Storyteller. IN GLARE MARKET.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11217, 6 May 1899, Page 6

Storyteller. IN GLARE MARKET.

By OLIVE PHILLIPS-WOLLEY.

'And thiß, Ethel, is what yoa call " pretty" ia it P Not a ray of sunlight anywhere, but just a yellow fog in the room, with hints here and there of art treasures and beautiful fabrics, bnt nothing clear and distinct.' They were my words, and my fiance's drawingroom was the scene and subject of my speech. As we had been engaged for nearly a year I dared to express my opinions freely even when they ran counter to hers.

'Nothing clear or distinct and a yellow fog !_ My dear Ralph, be at least more poetio, and call it a " golden gloom," t replied Ethel.

'Ob, nonsense,' I retorted, 'yop know I don't believe much in poetry. I hate uncertainties, even in the light of a room.'

' There spoke Mr Sawbones, ' said a laughing voice at my elbow. ' I believe dear that he will never be contented, even with yon, until he has taken yon to piecfiß and pnt you together again, to make certain that yon are not a sham. The speaker was Ethel's sister Passy, created so I believe) expressly to speak impertinent truths at my expense. •What do yon say to that Balphf Pussy is plain spoken etioagb, even' for yonr taste,' Bald Ethel. ' Tea,' I replied ' and therefore to be dealt with. Had I the misfortune to be associated with Mias Puaay in any of the nearer relationships of life, I should treat her to that rod so strongly reoommended to onr ancestors, for spaniels, .wives, and snoh like.' ' You wretob, you ! Oh 1 how do you do, Mr Meredith ?' said Pussy, as tbe door opened to admit a freßh visitor, just ln time to save me from a furious onslaught at my sister-in-law's hands. The new-comer was a fine looking yonng man, broad shouldered, and with that clear out faoe whioh so well becomes a man of action ; though at .the university he bad put the shot*) two dear feet beyond tbe record, and won as muoh honor in the schools as in the playing fields. His little brother ' Jim' waa one of the smartest officers in tho ' gnnnora,' but Stuart was ' only a curate.' The girls made much of him. I thought it was a pity he had not died before he left Cambridge.

' We were arguing qnite angrily when yon oame in, Mr Meredith,' said Ethel.

' And pray what waß the nature of the argument, Miss Bertram V he replied.

' Mr Vernon disproves of my drawing room ; hates Its half lights and shadows, and wants to let ln a great flood of sunlight to spoil everything.' ' Meaning the osrpets, Ethel I' I interrupted. ' Well, Miss Bertram, I rather incline to agree witb Mr Vernon,' said Meredith, ' I like sunlight ; one gets so little of it in London.'

' What, then you are of Ralph's way of thinking ? ' asked Ethel ; ' you too would have a strong light turned on to everything, Have Browning and Tennyson translated into prose; and would believe in nothing whioh you conld not touoh and understand ! '

' Capital, Ethel,' I oried ; 'my opinion exactly ! Exoept that I doubt if your two authors would be worth translating.' '' And not mine all, Miss Bertram,' said Meredith, q nietly . ' I like sunlight and mathematical acouraey as muoh as Mr Vernon, hut I oan still believe ln what I oan neither soo or touoh ! '

'All very well, Meredith,' said I, * but be honest— would you not, in a serious matter, trust to the definite knowledge of a surgeon rather than to the experiments of a dootor P ' ' We are getting too serious for Passy,' he said. ' See how she is fidgettlng and pouting ; but I will answer you this once. If It were anything really serious I would rather trust neither, exoept the mere instruments of a providence wbioh I do not pretend to understand.' For answer I shrugged my shoulders and muttered to myself, ' It's no use arguing with a fanatic' .# # *

