CHAPTER II.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 135, 2 January 1886, Page 3

CHAPTER 11.

The day of the picnic proved to bo as fine as the most exacting of mortals could desire The sky was just dappled here and there with a few fleecy cloudlets that served to relieve the blue expanse and the dazzling sunlight bathed everything in its brightest colours while a refreshing southerly breeze moderated the temperature of the atmosphere. Auguetu?, kept awake throughout the nighfc by keen anticipations of the pleasure that awaited him on the morrow, aiose with the dawn and devoted all the intervening time till breakfast in the adornment of his little person. He brushed and perfumed his slender locks with the utmost care, devoted a full hour to coaxing the refractory straggling hairs of his whiskers into something like order, polished his boots till they shone like a pair of mirrors, elegantly curled his feeble moustache, and, in short, performed with exceptional particularity all the numerous requirements of his toilette. Then, having donned his dustcoat and pugaree-encircled straw hal 1 , he seized the baskst of provisions bade Mra 1 Ripstone a cordial " Good-day " and sallied forth in the direction of Miss Lowry'a domicile canvassing in his mind 1 the idea he had formed of the Aunt he had not yet eeen. Arrived there, he found the blushing Jessie quite ready, and exceedingly complaisant. The mysterious Aunt however had not quite com- ; pleted her preparations, and Augustus, though eager to be away, was obliged to ■ make a virtue of necessity and wait. At 1 length, however, the Aunt made her appear- • ance, and put to flight ali Augustus's preconceived notions of her. She was tall, . broad shouldered, and terribly athletic, ' with an awe-inspiring cast of countenance, 1 high cheek bones, a capacious mouth, and ' a protruding upper row of discoloured 1 teeth, quite innocent of any kind of denti- > frice, while the nose which surmounted • them was tip tilted, and decidedly purplish ■ in its hue. Miss Margery McLowry was I " got up "in the same style and fashion as > her rather comely niece, notwithstanding ■ the disparity in their yearß. She • was dressed in muslin, with a jaunty, j coquettish hat upon her . well-oiled I ' corkscrew ringlets, while a gigantic dress- • improver made itsQlf noticeable in the generous contour of her figure. She ad- > vanced towards the tremulous Augustus I with a mincing gait, an expansive smile at . the same time extending the corners of her > mouth, and disclosing the erratic sotting of > her teeth, Seizing him by the hand and . giving it a squeeze that made the unfortu7 nate fellow's heart leap to his throat, ? she assured him in a strong Scottish i dialect that she was " vera glad to mak' - bis acqueentance," and then, having put 1 him through a searching cro3B-examition as '; to the kind of people who were to take • part in the excursion, announced her readi- • neßs;togo. Augustus proved a model ladies' a man. He carried the provender with delie cate care, „ relieved both of his fair come panions of their wraps, listened attentively c to the voluble garrulity of Miss MaTgery, > and pretended to be interested by it also, © while busied in stealing sly glances at the ' 8 face and form of bis inamorato. n After a protracted struggle amid the ?a crowd at the ticket office on the wharf, he ?- managed to get the necessary pieces of it pasteboard entitling him to pasß on to the k* steamer, and, once there, he proved sucw cessful in gaining sitting acconaodation for m his consorts upon the top of the cabin bets- hind the funnel. The vessel was crowded i with family consisting of author-

