LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1791, 17 November 1879, Page 3

LITERATURE.

A MODERN DELILAH. I. (Concluded.') What ronsed suspicion in the wafcrMnl eye of Mr John Riddel was the widow herself. Like Weller, senior (though wishout his matrimonial experience to excuse it) he had a prejudice ogainßt widows—at least in jewellers' shops ; nor, I am bound to confeas, was it altogether without grounds;: the garb and the meia of sorrow being the stalking horses under which' a good deal of knavery is accomplished. And then this widow was so bewitching to look at that he was naturally alarmed; from every neat plait of her beautiful hair, and every fold of her modest suit of morning, there seemed to him to flutter' a danger signal. He was wont to declare, indeed, that he knew she was after no good from the first moment he set eyes on her ; but that statement, mnst, I think, be received with caution. If his face grew revere, and bis manner painfully polite, as she came up to where he stood, it was because he knew that Boltby and Malton had got their eyes upon him, and were looking out for some sign of weakness. ' I wish to see some rings,' she said in a soft, gentle voice; ' mourning rings ' And then she took off her glove, displaying the whitest little hand imaginable. Of course, he could not help seeing her hand, nor yet her face, from which the had put back her veil. It wore an expression of sadnes3, but also one of enfranchisement and content; it seemed to say, 'My late husband was very unworthy of me, bnt he has left me free, and I forgive him.' Who has not seen such widows, who wear their weeds almost as if they were", flowers, and who have apparently selected black as their only wear because it is becoming to them? I have often thought, if I could have the choice of my own calling, that next to being ' companion to a lady,' I should like to be a young jeweller trying on rings. It mnst be almost as good as bigamy, trigamy, polygamy, and with none of the risks. _Mr Riddel said : ' Allow me. Madam,' in his most honeyed voice, and slipped (' eased' he called it, and certainly It was very easy work) ring after ring upon the widow's dainty finger. * I hope I'm not hurting you,' he murmured.

' Oh, no,' she sighed ; ' there was a time, but that is passed now—when it would have given 'me pleasure. I mean,' she added hastily, and with a modest blush, ' when rings would have done so; but jewels and gewgaws have no longer any attractions for me.' Mr John Kiddie by no means felt certain of this, but he had an eye for number, and would have missed a ring from the tray in an instant, though he had been exhibiting a thousand. At last she made her choice (it was the most expensive of the whole lot), and produced from the prettiest little bag in the world—a cheque-book. 'Pardon me, madame, we do not take oheques except from—ahem—old customers.' ' Well, I am not a very old customer,' she said, smiling. (< No, but you're a queer one,'he thought, 'or I'm much mistaken') ' Still, I should have thought, in the case of a lady like myself —' ' Madame,' said the crafty young man, ' if it lay In my power to oblige you, there would of course be no difficulty In the matter ; the rule of the firm is, unhappily, what 1 have stated.'

' Then the firm will take my last sixpence,' she rejoined with tender playfulness ; and from the most elegant of ' port-monnaies' she counted him out the sum required, when Its contents, in truth, were quite exhausted. 'I am lodging at De la Bois, the court hairdresser, ' she said ; 'my name is Mrs Montfort. However, I will not trouble you to send the ring, as I shall have to ge home to get some more money,' and she looked at him with eyes that seemed to say, "Cruel man, thus to reduce me to destitution.'

Then she rose and sailed down the shop, carelessly glancing at this or that (ohlefly in the Hair and Mourning Departments) as she passed out. 'lf she is not on the square, she does it uncommonly well,' thought Mr Riddel; ' perhaps I have done her an injustice, poor dear.' On the third morning 'after her visit the widow called again, sailed quite naturally up to our hero, and cast anchor under his eyes. 'You will think,' she remarked, ' after what I said the other day about gewgaws, that I am very changeable in my tastes; but I am not come this time upon my own account; I want to see some diamond lockets for a friend.' This is quite the usual course with ladies and others who victimise the jewellers. They buy a ring for £lO, and after having thus established themselves—cast out their sprat to catch a herring—they patronise the establishment in earnest.

