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The Brussels Post, 1886-11-19, Page 22 A VAGRANT teen, to eat leer up, and whether she vv u13 plink that he was not mush a bad BY E. WAnnss. ffil,p1F sitar all, ierd not half a bad (look unless you would like the moral. Author of "Tee Howe os in Mess," " Let us have the moral, by all means, "AT THE WORLD'S Manor," NTD, if you can find one in all that tissue of nonsense. f I pass over your impertinent cora• menta in silence. The moral is— What have I done to make you dislike me so much, Miss Langton?" " I don't understand you, Mr. Cooke. If I disliked you, should I have devoted all my energies, as I have done this afternoon, to preparing your dinner and being to you all that Mrs. Briggs ever was, and more, for she never gives you coffee after dinner ?" "Your civility to me to -day has been dictated by the purest selfishness. If it had not been for me, you would have had to go out and buy your own dinner, and you would not have known which side of the gridiron to hold. I repeat, without me you would have been a for- lorn, a dinnerleas woman. Look here— there is no making a bargain with alady, because she can always cry off when she likes; but,if you u would only be • eve that nothing would give me so much pleasure as to be able to render you any service at any time, and that your re. serve really does hurt sometimes, I should be so glad of having had this chance of telling yon so." He got shy again at the end of this speech; and Annie turned towards him a face which looked very sweet as well as pretty in the firelight. I do believe it," she said simply. " And I promise you that for the future you shall not only not have to complain of my reserve, but you may think your- self lucky if you do not have to check my forwardness." " Madam, my innate dignity will awe you sufficiently," said Aubrey bangh- tily. But he looked as much pleased as his inexpressive face ever allowed him to look. And, when Mrs. Briggs came in just in time to get tea ready, affecting great surprise at their being home be. fore her, and protesting that she had understood iboth of them to say they would dine out, they were both still chatting amicably by the kitchen fire. Aubrey was in such high spirits that he seized the occasion to thunder forth e long harangue at the frightened and apologetic old woman. ' Is this the way to treat two mem- bers of a profession which numbers in its ranks the fairest of England's women and the noblest of her men? Woman, do you take us for amateurs? Your four hours of trifling and foolish chat- tering in the market-place—a thing which Bunyan condemns as most re- prehensible—have been gained at the expense of an afternoon of unspeakable suffering and wretchedness to two of the most pecuniarily desirable inmates at a,pnah, Tlia is all, Mies Langton, So they hunted again, and, not find- ing anything but bones and Mr, Cooke's cheese, Aubrey went out to buy some obops, having said doubtfully that he thought he could cook achop, but wasn't sure, while Miss Langton set to work to make a fire. When he camp back, after a rather long absence, they were both radiant; for Annie, as she let him in, told him in great delight that she had made a lovelyfiro, and found where the plates and knives and forks were kept, and he pulled out of his pockets a num- ber of email parcels and a gridiron, and produced from under his arm a huge cookery -book, which he laid trium- phantly down upon a bag containing cheesecakes. " The baker's wife lent 020 this; so now we can have fifteen courses if we like. This will tell us bow to make a vol -as -vent a lafinanoiare, or a fricandeau de veau with sauce pigiurnte, or—" " But it won't tell us how to cook a chop without burning it to a cinder, or how to boil a potato when I can't find where tbey are kept," said Annie, taking up the gridiron and turning it over thoughtfully. " Why, I can show yon what to do with that 1" said he with superiority. And at last, after a great deal of un- necessary trouble and excitement, and after having burnt their Bands and scorched their faces and gone through a sort of purgatory on a bot early Sep- tember afternoon, they did succeed in cooking the chops; and then Aubrey danced round them in affectionate pride, while Annie suggested that they should dice in her sitting -room, whichwas only on the other side of the passage. "Oh, no," said Aubrey; "let us have it in here, and then we can do some more cooking." So they pulled the kitohen-table out of range of the fire, and put bits of fire- wood and paper under the rickety legs, and laid the cloth and arranged the knives and forks with elaborate care- fulness, and Aubrey rushed to the tap and filled a jug which they then dis- covered to Have contained milk ; and the mania of cooking being still strong upon him, he insisted on putting the battered cheese -cakes into the oven " to revive them," and then made buttered toast" for dessert," to work off his cu- linary. energy. And Annie laughed at him, and enjoyed herself very much. And then she suggested boiling some water for coffee, which she know how to make, she said. Yes, because it doesn't• require any making. Everything that demands a little science falls to me," said Aubrey I who have ever condescended to take up decisively, putting the kettle on the fire a temporary residence under your in - so that it immediately fell over on its hospitable roof 1" side with a loud hies. Mrs. Briggs was overwhelmed. However, the coffee was made at e I am sure, sir, I am very sorry. last, and of course Aubrey said it was But you looked pretty comfortable sit- the only time he had tasted good coffee ting there by the fire together" out of Paris : and, the landlady not hay- . Comfortable 1 This woman says we ing yet returned, though the afternoon looked comfortable 1" said Aubrey, turn - was draping to a close, Annie was rising ing in amazement to Annie, who hasten - to put away some of the things, when ed. to say— Aubrey stopped her. " And so we were, Mrs. Briggs—at " Don't be so wrong-headed as to save least I was. As for Mr. Cooke, some that unprincipled old lady trouble,"said people are never contented, you he. " Besides, I dare say she will stay know." away till about nine o'clock, and we And she ran away laughing to her shall want the things again for tea." sitting -room, while Aubrey went up- Annie made a grimace. stairs to his, singing Siebel's song in " Then we shall hare to wash them Faust in a very loud but very melan- uP." choly voice. ' That is very simple. Put them all in After that afternoon in Mrs. Briggs's the sink and turns tap on." kitchen, Miss Langton and Mr. Cooke He was suiting the action to the word were very good friends. Annie found when Annie stopped him. in him just the same boyish high spirits " Well, don't let us go away then, be- which bad made William such a delight - cense the fire might go out, and then ee, compani , while the fact of his poor Mos. Bridge might find it cold when being well educated and witty Piave him she comes back,' said he, with unexpeo- a charm in which the Braitbwaites were ted solicitude. one and all sadly deficient. So that it He did not want to break up this gradually came to be a matter of course tetra -tete, in which Annie, for the first that he should find out what was worth tide, had been in her most charming, seeing about each town which the cam - happiest mood with him. " Do stay," said he coaxingly. " Let pane visited,and that a shouldfethen ns tell each other stories by the fire. take her atsaem,add that, if they were e Iight. I'll begin ; I'll tell you a beauty in conjuring mood, they should oIden that I made up myself, all about ogres time in bb r ruupined piotures of tru ng in the rmned abbeys and crumbling and a good little girl and a bad little walls they inspected; while, if they girl." felt inclined to scoff at antiquity, they fie was patting Mrs. Briggs's rocking laughed together. The half tender chair persuasively, and at last Annie tone of deference which gradually grew allowed herself to fall into it, while n in his manner to her did not cause Aubrey went on in a chirping tone— Annie the least uneasiness. She looked ,,There was once a very dreadful ogre u•pou him as a universal lover, who as bad as he was ugly—he had a mouth could not keep sentiment quite out of as big as mine—and he had for his play- his intercourse with any woman, and, fellows and companions all the bad little if any one had told her that Aubrey boys and girls in the neighbourhood ; but Cooke was growing seriously in love of course the good boys and girls ran with her, and that her friendly manner away as soon as they saw him, espeoi• was encouragement, she would have ally one little girl, who felt quite sere been very much amused at the sugges. that he would eat her up if she spoke tion. civilly to him. So she was always as But Aubrey had in truth grown quite distant as she could be, and sometimes conscious of the fact that this capricious made the poor ogre quite uncomfortable, little woman with her alternate fits of which of course was quite right and cold shyness and madly high spirits, proper ; until one day she met the poor who could parry his nonsense with non - ogre when somebody had stolen his din- o mand just as wild no moment, the ner—and here too, by-the-way—and, in. sense ju stead of °Wee.her up as she expected, next hold chharm own in ha serious discus - stead he did his best to make himself as all had a charm for him which mads n his agreeable as circumstances would per. ey other She wash lovely to insipid seem him ; even mit; and— What are you laughing at, when her little brown face looked colour. Mies Langton ?" less and unattractive' to others, it was "I was laughing at something I was full