CHAPTER VII.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2039, 1 August 1885, Page 5 (Supplement)

CHAPTER VII.

A SHOCKED HUSBAND. A beautiful, light, cheerful room, overlooking the moat lively and picturesque part of Paris— the garden of Tuileries— a room such »b Alice had never seen; all flowers, laces, silks, and gilding. The first moment she entered it her husband smiled to himself, because she looked at the white carpet, with itß crimson roses, aa though she were afraid to tread upqn it. Had there been any romance about their marriage, this would have been the very room for a bride. Roses lay on the floor and warned to climb the walla — roses were painted

on the door panels, and wherever it wa§ possible for rosea to be. j. She turned thoss wondering 470s of hers to her hiHtbsnd. " What a beautiful room, Vivian," she said, in aooents o£ awe* '■ Beautiful," ho repeated, lnnpbingly. "Nay, Alioo, no room can bo beautiful that is nod artidtio ; and this room certaftily is not." " Not artistic ? Why, Vivian, look at the flowers," ehe cried. " Flowers do not make art," he said, " although they mal-e beauty. Wait until you see the rooms at Boseneath Abbey, Alioe, — they are beauUful." " If they are better than thia," she said, despondently, " I do not know what I shall do in them." Looking at her it seemed to him, for the first time, haw utterly out of place that unformed, untrained girl would be in the stately, splendid saloonn of Boseneath Abbey. Alioo was filled with awe ; sho seemed to be walking on velvet and flowers. If she touched a bell, low- voiced, noiseless servants vied with eaoh other in answering it and attending to her. She ate the daintiest food from services of costly plate and rare china — tasted rare wines in glares that were marvels of beauty in themselves— <it was like new life to her. She conld neither realise por understand it— the dancing-master's daughter was in a new Bpbero. At first the was very uncomfortable in it. S'k 1 whs inclined to call solemn-look-ing wairrn ' nir," to riso when he aiddreanod her, to ba cmuece warily profuse in her thanks for uny httle s-orvice rendeied. At first all thia amused h-> ', oun" husband — it was quite new to him, and ho enjoyed it; the time had to conu when it v* jald irritate and annoy him . The first ev\ni m they spent together there, at the Hotel dn "U >i, was one she never forgot. Lord Oaredalp h d turned to her suddenly. " I do not lvkr your name, Alice." he said ; « T 7 - '" 0 name of Alice? T " I wjsa mac 1 could change it the"h," she said, " as I have done the name of Derwent. But why don't you liko it, Vivian ? " Her kissed her carelessly, not with the impassioned lovo and tenderness of a young husband. " Yoa must not be hurt if I correct your little eccentrioities of speech either, little wifo. I prefer bearing you say, ' Why do you not like it ?' to ' Why don't you ?' Don't is a moat inetegant word, to my mind. You aak me why Ido not hire tire name of Alice. Let me think. It is a favorite name in fiction; Bultfer Lyfcton has a most charming Alice ; Thackaray has no Alice. I think it rather a sentimental kind of name ; it Bounds tte though the girl bearing k oarae from the country, and w«a very simple." She raided her beautiful head after a spirited fashion all her own. "I do not atu'Pe with you. The queen did not think co ; she named her daughter Alioe. I have seen the Princess Alioe, and I do not think there n a more noblo lady in any land than she." "Where did you see her?" he asked, forgetting his argument for a few minutes. " I saw her in Geumany with her husband, and I felt quite proud that my name was Alioe." Then her whole manner changed and became subdued. " Still, if you do not like it, the sound of it will never be pleasant to me again." The beautiful blue eyes grew dim with tears ; he did nnt sec thorn. " Your father or mother gave jiou the name of Aliev," ho continued ; " now I will give you one muoh prettier, and you will like it better, becaure it is of my choosing. I should lik'i to call you Ailre." She repeated the word after him — spoken by his lips it had a certain music no other lips could give it' " You will make me very happy," she Baid, in her Bimplo, innocent, worshiping way. " 4.i1M," ho naid over again to himself ; "yes, Ii iko that nams— it sounds as though you belonged to rae — " Ailic Carsdale." lam glad that is settled : I did not like Alice at all, ypt the name auita you. Alice in a poem always has those lovely blue eyes and shining \valth of fair hair." Than he talk«d of other things ; but while sho lived Alice never cared again for her own name. The first day was to he* one rapture of wonJer. That ahe should bo in sunny Paris — that all those marvellous shop 3 should be open to her — that nhe should go where ahe would, buy what she liked — that a beautifullyappointed carriage was always at her servleo, wp»e marvels to bar. With his characteristic genorogity, Lord Vivian had given her a little roll of bank notes. " You have never enjoyed the luxury of a day's shopping, Ailie, have you ?" he a?ked. " Never," she replied. Ooe great oharm in Ailio was her frank fparleaa fashion of always speaking the exact truth. " I have only spent one sovereign in a shop in all my life," Bhe &ftid. "It is inoredible ; find yet they say ladies are so fond of shopping." " Ladies who have plenty of money — I have never had any," she replied. " How could I enjuy shopping?" "Well, you want many things— [ do not even know the numea of the Httle ele^anc-ips you require. My sisters are, I think, the best dressed glrh in England — I should lilip you to dress like them— plain, simple ele^nco— everything good, nothing tvic. It u very easy." "For your sisters, Vivian ; thoy are ladioj — they have always been ladies." " You are a lady," he said, hastily. "Do not speak in that fashion, Ailie. My inters are simple, well-bred girls, nothing out of the common." She smiled sadly. "You and I have- Jived in suoh different worlds," she said ; " simple, well-bred elegance belongs to yours, not mine." " Well, we belong to the same world now, Ailie ; and a very pleasant one it is, my dear. You hurt me when you speak as though you had not always been a lady." " But, Vivian," she persisted, " it is true. I am Borry you do not like to hear it, but I must repeat that it ia true. You will find out that I have not the manner or fashion of the ladies of your class ; but lam willing to leai n. I shall remember everything you tell me, and when I have a chance of seeing ladies— raally well-bred, elegant, charming women— l shall imitate them." " Nay," he cried, brusquely, " for Heaven's sake do not do that. Of all things in the world caricaturing another is the most terrible. Forgive my hasty speaking, Aihe, always be natural— an assumed manner ia al most always a vulgar one. I really thought," he oontinued, in a plaintive tone, " that all girls, except, perhaps, in the very lowest ranks of life, were ladtes by nature." "I wish they wore," said Ailie, sadly. "I am afraid that " But Lord Garsdale interrupted her. " You need not fear anything, Ailie ; you will do very well ; you arenas beautiful as an angel, or an houri, whichever you liko , beauties oan afford to be eccentric. We will make one oompaot — if ever I see you doing anything, or hear you say any thing not strictly proper, you will let me tell you of it?" " 1 shall be grateful to you," Bhe said, simply ; " I shall take a pride aad pleusuie in trying to please you. I will pay the greatest attention to everything you Bay to rae. That was very pleajant, and he felt a cejrtain sense of proud satisfaction in her implicit