Singular to say, however, this did not rouse Mr Kiddle's suspicions. Notwithstanding his pretence of indifference to Mrs Montfort's charms, he had privately sent to De la Bois in the interim, and found that the lady did reside at that fashionable hairdresser's, and on the first floor; he had done it, of course, in the interest of the firm, and in case she should call again ; but perhaps he would not have been pleased had Messrs Malton and Boltby been made aware of his precaution. The locket that pleased her most was an expensive one, perhaps too much so for her friend's purse, she said. It was very foolish of that lady, but she had such a complete reliance upon her (Mrs Montfort's) taste and judgment that she had placed the matter entirely in her hands. It was a great responsibility. What did Mr Riddle think ?

Mr Riddel's thoughts were always cat and dried on such occasions. He expressed his opinion that the locket selected by Mrs Montfort was certainly the most:elegant of all, and testified to the sagacity, of the lady who hftd such confidence in her good taßte. But as to the price, Mrs. Montfort herself was the only judge as to. the-state of her friend's exchequer. ' Ob, she's rich enough,'smiled Mrs Montfort, ' and as open handed as any woman can be. Onr sex are naturally inclined to be a little close,' she added with,a smile, ' don't you think so ?' Mr Biddel did not think so ; he had always found ladies very generous in their dealings ; in this lady's particular case, he felt more certain than ever that the locket—and he let the light play on it so as to show the brilliants to the beßt advantage—was the very thing to suit her. 'I think so, too,'murmured the widow; • but then you see there's the responsibility. 1 tell you what you mnst do. You shall send all the lockets to my lodgings for an hour or bo, and then my niece, who is staying with me, shall give her opinion on the matter, and by her advise I'll abide.' Mr Biddel smiled, but shook his beautiful head of hair. Every curl of it—and there wero thousands o£ them—expressed a polished but decided negative. ' We couldn't do it, madams, we really couldn't.' * What ! not leave the lockets for an hour I '' ' No, tnadame, not for a moment. Of course, it is but a mere formula, one of those hard and fast regulations, the existence of which one so often has to deplore ; but I have no authority to oblige you as you request. I oan send the lockets, of oourse—or bring them myself—but whoaver is in oharge of them will have ordera »ot to lose eight of them. This la an invariable rule with every customer whose name is • not entered on our broke.* .- Instead of getting into, a rage—genuine, '. if ahe was genuine, or pjetendedi if ahejwaa

3 a swindler—the widow uttered a low rip« I plinglaugb, , "Like the voioa of the Summer brook * In the leify month of Jute, Whioh, to the sleeping woods, all night Slngeth a quiet tune—" Ocly her teeth were much whiter than the I pcbblea of any brook. ' Yon tickle me,' she aC'ii— of oourae ahe was only speaking meta-pho"i9ally-~,80 that I really cannot help laughing; it is so droll that yon should think ' I came h.ctre to steal lockets.' •My dear madam*,' sail Mr Biddel, 'pray da imt talk like that. If it rested with me'-dly dog that he was—'yon should carry off the whole contend of the shop to choose from " ' Yon are very good and very kind,' she said. 'lf any other person bm<i expressed such doubts of me I should have been terribly

offended But I quite understand how yon are situated. Well, you shall bring the lockets yourself, and for fear yoa should think I have any wicked designs/ she added with a little blush, ' will you coma this 1 morning? It will be equally convenient? to' !my niece, and you' need not be afraid' of bring garrotted by daylight.' ' My dear madams/ exclaimed Mr EiddaT fo? the second time, and' with a deeper deprecation than before, ' how can you ? Of cou'-ae, I will come when you please.' ' Very good ; as my broughaTa is here. I drive you home in it.' In five- minntes he had packed up aU the lockets and was following her elegant though- stately figure down the shop. 'There' he goes with another* Duchess,' whispered Mslton to Boltby; 'see how he runs his hand through his hair.'' ' Let up Hope that she will* comb it for him,' answered Boltby the bald, thinking of that happy pair who bad seemed all in all to one another, bat had not been so pw§-occnpced as to prevent them giving him tie chloroform. ' I believe she's no more a- Baobesa than you are.'

