THE MEDDLING OF MICHAEL

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12536, 25 June 1901, Page 11

THE MEDDLING OF MICHAEL

' ; f Rowland • grey.) .^ ’ lfc l wasj" ’ oL course, nothing to -tehlS* O’Ferrol that Ozzie Sopstock was k love’ ‘ with Morelia Slater. Yet the utter unfitness of the affair irritated' Mm, and made him feel ’there would be joy la napping it in the bud. Every woman and most of the men at the iu-onberg were' acquainted with the self-evident fact, and extracted dte liaual enjoyment from its discussion, I ha hotel cynic had .said the humour of the Ktuaitdon was “ Gilberbian,” and further descaiibed Morelia as a woman whom to know was to avoid, bo avoid successfully a fine aft. The acknowledged belle, Mis-s Cecily Adair, wondered why that- My Sopetock cfluld be such a goose, for if he “ was only a short undergraduate he dressed well, and was quite good-looking in a baby style.” Ozai'e’s belongings merely ; laughed, for they were wise, and knew the foolishness of being too serious. Morelia Slater was a strong-minded young person of thirty, with straight hair, and a reddish. complexion, with which much ice-climbing in unspeakable booms had wrought havoc. She wore, brief petticoats, and affected a deer-stalker cap with flaps. She was the Now Woman of caricature incarnate, but was, however, in reality, of thalv quite other type, that is immense upon plain living and high thinking. ' She was pleased to encourage her young adorer, and/ had been seen seated in the woods, with the boots well in evidence, explaining tough morsels of Browning to Ozzie, in his best flannels, with a cummerbund of red silk. Mike O’Ferrol .was an engineer and a climber of note. He was also an Irishman', with a persuasive tongue and an engaging manner.. He was*. not handsome, but there were women who acknowledged that there “was something about Mm,” probably because he was an inveterate flirt, and did the thing very neatly and well. He' had come to Mattberg, as his own affairs were in a tangle, due to a bad habit of conducting more than one at a time. He I was dressed for an- ascent of thsi Schwenckhorn by a new route (said to bristle with difficulties), and meant .to start at midnight. ■ Furthermore, poor Ozzie was to be of the party, though Mike had privately registered a humane intention of leaving him at the half-way hut. Ozzie hated climbing. He liked tennis with three girls who did ■ nob play- too well. But when the arch plotter,'Mike O’Ferrol, asked him to go; the fair. Morelia bad expressed am admiration for climbing, as a bracing and soulstimulating'form of exercise.; If there were any mediaeval cowards at- the tournaments-, they probably felt rather like poor Ozzie, Mike had ;hatched a little plot, and, to \ ensure its, success, he compelled the' reluctant climber to go to bed directly .after dinner “ A thing I always do .myself.” So Ozzie. went to. bed, though not to sleep, ; and. wrestled with indigestion,:,-instead ndl edttiing . .in the stuffy hall in t«,a. • -,fearful draught, listening to Morelia on politics or social.science. Meanwhile, Mike strolled down again, when ho had changed his clothes. Miss Slater was casting about for a victim; she was one of those women who roust talk. _ . She had. not herself seen anything at all absurd in Sopstock or this infatuation, or any objection to permitting an adoration expressly sanctioned by Buskin. Morelia had not succeeded in getting the required number of seven suitors “under vow ” for her; But' she made the most of such material for putting theory into practice as fate vouchsafed and enjoyed it,'lor all her affectation of disdain. ' To-night she ha’d gone in for the ultrafeminine,’ in.a tea-gown of the wrong shade of terra-cotta. ‘ It was crumpled after a course of Newnham cocoa parties, and .its effect was not enhanced by the inappropriate addition, of a plaid gqlf cape. Cecily Adair, with a triumph of a, bpw among her curls, muttered u private thanksgiving ;,that j she Was' nos : is such women were, and gave' her eminently" satisfactory sleeves a little approving pat. But she felt an excusable touch of irritation when she beheld O’Ferrol sauntering up to ■ Miss Slater.' Two accomplised flirts can have such good'times, and Georgia knew him for one of her own sort.' - ». ■ <l. . The hall was crowded, and everyone mobbed round the Bureau as if English letters and newspapers mattered much more than a full, moon over the mo«nta:ns. The chaplain’s, wife was immersed in Vanity Fair,” having chanced on a paragraph hinting at the possible divorce of one of her acquaintances. Professor Sturm hurriedly ran through, a lengthy missive from his Profeseorin, puzzling ovet the epider-jike crossing l on thin paper in purple ink. This con-, scientious housewife boasted that she had had his laboratory well -cleaned out during 'his absence, ■ ahd*the unlucky scientist was well aware of the certain consequences. If he dared take a holiday alone the Frau was ‘always amply avenged; "-A ' ■ “’Good' evening/ Miss Slater; 1 i-'-'W-hnt' glorious Weather 1 I am a hopfelrisif ignof-; amus, \but I really believe fEer'eT; is Something unusual in the aspect Of the stats. Do you care' for a turn?” said O’Peisrblj ’ . suavely. . . ' '■ ' ' Morelia put on her spectacles and hitched up the tea-gown with a brass-coloured patent suspender. Had the patient Ozzie been at hand she would not have deserted him. As it was she had a faint touch of .satisfaction in the discovery' that- Mike G’Ferrol was- also capable-of appreciating female intellect. It did seem to be more popular at Mattberg than .elsewhere. So they went out, and she began to deliver a rather faulty lecture in elementary astronomy. ‘ • O’Ferrol listened-with an absorbed aspect, that enchanted her. He had a valuable knack of , seeming to attend that had .’given him a reputation for being a good listener. The - good listener is so.very rare.a bird .that .this fully accounted ipr his popularity. But in reality his thoughts were entirely absorbed, by the .white magic .of the moonlight; ■ Away-, underneath a veil of cheery commonplace lurked, a,,vein .cf Irish poetry; Nothing was lost upon O’Ferrol os he stood there. ■ The exquisite curves of the lew- fiery clouds round the broad disc of the moon ! The pale splendour of the mountains with their magnificent, sweep of superb , outline! The glacier, turned to a roadway, of. pure pearl . in the wonder, and the. glory of an Alpine night i For a few enchanted minutes these swept, every thing else, from his, mind.. Stray thoughts - from Shelley mingled with his own. But not oven the matchless description of the moon in -“The Cloud” was half* so fairy-like' as' this idyll -in silver and velvet black, where the shadowy pines lay thick. “That was, in fact, the -gist of Professor Teilscw’s-final lecture ■ lass term. As you see, he proved -the entire fallacy of the old theories.” . Mike . cams back to prose with a rush and a certainty that ha should commit himself badly unless he were very, careful. “Pfofesscr Tdlson is a great man,” he asserted with safe decision, though, needless to say, he had never heard of him ■before. “But for the benefit of'-outsiders like' myself it is indeed a privilege to listen tmso lucid, ap...abstract as yours. Is that Venus shining-so very brightly in front of us’/ You• will,be -able to tell mo, 1 know.” • Morelia gave, the wrong name- to the star ini question with -perfect assurance. Had she- known that G’Ferrol had merely assumed the role -of pupil. she would have been more careful. - As it was, like, other women, even if they have passed examinations, she was 1 not always accurate. “You will have a splendid night for your expedition;' sh-e said, after half am flour spent in a series of wonderful astronomical blunders. ' ... | ■ O’Ferrol .sighed softly: “ Y'C?.- , ‘-' , -fi.nh | inppgh,;;b'ul i,t ; will be feiirfu.lv duU'Wane f WitS the guidfs;' I confess I think climbling slow work without a lady in the party.” ...‘’You will have Mr Sopstock?”. said tin 'uteri d Morelia. • - • • “ Poor little Ozzie, nice, good-natured little chap, but with a head as cnurto as ‘