of pathetic interest to him; when thinking about, Mr. Cooke. You can't she was looking her best, when the wind expect me to keep my attention fixed had brought the bright hue of health to on your idiotic nursery. stories." her cheeks and her eyes were sparkling "Oh 1 And so at lest the good litble with fun or easily -roused excitement, . girl got quite saucy ; asid-•---- I really must beg you to restrain your mirth at your own private thoughts, Miss Lang. ton. It is not courteous when a gentle- man is doing his best to be entertaining —and instructive as well. To resume. And so the ogre wondered to himself whether the good little girl would feel quite,sare for the future that he didn't THE BRUSSELS POST le was one person whom the plea of illus@o Cooke's attention had already been awakened to her reluctance to vieit Beckham ; and he was far too sharp a young man not to bo dangerous if she were to give hien involuntarily a clue to a secret she did not want to trust biro with. And bho socrot of her marriage she wished to keep from all her present associates. The miserable tie seemed e pub to be loss binding when all around her satirical, and the question had to b off. After all, there was uo need to worn ignorant of it. For a long time hurry matters ; there was some weeks she bud almost forgotten ft in the of the tour to run yet, and in the mean. •enfettored life she had led since she time their intercourse was delightful, and in the awful possibility of her say- ing No " there would be an end to even that. And there was a burden on his mind which he was anxious to find an oppor- tunity of removing. It concerned Colo. rel Richardson and the interest Miss Langton took in that handsome Love- lace. He made himself an opportunity rather clumsily. They were reading an epitaph of the usual order on some man who seemed to have all the virtues, to have been beloved and respected by 1 n in haveblank nto hod and made a b everybody, the universe by his death. " Iie was too perfect," said Aubrey. " I suppose his widow put up this as a salve to her conscience after worrying her husband to death." "Well, perhaps she really thought it.". " Perhaps. In that case he must have been a handsome scamp, a sort of Colo- nel Richardson," he hazarded, watching her. " Yon should not take it for granted that all women like swamps.' "All women seem to like Colonel' Richardson." " Well, he is nice 1 He knows just how to treat them, to be interesting and amusing without making love to them." " Oh, I beg your pardon 1 I should not have been so rash as to sneer at him if I had known he was so lucky as to have such a strong advooate in you," said Aubrey, out of temper. " Advocate 1 What nonsense 1 He has plenty without me." " That is why I am surprised to find you worshipping at such a general shrine." " Worshipping 1 Really, Mr. Cooke, you are quite rude 1" " I did not mean to be, I assure you. I only envy him his luck." And Aubrey stalked off over the old tombstones and began digging out bite of moss from a wall with the end of his cane, too angry to trust himself to say any more. Good-bye, Mr. Cooke ; I am going home 1" sang out Annie ; and, before 'he had made up his mind whether his dig- nity would allow him to follow her, she bad left the churchyard and disappear- ed from his sight behind the wall. That decided him, and in a few strides he was out of the gate and crying hum- bly behind her— " Miss Langton, aren't you comingto have another of those tarts you likeso much, as we arranged 7" " Not if you are going to stalk off to the other side of the road if I happen to say aomething you don't agree with." "I beg your pardon. I am in a bad temper this morning, I suppose. I will agree with everything yon say. I think Colonel Richardson is the nicest man I know." " Then there we cha'n't agree," said Annie, smiling; " for, although I think his manner is good, I don't much care about him.". " Don't you?" interrogated Aubrey delightedly. " I'm so glad 1 Do you know, I didn't think he was the kind of man.you would like much. Then you said what you did only to tease me 2" " Dial?" said Annie, surprised that he should make such a fuss about a trifle. "I don't think I did. I say, shall we stay here next week, as we aro not going to York?" No; we are going out of our route a little. The governor has got us a week at.i3eckhain." " Beckham!" cried Annie, while all the colour fled from her face. " Yes. Why, what is the matter ?" " Nothing," said she, in her usual voice ; but the colour did not come back to her cheeks. Now Aubrey knew very well that " no- thing" would not affect Miss Langton as that mere mention of a place had done; but he saw too that she did not intend to give him a truer answer. It was not difficult to come to the conclu- sion that there were unpleasant aseooia- tions connected in her mind with the place to which they were going; and, after