Tales and Sketches.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 15, 6 May 1871, Page 16

Tales and Sketches.

theVwinning' hazard. J (From'Chambers' Journal.) '. J [i ,j ,, CHAPTER Hl*.. *So did this horse exceed a common one j In shape, in courage, color, pace, and bone. *ls there a letter from Jack this morning, Sarahi?' said the .Her Septimus Lowtfeer, looking up from, hhv cutlet. It is Breakfast time at Guisethorpe Sectary and the rector and bis niece are sitting opposite each other at a well covered table. Sarah nodded, without looking up Irons !»er letter, which seemed engross her a good deal. She was a slender still though past her first youth : she had large bright eyes and a firm aquiline nose; her face would have been very handsome, had there been more flesh upon it. A clear fceaded capable woman evidently, of strong ealm sense and decided purpose. Ihus Taoch is to be told of her As snch women pften do, r ; she had ventured fter whole store of affections on a nerveless fcut handsome scapegrace, whom even she couldn't keep straight/and who was now a superintendent of police somewhere in Australia. They still corresponded, these two; and there were times when Captain Tom, in his lonely hut among the diggers, thought a good deal about poor Sarah, and made many resolves of amended life and'heartier struggles for success. But such resolves had as yet never outlasted Ihe first temptation to break them. Possibly some day or other the letters wou d cease altogether, and then Sarah would begin to grow old. . Jack, when very young—say sixteen or seventeen—had fallen desperately in love with his cousin, who was about ten years older than he. It was an attachment, never came to anything of course, and Jack seemed to have forgotten all about it. Still it gave an indefinable tenderness to the intercourse between the two; and Sarah was very fond of Jack, loving him with a half • sisterly, haltmotherly affection. Sarah's life was on the whole a happy one. She busiedJierself much in the care of her uncle's house, who had been a widower for many years. She was also Jack's prime adviser and general director; kept a motherly eye on his wardrobe j r was the confidante ,of all his plans and difficulties. . , She finished her letter, and looked up at her uncle. , T . % 'Barbarian was a bad second, Jack Sa ?So I see in the "Mercury," my dear. I didn ? fc tknow you took an interest in racing matters.' .... * I don't generally, but this is an exceptional case. All the country side was wild about Barbarian, who was bred on our own moors, trained in our own county. Why, Jackson— even the prudent J ackson confessed to me the other day, as he was driving me to the station, that he had invested a sovereign on Barbarian. . ' Sad thing this gambling spirit, said the rector: ' I must give Jackson a lee- ■ ture on the point. I'm quite clear of the matter; however: after the sermon Lgave them last Sunday, nobody can say Jdidn t warn my people.' - } , 'Don't say anything to Jackson, dear, said Sarah; 'I ought not to have told vou • and the loss of the sovereign is ; punishment enough. Besides, it isn t.so much for gain as for the honor of the country side, that everybody has been betting about Barbarian. Why, even the little children were full of him. In my class on Sunday afternoon I was expound, ing the Epistle of the day; you know the passage-Barbarian, Scythian, and so on Land I asked them unwittingly if they could explain the word Barbarian. Half-a-dozen Hands were stretched out in a minute; and when I pointed to the least little mite in the class i; she called out: "Please, teacher. I knowj feyther say • he's the best of John Scott s lot. The rector, shook,his head, but his face beamed nevertheless. :•« So he was, Sarah; thebeat'old John s ever turned out. Pity r he should break down Justin the foment of victory] But there—l hope Jack hadn t . any?mbneyiapon him. Do you think he had; Sarah?';; " ■; ;.., , ~ . L , '■.., I Sarah drummed on the table with her i brown,lissom fingers. ,-. ■ .. :'Has he,had his quarters money yet, * 7 l'o'P*''''" '' ' ' ' : '" '' ' '"''' '" ' : ! ' Why the fact is, Sarah, I've had suchteavy calls lately-deppsits on | allotment, and so Jack s good. , The Swabians have allotted jme in tull—think ofithal, Sarah Penstriker s " dome-Mid' they'll be at two premium m ; had such me, that--in fact Jack must wait aJittlev ♦ Couictn'tyoii write to Shackleblock to advance it : t^him .' r '/ . ~ —* ! Well do you know, I to meet these 'Swabian'shares, I had to get Shackleblock me the next half .year s rent charged so perhaps.it wouldnt .do to ask ; £for any more; however I'll see abou Penstriker wiUJet me have La moment; only, as a director, I feel a the rector's decorous serving man, made bis appearance.

