WILL HE WIN HER?

Manawatu Times, Volume IV, Issue 67, 1 September 1880, Page 4

WILL HE WIN HER?

BY tfAMES GRANT.

CjEWPrER Xf-iIX

<f So you think, and so will all think at times," *aid. Funny while the , color deepened m hef cheek ; " but you will find some bne else to love, Dick, be assured of that." ;•._.. . -" -. , _. , > j,;/i- : "Never !"■ • "Why so?" • - v/V " Cnn you ask me why ? The first, last, antTSolitttfy'' love of my heart wai your sister Clarice, aifcl\;tbe hand of heaven alone 'cquld light- ■another pas«on therer u r- iV : ■ v * ( Poor Dick!" " Aye, poor, indeed, now !" -Funny said and did all she could 'to poothe Tide! while she spoke. ! I 'heard' her voice, hut seemed scarcely tb : knpw •what she said. Fad I suffered all and undergone so much, only to find a blighting sequel such as this? In mist arid gray' obscurity ; all around] ute'r seemed at times to fade- !away, while there was .ft, hissing; -sourid- m my ■earsyand a tightness over my heart. - ? By this fatal step; Clarice, flay wood had blighted two lives— her own and mi&e ; but most of ; all her bw^: Oh, Jiad 1 but achieved my escape from Sfindilli sooner ■- this might have been aaverted !•' And Faiigy was speaking. I chanced to see my own face m a mii % r6r7'\Fheft.its expression startled mo and caused me to make an effort: to i eenvcaliii, for; thereiiiil could see Ahat; "my white lips were flwnly set, my eyes yreve stony m their despair, and my polor was a.Sjthat of doq,th v . - .. ; 4 . Ifeltsiclc of life, and with that sickness felt the ■craving- - that m - sdrrbw cpmes-over: usy as: we Vi grow; older: iv years, to be at rest m f. dark place where none 1 can disturb' "us. ;. . "Iv the loneliness of my loving heart thrust back as it were, upon: itself i .there". were moments of vengeful, and jealous thoughts, when I remembered almost.^e- ; gretf uUy the dftughbr of Sandilli-rrlittle • Jdariqua, who loved me : so. well, and from whom I had fled »6 pitilessly. Poor savage girl, she wa.s terribly avenged now ! - So Claidce and her— how the word choked me— her husband had been at Puerto Rico on -a visit en route foi* JPurope,— whajb part I cared not to m Quire, for bur paths iii life must lay aside for ever now— a> Schenck.e van JSfieukerque had business to tranract. What his business vras no one knew, perhaps he did not know himself; 1 ut }ie had comple control ovor Clarico!s Bioney, be was, qf course, independarit. ? S H • From this I feared that the man was a. mere JJutcb, qr .German adventurer, yrho. nQt^itHst^ndtpK her tteQiity, ' had ipnt^nglfid Clarice into a marriage . for ih.e sakp of her money, ".They w^* s6 to sail fpom San: Juan fl© Puerto Eicb fqr Enuope sibbut the gighteeotb, qf last iflontli," said Fanny, /^pd they /jaid so. Seven vessels sailed Ifefttiaj'JJßt JkflOW notfor wh.ere," '

