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UNKNOWN

FlorekCß left hot* luggage »t the Unngtun Station, and walked up to the Firs. A thousand mi mom (igitatrd hor, a thousand fears n^mled her Ine\p vsiblo «i lines* w.m in nil her thoughts ot Miriam, and of the ' way ol escape ' she had taken, as Florence fen red, to rashh Jlow young t. ey both were, her Sister m-law ana herself, and how friendless! TVlany a Tision of the possibilities o( the future came to Florence, before s c turned in at the wide, lo.v, green gate, ■with it 3 heavy transverse bar, which swung back with a sound oddly lamiliar aftor all those months of absence, and be_an to discern 1 lie sjloomy house in the dull plateau of un-ke-npt grass. But not one of them prefigured, ever so faintly, that which was really to come to pass. A great fe-ir fell upon Florence when she stood at the door waiting for admittance, a tear which she summoned up all her strength to dispel. After all, the first deception of her positu n accepted as me* itab c, as out of her co trol, she was at leist douii t tie best she could. Walter's father should be a s icred eh r^o and duty to her; she would endiayo 1 so to lerve and tend him, that if discovery should aiisc, she could plead for herself and ior Walter something like a fulfilment o f the filial relation on her part, even though doi c under false pretences. Her na u <il sweetness and gentleness would be pretty certain to help Floienee through the complications ot a difficult position, but she was not likely to be able to t them into account. Mrs Ritchie received Mrs Dixon —she had obtained the customary bievet rank on her im&tiesa's maui.vge— with civility, and invited her ti> tea in her own room, though she expl uued to her great relief, that she was to have Mrs St Quetitin's former quarters. It did not require n<u h skill to baffle, while seeming to satisfy the curiosity of the household concerning the lacely ma ned couple A vivid account of thegloiies of foreign lands, of the entertainments at which Mis St Qiientut was an adorned guest, and the generally jolly life she was leading, sufficed. Of couise, the old gentleman was veiy proud of her? Of course And so he ought to be. So he ought to be, indeed Then it was Florence's turn, to be intjuisi lye, and yet to keep a painful restiaint upon her anxiety, lest it should pass the bounds of what she might be supposed to feel. Airs Ritchie was ready to give her full particulars, and alao ready to indulge in speculations of her own, and to cross-question the iiev\ ainval respecting the exiled son. Did Mrs Dixon know what news ot Mr W.iltpr was contained in the letter to Mis St Quentin which she had sent on to foreign parts ? And did Mrs St Quentin think her brother would return and be reconciled with his fathei ? Mrs Dixou was in ignoiance on these points, beyond the general fact, that Mr Walter was doing well out m the gold country. An awful place, Mis Ritchie had heard, wJp<fe people weie murdeied as often as not, and nobody e^ % got hung for doing of it. She really wished Mis Dixon had known Mr Walter, for, for her pait, she never expected him to come back any more — her feelings and her dreams wmt against it, and she wa3 an uncommon sharp dieainer. It was not to be denied that Mr Walter had been hardly used ; and there wu3>i't one in Drington, as knew amtlnng about it, who did not think so, as well us she. — He had been rather wild, had he not ° Wild! Why, bless Mrs Duoii'b heart, not lie — only fiec, and natural, and high-spirited, ns a young man ought to be, and moie given to liknm the neighbours, and being sociable with them, tlinn to hating everybody, and making himself hatelul to them, like his father. Mr» Kitelne knew no other fault of his He was a handsome, fiee handed young gentleman — not over- wise, pir nips, and nobody's enemy but Ins own. It was not easy to ascertain exaitly what Mrs Ri f clue meant by the last clause in her description, and Airs Dixon seemed anxious to know. Well, he was not very steady, perhaps, and might be easily led, and Mrs Ritchie thought he would be the better for a friend at Ins elbow. She hoped he might find good friends for the time lie would have to live m those dreadful foreign parts — and onns more, bein^ compjaoentlj convinced tlmt Mrs Dison would never now enjoy the opportunity of becoming acquainted with her mistress's brother, she lamented that ihe had not been at the Firs ' in his time ' I'loicnce had not seen anything of Mr Clint on that evening. He had been rather better during the past week, and had taken Mrs Ritchies communication of Miriam's request in good grace He had been neither surprised nor concerned at the piolougntion of Mn lam's absence from England. It was her