THE WAY OF THE WORLD.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 2479, 21 August 1903, Page 3

THE WAY OF THE WORLD.

KB AUSTRALIAN NOVEL.

By GROSVENOR BUNSTER.

PART XIX _

Ethel and her hnsband stayed some time at Nice. Mr. Gordon took some interest in little Steel's ailmeut. He went to some tronb'e to procure medical opinion as to his complaint; and Mrs. Steel was much put about by this course of conduct. Indeed she plainly told Mr. Gordon that she did not thank him for his interference. "Nevertheless, Mrs. Steel," replied Mr. Gordon, looking straight into her blue eyes. " I feel that it is my duty to interfere." " Hoity toity !" cried the fat one, turning, however, strangely pale. " This is strange language to a wife, sir." "Mrs. Steel," answered Mr. Gordon, 11 we may as well understand each other. I believe your husband can be saved. Nay, patience; I say I believe that he can be saved. In this I am borne out by medical opinion. And, Mrs. Steel, it is singular that medical opinion bears me out in another view I take of the case. It agrees with me that in order to save your husband from death it is necessary to deprive him of the pleasure of your society. Mrs. Steel's cheeks grew ghastly, and in her eyes there lurked a cruel, eager, startled look, which told of the hate and fear his words had worked within her. "I don't understand you,'' she satd. " What does this mean, sir ?" " Nay," he Answered " There is no necessity, Mrs. Steel, to euterupon any explanation. Suffice it that I know all, 1 have; long suspected that something was wrong ; and putting one circumstance with another, such as Mr. Loup's sudden deathYon grow very pale, Madame, are you ill?" "No." " Well, I say, puttiag certain circumstances together I find that I can establish a strong case against a certain lady, for whom I entertain a great respect at a' distance. It is true that the evidence is of circumstantial order ; but persons have been hanged, Mrs. Steel, on weaker testimony of their guilt You are faint. Shall I bring you a glass of water ?" » Bnt she made a fierce gesture with her hand, as he advanced towards the bell rope. "No," she cried, hoarsely. "Well, sin what is it yon wish me to do !" " Nay," he cried, " nothing that will grieve you. The fact is, the doctors declare that your husband is dying, not so much from consumption as by reason of the cunning administration of slow poison. I don't believe them, you see ; but when one calls in medical assistance, yon see, he must pay some heed to medical counsel And these doctors, do you know, recommend that you and Mr. Steel separate." She looked at him, as he spoke, in her old stolid fashion; her face expressionless, save for the glittering of her blue eyes and the close contraction of her lips. " Well," she said, " what else ?" " Why," answered Mr. Gordon "I have arranged to carry Mr. Steel and his mother to Australia. Ample provision shall be made for you who will stay r.r. ibis siue of the world. I am sure you will enjoy yourself. You will be relieved of that respensibisity and care which are inseparable from your present position," and he paused here to note the effect of his speech. She was very pale, but beyond this betrayed no further sign of the tumult within her—the hate, anger, and thwarted avarice which raged in her heart. But she realised the position, and with characteristic boldness determined to make the best of it. "I might reject your propositions and fight it out with you, she said. " As for the nonsense about poison I can afford to laugh at it. You could bring no evidence against me ; and as for your coarse reference to Mr. Loup, I can only say that I neither under*t»nd you, nor do I care to do so." She suddenly paused, trembling violently. Mr. Gordon carelessly withdrew a cigar case from his pocket. Suddenly she sprang upon him, and strove to wrench it from his grasp, but he put her aside, and replacing the case in his pocket buttoned up his coat. She stood pale, and mad with anger and despair before him, her white hands clenched, and her eyes glittering with hate and passion. " You thief," she hissed. "Hush, hush, I pray," said Mr. Gordon, " You forget yourself, Mrs. Steel. Believe me, I hsve no desire to deal harshly with you. I do not forget that bad as you are, and cruel as you have been, you have always loved my wife." He struck a chord here. The wretched woman trembled, and sinking into a chair she covered her face with her hands, and burst into a passion of tears. He let her weep uninterrupted for some moments. Suddenly she looked np. Indeed she looked ery beautiful. Her blue eyes, usually hard and expressionless, ware now full of tenderneaa, and shone through the tears which filled them like the bluebell through its veil of morning dew. "You have not breathed a word to Ethel ?" she asked. No, ana never snau."Thank you," she murmured. She was very humble now—very humble and subdued ; and yet this healthy reaction arose from no sense of remorse, no idea of penitence. It was tho influence of the one good and pure sentiment of her nature which now governed her, and Mr. Gordon knew it. Taking advantage of her humor, ; he spoke long and seriously to her; and that night it was announced that Mrs. Steel, in amiable consideration of her husband's health, had consented to his departure to Australia with the Gordons. " Yon will be well cared for, Simon," she said, " and so I'll not go with yon. Yon see, I may as well see something of the old world while I can." " Cf conrse, of course, my dear," said the little man; his soul filled with delight at the news. "Your mother will accompany yon," said hia wife, *' And so you will not miss me ao much/ "True, true," he answered, " Gordon has informed me of the arrangements, my dear.

