LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2101, 17 November 1880, Page 3

LITERATURE.

THE MYSTERY OF LORD BRACKENBURY: A NOVEL. BY AMELIA B, EDWABDP, Author of “Barbara’s History,” ’* Debenham’a Vow,” &c. AVAST- PHOTOS. It is now some ye*ra since all England—indeed all Europe —rang with what came to be universally talked about at that time as * The Mysterious Case of Lord Braokenbnry.’ I say vaguely ’some years ago,’ because I will not pain the present representatives of a noble family by specifying a precise date. But the affair (bygone though it is, and now slmost forgotten) took place at all events within tbe memory of such as are still comparatively young. V hat was it that happened ? Where did it happen ? What manner of man was this Lord Bra- konbnry with whose name and fame rumor was erewhi'e so,busy? Patiently to sift the facts and falsehoods contained in a multitudinous heap of family papers, newspaper reports, and private correspondence of all kinds; to separate the true from the untrue; to put together, as it were, the mislaid pieces of a puzzle to which no other has as yet discovered the key; to make things past appear as though they were present; to answer the above questions, in short, with such aid of local color as the story teller’s craft and some acquaintance with the places and events may lend, are tbe of j eta which I set before myself in undertaking to work oat the following narrative.

Chapter I. LORI) RRACEENBURY. A gentleman standing at the door of the Hotel Feder, over against the Porto Franco of Genoa, paused for a moment at the top of the steps; looking up and down the noisy street; glanced at his watoh; then, coming down very deliberately, turned towards the Bor;a ; threaded his way through the customary crowd of shippers, merchants, and stockbrokers which there most does congregate, and went np the Street of the Goldworkers,

Taken as bullion, there la not mnoh precious metal on view in the Street of the Gold workers; but as regards display, all the wealth of Chili and Peru would seem to be set forth in that doable row of oldfashioned shop windows glittering with delicate filagree work in rich dead gold and frosted silver. Though the merest gilt ginberbread of jewellery, the products of this ancient and famous handicraft have for centuries kept thrir fragile hold upon the »ff ctions of the fair Genoese. Not a serving maid, 1 oontadina,’ not a fisherman’s wife within thirty miles of the city, who does not regard the possession of a filagree cro-s and a pair of filagree earrings as the summit of woman’s felicity. Even among the wealthier classes it is on article of faith to regard this exquisite rubbish as the choicest achievement of the goldsmith’s art.

Travellers, ns a matter of course, are the select victims of shopkeepers In the Strada degli Orefici. Those smiling pirates, lounging watchfuliy in their doorways, batten upon the many dollared American and scent the British tourist from afar.

They all knew the gentleman from the Hotel Feder. He was spending several weeks in Genoa, and had passed that way some scores of times ere now. Perhaps he had already bought hia pre-destined share of the gingerbread jewellery, and, like the rest of ns, had come to the conclnsion that it was scarcely go- d enough to give away and not wor'.h keeping; or perhaps he was endowed with superhuman wisdom, and had steeled bis soul against it altogether. Be this as it might, the shopkeepers, though th-y formulated the customary ‘ Cosa vuole, Signore ?’ uttered those magic words in a tone that betrayed small hope of sale.

He looked, nevertheless, like a man who might bay. He was young, well dressed, evidently not in a hurry. A man of perhaps 30, or from that to 32 or 33 years of age ; tall, squared-shouldered, upright; with regular features, large serious grey eyes ; a thin-lipped, clean shaven month, and hair and whiskers of a doll reddish auburn. His dark grey travelling suit—new, but not too new, —was well made and well put on, Hia hat was smoothly brushed. His gloves fitted. Above all, there was in his whole look and bearing that qniet, authoritative gravity which bespeaks conscious supsriority. Tt.e pirates know right well that hero was the sort of Inglese who conld buy np their whole stock at one stroke of hie pen, if it so plea? ed him-. But it pleased him to do nothing of the kind. It pleased him to stroll very slowly up the Street of the Goldworkers ; thenoe, by certain alleys and by-ways, to make for the great rambling equara in which stands the Cathedral if San Lorenzo, with its quaint faqide of banded marbles ; to mount the step pitch leading to the Piazza, Carlo Felice, and so to pursue hia way by what was in truth a hugs * detour ’ to the Sfcrada Nuova. Ho made the detour, however, of set pnrpo e, for he had an engagement in the Strada Nnova this morning for 10 a.m., and he bad started so early that It atil wanted several minutes to the appointed hour.

