A MESALLIANCE.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 98, 18 April 1885, Page 5

A MESALLIANCE.

When I started with my dear husband for a short tour in Canada and the United States, taking passage in the Patagonian, one of the fastest of the renowned Allan Line, I little dreamed of all the horrible things tjhat were going to occur. As everyone knew, though much tempted, I had remained for the four years of our married life a very model wife to my dear Sir James; and this notwithstanding that it was a case of some disparity of years. Thanks, however, to my intense pride and sense of propriety, and to his no less intense jealousy and sense of moral obligations, not a whisper has ever been heard againefc me, and everyone re-echoed Charlie Vane's remark made at the Feathers Club, " that I was of the nature of an icicle, exceedingly beautiful, but cold and shrinking from the touch," Who would have dreamed that one of the passengers of the Patagonian should have been that Major Jobson, one of. those big handsome maidservants' men who make love to you so much to their own satisfaction that they never even look to see whether you ace pleased or the reverse, and who cannot be snubbed through the thickness of their skins. I remember on one occasion, when he had been insufferably impertinent to me, and I had (metaphorically, of course) slapped his face for him most soundly, his saying good-bye when my husband's step was heard on the stairs with one of his most insolently confident looks, and saying, "I shall never forget the happiness of this hour " — in all good faith, too. The man had really been so taken up with his own pretty (?) speeches and odious badinage that he really had forgotten all my ruden ess to him. And here he was on board the Patagonian, talkie? loudly to the captain, and ever and anon glancing round in a consoling manner to me as much as to saj', " Never mind, I will come and talk to you soon." He managed to get near me at the dinner-table — much, I could see, to Sir James's annoyance ; and bis attentions on deck in the evening, with shawls and deck-chairs and cushions, vrere quite detestable, if a little useful for the moment. He had engaged the only deck-cabin too, and when rain came on it was impossible to avoid his persistent invitations to use it, even though Sir James did his best to show him that the cabin was what we appreciated, not hia presence therein. Then he had such a lot of wretched knowledge and conversation, and would tell one things which interested one in spite of oneself ; and some of hia jokes were too good to be resisted, though of course we knew perfectly well that they were only due to his memory, which was prodigious. Too good by far in some respects was it ; for I recollect he remembered a little flirtation of mine a few years before, which was nipped in the bud by my engagement to dear James, and which I myself had almost forgotten. To add to all this, themanwasa vulgarian, an upstart— and — well, everyone knows who Sir James is, and I suppose my position as his wife, and daughter of Lord Caradoc, puts me about as high as one can be without being actually Royal. All went well otherwise on our voyage until we were about two days off the coast ot Newfoundland, when we met heavy weather, and were a little alarmed by the presence of icebergs, there having been several disasters in connection with these horrid things lately. Plenty of yarns were told of narrow escapes when vesield had collided with them ; and one passenger we all regarded with great interest, as he had —or said he had — actually passed three weeks upon one in the Polar seas, and declared that he had rather enjoyed himself than otherwise. •'Itmusthavebeetvorycold, Mr Browne," I remarked one day. "FeaTful ! At night we all crowded a3 close together as possible for warmth." " And there were no ladies in the party, I think you eaid?" put in Major Jobson, with one of his loud laughs — and the conversation changed. Well, one evening— shall I ever forget that evening?— we were steaming along at half-speed, in a cold fog, with the look-out men Btraining their eyeballs, and nervous passengers feeling desperately uncomfortable. That there were many icebergs about all the experienced voyagers told us, and the captain's non-appearance at dinner gave us additional cause for discomfort. Only Major Jobson was full of discordant merriment, and insisted on making people laugh as if wo might not at any moment be hurled into eternity. The saloon bored me after a time, and I made my way up on deck and into Major Jobson's cabin with an amusing book and as many more wraps as I could carry. To my disgust, the owner of the cabin was there, and did not show the least sign of leaving me alone to read. I should mention that my dear husband had stayed down below, being afraid of the effect on hia health of the cold night air. It was u.'eless to try and read, for the man had kept up a ceaseless chatter; and soon— for, as I have said you could nnt snub him— l found him making love to me. ••You can't care for that pompous old mummy," he declared, catching my hand and holding it by force ; " and you are much too young and beautiful to bo wasted on him. Oh, Emily—" I managed to get my hand free, and started to my feet ; but a sudden roll of the vessel caused me to reseat myself a little suddenly. •'Major Jobson," I exclaimed, "this conduct is - most indefensible. " " I don't defend it. I am acting on