NECK OR NOTHING.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 39, 1 March 1884, Page 4

NECK OR NOTHING.

[By Helen W. Pierson.]

I. The night was a silent* balmy one in early autumn—not too warm for lights, and eminently adapted for literary work. t Mr Hugh Sothern, a gentleman who was rich enough te indulge in any whim— a sort of dilettante in literature — was engaged in adding a page or two to his great work on ".Rational Progress." Being so happily endowed by fortune, he was haunted by no fiend demanding copy. He could wait for fleeting moods and the glow of inspiration ; so that he thoroughly enjoyed his work. By the light of the Argand burner, he was seen to be a well-preserved man of fifty, with a bald head, kindly eyes, and a benevolent expression. There was hardly a sound to be heard, pave now and then when an over-ripe apple plumped upon the grass, or a light step moved overhead. " I wonder if Jean feels bored in this very quiet place ?" Mr Sothern thought, as he heard a step in one of his pauses. " She is thinking of that adventurer, I'll be bound. No, no, my girl ; I can't give you and your hundred thousand to a fortune hunter. ' Your poor father thought of this when he [ put you in my charge, and made It one of the conditions of the will that you could not marry without my consent till you were twenty-five. Only eighteen yet, my dear, and too full of romance to make a wise choice. I won't listen to it — I Mont have him coming here. I've never seen him, but I know what he is. If he'll serve seven years for her she can do as she likes, but till then " The gentleman became absorbed in his writing again for a while. "There! I've demonstrated that!" he said, with satisfaction. "No one can ask, 5Am Imy brother's keeper ?' We are all brothers ; we all hold in charge. Hello ! what's that !" A decided crash in one of the trees near the window had arrested Mr Sothern's attention. "Ha! th«°t's my Newton pippin. Now, why in the deuce couldn't the thief have contented himself with Baldwins? There are plenty of them, and why does he break my trees ?" Another splintering of a bough is heard. " Jerusalem ! I can't stand this ! " cried the gentleman, throwing down his pen ; "I don't begrudge an apple to any one, but such wilful destruction of property " Mr Sothern opened his door and looked out. The moonlight fell full upon the scene, and he started forward with a cry. There was a rope fastened to the branch of a tree, and suspended to the rope— good heavens ! Our philanthropist did not hesitate a moment. In a flash he had cut down a strange sort of fruit from this tree of Newton pippins— a young man who had apparently gone very much to seed. "Hello!" he cried, as the young man iumbled against him, "what do you mean by hanging yourself right at my very doorstep ? It's a liberty, sir — I won't have it — it injures the trees!" The young man made no answer. " Well, this is a pretty predicament !" fumed Mr Sothern. " I hope my -wife or Jean may not hear anything — perhaps he's dead. How horrible for the public to be coming here to die at my door ! I'm a philanthropist, but I don't want to have funerals for everybody. Young man, see here, speak; say something. While saying this, the embarrassed philanthropis dragged the seemingly inanimate form of the young man into his lighted room, and dropped him into the nearest armchair. "He don't move! Good heavens! Here's a go. It's~no light matter to have a murdered man in one's house ; I'll take the rope off his neck, at any rate." Mr Sothern accordingly did so with hands that shook and a heart that beat very rapidly. " Why, here's a queer thing ! The rope hasn't left even a mark on his neck ! Well, I suppose the poor wretch never hung himself before and so made a bungle of it. I dare say even in hanging practice makes perfect. So he isn't dead, at any rate ; I'll throw some water in his face. " Looking about him Mr Sothern could see nothing but a bouquet which stood in a glass of water on the table. He daehed that at once in the face of the still motionless figure in the chair. The remedy proved effectual. The young man starts, dashes some long wet locks from his forehead, and moans : "Where ami?" "Where you have no right to be," said Mr Sothern sternly. " What do you mean, sir, by trespassing ?" "Oh!" exclaimed the young man, angrily ; " I see, you cut me down." "I did, sir." " And what right had you to interfere ?" Mr Sothern was transfixed by this view of the case. " Right, sir ?" he faltered. "I had good reasons for dying, sir !" exclaimed the young man, rising and looking furiously at his preserver. " 1 had finished with life, love, hope, fortune— all gone— and you dare to interfere ! You bring me back to a world to which I have said goodbye. What do you intend to do now, sir ?" "Nothing !" exclaimed Mr Sothern. "What! you give me back my life and intend to do nothing for me ! Why, I am yours— my life is yours — it is your giffc. You are bound to give me happiness — everything !" "Oh, that's too large a contract!" exclaimed Mr Sothern, shrinking away with the sensation that he had to deal with a very peculiar person. "Ohno ! You have heard of Frankenstein—beware ! You have created me ! But I know you will not shirk the consequences of your action. You will make me happy. You have recalled me to this world that I may taste that elixir called happiness for which I have thirsted all my life. Oh ! my preserver !" He rushes at Sothern, and nearly strangles him in an embrace. He is extremely seedy and unkempt. There is an amount of garden mould on his clothing, as well as various other blotches that suggest beer. He had evidently not been shaved for several years. '* Keep off, sir," cries Mr Sothern, repulsing him. "I must. How can I help it when I think of what you have done and what you are going to do — " "What I am going to do — " "Of course ; to rehabilitate me, to make me a new man. lam a new man from this hour — new fortune, new love. Have, you a daughter, sir?" " No, I have not !" (very decidedly and thankfully). "If you had— oh, if you had !" cried the young man with kindling eyes, "I would say, • Oh, child of my deliverer, take me ! my life belongs to him, consequently to you. On, let me immolate myself for you.' " "The man is clean daft," thought Mr Sothern, looking uneasily at the bell rope. "I must deal gently with him. I made a great mistake in cutting him down, If I were not a philanthropist I should say let him hang, and be hanged to him." Then Mr Sothern recalled with ,an uncomfortable feeling the last pages . of ., Ms great work, and his gjrand plans for the amelioration of humanity at arge. How-

much easier it was to be benevolent to a world at large than to fctiis creature who was also a man and a brother. "If he were only at large, I might consider his case ; but he's too near, decidedly too near," thought the philanthropist, who saw the young man preparing for another embrace. "He is a blessing sn giving me so rare an opportunity, I suppose ; buthow he would brighten if he would only take his flight." "My deliverer I" cried the young man, with a new access of enthusiasm. " Tell me your name, that I may put it first in my prayers." " Oh, don't trouble yourself," Mr Sothern exclaimed ; " but here is my card." " Ah," cried the other with a grateful gasp ; " in my orisons it shall be — but you must know mine." " Not the least consequence." " True ; of what am I thinking ? My old self dead— my old name also. You shall name me now ; I will never put a single fetter of that old life on me again. Anything you like, my dear friend ; only as the world is all before us whence to choose we might as well take a fine name. What an improvement if the whole thing were arranged in this way — to choose for ourselves when we arrive at years of discretion ! Now, what shall it be ?" •' What the devil do I care ?" "l incline to Howard— a noble, sonorous ring to it: 'Net all the blood of all the Howards.' Percy Howard ! how would that do?" "As well as anything. " " Mrs Percy Howard ! if you had a daughter— but you haven't ; perhaps a niece ?" " No." "If there could be anything to cement more closely the bond that unites us it would be " "But didn't you speak of a lost love?" suggested Mr Sothern, hoping to tux'n the fellow's thoughts to some potent spell of the past. ' ' Don't mention it ! All that is over now. She was false — she had black hair ; now I shall find a golden-haired girl with a true heart. Do you happen to know a goldenhaired girl with a true heart ?" " Heavens ! — if he should see Jean," thought Mr Sothern, with a cold chill striking his veins. And at that moment the sound of a little trill, soft and sweet as the waking note of a woodland bird, was heard on the stairs. Then the door opened suddenly, and a radiant vision appeared— a young girl in one of the most ravishing pale- blue crepe tea-gowns— with billows of creamy lace all over it, a petticoat of wing-hued brocade, beneath which little feet in high-heeled slippers and pale-blue silk stockings - "like little mice crept in and out. " But