LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2597, 3 August 1882, Page 4

LITERATURE.

A HARD CASE FOR A LANDLORD.

‘ Tom, Tom, where’s yonr master ? Eliza, Jane, Dick, .find out where your master is, and tell him to come to me at once—at once, do you hear ?’ These words, uttered in a distracted voice by Mrs B ound, landlady of the Back Hotel, at Looborough, soon caused her husband, Joel Round, to be ferreted out of the cellar, where he was inspecting hia stock of dry champagne, and he came mumbling np the stone steps, in wonder as to what could be the matter. He had a baize apron on, and carried a tallow candle, set in a verdigrised candlestick, all covered with shrouds. His hands were grimy, and he was annoyed at having been disturbed from his work before it was ended.

‘ What is it, Mary ?’ he asked ; * anything up ? One would think the house was on fire, to hear all that hollaring. ’ * Come in here,’ answered his wife quickly, and having beckoned him into the parlor behind the bar, she whi pered In a voice of positive agony, ‘Joel, the lady in Number 'i'hree has got the small pox.’ ‘Who told you ?’ asked Joel, in unaltered voice. As he spoke down went bis candlestick on the table, and off went his apron. He could not have looked more fierce and active if he had heard there was a burglar on the premises. ‘ Dr. Cjoloy has been, and he tays the case is a bad one. He has ordered fires to be lit in both rooms, and talks of sen ing a nurse presently.’ ‘Fires and nurse be d d,’ exclaimed Joel impetuously, ‘ she must turn out of this; I'll go up and tell her husband so.’ ‘Stop, Joel, dearj how long is it since yon were vaccinated P’ inquired his wife, laying an arre-ting hand on bis arm. All Joe’s valor coagulated in a lump in his throat and stuck there.

‘Send up Tom,’ he gasped, ‘let’s see, what’s that party’s name P—Mr Bel worth. Yes, tall Tom I must tee Mr Eelworth this minute. ’

Mr Balwcrth was not long in coming down. He was a young barrister, who had been married lees than a week, and was staying at Loobjrough for his honeymoon. Now, hia bride had caught the smallpox, he looked as a man naturally would under each doleful, circumstances, and, In his distress, he was unprepared for the intimation which the landlord gave him, that he must take hia sick wife out of the honse at once.

‘How esn I take her out, when the doctor says she le to bs kept from all exposure to the air?' said Mr Belworth indignantly, ‘look at the weather.’

It was raining hard, and the weather had been wet for the last three days. Though the weather was summer, it was as cold as ■la March.

1 1 can’t help It, -sir,' replied the landlord of the Buck, who, as be spoke, flourished a wisp of smouldering brown paper between himself and his guest, in hope of dispelling the miasma which the latter might be carrying about with him; ‘ a ease of small pox in my honse at this time might be the rain of me You know, si-, Looborough races begin on Monday, and I told you when you took the rooms that I couldn’t let you have ’em beyond next Friday night, as they were be spoken for a whole week from Saturday morning. They’re the best rooms in the hou e that you’ve got, and they’re to be occupied by Lord and Lady Trotham.’ ' 1 know that, but this is an unexpected calamity that has befallen me,’ said Mr belworth, impatiently ; then he asked, ‘Supposing he did remove his wife from the house, where could he take hrr to.2’ ‘ There’s the coanty hospital, sir : she’d bo .belter oared for there than she can be here. ’

‘ Bat Dr. Cooley told me it was five miles off, and at the top of a hill so that one would be two hours reaching it.’ ‘I with Dr. Cooley ’ad mind his own business,’ blurted out Joel Ronr.d excitedly, for he had baen on the point of saying that the hospital was but twenty minutes distant, which was true, reckoning as the crow flies ; * but I’ll tell you what, sir, you can have your lady taken to the Union Infirmary, which is just five minutes’ walk from here. Please think of my position, Mr Belworth, sir; race week is the only time of the year when I make any money. My house is always full then, and I am bound to make four hundred pounds in the seven days, if all goes well; but I shan’t have a soul to lodge here if it’s known that I’ve small pox pox in the house ’ Ihe man’s voice almost broke with selfcomp&asion as he shaped this prospect into words.

