THE STORY-TELLER.

Evening Post, Volume LIV, Issue 152, 24 December 1897, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE STORY-TELLER.

9 The Christian.* By Hall Oadte. " (Author of « The Manxman,' &c.) Book IV. IV. — (continued .) Drake laughed at their predictions, and Glory patted the creature while it beat its white feet on the ground, and the leather of its saddle squeaked. The club stand from there looked like a sea of foaming laces, feathers, flowers, and sunahades. They turned to go to it, passing first, by the judge's box, whereof Drake explained the use, then through the Jockey Club enclosures, which was full of peers, peeresses, judges, members of Parliament, and other turfities, and finally through the betting ring, where some hundreds of betting men, of the superior class, proclaimed their calling in loud voices and loud clothes, and the gold letters on their betting books. To one of these pencillers Drake said : — 'What's the figure for Elian Vannin ?' • Ten to one, market price, sir.* ' I'll take you in hundreds,' said Drake, and they struggled through* the throng. Going up the stairs Glory said, But wasn't the Archdeacon at your office this morning? "We saw him coming out of the square with little Mr. Golightly.' • Oh, did you ? How hot it is today!' ' Isn't it ? I feel as if I should like to play Ariel in gossamer . . But wasn't it ?' 1 You needn't trouble about that, Glory. It's an old story that religious intolerance likea to throw the responsibility of its acts on the civil Government.' Glory's eyes were now full of tears, she was struggling with a desire to cry aloud, and Drake, who was watching her smallest action, stood before her to screen her from the glarces of gorgeously attired ladies, who were giggling and looking through lorgnettes. The fine flower of the a is :ocracy were present in force, and the stand was full of the great ladies who took an interest in sport, and even kept' studs of their own. Oriental potentates were among them in suits of blue and gold, and the French language was being spoken on all sides. Glory attracted* attention, and Drake's fa^e beamed with delight. An illustrious personage asked to be introduced to her, and said he had seen her first performance and predicted her extraordinary success. She did not flinch. There was a slight. tremor, a scarcely perceptible twitching of the lip, and then she bore her honours as if she had been born to them. The Prince entertained a party to luncheon, and Drake and Glory were invited to join it All the smart people were there, and they looked like a horticultural exhibition of cream colour and rose, pink and grey. Glory kept W itching the great ones of the earth, and she found them very amusing. • Well, what do you think ?' aaid Drake. ' I think most people at the Derby must have the wrong make-up on. That gentleman, now — he ought to be done up as a stable-boy. And that lady in mauve — she's a ballet girl really, only ' ' Hush, for heaven's sake !' But Glory whispered, ' Let's go round the corner and laugh.' She sat between Drake and a ponderous gentleman, with a great beard like a waterfall. ' What are the odds against the colt, Drake ?' Drake answered, and Glory recalled herself from her studies, and said, 4 Oh, yes ; what did you say it was ?' • A prohibitive price for you,' said Drake. ' Nonsense, I'm going to do a flutter on my own, you know, and plunge against* you.' It was explained to her that only bookmakers bet against horses, but the gentleman with the beard volunteered to reverse positions, and take Glory's 10 to,l against Elian Vannin. 'In .what?' 'Oh — h'm — thick 'uns, of course.' ' But what is the meaning of this running after strange gods?' said Drake. 'Never mind, sir. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, you know ' and then the bell rang for the race of the day, and they scurried back to the stand. The numbers were going up, and a line of fifty policemen abreast was clearing the course. Some of the party had come over from the coach, and Lord Eobert was jotting dowp in a notebook the particulars of betting commissions for his fair companions. • And am I to be honoured with a commission from the Hurricane ?' he asked. • Yes ; what's the price for Elian Vannin ?' 4 Come down to 5 to 1, pretty lady.' 4 Get me 1 to 5 that he's going to 1086.' 'But what in the world are you doingr, Glory ?' said Drake— his eyes were dancing with delight. ' 1 Running a race with that old man in the box which can find a loser first.' At that moment the horses were sent out' for the preliminary canter and parado before the royal stand, and a tingling electrical atmosphere •Copyright.

