VII.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1077, 24 August 1869, Page 4

VII.

Nearly a year went by, and I saw nothing of Ranger, nor of his friends. But in the autumn succeeding that of our sojourn in Paris I happened to be at Baden-Baden. There, as I came out of the Kursaal one day, I met going in — the entire of our Paris party. Mrs. Merridew, her husband, and the jovial old General, were in front ; Clara and Ranger — with their arms in one another this time-— brought up the rear. The meeting was a hearty one, and when it came to my turn to have a quiet confab with Ranger, I could not help saying maliciously— " Why, I thought you were killed in the Danish war, or held in captivity by that king in Africa who has all the fat wives?" "Now don't be annoying, my boy," said be. "I made it all right, though only six weeks ago by the way, when that lovely girl who has ust left my arm, became Mrs,

Charles Ranger, F.R.G.S., and some other distinctions if you did but know them. I thought better of the two alternatives I suggested, and determined to follow the thing up. I did so by letter, and after that by personal appeal, and somehow, after an immense deal of devotion on my part, and no little influence, I suspect, on the part of Mrs. Merridew, the lady's scruples were removed. I will tell you all about it after dinner — you will dine with us of course today. I was delighted to hear what I did, and delighted to dine with them of course ; but Mrs. Merridew told me " all about it " before Ranger had an opportunity. This is what she said, when I gave her ray arm, coming away from the Kursaal : " As Mr. Ranger's friend you ought to know the facts of the case ; and indeed I owe it to you, on my own part, that I should explain my share in the proceedings. When I first met Charles at the table d'hote, I recognised him at once, apart from his name, which I well remembered also, as an old pupil of my father's — my father was a clergyman who took pupils — before he went up to Cambridge. It w a dreadful time ago, but I was a mere girl then, as you may suppose," — and her beady black eyes here gave a sly glance of inquiry — " and not grown up. He paid me an awful amount of attention in those days, and was particularly infatuated, as he said, with my feet. He was always raving about my feet, in fact ; and as they seemed to be the special objects of his affection, I was less flattered than I should otherwise have been, and merely made fun of him instead of falling in love, which might otherwise have been the case. Indeed his fondness for feet appeared to be of an abstract character, for he took to admiring a housemaid who had gifts in that direction. This was quite enough for me as you may suppose, and after the girl had gone — which I took care should be at an early date after the discovery — I gave him his dismissal also. I was very young then, of course," — here the beaded eyes again made an appeal for confirmation — " but even at my age the attentions that he paid were of importance. Well, he went to the University in the natural course of things, and I saw him no more. When I met him at the hotel he did not recognise me. I suppose I am changed." — Again the beaded eyes looked arch. — " I was then away from my husband. I thought that had I introduced myself he would be making love to me, and that, of course, would never do. But on the other hand I had a regard for him, and considered that he would make a capital match for my cousin. So I determined to play upon his weakness in a harmless way. I persuaded Clara that the new costumes were indecorous wear for ladies in an hotel by themselves, so we always wore trains. I saw that he was struck with one of us, and guessed that he would find out our rooms, and be bewildered by the boots at the door. I even let him hear the name of the bootmaker, in order that he might prosecute his inquiries there, which he did, aa you know. When my husband came, I even went so far as to change the boots at the different doors in order to deceive him. All went well, and I almost drove him to the proposal at the theatre. It was two days after that that Clara, when we were going to Versailles, suggested that there was no longer any reason for continuing our trains. I had no longer any excuse for opposition, and the result was as you say. When Charles turned sulky — as you saw also — I had to explain the whole to Clara, who nearly quarrelled with mo, and quite threw Charles off. Nothing but hid constant pleadings, for nearly a year, during which time he followed us about with a persistence which left no doubt of his sincerity, and my earnest persuasions directed all the time at Clara, induced her at last to forgive him ; and there they are now, man and wife, to the great delight of us all." . We were a happy party that day at dinner, and for a great many days afterwards. I was the more happy, too, when Ranger told me, in confidence, that he was quite cured of his partiality for feet, and looked upon them in the light of simply useful extremities. " I would rather be married to Clara," he added, "if she had really BeetleCrushers — which you know she has not — than to anybody else in the world, even though she could step into a glass slipper belonging to Mrs. Merridew." S. L. B.