‘Very well, I’ll conailer,’said Mr Belworth, and be strode ont of the room,pained and angry, because be had met with none of the sympathy which ho felt to be hia due. Joel Bound called after him, wishing the matter to ba settled out of hind; but he walked up-stabs without replying. Mr Belworth woa just then thinking only of his poor young wife's sufferings and dangers; but he was a right-minded man, who, os eoou as he had become calm, confessed to himself that since he could not e.ffo’-d to pay Mr Bound an indemnity of £IOO be bad no business to make him incur the loss of all his race week’s profits Joel Round, however, being ignorant of what was passing in his guest’s mind, viewed his departure with sheer exasperation. Joel hod beea but two years landlord of the Buck, having previously served twenty years as footman and butler iu Lord Looborough’s household, and having ultimately

married Lady Looborough’smaid. My Lord had quarrelled with the Fox, the old posting hotel of the town, ow ng to poltica ; and, in assisting his former butler to settle at the Buck, had promised him hia liberal patronage. By means of hunt dinners and occasional guests during the hunting season, the Buck managed to pay its expenses fairly during fifty one weeks out of the year, bet it was during race week that Joel really made the money by which he could compete his income All he Lftl Bald to Mr Bel worth on this subject was perfectly true, and he marvelled at his gnest’s hard-heartedness not less than Mr Belworth had been dls gnata dat his. It suddenly occurred to Joel to think how that beast Mlgglng, landlord of the Fox, would rub his hands If anything happened to scare visitors away from the Buck, and this drove him frantic. ‘ Mary,’ he cried, summoning his wife, who had retired during his interview with Mr Belcher, ‘that scoundrel upstairs re--fuses to go. He’s no gentleman, _ and I expect that woman whom he calls his wife isn’t wonh much. But since they won’t go of their own accord, I’ll starve them out. Mind, if Number Three rings for anything, he’s not to be served; he mustn’t have no much as a glass of water. Don’t allow Dick to carry him up any coals, or Jane to do the rooms. I’ll be master in my own

house, I will!’ A few minutes after this declarati m of the landlord, Mr Belworth, who had been standing very sadly by his wife’s bedside, rang for a .me lemonade to quench her devouring thirst. Tom, the waiter, who answered the cal', was a stupid person, and faltered sheepishly that h'.s master had ordered him to servo nothing. Whereupon Mr Bslworth walked downstairs. He was a tall,_reso 1, u‘e man, not accustomed to be trifled with. * Will you give me some lemons and a sugar basin ?’ he demanded quietly. ‘Sir, yon want to be the ruin of me,' exclaimed Joel Round, almost sobbing; ‘if you were a gentleman you wouldn’t illuse me in this way. I’m not bound to serve you.’ ‘You are bound by your license to serve all well conduct'd guests at lawful hours, ’ answ.rad the barrister, and without more ado he entered the bar. helped himself to two lemons out of the basket, caught up a sugar basin, aud went upstairs ssyirg to the landlord as he passed, ‘ You ought to be ashamed of yourself.’ But wbi’o saying this with all the severity he could throw into a voice naturally dignified, Mr Belworth Lit he could not straggle alt day with a malevolent landlord and landlady ; so ha only waited In-doors until the arrival of the nurse whom Dr. Cooley had sent, and then be went oat to call en this medicil man in order to confer as to whether he could have hla wife transferred in safety to any more hospitable abode. Joel Round, however, had seen the nurse come in and Mr Belworth go out; and no sooner had the latter turned his back on the hotel than the landlord took an amazingly courageous resolution. He resolved to h»ve Mrs Belworth packed la a fly and sent off to the hospital whilst her husband was oat Joel Round was not a bad-hearted man in the ordinary relations of life, but the idea of seeing his honse empty during race week was not to be endured, and to have been defied in hla own h ass by a contemptuous guest having no bowels of mercy was additionally maddening. So he gave hia orders In a tone at once hysteric and ferocious A n old charwoman named Betsy, who had had the small pox, and was not afraid of contagion, wsa told to put on her bonnet and go into Number Three, saying that by Mr Be'worth’s orders the patient was to be immediately wrapped np warmly in blankets, and to be conveyed to the hospital by her, Betsy, and the nnrse. Then Jod ran ont Into the stable-yard, and cried to bis flyman Jack to harness the fastest pair of horses to the ‘Dowager,’ an old clarence that had not been ont fur years, bot wh'ch tho landlord thought would do well enough for tho present emergency, seeing that if a regular fly were used it would require all sorts of-fumigating, and perhaps new lining, before it oonld be driven again. Joel’s fear of small pox was so hideous, and he was In such a hurry to get Mrs Bdworth off, that when the poor lady came down stairs, half carried by the nurse and char-woman, ho bustled forward himself to open the carriage door and sea that she was warmly wrapped up. As to that, he stinted no blankets. The clarence was almost stuffed with them; and, to do Josl jus tics, he hsaved an honest sigh when he beheld the fever-inflamed face of the poor young wife whom he had seen bat a few days before to lovely and happy with her husband.

