LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1894, 19 March 1880, Page 3

LITERATURE.

A NIGHT It* A BALLOON. ['* Argossy."] It was "Whit Monday—a bright June day, some fifteen years ago. Evening was closing in, and the crowds of Whitsun holiday folks from the great midland manufacturing town of Hammerton —hard-worked mechanics and factory ' hands' for the most part—were_ returning by road or rail from their excursions in the environs. The people's park at Leeston Hall was still thronged, however, for the annual fete was to conclude, as usual, with a grand display of fireworks. A!l day the chief attraction had been the captive balloon in the lower grounds, but now that dusk was falling the crowd had deserted the remoter part of the gardens, and gathered about the terrace where the fireworks were to be displayed. There were still a few labourers left in the pleasant, dusky paths, and among them was a couple whom more than one person turned to look after, struck by something of country freshness in their dress and appearance which was an agreeable contrast to the pallid faces and tawdry finery of the Hammerton folks. They were George and Ellen Fielding. ' It is no use, Nellie,' he was saying, in answer to some remonstrance from his companion , * I must speak as I feel ; and how can I help feeling bitteily towards the man who is doing his best to defraud me of my rights ? And I had a right to the property John Lester left me. It was not a gift, but a compensation for my—" 'I know,' the girl interrupted gently, ' but that ought to have been stated in the will.' ' And because it was not. I must be robbed. Because of John Lester's neglect, I must he accused of fraud by his son ! I, who would scorn * 'Bat he does not know you,' she interposed again; ' thefce suspicions have been suggested to him. If he knew you he could not believe it for a moment. He went on as if she had not spoken. ' The ground I have cultivated—the house I have looked as my home —will be wrested from me, and I shall have to begin the world afresh. It is hard, hard !' The trial is not overjyet,' she reminded him He shook his head despondingly. * I know how it will end. Young Lester has money friends, influence, while I—' His sister sighed. He heard it, and roußing himself from hia depression by an effort, exclaimed remorsefully— ' There I go again, harping on my grievance when I came here expressly to forget it, and making you as wretched as myself. Com?, Ellen, let us see what is going on.' They quickened their pace along the winding path, and presently emerged upon a small lawn, surrounded with palisadings. It was the place reserved for the ascension of the captive balloon, which was now however above their heads, the light, elegant car depending from it being only a few feet from the ground. Ellen Fielding uttered a cry of delighted surprise. It was the first time she had seen a balloon so near.

'Two places left,' said the custodian as they approached. George Fielding glanced at the car. One seat was already occupied by a young man of four or five-and-twenty, with a handsome, Bunburnt face, and frank blue eyes. ' Two placeß,' George repeated. * Would you like to go up, Nellie ?' She hesitated.

' There is no danger, I suppose ?' 'Not the least.' the custodian assured her. ' More than a thousand persons have gone up this Bummer, and they all came down again safe and sound.'

She still hesitated, but though she felt some timidity, the originality of such an adventure was tempting, and after a moment she turned to her brother, and declared her self ready to make the ascent. ' Off we go, then, for a voyage in the air,' he said as he placed her in the car. Direotly they were seated the custodian let out the rope, and the balloon began gently to ascend. When she felt it rising Ellen turned slightly pale, and could not suppress an exclamation.

The stranger who sat opposite to her asked, smiling, ' Are you afraid' His admiring glance brought the colour back to her face at once, as sbe replied 'A little, but I shall soon get used to it.' • fee,' said her brother, 'we are alresdy above the trees.'

She looked down, acd soon forgot her timidity in admiration of the scrae; beneath them, like a map in relief, lay the park and gardens, their whole extent visible at a glance ; immediately under the balloon was the te:race, covered by a dense crowd, whose murmur scarcely reaohed our atrial travellers; the air was pure and light, and of an exbilirating freshness ; the girl turned to her brother with sparkling eyes. ' Oh, George, how beautiful!' And in a lower tone she added, ' Don't you feel somehow oalmer and happier than you did just now ?'

'Yes,'he said, smiling, 'I do; I eoem to have risen for the time above the troubles and turmoil of earth; but what is going on down there ? What a crowd there is on the terrace!'

