LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2385, 24 November 1881, Page 4

LITERATURE.

OUR COLONEL'S STORY.

["London Society."] (Concluded ) ' And pending the many, many weeks that elapsed, and while the flood ship Queen of Sorendib was sailing round the Cape for her destination, a change, a radical change came over the life and habits of our brido-expect-ing friend. He cast into the limbo of things done with his coarse 'cumlies,' rough 'dungarees,' and other country olothing, and burst out into ' Europe-muster' linen, tweeds and serges. He jmrobaacd largely houne furniture and knicknacks ; he bought a lady's horse and a Pelt's side saddle ; he whose equine proclivities had never extended beyond a shaggy mountain pony, and a tattered and torn pigskin. He told his old ilames and chums that he was going in for the Benedict, and bashfully listened to the riles and jeers cf the one and the chaff and laugh of the other. But barring ' the Great Unwashed ' himself, no one was moro taken aback at the course of events than Tamby, his longserving 'appoo' or butler. That functionary saw coolie after coolie arrive at Ailsa Craig with load upon load of unknown and unusual goods } and although in the ' Lines' and other native resorts he might have expressed his bewilderment, yet in hiß master's presence be reserved a stolid silence. But when one day a string of ' bandies' (carts' drew up, and from beneath their leaf-covered tilts there wera dragged out mats and carpets, sofas', chairs, tables, whatnot, thea hio apparent ind;ffjrence and his 'nigger'tongue could hold out no longer. ' Why master kick up all dis bobberes ? What for he want all dese tings on wattie (estate)?' he inquired. 1 A young lady is now on her way from Scotland to marry me, Tamby.' 'Marry? Doriy (mavtor) going to take wife aft jr all dis plenty long time do too well widout?' «Yes.'

• Den, master, please, I discharge you, sar. No my custom Btop wid lady in. bungalow. Master's missis come, master's appoo go. Master take choice.' As the time for the arrival of the Queen of Serendib diew nigh awful wore tho fidgets of our hero, and many days b.-fore it was possible for that alow and sure oraf t to reach her port he was there walking about with a big binocular in his band, looking out seaward, and entreating all sorts and conditions of men for the very earliest news of her being sighted. The fact was that the roughseasoned old fellow was on the very tenterhooks of anxiety and expectation, as nervous as a school girl, and behaving himself as such. Then at last It was told him that the vessel was in the offing, was rounding a point, was at anchor in the harbor; and in the matter attendant's boat, cushioned, flagged and bedecked for tho auspicious occasion, Sandy MoPherson, Esquire, of Ailsa Craig, planter, rowed alongside ' same like he Governor,' the native spectators observed. * Scrambling up the side, he took a hasty glance at the many passengers assembled en the poop, and instinctively guessing that Misß Fffie wai not among them, he divod below and confronted the stewardess. ' Miss Needum on board and well ? ' asked he.

' Yes, Bir,' replied the matron ; ' and a very nice, good, kind, pleasant young lady she is, and I've taken the greatest care of her.'

' She felt euro that the gent was Miss N 's husband to be, and that there w»3 money in his purse for a gratuity, notwithstanding that, according to the terms of the passage money, steward's and stewardess's fees were inoluded ; a fiction, gentlemen, a pleasant fiction, which you will find out when you go down to the sea in ships. ' Take this card to her,' said the pale and trembling gentleman, 'l'll wait her Cjmieg up in that far corner of this saloon,' 'Glancing at the pasteboard the woman disappeared; and presently there ascended, step by stop, from the regions below, first a neat straw hat, trimmed with bright ribbons, beneath that hat a face somewhat worn with years and cares, but still fresh and comely enough; then a slight, compact figure, draped in plain well fifing garments, shawled and ready for the shore. Miss Eifi9, i?i propria persona, stood before her hand-seeker, blushing ' celestial rosyred.'

He advanced from his coign of vantage to greet her ; bat as he drew nigher instead of the warm affectionate welcome he looked for, there was a fixed stare, a shudder, a hasty retreat and a loud scream which resounded f'om stern to stem of the big ship, and brought every one from decks and cabins into the saloon.

• Misa Needam —ITffie, my dear girl, wbat on earth ia the matter P ' hurriedly stammered oat the astounded Sandy. * Shiver my timbers, what ails the lassie ?' put in the captain. * Look out for squalls, if you've annoyed her!' And all the bystandeis echoed the words in more or less threatening terms, fche was evidently a favorite on board.

' Oh, take him away,' cried the lady, plteously—' take him away from me, someone ! 1 don't know him ! I've been misled, deceived ! I can't marry him—indeed, iadeed I can't. He Is not Mr McPherson who wrote to me, to wr om I came out here to mar— He is so ugly 1 Oh, such a dreadful fright! I'll work my way back to my poor mother 1 I'll do anything, but I can't be his wife I I'd rather die first 1 * ' Miss Needum, I don't indeed undsrstand this,' said the taken-aback and comparatively flabbergasted one. ' What does it all mean? Are we not engaged ? Have you not come out of your own free will to accept the home and the love 1 offer you ? Did I not send you my likeness ? ' •No, not * ' Surely I did. It was taken by Collodion, our best photographer; and when he gave it to me he said, 'Mr McPherson, sir, there is no flattery 'ere; your worst henemles would admit that.' Why, I myself put it inside the letter to your mother.' • I repeat, no—decidedly and emphatically no 1 ' .Look at this,' and drawing from her bosom a little locket, she opened it, and displayed the head and face of a younger, muoh handsomer, and in every outward respect a more lovable man than the scared one now before her. It was the counterfeit presentment of Jack Le Geste, and I leave you to imagine what McPherson thought when he Baw it there.

' How could it get into the locket, yon ask? Why, in the simplest way In the world. That good-for-nothing fellow, Le Qaste, when Bandy's letter came Into his possession, thought to ' sell' him, and so had surreptitiously removed his carte de visite, and Ei&e had worn it ever since.

•The poor dell of a disappointed bride* groom pleaded hard, and tried every argu. merit to induce the girl to let matters pro gress, but she was obstinate and deter* mined.

'She would esteem and respect him always, but nothing more. To let the cat out of the bag, Miss Effie had fallen most desperately in love with the picture of her supposed Alexander, and, in vulgar language, had spooned over it awfally duriDg the tedious and lone hours of a long voyage. Of course she imagined that it was her intended husband she was approving, or she would not have done it —certainly not.

* So, quite crestfallen, and in the maddest of rages, McPherson returned to his estate. ' Arrived there he cut from one of his coffee bushes the thickest and the knottiest of sticks, and proceeded with it in search of Le Geste ; but, fortunately for the jester, he had made tracks, and was gone.

'Then he reverted to his old customs and habits, sold his not-now-necessary goods and chattels, and thought as little as he could of the false Effia.

' A fickle and capricious creature—woman. Listen, gentleman, to another exemplification of old Virgil's dictum. 'ln the same ship in which, shortly after the breaking off of her intended espousal, Miss J> eodum sailed for England, there came on board, almost at the last minute, a slim, dark-haired, good looking man, going home, some said, for his health ; others, in fear and trembling of an irato Gael with a huge stick in his hands. Be this as it may, the healthpeeker or the fugitive—take which yon please—was no less than Le Geste ; and to olose my Btory, when the vessel touched at Ht. Helena for water and provisions, ho and Erne went on shore and returned man and wife.'

Education in England, einoa the Elementary Educational Act of 1870 was enforced, has accomplished very satisfactory results.