long deliberation, he made up his mind definitely that Beckham should be the place where he would at last screw up his courage to the point of asking her to be his wife. " If she likes me—and I think—I al- most think she dogs," he reflected that night—" why, my proposal will be the very best thing to drive anyunhappy recollections of the place out of her head 1 If she won't have me—well, th are is a river at Beckham 1" dark suggestion Aubrey With which s r gg blow out his candle and went to sleep. Time after time be had made has would in no way deceive. Aubrey Tihe mind that he would propose to her at each a time, at suoh a place. For ib bad come to this, that bo felt he must make her promise to be his wife, if she would, before this tour was over. But, when. ever the moment value which ho had looked upon as propitious for the plunge, his heart failed him, or she would bo in the wrong mood, too friendly or too he could not take his own vacuous light, blue eyes off her face. If his face had was eager, as Annie knew, for such a been more expressive, she could not silence, and there would probably be have failed to discover that his interesb little difficulty as far as that part of the in her was deeper than was safe for his matt= was concerned. own peace of mind; but unluckily Au -Bet, besides the fact that she could bray's features were the most perfect 111 afford to„lose even one week'e salary mask over worn by a man whose feel- and risk the cancelling of the rest of her hire were in reality as keen as his Intel. engagement, she felt sure that there left Garetoue ; but the remembrance of it had begun lately to irritate her strangely, There was now nothing on earth she dreaded so much as the possi- bility of her husband finding her out, and in a fit of capricious obstinacy or tyranny insisting on her return to him, The thought of being again at the mercy of that ignorant drunken boy filled her with disgust which was now not even mingled with pity. And she was to be brought against her will to the very town which he and his brothers visited alneeet daily. But, after long reflection, she decided ORatlucrisk of her being grOCO� recognised n Beckham was not so great as she had pictured it to be in her first terror at the thought of going thither. The families living roundabout Beckham, as is usually the case with country.towns, very sel- dom visited the theatre—the Braith- waites never. Upon William's authority, she was so mach altered that, with the help of a veil and other such simple die. guises, she might pass unrecognised even by people among whom she had lived. When the young men from the Grange came into Beckham, they were almost always on horseback or driving, so that it would be easy for any one on foot to avoid them; and, above all, ate was on the alerb to escape them, while they had not the least suspicion of her coming. In the town itself there was very little fear of her being reeognised by the inhabitants. She had not been in it mach at any time, and was very little known there. The mere change of name would be enough to prevent their identification of " Miss Lane " or " Mrs. Harold Braithwaite " with" Miss Lang. • CHAPTER XIV. Annie felt half inclined bat first to re- quest the teenager, on the plea of illness, to let his niece, who was her ” under- study," play her parts for the week the company wore to spend at Beckham, and take her chance of his allowing her to rejoin them at the next town they visited. The incompetent little niece Aubrey iURGED Noinpulled screaming bopped about over smouldering branches and expiriug squibs with the bolp of his friendly hand, he felt that the moment was Dome. In the excitomeut and burly -burly whioh were going on around them, nobody noticed the tenderness With which be drew her baok a few yards from the bonfire, on the darlcer side of it, when her foot turned over on a glowing twig. " Take care ; you are getting tired, You must not play any more now," said he gently, "Lot me go back and give it just one more toes," pleaded she earnestly, but meekly. Annie bad the oharm of always yielding to any assumption of authority in small things very submissively. "No; I cannot allow it. This jump. ing through the lire is a heathenish cus- tom highly unbecoming in an en• lightened young lady of the nineteenth century." " Oh, yes, it meant something, didn't it?" cried she, interested. " the Ca- naanitish children were Passed through the fire to propitiate Moloch. And I have hoard of a lot of Irish and German superstitions about bonfires." " Yes, they are all about luck and love, va If you want to deo whether your love will be fortunate, you seb a blazing hoop rolling down a hill, and, if it reaches the bottom still- alight and ie not caught by any obstacle, then you know she loves you baok." " Where did you find out that ? Have you ever tried it ?" she asked lightly. " No," said he, in