' Please, sir, a young gent from thej)ank wishes to speak with you, sir.' ' Shew him into the library, Jackson. ' Ah, I suppose Penstriker wants me to make up a quorum to-day, Sarah. Indefatigable man that; always at his work. . The rector went cheerfully into his library to see the young man from the bank. The young man Was pale, and spoke rapidly, and choked nervously every now and then. t , «Mrs Penstriker sent me, sir. There s been an awful catastrophe, sir, Mr Penstriker has beenmearly murdered in a railway carriage; not expected to live, sir; and he's asking for you, sir.' The rector was a good deal moved. •Not, indeed, that he had ever regarded Penstriker from any but an official point of view—as a bank manager, that is, whose business it was to help other people to make money. Still, it shook him a good deal this news; he ,sank into his morocco covered library chair, and played nervously on the arms with his fingers. 'Dreadful, dreadful! I can hardly realise it, young man. Penstriker, whom I met yesterday at onr Board in such good health and spirits ! Was it a robbery ? 'We fear so, sir. He had been to Liverpool for gold, and, as far as we can make out, he had twenty thousand pounds with him.' __., ' Culpable, culpable carelessness I What am I to do ?' ♦ He's been asking for you several times,

sir. •Yes, yes, that's all very well; but I don't know how far I'm justified in going into matters with him. The" chairman now— lie ought to be sent for.' t ~* He has been telegraphed for, but he s on the continent.' ' Well, I shall go, then ; but it must be is as a director, not as a clergyman; I should be the last man to take anything upon myself in another man's parish.' The Lufffcown Banking Company s extensive premises were at the corner of two intersecting streets, arteries of communication between the big gloomy warehouses and mills of the one part, and the bustling main street, busy shops, and crowded market place of the other part of the town. The whole of the building above the ground floor was devoted to the manager s residence—a somewhat palatial home for a man of a few hundreds a year. On the first floor there was a big drawing room done in yellow satin and damask, and crowded with expensive knick-knacks; there was a handsome dining room, often filled with Penstriker's friends and customers. He was noted for the excellence of his banquets. There was a roomy state bedchamber, luxurious and well appointed. In this bedchamber, dabbling the white eider-down coverlet with his blood, lay the manager, wounded to death, waiting the coming of the end. In the yellow satin, drawing room were huddled together a group of terrified girls —the dying man's daughters ; crouching under the shadow of calamity, they still held on to the little substance they thought was still their own—to their style, and deportment, and gentility. Mamma was posed in a yellow satin chair, expecting the arrival of the only person to whom, in their distress, they could apply—the aristocratic director, the proud parson ot Guisethorpe. Poor creatures! destruction had come upon them unawares ; and the only resources at their need were shiny false—Grecian bends, and thrilling voices. ■. ■ : . The rattle of wheels and clatter ot hoofs were heard in the street; then a carriage stopped at the door. The girls ran to peep through the blinds at the visitor, who was indeed the Rev. Septimus Lowther., He strode into the drawing room, looking cold and severe. ♦ Oh, Mr Lowther, said the wife, spreading out her white pocket handkerchief before her eyes, 'this is an awful calamitv He bowed politely, but stiffly ; be didn't take any notice of the proffered hand which was held out to him. 'I believe your husband—at whose accident, ot course, I am deeply grieved—Wishes to see me ?' __ T 4 My poor husband, yes. Oh, Mr Lowther, how is it that such things are permitted?' , , ' If Mrs Penstriker expected any solace or comfort from the aristocratic divine, she was disappointed; not that the rector was harsh or unkind, he was only intent on his own affairs. 'Can I see him at once? Moments are precious !' _ Even in her anxiety and distress, Mrs Penstriker was not unwilling to prolong her interview with Mr Lowther. * 111, go and prepare him/ she said.—' My daughter'si Mr Lowther/ ;■., The girls all bowed their swan liKe necks, posing themselves in sympathetic attitudes, all eager to unfold their budget of what their thought and feelings had been under this calamity ; but they-met with no encouragement. The proud cold face of Mr Lowther forbade any confidences; for indeed he was very anxious and disturbed as to what the ..coming interview with the bank manager might reveal to him. Although he had left Guisethorpe without any reason to doubt