a Chinese lantern. After such conversation as we have had, Ozzie s little tales i of” thoi’Vpxsity and the girls he met in the i MaylweeLwjll fall rather flat.” i artfiilVMiko contrived to fire three ; shots;.that told in tills last speech. She did nob relish the plain statement that Ozzie was a fool. That he was very young and that there hmj ecn o-ther girls pleased her even less. More.la had certainly reached years of discretion, but she knew much more of conic-sec irons than of love-making except a la Ruskrn, so she merely gave assent by her rather mortified silence. “You are a really good climber, old Saasbach assures fits, and ha is no flatterer ’’ pursued .Mike, following up bis advantage untruthfully. “Now why don t you take compassion upon us and come toe? I can get young Fritz to carry the things, and then two guides _ wil- be plenty; it is as easy as can be The fuhrers call the gchwenckhorn the cowtrack. I’ll give up the new route till imsWaiter comes next week, and I know you are above -all ’that old-fashioned nonsense about chaperones.” Morelia smiled; her smib was a wide one arid not becoming. She forgot certain Ne-wnham dilates in which she bad waxed eloquent against the tyrant man. .Tratu to tell, leaning upon the balustrade of tno verandah and looking up at her, with eyes of eloquwrb entreaty, he assumed rather a different aspect to the abstract monster waging perpetual, war. against Woman (with a capital letter). , “Really Mr O’Ferrol, you .are very kind.” , Morelia was almost kittenish in an abortive effort after a sort of cumbrous coquetry. “ The kindness would be on your side, Miss Morelia; you. would be able to make mo understand mountains as I . have never understood them before. You could give mo some information about the, botany, geology, and all that, as we went The idea was too tempting, for Morelia had more than her share of a weakness common to all, according to rare Jane Austen. She did indeed “ love to 'instruct. Tho, prospect of haranguing so respectful an auditor was sweet. ; ..

