LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1967, 14 June 1880, Page 3

LITERATURE.

LUCRETIA.—A CANADIAN HOTEL ADVENTURE, i [Abridged from the Christmas number of “ Belgravia.”] I acknowledge that I was certainly a very i young man in the year ’67; indeed, I was only just turned of twenty, and was inordinately proud of a slight downy fringe on my upper lip, which I was pleased to apeak of as my moustache. Still, I was a sturdy young fellow enough, and not given to groundless fears in a general way; but I must allow that I was decidedly frightened by my adventure in the Richmond Hotel on the Christmas eve of that aforesaid year of grace. When I say the Richmond Hotel, vou must not understand me to speak of the Star and Garter in the town of that ilk situated In the county of Surrey, England. The Richmond where I passed my uncomfortable Christmas eve stands on the banka of the pretty St. Francis River in Lower Canada. I had gone out to the colony in the autumn of that year to look after a small property of my mother’s, and I originally intended to spend the winter in Quebec, But as December wore away, and the snow grew deeper and deeper upon the plains of Abraham, I became aware that a Canadian winter was not the best adapted tonic in the world for a hearty young man with a slight predisposition to consumption. I had seen enough of Arctic life iu Quebec during that month to give me a good idea of its pleasures and its drawbacks. I had steered my taboggan down the ice-cone at the Falls of Montmorenci; I had ddven a sleigh, tete a tete with a French Canadian belle, to a surprise picnic in a house at Sainte Anne; I had skated, snow shoed, and curled to my heart’s content; and I had caught my death of cold on the frozen Bt. Lawrence, not to mention such minor misfortunes as getting my nose ears and feet frost-bitten when with a driving party up the banks of the Chaudiere. So a few days before Christmas I determined to strike south. I would go for a tour through Virginia and the Carolinas, to escape the cold weather, waiting for the return of summer to catch a glimpse of Niagara and the great lakes. For this purpose I must first go to Montreal ; and, that being the case, what conld be more convenient than to spend the Christmas day itself with the rector at Richmond, to whom I had letters of introduction, hia wife being in fact a first cousin of my mother’s. Richmond lies half-way on the Grand Trunk line between Quebec and Montreal, and it would be more pleasant, by breaking my journey there, to eat my turkey and plum-pudding in a friend’s house than in that somewhat cheerless hotel the Dominion Hall. So cff I started from the Point Levy Station at four o'clock on the 24th of December, hoping to arrive at my journey’s end about one o’clock on Christmas morning. Now, those were the days, just after the great American civil war, when gold was almost unknown, either in the States or Canada, and everybody used greasy dollar notes, of uncertain and purely local value. Hence I was compelled to ake the money for my expenses on my projected tour in the only form of specie which was available, that of solid silver. A hundred and fifty pounds in silver dollars amounts to a larger bulk and a heavier weight than you would suppose ; and I thought it safer to carry the sum in my own hands, loosely bundled into a large leather reticule. That was the real cause of my night’s adventure, and of the present story. When I had got into the long open Am' rican railway carriage, with its comfortable stove and warm foot bricks, I found only one seat vacant, and that was a red velvet sofa, opposite to that occupied by a girl of singular beauty. I daresay my lady readers will think it horribly old-fashioned at the present time, but it was the latest and moat enchanting style in the year ’67. On her head was a coquettish little cheese-plate bonnet bound round with one of those warm toft, fl soy, woollen veils or head wraps, which Canadian girls know as Nubias. Her dress was a short winter walking costume of the period, trimmed with fur, and vandyked at the bottom, so as to show a glimpse of the quilted down petticoat underneath. Her little high-heeled boots, displayed by the short costume, were buttoned far above the ankle, and bound with fur to match the dress; while a tiny tassel at the side added just a suspicion of Parisian coquetry. Her cloak was lined with sable, or what seemed so to my undiscriminating eyes ; and her rug was a splendid piece of wolverine skins. As to her eyes, her lips, her figure, I had rather not attempt them.