the truth of the story of the attempted murder and robbery, yet, when he reached Lufftowm'and met a knot of men of business he had a alight acquaintance with, who were all talking about the ' accident,' and shrugging their shoulders, and hoping it wouldn't turn out bad for the bank, Lowther became infected with their incredulity. He tried hard to calculate as to how his affairs stood with the bank; but he couldn't make it out, his head felt so queer. His conscience was easy enough indeed, if that were any good. He had put all he had into the bank, and although he had overdrawn heavily sometimes, to pay for new investments, yet they were all there—stock, lock, and barrel. Shares and scrip, bonds and coupons, were they not all in the coffers of the bank ? Yes, surely he was a wealthy man. And yet, after all, perhaps he had been a fool—had trusted everything to a man who might have deceived him. He couldn't tell; everything depended on the word of the dying man. There was one thing- which he all at once remembered—which came upon him like a thunderbolt, and madej him break out all over into a cold perspiration—that trust money! that fifteen hundred pounds, belonging to the orphan daughters of his former which he and Good, the rich miller, Were co-trustees. Penstriker had persuaded him to sell out those fifteen hundred pounds, which were formerly invested in consols, promising to get a good mortgage for their investment. But then Good was in that; yes, he must have signed the transfer also; and it wasn t likely that a shrewd man of business like Good would have been deceived in such a matter. And yet, now he came to think of it, he had never personally consulted Good. Penstriker had seen Good for him ; Penstriker had assured him that it was all right; and indeed all the motive Lowther had had in changing the investment was to get a few more pounds per annum for those poor girls.' schooling. Oh, what a time that dressy woman was in preparing her husband for his visit ! These were Lowther's thcughts, as he stood fidgeting by the table, covered with gilded books and albums, in the yellow drawing room at the bank Small wonder, then, that he overlooked the swan like movements of the girls, their shiny hair and Grecian bends, for he was gazing gloomily over their heads into the dull street, murky with smoke and fog, echoiug with frequent footfalls—footfalls, too, which seemed to converge at the corner of the street, where the bank doors opened on to the causeway. Every footstep which came, but went not, seemed to Septimus Lowther like the stroke of a passing boil, telling of the fading away of all the joy and comfort of his life. Just then the town clock struck ten, the bolts and bars of the bank door began to clang and clatter, and Septimus started as he was touched on the arm by a masculine hand. •Come,' whispered the doctor, who had aroused Lowther from his doleful musings —' come and see our friend; he's sinking fast.'

CHAPTEE IV. . ' Oh ! ahe ia Ten times more geatle than her father's crabbed' * Valeria, this is Mr John Lowther, son 'of the Christchurch man you've heard me talk about: he's been very kind to your brother. He'll have luncheon with us.' Valeria came forward to greet him. Any small doubt which Jack might have entertained as to the reality of the sudden flame which had sprung up in his heart, dimming all other sensations, vanished altogether when he once more met Valeria, It was not so much that she was beautiful; he knew half a girls who would have been accounted more perfect in feature and contour. It was more that there was an exceeding bloom and freshness about her —a touch of sweet wild nature. The very dew on the rose, the very down on the peach, did not equal in brightness and delicacy the sparkling eyes, the soft velvety cheeks of Valeria Waldron. That from so gnarled and knotted a trunk, shduld spring such a fair and graceful sapling, was a real physiological marvel, thought Jack as he looked at father and daughter. Nevertheless, they seemed to be very fond of each other. Bad as was Dr Waldron's temper, he was never unkind to his daughter. He had been a widower for some years, and Valeria was now of an age to take the management of her father's house, to preside at his table. It was a queer atmosphere about a young girl. Companions of her own class she had scarcely any; intimate society she had m me. And yet the doctor had made a point that she should be presented at' court; would sometimes move heaven and earth to get her an invitation for some aristocratic assembly. She Would preside calmly and gravely at her father's dinner table, to which he would introduce all sorts of guests: the latest Bed Eepublican. from Paris, the most advanced Professor from Germany, the most enthusiastic Spiritualist from ! America. The doctor had a keen scent \ for the latest impracticability ; cared indeed nothing for a thing when he found it practicable. Some men gleaned a good

harvest by picking up his ideas after he had thrown then away. There was therefore about Valeria an atmosphere which was somewhat different from that of common life. She was neither of the wise nor ot the foolish virgins but stood a little apart trimming her own clear lamp.. She sang divinely. There must have been something in the doctors i theory as to his lineage, for never girl of pure English blood sang as she did. # . Lowther had fallen head over ears into love the first time he. saw her; and the spell was only more.firmly fixed to him after the half-hour he spent at luncheon in Eldon Square. She sang to him a German Lied— he was enthralled; a French chanson— he was bewitched; an English ballad, and be was melted into a softness he hadn't felt for years. Then the carriage came round to take her for a drive, and Jack had the happiness of putting her into it. 'You'll look after poor Tib ?' she said to him as her hand lingered in his for a moment. Jack went off in a mist of rose colored clouds. He'd change his life altogether from this day forward ; he'd work like a nigger; he'd make himself a name ! he d -only, first of all he'd hare to pay his debts; and above all, that hundred pounds he'd just lost on Barbarian. CHAPTER V. «This is the fool that lent out money gratis/ Ten o'clock in the morning at-the Lufftown Bank. The clerks are all at their posts; there is a clink and clank of copper scoops, a sweet metallicring of golden coin, inspiriting and invigorating sounds surely. But they didn't inspirit or invigorate the Eev Septimus Lowther, as he stood m the richly carpeted lobby by the dooi of the chamber of death. Penstriker law on the state bed, breaming laboriously at long intervals; quivering all over at each painful inspiration. A woman was standing by his side wiping away the bloody foam which constantly welled up to his lips. Yet he was sensible; and turned a quick glance to the door as Septimus entered. Perhaps he too looked for some kindness and sympathy in the eyes of the parson of Guisethorpe. 'ls it right with the bank?' So spoke the director, looking down gloomily into the face of the dying man. The other shook his head, and looked appealingly up and tried to speak. • Are my securities all right ?' Another shake of the head, another appealing glance another vain effort to speak. Septimus bent down his head to the mans lips. He thought that from out the gurgle in his throat he caught the words: 'Good —Forged.' ■, - ' Poor dear,' said the old nurse making aftw anticipatory arrangements for the laying out of the corpse that was to be--, 'poor dear, he's come t' the last struggle now. Thou go thy ways, sir,'she said, patting the rector kindly on the arm. He staggered out of the room, and sank into a chair in the lobby outside. There was a large wheel barometer hanging on the wall opposite to him, and all he could do at first was to stare vacantly at the white face of it-at the round ivory knob in the middle which turned an index finger. ' Set Fair' the index pointed to; but the glass had sunk rapidly since, and the hand pointed to 'Very Stormy. Septimus noted the portent,, wondering at himself that he could think of such t trifles at such a time. Then everything lapsed into haziness and indistinctness. ' Wheer's paarson ?' shouted a stentorian voice from below. * Tell paarson Boord's waiting.' It was the'voice, of Good—of Good the miller, and newly appointed director. To Lowther, it was like the sound of the blast of an enemy's bugle to a sick and wearied soldier.