Pacing slowly to and fro while waiting for those minutes to go by, he was too full of his own thoughts to note the sombre splendour of this noble street in which every bouse is a palace and every stone is historical, To those heavily-corniced facades pr- fuao in carven fruits and flowers and coats of arms—to those gloomy porticos beyond which, as if set in frames of ebony or bronze, gleam sunny glimpses of marble courtyards and terraced gardens green with golden-fruited orange trees—to the play of light and shadow and the glory of color and all those associations that people the beautiful old street with a shadowy pageant of nobles and merchant princes ond brave spirits of olden time who went down to the sea in ships—to all this, as to the m'jtly throng which shouldered him upon the narrow footway, ho was apparently indifferent.

At length, dropping in one after the other in irregular chorus, the neighboring clocks gave notice of the hour, whereupon onr Englishman, turning quickly back upon his steps, went in at the ‘ porte cochere ’ of a large prison-like building, about half way a'ong the street. Through the private palazzo of some noble family, the scutcheon »nd flagstaff of a certain European State on the first flaor balcony, and the names of various bankers, wine merchants, steam packet agents and the like, painted on either side of the inner doorway, showed that the house was in part let ont for business purposes. Beyond the threshold of this Inner door opened a great hall paved with particolored marbles and a magnificent staircase, up which a dozen men might well have marched abreast. An enormous oil painting commemorative of some senatorial ceremony of old Republican days hung, black with age, at the upper end, while to right and left opened various doors covered with faded red baize, and adorned, like monster coffin lids, with brass-headed nails and inscribed brass plates. An eager eyed, pallid man sitting on a bench beside one of the baize doors aforesaid, rose hurriedly as the new comer crossed the ball.

The Englishman nodded. ‘That’s well, Amico,’ he said. ‘Wait here till I send for yon.’ And, pushing open the door, he went In. Beyond this door lay a matted anteroom and an office divided off by a screen, above which the heads of some six or eight mustachioed olerks suddenly appeared, and as suddenly vani hed. ‘ Signor Rioclotto ? ’ said the Englishman interrogatively. Then, noting a whisper among the clerks, he added, * I come by appointment,’ A door in the screen opened, and a bald man emerged, all bows and * favorisoaa.’ •The Signor Ricoiotto ia in Ma private room, awaiting the visit of mi-lord. Will mi-lord be pleased to walk this way T So!— The lobby Is somewhat dark—sand there la a atep yonder.’

Saying which, the bald cleik, diving forward, t pened yet another, and another door, and announced—

* Mi-lord Braokenbury.’ What Mi-lord Rrackenbury saw was a room big enough and lo ty en u» h for a lecture hall; a pair ted ceiling all goddesses and arabesques, down the centre of which hung three dusty chandeliers; ancient Venice glass; a row of ponderous gilt chairs ranged along the walls; above the cha ; rs a file of fait length family poi traits, gentlemen in doab’ets and ruffs, ladies in hoops and stomachers; in the middle of the floor a rag, n writing tibia and desk, and some three or fonr leather bottomed chairs; and at the upper end of the room an open bureau laden with packets of tied-np letters and papers. iwo gentlemen seated at opposite sides of the writing table—the one portly, 'squareheaded, with crisp light hair and a moustache brushed up a la Rubens; the other slender, sallow, and al ! in black—rose when the visitor was announced. The Englishman and the man in black bowed with just so [much of recognition a* showed them to have met before. The man in black pres nted the light-haired gentleman as ‘Signor Ricciotto-’ Peer and banker exchanged formal salutations. ‘I trust I have not kept Signor Ricciotto waiting,’ said Lord Brsckenbnry, looking round for a c’ook and seeing none. Signor Ricciotto lifted his hands doprecatingly. 1 Altro—altro!’ he said, ‘ Mi-lord is exactitude itself ’ / To which the man in black, with a deferential smile, added that ‘ punctuality was an English virtue.’ These preliminary courtesies over, the banker begged the Signor to be seated, and the man in black opened the business of the meeting. ‘ The object of this interview,’ he said with an oratorical cough, ‘is understood. It needs no introduction.’ He looked round complacently, snd then, having said it needed no introduction, proceeded to introduce it, I My client, if his noble Lordship will permit me the honor of so styling him, is here in the chara ter of a possible purchaser. I am myself present as the humble medium between his lord and another noble client, who is willing to part from certain—ahem ! —property, which his lordship is willing, or may on certain conditions be willing, to acquire. That property meanwhile is lodged in the safe keeping of the Signori I, ieciolto and Da Costa, to whom I have the pleasure to present a written order from my absent client, authorising them to permit an inspection of the same.’

