Hcrnshaw ; was it not ?’ ‘ es; Hernshaw, George Hernshaw; I knew him slightly; but his mother and s'ste’ i knew v ry well.’ ‘ Boor creatures! What an excessively pai fnl thing for them,’ ‘Painful indeed,’ exclaimed Emilia. ‘ But I don’t think they were ever told the whole facts of the affair; ami a* you and I have nut so singularly, I feel sure that it would he a great condors if I could write them a fud and accurate ace unt of how George came by Ivs death ’ She spoke with an evident union t of hesitation. hhe never looked at her companion, but seemed to be watching a fain ; trail of smoke from a diatan* s':earn*T. M Imray paused a little befo-e she replied as though she were making up her mind what to say. ‘ As you say, it is indeed singular that you and I, meeting heie as stranger i, should find a common link of interest in such an out-of the way event as the wreck of the Daphne. Of coarse my interest in the wreck is confined to Mr Imray’s share in it. and to thankfulness f r his escape, although I have often heard my husband speak of young H rnshaw’s death. But did I understand you Mrs Warrener, to aiythat the poor young man’s mother and aister had never been told the full particulars of ids Lte ? ’ ‘They had a.i account of course from the owners of the ship, but it seemed to be little more than a bare out ine r bey Lave never been t Id the full details from that day to this.’ Again Mrs Imray paused before speaking. Then she said : ‘ln this life i is not always jiuii- ions or ad vie *bie to say all that we may happen t know. Is it rot possible that t e owners of the Daphne may have been exercising ' wise discretion in keeping brek some <-j the details from your fi ieods ? ’

‘i ear Mn Imr iy, what do your mean ? ask. d llrmliti, w <.Li feverish eas'd nes* of voice and m -rater ‘Wbat e m'd tuere possibly be to keep back? The story sat hoard it seemed to bo one of tragic simi Ivi'y.’ ‘ [ don’t say that anything was kept back ; I only sa\ the.e nuit/ have been. 1 ! V u know more ,f die story than I do. ■ on evidendy think that there were certain circa ‘Stances wide- it was ad via > Vo t it Ge orge’s friends should not bn m «do acquaint'd with 1 bit in any c .se jam will a t object to tell me the story an it wan to d to you I am neither Mr Ileinsdiaw’s motii r n <r sister ’ * K- ally, my do r Mrs Warren, r, my recollection of the details of the shipwreck, except hi bo far as they affected my husband,

is moat vague and unsatisfactory. T fed sure that i could not trust myself to give you a correct ver. icn of all that happened.’ ‘Of course if vou cap,not, vou cannot.’ said Emilia e. little coldly. Then she said to herself; ‘There has been something kept back from me If I cannot persuade Tmray to tell me what T want to know, f will go to the owners of the Daphne and demand the dub details from them.’ ‘ fasten,’ at length said Mrs T mr?.y, taking one of 1 milia’s hands in both bars. ‘X on bos t'“at yon are d n enly interested in tide matter. Such being the care I tell yon what I will do, Harry will be homo in about a fortnight fr m now. He will come down here to fetch me. I will introduce you to each other, and toll him that you want to hoar from h T s lips all the particulars of the wr< ok of the Daphne, m re especially that p rti n which relates to the fate of young Hern l haw Ido not d mbt that ho will tII yon everything. After that it wiT be for yon to d ’c’de whether it will he wise or unwise to tell the young man’s mother and sister more than they know already.’ With this Emilia was fain to content h°rself. At las' - she was about to hear the story of the shipwreck and of her husband’s death. At la t she rhould be able to judge whether Harold Rivers’s assertion that he was no murderer was the truth or not the tenth. The foil name of Emilia’s first bus hand had been George Hernshaw Warrener. the owners of the Daphne had first communicated with his mother respecting Ids d atb, they had inf mmed her that he had entered his name on the 1 st of passengers as George TTprnshaw only, and that it wa-< only from certain papers found in bis pockets after death that they had discover'd his real name and the address of his re I ,stives. Emi’ka had often puzzled herself with wonde ing what con'd have been George’s motive for not entering his full name mi the-ship’s bo ks Sometimes she thought the mistake mint have arisen ■•pro an oversight on the part of the shipping people. At other t’raeg she set it down as a practical j ke or the result of a bet on he part of her husband, ■‘•gorge hod always been addicted to practical jokes and to wagering with Ins friends on a I hinds of outrageous matters. Now. however, it began to dawn upon her that her husband’s change of name mi ht possibly be connects > with this other mystery, of which as yet she knew next to nothing. (To he continued )