LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2003, 26 July 1880, Page 3

LITERATURE.

"SALGAMA CONDITA."

[From "Harper's Magazine."]

(Concluded)

Debhy sat smoothing her ' laylack ' satin gown.

' I have a book which I would like to lend you, Mr Honeyman, which I will briDg you presently,' she said, rising and leaving the room.

Mr Honeyman mastered his aversion, and turning to Vatty, began—'ln regard to the instruction in elocution—'

' Oh! I know what you have on your mind to say,' interrupted the provoking child. 'I have no malevolence. I would not divulge a secret concerning her, for she has promised to fetch me a box of Smyrna fig paste from St John. I never gossip about my sisters. Peggy has a secret now. She locks herself in the room, and stops the key hole with cotton. I shall find out what she is doing some time, though I never pry, so farewell. Trust your secret to me. Bat if you should chance on any liquorice or chewing-gum—' She was gone and Mistress Debby stood in her place, her arms folded with books. She handed him one bound in shabby leather, saying—- ' This is a most preoious volume, the Instructions Fastorum. Here is another on Antinomianism, and one on Original Sin. If you would oblige me by taking them home with you and reading the passages I have marked, they would, me thinks, be a mighty help to you in the setting forth of your discourses.'

It was impossible for him to take offence, she was so evidently well-meaning. 'Andnow, Mr Honeyman,' she continued, ' one request more. Dolly is a moat loveable child, but carried away by mirth-provoking and frivolous tales. Will you not, sir, have some serious converse with her?'

To this Mr Honeyman agreed, and with inward weariness, took his departure. As he left the doer, Peggy appeared, and slipped into his hand a roll of MSS.—the lectures on St. Paul.

' She is the gifted one of the family,' he thought. ' What would I not give to write like that ?'

He gave the lectures in regular course on the evenings of the following Sabbaths, receiving many compliments in regard to them from hiß congregation. Even ihe Bishop was compared with him, much to that prelate's disadvantage. One afternoon Mr Honeyman met an old Indian woman selling spruce gum and maple sugar, wrapped in birch bark decorated with porcupine quill work. He bought several packages,'and carried the sordid bribes to the Government Douse. He found Patty in the park describing a circle, with a plum tree for a centre,

* Gum!' she exclaimed, with delight. • How heavenly! Bat keep the maple sugar; it ia without doubt half sand. And I have lately had a surfeit of Bweets, for Peggy has given me a jar of honey. I did but piece together the scraps in her waste paper basket.' And striking a heroic attitude, the plague rehearsed, ' Pallas Athena's diamond eyes flashed angrily through the gloom of the Parthenon, lighting the ivory pallor of her face, as she heard from the neighboiiog hill of Mars the voice of a stranger proclaiming a faith whioh ' Mistress Debby attacked him, at their next meeting, with, ' Methinks, Mr Honeyman, that the lectures on St. Paul should be more doctrinal. This is a very delicate matter. Of course, you would not borrow from another.'

Mr Honeyman shivered. "Was it possible that she suspected that Peggy had written the lectures ?

•I deair'e not to offend you,' continued Mistress Debby, 'but I have here written out an exegesis of what I consider the doctrinal views of St. Paul, with which I would be honored if you would serve yourself.'

' Patty ! Patty ! not bo loud Wherefore did Peggy give you the honey, if not to insure your silence ?' ' She gave it to me for the bits of paper ; there was naught in the compact touching keeping silenoe. Nevertheless, if you so desire, you have but to suggest. Whither so fast, Mr Honeyman ? And pray, when you come again, fetch some lemons or other frnit of an agreeable acidity. Pickled walnuts or olives would likewise be ticklish dainties to'my present pampered appetite.' If anything could have deepened the consciousness of meanness in which Mr Honeyman had grovelled since giving the lectures on St. Paul, it was the complicity in guilt which seemed to be established between himself and Patty.

