A DIALOGUE OF THE NIGHT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1267, 11 June 1896, Page 8

A DIALOGUE OF THE NIGHT.

By C.G.B. in the Westminster Budget, I had escaped from my partner, and was viewing tho “ varied scene ” from behind a fuzzy palm tree, when 1 was suddenly greeted, “ Come, Nelly, what a time you have been! This is our dance .” At tho same time I was smartly tapped on the shoulder with a programme. I turned round to face an unknown but rather handsome young man. “My name,” 1 remarked briskily, “ is not Nolly, nor is this our ” “ I beg your pardon,” lie replied in deep contrition. It is curious how blushing suits some men, just as it does some won.cn. I believe he was thinking the same. “Oli! pray don’t,” I added cheerfully. “ In crowded ballrooms such mistakes aro very natural, particularly when—” “Yes,” ho broke in, eagerly, “particularly when ” lie looked shyly away. “ Well,” I said encouragingly. “ Particularly when,” ho ran his eye over mo, “ they both—wear such pretty frocks.” I felt disappointed. “ Now you are stupid,” I said. 110 sighed. “ Nelly says tho same. The truth is unfortunately stupid.” He continued to glance at me with shy penitence. “ You are not dancing,” ho began afresh. “Can I not help you to find your partner ?” 1 scanned him thoroughly—lie had rather nice eyes. Yes, lie could bo (rusted. “ That is just what I don’t want,” I said. Ho smiled. “I sue. But you aro very conspicuous here,” and lie looked so nice that I forgave his audacity. “ I can show you a beautiful hiding-place.” lie offered me an arm. “ And what about Nelly ?” I asked. Ho started ruefully. “I had forgotten all about her,” ho replied, still looking at me. Ho wavered, and candidly J did not want him to go. “Nelly,” lie said, “will understand by-and-by. 1 will chance it, if 1 may ?” What could I do but take bis proffered :utn. We strolled out in tho illuminated Quad. “ Have you ever seen a Don’s rooms H” lie asked presently. “ Never.” “Then I can show you mine. They aro on view to-night.” Accordingly we mounted half a dozen stairs. The room was just like that of an undergrad’s, only larger. On tho mantelpiece there was the usual long row of photos. 1 wondered which was Nelly’s. “ I am disappointed,” I said after a brief inspection. “ 1 am sorry,” lie replied, boldly, “ for I am not.” He fetched moan ice and wo ate it —1 moan them —ill silence. Suddenly ill a puff of wind the door slammed.

“ Good heavens !” he ejaculated, jumping up ; “ the oak lias got sported.” “ What fun ! ” 1 remarked gleefully. “||, only opens from the outside,” lie said slowly. “ Wo are shut in.” “ Do you mean to say,” 1 asked, alarmed, “ that we can’t get out ? ” “ Oh, not quite so bad as that. You see, people have to he careful with Dons; that is why the door only opens from without. My scout will be here—say 8 a.m. It is now 12 p.m. —only eight hours. How well we shall know each other by then ! ” ho added, consolingly. “This is awful," I said ;3 "quite awful. Can’t you smash it in ?” He glanced at me roguishly. “ It would attract a great deal of attention,” he remarked, with delicate emphasis. 1 thought of mamma, and agreed. “ Perhaps soineono will roleaso us before eight,” he added, and so we fell to hopeful talking. Ho really was an entertaining talker, and had a delightful way of dotting his i’s by his glances. Only I could have wished ho wouldn’t talk so much of Nolly. “ What would Nolly say to this ?” I asked to stop him. “ I don’t like to think,” ho replied. “ She can be very cross, and ” be looked at his glossy pumps, “ and also very charming.” Why ho should then look at mo, to confirm this, I can’t think. “ I suppose she is very pretty r 1 suggested. Ho looked at mo critically while I fanned myself nonchalantly. “Oh, very!” was the cruel reply, "prettier than I can say.” « You seem very fond ot her. 1 felt quite jealous. “ I have grown to be, ho answered warmly. He dared to toll me that, after all ho had been insinuating an hour ago! « Perhaps I have mot her,” I went on coaxingly ; “ won’t you toll mo her name ?"

He looked at me curiously, and then said said solemnly, “ I can’t.” “ That is to say you won’t.” “ No, I can’t.” „ “ Why not ? Is it such a great secret. “ Oh, dear, no. I don’t know it.” “What ? ” I said, hoping he was joking. “ Dou you mean to say you don’t really know ? ** “ The intuition of woman is wonderful, he murmured to himself. “No, I really don’t know it.” ~„ „ T , , « Then she doesn’t>xist? I asxed, gettin" angrv. That is putting it very crudely. Thero was a Ndly ; she has become somebody else.” , ~ r “Take me back to mamma at once, 1 said indignantly. Ho glanced at the door. “ I wish I could,” he repliod, “ but I can’t. “ Besides” (looking at his watch), “I expect ‘ mamma’ has gone homo, and is sleeping the sleep of the chaperone.” My foot boat on the floor with wrath. I felt as if I must cry—or laugh. He got up and looked out of the window. “I had better risk it,” he muttered, and before I could stop him, he had swung himself out and disappeared. Ton minutes passed. Then I heard his voico on the other side of the door. “Do you still wish to be let out ? ” it asked. “Of courso,” I answered. “ Let mo out at once, please.” “On one condition—that you forgivo mo.” Well, ho had dono his best, and it was not his fault. “ I will forgive you,” I said softly. “ 'Then push back the snib,” he said quickly, “and turn the handle.” I did and the door opened. 1 was mad with vexation. The door did open on the inside, after all. “How dare you do such a thing ?” I asked majestically. He actually laughed. “ I haven’t got a looking-glass, so i can’t explain very well,” he repliod ; “ besides you have forgiven mo!” Iteally, lie was quite incorrigible. “ Do you know,” ho added, “ what scouts call this sort of doors ? ” “ Oaks, I suppose! ” I replied pettishly, for the sting of the jest was still rankling. “ They aspirate tho word. ‘ H’oalcs ’is nhat thoy call them, and they are not far wrong.” We went back in silence to mamma. “Nelly has again changed,” ho remarked to mo later on, after the third extra. “I believe she is going to become a third person.” Ho was right. Six months later she did, and this time thero was no doubt about her name.