‘ Drive fast. Jack,’ ho said to the coachman ; ‘ and mind, nnrse, Mrs Belworth is to have a room to heraelf at the hospital, and every comfort. Mr Bsi worth will follow soon.*

But once the fly was gone, Mr Bound deemed it prudent to withdraw himself from Mr Bel worth’s reach. Ho put on his coat and hat, bolted out of the hotel, and seized upon his opportunity of going to spend the day with his mother-in-law, a farmer's wife, who lived ten miles off. He did not return till midnight, and, if the truth must be told, he was then slightly disguised in gin-and-water, for he had drank rather freely to give himself valour. The more he looked back upon his achievement the less he iiked it. His wi'e war sitting np for him, not reproachfully, for he had told her that he was going to see her mother, and had even brought back two geese and a cauliflower as a peace offering. But she was serious and perturbed by the story aha had to tell him.

*Ob, Joel, dear, scarcely half an-hour after yon bad gone Mr Belworth came back here with Dr. Cooley, It seems the doctor had kindly agreed to take the lady Into his own house, as there was no room at the Union fit to receive her. So when Mr Belworth hea*d what you had done he gave me a look—such a look as I’ll never forget to my dying day. It gave me the shivers.’ ‘ I can’t he’p, my de-ear,’ hiccoughed Joel, terrified ; ‘ what sha right-ba-h he to bring shiok pe-people to my houshe 2 The Buck aint’sha-short-o’ cspital for all comersh !’ ‘You’ve had a drop tco much, Joel,’ observed his wife parenthe ioally ; ‘but It don’t often happen to you, so that’s neither here nor there. Well, when Mr Bilworth had given me that awful look, he ordered a horse to bo sadd’ed and galloped off to the hospital as hard as he could go. though It was pouring wet, and not fit weather to pnt a dog out In. But there’s worse to come ; for two hours afterwards Jack comes back