It was rather a serious conversation to grow out of trifles in a fashionable drawing-room, bnt in those days I was terribly in earnest, and believed in nothing but my own glorious profession. For glorious it is beyond all others, save one. In those days I admitted no exception. We dootore were, I thought, the forlorn hope of the human race, our foes disease and death, our prize ' man's life.' Ah, welT, I waß an enthusiast then, and, thank God; I am hardly cqred of that enthusiasm yet. I grasped at tbe realities of life, putting all else on one side as unworthy of a sane man's attention, 'To do good and to distribute forget not' was all my religion, and to be just to myself I did not forget. All elae I never oared to remember. 4 wee^ "^ er m ? conversation with Sferedith I was sitting alone in my room, the evening paper on my knee, and the days work as nearly done as a doctor's day's work ever is. Before Long I would change this bachelor ease and untidiness for a snug house witb everything in its right plaoe, more especially my beautiful Ethel in her place as its Distress and chief ornament.

With a sigh I turned to my piper. It seemed long lo wait. The paper had adopted the American system of sensational headings, on one of whioh my eye fell haphazard *-*- ' The murderer meets hia doom at 6 a.m. to-morrow.' The murderer was one Sanguniettl, who, caught in the set of burglary, had shot one man and wounded another rather than .drop }»'> booty and flee. By his crime h. had sector? t}bout two pounds, and bad been apprefeen-M be'ore he had time to spend eyen that, ffljis gentleman puts » low priep oi) bfltn&n life ; ' but it is a pity IW, as l>e pinst die, tho State oannot turo bim to gome use for surgery.' At that moment just as my thoughts were raoing uw„y to their favorite subject, that terrible bell rang whioh so often breaks tbe rest c the tired professional man. My servant entered. ' What ja It. gaunders 1 ' I asked, ' Please, sir, Dr Dan.ogn is too ill to undertake that operation in St. Jame's Square and wants to see you about jt immediately." ' Certainly. Put my tbinge together and oall a hansom,' I replied. X n * migute J was on my legs, the ashes knoekgd ,Q<jt of my pipe, and all wandering fancies ogt of Imy brain. Here was 'ao'ive ger-fjoe.' Pr Dnooan was not only an eminent ssrepon, but my very best friend in tbe profesetoj)., J?or the last year I had ' devilled ' foi' _%?, assisting at all bis operations, aud performinfc s gQss. many tpyeeU at the hospital under his guper* visien, When I reaohed his house I found bim Aown with an attaok of gout, and totally nngt fojf worfe. ' This is a ohanoe for yon, yernop/ he tjajd. ' but be osretul, my boy j it is a good life you have to deal with to-night }' ao'i if yon bring W safely through his troubles he should live long enough to be a good friend to yon. I bave written to him, and, relying oa my recommend,ation, be has put himself unreservedly into your handß. J — and R will leod you a hand. Good luok to you ! ' and so sayiog, and having given me all neoessary directions, Duncan dismissed ma (9 my tank. I need ln those days to bo»9t ths£ }. hud a hand of steel and _ heart (except wher/e Ethel was concerned) of ioe. I needed both that night, for both W 's health and mv own reputation depended mnon.me. We found W— — aB cool as a man oan be. As we entered the bed'oom he waa finishing the draft of some legal dppument, in whioh I am oonvinoed thst bis own impending danger bad not induoed him to omit one point whioh oould tell in his client's favor.

' How do yon do, Vernon 1 ' he said, 'I am sorry poor Duncan is so ill } but j »h he himself says, " gout ls a most respectable malady," and I am content to truet myself to his long-headed lientenant.

I thanked him for bis confidence, and busied myself witb my preparations.

1 1 Boppose that I must take an an*B3> thetlc P ' he asked, lpoklDg round npon my satellites, and apyiog that horrible nosebag for the administration of ether,

' Yes.' I said. ' I dare not try to operate otherwise, even if jou dared to face the paic' ' All right,' he replied briskly. * Are yon ready P' And then be lay back, his eyes closed. For one moment his lips mnrainrad, though I caught no meaaago from tbem, and tbe next he was unconsoiona that tho knivos were doing their work. It was a very sucoessful operation. Everything went like magio. Tbe calm oourage of the old Q.O. nerved ns, if we needed nerving. It was a splendid example of the power of my favorite scienco and of the confidence reposed in it and ito ministers by one of tbe shrewdeßt heads ln London.

