COUNTENANCES.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 714, 13 January 1877, Page 5 (Supplement)

COUNTENANCES.

J ones has been here ! My first interview with Jones was on board the magnificent floating palace which he so ably commands. In other words, Jones is the captain of an old steamboat, and ' 'twas there we met, 'twas there we loved and I confessed,' that he could take my hat. The circumstances were these : I had just got through with an animated altercation with the clerk on the subject of my quarters for the night. Persuaded that my health required suporific treatment, that individual had bestowed upon me a very small stateroom m close proximity to the boiler, where the thermometer would have stood at 212 degrees m the shade. At this I rebelled, and. the clerk being obstinate and disobliging, it was only after great exertion, ahd the intervention of numerous friends, that matters were finally settled on a peaceful basis. While sitting on a sofa m the cabin, reposing on my laurels and hugging the trophy of victory m the shape of a new stateroom key, Jonesjapproached. He wa3 a large gentleman of perhaps forty-five years of age, with grizzled hair, prodigious nose, and a most winning expression of countenance, calculated to sour g the fresh'sfc milk at a single glance. .Seating himself at my side, Jones revived the subject of the difficulty, taking, of course, entirely my view of it throughout ; then looking at me with a most amiable smile, he said, ' You are not a man to get into trouble anyhow ; yon have one of tbem open faces that shows me that your only object m life is to make yourself happy and every one around you happy.' My face opened at once ; Jones had me ; I always flattered myself I had a remarkably ingenuous expression, and was delighted at his ready insight into my character j he then went below to take the clerk to task. Having occasion to light a cigar, I passed by the office and inadvertently overheard the conclusion of his remarks to that individusl. 'My dear sir,' said Jones, ' you have one of them open faces that shows me your only object m life is to make yourself happy and every one around you happy.' I saw Jones but once more that evening. He was sitting by the side of a rather pretty, but rabidlooking lady m a pink organdie, on a tete-a-tete chair m the after cabin. She appeared' to be pleased and interested by the conversation of Captain Jones. As I passed them on my way to my stateroom, I heard him say m soft accents : ' You have one of them open faces that shows your only object m life is to make yourself happy and every ono around you happy.' I observed tbat the lady m the pink organdie looked at Captain Jone3 on this with a sweet expression, much as if she had a spoonful of Madeira jelly m hay mouth ; and I retited. Much later m the night I was awakened by the unmistakable sounds of a scuffle of some kind m the vicinity of my stateroom There was much rustling, and a feeble voice said: 'Don't.' ' Oh,' replied a low and soothing tone, • you have one of them open faces which shows me that your only object m life is to make yourself happy and everybody around you happy.' • This remark was followed by a noise not unlike the jdra wing of a cork, but I do not mean to say that Captain Jones kissed the lady m the pink organdie j I saw nothing. The next morning, when we landed from the boat, Jones waited upon that lady on shore. They were about to part, perhaps foreyer— he gazed tenderly into her face — he grasped her hand —a tear came to his eye, and he was about to speak when I passed them. lam sorry to say that, with unpardonable rudenesß, I remarked : ' Oh, never mind, Jones ; we all know that she's^got one of them open faces,' and then, swinging my valise violently agaiust his interminable shins, I departed.