LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1628, 9 May 1879, Page 3

LITERATURE.

‘ HE'ilHlL'i'S OKV, i [From “ Belgravia.”] n ‘Fen- goodness’ sake go on, Baird, and , drop yo Mi hideous attempts at humour !’ i ‘ Impetuous youth' ’ he apostrophized me i ‘of forty ! do we not d lute ad good t rings 1 with something useless or stupid, to wit ? whisky with water, laudanum' with agna, ■ life with sleeping—’ " Health inedecine, and hope with Burd,’ j I cried * But do go on ’ . He paused a moment, th n spilled a few , drops from his glass, held it out from him, and said in a tone of suppressed enthusiasm ; ‘J pour and drink to Walter Melton’s > precocious smartness. Bmss the antique ’ bo, ! ’ 5 ‘ Walter, two mere.’ ’ ‘And to ills noble hospitality,’cried the little man with a mischievous twinkle aa he , emptied Lis glass. 1 ‘ Well,’ resumed Baird with a Big b, as though the duty of narration pressed heavily i upon him ‘ Langton increased the base of I the isosceles triangle his legs made with a hearthrug and said; ‘You have come for the purpose of meeting your wife and trying . to indfico her to make over on you money which otherwise will go to that child, Is not that so ? ’ , , ‘ I thought Langtons towmer simply brutal ’ ‘ “ d'ir,” said Eyland, glancing from Langton to me, “we a r e not alone ” He did not show the least sign of haste or temper, but smiled as gently as though I were his sweetheart and he were asking mo to withdraw in order that papa and he might talk over the business aspect of his successful love suit ‘I rose to go, but Langton turned sharply upon me and said : Neither I nor my client has sought this interview, neither I nor my client desires secresy. If it does not answer the purpose of this man that you should be pres -nt ho can go. I desire, Baird, that you remain.’ ‘By George, Melton, but I thought there would be blood. Langton’s voice was full of threat and command; sit down I must and did. ‘ At that moment the door opened and a woman carrying a baby ir her arms came in, indeed, she was one of the plainest women I ever saw. She wore a hideous cold green plaid shawl and an old yellow straw bonnet trimmed with faded violet ribbons.’ ‘ En? ’ ‘ Cold green plaid shawl, old yellow straw bonnet with faded blue or violet ribbons. Whv did yon stop me ? ’ ‘ Was her complexion bad and her nose sunken much below the forehead at the bridge ? ’ ‘Yea; at least, I think so, Give mo a moment. It was ’ ‘ And she held it to her bosom as thongh it were part of her own body that felt cold and needed all the heat of her arms and her bosom ? ’ ‘ All fond mothers hold their babes so. Do you know her ? ’ ‘Was the hair on her forehead irregular 7 Did it grow lower, much lower, at one side than the other? ’ ‘ Yes, it did. Did you ever meet her ? ‘ She was in the carriage I came by to-day. Go on.’ ‘ When the woman raw Ryland she shuddered and drew the child close to her. I was watching every movement and look moat closely. Langton went to her. and spoke to her, and taldng her by the hand led her to a seat with aa much gallan’ry and deference as though she were the finest woman and the first lady in London. Ryland stood in the middle of the room with one hand on the back of the chair and the other still holding his bat in front of his waistcoat. He bowed and smiled faintly as he crossed the room ; beyond that ho did not move After the first look she never glanced toward him again during the whole interview.

‘ After a few words by Langton in a low voice to the woman to which she made no reply, he sat down at his writing-ijable and apoke out. ‘ “ Mrs Eyland, of the money yon inherited from your great uncle from Jamaica, four months after your marriage, you have alnaly assigned away to this man half, or about two thousand five hundred pounds, on the condition that he was to keep away from yon forever. This money having been left to your private use in such a manner that he could have no claim whatever on a penny of it, although he is your —husband—you, against my advice, made over to him the moiety of that fortune. He has been gambling again, and it is all gone—- “ ‘ Operating on the stock exchange.” put in Ey'and in a soft voice, as though more desirous to keep statements accurate than to shelter or excuse himself.

