Chapter V,

Otago Witness, Issue 1456, 11 October 1879, Page 22

Chapter V,

In Arcadia.

j I Three o'clock in the afternoon of a glorious, supamer day, the sky almost as blue as i£ it were looking down upon an Italian landscape, vine- wreathed valleys and olive woods, and the distant glory of a 1 sapphire sea. , Three o'clock, and on the | wood-crowned hill of Greenwich there is ■delicious shade under old , trees, whose ,topmost boughs are faintly stirred by; the soft west wind.

The captain and his party had done the Hospital and the Nelson GalJery^the Chapel and all the splendours thereof, which ' are of a somewhat chilly order.' They have thrilled' at the sight of the Hero's, coat ; they have looked at the sad, grttnd picture, of his death with eyes full of .tears. , . They have talked to divers old gentlemen p'f the Tom Bowling type, who have fought their, battles in days gone by, and are more orjess glorified by scars or lopped , limbs. They have eaten strawberry, ices, and spongecakes — Floßsie indulging to a perilous extent-.-at the little pastry-cock's in ! ' Greenwich town ; and now here they are amidst the greenery of the good old Elizabethan Park, quite deserted by holiday folks to-day, and as lonely as if , it belonged to the deer and the rabbits. Up ion One Tree Hill yonder there are some, ancient gentlemen with spy-glasses and decanter-stoppers^ lying in .wait' for the sixpences of the idle ; but here by the warren a,ll is stillness and sweet summer silence, which means the 10w., , scarce audible ' hum of Nature's myriad voices'.

The captain and Bab strolled on a little way, ahead, while Mrs Trevornock, who was. beginning ,to , feel unconscionably sleepy, sauntered with Flossie' in the rear.' " ' ' ! " How -you do crawl, mother !" exclaimed that " lively person. "I don't believe we arp f walking at the rate of half, a, mile anliour,'", • 1 '"Why Bhould we hurry, deaf? We have had a long day already. . The ' Gallery was wither tiring. ' I. would give the world fpr a cup of tea." ■ "If you had the world to give you couldn't get tea up here," said Flossie. "Nothing but lukewarm ginger-beer and flabby oranges, the refuse of ,last Christmas, and choky seedy biscuits. How can holiday people be so foolish as to eat such things, arid encourage the impostors who Bell them V

" ; My dear, holiday people will eat anything. " "Yea, I believe it's characteristic of the race ; they are like pigs and ducks." " You had better sit down, mother," said Flossie presently, when Barbara and the Captain were almost out of sight ; "you are looking wofully fagged. I'm afraid you tired yourself before we started, poor dear "

" I only rubbed out your two muslin gowns "

" 0 m», doesn't it seem hard that a Trevornock ahpuld have to stand at the washtub ! "

" I don't know that it's harder for a Trevornock than a Jones," returned the mother plaintively ; "but when I lived with niy father in Harley street, I never thought I should have to do snch a thing."

"To think of your living in Harley street ! I never remember passing through it but once, and the dignity of the houses froze my veins. I kept saying to myself, 'My ma lived here. She had" the privilege of stepping out upon one of .those noble balconies, of knocking doubleknocks with those delightful knockers. She looked out of those shilling windows when she was young and pretty.' I don't mean that 1 you're not pretty now, darliDg," pursued the girl eagerly ; " you're the prettiest person I know, ma, after Barbara. "

"My love, at forty one has given up thinking about one's looks," ' ' You have, clearest, and that's one of the .reasons why you are so pretty." Mra Trevornock breathed a regretful sigh, remembring how very little of this world's gear or this world's gear QX this

I world's joys her beauty had brought her. She looked along the green vista, where the figures of the captain and his companion were growing smaller in the distance, and sighed again aa she reflected that perhaps oven Barbara's fair face waß to win no exalted prize in life's lottery. ;" I have had so much of poverty in my time that I should like my daughters to be rich." she said musingly, rather to herself than to Flossie.

iThe girl's quick wit interpreted her thought. j" It's a pity that Indian officers are not better paid," she said; "but they say tb.eir widows are particularly well provided for."

' " My dear, an officer's widow's pension at best is but a pittance. If beauty were worth anything in this world, Barbara ought to marry a duke. " "There are so few dukes," retorted Flossie ; " one could count them on one's fingers. And most of those I know anything about," she pursued, with a delightful air of familiarity, " are old and frumpy a}id married already. Captain Leland is very nice." i " He ia all that is kind and good," said Mrs Trevornock warmly. " I would not undervalue him for the world. But I had hoped for something so grand for Barbara." . " But, mother, where did you expect it, or him, to come from 1 Who is to know that a lovely girl is waiting to be wooed aud married in South lane, Camberwell 1 We don't live in a fairy-tale. If Barbara were to burst out as a prima donna or a great tragic actress, it would be different ; but a portionless girl with a pretty face is like a flower in a cottage garden — she may bud and blossom, and fade and wither, and the world may know nothing of her existence. Think of all the fair sweet things that live and die in the forests — the primroses and violets, the butterflies, those young fawns which are the very perfection of beauty. Nobody cares about them or knows of them. I think Barbara ought to be very proud of having captured a tall handsome Indian officer."

" She ought to make a better match," argued Mrs Trevornock. " What could be better than a man who is so good to us 1 "

" If she were engaged to him to-mor-row," continued Mrs Trevornock, " I should set my face against their being married for years to come. I could not part with my darling. It would break my heart if he were to take her to India — yet awhile."

"Years to come sounds a long while," said Flossie ; " but I don't think Captain Leland will be in a desperate hurry to marry. I heard him say that he was not rich enough to keep a wife. He is rich compared with us, of course, for he has plenty of money for gloves and cabs and luxuries of that kind ,* but I daresay he has grand ideas of how a wife should be kept. He would not expect her to iron her own muslin frocks, for instance. Besides, in such a climate as India ironing would be doubly horrible."

"I like him very much," mused Mrs Trevornock ; ' ' but it will almost break my heart if she marries a man who must ultimately take her to India." (To be continued in, our next. -Commenced in No. 1452