LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1743, 20 September 1879, Page 3

LITERATURE.

THE WAGERS. Some years ago I took my seat in the diligence from Marseilles to F . The railway that now connects those cities was not yet contemplated. There were five passengers in all. Of these one was a short, fat man, with smooth cheeks and a red face. Though plainly dressed, his clothes were very good, across his waistcoat he wore a thick gold chain, which he was careful to let me see was attached to a handsome watch, on the back of which was a crest in jewels. There was no doubt he was a rich man, and that I, at all events, might have no denbt of it. he informed me that his income exceeded fifty thousand francs a year, and that he bid fair to double it before five years were gone, so prosperous was his business. I was partly amused and partly disgusted by his loquacity. Why he should have made a confidant of me in particular I don’t know, unless it was that I happened tosit next him. Among other bits of information he eave me to know that this was the first holiday he had indulged himself with for three years. * Where do you get out V I inquired. ' At F ,’ said he, ‘But why do you go so far from Marseilles for a holiday ?’ I asked. ‘ Monsieur,’ he answered, ‘lam going to get married.’ ‘ The deuce !’ I exclaimed, laughing ; ‘and you call that taking a holiday ?’ ‘Why,’said he, ’that would depend. If I were going to marry an ugly woman, now, I should call this tour by an another name. But, my friend, the lady I am engaged to is an angel; sir, she might have sat for one of Mahomet’s houris. Her eyes———’ Here he went off into a long account of his mistress’s pjorfectiona, decorating his fluent description with all manner of shrugs, grimaces, and gesticulations, ‘ You are a very fortune man, sir,’ said I, ‘and I wish you joy.’ 1 Yes, and you may wish the lady joy, too, and .congratulate her as well, for give me leave to say it is not every woman who has the luck to meet with a husband who unites to the splendours of wealth the accomplishments of genius and the graces of courage.’ I smothered a laugh. ‘ So yon have genius and courage as well as money ?’ He nodded vehemently. ‘ Without boasting,’ said he, ‘ I think I may pride myself on being i)ossessed of all the qualifications that recommend a man |to the ladies.’ * So long as they are sufiloient to recommend you to the lady of your choice you should be satisfied ’ ‘ They should be sufficient,’ he replied, ‘ and in my own mind I am j)ersuaded that they are sufficient ; but, though the young lady is beautiful as a houri, I regret to say she is rather x>erverse in her taste, so that for a long time I could hardly make any headway in her affections. Indeed, she was weak-minded enough to avow a preference for a cousin of hors, a young lieutenant—a beggar, sir, and a mighty Impudent dog to boot. What she could see in him I could never tell. I’ll allow that his nose is straight, his eyes gcod. and his teeth white and regular, but what is the use of these things in a man without money ?’ * To be sure,’ said I drowsily, for the day was warm, and the tendency to sleep was aggravated by my droning companion. * I’ll be perfectly frank with you,’ he continued, ‘ and confess that I don’t think she would ever have accepted me had it not been for her father, who is a poor man, and is very eager to have mo as a son in-law, tiiinking I shall pay off his debts, i wish he may

get it! Bah 1 I've allowed him to think anything he likes, for his thinking costs mo nothing, and being anxious to wed the girl, who, I declare to you, is beautiful —’ And here he went off again into another long description, which he liberally garnished, as before, with shrugs and grimaces. ‘ Then you don’t oare about her love ? said 1, sleepily, ‘ Not a fig !’ he answered, • not a fig ! I only want her. At my time of life, sir, we know the hypocrisy of love, how easily it is counterfeited. I have a ring at home with a paste stone in it. I declare to you it flashes like a diamond, and is thought as costly as the best of the real stones I wear. So with love. The counterfeit passes for the real ninety-nine times in the hundred; and, though I’ll own I would rather have the real, if I can’t get it, I should be just as well satisfied with'the sham.’ Ho then branched off into some very cynical remarks on the nature of love,|which, however, I am ashamed to say I do not remember, as I fell sound asleep very shortly aft jr he had commenced them. I was awakened by the diligence stopping at the Golden Lion Inn, in the principal street of F . The fat, red faced babbler, who it seems had been awake through the whole journey, and had been boring a mild-looking gentleman who sat opposite him when he had found me asleep, got out, and I followed him. Ho pulled out his watch, which sparkled most gorgeously as it took the sun’s rays, and exclaimed, turning to me — ‘ A quarter to four, sir. Half an hour after time.’ * I’ll bet you that it is not, ’ said a gentleman, with very fierce moustaches, who stood smoking a cigar before the door of a lowroofed apartment. * I should know,’ retorted the little redfaced man, turning sharply upon him, ‘ for this is one of Leroy’s best watches. It coat me two thousand francs.’ * I’ll bet you ten louis that it la not one of Leroy’s watches,’ said the moustached smoker, coolly. The red-faced man shrugged his shoulders, and went into the travellers’ room, saying to me — * Don’t dine here. We can do better at a cafe.’ ‘ I’ll wager you the value of the watch that the watch is worth nothing ; and if you win, you will receive what yon will not find it worth your while to take,’ said the gentleman with the moustaches, following ns. ‘ I did not address my remarks to yon, sir.’ ‘ I’ll bet you that yon did,’ said the other, with the most provoking coolness. The little man, amazed by this persecution, touched his forehead, to signify that the gentleman with the moustaches was mad. ‘ I’ll bet you don’t prove that I’m mad,’ said the other.