And yet I was not qnite satisfied. I believed that it Meredith bad beeo

there he would have smiled quietly, and said, 'Yes, my dear fellow, he is a ' pluokod one,' and has every confidence In yonr skill ; but those last words were not for you. He set his laat hope even higher than surgery.'

* *

The day was dawning whin I left my patient, and the freshness of the air tempted me to walk home. The silent Btreets look broad and noble when the grimy tide of life has ceased to flow tbrongh them, and even in London the breath of daybreak is sweet. Dawn is the time for high spirits. It woob the birds to sing, the flowers to open, and men's hearts to hope, and my heart beat high that morning. It was my springtime ; I had work and (greatest boon God gives to man) success in my work. I had just stood faoe to faoe with death ; had wrestled him a fair bout, and thrown him. I had saved a life by the skill of my fingers and the knowledge of my brain, and I laughed out at that hunbug, Death, aa a poor and unsuccessful praotitloner, a clumsy fellow, who only culled the lees of men's lives; who might take the old and feeble who were glad to die, and fools without wit to husband life's estate, but who had not a ten to one chance against my brothers— the dootors. And then my thoughts, like the thoughts of tbe birds, went on to nesting time, and my mate, sweet Ethel, She wanted no fresh proof of my skill, bat this operation would help to make the world share her faith in me, and that meant competence and an early marriage.

Meanwhile I had passed through the broad streets of the rich, and had plunged along tbe alleys in whioh poverty bides.

Until midnight these narrow lanes had swarmed with ohildren, had been loud with the orles of the hawkers, bright with the flaring gas jets over their stalls ; and now all was dark and still, squalid and miserable, and the grey light searohed piteously into every shameful corner.

Houses (propped to keep them from falling) leant drunkenly towards each other aoross the narrow ways, strewed with whelk shells and redolent of stale fried fish.

The windows were broken, the lamps were out, the flare of the gin-shop at the corner was dimmed for the time. Poverty slept ! The particular alley down whioh I was hurrying. Is one well known to the students of Kings as a short out between their hospital and olub-land, but the misery of it had never struok me before as It did then, in the silence of early dawn.

Suddenly a voice at my elbow broke the silence, ' Buy 0 flower, sir ; won't you bay a flower P ' it pleaded from the shadow, and turning I saw a weary little woman of six offering mo a faded bunch of primroses: ' What are you doing up at this time of night?' I asked. The ohild began to sob, and I oould see that she was blue with oold.

' Please, air, mother said 1 was to sell these flowers, and bring you to her before I went to bed,' she answered. ' Bring me to her ! Where is she f" I asked. 'In the oellar, air, and hera old and ill, and eanna work,' sobbed the little one. ' Oh, that's it, is it, thought I — old and ill, and won't work, so makes thiß child beg. I will go and see her.' ' Load the way, little woman,' I added alond, and as Bhe trotted on before me I followed to what looked like a ooal shop, passed down some steps and through a door whioh, blowing to behind us, cut ont our only match. ' Will you wait here a minnte while I ax mother for alight ? ' asked theohild . voioe. * Yes ; go on,' I replied. For a moment I stood still in the darkness, wondering whether it was wise to have entered suoh a den at night alone, and then suddenly the walls seemed to close upon me, the earth heaved under my feet and I lost consciousness.