the offensive, not the defensive " •• You are most offenfive," I put in. "And I cannet remember proprieties and uonsense of that kind when I see euch eyes, such" lips, puch a sweet face as yours. Don't you know I love you, Emily? Haven't you seen all this year how I have been dying for you " " I think you are most impertinent," I managed to put in ; but he went on like a torrent — " You think me too bold ; bufc what brave man ever let rank stand between him and love? Granted that you are as far above me as the sky is above the earth, yet you are a woman— one far too good, too sweet, too lovely, to sacrifice nature becauee of her pedigree. But you are right, Emily— your beauty is your true rank— and that does put you beyond any man. Ifc ia for you to forget, with the magnanimity of true greatness, that you are queen and all the world of men your slaves. Being so strong, it is for you to be merciful. At a word irom you I would go away and never see you more. At a word from you I would go away and cast mypelf into the raging sea, and die with your name upon my lips. For your sake " I stopped him with an imperious gesture —at least I meant it is to be imperious— and, standing up while he still retained his seat, with a curious, half mocking smile upon bis nasty, handsome, common-looking lace, I said, as impressively as I could—

"Major Jobson, I will never forgive this insolence. From this moment I beg to decline your further acquaintance. IF you annoy me again I will speak to Sir James ; and if that fail, I will bring appeal to the captainforprotectionagainstyou. Itisowing to my foolish good nature in knowing such — such persons —as yourself that leads me into the misfortune of hearing such words. Henceforth I shall bo wiser, and take care to choose for acquaintance those only of — of my own position in life." " You mean that I am too great a snob," he began j but the sentence was never finished. At that moment there was a crash, and then a din as of ten thousand demons let loose. The ship had struck ! Oh, the horror of that moment ! The rushing to and fro ; the yells of terror ; the cries of anguish and despair; the loud orders of the officers ; the endeavours of the crew ! I don't know where I ran or what I did. It was too dark to recognise anyone on deck, and the ship was a mass of terrified human beings, all bent on self preservation, but none knowing the way. Then I heard from half a hundred throats the«despairing cry, " She is sinking ! The boats ! The boats ! " "James! James!' I oried wildly— but no answer came ; and indeed now, when I reflect upon the situation calmly, I scarcely see what I expected my poor husband, at his time of life and in his state of health, to do for me in the hurly-burly. I saw dark masses of shrieking women in knots around what I supposed were the boats; and, struggling with othors on the same errand, I was making my way to the nearest, when suddenly a strong arm was thrown around me, a voice said in my ear, "it is the only way *, she is settling down, and the boats are full. Jump with me !" and, guided by the arm, I jumped and found myself on something— l knew not what ; rock it seemed at the moment— and already some yards from the ship, whose outline 1 could see while you counted twenty. Then the fog rolled up thicker than ever, muflling sound and rendering us blind, and in a few •ninutes I seemed to stand alone— an awful silence taking the place of tho scarcely more awful din of just before. Oh, the terrors of that night ! I found that I had with me all the rugs that I had taken to the deck cabin ; therefore, I did not die of cold. But the uncertainty ; the black darkness ; and dread silence ! Surely someone had jumped with me from the steamer. But no response came to my cries. Once or twice I thought I heard a breathing near me ; buf soon I made up my mind it must be imagination ; or, horror I it might be some wild animal that only waited for daylight to attack me. So I crouched into my fur cloak and tried to sleep, tried not to think, and was nearly out of mind with fear. The morning broke at last ; and gradually as the sun rose the fog rose too. I looked around shuddering. Good Heavens ! the island I was upon was no larger than a chip's cabin, and there was no other land in sight. It was quite bare too-and— but surely !— Yes— it was! I was on an iceberg ! Alone on an iceberg ! Not a sail in sight ! no doubt the poor Patagonian was down fathoms beneath me. Would that I were with all of them ! It would be over then. Now I should slowly die of cold, starvation, thirst, or fright. Alone on the ocean, on an iceberg ! I hope some of my readers will think of the situation, try to realise it, and then perhaps they will be inclined to pardon any weakness they may find in my subsequent conduct. The shape of the little 'berg was fantastic in the extreme ; and at any other time I might have admired the cathedral-roof- like 3tninence that filled all its centro, with its quaint tracery and gables and fretted sides. Kound this ran a kind of shelf or ledge, just wide enough for one to He down an comfortably, with my back against the wall, as it were, of the cathedral ; and along this ledge I n»\v cautiously walked, hoping that perchance I might espy a sail Erom the other side, and shuddering as I remembered the breathing of last night, and bethought me that white bears— as I had read in childhood — frequented icebergs. Evidently, as I supposed, my companion