FACING- THE SITUATION

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11874, 28 January 1902, Page 3

FACING- THE SITUATION

We had been exchanging views on the subject of mental and moral courage. - The General smiled across at me. "Ah, my dear boy, it's all very well to talk about pluck— it's moral pluck we want in this.vale of tears, and, above all, the knowledge how to act in an emergency." ; "Yes?" . , I waited, feeling sure the General's platitude was born of some pungent reminiscence, and I have a great fondness for the General's reminiscences. I did not wait in vain. "If you can face a woman, Gerald, under certain circumstances —and I own I can't you can face anything. - ' The General is a bachelor—l am a married man, and a newly-married man. _ "They aren't so bad at close quarters, I said, with the fatuity of ignorance. " It wasn't a case of ' they,' " said the General, drily. "I could have faced a regiment of 'em myself—it is one alone—" "Tell me about her," I interrupted. 'Ihe General chuckled—then he deliberately cut the end off his cigar, and, leaning back in his chair, sighed deeply. "I have, as you know, Gerald, my boy, never married; but I was once very deeply in love, as deeply as it is possible for a young chap to be who starts life with an unusual amount of illusions. " She was the daintiest creature you ever set eyes on. wr.'.. a delicate face, and what these' pot-boilers call an ethereal figure, not particularly young— about 28 or 29—but one of the loveliest women I have ever seen. By .love! if ever there was a young idiot whethought his divinity perfect, it was I. I thought about her night and day, I worshipped her, I idealised her, I lived in a state of hopeless and helpless slavery. It makes mesmile to think of it now, but it was a very serious matter at the time. I had just joined my regiment. I had plenty of private means; so when we were ordered out to India I took courage and proposed to her. "To my intense delight and even astonishment, she accepted me. She wouldn't marry me before I went out, but she promised to follow me in a year; and I went abroad full of blissful expectation and untold folly. " She wrote to me every mail, and I lived > 'in a state of polo-playing and beatitude. One day I had a casual note from her—a note that only a woman could write — me that she feared she had made a mistake, and that '»■ she found she loved someone else. < . "Shortly afterwards I heard she was going to be married. I didn't even hear the other man's —and I didn't want to. I should like to have shot him for stealing her from me, or it would have given mo immense pleasure to have horsewhipped him; but, unfortunately, she wasn't my wife, and she had a perfect right to change her mind if she - liked." , 1 "Did you mind much,"-1 asked, "or did you soon get over it, General?" " Get over it? Mind? Why, I was in a state of despair bordering on melancholia. 7 Nothing roused me, neither the good-natured « chaff nor the well-deserved vituperation of _ my friends. I seemed absolutely unable to pull myself together, and I don't know what ~ would have become of me; but, luckily, ; there were some fearful skirmishes up in the North-west, and I had to face life and forget my love-sickness for a . time. -I was " badly hurt, and lay in hospital for over two months, and when I got up again I had lost too many pals, and had too much work to " do to find time for thinking about my own personal disappointment. ■ However, I never married, and I never forgot her; and the funny part of it was I nevei for a moment blamed her either. I would have been ready at a minute's notice to,apply for leave and go home and marry her' if I had heard she was free; but 1 never heard a word about her, and I gradually ceased to think about her," • excepting that" I still retained my ideal enshrined somewhere in my foolish heador heart, I suppose I ought to say, eh?" "Yes, heart, of course," I assented, gravely. The General laughed. ' " Well, it was' nearly 15 years before I came home to settle. I had been back on leave after being ,wounded, but I had gone straight down to my father's place, .and he ■ had died while I was there, so I did not. of course, go out or meet any of my old friends." t " Have you ever seen her since?" I asked. The General nodded. "Once, Gerald, and • that's the point of my story." t ' "Whore?" " I'll tell you. It was nearly 16 years since she had broken off our engagement, and