' They are waiting for the fireworks,' the young stranger observed. ' Ah, there is the first rocket,' exclaimed Ellen ; 'how pretty, like golden rain.' There was a pause; the balloon still aicended ; no more fireworks appeared. ' There seems to be something wrong,' the fftranger remarked, leaning over the car;

' look ; the framework which supports the " set pieces " has fallen down.' • Just bark !' exclaimed George Fielding, 'do yon hen? the people shouting ? and — why, they are tearing up the palisadings ; what does that' mean ?'

' It means tha/S there is a riot, I'm afraid,'' the' other returned ; ' they are- a rough lot, those Hamerton folks, and I expect |they are revenging their disappointment on the gardens.' 'How glad I am that we are'not in that crowd,' was Ellen's remark. ' Yon have quite lost your fear now ?' the young man asked.: ' Oh, yes, I should like to go much higher.' 1 We are almost at the end of our tether, I think,' he replied; and 3ven as he spoke the balloon stopped. ' What a view we have now J* George exolaimet). It was Indeed a beautiful panorama that stretched beneath them, of hill and valley, field and stream, in the ' leafy heart' of Warwickshire ; twilight was stealing over the scene, idealising its colours, and giving a dreamy softness to its outlines; the great P'osaio town of Hammerton was only dimly discerned through its shrond of smoke.

' Old Fuller was right,' the stranger' said enthusiastically, ' there is no county to beat Warwickshire ; it is the heart bat not the core of England, having nothing coarse or choky therein. * * Are you, like myself, a Warwickshire man ?' he added, turning to George Fielding. ' On, yes, born and bred ; I have spent here all the best years of my life—before it was spoilt by lawsuits and the like,' he muttered, half aloud. ' Ay, they do spoil one's life; no one knows that better than I,'the other returned quickly. * Are you, too, compelled to de'end your rights in a court of law ?' Fielding demanded, looking at him with sudden interest. ' Yes, and against an adversary who will do his best to rob me of them.' ' Like mine,' responded the young farmer emphatically ; ' and if he succeed?, I shall lose all.' ' Let ns hope that he will not,' was the stranger's reply ; * though I fear it is sometimes the case that the law is stronger than justice ; particularly when one has an adversary as unscrupulous as I believe mine to be.' 'Ah, I can sympathise with yon,' exclaimed tho other ; ' I Bee yon too are at law with some Frank Lester—some heartless, unprincipled —•»' 'Frank Lester,' echoed the stranger; ' that is my own name.' * Yours I' 'Yes, and my opponent is George Fielding. ' For a moment the two men gazed at each other in silence, with mingled astonishment and hostility. Ellen was terrified. •George,' she whispered, 'pray do not But he did not heed her. ' Frank Lester,' he cried suddenly, ' what you > aid of me just now was a base slander, and I call upon you to retract it.' ' Not till you retract yonr expressions with regard to myself,' the young man retorted in the same tone ; 'it is false that I wish to rob you—false that I am '

George Fielding half rose from his seat, but Ellen clung to his arm, trembling. 'George—pray, pray control yourself!' she implored; 'at least, °do not quarrel here.'

' You are right, this is not the place for it,' he responded, commanding himself by an effort; ' time enough when we get to earth again.' The balloon had now been some time stationary, and they were expecting every instant that it would begin its descent. Bat a,i the moments passed, and it still hang motionless, young Lester peered over the car, and peered through the gathering shadows beneath.

'Surely the man has not forgotten us,' he muttered.

' He is not there,' Miss Fielding exclaimed, the enclosure is empty.' ' The rioters have frightened him from his post,' said her brother, ' and look ! they are making a bonfire of the bences, and a band of them are running through the gardens, putting out the lamps.' 'They are under the balloon,' cried Ellen, c'as ping her hands; 'and now —ah, good heave»"»? ' What is the matter ?' 'They—they are cutting the rope!' 'No—no; impossible!* ' Look !' she gasped. The young men leaned out of the car, and it was but too true.

They shouted with all their might, waving hats and handkerchiefs, bat it was too late. Believing the car to be empty, the rioters had severed the ropes which held the balloon, and the latter, rising with prodigious rapidity, soon disappeared in the evening mists

At first they exhausted themselves in vain lamentations, bat after a time a calm produced by prostration succeeded. They all three remained silent, motionless, apathetic The terrible peculiarity of the situation was utter helplessness. They could do nothing, they could hope for no assistance, they drifted at the mercy of blind chance.