Mr Honeyman's astonishment was at first too profound to admit of words. Here was the strictly scrupulous, almost pharisaical, Mies Deborah committing the very act for which he had so dreaded her condemnation. And so the next Sabbath Mr Honeyman announced that, having terminated his consideration of the aesthetic education of St. Paul as afforded by his travels amongst all that was artistical in ancient Greece, he would proceed to a disquisition of the metaphysical character of his mind and the dogma of the Christian faith as formulated by him for the early ohurch. The Bishop happened to be at Frederickton at the preaching of this discourse. It met with his entire approval, and he complimented Mr Honeyman upon it at the Governor's dinner table, much to the curate's disoemfort, and to that of Mistress i>ebby, who gave the Bishop chocolate instead of the black coffee which the knew he preferred. The two sisters had returned from St. John, and after the dinner Debby managed to send him into the garden with Dolly. _He knew that he was expected to hr-ld serious converse with her, but instead ;ho allowed Dolly to prattle about Pen. ' I know not what effects her,' she said. 'She is most distraught and strange. One might fancy her in love. She had an exceedingly genteel gown maie in St. John — white satin garnished with ermine—and she caused her necklace of emeralds that was msmma's to be remounted as a crown. I woke with a start to Ree her last nieht, arrayed thus fantastically in my room, talking to herself in the long slim mirror, with the candles lit in all the sconces.' Mr Honeyman was much disturbed by what ho had htard. He pondered over it in the still hours of night, but was obliged to confess that he understood Mistress Pen less, and that he loved her more and more. In this state of mind he wrote the letter which many years after I found framed above the little mantel, and copied for th:3 story. Having written it, he enclosed it in a suitable wrapper, directed in a bold hand to Mistress Penelope, Carleton, and sealing it with a blot of wax as red &b his own heart's blood, committed it too the public post. PART III —MR HONEYMAN'S LOVR-I-^TTiK. The nert morning from bis study window

he saw Mistress Pen pace slowly through the grave-yard to the little church. He hurried to meet her, entering by the door at the rear. She held his letter in her hand.

i 'lt is all a mistake, my friend, a grievous mistake,' she said, sadly. ' Ton fancy that you love me, but it is not bo. It is my sister Peggy who should have received this letter. Perchance my words sesru but cruel to you now; but keep the letter matil the smart has abated; then send it to her, if indeed you are worthy of her affection. As for me, remember me kindly when I am goae.' He had stood silent, crushed by her words, until this last one " gone" reused him to a keener anguish, ' you are going !' he cried, ' Why is this V 'To Kngland. I can not live her. I can not endure this solitude. I long for the gayety and popalosity of a great city. I should became mid if I tarried h.6ra longer. I pine for London fog and the wax lights of a well-filled drawing-room.' ■ You break my heart.' 'Nay, friend, not so broken but my sister Peggy shall bind ; and so farewell.' It was long before Mr Honeyman c -uld trust himself to visit Government EoaEe. He might, perhsps, have ne-ver gone again had not a package come to him at Christmas time—a clotn for the altar, embroidered with a passion vine by Mistress Peggy. After that it would have been ungracious to stay away, and he visited the house frequently, taking a melancholy pleasure iu the pain it caused him.

One afternoon, toward Spricg, he saw the church door ajar, and entering, heard a sound of sobbing. It was Dolly at the organ, and he was at her side in a moment, asking, ' What grieveth so my little friend V Dolly was at first reluctant to tell, but at length ehe confided to him the fact that they had just received a letter from her aunt in London, with the heavy news that Pen, forgetful of her high station, had become a ' play-actress,' so far demeaning herself aa to act the part of Shakespeare's queens. She had shown some consideration for the feelings of her relatives in that she had not allowed her name to become known. How strange it was that this revelation should cure him of his infatuation ! Here was the key to the girl's strange inconsistencies of character ; she was an actress ! The mere mention of the word had such an unholy sound that his f seling of sadness gave place to one of thankfulness for so great an escape. He comforted little Dolly as tenderly as he could, and the young curate's gifts in the way of consolation were not small. That night he took from his desk the letter that six months before ne had seat to Pen, and re-read it .Would P<.m have doubted his worthiness of Peggy's affection, and have spoken as she did, had she not been sure that he already possessed it ? If Mistress Feggy loved him, she should not suffer from, unrequited affection as he had done; and then what a convenience to have a wife who could write some remarkable sermons! He inclosed the letter in another envelope directed to Mistress Peggy Tarleton. The letter was handed to Peggy as she sat in the south parlor. Though no one else was in the room, after reading the first line, Peggy slipped the letter in a book which lay upon the table and read on, holding the book ao that any one entering would no; see that she was reading a letter. Some one did enter and called her away, just as she finished it. She left the letter in the book, intending to return for it toon; but Dolly came in as she left; the book happened to be her organ exercises, and taking it up, the letter fell out. She read it, innocently thinking that by ' Mistress Tarleton' Mr ; Honeyman meant herself, and how charming in him to slip it into her book, instead of sending it to her by post I Dolly hastened to her room, and pinning the letter carefully to her pillowcase, reversed the pillow, that she might have it beneath her cheek as she slept. Mistress Cebby passed through the room not long after, and observicg that the faggoting with which the pillow-case was trimmed was somewhat frayed, she shook forth the pillow, folded the case and deposited it in her work-baaket, without perceiving the letter. That evening she found it there, and the little flutter of excitement experienced by a maiden of thirty-two in reading her first love-letter caused her to forget when she had placed the pillow-case in the basket. Without doubt Mr Honeyman had himself left it there for her !