I am very grateful to you for your kindness. I have made lit eral provision for you, Elise." " Have you ?" she asked, eager to know what had been done for her. " I have arranged to allow you L2OOO a year, dear. You will be able to manage on that, I am sure." " Perfectly,' she answered. Then she kissed him, and said that he was a dear, generous, liberal fellow. Mr. Gordon, who was watching this little comedy, laughed outright. "Ah !" she said to him soon afterwards, " You think I don't love my husband. My good sir, you know nothing of women." My God, .thought Gordon, I hope not, if you are a fair representative of the sex. Rut he could not withold his admiration of Mrs. Steel's nerves and self-command. Indeed, she was a superior woman. Had she been alire a hundred years ago she would have been the mistress of the Grand Monarch, a skillful pancterer to royal lust, and an admirable mistress to political and social intrigue. Fate had not been kind to the fat one, whose talents were of a high order, and whose moral constitution was so admirably adapted to the prosecution of selfish schemes and unscrupulous purposes. - So they carried Mr. Steel and his mother away with them, leaving his wife behind full of schemes of travel and amusement. She made a strong effort to induce Patty to stay with her, and offered her great wages, but Patty was true to her promise. "I'd like to stop," she said, "but I promised Billy Wasp to go back, and I can't think of breaking my word, Miss Elise," said Patty. " Fiddlesticks !" said Mrs. Steel, contemptuously. " Billy is a boor, I'll find you a husband here worth fifty Billy Wasps." But Patty protested that she believed Billy's equal did not walk the earth, and remained fitm in her refusal to prove faith less to him. So the fat one was left alone. Not that this troubled her much. She had money and good looks, and was not particular as to her society. Indeed, she possessed a strong leaven of the Bohemian, I and rather preferred to pick and choose her friends from the ranks of shady and equivocal personages whom she met in such abundance on the Continent, than waiting for the patronage of the respectable and unimpeachable. She hied her to Hambourg and Baden, and to many and divers pleasant resorts for the sinners of the world, and very soon she gathered around her a numerous court. With a woman like Mrs. Steel L'2ooo a year could be made to go a great way. Those who had at first contemplated spoiling her, were soon undeceived ; and returned full of admiration for her knowledge of the ways of the world. It was while leading this congenial life that she met her old friend Monsieur Perdrix. Their meeting was characteristic Mrs. Steel protest, 3 hc t - delight, M. rerdrix was overpowered with emotion. Oh !" said he, as the two sat in Mrs. Steel's cosy reception room ( he played the ' grand dame,' you know); Ah ! Madame, this is iudeed a pleasure so great that 1 cannot express. Ah! Madame, if poor 1 Monsieur Loup were but here to share my delight," and M. Perdrix looked keenly at Mrs. Steel. " Poor fellow," she answered, stirring her chocolate; and regarding her jewelled fingers with a pensive air, " would that he were. It was very sad. But what would you have Monsieur ; people must die, and so, if they are wise, they should make the most of life while they have it." " That is true," cried M. Perdrix heartily " Madame you are a wonderful woman." "And when did you leave Melbourne' asked Mrs. Steel without heeding the com pliment. " Six months ago," answered the French- ! man, " Ah, ha ! after all the old world is j the only proper sphere for truth and j genius." " And do you propose to exercise yours here, monsieur ?" "Certainly, and I have thought that madame, in memory of old times, would assist her poor friend to do so." Mrs. Steel laughed gently. "That is to j say," she said, " that you are desirous of : enlisting yourself under my flag ? Well, be it so. You can guess what my life is like—it pleases me better than hum drum respectability. " Pouf!" ejaculated the Frenchman, in a tone and with a gesture of contempt; " to j the devil with respectability." " Well, I don't know," said the lady. " You see, my dear Monsieur, one can wear the garment, and laugh at the profession." "True." " And do you know that I find it is one of he ways of the world." " Undoubtedly," answered the Frenchman, with honest admiration of Mrs. Steel's shrewd philosophy. "Yes," she continued, "one can be very wicked, and yet pass for a saint. For myself, I must declare that somehow or another all the pleasant ways of the world are called wicked, and dismal and unpleasant ways of the world are called morality and holy living. Well, it is wise, eh, to compromise, and as Mr. Shakespear says : " Assume a virtue if you have it not." "Madame 19 admirable," replied the Frenchman. " Molien would have worshipped her.' - " I dare say," said the fat one, with serenity. " And so, my dear friend," you understand the position ?" So M. Perdrix was installed as Mrs, Steel's Major Domo—the chief huntsmau of the pack ; the organiser and suDerintendent of her campaigne ; the commandent of he motley army. Happy man, who had so luckily fallen upon employment for which he was so admirably adapted. An so we leave them pursuing their way in the world, as happy and contented believe me, as any of your virtuous and honorable people. Will you tell me that such people hide beneath their guilt, the canker of,shame and self hatred ? Pshaw ! How little you know of the ways of the world; which believe me are not as the parsons tell us, nor as the novelists conjure np for our delusion. As I draw towards the close of my story, I see an old white haired mau seated in a pleasant garden. He