“ half of your fortune has been gambled away, and this —man now wishes to have the opportunity of dissipating— ’ •“ Of operating with—’ broke in Eyland. “ ‘Of dissipating more of it. Your decision —which has my full concurrence—is that you retain the money for yourself and child, and that if he give any further trouble, you seek a divorce on the ground of cruelty.’ ‘ “But I shall get back all I have lost if I can command only another thousand. Only a thousand. There will still be some left for her and the boy, and I shall win all back.’

*“ Not with my approval one penny,’ said Langton, hotly, ‘ “ But I have a right—l am her husband.’

*—(« \\r e won ’t discuss law with you. Mrs Eyland declines to give you the money. The law is open to all. Yon can appeal to it if you please. That is your answer. Yon can leave now.’

‘ “ But I, too, want to secure something for our son. said Eyland. His face was deadly pale, and I saw his fingers tighten and whiten on the brim of his hat until the brim was crushed flat against the side. The pleasant smiles were all gone now, and a sinister leer covered his handsome features. His blue eyes were glassy and cold, and his lips fell back from his white teeth like a coward’s at bay. * “ Oat at once !’ cried Langton, springing to his feet angrily, and I do believe he would have used violence had not Eyland hastly withdrawn, closing the door very softly after himself. There was a long silence. Langton remained standing by his table, the ,woman sat bending over her child and holding it auainst her with both her arms and both her thin Lands, the fingers outspread that the protecting and cherishing hand might touch the moat loved surface.

‘ After a while Langton went across the room and stood leaning over her like a sentinel lion, Then he said in a low, kind voice that made me think more of him than ever I had thought before : Did the little fellow feel the cold ? ’

“‘I tried not to let him,” she answered, looking up for a moment. I’m always afraid to leave him behind, my baby eon. I am afraid he, looking fearfully at the door, might come and steal him away from me. My own! My own I ’ ‘ She bent and absolutely gloated over the little pale sleeper, until a queer kind of dead pain came into my heart. ’ ‘“There is no fear of his doing that,” said Langton. It is the child’s money he wants, and not the boy himself.’ * She rose to go. Langton conducted her to the door as though ho were the first gentleman in England, she the finest woman in Londo", the first lady in the land. “Good-day,” said he. “Good-day,” said she, and she was gone. ‘ Langton came back and stood looking gloomily into the fire. “What a scoundrel!” he cried; “What a scoundrel! what an unapproachable scoundrel !” lie drove his hell into the coal and repeated the words. * ‘ Tell me about it.’ said I.

‘ “Easily enough.” he anaewered. “He was a clerk in a stock-broker’s office twn years ago, and she earned just enough to live on in some umbrella manufactory. Her people had been comfortable once, but lost

all they had at her father’s death ; and two years ago. as far as she knew, she Wist e only survivor of her family. She was then about twenty ye»rs of age and very plainlooking, so that I dare say she had no hone of ever marry ng. She lodged in some place off Stamford street, Blackfriar's bridge, and her nearest friend was her landlady, to whom she paid three and sixpence. a for her attic. Two years ago this Kylaud cams to lodge in the same house. t.e was “the geitleman” of the place, and rented two rooms on th i first iioor ; dingy and dismal as the street w a, the rooms were large, and, owing to the locality, cheap. From the v< ry first he began paying attentions to this w -man, and in Iho end he made downright love to her.’* T ‘ “ You may fancy how this poor creature, no longer young, whohad never been anything bat uuly. felt flattered by the honorable ag proaches of the “gentleman on the firstfloor ” Well to cut it short, in a few months they were married ; she, in the full belief that ho loved her for some subtle charm of mind which be told her he h«d discovered —he was too' consummate a liar to say he loved her for her looks j and he in the full consciousness that she had been left, a year before, ab'ut five thousand pounds by a great-uncle who died before coming home from Jamaica, and of whom she had heard Jittle or nothing all her life. The money had been devised to her father and his heirs, absolutely, and had been advertised Thus he got scent of it and hnnted her down. (To he continued )