LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2678, 6 November 1882, Page 4

LITERATURE.

FLAT REBELLION.

(Continued.) He was gone about two hours. Expecting a wigging from Elliot, the lout had prepared a° clumsy lie to account for the missing rook-rifle and the length of time he had been away. Bob's lie was not wanted. Neither Elliot nor Lytham was there ; and Bob's furious wife informed him Miss Gare's room was empty. What did Bob care ! He had been at the Cow and Snuffers, and he was blessed if he heeded who knew it, so there ! ' A bonny day's work this has been for us, with your young masters and- your Cows and Snuffers:' exclaimed Mrs Yorkshire Bob; ' if the hearth was to hopen and swaller mo up it would be a charity ; for how to face it out with master I don't know. If yoxi were fit to be left I'd try and find out something about that baggage. But, look at you ! Wait till yoii are solid and sober, my gentleman; you'll have such a horatorio in your lugs as you haven't heard this many a day. Get out o' my sight. For anything I know master may come in at that door any minnte !' A blander person than Mr Nicholson Chimford, as he repaired to Todfield Villa that afternoon, it would have been difficult to find. With the assistance of his lawyer he had laid his plans for a campaign,which could not fail to prove triumphant. First, there was his nephew. Well, if he knew anything of his nephew's spirit, the young jackanapes was at that very moment in the act of shaking the dust (of Todfield Villa) from his feet. If they should meet again, which was not unlikely, he should hear a lecture on the duties of nephews to uncles, which he would not soon forget. Then there was Annabel Gare. Ah, well, in another, land remote from her present associations she was bound to become more tractable. Henceforward the education of his mutinous ward in the serious business of life should be his (Mr Nicholas Chimford's) jealous, care. Meanwhile, if this penniless adventurer, Lytham, proved awkward to deal with, the aid of the law must be implacably invoked. That would sort him I The blandness of Mr Nicholas Chimford was beautiful. But, unhappily, it did not last. After an interview with his abject housekeeper, his aspect changed. His voice dropped and softened as he apprised her of his opinion of her husband ; nay, it scarcely rose higher than a whisper; and yet it frightened her, for she thought of snakes. As for Bob, he was got out of the way. Although in height and breadth and thickness ho was his master multiplied by two, it was Mrs Robert's shuddering conviction that, if the pair had met immediately after her disclosure of the flight of Miss Gare, her next change of costume would have taken the shape of widow's weeds. A lovelier face was never seen under a chip hat than the face of Annabel Lytham (nee Gare) as she sat by her husband's side in a retired little orchard that overlooked Kozel Bay, about a month after her flight from Todfield villa. He was lying half hidden in the thick herbage of the orchard gazing lazily at the peeps of blue sky that were visible through the apple tree which shaded him and his bonny little wife, while she looked out dreamily seaward. It was afternoon, and the tide was coming in.

That day no excursion car had troubled , the lovely little Jersey bay, and so far the normally tranquil hotel had not been patronised by parties from St. Holler's, ' sharp set' with their drive, and longing for a lobster tea. With the exception of the visible natives, who on that afternoon toiled not, neither did they spin, the young couple, to all appearance, had that delightful bit of Lotuslaud all to themselves. ' Alick,' said she, after a long and contented pause in the conversation. 'Boll?' '. It is a month to-day since wo fled !' 'lt is.' ( Don't you think it the least bit strange that Mr Chimford has made no efforts to follow us ?' ' No, my love, I do not. That is to say, I should have thought it deuced strange if he hadn't. He has either inado the endeavor and been foiled, or he is taking his time, like the calculating old tiger he is, before he makes his spring.' * Alick, you frighten me !' 'Do I, darling? Awfully sorry to do that. Well, perhaps tiger is a little too strong a figure to use. I am too lazy to think of a better. Isn't this sun jolly, and that breeze, and the quiet, and the lullaby of the birds and beetles and things, and the fragrance in tho air ! If one could only have this sort of thing all tho year round, and every year !' * Alick, dear ?' ' Well, Mistress Gravity, what is it ?' ' I want to speak seriously to you.' ' Thought so. Get it over, then.' * It is very pleasant, this kind of life, but it can't last for ever, love; and it is because it is so enchanting I fear that something dreadful is going to happen.' ' Oh, rubbish !' ' No, Alick. I wish that horrid guardian of mine would find us, and —and—and forgive you.' * Which ho never will, to his dying day. No ; Shylock will have his pound of flesh, Portia notwithstanding. Of course, you are Portia.'

* If they should put you in prison !' *On the - debtors' side, dear, and not for long. Then, who knows, iny case might come before a married judge —a newly married judge.' 'lt would break my heart, Alick/ * What! the debtors' side ! Nonsense ! Now, look here ; I shall get angry with you —for, the first time—if you indulgo in these doleful dump 3. Hasn't everything sped in the most splendid fashion ! First, you, under Leslie's directions— * ' Dear Leslie !' ' "With all my heart! Tou could not make me jealous of him if you tried. Well, as I was saying, you, under Leslie's instructions (and mine), pick the lock of your room in a fashion that would have done credit to an experienced burglar. Love laughs at locksmiths, you know. Wo three get away to Weymouth, and my favorite aunt joins the conspiracy. From her house we were married by means of a license, which, I regret to have to own, was obtained under somewhat false pretences j we come over the sea, and—here we are V ' Alick, wo cannot remain here for ever with nothing to live on.' ' That is true, Bell dear. Do not think me unfeeling if I appear to treat the affair with levity. Only recollect Elliot's last letter. Did he not assure us that we should defeat his uncle in the end ?'