“ I shall have to . change my things if I decide to go.” • , ■ : 1 “Then au revoir; at two o’clock I must go down, the village and fill'd Fritz. Morelia had not quite meant to be so prompt, but O’Ferrol was already hurrying over , the grayel that scrunched under , his heavy nails. :Again the glory of the scene mastered him, and before long he was half-way to the little, wineshop, where tho Custom-house -officer, who ;S supposed to keep his eye upon would-be Italian smugglers, sits all day long playing cards with tne proprietor. Mike was no saint, but a psalm his, motner had taught him crossed his mind with a/ solemnity that appeared irrelevant-at such a juncture. ; . ■ ‘‘ ■The Heavens declare the glory of God, the-’’ firmament 'shovvefch His handiwork.” TM ' dark sky that gave such a glorious sense of peace and distance was tessellated with, a thousand stars, touched with a frosty sparkle. There was a distant, superb .undertone of torrent voices. Syren Switzerland is never half so enchanting as at night,..when all .her mountains keep stately Watch ’ over the careless tourists, when all the vulgarity of oig hotels and greedy natives is hidden, and the effulgent moonlight transforms the whole world into a nocturne of carved ivory. He stood quite still and’ drank ini a satisfying draught of complete beauty. Meanwhile Morelia, who found on inquiry that her mother had gone to bed, stumped noisily np the .'bare . staircase _to th©,.third floor, where she shared' an equally bare I. droom with that meek lady, Mrs Slater was a peculiarly crushed specimen of limp womanhood. She had been bullied by severe parents into an early union with Professor Slater; the Professor, who was a ,'breezy specimen .•■■of modernity, bullied her in his turn' to be what she was not, and never could be. - He held a post at the London University, and he lived in Gower Street. ’

. But, Morelia's yoke was hardest of .all to the thin, shivering matron with a cold in her head, and .ill.her shawls piled upon her hard bed. It was she who' insisted that her mother’s nervous feebleness required a bracing treatment, and made her get up too carly and walk too far. Quito forgetting her daughter’s- age, • Mrs Slater suffered permanently from a series of shocks from Morelia’s independence. “ 0, my cold is so bad, don’t you think the window could be shut,” she wailed out dismally from depths of drab wool. ■ “ Certainly not. It ■is most ■ unhealthy to sleep without plenty of air,” said the robust Morelia., firmly. ~- , ,

