LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2035, 1 September 1880, Page 3

LITERATURE.

BETWEEN TWO STOOLS. By Charles Heevey. Tub Hon. Adolphus Sharpset was in what is peculiarly called a “fix,” and he knew it. His financial position might almost have born compared to that of Mr Bichard Swiveller, when he entered in his little book the names of the streets he disliked, for particular reasons, going down while the shops were open. It was, in fact, as he himself described it in his own flowery language, “a prospective case of whitewash.” Things had been going unkindly with him fer some time, but the climax was evidently approaching. Bis slender allowance as a younger son of Lord Scantiland, himself a needy and embarrassed peer, was forestalled with infinitely more regularity than it was paidand his “ paper ” was hopelessly nnnegotiable. However, provided that he could contrive to keep afloat at the Caravansary—a sort of nondescript club, familiarly designated by its members the “Refuge ” —and indulge in occasionally backing his fancy for the Cambridgeshire or City and Suburban, his conscience was tolerably clear. As yet he had managed, by dint of an insinuating address, and, when it suited his purpose, an assumption of extreme affability, to weaken the storm, but people were becoming more and more sceptics! touching the marketable value of his promises. Hia landlady in Bury street had already let fall sundry broad hints that a settlement for the current half year would be highly convenient to her ; and even hia tailor, formerly most .obsequious and accomodating had peremptorily declined any further dealings with so unprofitable a customer. ‘So you see, old fellow,’ remarked the Hon. Adolphus in the smoking room of the Caravansary, to his equally impecunious friend, Frank Lasoellev, after a brief expose of the melancholy state of affairs, ‘ things are about as fishy as they can be; and if brother to Merrylegs doesn't pull off the handicap, there’s no help for it—l must go in for the widow,' ‘You might do worse,’ replied Frank ; * three thousand a year at her own disposal, besides the house in Wimpole street and the bsst cook for curry in all London. Might be a trifle younger, certainly, but one can’t have everything. And mark my words, Dolly, if you don’t make strong running, the major will.’ * Confound the major!’ ‘ With all my heart, but keep an eye on him The cad wasn't born yesterday, and is as hard up as either of us. He has been unlucky at whist lately, and dropped a good bit of money on the Leger, so depend npon it if he has a chance of recouping himself by marrying the widow, he won’t let it slijf.’ ‘He might have her to-morrow, and welcome,’ said the Hon. Adolphus, ‘if I could only bo sure of landing the sixty-six fifties ; not an impossible contingency by any means, if the horse is half the flyer they seem to think it iu the sfable. He’s going up in the market like a rocket, and if I choose to edge— ’ * Why don’t you ?' * Simply because a few hundreds won’t put me stra’ght, and a few thousands will; so I’ve no choice in the matter, and must stand the shot. However, it’s as well to have two strings to one’s bow, so I’ll take your advice abont the Mangoe, if only for the pleasure of giving our friend the major the go-by. By the way, we shall meet him at dinner there to-day. and you will have an opportunity of carrying on with that stunning girl, Alice Carruthers; pity, for your sake, that she and the old lady can’t change places. A waiting game is hard lines in the long run.’

‘Especially when there is nothing to wait for,’ assented Lascelles in a despondent tone. * A poor devil of a barrister, without a brief or the hope of one, and a portionless orphan with a pretty face; the prospect isn’t over lively. ’ ‘ Something may turn up yet,’ encouragingly observed his companion ; ‘ that fellow Micawber found it all right in the end, you know.’

. ‘ And all wrong in the beginning ’ retorted Frank. ‘ I fancy the resemblance between ns is like y to stop there.’ Wimpole street is not precisely a locality calculated to impress the passing stranger with an exaggerated idea of the cheerfulness of its population ; it is eminently respectable and dingily uniform; and, due allowance made for the difference of architecture, instinctively suggests a vague reminiscence of the street of tombs at Pompeii. The house inhabited by Mrs Mangoe, viewed externally, differed in no essential respect from those of her neighbours, and had evidently been constructed after the same pattern; but the interior, furnished with every attention to comfort and luxurious elegance, was peculiarly characteristic of its owner ; Indian mattings of the finest texture, the softest Turkey carpets, and the moat delicately woven Persian hangings, gave a semi-oriental air to the lofty but somewhat narrowly proportioned rooms, while the stiff-backed chairs and slippery chintz-coloured sofas, still religiously adhered to by certain indigenous notabilities of the quarter, had been advantageously replaced by the latest and the most artistic inventions of Parisian upholstery; one of the rooms had been fitted up as a boudoir, and here the widow sat, awaiting the arrival of her guests, and watching the movements of a young and graceful girl engaged in selecting a bouquet of flowers and ferns from an adjoining miniature conservatory. The relict of the deceased Mangoe—in his day one of the ablest and shrewdest judicial functionaries of Calcutta—was a short, stout, and middle-aged dame, with small keen eyes and a cherry, goodhumoured face; her grey silk dress was richly trimmed with black lace, and a liberal moiety of her plump little arms was literally covered with bracelets and bangles ; her companion, on the contrary, was indebted to her attractive appearance neither to milliner nor jeweller; she was simply but becomingly attired in white muslin, without any other ornament than a single rose artistically entwined among the folds of her luxuriant chestnut hair.