Mr Honeyman's dismay in beiog rejected by one Mistresß Tarleton was aa nothing to that experienced by being simultaneously accepted by three of them. He was not a brave man. The little courage that he bad failed him altogether, and he fled from Fredericton ignominioußly and without explanation, leaving only a letter to the Bishcp tendering his resignation, and saying that family matters of great importance demanded his presence In England. He arrived in London in time to attend the marriage of Mistress Pen to a certain noble lord whose acquaintance she had made behind the [scenes. She was married under her true name None of his relatirea and very few of her own ever knew of the theatrical episode in her Jife. Afterward* letter reached him from New Brunswick ; it contained only his unfortunate love-letter returned him with the compliments of Mistress Debby, Peggy and Dolly Tarleton. How the explosion had come he never knew.

Years passed, and he read one day that Gov. Tarleton and his youngest daughter were residing at Brompton Row. The name brought up very vividly the galaxy of beautiful girls he had known at Fredericton. He looked again at the crumpled lovo-letter which had been read by each of them in turn, and which even now he had not the courage to destroy, and thrust it absently into his pocket. Then taking his hat aud stick, he bet out, drawn by au unaccountable impulse, to call on his old friend the Governor, wondering if he could explain the strange dillemma in which he had found himself. He reflected that he might see Patty, that horrible child with the omniverous appetite, and ho purchased some candies at the confectioner's, hoping thus to appease her. The Governor was out, and Patty met him. He hardly recognised her, grown a woman, with a hint of Pen's be»nty, Debby's purity, and Peggy's intelligence, while a smile that reminded him ot Dolly played around her rather large but pleasing mouth. They talked of the sisters. Peggy resided in Florence, a successful artist; Dolly had married Josiah Saltonstall, an old lover, and was living in the Stateß, much to the Governor's disgust; Debby was still at Fredericton. «Unmarried ?' 'Oh dear, no; she accepted the Bishop the summer after you left. His sermons are far more doctrinal than formerly.' And so no hearts were broken, not even his own. Mr Honey man fumbled in an embarrassed way with the package of bonbons, and broke the paper in endeavoring to extract it from his pocket, pouring the contents at length upon the table in a disorderly heap, , 'Sorr.T motto candies,'he explained. 'I trust you will find them to your taste.' The next day the following letter was read by the petrified Mr Honey man : ' Dear Bir, —It 1b with gratitude equaling my surprise that I comprehend that the esteem which I have long entertained for you is mutual; and that my personal and mental qualities made an impression upon your sensibilities so long ago as during our acquaintance in New Brunswick. Feeling confident that an affection which has sustained the te3t of years of absence will not falter during those of wedded life, I a:cept yeui proposal, assuring you that I find the motto papers of my candies, especially the origin*] one, vastly to my taste. ' Yours, with the assurance of an increasing regard, •Patty Tablkton. «P.B.—Could you kindly i/.form us whether we can find anywhere in London, American sweetmeats, and especially pieklss ? ' Mr Honeymsn entered no protest to the happinc-s thus thrust upon him. He lived ever afterward in the little town where first I heard of him, his wife tbe most proficient housekeeper, and his table the goodliest of any in the country round. Indeed, so satisfied with his lot was he that on one occasion he assured his wife, with literal truth but implied falsehood, that the letter to whieh she had replied was the cnly love-letter he had ever written. ' I believe you, my dear,' Mrs Honeyman had replied with a kiss ; then turning to the page that he might see the endorsement, ' Returned with the complimentt of Mistreaa Debby,'etc., she added, 'and I will never question the meaning of these mysterlow lines ; only I must have the best fruitroom, and the most fully furnished withal, of any woman in England.' And Mrs Honeyman had it.