affair an JSt Quentin's, not his; if they liked to throw away nionuy on living uncomfortably among dirty foreigners, he did not blame them for doing so He did not want them; there was no love lost between theiu. Indeed, there had been but little of that valuable but unmarketable commodity lost between Mr Clint and any human being, in the whole course of Ins h/c On the morning after hrr arrival at the Firs, Mr Clint sent for Mrs Dixon. He wisher! to speak to her in the study. Florence had gained in good looks and health by her sojourn abroad, and the quiet grace of her figure and mild pathetic beauty of her face were set off by the plainmss and propriety of her dress. As she stood just inside the study door, and Mr Clint looked at her fiotn his place by the writing-table belore a distant window, he muttered almost audibly: ' By Jove, she looks like a lady !' Her mental comment upon him was of a very different nature. Mr Clint was altered since the day of his daughter's marriage, on which Florence had last seen him, in a manner and to a degree which she immediately, and rightly, imputed to his growing propensity to dr nk. His handsomely cut features were swollen, his eyes were glassy and unsteady, and his figure looked shrunken ard stooped. Ho had been ill ; and pain, she knew, makes tprnble havoc, but Florence did not hold rheumatism accountable for all she noticed in Reginald Clint's face and form. He spoke to her civilly, and told her to take a *nat ; he wished to ask her some questions about Mrs St Quentin. She complied ; and he asked her about Miriam's health, looks, and enjoyment of foreign travel. He spoke abruptly, but without surliness and looked at her closely, but not offensively, as she replied ' That will do,' he aaid, after talk which lasted a quarter of an hour ; you may go. lam glad Vrs >t £>ueutin sent you here. You are quite welcome to remam as long as you like I hope they make you comfortable.' ' Thank you, sir, I am perfectly comfortable.' ' What room has Mrs Kitohie put you in?' ' Mrs St Quentin's former room, sir. I have a great deal of needlewoik to do for my mistress, and Mrs Llitchie allows me the use of the sitting room.' ' \ll right,' and Mr Ch.it dismissed her with a nod, ■which was, for him, quite friendly. In Mirum's former sitting room there stood a piano It was an old-fashioned, but svvet-t-roned instrument, and Florence had beguiled many hours in plajing upon it the music which she and Walter loved. The peilonner had always been supposed by the servants to be Mniam. and no remarks were made. A few day's after Mrs Icon's ariival Mr Clint summoned Mrs Ritchie to his presence, and asked her who it was whom he had heard playing on the piano overhead. Mrs Ritchie told htm the performer was Dixon. ' Dixon ! An accomplished lady'« maid, to be sure.' ' I shall tell her yuu don't wish it, sir,' began Mis Ritchie. ' Tell her nothing of the sort. Who the devil told you 1 don't wish it 9 Why shouldn't the git 1 play the piano, if she chooses ? Let her alone.' • Very well, air, but you seemed to think a servant '1> on&ense. She m.iy have learned music, or had it in her by nature, and be none the woise servant. There; you may go.' Mrs llitchie was very glai to go, and she went straight to Rose Dixon, and told her what had passed. The lat er was alai mcd ,it the possible result of her imprudence. The ti nth was she had forgotten the incongruity of the exercise of sue i an accomplishment with the station she had assumed, and she had yielded to the strong temptation of solitude and a piano. 'He was veiy much surprised, as was natural ; but he saj s you re to pUy as much as> you like— though it do Beem like giving >ou leare to forget your place It's wonderful thai you can get so much good of him, I'm sure.' 'I— i was not always bi ought up to be a servant, Mrs T.itcluo,' said Florence timidly : 'atone time I hoped to be a governess, and I learned music that I might te ich it to ot uers ' Yy, uideel— that explains many things. Well, Mis l»i v 'in,if you had been in as many places as iwe, and seen •i-, much of governesses, would know that you have not lost much as you may think. A seivaufc's id a much » »t>u i Ute ' »i,b Kitchie repeated to the satellite the explanati >n of A.-> Ihxons out-of-rule con luct. Susan leceived it with a Binii, vi.l re.narked that eddication needn't h.ivo made her m. uppish. On the following day. when Florence was availing hers it of the pi > mission she had received, and the stiains of sweet and solemn music weie floating on th~ external an, thiough the open windows of Miriam's room, Reginald < lint came iound the angle of the house wall, and stood, leaning .iguns.a post m the rough railing which kept oil tue gid/uig cattle— listeuing.