obedience, all the same timo he felt & jarring sense o! inequality. Not a lady I Great Heaven ! whs* would hi? mother tlio prcxide.it woman in England, ,=>Ry ? What woiild his sisters think? Even while the idea pained hkn, ha thought to himself how wcndsrfuHy true the gii4V nature was, how naturally noble, (earless, and brave. Hew many girls in her position would ( have givao themselves .airs beyond numberwould have affected all kinds of falsehoods I She said, simply : " I am not a lady, because I have not had the training o! one." He admired the fearless words, even vyiiilo he deplored the need for speaking them. The daj folowing he understood better what she meant, "we will net dine at the table d'hote, ' he said to her ; •' there are always bo many English people in Paris. I should be certain to meet some one whom I knew, then it would be awkwaTd. We will order dinner in our own sitting-room." Ailie looked very charming in her pretty dinner-dreas, with red roses in her fair hair, and a cluster of red roses in her dresq. Lord Carnlale smiled when he saw them. " Roses are my favorite flowers," he said ; " they are tne queen of flowers. I shpuld like to imitate the ancient and dine in a room carpeted with rose leaves." From that moment-she loved the beautiful flowers with passionate love. She smiled a charming smile, and quoted to him some beautiful lines of Goethe's in perfect German., then they sat down to dinner together. " After all," thought he, as ho looked-at the beautiful face and graoeful figure, the white hands and lonely arms, " aftrer all I might have done much worse. She is vefy lovely, very clever, and I do not see any great ' He stopped abruptly— a pauße of, to him, unutterable horror; she, whom he was secretly admiring, positively put her knife in hflr mouth; the action struok him dumb. Ailie, looking up with a smile, was struck with the darkening expression of hit face. " Vivian J" she cried, "is anything the matter ? " " No," he replied, brusquely. "Ha« anything vexed you?" «he asked, wondering still more. 11 Yes," he replied ; "you have. You should never put your kniie in your mouth, Ailie ; it ia horrible, atrooiouß." Her face burned deepest crimson. " Did I? " ehe said. "I am very sorry. I did not notice it." " Do take care never to do such a thing again ; it hag shooked me," he *aid, more gontly. "I am vrry sorry, she repented ; they were not very particular at the school at Heisengen ; they did not pay muoh attention to our manners there." " But at home," he said ; surely at home they did not allow such things ? " Ailie laughed. "At home 1 " Bhe replied. •' We never had what you would oall a regular dinner." He looked up in such utter wonder that she laughed again. "No regular dinner I Why, Ailie, what kind of home oould it be ? " " It is just as I told you," she answered him. " Gentlemen who have lived ai you have, have no idea of how the rest of tho world lives. Hy father very often ate his dinner with hh violin tacked under his arm, ready to go out and give lessona. My mother dined whenever the pupils gave her leisure ; ; in face, if it were^not for the fear of ohocking you by a vulgar expression, I phould say that we lived in a scramble." He HhAddered at the words, then said : " But even in a aoramble, as you express it, Ailie, it is not needful to put one's knife in one's mouth." "No," roplied his young wife; "but you hays no idea, Vivian, how completely the fact of havi.igto work very hard for your dinner nukes you indifferent over the etiquette of eitiup it." And while he ate some of the fittest peachy that ever grew in sunny France, Lord Garsdale meditated on the worda.