Ellen, half fainting, had hidden her face on the shoulder of her brother, who mechaniclly supported her with his arm, but was too stupified to offer her any encouragement.

Young Lester, who was seated apposite to them, glanced at the girl compassionately from time to time, but did not speak. There was a bat rier of angry pride between the two men which kept them apart, even in their common danger. Meanwhile the balloon, abandoned to the nighb breeze, drifted on at random, now cleaving ttie air with the swiftness of a swallow, then hovering majestically, like an eagle above its eyrie. Occasionally Lester and Fielding looked over the edge of the car into the gulf of shadows beneath them, where they cauld just disc«rn the vague confused lights which indicated towns and villages.

But little by little, aa the balloon ascended into the higher regions, these latter traces of earth disappeared. The atmoßphere became every moment more rarifled, their breathing wu oppressed, there was a singing- in the ears, and a painful tinging in every limb. Now, too, the air became so intensely cold that it seemed to freeze the blond In their veins, and a chid mist enveloped them on every side like a ghostly curtain.

Ellen, who had hitherto uttered no complaint, suddenly sank from the aeat on to the floor of the car.

' Nellie, Nellie—what is the matter ?' ex< claimed her brother in alarm.

' I am tired —and cold. I want to sleep,' she mumured, her eyes closing ' Goad heavens 1 what shall I do ? If she sleeps she will never wake again. Ellen, look up, rouse yourself !' But she remained motionless. He could not see her face, but her hands were damp and deadly cold. ' Wrap her in this,' Slid Frank Lester's voice, aud, looking round, Fielding saw that the young man had taken off his coat. ' No, no, yon want it yourself,' he stammered, surprised and touched. ' She can have mine—' ' This is the warmest. Take it. I shall do well enough. I forgot ti'l this moment that I had my pocket flask with me,' he added 'lf she can swallow a little bradny ' He gently raised the girl's head, and supporting it on his knee, poured a few drops between her lips, then chafed her hands, bending his head to listen anxiously to the faint heating of her heart. 'She Is reviving,' he whispered; 'if we can keep her warm she will take no hurt.' As ho assisted Fielding to draw the coat more closely round her, the latter's hand touched hia. Yielding to a sudden impulse, the young farmer seized and pressed it. ' Lester, you are a good fellow,' he said huskily; ' if I had known you before I should not have said—what I did just now. Forgive me.' ' There is nothing to forgive. I was the most in fault,' Lester answered quickly, cordially returning the pressure ; ' we have both been mistaken. Enmity is often the result more of ignorance and misunderstanding than of malice. Hush—jour sister is recovering ' 'Yes, I am better now,' the girl said faintly; «I heard what you have been saying, and I am glad—so glad you are friends. Perhaps,' Bhe continued solemnly, ' perhaps we may never aee earth again, and would it

not have been terrible to have gone into the presence of God with hearts fall of hatred and enmity ?' The men were silent, the minds of both were occupied with thoughts too deep for word*. They felt calmer now. Tho reconciliation seemed to- have given them fresh courage. Hitherto- they had been isolated by hatred, now they were united by the common peril, and the better fit to endure It.

So patsed the long hours of the night. Ae dawn approached, the wind, which had hitherto borne them steadily upwards, gradually subsided, leaving the air calm, and the balloon began gently to descend. Hope returned to their hearts ; they waited anxiously for daylight. At length the ' awful' rose of dawn' unfolded in the east ; long rays of light shot upwards over the sky; the grey clouds-broke into bright bars and islets, floating in-a golden sea ; and then, in all his majesty, up rose the sun. For them, it was a resurrection. They were no longer alone in an abyss of darkness—a blank, death-like void. The sun shone; the earth still existed I There, beneath them, were woods and hills, dewy meadows, and pastoral streams. A fresh, moist odour reached them from the fields; the lark poured out his matin song high up in the luminous air. Still the balloon descended ; and now they could distinguish houses and figures Suddenly the farmer uttered an exclamation of joyful surprise. 'Nellie! look ! there la Ash wood church, and there—there—' His voice faltered, he turned and looked at his sister, silently pointing down. He had recognised his native' village, and the fields of his own farm. Trembling with excitement, she leaned over the edge of the car. 'Take care,'said young Lester quickly, drawing her back, and—perhaps from absence of mind—he kept his arm round her waist; 'in five minutes we shall be on terra firma.' The words had hardly left his lips when the balloon, which had hitherto steadily descended, began slowly to rise again, borne upwards by the gentle breeze. Ellen Fielding uttered a cry of despair, extending her arms as if she would have flown towards her home. 'ls there no way of descending ?' the farmer exclaimed. 'There is one," Lester replied, 'bat is frightfully dangerous.' * Anything is better than this torture.' ' Well, this is our last resource. Give me your stick.' He rose cautiously to his feet, and raising the iron-shod walking stick, tore the cover of th« balloon. It seemed t > utter a sigh, as the gas rushed ont impetuously at the opening. There was a moment of terrible suspense, then the torn and shrunk balloon sank with frightful rapidity, as if it were falling through space. They closed their eyes, and gave themselves up for lost.