' Cnrße him ! I don't believe as he'll ever oome to.' The words came into my brain like tbe words of a nightmare, and like a dreamer I strove for one moment to wake and could not. When at last my eyes opened, little streams of water dripped from my hair and ran down my face. It seemed almost that I wa* dreaming still. If I could trust my eyes, I was in a oellar, lit by one solitary oandle, whioh flickered in the 'draught, making the darkness more hldious by its feeble glimpses of light. A few empty oases were on the floor, and in one corner a pile of rags, whioh may onoe have served for a bed. On a box beside me, sat something with bright, beady eyes which seemed to burn into mine, so intent was their regard. I suppose the blow whioh had stunned me had left my intelleot weak ; for at first I fanoied this was come monstrous grey rat, with lean body and long yellow fangs. As the light dwelt on it I saw that it was a woman, old and shivering, and grey, but still it was a woman. I tried to rise aod stretch my limbs, but though J. had the power to think and see, I had no power t.o move. Every musple was held fast. rMy hands were trussed behind me ; I could see that the chair was balanced ofl a couple of old wine pases, and there was something round my neck whiph even then sent a shudder down my spine. Ono look at the beam above told the story. I waa pinioned for hanging, aod the noose was round my neck ! The shock of that night roused me from my stupor, and the hideous vault rang with my cries for help, But though my bead seemed to open aod abut with pain at the noise of my crying, the sound of it was smothered in that great dark oellar, while my gaoler, whose eyes bad never left me, slid silently from her Beat, aod a piece of bright steel glitted near my throat with something of that evil gleam whioh shone ln fcer eyes. ' Quietly, my pretty, quietly,' she hissed, ' or I'll have to stop your singing, and tiiaj- would be a pity, as you and I have nearly half fin hogp to spf**n4 together yet.? ' ' What do yo)j mean, '-jroman ? ! I gt^ed. f "j^here am J? ' and I tried to slip roy hands' ogt of fljpb; bqnds. ghe saw me, and the grin sprpud m fo e F diabolical features,' * No, no ; you'U not get loose, I warrant yon. Olaroraf t ain't muoh cleverer no Old Moll. Bead that ; it'll tell you sumnut, and I'll tell ye tbjf) ?(,$. Jt seems reasonable, as you should know=i' an-J. she pointed to an upright beam opposite to -me, uton which hung a great white-faoo_ *_™!; yyhile under it was pinned a newspaper cnttJPg; ft was the same paragraph, abojjt the pujrderer ganguniptti, whiph h*id paqght my eye eight hours before, with the words 'blje am.' heavily under, lined, and a rough arrow pointing from them to the watoh. The watoh marked the hour as 5.35 a.m. ! As a man in a dark night may get a glimpse of tbe country side ma jlghtniug flash, so ac that moment I saw my situation. It seemed horrible, ludicrous, impossible ; but what else could it mehn P As I raised my eyes they met those of my executioner. ' Yes,' she chuckled ; ' yop,'ve guessed it — I oan see by your faoe »s you have. Them beaka is going to hang my Jem as ' an offering to outraged civilisation,' says the paper, and I'm going to have your life for my boy's. It's olever of old Moll, ißn't it P ' For a moment the horror of my situation paralysed me Then my wits came baok, and I used every argument I could devise to obtain my freedom. I appealed to her fear, to her avarice, to ber pity ! I even told her nf my love ; end pleaded for my life for Ethel's sake. I might so well bave pleaded to the dead gods of Egypt I lv silence sbe listened — her thumb playing with tbe edge of her knife ; and then again that laugh, whioh wag more oruel than a tiger's prowl, made my flesh oreep. 'Aye, aye,' she said, 'I ohose well. ' Flowers,' I said, ' flowera will And him. The poor don't buy flowers ; They oan hardly buy food * life is hard work for them. Those whose hearts aohe don't wants no flowers ; tbey 'mind them of better things. Life'll do well enough for them! But the rioh, them aa is young enough for love, them as is strong, them's the Bort for me and death.' My Jem was a proper lad, and him as dies for him mnst be a proper lad too. Old Moll won't be the only one bb'H bave w.et eyes to-morrow.' As she finished speaking she laid her'trembllng hand upon my ohalr and tried its balance. 'Yes,' she mumbled, 'I am not as strong as I was, but I can push that awny just when yon fellow atNew- , gate draws tho b It. Bnt don't fear, ' dearie. You've more'n seventeen minutes yet.' • Seventeen minutes yet 1 ' and my veins full of frosh young blood, my muscles throbbing with unused strength, my brain fnll of high hopes, and my heart filled with a man's first lovo ! A strong man at the meroy of a pitiless mad woman of eighty, almost too feeble to tottle across the room ! It seemed impossible ; but alas, it was no nightmare, and the great wltoh watoh tioked on reoording the last few seoonds before the brute at Newgate and myself Bhould be reduoed to limp masses