with the three horses—Mr Belworth’a and the carriage pair —and says he to me, ‘ Missus,’ says he, quite dogged like, ‘the old ‘ Dowager’ went regularly to hits half way up Haverley hill, and rolled ns all into a ditch ; you’ll have to send a cart to fetch her home,’ says he. ‘And the lady, Jack?’ says I; for, Joel, I’d turned white as a ghost. •Well, the lady, misses, she got into the ditch too,’ said Jacu ; ‘her husband rode up just as we were pulling her out, and we all helped to carry her up the hill to the hospital ; but I’m afesred she war soaking wet when she got there ’ ‘ That’s what Jack said,’ concluded Mrs Bound, looking with an anxious face at her husband, whi oculd only stare at her besot tediy ; ‘ and I hope no harm of it. Joel, for we should be in a bad way if mis chief happened.’ ‘ I can’t help it, washn’t my fault,’ maundered Joel, still hiccoughing; ‘ have you fum—fumigated the rooms np-shtairs ai I told yet V • Lor, yes; we burnt vinegar and chalrcoal there, and kept all the windows open till evening ; so Lord and Lady Trotham can go In there without danger. But now, Joel the best place for you is bed. Come along, sol I’ll help you up.’ The next day Joel Bound had a bad headache from his gin and water, and was nervous, fearing that Mr Belworth might appear and treat him to soma high words ; but in the c n-so of the morning a hospital servant oamo with a oait to remove Air Belworth’s luggage acd pay his bill, siying that this gentleman's wife had been admitted to a private room at the hospital, and that her husband was lodging at a cottage bard by. Then Joel had peace, for the servant brought no bad news from Mrs Bolworth. After this a few more days elapsed. The race began ; and the Buck Hotel was full—-over-full. Never had Joel done such a roaring trade ; and, being busy from morning till night, ho forgot to think about the Belworths. It was on the second day of the races, and Lord Trolham’s drag stood at the doo-, waiting to oonvey his lordship’s party to the course. Lord Trotham had just come down, and was lounging over the bar, selecting some cigars out of Bound’s choicest boxer, when there stalked in a gentleman wbo, to the land'o-d’s horrified

senses, looked like a ghost—the ghost of Mr Belworth, all in black, and with a deep band round bis hat. Joel felt ready to faint, when, with an air of pleased surprise, Lord Trotham tamed and accosted the barrister,

‘ Hullo, Belworth, you here ? I thought you were in the m"on—honeymoon. I’ve got to congratulate you.’ ‘ I was married, and my poor wife Is dead,’ said Mr Belworth, In a heart-broken voice ; then, with an implacable look, he pointed to Joel, ‘lt was that ruffian who killed her. Would you believe that he did ?’ And to a throng of the ‘Back’s’ best customers Mr Belworth told the story of how his wife had been turned out of the hotel in a broken-down carriage, which had come to pieces on the hill and had caused her to be drenched with rain.

* My God !’ exclaimed Lord Trotham, who had been listening to the narrative with signs of the liveliest alarm; ‘do you mean to say. Round, that you put I. ady Trotham and me into a room where there had just been a oat e of email pox ?' * My lord, I as-ure you the apartment had been well fumigated,’ declared the miserable landlord, trembling all over._ ' Fumigation to blazes,’ cried his lordship ; ‘ why, my wife has got a bad headache this morning. That's why she isn’t going to the races. Perhaps she’s going to ha ill too. Send for a doctor, will yon, and ba hanged,’ saying which his lordship scrambled upstairs, scattering strange oaths. A doctor was sent for, but the stampede of customers that took place from the Buck was fited to remain memorable in the amt la of Loohorough. Before evening Lady Xrothsm was known to have sickened of the terrible malady which had carried off Mrs Belworth ; and (not to prolong this pa'nful story) when her ladyship left the hotel cured a few weeks later, she had no more beauty to of.

Meanwhile public indignation had rained upon Josl Round’s head in cataracts. Be was not listen l d to in his own defence. Some b'amed him for one thing, soms for another, and those who least knew the rights and wrongs of bis misdoings screamed the loudest. It was no use contending against such a downpour. The man's cha-aoter was gone, his hotel was tabooed, and before Tong he betook himself with resignation to the Bankruptcy Court, But even to this day (be has become a restaurant waiter, and his wife has gone into tervice again) he persists in asking this question : ‘ What the dtikens ought I to have done ? If the thing was to happen to me again, I shoal In’t know how to act better *