eaemed to come from somewhere and set every tongue wagging. It seemed as if something unexpected was about to occur, and countless eyes went up to the place where Drake stood with Glory by his side. He was outwardly calm, but with a proud flush under j his pallor ; she was visibly excited, j and could not stand on the same spot for many seconds together. By this time the noise made by the bookmakers in the enclosure below was I like that of ten thousand sea fowl on a reef of rock, and Glory was trying to speak abovej the deafening clangour. ' Silver and gold have I none, but if I had. . . . What's that?' A white flag had fallen as signal for the start, there was a hollow roar from the starting-post point, and people were shouting, ' They're off !' Then there was a sudden silence, a dead hush, below, above, around, everywhere, and all eyes, all glasses, all lorgnettes were turned Ta "the , direction of the runners. The horses got well away and raced up the hill like cavalry charging in line ; then at the mile post the favourite drew to the front, and the others went after him a,n indistinguishable) mass. But the descent seemed not to his liking ; he twisted a good (leal, and the jockey was seen sawing the reins, and almost hanging over the horse's head. When the racers swung round Tottenham Corner and came up like mice in the distance, it was I seen that another horse had taken advantage of an opening, and was overhauling the favourite with a j tremendous rush. His colours were white and black. It was Elian Vannin. From that moment Drake's horse never relinquished his advantage, but came down the straight like a great bird with its wing 3 ceasing to flap, passed the stand amid great excitement, and won handsomely by a length. Then in the roar of delight that went up from the crowd, Glory, with her hand on Drake's shoulder, was seen to be crying, laughing, and cheering at the same moment. ' But you've lost,' said Drake. ' Oh, bother fhat.' she said, and when the jockey had slipped from his saddle, and Drake had taken his horse into the weighing-room, and the ' All right ' was shouted, she started the cheering again, and said she meant to make a dead heat of it with Tennyson's brook. • But why did you bet against me ?. ' said Drake. • You silly boy,' she answered with a crow of happiness and gaiety, ' didn't the gipsy tell me I should lose money to-day ? And how could I bet on your horse unless you lost the race ? ' Drake laughed merrily at her delicious duplicity, and could hardly resist an impulse to take her in his arms and kiss her. Meantime his friends were slapping him on the back, and people were crushing up to offer him congratulations. He turned to take hia horse into the paddock, and Lord Eobert took Glory down after him. The trainer and jockey were there, looking proud and happy, and Drake, with a pale and triumphant face, was walking the great creature about as if reluctant to part with it. It was breathing heavily, and sweat stood in drops on its throat and head and ears. 1 Oh, you beauty ! How I should love to ride you,' said Glory. 4 But dare you ? ' said Drake. 'Dare I? Only give me the chance. 1 I ' I will, by , I will, or it won't be my fault.' Somebody brought champagne, and Glory had to drink a bumper to ' the best horse of the century, bar none.' Then her glass was filled afresh, and she had to drink to the owner, 'the best fellow on earth, bar none ' ; and again she was compelled to drink ' to the best bit of history ever made at Epsom, bar none.' With that she was excused while the men drank at Drake's proposal ' to the loveliest, liveliest, leeriest little woman in the world, God bless her,' and she hid her face in her hands and said with a merry I laugh, * Tell me when it's over, boys, and I'll come again. 1 After Drake had despatched telegrams and been bombarded by interviewers, he led the way back to the coach on the hill, and the company prepared for their return. The sun had now gone, a thick veil of stagnant clouds had gathered over the place of it, the sky looked sulky, and Glory's head had begun to ache between the eyes. Eosa was to go home by train in order to reach her office early, and Glory half wished to accompany her. But an understudy was to play her part that night, and she had no excuse. The coach wormed its way through the close pack of vehicles at the top of the hill and began to follow the ebbing tide of humanity back to London. •But what about my pair of gloves ?' ' Oh, you're a hard man, reaping where you have not sowed and gathering ' 'There, then, we're quits,' said Drake, leaning over from the back seat and snatching a kiss from her. It was now clear that he had been drinking a good deal. V. Before the race had been run a solitary man with a dog at his heels had crossed the Downs on his way back to the railway station. Jealousy and rage possessed his heart between