Alice Carruthers, however, needed no extraneous adjunct to the charm of her nineteen yeara and exquisitely feminine beauty; she was tall and slightly formed, with soft blue ey ea and a complexion as delicate as a tea rose, aud It would bo difficult to imagine a prettier picture than her slender and elegant figure bending over the freshly gathered store of hud and blossom—“herself a fairer flower.”

Presently, her task accomplished, she reentered the boudoir, and tastefully grouped her fragrant spoils in a china vase, glancing every now and then at the widow, as if to solicit her approval. • When you have finished, child,’ said Mrs Mangoe, jait down by me ; I have something to say before the people come. There, that low chair will do. Now, tell me truly, is there anything between you and Frank Ijascelles ?’

At this point blank question Miss Carruthers blushed, and after a momentary pause of embarrassment stammered out— ‘ I think ha likes me, but— ’ ‘ Is afraid to say bo, because he is too poor to marry,’ interrupted the widow; ‘am I not right ?’ Alice nodded affirmatively. ‘ I thought so. and I needn’t ask your ideas on the subject, for your cheeks have told the tale already. Well, when I have had a talk with the young man about ways and moans, we shall see. Ha is not a fortune hunter, at any rate, and that’s more than can bo said of certain gentlemen of our acquaintance. No, no, my Alice shall be chosen for her own pretty self or not at all, and must play her part of dependent on an old woman’s bounty a little longer. But hush ! I hear footsteps on the stairs. Take your embroidery, child, and sit where you usually' do.” Miss Carruthers had scarcely time to rise from her chair and retire to a more respectful distance from her protectress before an irreproachably white cravated butler, appearing at the door, announced in a eonorons tone, ‘ Major de Mogyns.’ The new-comer, a middle-sized individual, with stiff black hair, suspiciously bordering on purple, and a carefully waxed moustache, entered the room as jauntily as a decided tendency to obesity would permit, and advanced towards the widow with an air of great empressemcnt, vouchsafing only a distant and somewhat cavalier bow to her fair companion. While he is inquiring in accents of the tenderest solicitude after the health of • dear Mrs Mangoe, and installing himself in a comfortable arm-chair by her side, it may cot be inopportune to enlighten the reader respecting the social position of the gallant warrior, and explain by what means he had obtained admittance on so apparently in-

timate a footing at No. £OO * Wimpol© street.

Major de Mogyns, then, or M he was habitually styled at the Caravansary, ‘ the Major,' possibly because no other of its members possessed any claim to a similar distinctive title, had borne during the earlier part of his career the less euphonious but more legitimate name of Muggins, which he subsequently discarded, together with all reminiscences of an obsure parentage, and of a family still vegetating in the dingy atmosphere of a small manufacturing town. Whence he derived his military grade, or to what regiment he had belonged, no one precisely knew, his allusions to such topics being of the vaguest; but it was generally supposed, from his evident familiarity with life iu India, that ho had fceen at come time or other attached to a native corps. He had become acquainted with the husband of his hostess in Calcutta, and afterwards renewed his intercourse with him at Cheltenham, a favorite resort of the retired civilian, -t was there that the latter met tho Hon Adolphus, during a flying trip of the sporting patrician to Gloucestershire on the occasion of a steeplechase, where he himself was amongst the competitors, and it may parenthetically be added, disappointed his backers by an untimely “cropper” at the sec nd fence. Since the death of Mr Mangoe the major had continued to cultivate the society of . his widow, and from the period of her installation in London seldom allowed many days to elapse without finding his way to Wimpole street, and neglected no opportunity of assuming the rights and privileges of ‘ a friend of the house ’ Sharpeet’e visits, on the contray, were few and far between ; bnt when he did appear, his respectful devotion to the lady of the house was gall and wormwood to his military rival, who hated him cordially, and sought by every means in hia power to disparage him in the eyes of her whom he already looked upon as the future Mrs de Mogyns. He was still complacently occupied in making running, when a ring at the hall door heralded the approach of the two remaining guests. A few m’nutes later the party descended to the drawing room, the Hon. Adolphus naturally pairing off with Mrs Mangoe, and de Mogyns offering hia arm with an air of sublime protection to Alice, while Frank Lascelles, inwardly chafing, followed partnerless in the rear. Thanks, however, to the friendly sociability of a round table, he found himself seated beside the object of his affections, and was consequently in the seventh heaven, hut although she blushed very much when spoken to, she nevertheless studiously avoided responding otherwise than by monosyllables to his attempts at conversation. Sharpset waa in high fores, and discoursed incessantly on current and fashionable topics, to the infinite disgust of the major, who, unable to get more than a word in here and there, and disdaining to waste his eloquence on so nnremunerative an auditor as Mies Cnrrnthers, fidgetted sulkily in his chair, and drank more champagne than was good for him. When the ladies had retired, and the claret had made its circuit, he thawed a little, and condescended to ask what were the latest odds on the coming handicap. (To he continued.)