Months rolled' en, but though jrra" bad s gone ever so many times into Messrs Moonstone's establishment, you would not have seen Mr John Riddel. His flowing caS&ract' of hair no more adoraed the foreman's desk, over which gleamed in its place—like moonlight;'after sunlight—the bald and shininghead bf Mr Boltby. And yet our hero was in the shop ; he stood at the connter in the' further corner, where the youngest assistantwas always placed (in charge of the mourning jewellery), with a Welsh wig on. Hraown mother—not to mention the Duchesses —would never have known him. He had fallen from his high estate, and was beginning life again on the lowest rnng of the ladder. This was how it happened. Mrs Montfart and her niece, a young lady only less charming than herself, dwelt, as I have said, on the first floor of Mr De la Bois', the Court hair dress*r. They had lodged there for some weeks, and by punctual payments and carelessness concerning the domestic accounts had won the heart of their susceptible landlord. He saw that she had an inward grief —passing that of the ordinary widow—and he ventured to inquire what it was. 'Alas !' she said, ' I have a dear and only nephew whose condition gives me the greatest uneasiness. He has overworked himself, and is threatened with brain faver ; the doctors say that if we could only get him to have' his head shaved, all might be well; but he has a splendid head of' hair—indeed, a great deal too much of-it. No argument of mine will induce him to - part with it.'

This touched Mr De la Boia' professional feeling. 'Dear me, madame, how I pity the young gentlemen ! It is a terrible thing to part with one's hair, bnt still—we could shave him better than at any other establishment in the Kingdom, and quicker.' ' Oh, I don't care about the quickness,' answered Mrs Mont fort hastily, ' the thing is to get it done thoroughly. I would give £SO if Alfonso would only submit to it. Don't you think, if he came with me- one morning, you could get it done whether he would or not?'

' Well, really, madame, that would be- a strong measure; still, if it is for the young man's good—' ' They tell me, Mr De la Boie, nothing else will save his wits ; he is half mad already ; entertains the strangest delnttinna—that everything I have—my jewels, for example —belongs to him. They will belong to him some day, poor fellow—that is,' she added, with a sigh, ' if he lives to enjoy them.' r ;Poor dear young gentleman! And you said £SO I think. Well, I think it can be managed for you. If yon will name a morning I will have four of my strongest young men in readiness, and if you will bring him here I will promise you he shall have his head shaved.' ' Very goad ; I will take him out shopping with me ; he is fond of shopping ; thinks he is a shopkeeper sometimes when his head is bad. He shall come here In my brougham. You will know him in a moment by his magnificent head of hair.' ' Just so ; and in five minutes nobody shall know him, Madame.' ' Don't be in a hurry about it. Let it be done thoroughly, she answered. And so it was arranged. Accordingly, when Mr John Riddel arrived, in the widow's carriage at Mr De la Bois's, and had just placed the parcel of diamond lockets upon her sitting-room table, there was an incursion of four strong young men, with combs in their heads and aprons round their waists. Since those " Four and twenty brisk young fellows, All of them with umbrellas, Fell upon poor Billy Taylor, And persuaded him to be a sailor," there had been no such outrage. They carried him into a back room, fastened him into a chair, and in spite of his babbling about how he was a jeweller's foreman,, and was being robbed (and with violenoe), they shaved his head.

They not only effected this with great completeness, but took their time about it, as his aunt had requested him to do, so that in the meantime she got clear out of - the house, and nothing was ever heard of her afterward, nor of her niece, nor of the diamond lockets. Jt was supposed to be the oompletest 'ehave,' in the slang sense, that had ever been effected. Never since. Samson's time had anyone suffered eo severely from being cropped, for Mr J ohn Riddel not only lost his hair, but his situation. The Meesrs Moonstone declined any longer to intrust their businoss to a foreman who had fallen into such a shallow trap, and lost them thereby £IOOO worth of jewellery. They declared that it was all through his insufferable conceit, and that if he had not taken such pains with his hair, or worn so much of it, such a plan would never have entered the head of that modern Delilah, Mrs Montfort.