is busily engaged in fitting up ■ miniature steam-engine in a little boat, while a couple of brown-faced youngsters watch him eagerly. It is good Monsiour Biros, and the boys are Ethel's children. Presently I see Ethel herself, as beautiful as ever; though her beauty is now of the matron order. As she approaches Monsieur rises and lifts his cap. " You will spoil these boys, Monsieur," she says, with a bright smile. Monsieur Bhakes his head. "It is not possible, Madame," he ex* | claims, "Madame has taught them too well." " fie has been telling us of poor little | Willie," cried the elder lad, " and of i ' Pedro.'" " Ah!" cries the lady, as a shadow passes across her face, "Poor Willie, Poor Alice " At that moment Madame Biron appear ß carrying a flaxen-haired girl in her arms. Ah ! madame. Time deals kindly with you and your good husband ; as indeed the old fellow ever deals kindly with those who are simple and pure of heart. And then I see Mr. (iordon, a grave, handsome man of middle age. The old wild careless manner has left him. A certain thoughtful air now characterises his appearance, and his smile, always beautiful, is now dignified by a certain pensiveness and gravity. Indeed, George Gordon is a changed man. His experiences of the ways of the world have taught him their hollowness and folly, and he has cast them off for ever. And so we leave our good people. I dare say many ot my readers will exclaim it is time we did. Well this is but natural, but I am not without hope that there are many who have followed my story with some interest." To those I would say I have but recorded —feebly, mayhap, conscientiously —matters which have come to my own knowledge. I have painted character as I know it. You, my readers, will, I think, own that I have not exaggerated. Mahy of you, indeed, may have recognised the people of my little story. They have lived, believe me ; and may live now ; and may be met any day in our streets, and mingling in society. My object has been to paint a truthful picture of every day life. Now this may seem to many like earn iog coals to Newcastle. A little reflection, however, will serve to show that it is these very affairs of every day life of which we are most igno rant. We travel on, I fancy, with eyes shut, wholly ignorant of features of our journey. It is not until we hope the picture placed before us, of which we ourselves form an important part, that we became sensible of the truth. And so, in my way, 1 have Bought to give life to the daily round of the ways of the world; to show the dismal monotony of society and the sham and humbug of its arbitrary hypocrisies \ni T _ nd. according to the canons of all good storytelling, with the happiness of my good people; happy in the reflection that in doing so, I end in the truth and fact. For the rest, Patty married Billy Wasp, and they keep a shop in Richmond. There is some talk of nominating William Wasp, Esq., as a councillor at the next election for the ward. Why not? His experience of the way of the world, beginning in the stable and ending at the counter, surely fit him for the honor. We see ttranger things done every day, do we not ? And so, if Patty's husband should become one of our civic ruler*, it will, after all, but serve as another illu.-tration of The Ways of the World. . • The END. / That Bird Well in tlie ITand. "Blanche, dear," said the watchful aunt to her niece, "don't you think that Fred spends too much money upon you?" relates Harper's Bazar. "Do you so, aunty?" "Indeed I do, Blanche. I've been noticing, and I think he's really extravagant. You ought to check him, and tell him to save his money. You will need a good deal when you go to housekeeping, and it is far better for him to put in the bank the money he is now spending on carriage rides and luncheons and tickets to this thing and that than to be squandering it. Think over the matter a minute or two, dear, and you will see it as I see it." "Oh, I've thought about it already, aunty. I'd take your advice if I were absolutely certain that we shall be married; but I've been engaged before, aunty, and I don't intend to advise a young man to economize for some other girl's benefit." Wcsted Patriotism. Admiral Jouett lives at Sandy Springs, Md., where the roads are no better than elsewhere in Dix/ie. He is an ardent Republican, although a son of the Blue Grass state; and last election, when heavy rains had made the roads almost impassable, he shamed the stay-at-homes by taking his son, James, jr., through the mud and downpour to their voting place. The journey home in the dark, swimming through mud to the hubs, was so disquieting that they arrived profane and exhausted. "Well," said the admiral, "thank heaven that's over! We've had a hard pull of It, but it is the duty of every citizen of the United Slates to vote. Say, Jim," he ejaculaed fiercely. "I voted the straight Republican as usual. How did you vote?" "Father, we might as well have stayed at home and paired," replied the son; "I voted straight Democrat."—Argonaut. A (iood Thin:; tho Year Wound. Her Father—"What assurance have I that you could make both ends meet, in ca.se I allowed you to have my daughter?" The Suitor—"Well, I deal in coal during the winter and sell ice in the summer." Her Father—"Take her, my boy. You will make a son-in-law to be proud of." —Cleveland Leader. A Motov for I* e i S|>®ea. At least one large firm manufacturing dynamos and motors is, says the American Engineer, at work upon a motor that will run at a speed of 10,000 revolutions per minute. This motor, if it can be successfully constructed, will be used by the United States Government on men-of-war to start the propelling machinery of Howell torpedoes just before they are fired from their tubes. This torpedo is propelled by the energy stored in a small flywheel inside of it, made to revolve at a speed of 10.000 revolutions, and at present a steam turbine is the only motor of simple form that is available to rotate the fly wheel at that speed