in the jump last night must either have discovered where ho was and gone back to the ship, or have fallen into the sea. But no ; stretched on the rugged pathway of ice, wrapped in an enormous blanket coat, lay a form —a man, asleep ! I was not alone ! I knelt down on the cold ground— l mean ice — and thanked Providence. Any companion was better than none. Then I touched him on the shoulder, and he sprang up in a moment. It was Major Jobson I I turned away to hide my disgust, but was soon reassured by his manner and words. Pardon, Madam," he said, very coldly and haughtily. "I must apologise for intruding on your iceberg, after what passed last night ; but the fact is there was no other, and I nas forced into this apparent rudeness." I bowed in acceptation of nis apology, and returned to my side of the 'berg, seeing as I did so that he again composed himself to sleep. What a bitter irony of Fate it was that out of that v hole ship's company the very man who had insulted me, the only man to whom I could not speak, should be chosen as my companion on the iceberg ! Tho first day seemed ages. We had apparently drifted into a warm current, for really the atmosphere became quite pleasant, and indeed the heat of the sun oppressive towards mid-day. My thirst I easily managed to assuage by breaking ofT bits of the ice and sucking them ; but how about the pangs of hunger that attacked me ? I was recalling all I had ever heard of the horrors of death from starvation, when I heard the sound of steps behind me. What was the wretch going to do? Murder me for my flesh ? Punish me for my suit ? I gazed eteadfastly out to sea and determined to bear all as an English lady and a Oaradoc should. I heard him stop for a moment besido me ; his shadow on the ice was en the right Btopped, then ro3e again, and he went back to his place on the other side. What had he come for? I looked round cautiously. By my side was a canister of hard biscuits and a email tin of preserved meat. Under them a piece of paper torn from a pocketbook, with these words written neatly on it: — "N. W. side of Iceberg, July 22nd, 18S-. "Major Jobson presents his complimontsto Lady Emily Battlesaxe, and has the honour to remind her Ladyship that provisions are liKely to run scarce if not husbanded. Major Jobson would venture to recommend two mouthfuls of the meat and one biscuit and a-half per diem as a proper ration. " The Lady Emily Battlesaxe " I found some loose sheets of notepaper in the leaves of the novel I had put in my cloak pocket when about to leave the deck cabin, and on one of them I wrote t — " S.E. side of Iceberg, July 22nd, 188—. "Lady Emily Battlcsaxe presents her compliments to Major Jobson, and is much obliged for the biscuits and meat and the imformation as to rations." Then I ate the exact amount prescribed ; and at dark I stole round the pathway and deposited my note under a loose piece ol ice I found close to where I heard sound* of Buoring.

Next morning I found another note :—: — "N. VV. side of Iceberg, July 23rd, 188—. 11 Madam,—l have the honour to inform you that I am possessed of a pooket-comb with small looking-glass attached, also a pair of nail scissore. Should the temporary loan be of any service to you, I shall be very happy to lend them to your Ladyship. Yours faithfully, Robert Jobson." There could be but one reply to such a liberty as this :— "The Lady Emily Battlesaxe thanks Major Jobaon for his offer, but does not require the loan mentioned." This note I contrived again to place near the man during the night; and for two days I had no communication from him. Oh, those weary days ! I had read my book some ten times over j I had scanned the horizon until my eyes ached ; I had walked up and down the narrow ledge which wa« my home till my legs failed me. Then I made a horrible discovery. At first, as I have said, the ledge or path was vide enough to admit of my lying down on it with my face towards the sea and my back against the side of the hill which formed the centre of the 'berg— a hill formed in fantastio imitation of the roof of Milan Cathedral. The night before I had awoko to find my feet protruding over the side, but I had thought but little of it, putting it down to a change of position. But to-day (July 26th) I happened to turn my eyos towards where I had placed the canister of biscuit the day before, then some footand-a-half from the edg.e just in time to see it disappear into the sea. There was no doubt about it. The ledge was growing narrower ! The swn was melting the iee — the iceberg was disappear* tog* That night I understood why Major Jobson's snores were so much louder in my ears. We were gradually getting nearer to one another J The idea alarmed me moro or less out of my dignity, and I took a note round the corner that night, intimating the fearful discovery I had made. The reply was as follows ( but what was worse tnnn its tone was the way it came ; ho simply put it over the centre of the 'berg. He could almost reach me ! ) : — " N. W. side, July 27, 138—. "Major Jobson presents his compliments to Lady Emily Battlesaxe. He also has remarked the diminution of the 'berg, ancl has calculated that it will last three more days, unless it turns over before then, in which case, there being more of it under water at present than there is above, it will last probably a week. In this latter case, however, Major Jobson fears that the additional length of its existence will not be of much