“ But there are draughts enough bore, I am surd. Why, you are not going out, surely;?'’’ . This in a tone of horrified protest, .-for' Morelia had taken' up her be* loved boots and kicked off her capacious heelluss slippers. “Yes: I am, at two o’clock, that is to say. I have had an invitation to go up . the Sclnvenckhom, and am not likely to have a chance again of doing Tt ■ so cheaply,” added the climber, who was of. a- saving 'disposition. • - Mrs Slater gasped; She had never been in the Alps before, and hoped devoutly she might never come again. She liked Gower Street-and'her own drawing-room, with its familiar, striped antimacassars, much better. ■ “Who else is going?” • she questioned, in what was left of an always' faint'voice. “Mr O’Ferrol, Mr' Sopstock, two' good guides, and a porter.” Then Mrs Slater, made the solitary revolt of her life.', “ Morelia, I won’t have it: you shall not go. It is loo’ dreadful. '■ To think of starting off in the middle, of the night alone with five men! ' Yon will kill me if you do it,” ’ and the poor soul began to sob arid cough. ' “Now, mother, don’t be so hysterical; it is very had for'you. You’know'quite, well I never alter my mind.” f . This was an equivalent nioda of stating that she always had her own way, and it was quite correct. . “Sensible women, nowadays,'have got past all that nonsense. Mr Sopstock, is only a boy; and as to Mr, OIF-eixpl, lie is one cf the .best-informed. men, I have, met for years.”. Morelia only said what she fully believed-, quite forgetting that she had . been the. informer , throughout/•. that tete-a-tete in the moonlight, that locked ae agreeable in retrospect qs it" had been at the time. , , “But people here talk so; you have no idci.” ■ “They .say, what do-they say, let them say,” quoted Morelia. She had never been talked about quits in the sense her mother meant, and quaintly enough the idea, was not ur.whollj- unpleadng. For at bottom the spectacled Morelia was quite as greedy of admiration and more conceited than Cecily Adair, only it, did not, show so much. "If you can’t, get to sleep I’ll come and massage you until you do.” That threat checked the tears as by magic ; the poor woman dreaded the brisk action of More Ha’s muscular arms and knuckly fingers.

As to Morelia, she assumed her climbing dress—.what. there.. was of it. Then the took a volume.of German philosophy and a dictionary, and began to read. But her reading was , desultory, and her-atten-tion wandering. Just as any maiden, sans science, sans degree, might ’have done, she fell to thinking of Mika O’Eertol. ' His estimate of Ozzie Sopstock was doubtless correct. If the boy spent his time bragging of vulgar Cambridge conquests, -he was really beneath her attention., She would dismiss him firmly but decidedly. She must not regard his protests or his suffer■jjig /lit. w|ia.;,a, : fluty she owed to -herself. , .cvH-inaJiy shfr R'll arioop over her German, and -’woke shivering, as The aggrieved porter knocked .at the door., .1 She found O’Ferrol aetive and alert, making coffee in the gaslit sails a manger, and equal to breakfasting heartily from yester'day’s adamantine .rolls,' and eggs of uncertain though possibly remote dale. Poor Ozzie looked lamentablv pale, and could eat

nothing. “ And the little fool can’t fancy himself in love any longer after seeing her like that,” was Mike’s mental comment as ho took stock of Morelia from straggling hair to substantial ankles.

It was. very dark outside. Two taciturn guides carried lanterns and ropes, and . the black-eyed Fritz everything that was heavy, according to custom. They were looking at the sky, and were rather out of temper. Why their best patron should suddenly give up a really good climb in tbeir company, to drag a pair of duffers up the cowtrack, passed their comprehension, and Alois wondered what sort cf madman was this English Herr, who seemed to like such ugly women'; when he was happy enough to be under the same .roof as the gracious Frau!pin with the curls.