of muscle — equally uselees, equally without power to think. My **olenoe had failed mo, and I had no other hope. I closed my eyes to avoid those of my tormentor. She seemed to be mesmerising me, and at least I prayed to die aane. It was no good. The ticking of the watoh was like the blows of a Naamyth hammer, and compelled me to look np again to see how the seconds crept on. Day seemed to have broken overhead. A red ray of light had come In through the floor above, and the hum and roar of the wakening city penetrated even to where we were. How red the ray was ! And through it the dust came floating down. ' Dust to du**t and ashes to ashes.' I thought, Ashes! By heaven they were ashes, and the red ray was not the morning sun. Now I knew why those rata had raced across the floor in suoh headlong flight, what that strong smell was, and why the people were shouting in the street. The house above us was on fire, and ahe was too mnch bent upon ray murder to notice it Gradually the heat grew, and the red became redder and redder ; bnt site only oame nearer to me, talking all the while to herself. Her hand lay npon my ohair and I oould see the musoles tw'toh and the yellow skin orawl upon It with excitement. ' They're going along to his cell.' she was saying. ' Parson, ourse him ! and gaolers, curse them ! Can't you hear'em tramp, tramping on the stone floor P ' Here she paused and seemed to listen, her eyes wide with excitement, and her whole faoe strained with the effort to hear and see. Then ■he began again, her utterance quick, ening and her voice rising with every word. 'There did you hear the key grinding in the look P They've gone in to him how, and he's a-ooming. There do you see him, my Jem, my Jem ! Lord, how white he looks, and how he shakes as he walks! They're on the platform now., and he's putting It on him-Now l '

Bnt even as sbe gripped the ohair to shoot me into that eternity on which her fanoy had enabled her to see her son launohed, a orash resounded overhead, a crimson flood of light filled the whole cellar, and the fire was npon us For a few moments I was conscious of it all, the flames, the rain of red sparks, and the hungry crackling sonnd of the fire. Above my head I saw the little tongues of flame ran along the beam to whioh my halter was made fast, and at my feet I could see a dead grey mass upon whioh a raft had faften, sending my would-be executioner to' join her son in Hades. I envied them then — mother and son : for tbey were at rest and my turn was yet to oome. Happily for my sanity the smoke which filled tbe place mnst have half suffocated me and I was dead to all sense of feeling before the flames reaohed me. When next I 'knew that I lived the soene had changed. A red glow was ln the sky, and tall columns of sparks rushed np towards heaven ; men in bright helmets dashed about tbe street ; a fire engine was at work olose by my side. Over me leaned someone iv a fireman's uniform, and surely I heard Meredith's voice saying, ' Thank God, he is coming round.'

By and bye they told me the story of my rescue. 1 had been found among the burning debris insensible, but unhurt and how it was Meredith himself who had dashed in and born me bodily ont of danger.

' I don't know whether this is quite work for a parson,' he apologised ; 'but I can't get over my love for physioal exeroise, and I only indulge in it at timeß like these when I'm ' off duty.' ' I did not know how to thank him and said so, in a voloe which struck even me by its feebleness compared with my old confident tones. ' Oh, bother the thanks,' he replied, brusquely ; 'but old fellow, was soience mnoh good to you last night % ' I admitted that it was not. ' Then look here—if you want to do me a good turn, try and pin your faith to something a little higher ; will you?'

I made no answer, but my hand closed tightly on his. Meredith needed no further pledge ; he knew the value of that hand -grasp, whioh someone has oalled ' an Englishman's oath,'