Saying which the man in black palled oat a big pocket-book, and extracted therefrom a folded paper, which he presented to the banker. Signor Riociotto,-having glanced through it, pressed the spring of a hand-bell that stood halide his desk. The bald-headed clerk promptly appeared. ‘ That coffer about which I spoke to you last evening, Giovanelli,’ said isignor Biociotto. Giovanelli vanished. •Always the same Giovanelli,’remarked the man in black. ‘The’same Signor More—always trustworthy and trusted,’ replied the banker; then turning to Lord Brackenbury, ‘ Milord has been wintering in Rome 5% Lord Brackenbury shook bis head, ‘No,’he said ; just the reverse. lam moving southward, and purpose spending Raster in Kerne. I did not, in fact, leave England till the beginning of February.’ ‘So lately ? Mi-lord is pleased with Genoa?’ ‘Genoa is one of my old loves,’ Lord Brackenbury replied, with a grave smile. ‘Ah 1 Mi-lord has been here before ?’ ‘Many a time. When I kept a yacht. I often made Genoa my head quarters in Mediterranean waters.’ 1 1 understood that his lordship had even now a yacht in the harbor?’ said Signor Moro interrogatively. ‘Not a yacht—an old felucca which I bought one day for a mere song and which I manage myself, sometimes with, and sometimes without, the help of a boy.’ ‘ Mi-lord is rash to go out alone in these waters,’said Signor Riociotto. ‘Ours is a treacherous coast, and the bay is apt to be raked by sudden gnats from the Maritime Alps.’ Lord Brackenbury smiled the same grave smile. ‘ I am little more than a fine weather sailor,’ he replied; ‘and if I run occasional risks, I seldom endanger any life bnt my own. Boating is my apology for idleness.’

• Ml-lord is doubtless an accomplished seaman,’ said Signor Moro diferentially. Here the door opened, and Giovanelli reappeared with ‘ the coffer.’

Chapter 11, A MAD ENGLISHMAN. The • coffer ’ proved to be a big brassbound box, like a monster dressing esse, on the lid of which was a tarnished scutcheon, engraved with a coroneted coat of arms. The head clerk placed this box on the table ; then, having handed a bunch of keys to Signor Kiociotto, withdrew as before. There were three looks to the box, and three keys on the bunch. As the banker turned each successive ley. Lord B<-acken-bury rose, and went to the table. Signor Moro also rose. The lid, being unlocked, fell back level with the top of the box, showing an inner li t of silvfr gilt, engraved with a cypher enclosed with a garter and surmounted by a coronet. This second lid opened by means of a concealed spring which Signor Bicciotto had some difficulty in finding. ‘lt should be aotnewhe e here,’he said, running his finger to and fro along the edge ; 'but it is now so many years since I was shown how to—Fcco ! —at lat-t.’ The spring, accidentally pressed, caused the second lid to fly open, and displayed a superb diamond tiira and necklace on a bed of dark blue velvet. There followed mnrtnnred admiration on the part of Signor Worn; a critical dead silence on the part of Lord Brackenbu y. Having waited a few moment*, S'gnor Bicciotto lifted out this first tray and disclosed a second containing a pair of bracelets, a pair of earrings and a pendant all in diamonds. Another pause, and the same silence. Signor Bicoiott-« then lif ed out the second tray, and there wa* seen at the bottom of a magnificent aigrette in the foan of a bud of paradise, some three or four rings and an elaborate brooch, repeating the design of the cypher and coronet. • These, I suppose, are all V said lord Braokenbnry. •The complete “parnre,” replied the banker. ‘ A “ parnre” worthy rf a Queen!’ raid Signor Moro, enthusiastically. Lord Braokenbnry took np first the tiara, then the aigrette, and examined the setting of the stones.

•They are set transparent, every one,’said Signor More. •The style is old-fashioned,’ said Lord Brackenbury. 'But what fire In those central clusters 1 What water I what size !’ • They would need to he entirely re-set,’ geld Lord Brackenbury. Signor Ricciotto shrugged his shoulders doubtfully. ‘The setting,’ he said, ‘ls a matter of taste. It is with the Eton a that we are concerned; and they arc, I understand, flawless, and of the purest water. The jewels come up, X trust, to the level of JVlilord’s expectations. Lord Brackenbury paused, passmg the whole once more in review. •Well—yea; I think so,’ ho said pre Gently. • But unless they were cleaned, it would be difficult to form an 01 ii n Be sides, I do not profees to be a judge < f such things. Your client. Signor Mo;o, will not object if I call in an txpest ?’ ‘Mi-lord is mere than welcome to do so. My client would prefer it ’ ‘ Thanks —he waits outside. Will Sigaor Ricciotto permit him to come in ?’ Signor Kiodotto again sounded his handbell : Glovanelli again appeared ; at.d the man to whom Lord Brackenbury htd spoken as he passed through the hall was presently ushered in. (To he continued )