Percy Howard, as he called himself, did not regard the feet ; his eyes were fixed upon the aureole of golden hair that floated about the fresh young face. "It is she— my soul's idol!" he cried, clasping his hands. " I mean she will be my soul's idol !" Jean stopped — flushed, and stepped back a little. "Oh ! I did not know you had company," she said. " No— he-- is not," exclaimed Mr Sothern, hesitating. " Allow me," the young man said, hastily. "I am Percy Howard, and I hope we shall be better friends in time. This gentleman is my guardian, and so I am not company, but one of the family." "His guardian!" cried Jean; "how nice ! — why, now I shall not be so lonely, guardy dear." " By Jove !'' said Mr Sothern, below his breath; " the girl's going daft, too, and the fellow is really good-looking, when he gets rid of his hang- dog expression." "My dear," he said, clearing his throat, " the young man is good enough to wish me to assume relations which I really must decline. He is, as you see, quite old enough to be his own master, and so " "But you see there is no other course,' exclaimed Percy Howard, in a calm tone. You cannot put me back into the state of mind in which you found me. I had no hope— life was a desert — now it blossoms as the rose" (with a rapturous look at Jean) ; "so, of course, you cannot rationally expect that I should hang myself again." Jean uttered a piteous little cry, and Mr Sothern an oath. "Well, well," he said, reading in the blue eyes the pity which is said to be so dangerously akin to love, "I will think it over, and if you prove fit for anything— only— l am not able to arrange anything just now." "I feel very weary myself," answered the young man ; " it's a good deal to go through in one evening— bidding adieu to the world and taking a dissolving view from an applebough ; so if you will ring for a servant to show me a room, I'll say ta-ta for the present. " "Sir—" began Mr Sothern, in a furious voice "My dear young lady," Howard went on, " I did not know such angels as you were in the world, or I never would have wished to leave it." Jean should have looked at this presuming young man with a frown of offended dignity ; but strange to say, she smiled sweetly. " What has got into the girl?" thought her guardian, "I must get the fellow out of the way ; there is a certain eloquence about him, and he is not destitute of manner. I did not notice it while he had the noose on his neck, but I suppose a Chesterfield would fail to impress me in that situation." So with the best grace he could he showed the stranger into a room, and then stopped to say a word of warning to his ward. " I think the fellow is a sort of crank," he said to her, confidentially; "so if he stays here for a day or two you had better keep out of the way ; I don't want to cast him out on the world without a chance— l could never write another page of • Rational Progress ' if I did j but it is an embarrassing case !" "And was he really hanging himself?" asked Jean, with intense compassion. " How very, very miserable the poor fellow must have been !" "Deuce take it," thought Mr Sothern, " there is a strange sympathy for criminals in every woman's heart. This would be worse — much worse than that penniless advocate — for I suppose he is at least sane. My dear child," he said, kindly, "do not cherish any illusions about this individual. He probably deserves all the misery he has — and more." "But, oh, guardy, did you notice his eyes ?" ' ' Well - not particularly. " " They are so pathetic," exclaimed Jean, with a little sigh, and then she vanished up stairs, leaving her guardian in a very unenviable frame of mind. 11. When Mrs Sothern, a few days after, surprised Jean in the act pinning « rosebud in Mr Howard's buttoofpi she came to her husband in considerable trepidation, "When do you intend to get rid of that incubus ?" . she said, impatiently. "My dear, I am looking about fot a situation for him," her husband answe/ed. "I can't exactly tnrn him out in, the street. You see he tells me that if I had ti.6% interfered he would have been provided for without any further trouble to hinfs"el'fV and so I am bound — "