O’Ferrol spoke fuhrer’s German fluently, and appeared to be having a difference of opinion with old Saasbach. Neither Morella -or Ozzie understood a syllable, which was perhaps fortunate. Ozzie was as white as a sheet, and felt, in his own unspoken words, “beastly cheap!” Devoutly did ho wish himself in bed. Ho had been a; fool to come out at all. Being intellectual and all that was all right. But this getting up early was too much of va grind. Ho began to feel that living the higher life was not so jolly as the old one. And somehow the priestess of that severe cult had lost some of her attraction. Ho would have blessed old Saasbach had he guessed that this worthy was foretelling a storm, and urgently counselling O’Ferrol to postpone the exp edit ibm. Weather in the Alps is as uncertain as a thea-trical-speculation, and all the stars had vanished. They started, however. It was darker still in the dense woods, and tho upward track was very steep. O’Ferrol whistled blithely, but Morelia found herself too scant of breath to be entirely comfortable. Ozz'e plodded along in deep dejection, and so slowly that the guides were thoroughly exasperated. The air had lost its vitality, and was heavy with a boding heaviness. , By-and-bye, however, the path grew easier, and'then Morelia’s tongue loosened and O’Ferro-l listened. She had never had such a,listener. So intelligent, so deferential,' so charmingly appreciative. She ignored the lagging Ozzie far behind, and fell into the snare laid for her. much more readily than wary Georgie • would have done. ■ Instructions as to th© way of ji man with -a maid had not been included in the comprehensive schedule of Morelia s education. - They were within twenty minutes cf the half"way. hut on the edge of the first snow field, when suddenly, without any sort of Warning, the storm burst upon them. There is no kind of compromise about Swiss rain. They ..were wet through in five minutes. The wind blew .Morelia’s flapping waterproof circular behind her like rattling wings. ' Ozzie had nothing but. a dapper covert coat, that was purely ornamental,. and fairly streamed with water. Mike. O’Ferrol, in the trimmest of dreadnought gaiters' and a big cap, was, ■ however, perfectly sheltered. Old Saasbach swore behind his beard. It was a weary business, and to. add to Morelia's sorrows she felt a sudden, sharp pain in her foot. Digitated, stockings are capital things,, no doubt, but no protection against badly inserted Swiss nails. The Mattberg bootmaker had played her false. She suffered in silence, though O’Ferrol. was almost tender in. his assiduities and expressions of, regret that she should have yielded to his persuasion to. come. When 'they reached, the hut, which was Email, stuffy, and dirty, it was already clearing. The peals of thunder that had been nearly incessant rolled away at increasing intervals. The blue, jigged lightning, that had ■ terrified Ozzie arid caused Fritz to cross .himself continually, nns no longer half- so vivid. The storm was over, and the dawn was breaking away across 'the snow. Then came the discovery that the matches had all got wet, and that'they could not light a fire. Also, that, by some oversight; the brandj' had been forgotten..... „ „ ... So they were doomed to cold within and without. “The best thing we can do is to" get home and' go to bed,” said Ozzie, with unwonted decision. Morelia had wrestled with her boot, and had found her heel was bleeding from the nail that had worked through. 'O’Fcrrc! managed to knock down the point with his knife; “ But of course it is out of the question for you to go on, wet as you are. Of Course, we will go back at once, now that it has stopped raining. You must net expose your Self further.” Morelia' thought' complacently of the easy downward path so very favourable to conversation, and in the depth of her inner consciousness lay a wish that Ozzie had never come, and an opinion that he looked like a shivering rat. Mike held a low-voiced colloquy with old Saasbach, wlnch appeared to amuse that battered veteran. Then he said in that pleasant voice of his 1 “My holidays are- nearly over, and the weather , looks settled enough now the storm has rolled away. The snow fs in good order, too, bo I think after all I may as well try- the new route. Fritz will see you both safely down, and I shall hope to find you none the worse: Au revo-ir!”

Morelia was too electrified to find words. She let O’Ferrpl and tho guides go out into the cold grey light without any sort of rejoinder. That after all this ’ fUfs he should leave her! It was really, too rude, too hopelessly uncliivalrous. And that Ozzie Sopstock 'should «<&s it! Ozzie, who had doubtless been suffering all the pangs of. despised love, whilst, they climbed through the darkness. Humiliation and anger -did battle’, and anger triumphed.

•. The. sun came up- above the rose-flushed snow?-- in .unimaginable splendours. Fritz sang loudly and joyfully as Morelia limped along, down the pathway she had mounted so i cliiits and gay. .Ozzie had ..taken a thorough chill and felt-miserably ill. But he was not wholly sad as he splashed; through the thick mud. Miss Slater-had treated - him abominably. He would very , soon show her that he (Sopisto-ck) was not . the man t 0 be trifled with. . .O’Ferrol was not .such a bad, chap, and he had scored off lisr pretty effectively. After ail, s;he -was a good age, -too, and her ankles were awful.

People at - the Edelweiss noticed that evening. That neither of the erstwhile inseparables were at dinner. But presently a- guide brought in a much, more interesting piece, cf nswo. . The Irish, gentleman,., with' old Saasbach, and Hans BrugSlock, had -got up . the Schwcnclc&orn by a new route-; -also' that they "had gone on over the'Murtaz;'n pass into Italy. ’ ’ - Morelia saw some J luggage labelled “ Gadenabbi’a ” in the post effigo, »..few, days later,’ but not' before' Ozzie Hopstc-ck- was down- by the lake teaching', the prettiest American . girl in tho ' Thunerhof how to play tennis. -She has been greater than ever since on all questions relating to •* Woman.”