CHAPTER III.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 169, 7 June 1873, Page 3

CHAPTER 111.

"^ Fresh oe ft bridegroom ; and 1m dun, new reaped, Show'd like a etubble-land at harvest-home. At about half past thtec o'clock on a cold December's day, -you might have teen 11 licnt. and dapper little mun crossing the quadrauLle at Waterloo House, earning a bundle of papers m his hand He passed up the long bounding corridor of the western wing— l he swing doors opened for !.mi,policemen saluted him, messengers touched their foreheads to him . to all salutations he aflably rejoined ; he had something to say to the liead-porter, he had a cheery word for the headmessenger. All that labyrinth of blank doors and trackless staircases, so bewildering to the uninitiated, was to him as an open book. Ho paused before tho door of a room marked ' Private,' pare a, little tap, and entered. A good-humoured-looting man, who wore a bright silk scarf and a brilliant pin, looked up irom his tlesk, anil nodded. 'What's up, eh v ' he baid, getting up and poking the fire \ igorously. 'There's a defalcation down in Wales,' said Number One. lln Wales, eh ? Well, it can't be much ; that's a comfort: a quaitei's stamp-duties for the whole principality wouldn't brctik the bank.' 'Ah ! but this is a good lot — in the county of Cnermion : five thousand pounds!' 'Whew! That i\ a bad business! How the deuce did they come by it ? Whj , it would buy the fee simple of the county, I should think" ' It's thiough old Bogoak's legacy duties. He's a banker's son is the man down there ; his drafts have come back to-daj . " Refer to di aw er." ' 'Somebody orght to go down at onee — without further delay. 'Of course. But I've got nobody mmy office who can go : you'll hate to send somebody — somebody whose got some pluck about him ; for they're the cocks of the county clown there, and they'll be up to any dodge you please, to delay matters.' '" ' I think Eobertson had better go : he's six feet two ; and he's always practising with the gloves when he ought to be at worl. He nearly drove Smith thruogh the panel of the next room this morning by a tremendous upper cut he gave liim. I was very severe with him— very — I'll send for him. 1 Eobertson was arranging his whiskers by the aid of a cracked piece of lookmg-glass, when a messenger told him the secretary wanted to speak to him. 1 Another jobation, Smith,' said Robertson. — ' Tell him I'm gone, Bob ' — to the messenger. ' It's just a chance I wasn't, for I'm going down to Brighton to-night, and I shall lose my train if I stop jaw nig with old Scrubbles.' ' O conic, Mr Eobertson,' said Bob — he was the confidential adviser of the junior clerks, and, for the most part, had a mild pecuniary interest in their welfare — 'come, Mr Robertson, now ; it's no jawing, I'm sure ; it' 9 i nouting, I expect, lucre's Mr Tanner with the secretary, and that generally means a noutmg when one of you gents is sert for.' Bobcrtson come back looking rather queer. ' I've got to go down into Wales by next tram from Euston.' Bob the messenger was still in the room. ' Indeed, Mr Robert »on ; and might I male bold to ask what part ? ' 'Abcrsomething — beastly hole, I expect. Aberhirnant,' lie Mud, looking at a paper. ' Indeed, no, Mr Robertson, but a sweet pretty place. Who are jou going to see at Aberhirnant ? ' ' I am going to overhaul some chap called Rowlands.' ' What ! Row lands, the banker's son ! ' cried the messenger. ' Eh ! I don't know him,' said Robertson shortly — he began to think he bad said quite enough— he had forgotten Bob Morris -was a Welshman — 'I don't half like going, Smith,' he said, looking out of the window. The sky was o\erca9t, nnd crowded with great swelling clouds, which the setting sun tinged with a smoky, coppensh glow; a mist was coming down the river, so that the hideous girder spanning it was almost lost in the haze, while the noble pioportions of the nearer bridge stood in bright and stiong lelief against the gathering darkness. A solitary -teamer, its smoke encircling it like a pull, was paddling up and down on the blown and grea«y tide, now rapidly on tin ebb , tl c wind ro'-e in gusts, and fell again as quickly, the window sr.itt ling intermittently against tlieir casements. A few tiny flakes of snow came fwceji ng close bj, expanding iiito -.larhko enistnl-, nnd then melting slowly aw aj. RobcitM>n watched the tiny drop of vater n uliing its way down tin j tine, and shuddcied 'No ; I don't half like going, Smith I feel as it it would be an unlucky journey. Good by<>, old fellow. 1