them, but he .would not recognise these passions, he believed his emotions to be horror and pity and shame. John Storm had eeen Glory on the racecourse, in Drake's company, under Drake's protection ; he proud and triumphant, she bright and gay and happy. , ' 0 Lord, help me ! Help me, 0 Lord!' And now, dragging along the road, in his mind's eye he saw her again as the victim of this man, his plaything, his pastime, to take up or leave, no better than any of the women about her, and where they were going she would go also. Some day he would find her where he had found others, outcaat, deserted, forlorn, lost, down in the trough of life, a thing of loathing and contempt. '* 0 Lord, help her ! Help her, 0 Lord !' There were few passengers by the train going back to London, nearly all traffic at "flris hour being the other way, and there wad no one else in the compartment he occupied. He threw himself down in a corner, consumed, with indignation and a strange sense of dishonour. Again he saw her bright eyes, her red lips, the glow of her whole radiant face, and a paroxysm of jealousy tore his heart to pieces. Glory was his. Though a bottomless abyss was yawning j between them her soul belonged to him, and a great upheaval of hatred i for the man who possessed her body surged up to his throat Against all this his pride as well as his religion rebelled. He crushed it down, and tried to turn his mind to another current of ideas. How could he save her ? If she should go down to perdition his remorse would be worse to bear than flames of fire and brimstone. The more unworthy she was the more reason he should strive to rescue her soul from the pangs of eternal torment. The rattling of the carriage broke in upon these visions, and he got up and paced to and fro like a bear in a cage. And like a bear, with its slow, strong grip, he seemed to be holding her in his wrath and saying, ' You shall not destroy yourself ! you shall not ! you shall not ! for I — I — I forbid it !' Then he sank back in his seat, exhausted by the conflict which made his soul a battlefield of spiritual afld sensual passions. Every limb shook' and quivered. He began to be afraid of himself, and he felt an impulse to fly away somewhere. When he alighted at Victoria his teeth were chattering, although the atmosphere was stifling and the sky was now heavy with black and lowering clouds. To avoid the eyes of the people, who usually followed him in the streets, he cut through a narrow thoroughfare and went back to Browns-square by way of the park. But the park was like a vast camp. Thousands of people seemed to cover the grass as far as the eye could reach, and droves of workmen, followed by their wives and children, were trudging to other open spaces farther out. It was the panic terror. Afterwards it was calculated that 50,000 persons from all parts of London had quitted' the doomed city that day to await the expected catastrophe under the open sky. The look of fierce passion had faded from his face by the time he had reached his church, but there another ordeal awaited him. Though j it still wanted an hour of the time of evening service a great crowd had gathered in the square.- He tried to escape observation, but the people pressed upon him. some to shake | his hand, others to touch his cassock, I and many to kneel at his feet and even to cover them with kisses. "With a sense of shame and hypocrisy he disengaged himself at length, and joined Brother Andrew in the sacristy. The simple fellow was full of marvellous stories. There had been wondrous manifestations of the workings of the Holy Spirit during the day. The knocker-up, who was a lame man, had shaken hands with the Father on his way home that morning, and now he had thrown away his stick and was walking firmly and praising God. The church was large and rectangular and plain, and looked a wellused edifice, open every day and all day. The congregation was visibly excited, but the service appeared to calm them. The ritual was full, with procession and incense, but without vestments, and otherwise monastic in its severity. John Storm preached. The epistle for the day had been from Ist Corinthians, and he took his text from that source also : • Deliver him up to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.' People said afterwards that they had never heard anything like that sermon. It was delivered in a voice that was low and tremulous with emotion. The subject was love. Love was the first inheritance that God had given to His creatures, the purest and highest, the sweetest and best. But men had degraded and debased it at the temptation of Satan and the lust of the world. The expulsion of our first parents from Eden was only the poetic figure of what had happened through ail the ages. It was happening 1 now. And London, the modern Sodom, would as surely pay its penalty as did the cities of the ancient East. No need to think of flood, or fire, or tempest, of any givon day or hour. Tho judgment that would fall on England, like tho plagues that foil on Egypt, would be of a kind with the offence. She had