" Oh! yes, I heard* all that befori" exclaimed his wife, impatiently, \*but when-I see Jean making love to him under my very eyes " " Ah, that's all owing to the inconstancy of your sex, my dear," answered Mr j3othern. " Only a month ago she was pining for.anotherpennilessadventurer — perhaps another lunatic might oust this one, ' but then I don't want to turn my house into a lunatic asylum, I must reason with the girl. " "I'm afraid, Jean, you're letting your sympathy carry you too far," he said, when he had the opportunity. Jean was charming in a smoke-tinted satin with plush trimming. She had a bewitching capote of the same tint and a long 1 mist-hue feather that dropped over her fresh young face. She was going for a walk. *• Why, how do you mean ?" she asked. . " You are getting interested in this fellow who has billeted himself on us." "Billeted? Oh, how cruel!" cried the girl her eyes kindling. " You snatched him back from death — where he would have been so comfortable, and now you want to fling him out on a cold world. " "See here, young woman, what was the name of a certain young aspirant to your hand, whose offer I cruelly declined, and to whom you vowed eternal fealty ?" " Oh, suppose you are thinking of Ilussel Gay , " the girl replied with a pout. ' There's no use digging up the past,' as Percy says ; 'Life hasglorious possibilitiesinthefuture.' " " And one of those glorious possibilities for that fellow is to get you and your fortune into his hands. I shall put him out neck and crop. I shall call the police." " Oh, no, guardy. You won't. It would ruin your reputation as a philanthropist. Why, think of the chance you have ; here is a human soul — a free, untrammelled human soul ; he has no duties, he owes no allegiance to any one, he Lias no ties, he is yours— a clean, white page for you to write on." "Oh ! I'm not so certain about that clean, white page," growled Mr Sothern. " You can make him what you will — you can experiment on his plastic soul," said Jean with a laugh. " Imbue him with your doctrines, let him lecture on your views, exemplify your theories of the perfectibility of man under certain influences. Give him those influences and you will see how his soul will expand— like a sunflower in the sun." "That will do," grumbled Mr Sothern. "I recognise the fellow in your eloquence. Go and take your walk." While they were gone, the guardian wrote the following letter : Mussel Gay, Esq. — Dear Sib : Upon reflection I feel that I treated your proposal for the hand of my ward, Miss JeanDevereux, with too decided a negative. I would be glad to make your acquaintance, and if I find you worthy, I shall place no further obstacles in your way. Let me know when you will find it convenient to visit us. Yours truly, Hugh Sothern. There was a subdued triumph in Mr Sothern's eyes as he met the young couple on their return. But he noted a new look of happiness in Jean's radiant face, and he feared that he was too late. "My dear, I've just been writing to an old friend of yours. I hope, Mr Howard, you wont mind posting this, as I want it to go by the fir&t mail. " "Certainly," exclaimed that young gentleman with alacrity. "You know you have only to command me. Am I not yours ? — a sort of flotsam and jetsam, snatched .tcti the billows of that sea that surrounds all living. " " An old friend ?" exclaimed Jean ; " well, I don't know " But Mr. Howard had the letter in his hand, and, to the amazement of all, tore it open. "By George ! this is too much," cried Mr Sothern, in great wrath; "you impudent puppy ! By what pretence do you open my letters ?" " I am opening my letters, "answered the young man, coolly, " and lam very gratefull for your invitation. You see all means are fair in love and war. Confess now it was ingenious. " Jean began to laugh, but her guardian did | not quite uppreciate the joke. "Dou you mean to say you are " ' ■ Yes, I am — Russel Gay at your service. If you inquire into my record you will find lam not a bad fellow. Positively I could not bear the exile from my dear girl any longer. I was ready to hang myself in earnest rather than live without her." "And I suppose she is equally persuaded that she cannot live without you ?" asked the guardian grimly. Jean blushed and was silent for a moment, but her hand had stolen into her lover's, and her look was more eloquent than speech. 1 ' Well, I must say I have a better opinion of you than I had an hour ago," said her guardian. " Then I thought you were a fickle little baggage whose heart could not be worth much to any one. Now, we'll see. Let Mr. Gay give me a chance to know him, and if all is satisfactory I shall not make him feerve seven years. I shall be rather glad to transfer to him my fearful responsibility." The fearful responsibility gave her guardian a rapturous little kiss, and her lover whispered softly : " There comes a sound of maiTiage bolls.' Swintoris Story Teller.