I had at last almost ceased to remember her. Had I known I was going to meet her that night I believe the whole feeling of the thing would have come back again, and I should have been in a state of frantic excitement and nervousness. But as it was 1 had no idea of what was in store for me, so I went out to dinner ono evening with an unruffled mind. "I was dining at the Belfords', who, as you know, are my oldest friends, and Lady ,• Belford came up to me before dinner and whispered: ' Douglas, I am giving you an awful lump to take in to dinner, but she is ' the most important woman hero but one, whom George is, of course, taking, and you will have a very nice one on the other side ; so be a dear to both of them. They are both widows, so be careful,' she added, laughing. "'Between two stools,' I began. "•'.Oh, I forgot,' she interrupted, 'the lump is Lady Birehington, and the pretty one on your left is Mrs. Staunton mix up their names.' . She turned away to greet a newly-arrived guest, but presently called me to hei by a look. 'Lady Birehington, may I introduce Colonel Northcote (for I was Colonel then) —Colonel Northcote,. Lady Birddngton." I bowed and glanced at the • lady my hostess had so euphoniously termed '• 9 'lump.' She was a heavy,, middle-aged " woman with small features embedded in fat, \\ and sho had a heavy and unattractive eye and .. a look of ineffable self-contentment. I mur- .. mured one or two of the usual weather coin- •• monplaccs, and then dinner was announced, a.nd I took her down; and, by Jove 1 she leant a goodly portion of 15 stone on my arm. My left-handed companion was a tall, delicate-looking woman, much younger, with ? face that was still lovely, although she also must have.been Hearing the wrong side of 40. I paid the most dutiful attention to Lady '• Birohinprton for the first few courses, and • then found myself deeply engrossed by Mrs. I. Staunton, for she was as witty as she was good-looking; and, to tell the truth, I was rather taken with her. • ' " Did you think you had evei met her before?" I asked, anticipating a little. The General shook his head. "Mo, they were neither of them like anyone I ever remembered meeting, although Lady Lirdiington was like dozens of the dowagers that one meets every day. But Mrs. Staunton was a beauty, and had the airs of s beauty who intended keeping up hei supremacy over our sex as long as possible. "It was p long dinner, but 1. enjoyed every moment at it. I. was very glad to bo home again at last, and quite ready to settle down and enjoy myself, and it gave me genuine pleasure when Mrs. Staunton asked me to come and see her. 'You interest me,' she said, laughinor, 'because you haven't a wife. All colonels have .vivos as a rule,- and they « are such a bo the.. Have von ever boon in love, Colonel Northcote?' It was a light 3- question, and I don't know what made me % answer so seriously, but I said very gravely. d ' Only once, Mrs - Staunton.' tobe laughed airily. 'What a tragic tone! Haven't you , got over it yet? Was she very lovely, and what happened? I suppose she jilted you — you nice serious men are so often jilted." I; "'Yes,' 1 replied, curtly, 'she jilted me; J but it was not he. fault, and there is no \t blame .vhatevo- to be attaened to her.' i- "Ma. 'Staunton's face softened. 'You are very chivalrous,' she said; then she added, half-mockingly, ' and you really deserve to . be a bachelor.' " While I was wondering what she meant by that remark, our hostess <,ave the signal to Lord Belford's partner, and I turned to ] my neighbour with some compunction. Her i

fat faca was red .with the heat of the room, and I fancied, but whether it was imagination or not I don't know, that her dull eyes brightened as they met mine. 'j. ,; . ' Colonel Northcote,' she murmured, hurriedly, i ' you have forgotten me, but I am Nina—Nina Langton—and I once troated.'you very badly and very foolishly." '■ i ""I started violently, and as I did £0 I could have sworn I caught the softly-uttered I words, 'Douglas,' will you come and see me to-morrow? I—am free now.'" .* u ■ The General paused and stared mechanically at his , cigar, which had gone out. What on earth did you say?" _ I ejaculated: " and what ever did you do?" j He leaned forward and looked impressively at mo. "Do, my dear Gerald?" he said, laughing softly. " What could Ido in such an emergency? Why, : I left the " country again, the next morning, of course.' V ~.,