I can manage clothes, but not goddesses Altogether, quite a cream of Canadian beauty, not devoid of that indefinable grace which goes only with the French blood. I would have preferred to take any other seat rather than have faced this apparition ; but there was no help for it, since all the others were filled ; so I sat down a little sheepishly, I dare say ; and almost before we were well out of the station we had got into a conversation, and it was she who began It. «You are an Englishman, I think ? she said, looking at me with a frank and pleasant smile. * Yes,’ I answered, coloring; ‘hut how on earth did you discover it ?’ «You would have been more warmly wrapped up if you had lived long in Canada,’ she replied ; ‘in spite of our stoves and hot bricks, you’ll find yourself very cold before you get to your journey’s end.’ ‘Yes,’l said; ‘I suppose it’s rather chilly late at night in these big cars.’ * Dreadfully; oh, quite terribly ; you ought to have a rug. you really ought ; won’t you let me lend you one ; I have another under the seat here.* •Bnt you brought that for yourself,’ I internosed; * you will want it by-and-by when it gets a little colder.’ «Ob, no, I shan’t; this is warm enough for me, it’s wolverine; you have a mother ? ’ What an extraordinary question, I thought, and what an unusually friendly girl; was she really quite as simple-minded as she seemed, or could she be the ‘designing woman ’ of the novels ; yes, I admitted to her cautiously that I possessed a maternal parent, who was at that moment eafely drinking her tea in a terrace in South Kensington. . * I have none,’ she said, with an emphasis [ on the personal pronoun, and a sort of appealing look in her big eyes, ‘ bnt you should take care of yourself for her sake ; you really must take my rug; hundreds, oh, thousands of young Englishmen come out here and kill themselves their first winter by imprudence. ’ Thus adj cured, I accepted the rug with many thanks and apologies, and wrapped myself warmly up in the corner, with a splendid view of my vis a-vis. Exactly at that moment the ticket collector came round upon his official tour; I lifted up my bag of silver, which lay on the seat beside me, snd imprudently opened it to take out a few dollars full in sight of my enchanting neighbor; I saw her look with unaffected curiosity at the heap of coin within, and I was proud at being able to give such an unequivocal proof of my high respectability —for what better guarantee of all the noblest moral qualities can any man produce all the world over than a bag of dollars ? ‘What a lot of money 1’ she said, as the collector passed on ; * what can you want with it all in coin ?’ ‘l’m going £on a tour in tho Fouthc-rn States,’l confided in reply, ‘and I thought it better to take specie.’ ‘And I suppose these are your initial on the reticule ? What a pretty monogram I Your mother gave you that for a birthday present.’ • You must be a conjuror or a clairvoyant, I said, smiling; ‘so she did;’ and I that the initials represented my humble patronymic and baptismal designations. ’ ‘My name’s Lucretia,’ said my neighbor artlessly, as a child might have said it, without a word as to surname or qualifying circumstances ; and from that moment she became to me simply Lucretia ; I think of her as Lucretia to the present day ; as she spoke, she pointed to the word engraved in tiny letters on her pretty silver locket ; I suppose she thought my confidence required a little more confidence in return, for after a slight pause she repeated onoe more, *My name’s Lucretia, and I live at Kichmond.’ • ‘Richmond!’ I cried; why, thats just whe r e I’m going ;do yon know the_ rector ? ‘Mr Pritchard? Ob, yes, intimately; he’s our greatest friend ; are yon going to stop with him ?'

* For a day or two at least, on my way to Montreal; Mrs Pritohard is my mother'* cousin.’

‘ How delightful; then we may consider ourselves acquaintances; but yon don’t mean to knock them up to-night; they’ll be in bed long before one o’clock.* ‘ No, I haven’t even written to tell them I was coming,’ I answered, they gave me a general invitation, and said I might drop in whenever I pleased.' _ * Then yon must stop at the hotel tonight; I’m going there ; my people keep the hotel. *

Was it possible ; I was thunderstruck ; I had pictured Lnoretia to myself as at least a countess of the old regime, a few of whom still linger on in Montreal and elsewhere; and here it turned ont that this living angel was only the daughter of an inkeeper! But in that primitive and pleasant Canadian society such things, I. thought, can easily be. No doubt she is the petted child of the house, the one heiress of the old man’s savings; and after spending Ja winter holiday among the gaieties of Quebec, she Is now returning to pass the Christmas season with her family, I will not conceal the fact that I had already fallen over head and ears iu love with Lncretia at first sight, and that frank avowal made mo love her all the [more. I caught myself already speculating as to what my mother would think of such a match. In five minutes it was all arranged about the hotel, and I had got into the midst of a. swimming conversation with Lncretia. She told me about herself and her past; how she had been educated at a convent In Montreal, and loved the nuns oh so dearly, though she was a Protestant herself, and only French on her mother’s side. (This, I thought, was well as » safeguard against parental prejudice), She told me all the gossip of Rich* mond, and whom I should meet at therector’s, and what a dull little town it was. But Quebec was delightful, and Montreal—ob, if she could only live in Montreal, it would bo perfect blia-. And so I thought myself, if only Luoretia would live there with me; but I prudently refrained from, saying so, as I thought it rather premature. Or perhaps I blushed and stammered too much to get the words out. ‘Had she ever been in Europe ?’ No, never, bnt she would so like it. ‘ Ah, it would be delightful so spend a month or two in Paris, ’ 1 suggested, with internal pictures of a honeymoon floating through my brain. ‘Yes, that would be most enjoyable,’she answered. Altogether, Lncretia and I kept chatting uninterruptedly the whole way to Richmond, and the other passengers must have voted ua most unconscionable bores ; for they evidently conld not sleep by reason of onr incessant talking. We did not sleep, nor wish to sleep. Aijd I am bound to say that & more frankly enchanting or seemingly guileless girl than Lncretia I have never met from, that day to this. (To be continued.')