: He did; and said absolutely nothing about what you would have to go through before we gained the victory.' ' Oh, it will be all right. My people must do something for us. And the time will soon pass. Until they help us, or you cease to be an infant, I must negotiate a loan. A letter, my love, no, it is a telegram. Why, you are as white as a sheet! How absurd ! Recall that color. It is Elliot who telegraphs, and you may be certain that he would not send us bad news. Whew !'

Lytham prolonged his whistle to such an extent that his wife's alarm returned; whereupon he read, ' Shall be Jersey tomorrow. C. will also be there. Tracked him Southampton, and came on here. If have luck, as have chosen shortest passage, ought to beat him easily. Have pill for him, will not enjoy.' 'He telegraphs from Weymouth,' observed Alick absently. ' C. signifies Chimford, and he comes on from Southampton/ remarked Annabel seriously. ' What the deuce does it all mean ?' said he to himself.

" This is my presentiment,* said she. * Bell/ said he, brightening up ; * let us go and order a lobster.* ' With pleasure,' she replied, with a preoccupied air. ' If he had suggested an alligator she would have made the same reply. They rose together, and were descending from their superior eminence leisurely to the level of the hotel, when a hoy approached with another telegram. Tearing open the envelope, Lytham read : r ße down at pier to-morrow when Southampton boat arrives, and sure that my uncle sees you. I shall be there, but he will not see me. Neither must you,' * Is Leslie ill ?' queried Mrs Lytham. ' He is losing his head,' remarked Lytham. He added after a pause, ' Shall we go?' She replied unhesitatingly, ' Yes. To herself she said,' Poor Alick ! He will be arrested ; this is my presentiment. Ah, well, the sooner it is over the better ! But what does Leslie Elliot mean by that pill ?' After the lobster, which was discussed without the least enjoyment on the part of either husband or wife, they sat under the stars, and —the wife, at any rate—' bitterly thought of the morrow.' As for the morrow —he had by-and-by ceasod to think bitterly thereof —let it come! ' Do you know Bell,' said Alick, as they strolled up from the little pier to their rural lodging ; * the more I think of those telegrams of Eliot's the less I understand them. Who sups with what's-his-name must have a long spoon, you know ; and supposing Leslie is all right in his head, it is possible he is mistaken about that pill. However, Bell dear, we'll chance it.'

Apart from Leslie Elliot's chivalrous determination to advance the happiness of Mr and Mrs Lytham to the utmost of his power, a motive less worthy than that actuated him in relation to Mr Nicholas Chimford, his most unworthy uncle. That gentleman had treated his nephew in the shabbiest manner—if, indeed, he had not been guilty of practices which might be denominated * sharp' in respect of the young man's little fortune, for some time undar the elder individual's care. The first week of the honeymoon the young had passed in Guernsey, Elliot, who had accompanied them to that placid island, left them to go on to Jersey, where ho said he had business. The nature of this ho omitted to communicate. They saw him for a few minutes on board the steamer as he returned. He bade them keep a light heart between them, for they might depend upon it he would be even with uncle Chimford yet. He lingered a couple of days in and about Southampton, not on business. Sentiment, doubtless, and not a love of the picturesqe, was accountable for the delay. He had long known that a certain village in Hants was Annabel Gare's birthplace. About a week before telegraphing to Lytham, Elliot had called on his uncle, ostensibly to sottlo some monetary difficulty there was between them, really in pursuance of a dark design connected with the fugitive couple. During the interview the bland proprietor of Todfield villa was most effusive, while his nephew was politeness personified. They were both acting. In leaving, Leslie dropped an envelope, upon which was inscribed the address of A. Lytham, Esq., British Hotel, Jersey. Alick was not then stopping at the British, but that did not matter. It was part of Leslio's deep design to lure uncle Chimford over to Jersey, and he felt certain the perusal of the address would have the desired effect. It had. Elliot's forecast was promptly realised. A visit to Castleborough was followed by another to judges' chambers, and a third to Scotland Yard, and, in due course, by the purchase of return tickets for two to Jersey at Waterloo Bridge station. Promptly informed of his uncle's every movement, Elliot was abreast of this final one in the manner described in his telegram. He, too, started for Jersey by the Weymouth route, which the advertisements declared was ' the shortest sea passage.' A lovely morning, with a fresh breeze blowing upon the coast from France (that was Annabel's method of boxing the

island compass), saw Mr and Mrs Lytham on their way to St. Helier's. They had started early from Kozel, after a light breakfasts and as thoy were driven iu sight of the flagstaff at the fort, the Weymouth boat was signalled. * Elliot must have hud a delightful run,' observed Lytham, by way of saying something. ' I supjjose so,' assented Annabel, with a sigh ; 'he is a good sailor. Mr Chimford ii always ill. When I look at those white caps on the waves, and think of the wretched state he must be in, I shudder - ' Js' Caps, my darling; curls. The daintiest and delightfullest of curls ! I call this the perfection of a sea. Look at t'ae color.' ' Yes, I know/ rejoined Annabel petulantly ; ' to you it is a lovely blue—say, a dazzling ultramarine. I daresay Leslie is enjoying the hue of it through the smoke of his cigar. It is Mr Chimford I am thinking of. What should have possessed Leslie to beg of us to be in his uncle's way directly he comes ashore, I cannot think. Alick, I have a good mind to go back.' To be continued.