LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1759, 9 October 1879, Page 3

LITERATURE.

A STORY OF AN INDIAN RACEMEET. ( Continued .) Chapter 111. THE MASQUERADE. The last dance of the meet came at last, tho fancy ball. Alice and Cissy had retired to their room to prepare for it; the former sprightly, and more than usually gay, for her dress of scarlet and black and gold, as Esmeralda was likely to suit her to perfection ; but Cissy had not glanced at hers, Wearily she had thrown herself on a chair, and, leaning her cheeks on her hand, bade her ayah wait a while. ‘ Are yon not going to dress, Cissy, dear ? You are out of spirits, surely,’ said Alice. ‘Silly, stupid thing 1’ thought she to herself. ‘ Well, I have as much right to Burton as she has; she’s abominably cross.’ The accusat’on was false ; but Alice did not choose to reproach herself ; she meant to have her way, she did not care much how ; and tried to blame Cissy in her heart, though she kept up a great semblance of affection for her outwardly. • I do feel tired to night; I wish I had not to go to the ball I’m sick of tho meet,’ she said sadly. • Dear me, Cissy, I wonder at you ; but you always were sentimental at school; so much gaiety and waste of time goes against your conscience, I suppose, and makes you religiously melancholy. I was telling Graham Burton last night what a goody yon used to be, and he laughed and said “ What rot I’’ Not very elegant; but really,

f very appropriate. I do wish you would give it up ; it makes you so ridiculous Cissy/ Miss Kicart had a happy knack of inserting what might be vulgarly called a lie—more politely speaking, slight fabrication—into her conversatijn at times, a habit she had in all probability acquired from her excellent mother. A low gleam shot from Cissy’s eyes as she rose and proceeded to dress. ‘I have enjoyed this meet immensely,’ continued Alice. * I shall be very sorry when it is over ; but mamma says I may go down to Calcutta for a while, while my dresses are fresh,’ ‘To Calcutta ! To whom ?’ asked Cissy. ‘To the Tweedies; they asked me on board, you know, and I have kept up a correspondence with them ’ ‘Th-se vulgar people—l could not bear them 1’ Alice shrugged her shoulders, ‘ They have lota of money, and go out a great deal,’ she rt plied carelessly; and the cousins proceeded to dress in silence. Cissy was to be Undine ; her dress was of pale sea-green gauze, over a pale-green shotsilk skirt, and masses of seaweed were festooned here and there. She was to wear nearls as ornaments, and her berthe and band consisted of bright shells. ‘Will you be long, Alice ?’she asked at last, ‘No; why?’ said Alice, flitting about. The small brunette looked her best in the dress she had chosen, and was in good humor. ‘I have a bad headache. I thought I would wait till the room was quiet, and get my old woman to brush my hair well. It is to hang any way.’ ‘Ah, I can go now,’ responded Alice. ‘ I’ll take the rest of my things to mamma’s room, and she’ll fix me up all right;’ and bidding her servant bring what remained of her dress, she flitted cff through the verandah to her mother.

Cissy threw herself back' in a low chair, and gave herself np to thought. ‘ What is the meaning of it all?’she said to herself. * Alice would not marry him j then why does she run after him so? She cannot be taking so much trouble merely to thwart me; it would have been more like her to relieve me of Captain Lambert’s attentions, and I had almost believed she would. Every one Is talking of her; and it is she who is ridiculous, not I. I have tried to show Captain Lambert that I do not want him ; but he will not see it, mamma fawns so abominably upon him. Anyway, I shall refuse him in the end; and after to-morrow surely I shall have a little peace. I fancy they are all working to keep Graham Burton and me apart; and had it not been that he seems to oare for Alice, I would have spoken to him again, and again, and told him that I offended him but accidentally. Ah, God help me, and make me more unselfish !’ she murmured, as the tears fell over her cheeks, and a shiver passed through her. She thought of the moonlight nights on board, of the stolen glances, the tender low words at stray moments, which even the vigilance of her annt could not prevent; of all this intercourse, from the first delicate distant attentions, to the last sad parting, when his lips were dumb ; and though he would not aaj it, she knew he cared for her, and acknowledged the love lying hidden in her own heart. How she had hoped against hope that they should meet again I How sweet it would all have been, even had It passed into the region of dreams! But to meet again so soon, and he so changed and cold, and wooing Alice! Her heart sickened at the thought. *Ah, God, if he had only never come, if it had ail died out and become distant and sweet!’ she sighed, and laid her head wearily on her clasped hands, regardless of the ayah, who had had unfastened the long golden hair and beushed it till it shone like silk.