There was a pause. They looked like two dogs waiting to be slipped for a fight. * Upon my word,’ said the red-faoed man, ‘ I know nothing of this fellow. He is a most impudent rascal, whoever he is; and 1 have a good mind to make him march off.’ * I'll make you any bet you like you don’t make me march off!’ exclaimed the other, pulling his moustache; 1 and I’ll further bet you anything you like that I make yon take the road back to Paris, and that too without any delay.’ The little man, whose face was now a deep crimson with rage, blurted out—- ‘ You won’t find that a very easy matter, for I came here to get married.’ * One hundred napoleons you do not marry!’ * Sir. you are an impertinent scoundrel, and I will pull your nose.’ * I’ll make you any bet you like you lie.’ The little man stamped with rage. He glared around him for some moments in in silence, then exclaimed—- * Do you want me to shoot you ?’ ‘ I’ll bet yon you don’t shoot me.’ * Where can we procure pistols ?’ exclaimed the red-faced man, breathing short. ‘The landlord will accommodate ns,’ answered the other. He hurried into the house, and reappeared with a box containing a brace of pistols. I had hitherto treated the affair as a joke, laughing in my sleeve at the red-faced man’s rage and the other’s cool insolence. But I thought it was now time to interpose. ‘ Gentleman,’ I began. But the moustached man turned upon me with a frown. * I believe this gentleman to be a coward, sir, ’ said he; ‘ and if you interfere, I shall conclude you are conspiring to prevent him from proving himself a coward ’ I said no more, but followed the two men to a lonely spot in the park, where the cigar hero was saluted by an officer of the garrison, who was willing to become his second. Having loaded the pistols, we placed the men. It was agreed I should give the signal, which was to throw a five franc piece in the air. My position was a peculiarly disagreeable one. Up to the last moment I had believed that the whole business was only a rather cruel practical joke on the part of the man with the moustaches ; and as my curiosity was excited to follow this adventure to its conclusion, I had volunteered to be the redfaced man’s second. But it seemed now that one or the other, or both, must be killed. ‘ Sir,’ said the man with the cigar, turning to me, * I believe Master Jacques to bo an honest man, but though I can vouch for his wine, I can’t vouch for his pistols. Before that gentleman and I make a target of one another, be so good as to throw that firefranc piece in the air to see now my pistol carries.’ I did as he desired, and tossed the money about seven yards high. I heard the report of a pistol, and the piece of money fell indented. ‘ Bet, * said the man with the moustaches, ‘that I pierce that leaf, vibrating at the extremity of yonder bough.’ And before the other could answer the trigger was pulled, and the leaf was pierced. ‘Bet,’ continued the man, with the most ridiculous coolness, ‘ that I shoot you clean through the pupil of the left eye, and lay you dead, and that you miss me.’ The other was white as a ghost, ‘ I believe you,’ he said, trembling from head to foot, and throwing his pistol down, ‘I guess your motives, and admire your stratagem, and as I am not yet prepared to die, shall take the road back again to Marseilles.’ In fact, we saw him deposit himself in the imperiale of the diligence. I turned to the moustached gentleman for an explanation. He invited me to take a glass of wine with him in the travellers’ room, and with great good humor proceeded to solve the enigma. He was a friend of the young lieutenant, and famous as the moat deadly shot in France. He had received a letter only the day before from his friend, begging him to come to F , and help him to carry out a ruse which he trusted would enable him to marry the girl ho was passionately in love with. The moustached gentleman complied, left Paris, and reached F in time to receive from his friend’s lips particulars of the stratagem he and the young girl had concerted between them. That stratagem was perfectly successful. The little red-faced man, as I afterwards heard, on his reaching Marseilles, wrote to the father of his intended bride, apologising for not having been able to keep his promise to go down to them. You may believe he took good care not to inform the father of the real reason that had prevented him from paying his duties to his betrothed. The red-faced man, however, had no intention of breaking off his marriage, until he was accosted one morning in the streets of Marseilles by the moustached gentleman, who asked if he still persisted in his intention to marry the young lady. ‘ Certainly, ’ was the reply, ‘Then,’said the other, ‘if you want to reach her hand, you will have to mount, first, on my dead body, and, secondly, on the dead body of the lieutenant. Are yon prepared to scale those fortresses !’ ‘ Certainly not.’ * Then go homo ; write to the lady’s father that circumstances compel you to abandon your promise to wed her. I shall know by the day alter to-morrow if that letter has been written. If yes, I will be your friend, and help you, as I have helped the lieutenant, in any honorable love scheme you may choose to enter upon ; If no, be prepared to meet me in the evening. ’ The letter was written, and six months after the young lady was married to the lieutenant.