LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1701, 2 August 1879, Page 3

LITERATURE.

TOLD AT THE HARLFQDIN’S HEAD. ( Concluded .) There, sure enough, was a crack between the woodwork and the time-decayed wall, down which the precious bit of gold might have wriggled. It was a very old house (I had often eat of an evening and listened to the rats behind the arras) ; by hook or by crook I must lift that hearthstone. To shovel the cinders and ashes into the middle of the floor was the work of a moment. The next saw me, coat off and perspiring at every pore, with the poker for a lever and the edge of the crumbly floor of lime and gravel as a fulcrum, endeavoring to raise the stone. After I had torn my hands and bled freely— I did not mind that, although the murder and interment of Mr O’Connor by Mr and Mrs Manning, then a recent atrocity, did cross my mind—the flag gave way, and amid a shower of choking dust, revealed to my gladdened gaze, on the side nearest the wall, a cavity, in which reposed my sovereign ! My first feeling was exaltation, my next perplexity. It was palpably impossible to conceal the traces of my nocturnal handiwork, and how was I to account for it? Who would believe my story ? Certainly not my landlady. Although tolerant of play actors as lodgers, she, a God-fearing woman, believed them capable of evil of the direst description. There was nothing for it but flight. If I remained there would be a bill to pay for damages, which would leave me with scarcely a feather to fly with ; and then what sort of a figure should I cut in the town when the affair got wind ? My heavy props had been packed up with the company’s on the understanding that they weretobe k'pt till called for. I crept up to my room, crammed a few necessary articles into a bundle, stole downstairs again, and fled. Whither, it boots not to say. Enough that the direction taken was opposite to that which led to the n- arcst theatre town. I forgot to mention that, in the hurry of business I had omitted to settle up with my landlady. She would think all sorts of ill of me in consequence, but it should not be for long, I resolved. As roon as the affdr of the hearthstone had had time to blow over she should have her money. About a week elapsed when I found myself, footsore, unshaven, and possessed of a noble appetite, some milts from the little town in Suffolk, in a place which boasted a theatre. It was evening. I dropped iuto a barber’s shop to be made decent, and, while I was waiting my turn to be taken by the nose, glanced idly over the local paper. You may conceive my feelings, Sir,’ continued Mr Croft, turning to me, and at the same time producing from the reces.'cs of a pocketbook a slip of printed paper, very much worn—'You may have tome idea of my state of mind when I inform you that the very first thing which caught my eye was this paragraph : “ Mysterious Flight of an Act r. —The quiet little town of has been afforded a fruitful topic for conjecture by the strange conduct and inexplicable flight of a rather well-known comedian, a member of a company that has just opened —minus this notorious person—at tho Com Exchange in our borough. From reliable information received at the office of this paper, on the evo of our going to press, wo arc enabled to state, without fear of contradiction, that the person in question—whose name wo withhold at present, for obvious reasons —was loft by his landlady, an exceedingly worthy individual, at supper. As she was retiring to rest she hca> d, emanating from the room occupied by her lodger, a sound, the nature of which it perplexed her to define. She exclaimed, ‘ What is tho matter ? ’ when her lodger replied, ‘Oh, nothing -I have merely dropped my pips.’ Satisfied with this explanation, she retired to rest. On rising next morning, after an uneasy night, she summoned the lodger ; but not receiving a reply, peeped into his apartment, and found it untenanted ! The bed had not been slept it. Proceeding downstairs to the room where the had last seen this remarkable gentleman, she discovered, to her horror, that the place had been, to u e her own homely but graphic expression, turned inside out. A considerable part of the base of tho mantelpiece was smashad to atoms, tho hearthstone turned out of its place, the poker bent, and the floor of the apartment strewn with ashes. On closer cxaml-