Mrs Campbell, gorgeous In a Queen Elizabethan costume, which suited her stately figure well, entered, and looked approvingly at Cissy, whose hair, on rising, fell waving and gleaming to her knees. She had arranged Cissy’s dress, and determined that this, her chiefest beauty, should not pass unnoticed. Smiling, as perhaps a statue might smile if suddenly endowed with motion, yet devoid of flesh and blood, she held out a note to Cissy. ‘ Hera is something from Captain Lambert, Cissy, dear,’she said. ‘Ha has gone down to dine with the Stevensons.’

' Why ?’ asked Cissy, in a startled voice, gazing fearfully at the note. * For two reasons, dear. He feared it might be awkward meeting at dinner, after writing to you ; and because he thought you might like a little while to reflect. I said you would answer him at the ball. Of course, it will be a happy answer ;’ and the mother smiled again.

Cissy smiled faintly. She knew what the answer would be, but she meant to give it quietly, and not to be bullied till after. Her mother did not dream of dissent, and continued :

* Besides that, his dress is at Mr Stevenson’s. Young Burton offered him his as a pattern, as he could not make up his mind what to wear; and as it suited him very well, ha sent down a derzio to make one something like it, and is to dine and dress there.’

‘ Then we shall not see him till the ball ?’ ‘No,’

Cissy’s heart bounded at the temporary relief. In the excitement and stir she could dismiss him quietly ; to morrow, the general settling-up day, she and her mother would settle up too ; and after that the station would be almost empty again, and she would at least have no more gadding about. Whilst her mother fastened pearls and seaweed in the long silky tresses, she stood meekly still, pale, silent, and lovely; and when Mrs Campbell, calmly satisfied, had taken [her departure, she opened the note quietly and read it. A slight curl curved her lip. * What a pity he can’t spell properly I’ she said, in a low voice; and holding the paper to the candle till it crisped and curled about her fingers, threw it on the stone dags round the edge of the room, and sailed out.

An hour or so later that same evening Graham Burton might have been seen, in a picturesque garb, supposed to represent that of Sir Walter Raleigh, pacing the verandah of Mr Stevenson’s house, with a lighted cigar in his mouth. Presently he drew near a pillar, and leaning against it, pitched his cheroot among the flowers beneath, and folding his arms, soliloquised thus :

‘ What the deuce does it all mean ? Can the Eicarta suspect that I have money 1 I declare the way that girl comes it is too strong ; she overdoes It, And the way_ she runs her cousin down, too, is suspicious. Whatever Cissy means, she isn’t happy, that’s clear, for at the course to-night she looked simply ghost-like. I daresay Stevenson is correct about Miss Alice, though ho might keep his warnings to himself, as far as I’m concerned. If one did marry her, the mother would load one a devil of a dance ; but it would be no use proposing, for she would not marry what she supposed a penniless man. Yet can she possibly know lam not a penniless ? By gad, that would explain all; for, without flattery, I do believe the girl means marriage. The idea is absurd; she can’t. Yet I can’t fancy her, either, putting herself so much about as to spend the whole meet flirting, simply to keep her cousin from, as she supposes, throwing herself away on me, X don’t know what the deuce to make of it.

Mrs Stevenson came out and spied him, ‘Captain Lambert?’ * No ; Graham Burton,’ laughed that'personage, ‘ Ah, you are dressed so much alike, and both one height and figure, I mistook you. What are you doing here alone, Graham S’ * Meditating, ma coniine,’ *On Miss Ricart? She will be lovely tonight. But T always thought you admired blondes, and Miss Alice is quite a brunette.’ ‘ True and a pretty one.’

‘ Yes, but I don’t care for her expresdon. Excuse my frankness, but I always thought tho cousin would have been nearer your taste; such a sweet ladylike girl. And Alice is just—just a little vulgar, you know. I half fancied that Cissy bad a liking for you too; I’m quite disappointed in your choice, Graham, You met them both on board S’ i Yes, ’ ‘And preferred Alice ? Well, I could not have believed it. And Cissy is as good as she is beautiful too ; one of those dreamy ideal girls—a little too much so. I believe she would not do anything against her conscience for worlds ; and 1 think sho would wait patiently and faithfully for a man who had his way to make, and spur him on, and ho the making of him,’ {To le continued.)