itajtive^ marshalling and > ordering about ( troops, of lohild^dcu ladeii wjth ( and red faced and persptonjpKotHera apoth* : ing fractious and yelling infan&>, while, the, elder- sons and daughters, contemptuously indifferent to, all, these 'family, qafes,,' had; ,'jff Tto more secluded stations. Augustus pifcohed his camp beside a group of matrons, and after: being squeezed be- 1 tween the Misses Mctqwryfori sometime, he wasfain to give way^to.to an uncere-, monious dame who edged in between him and Jessie. He, conducted [then to stand. i j The passage do.vn was very pleasant exqept for an unfortunate mishap that, oc-, > curred at the start. The vessel had just left the wharf when, the funnel belched ; forth a smartf shower of liquid soot for the liberal .baptisement of all the summer cloth•ing in its neighbourhood. In his haste (b slave his spottess.garments from pollution, Augustus lost his equibbrium and sat down with great emphasis upon tha lap of Miss Margery MoLowry, , who, imagining the act to be the result of deliberation on his part, capsized hia» en to the deck, at the same time loudly venting her indignation in homely Doric. Jessie acted as mediator, and Augustus, anxious to propitiate the wrathful female, devoted himself to her for the remainder of the trip. In fact, he hardly could do otherwise, for Jessie had fallen in with a young man whom she smilingly introduced as her cousin, and with whom she sauntered off to a more reitired sport, in order, so she said, to make room for Mr Springing. Our hero was too guileless to perceive her intention, and too humiliated by his recent treatment at the hands of the severely-virtuous Margery to be otherwise than most deferential in hia bearing towards her. The aged virgin, on her part, evidently attributed this change in hia demeanour to the effect of her personal graces, and therefore she brought all her skill and loquacity into excercise in the endeavour to fascinate and captivate him. -Ao the point of debarkation, Augustus executed a bold but unsuccessful man6euure with ihe object of effecting an exchange of partners with the Cousin, who proved that he had his weather eye open, Thence forward he wad obliged to promenade Margery from place to place being sensible of the fact thftt he was the object of general observation and that people were making the difference in stature himself and partner the subject of mirth and ridicule. At mid-day he had the opportunity of basking once more in the smile of Jessie, but bis felicity was overclouded by the pres9nce of the " cousin " and fcho demonstrative affection towards himself by the now languishing aunt. He was dreading a resumption of the one-sided spooning with the love-sick Margery, when to hia supreme j delight a deputation of youths and maidens ■ came to request their participation in a ! gamo of "kiss-in-the-ring." Their accept ance of the invitation was prompt and i unanimous, and an immediate adjourn1 ment was made to the scene of the intended osculation. This time | Augustus by a happy piece of generalship, contrived to place himself between Jessie and her cousin while the aunt was still further away. The circle was large and | two handkerchiefs were brought into requisition for the purpose of marking out the couples selected to chase and kiss. Augustus, conscious of his charms, and, overjoyed in the possession of Jessie's hand, awaited his fortune in patient oxpecting. The aunt, in her turn, was delighted beyond measure, for the game was new to her and pleased her mightly. Anxiou3 to play her part in it, she maintained a vigilant watch npon the handkerchief, and evidently misapprehending the rule 9, she made several desparate attempts to secui*e the fortunate barge of selection, to the great merriment of those who noticed the action. Finally a spruce young man furtively, dropped a hankerchief upon Jessie's right shoulder, but, before she could respond, the aunt had grasped it and made off at a ter- j rific pace after the luckless and horror- i striken youth. She captured him easily, after upsetting one or two people, and then, despite his loud protestations that she had made a mistake, kissed him effusively twice. Poor Spriggins, quaking in his shoes, felt that he was in for it now, for the aunt's eloquent looks informed him that she had made up her mind whom to honour. She gracefully hung the handkerchief over his head and then circumnavigated the ring at a furious aate, catching Augustus again before he was half round and planting a hearty smack upon his lips amid general applause. The crestfallen Spriggins of course threw the handkerchief to Jessie, but the jealpus aunt was on the alert, and again clutched it and chased, captured, and kissed her struggling and disgusted little knight. By sure degrees and with the concurrence of the whole company, except Augustus, the redoubtable Margery established and maintained a manopoly in the use of one of the handkerchiefs, and, with n fidelity to the object of her affections that did her infinite credit, albeit it subjected her to the hearty laughter of the spectotors she permitted no one to share with Mr Spriggins her favours. They had practically a game of " kiss in the ring " to themselves the aunt enraptured, and Augustus in despair. Eventually, having undergone the trial of two or three dozen kisses from her, aid perceiving no chance of sharing in the patronage of any of the other ladies, he retired from the game under plea of a headache, and his burly enslaver duly followed him. • I need not particularise further the means adopted to while away the time. Suffice it to say that Aunt Margery did not desort the miserable draper's assistant for an instant and that he had to endure the sarcastic badinage of his fellows for what they were pleased to call his " awful spooning." The passage back to town was uneventful. Jessie and her cousin did not make their appearance until the Queen street Wharf was reached, when the whole party walked together to the house of the McLourye. Here Mr Spriggins was beckoned to one side by Jessie, who, in a tone that he flattered himself was confidentia , i nformed him that she intended to have a dmall party in the coming week, and asked him to honour it with his presence. Augustus at once became oblivious to the day's disappointments, and, fully persuaded that he had made an impression upon the fair Jessie's heart, accepted her invito, walked home quite exhiliarated by his good fortune, surveyed himself for fully half-on-hour in the mirror, and then,- throwing himself fulldressed upon his bed in order to indulge himself with reflections upon his first conquest, dropped off to sleep and awoke fn the morning to find that he had not changed bis clothes.