wronged the spirit of love, and who knows but God would punish her by taking out of the family of man the passion by which she fell, lifting it away with all that pertained to it, good and bad, spiritual and ssnsual, holy and corrupt ? The burning heat-clouds of the day seemed to have descended into the church, and in the gathering darkness the preacher, his face just visible, with his eyes full of smouldering fire, drew an awful picture of the world under the effects of such a curse. A place without unselfishness, without self-sacrifice, without heroism, without chivalry, without loyalty, without laughter, and without children! Every man standing alone, isolated, self-centred, selfcursed, outlawed, loveless, marriageless, going headlong to degeneracy and death! Such might be God's punishment on this cruel and wicked city for its sensual sins. / Thus the preacher losfcontrbl' of his imagination and swept his hearers along with him as he fabricated horrible fancies. The people were terror-stricken, and not until the last hymn was given out did they recover the colour of their blanched faces> Then they sang as with one voice ; and after the benediction had been pronounced, and they were surging down the aisles in close packs, they started the hymn again. Even when they had left the church they could not disperse. Out in the square were the thousands who had not been able to get inside the doors, and every moment the vast proportions of the crowd were swelled. The ground was covered, the windows round about were thrown up and full of faces, and people had clambered on to the railings of the church, and even on to the roofs of the houses. Somebody went to the sacristy and told the Father what was happening outside. He was now like a man beside himself, and going out on to the steps of the church, where he could be seen by all, he lifted his hands and pronounced a prayer in a sonorous and fervent voice. 'How long, O Lord, how long? From the bosom of God, where Thou reposest, look down on the world where thou didst walk as a man. Didst Thou not teach us to pray "Thy Kingdom come".? Didst Thou not say Thy Kingdom was near ? that some whp stood with Thee Bhould not taste of death till they had seen it come with power ? that when it came the poor should be blessed, the hungry should be fed, the blind should see, the heavy laden should find rest, and tfie will of Thy Father should be done on earth even as it is done in heaven ? But nigh upon two thousand years have gone, O Lord, and Thy kingdom hath not come. In Thy name now doth the Pharisee give alms in the streets to the sound of a trumpet going before him ; in Thy name now doth a Levite pass by on the other side when a man has fallen among thieves ; in Thy name now doth the priest buy and sell the glad tidings ox the kingdom, giving for the Gospel of God the commandments of men, living in rich men's houses, faring sumptuously every day, praying with his lips, ' Give us this day our daily bread,' but saying to his soul, 'Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years ; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." How long, O Lord, how long ? ' Hardly had John Storm stepped back when the heavy clouds broke into mutterings of thunder. So low were the sounds at first that in the general tumult they were scarcely noticed, but they came again end again, louder and louder with every fresh reverberation, and then the excitement of the people became intense and teirible. It was as if the heavens themselves had spoken to give sign and assuran.ee of the calamity that had been foretold. First a woman began to scream as if in the pains of labour; then a young girl cried out for mercy and accused herself of countless and nameless offences ; then the entire crowd seemed to burst into sobs and moans and agonising expressions of despair, mingled with shouts of wild laughter and mad thanksgiving. ' Pardon, pardon ! ' 'O, Jesus, save me ! ' 'O Saviour of sinners ! ' 'O God have mercy upon me! 1 *O my heart, my heart ! ' Some threw themselves on the ground, stiff and motionless and insensible as dead men ; others stood over the stricken people and prayed for their relief from the power of Satan ; others fell into convulsions, and yet others, with wild and staring eyes, rejoiced in their own salvation. It was now almost dark, and some of the people who had been out to the Derby were returning home in their gigs and costers' carts, laughing, singing, and nearly all of them drunk. There were wild encounters. A young soldier (it wa9 Charlie Wilkes) came upon Pincher, the pawnbroker. •Wot tcher, mite? Wot's yer amoosemint now ?' * Silence, ( you evil liver, you gambler, you son of Belial !' ' Scou thet now ! D'ye want a a kepple of black eyes or a pench on the nowze ?' At nine o'clock tho police of Westminster, being unable to disperse the crowd, sent to Scotland Yard for the mounted constabulary. (To be continued.)

There is no happiness in having or in petting, but only iv giving.