Excessive Houkity — Some members of the Austrian nnstocran, who utir on a -polling tour m Turkey, were travelling one dny on the rnil\Mi> between TeherwoJa und Kustacdjc, which wag constructed by an English company, but the cmplou's of which are, for the greater part, natives The tram, to the great disgust of the sportsmen, who weie longing lor a shot at the game, which was to be seen flying about in large numbers, made but slow progress, and at length came to a full stop. One of the sportsmen, thoroughly exasperated put hie head out of the window, and finding that there w&s no station in tight, cried to the guard, " Hallo, what are we stopping for?" " Excellency," replied the man, pointing out in the distance several black spots on the rails, " there are some pelicans on the rails, and we are wa tmg for them to fly off, for fear of an accident." Moral Hekoipm — That was a noble youth wjio, on being urgfd to take wine at the table of a cci tain famous statesman had the moal courage to refuse. He was a poor, young man, ju«t beginning the struggle of life. He brought letters of introduction to the great statesman, who kindly invited him home to dinner. " Not take a glass of wine?" said the great state-man, in wonder and surprise. "Not one simple glass of wme?" echoed the (statesman's beautiful and fascinating wife, as she arose, glass in hand, with a grace that would have charmed an anchorite, and endeavoured to press it upon him. " No," said the heroic jouth, resolutely, gently repelling tho proffered glass. What a picture of moral grandeur was that — a poor lneudless jouth refusing wine at the table of a wealthy and famous statesman, even though proffered by the fair hands of a beautiful lady 9 " No," said the noble young man — and his voice, trembled a little and hi« cheeks flushed' — "I never drink wine; but" —hero he straightened himself up, and his words grew firmer — " If you've got a little good old Irish whiskey, I don't mind trying a glass " .American Colonels. — " To call a man a ' colonel,' " 6ays a Philadelphia paper, " is to convey the idea that he is of a mild, meek, and benevolent disposition. It is also an evidence that ho never was a soldier. For instance, we may recall some of the colonels of Philadelphia. There are Colonel Forney, Colonel M'CJure, Colonel M'Michael, Colonel Scott, Colonel Mann, Colonel Fitzgerald, Colonel Phillips, Colonel Green, Colonel Fitz. Of what regiment 9 And wo might mention many gentlemen of high standing who have never been in the army, and can only bo called ' colonel ' as a tribute to their antipathy to blood. If every colonel were a soldier, the standing army in Philadelphia would be a menace to our liberties. Their number \i as groat os it was in San Fiancisco, to which John Phoenix bears witness to the following story; — The steamboat was leaving the wharf, and everybody was taking leave of friends — all but Phoenix, who had no friends to bid him farewell. Ashamed of his lonelinePi, as the boat sheered off he called out m a. loud voice, 'Good bye, Colonel! ' and, to his great delight, every man on the wharf took off his hat and shouted, 'Colonel, good bye ! '" Mr Bindmann on Lord Lyttox ~-Mr Bandmann writes an interesting letter to the 2fiw Y<nk Tribune, giving some of his reminiscences of the late Lord Ljtton. In the course of it he says : — " Who docs not know ' Money ? ' Who has not seen .Richelieu?' and who has not laughed and wept over the ' Lady of Lyons?' Where is the le.idmg actress ■who does not regard 'Paulino' as the principle character in her repertoire, and where the tragedian who would consider himself worthy of that name before he has drawn ' the awful circle of our solemn church?' The profession owes him a tribute of tho deepest gratitude, for it not onlj achieved reputation, but also at leapt one-fourth of its income through liim, and Lord Ljtton has often told me that he never got any recompense for his dramatic works m Amorica. Ho has departed from us, and the last honor to his mortal part was paid to-day by n grateful notion. Having enjoyed his friendship for years, I was allowed to be one of the mourners in tho little chapel in ' Westminster Abbey,' next to the Poets' Corner, in which he was laid. It was a Simple but very impressive sight, and when I saw men like W. E Gladstone, John Forster, and Chief- Justice Cockburn weep like children over the grave of their departed friend, I thought of the truth of his note on Kichelieu, that, ' the greater the man, the easier touched to tears.' They were three intimate friends of his. He went to school with Cockburn, and John Forstur was his bosom friend and adviser, and I have no doubt that tho only authentic biography will bo written by lam. Both Lytton and Dickens had the greatest admiration ior him, both as man and critic. I remember an anecdote which John Forster used to relate with great pleasure, namely, that Lord Lytton owed the success of the ' Lady of Ljons 'to him. I was very anxious to hear him explain it, and he said that w. hen the play nus read to a encle of friends (L}tton never produced a play without placing it first before the censorship of his friends, nnd John F'irster was one of hit Binei'iest) he fell as)eep during the reading of the fourth net, and that annoyed hut lordship to such a degree that he rewrote it entirely, 'Consequently,' remarked Forsttir, 'It ought to hu\e the credit of its success.' Lord Lytton laughed heartily, and admitted that the alteration in the fourth ac helped matonally to achieve the popularity which it gained nil over the world. Lord Lytton was fonder of tho ' Laity of Lyons ' than ho nhs of his other plays, perhaps because it was so iuuch nl>u->rd, und so man} humourous incidents connected with U. On tho night of its production at Coventpindtn lie was obliged to speak on a great question in Parliament, and could not be present to see his play. After the debate lie hiutenod to the theatre, and, on leaving the cor ridore, met 1 he Marquis of Sahsbiuy, who was just entering it. ' Not at the debate, my Lord ? "No , I felt seedy, so I went to the Garden to see the " new piece " ' (Lord Lytton hud all hm pluys produced under an assumed name ) 'And row did you like it?' 'Oh, trash.'.was the short reply of the Marquis, as he entered the House. They both had many hearty laugh* orer this encounter in after years." ryB r y8 ~ — , .

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