benefit to Lady Emily Battlesaxe, as icebergs turn over rather suddenly, and it would bo difficult to climb round quickly enough." I think I must have fainted soon after this, and remained long in a swoon or, at least, in a semi-fainting condition. When I woke to full consciousness I was aware — at first dimly, but then with terrible clearness— that the mound or hill, or cathedral top, between me and the vulgar man had totally disappeared. The iceberg was a flat surface now, and he and I were pitting back to back, with our respective feet close to the edge. The sun was terribly hot that day, and the ice melted rapidly. Towards night we could no longer sit back to back— he had to shift on one side to avoid pressing me for-ward-and then wo wero in a short time sitting side by side, although looking in contrary directions. There was the wife of the last Battlesaxe, the daughter of the Caradocs, sitting side by side with an unpedigreed Militia Major who had insulted her, quite alone, and in a space measuring about six feet by four. Smaller and smaller grew our seat, the provisions had to be taken on our laps, and I confess that, seeing a precious tin of meat slipping off on his side, I actUallj reached over him hurriedly and saved it, blushing with shame as I did so. ••Thank you, Lady Emily," said he ; "but we shall scarcely want it.'* The sound of a human voice thrilled me with pleasure ; but that pleasure was soon swallowed up in the horrible idea that death was imminent, and that before death, uule-s one of us sacrificed ourselves, wo ehould be obliged to— l mean that there would not be room for us both to^ sit side by side, however closely we might sqweeze. The night came on, and of course the ice molted less quickly then ; but at sunset we were a very tight fit. Once -I think it must have been about midnight— l heard him say 1 as if to him- 1 self— " Might as well have a good supper. Iso good saving any food now " And I felt something softly placed upon my head. It was another tin of meat and four biscuits ; but I was almost too much impressed by the impropriety of the situation to enjoy the meal, hungry as I was. Then morning broke, and as tho light grew I fancied my neighbour ( oh, how close he was to me ! ) started and breathed hard. Then a mist that had been close down to the water some three hundred yards off suddenly rose ; and th* shout he gave almost made me fall off my narrow seat. "Look ! aBhip !" I looked, and there, sure enough, far away in the horizon, was a vessel of some sort But I hid my feelings. "I beg your pardon, Lady Emily," he eaid. " I will excuse j'ou," was my reply, made as coldly as possible. The ship was coming towards us, but so slowly, and the little bit of ice on which wo were seated was diminishing so rapidly. I tried to keep away from him, and nearly slipped off. He put his arm round me. "Sir!" " Madam," he replied, "if I let go, you will fall off. There is onlj one alternative. " "What is that, sir?" " That you should do me the honour of sitting on my knees." I tried to look dignified, but failed ; I could, however, bo indignant. " Sir," I said, as calmly as I could,^ " if you are a gent'eman " " You know I am not," " You will"— I went on unheeding his interruption, but it was difficult to wither him with his arm round my waist— "you will jump into the sea and swim to that vessel." "That vessel i* three miles off, Lady Emily, and, besides, I can't swim." Then there was a silence, and then— l can scarcely write the words — I, Emily Battlesaxe, found myself sitting on the lap of Major Jobson ! The vessel proved to bo the stoam-tender Peggy, sent out by the owner 3 of the Patagonian to search for a missing boat of the latter ship, which had been picked up before they descried us on the iceberg. It appeared that the Patagonian was not so much damaged as was at first supposed, ancl that all the boats except this one had stayed near her during the night, and come back to her at daylight, when the extent of the mischief had been discovered by the captain and others who had refused to leave. They had seen an iceberg in the morning, but never dreamed that we could be upon it. On board of the Peggy was Sir James j apd when I had been carried on board arid put to bed— the reaction and excitement of being saved having quite prostrated me

—he came to my cabin and spoke as I feared he would when he knew the truth— as he would anyhow have known it from my lips. " The whole of the officers and crew of the vessel saw you in that disgraceful position. There can be but one' course to take. I shall allow you a proper income, and you may choose your own place of residence. Henceforth we are strangers."

ENVOI, I have been more or lees oontented, leading an idle but an unpleasant life in Quebec. I have many friends, and one of them comes in to see me now. " You are soon back from your backwoois expedition, Major Jobson," I Bay. II Couldn't find any morse," he replied ; and — and — 1 came here to brsak the news to you." I stretch out my hand for the paper he holds towards me :— # "At his residence in Grosvenor Square, Sir James Plantagenet Crossbars Battle saxe, G.C.B.,*P.C, aged sixty-nine." " May we play at being on the iceberg now ? " he whispers, "Oh, Major " " Bob ! " "Oh Bob " But in another moment a chair is enact : ing the last bit of our berg. And that is how I came to *make" ; tho mesalliance which so horrified my. family. —From "Vanity Fair." „ I{ t - u ,