All at once, there was a rushing, rending noise, followed by a violent shook. They looked uo in terror, and fonnd that the balloon had been caught by the upper branches of an oak tree, and the oar hang only afew feet from the ground. Towards the close of a bright day, about a week after these events, young Lester and George Fielding were seated at an open window in the house of the latter, whose guest the young man had been ever since their aerial adventure. Now that the first relief of their escape from peril was over, the farmer's mind had returned to its old pro-occupation, as his slater noticed with distress. His face was shadowed at this moment, as. leaning one elbow on the broad old fashioned window-sill, he looked cut vaguely, between the geraniums and fuchsias across the broad sunny meadows iu front of the Louse. At length young Lester whose eyes had followed his, asked abrubtly— ' How far does your property extend ?' Fielding turned to him with a vain smile. ' You wish to know how much richer you will be if you gain the suit.' 'On my honour I was not thinking of it,' the young men returned, colouring. ' You need not blush for it, if you were,' his companion laid quietly ; ' everyone believes in the justice of his own cause. I will show you which is my property.' And he pointed ent, one by one, the woods, fields, and meadows which composed it. ' It is in beautiful order,' was Frank Lester's remark. ' I have given it all my time and care. There are still many Improvements which I hoped to make ; but who knows,' he added with a sigh, ' how long I may be able to call it mine ?' As he uttered these words Ellen entered. She looked agitated, and had a letter in her hand. ' Is it from Mr Harding ? ' he asked eagerly. ' Yes, it is from the lawyer,' she replied. ' Then the trial is over, and we shall know —give It me, Ellen.' Fielding extended his hand for the letter, but she seized the hand in both her own and said, with a glance at Lester—- ' Whatever the news my be, do not forget that you two now are friends.' ' Give me the letter,' he repeated impatiently, disregarding her words. She drew back a step, looking at him earnestly. ' George, have you so soon forgotten ?' There was a moment's pause, then his face changed and softened. " .No, I have not forgotten,' he answered, and extending his hand to his guest, he continued:' We leftour enmity in the clouds, Lester, and we will not take it up again directly we find ourselves on earth. Wnatever the verdict may be, it will make no difference in my feelings for you.' 1 And for my own part I shall be almost content to lose the property if it gains me your friendship—and your sister'?,' replied the young man, with an eloquent glance at Ellen. She handed the letter and looked up. •Lester, you are in your own house,' he said qnietly. ' Then I have gained the suit!' the other exclaimed. Fielding handed him the letter, but he threw it aside unread. ' A friend's happiness is worth more than a few acres of land,' he said impetuously; ' I entered your house as a guest; I will not be the one to turn you out of it. This wretched law suit shall be as if it had never been, We will do as we had better have done at the commencement; submit the case to arbitration, and you shall select the umpire.' ' But I should not know whom to choose.' Lester turned to Ellen, with a look full of tenderness. ' Let tbe one to whom we owe our friendship rivet its links for ever, and make it easy for us to share this inheritance to which we have both a claim.' 'How can she do this ?'George Fielding demanded ' By making the friends—brothers.' Fielding drew his sister to his side, looking down with a questioning smile into her face 'What say you to that, Ellen ?' Ellen Fielding said not a word, but, hiding her blushing face on her brother's shoulder, extended her hsnd to Frank Lestet, and there was no more heard of the law suit.