a whisper ;" I should not dare." They were both silent for a moment; the fire had fallen into mere smoke and blackness on the side near which they stood, and they could not see each other's faces. But Annie heard the quica:loud breathing of the man beside her, ebe could see him bending dew]; over her with one hand seeking hers, and a terrible fear leaped up suddenly in her heart, as she moved quickly away from him with a low sound that was al- most a cry of pain. Aubrey stood still, without attempt- ing to follow or detain her. She could not have misunderstood him, and she shrank away ; that was enough for him. It was very hard and very unexpected blow ; he had by no means felt over- confident of his success with her, but at the worst he had counted upon her giving him a hearing, and this abrupt repulse stung him to the quick. He did not stand there long watching the flickering light and shadow cast by the burning pile in front of him. He sprang through the fire into the middle of the group of howling, delighted child- ren, and took bis place as the moving spirit of the throng with greater zeal than ever. And, when they had all grown weary, and had burned their clothes and scorch- ed themselves as much as they would, and the dying bonfire was at last left to the men servants to rake out, and, the children having been sent to bed, the rest sat down to supper, Aubrey Cooke was the wittiest there, as he had been the most active outside, and be gave to Annie's watching eyes only this one sign that she had wounded him—he did not look at her. When they broke up, betweentwo and three o'clock in the morning, the two other actors and the other actress who had come left Miss Langton as a matter of course to the care of Aubrey. But she slipped past him and went on by herself. He did not attempt to over- take her, but followed at a short dis- tance, in case she should be frightened by a stray drunken rough in going through the narrow streets which led to her lodging. She was just in front of the house where Miss West lodged, when the door opened and two or three gentlemen came down the steps. The foremost, who was walking very unsteadily, staggered against her as he was turning round to spook to his companions. She gave a frightened cry, and rushed past him in terror. As she heard first a laugh and then a man's footsteps behind her, she broke into a run, but stumbled against the kerbstone of the pavement as she went over a crossing, with the man close upon her. He caught her when her foot slipped; and then, as she turn- ed round sharply, she suddenly gave a startled cry and clung to his arms, Bob- bing out— "You, Aubrey 1 Thank Heaven!" " My dear child, who did you think it was' t" "I thought it was—that tipsy man I" she whispered, shuddering. " The clumsy brute didn't hurt you, my darling, did he, when he ran up against you. I would have punched his head—" No, no, no 1" she cried, clinging to him again, in fear of his returning. "He didn't hart me at all; ho scarcely touched me. But I thought it was ho ho was Nov. 1.9, 1880. frightened." That is all because you were a silly girl and were too proud too lab me see you home. It is a ' judgment.' Why, you are shaking all over still( I didn't think you v ele s uehalittle coward 1" He soot 1 lied her louder happy remembrance of her a ver withr delight at recognising him and of the impulsive closing of the little hands on his arm. He began to think that repulse of a tow hours ago might be differoutly constru- ed ; she could not have smiled tip more than gratefully into his face as she was doing now if he had been repugnant to her. Other women might but hot Annie Langton. And Aubrey was right. Sho had felt jusbwhat her face expressed, that the one person in the world whose presence inspired ben with perfect coniideneo had suddenly 'animated at the very moment when she dreaded the approach of tbo person she feared most to meet. For in the half -tipsy man who _had (TO BE CONTINUED.) 1 Is Offered to the . i ID 1887 —FOR— IN ADVANCE. As will be seen we are de- voting a Column to Poetry, Temperance, Farm Notes and Varieties, respectively, and giving more than our usual amount of Local, District and General news. THE POST was never Read by so Many People before and we hope to Add Very Largely to our list this Fall and Winter. A SPECIAL FEATIM will be the Re -production of salt from that excellent Comic Journal By a Special Arrangement with that Paper we expect to piesent a Picture 'Weekly.! • 011, '1'lic. Ont. Thi; Ono \kiln Inn' Bea The Sac Ani Ani "W llc "01 Wb `\\. De, Th Til An 3)o No Ur If An At If To To At W In 111 Pi As At T1 111". Ai W Oi •,:At Ii Ir• •S. 5 T •T • A 1 The cuts alone willbe worth the Subscription... Watch Out For Them Every week. "Its wonderful how wo CIO it, but we clo,"• HELP US TO ADD 50o to our :List. Correspondence alway thankfully received. W. H. K]E:, PUBLISHER.