" And m the confusion of her spirits, poor. Clarice did. not tell us their destination m her farewell lector ; but 1 think it. must- be m Holland, or some part of Germany." ; . -.■'.'■'*•.:■■• :j .. i Lost as she was tome, I could b.ut,«gh. "Alas, no, I greatly foar not.'' : T '",/:. "Already !" . , . ■-. .' ,:.."'. ••■•.'. Ain-aily, Diclc:"- :;; -, „'. •■.-.,*.. 7; I' Why and wherefore ?" ' '".We know, not; buj; ;. her face looked so sad il ltd s.weary. m expression when I saw it last tlmtniyvlierat bled for v her,'\ said Fanny^s- ;^s-,.-- Vl-.r. '::. .-..„-■ '• An.Lr ; sad-jand: weary, southed Her voice when 1 heard ■.i.f.,iasti"-said^l, as memory flashed back-to the strange conversation which I had b.een compelled to evechear m - the Hotel del .,' Caballo Blanco. ■ - . : : ;, ;';.-,■■.,... ; Long that night did I f . linger, >vith Douglas m the ■. cool verandah, tilking. over my bro ken . plans a ncL shattered, hopes, while the starry sky of, the west-" ei-n world displayed' constellations above us unheeded ;. and m my present i mood, I found .th^jsociety of ; i^r^iv;ab:Grrav£s,.anct sonip gay f?lr : lows, vi'hoi eame,,over from tjie .barraeksj intolerableizftaS;: . jthey :-',\ chaffed and laughejdv while, sipping their coffee or iced claret, .. inj West Indian' phraseology taking: '':a ; loiig. drink" from a tumbler, or ," a short." From a wine gkss outside the dining room. I soon saw that the .headless Fannywas as much immersed m gaiety as ever, and .that Da.tetree Pen was a species of heaven to the young subs, who eanie out fresh from the provisional battalion at Chatham or Tilbury. ; • ... I remained for some months with Douglas ; but Fanny reminded me so much of her sister, that her. society, with all its charm, became so saddento me that I resolved to leave Jamaica as soon as possible. That Clarice— my pure, gentle, and ladylike (Clarice — had been the wife of thisiman, was a thought of -perpetual torture, from which I could not flee. It filleid'iny heart^with^gnawing'-and cor. oding bitterness and rage. : Ahdi even 'with :those tropical luxuries and necessities, called mosquitb' curtains one cannot sleep, very sound on fa bed m Jamaica..: I say ? on, : as. people' never think of gbing into one.' : I declined all invitations to'jthe European mess at Newcastle Barracks, and to that of the 4th West India Regiment at Kingston, and a card to a reception of his excellency the governor at Spanish Town was not even answered by .me. I had) become careless ol everything,; and as 5 listless Oas $ambo himself, for Sambo wa s Douglas 's principal. ,yale t . : and was a very good specimen of. the emancipated West Indian negro. For twelve hours out of. the twenty-four he mightbe seen lying under a n angq tree, eating orangesy pineapples, and bananas 10? ••sucking the; monkey "^-i.e, a : cocoannt shell filled. with fiery rum ; but on Sunday he would preach and sing f font the top ;.of a bogshe.ad iria; way Ithat would have eiiclianted all Exeter Hall. Z : . . During, the few months 1 remained with Douglas at Datetreo Pen, letters came at interval from Clarice toFauny, whom; they roused: to tear^, and wrung our hearts.. Her lite was a .lost one^her husband a horror- After a time they, ceased to conic at all, and we^could but surmise r sorrowfully Ijabpufe .her,' till; the tigie.oame wheo,l Vjvs to.i ; eiiiik«,'niy wandetingV I'tnew aiid eareU.iiOtwhither. ' At iast.l took th^ West Indian and ..Pacifi^ "donipiany's steamer, that came Yrom !56vtrau-PririC)e tor Livierpbbl ; and a^ I bade Gerard 'Douglas' adieu on the qhay^-kt Kingston ; Harbour, imy heart : wjeLs very fulY, arid- for a; little time, \vra stood face to facft with our hands elapsed m eacß o'tHer^the hard, tightjand silent grasp of those who are ashamed to ; yre6p. :

