LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2283, 27 July 1881, Page 4

LITERATURE.

A TRYING ALTERNATIVE

[From “Time.”]

Beryl ia just twenty one. She is tall and graceful ; fair as a lily, and as beautiful she ia the only child of the late Sir Gerald Blythe, of Boacobel Towers, Torquay ; an orphan and an heiress. l ast year she laid her well-worn mourning aside; this year she ia enjoying tho season con aviore. She la living in Grosvonor square with her grandmother, the Dowager-Conntes< of Dangetflsld. Her constant companion and quasi-chaperon is beautiful Mrs GJynn Leigh, an attractive young widow, and Miss Blythe’s first cousin, Beryl has her own horse to ride, and she drives a pair of “ sweet goers ” in hor park phaeton. Miss Blythe was presented at tho commencement of the season, into the delights of which sho enters with the natural buoyancy of her youth, and with a subtle appreciation of tho humorous side of the trouble and turmiil of “society,” which odds considerably to her en’oyment Though of tho fashionable crowd herself. Beryl has few sympa'.hies with its avowed opinions and its covert alms. Sho had been her dear father’s favoiit ■ and constant companion .n the old happy days at Torquay, whore they had lived so contentedly together. This close companionship with a master mind may account for Beryl’s very decided opinion on certain points, and tho surprisingly unfemlnlne consistency of her words and actions. Logical sequences of conduct is startling in any woman ; In an acknowledged beauty, whose role is caprice, it is fairly amusing. But Beryl hss many points of divergence from the standard girl of the period. Conspicuous among these Is her inveterate dislike to tobacco-smoke. (The late Sir Gerald abhorred it.) Would-be husbands are, of course, numerous, and so are tho offers, forma! or confidential, of eligible or non-cllgiblo wooers. Men are decidedly not wanting In appreciation of Miss Blythe’s merits, nor bssbful on the score of their own.

Beryl enjoys her independence far too much to risk it lightly ; and the notion of being ‘ chained for life ’ (these are ter own contemptuous expressions) ‘to one of those uninteresting empty-headed perambulating chimney-pots, ’ whom she meets In daily intercourse, presents no temptation to her. As Beryl somewhat ostentatiously sets tho opinions of society at defiance, society revenges itself by saying many harsh and unjustifiable things of one who holds a lofty position in tho throng, and yet chooses to isolate herself from it.

Mrs Glynn Leigh deplores her fair cousin’s eccentricities. She soon perceives, however, that they serve as a foil to her own more foatlo characteristics, and so contents herself with mild depreciation in Beryl’s absence.

On the whole, matters go smoothly enough for Beryl, until tho yonng Earl of St. Aubyn proposes to hor and is rejected. Then a storm of protest and indignation arises among the friends of both parties. Why should this young lady give herself such airs ? She was said to object to St. AuV-yn’s habits, and yet these were harmless enough. Ha smoked a groat deal, and drank more than was good for him ; but who would mind such venial errors on tho part of one of tho wealthiest peers in tho kingdom? But Beryl refused to ‘listen to reason,’ and was consequently voted a wilful capricious coquette. ‘ Ah. my poor darling, pride ia bound to have a fall!’ says Mrs Leigh, kissing Beryl’s soft cheek, and feeling inolined to bite her. The widow had set her pretty cap at the Earl, and hated her cousin for interfering. The Dowager-Countess herself is appealed to on this occasion, but absolutely dec'ims to nse her influence.

1 If you can do nothing with your cousin, my dear Ada,’ says her ladyship, ‘I am quite as powerless, believe me. Beryl has her father’s spirit ;jif she were more like her poor mother, 1 might be able to persuade her ; as it ia, sho must go her own way.’ The young Earl, who la baulked for the first time In his life, makes a terrible grievance of Beryl’s cruel rejection, and beseeches gracious Mrs Leigh to intercede for him. She is so anxious to retain some hold on the wealthy peer that she constitutes herself a mediatrix ; bat appeal and argument are thrown away on resolute Miss Blythe. ‘ I do not like the Earl,’ says this peculiar young lady. ‘He is but a boy, and I hate boys ; he ia vain and foolish, and—he is always smoking. Each one of those justifies my refusal; the number of them strengthens my case. If you pity him so much, Ada, why not console him by marrying him yourself ?’

‘ O, you are cruel, cruel !’ ories Ada, with a sob; and then she glides down to the drawing-room, where the disconsolate Earl awaits the verdict and—the handsome widow.