Armori Mori, late Japanese Ministei at Washington, has published a volume containing let>ers written by various Amencuia to him on education in Japan. Uf tliese the aolest and moai important is that by W. D. Whitney Piofessor of Philosophy m Yale College. Mr Mori ha i asked his opinion wbeiher it is ad\ lsable that the Japanese should undertake to substitute the English tor their own language, to use » phonetic alphabet for spelling it, and to leduce its luflectious to legnkiity. I'rofessor Whitney discusses the^e matters in a manner to •lirow co d water on the eu^husiabui of thu luqmruij innovator, a. id perhaps for this reason Mori's letter was published m iL^ newpnapew *lone, afcer the TdMpoaso to it had been received.

The follow ing gloomy paragraph appears iv the Noith Otago Tunes ;— " The cropb on the pUin, eipecudly wheat, this ycor will be very pooi"— so said, the other day, one of the farmers of that ilibt.icr. \iul why so? Partly, perhaps, because of t lie cold, tUiup bprm-j, which has caused the spring-sown cram to be almost simcd.but more, we 'think, becv»i» of the "»\stem cauu»>l on in thi9 district ' System ' \>e %\i>\, bat want of system would have been a I>< tter ovpivs-aoii of ouv lueanini;. Year after yeir whito ei->p>< me L !iken ol the Kind,- than which noue is finer in New Z> il.^iiil lor giim production— bnt no manuie is retu)ii>"l +o it, and no land in the world will stand this constant b feezing without exhaustion. We look forward to the future of the cl strict with some alarm' because we cannot fail to see that thousands of acres are being ruine.l, rendered absolutely unproductive by the latally evhaustive system of constant cropping without the return l>y manuiiii" to the soil of the necessary elements to the giowth of ceieal or root cioim. Jlx nihilo mhHJit — 'fiom nothing nothing c >me>» ,' ami unless our fanners wake up to an appreciation of tins fact, Una district, instead of being as it o'ight to be, and is naturally litted to be, the granary of the South, will be a little better than uu Arania desert. Medic d students are warned not to a«k n certain Western mniMcr te piv.ii'h for them. He ha« bis text ready. "In his disease Asi Bought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. And Ash slept with his lathers.'' Tliirty-two ngo the French laid clnim to the South Llnnd of New Zealand, to winch, however, they had no rightful title. They landed immigrant* at Akaron, and dispatched a war frigate to wait on the Governor, at the Buy of Islands, m order to prefer their claim The French frigate lay one evening in the harbour near an English tengun brig. In the night, however, the commander of the br-g quietly put to sea, and in the morning the captain of the French frigate, guessing his rival's purpose, folloucd in pursuit in a race of 700 miles. It was too lute. The French vessel wa3 in every respect superior to the English bris, but Commander O«en Stanley, in the hi tie linlomart, like n tiui' and gall.int Hntnli seaman when lie found the welfare ot his country w us at stake, did his duty m such pood stvlu that he reached Akaroa, Bunk's Peninsula, in the Sout i Inland, landed, took formal possession of it in the Queen's name, hoaxed the red cross of St George and the Union Jack, on flagstaff;., and fired a royal salute of 21 guns in honor of the event, before the French frignte came tf an ancLor. Commander Stanley, who thus gullantly secured to this country "one of the finest islands every annexed to the Crown of England," was the eldest son of Bishop Stanley, and brother to the Dean of Westminster. Unhappil) he died at fln ear]y ngeIn a mutch between Gloucestershire anr! Yorkshire, the former county scored 40i in their first innings, of which E. M. Grace made 61, W. Grace 21, and G. F. Grace carried out his bat with 161 runs. A singular eticket malch has been played bv Sussex v. Notts t which was won by the latter. Suti3t in first innings scored only ninceeen runs, and Notts in its second had to make lifleen to win, winch Wild scored in five minutes with four hits.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT18731127.2.14.1

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 242, 27 November 1873, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
2,479

UNKNOWN Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 242, 27 November 1873, Page 3

UNKNOWN Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 242, 27 November 1873, Page 3

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