There was a great clatter and discordance of angry voices in the Board room of the bank, as the Rev. Septimus entered; then the noise all ceased, and everybody turned and looked, at him. He was still the isame dignified, aristocratic- looking ecclesiastic—a little pale and shaken, that was all; he deposited his broad brimmed hat on the side table with, the same composure, took off his gloves with the same deliberation, as of old, went to his seat at the head of the table—for by common consent he presided in the chairman s absence—but before he * could sit down, Good sprang up and laid his hand upon his arm. . ' Nay, my lad; things want clearing up a bit, afore thou takest thy seat there.' Septimus Lowther turned round upon the miller —turned upon him with a look of the most intense scorn, shook the hand from off his sleeve, and raised his bamboo cane threateningly in the Good retreated hastily a few paces, fairly cowed by the flash of the old rector's eye ; then recovering himself he began to pushup the wristbands of his coat, throwing his paunch forward, and his elbows back, in what he thought was a highly effective pugilistic attitude. But several men jumped up and interposed between. the two.- . , -, ' Come, come, Good! this won t do you know. Anything you may have to say against a brother director should be brought before us in a regular way/ ' Now, just you get out of the road,'

said Good. * Fay, I'll not touch the man, if hell put that stick of his down .--Come, I'll say my say, Mr Paarson. I'm not a dog. master, though thou dost look at me as if I were. Here, read this; and then do thou sit down in that chair if thou durst.' He pulled from his breast pocket a printed slip of paper, and handsd it to one of the directors, who in his turn gave it to Lowther. He read it, and lookftd up at Good. ' Well, what of this, fellow ? It's only a circular from the Bank of England, announcing that you have transferred so much in consols. I had one of the same sort myself yesterday.' 1 Well, I like thy pluck, master. Here, give it me; it's nought. I were a bit surprised when I got it first; but there's nought in it. It were only a lark, I daresay. Only just look here !' he shouted, foaming with sudden passion: 'I mind the time when a chap would have swung for that little bit of sport.' ' Will somebody send for a policeman, please ?' said Lowther, a little faintly; the true nature of his position was beginning to reveal itself to him. ' Ay, send for a policeman!' shouted Good; 'send for him. I dare ye to it! I will, if ye won't, ' Come, for Heaven's sake, be reasonable gentlemen,' said a white-haired old man, standing up, wringing his hands ; ' while you are quarrelling the ship is sinking. See, the bank is full of customers withdrawing their balances:—the street is crowded with people waiting to cash our notes. The cashier reports he can only go on for another hour, even if there are no heavy withflrawals. We might get assistance from Brigett's, if we could satisfy them we are solvent; but Penstriker had the clue of everything in his hands, and all is in a hopeless muddle. I see only one thing possible—to close our doors at once, to enable us to investigate our affairs.'

The directors could suggest no other course. The white headed old man went out into the bank, and whispered a few words to the cashier; the clank of scoops and the jingle of gold ceased all of a sudden ; there was a dull roar of rage and remonstrance from the crowd in and about the bank. Then a big placard, hastily scrawled on a sheet of cartridge paper, appeared in the window, announcing that ' the bank would be closed for a few hours, pending investigations.' In a few hours the news boys were shouting all over Lufftowh—' Startling bank disclosure. Suicide of the manager. Special edition of the "Mercury." {To be continued.) -'■■■■■