Chapteb, L

How often is the; destiny of. ;a . man hewn ;out, shaped, and made before lum by the cliaracter oEthe -wbiiian'w-ho has been jhis first Jove,, i; ■..-.,,,,■''■, i Cla'riciß hadvbeea mine^ and my des- • tiny was, to be-a ' /wanderer by ; land ; and Nearlyrja year ; had elapsed since I fpund mysplf located' teuiporariiy m ;.Hambiir^—perhaps theinost djssipatt\d city m Europe. Frdm.the r day t htad returned to the latter: poi'tipnof the glpbe, I had been wandering, about without any' particular object, -tlie uipst idl(?of ; all idle men. -; In if act, a f ter a life of ' ; c6n sider able e^i-itement and acfivity, I was 'now. m a manner of^ Avay^enjoying the yasue luxury of utter idieness. . " " . I 'ljad, been.up^tjie^^Ejiine^as ; . who has -n-Qt m i^oie t^r^^Upg\ times— ajrid " done " it, all frona : the shdres of the North Sea jj|) the' Glacier .pf'tlie Ehein.;Wald-:^ ; : .^ :..'<[ -.' -•■ .'"'V' ■'.','"• .','' .;' ■'„.- . " ~-~T liaff gone, through tlie * beauhes of the Tyrol; 'a'rid had ; nearly;leffc ; m^ bones on: th,e Grreafc S. t Bernard, as three of my fellow traveilersjxlid. ' We: had passed; the inn at Proze about seven^b/clpck m the evening, 4 when- the "/darkness had set |n, the wind was/ blowing keen and ifiercife.-^pd! .i.hen'.oii-'its; 1 biting blast c snow ;carne swopping. down from the iceclad; mountain sweeps. 'lyiy cprnpahjons, three Americans, were foolhardy^'^Sd : I isetV^ut lifctle store on my life at .any time now. 'In vain We were warned to abido the nigh , at Proii, bis we planted our alpenstocks manfully i'rito ; the ice, ; set our teeth to; tlie wind, and pushed on ; but I alone mor6 'dead than alive, reached the Ilosr pice( fo;r the' three 'Americaus^rished by the -wayside, and were found frozen ihard and BtifE next day not far from ?the inounfain monastry. ';■:-•>;. ;•. . Napleq, J?qme, Nicej and Paris 'were all favoured by me iir succession. : ■ Fora time I -had lingei-ey m; the narrow vale of Baden-Baden, till I tired; of itsi wpodrcovered hills and its dissipated fasliionjiblesi. as I also did af Homburg, with ali its hills arid casinos, ;■ its : 'hruiiand its boresi so I- took my way from -themy ;/ evepywhere 'doing .? i what : John "Murray exppets every jndicions; tourist to do; going ;to the ibest 'hotelsj seeing e^ery tiding th^t wais'te : seen, and doing miles and rriile3 oE pictures and statuary, gallaries and arsenals, ruins and churches, till on an evening m September : J ?f ourvd. myself m the Hotel de I'liJurope, ojiq of the larg. at and moat magnificent earvahsariej m Hamburgh, that city of Ifliieves arid n^ercliant.;pr4use^

It is| situated on the Alsterdamm, and.drowsily I "sat at the lofty casement of my apartment, which was oh | third Stage an this gave me an ample viewof the Jungfernstieg, or Maiden's ■y^alk, with all its stately hotels and cafes, its double rows of trees and endless streams of inagnifioient carriages with liveried couriers sporting epaulette and;pluine, cabs or droschkis, its crowd of passengers on foot and on horse, and though last not least, the beatiful Alster Lake, with all its tiny steamers ■ gliding up anddown between the bridge tlie^pavillion,' and tlie Fahr-huse TeagardeiiS, and .mpre than a thousand gaily painted pleasure boats, making its /waters alive with gaiety an* 1 musice. r „The crash of -drain's and the notes of ! a r fine brass band waking the echoes of j the'lpfty'Neuer Wall, came like an old ."familiar, sound ; on my ears, and then k'niid the scowls of the Hamburgers, the' 75th and 76th Prussian infantry, witUthe black eagle flying, were defiling past on their way to Altona, with their intense air of military precision, their goatskin packs, spiked helmets, arid dirty-looking canvas trowsers rolled up above the atvkles of their biucher boots. . I had been a week m Hamburg on the evening m question, and was mentally dubious whether to take the first steamer for Hull m England or Chris tiahia m Norway, so vague was mv purpose, when a trival incident that led to others was the means of causing we to remain. (To he continutd.J