nation the terrified old dame discovered traces of blood upon the hearthstone. Whether the miscreant was makingjpreparations for some deed of darkness and was interrupted in the midst of the atrocious work, or whether, suspecting that this Tudor mantelpiece masked the hiding-place of family treasure, burglary was his design, it is impossible to say. We may add that we are not without hope that the mystery will be cleared up in the course of a few days. That urbane and indefatigable officer, Tmpector Greenbohn, of the Suffolk Constabulary, has the case in hand ” For tiro next three or four days my life was a burden. I made up as different from my ordinary self as I could, and when I did show at the stage door of a theatre it was, ■>£ course, under an assumed name. The natural effect of this was not to procure an engagement. Nobody knew me. I was too proud to proas, but I felt, nevertheless, in defiance of Talleyrand’s cynical observation (was it Talleyrand's, by the way?), that I was one of those persons who must live. Should I give myself up to the police or busk it to town ? Man—police ; woman — busking (it was my last penny). Woman it was. Well, I took to my business with a stout heart, and on the whole I did pretty well. I had a capital collection of comic songs, and, if you will allow me to ssy so, Sir, my manners were pleasing. But that sort of thing could not last. It rather amused me in the beginning to appear at market dinners and entertain the company ftheir consent to hear me having been previously obtained) with ‘The Country Fair,’ and ‘Mr Simpkins,’ and “The Burial Club ;’ but I could not forget that I was an artist, and it went against the grain to have to send round the hat. And even my new business fell off. I had got somehow into a succession of statute fairs, where, if I had felt inclined to warble, which I certainly did not, my superior class of songs would not have been appreciated, and at last, heartsick and worn out, I came to the determination to give myself up to the police, tell the truth, dare the ridicule of the entire profession—l knew I should be laughed at—and ro appear in my true character. I was approaching a town in the dusk of the evening when I made up this resolve. Crossing a railway which loy between me and the town—it was W Junction—l was induced to halt at the adjoining hotel by the sound of laughter and festivity which proceeded from a large room on the first floor. A party. Perhaps they would not object to a song. I got hold of the waiter, who was an excellent fellow, and secured his good offices. Would he ask the ladies and gentlemen upstairs if they would hear a song by a member of the dramatic profession. (Perhaps that will fetch them, I thought.) He would, and did, I listened at the foot of the stairs. A voice, in reply to the waiter’s, said. ‘By all means. Send him up. A member of the dramatic profession, is he? Ladies and gentlemen, we are in for a treat!’ Under other circumstances I should not have enjoyed a conversation with this satirical gentleman, but necessity and not my will compelled, and I entered the room. The glare of the gaslights, and the hum of hilarious conversation, to say nothing of my native modesty, for a moment robbed me of the power of utterance. I bowed, and, in husky tones, said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I—,’when a voice from the chair exclaimed, * Why, good heavens 1 It is Corry Croft. Dear old boy, what wind has blown you here V ‘ What about the hearthstone ?’ came from a second diner. * How many spade guineas did you find ?’ from a third. * Bad luck to yees, ye murdherin villian 1 Would nothin’ but blood plaze ye?’ from another. Eaoh exclamalion followed by a peal of laughter. I rnbbed my eyes, looked around me, and found myself amongst friends. They were on the way to open on the following night at a theatre sixty miles distant. They had turned their unavoidable delay of several hours at W Junction to pleasant account by dining together. To me, whose mood at the time was emotionally feminine, between lauging and crying, the meeting was overwhelmingly joyful. I had trod the boards at one time or another, with nearly every person present. All but one. She—then Miss Mulberry—you have seen her since, Sir ” —to me—“found n place in my heart at once I don’t know how it was, but ’ ‘ I think, Corry, I do,’ interposed Mrs Coriolanus Croft, with her captivating little laugh, entering the bar parlor at that moment. * Yon were nearly famished, you know, and I saw that you had a good dinner. You looked so wretched, I was sorry for you; and pity, they say—. ” “Go away, you aggravating jade My story la at an end. I went on with the company, and, as luck would have it, the low comedian did not turn up at rehearsal, and I took his place. Out of my first treasury I sent the old lady in Suffolk the money that was owing to her. Part of my second was devoted to the expense of providing her with a new hearthstone. In the fulness of time Polly and I married and settled hers, you know under what circumstances. You also know, for the first time, how we came together.