It is at this time that Beryl and her cousin receive an invitation to spend three days at the house of Lady Majorlbanks, who, as all the world knows, owns a romantic villa on the banks of the Thames, To invite Lady Dangerfield is, of course, a mere matter of form ; but the form is duly observed, and the dowager deputes her ‘ young ladies ’ to go in her stead. Tho Saturday and Sunday pass quietly and uneventfully. The hostess la charming, the house beautiful, and the town-weary guests find tho rest and peace of the country restorative and pleasant. The gala-day of their visit is to be the third and last. For Monday a river picnic has been organised, and a large number of guests are coming down from town.

Among these is Captain Horace Ooolspur, who has just returned from India, where he has served for many years. He is a bachelor, and was but an impecunious soldier when the eccentric old lady died, who left him sole heir to a property worth £20,000 a year. The lady was his cousin, and a very old maid ; but Horace, when still a boy, had diverted the attention of an angry bull from the lady’s scarlet shawl—had. as she put it, ‘ saved her life ‘ She loved her youthful relative. She was very grateful to him, and her will clearly proved the value she set upon h. r life and his service.

Horace h a fine fellow, tall, well aet-up, and active. He is not in the first flush of youth ; but he must still be far from the debatable ground of middle age, though his hair is actually white ; bnt there ia plenty of It, and no amount of brushing will repress its natural wave. His heavy moustache is also white ; but the brilliance of his dark eyes suggests vivacity of temperament, and the suppleness of his little figure la decidedly youthful still. He is somewhat of a cynic, and has scant faith in woman; few men have any who have lived long in India. Ho is by no means impressionable, and yet —mirabile dictu —he falls head over ears, irretrievably, in love with Bcryi on the o oaaion of their first meeting, on which, it seems, even the Fates smile benevolently. Perhaps it ia the combination of love and war, which makes all fair, that propitiates the grim sisterhood. Beryl, for her part, is also deeply interested in the cool, handsome, distinguished looking soldier. Here, indeed. Is a man after her own heart, no more boy this —no silly, titled, empty-headed noodle. He has served his country ; ho has travelled ; he has no petty vices, surely ; she has not even seen him smoke. As she has never followed him Into the billiard or smoking room, this result is but natural.

Ado Leigh, who is ever on the watch, and who. for the time being, is deprived of the pleasure of consoling an earl, thinks she might now console herself instead by attracting Captain Cooispnr, who, without the slightest attempt to do so, fascinates the women that come in contact with him. He is a most desirable parti, of course ; and, as soon as his advent is known in society, maids and their mothers enterprising widows and still more desperate spinsters, with one accord combine to worship him They make little secret of their professions; but who probably feels far more deeply than the rest because her heart is touched, contrives to appear discreetly indifferent to the very evident homage of the stranger. Thanks to his military discipline and long-sighted tactics, he compasses his great desire, and manages to meet the beauty at least twice In every four and-twenty hours This fact is speedily noted and universally commented on. ‘lt is a case I’ say the indifferent ones. ‘ The shameless creature, setting her cap at a millionaire in this barefaced way ! Why can’t she leave him for others ? She surely has as much money as she wants for herself!'

Inch la tho exaggerated outcry of those who consider themselves personally aggrieved. Mrs Glynn Leigh says nothing. Sue probably thinks the more. * Congratulate you, Horace,’ said Major Darrell, an Intimate friend of the captain’s. • She is a beauty, and as good as she looks, I hear ; bat she has her peculiarities. I suppose you know that she abhors smoke, cud ■efuaed St. Aubyn because ho would not knock tho tobacco off Bad look-out for y u, i»a’t it ? What about tho ten cheroots per diem, eh, old man ?’ * We’ll see all aboubthat,’ says Horace, with a dubious smile on the lips so discreetly hidden by that wonderful moustache. ‘ The prize has to be won first; the rest will follow in due course, no doubt.’

That night Horace meets Beryl at a great ball, given by a distinguished ambassador at his official residence. All the world, in its high and exclusive s-.nse is there present ‘ I will take this,’ says Horace, quietly pnsaoasing himself of Miss Blythe’s programme, and without the slightest hesitation placing nmnistakeabla initials in neatly printed characters opposite the six waltzes allotted to the dancers in the coarse of the evening. Beryl smiles, shakes her head, tries to remonstrate, fails, and feels her heart tfcrob in a tumult of unparalleled delight. 1 Ho loves me, and ho moans the world to know it,’ is tho happy conviction which flashes her soft cheek, and makes her loving eyes to shine with a new and tender light. (To be continued )