A CAREFUL TEST.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9565, 22 October 1892, Page 6 (Supplement)

A CAREFUL TEST.

TUB STORY OF A OSICKBXBR.

The Hon. Miss Gaiusford, short micl flat, turned away from the bars surrcundi'jg the

Venus de Milo, aud shook her gokl-casod

[orguettc? and' sniffed,

"I considoi'," she said, glancing once ag:_an at the statue and speaking to her n\ece —" I

consider it very far-fetched." " Yes, aimtie. " replied her pretty xi icce~tall and slim and dressed in grey—looking at. her scarlet-bound glide; "it was brought from

;he iEgeanSea." ~,,.-,. , "I doivfc mean tbas, fiiaggie; F mean.—-on,

well, you know what;l mean." They went np ti"C braid sfcairco scot the Louvre to the rricturc galleries. On their way a young fellow picked np Margaret's gauntlet-. glove which she had handed it her ;: with a bow, aud passed on. He was a broadshouldered, long-legged: man, and he went up two steps at a time wirta a bit of a 1 imp. In one of the rooms Aim* Gaiusford, in: moving back to get therighb fotius of a Grenze, slipped, aud would have failen. prone (an undignified attitude eveu for a lady o£ 58) had not the ! broad-shouldered, lons;4egged youth -with the. limp fielded her deftty with one arm aud restored her to an upright position, 'iihe Iioi». Miss Gaiusfovd felt thaiiktul, and, .oeiug a ]

plain woman, said so „ ~ , "I beg you won't mention it, said tile ycnjg fellow lightly- "It's so much easier to slip down on these confountlefl boards th in to do anything else. One ought to wear cricket, shoes. They wer.s saying the same jfchsng at breakfast to-day a* fche Continental." " /Fe are staying' at the Continental, eai.athe elder lady genially. "My niece im d I may meet you there." • _ Tho young fellow took out his caret riasfj, said he hoped lie might have thai; pleasure, and, to Bliss Margaret's great disappointment, limped, off" The^eard bore the name Oswald Bradlj. jj lie was indeed the Oswald Br.wli,'/. In \ the last county match he had played j a capital innings of US*. anil _ had j then been giyen out leg before wickeb. | Now, to be given out lbw is always- am annoy- j ing circumstance; it loses few of its irritating elements when the ball knocks your leg so j severely that you are ordered to rest i for a month- This was what had happened | to Bradly. Beins .ordered rest,, he per- j verselv went to Paris and knocked ai'oout a i Dit, and say; some of t"ne Latin Quarter churns ! whom he had Jtnown ia liis hard-up days, and \ spent a good deal of his time in calling at No. : 157 Avenue dcs Champs Ely sees. Jit 157 ; there lived a widov/ whom Oswald Bradly ' lik e^ — an extremely diverting, an undoubtedly fiae and attractive lady much money. Name—Madame Scnvtier. Monsieur Seutier had said aoieu to the Eve da la B;mque, to liis wife, and to the world generally about two years since, and Bradley had met tlio !a-j.gnjfi-cent youna- relict ai; the hoase o? a mutual friend ufc Blackheath. Affcss tbe Louvre incident and'a subsequent? enewanter between the new acquaintances at tlie Sotel, -when Bi-adljr discovered to his delight, fcba* laaggis knew all about the scoring ai Shrewsbury and \V. W. Kead; Madame Seatier founi herself relieved from the attentions of her Baglfefa. admirer. A fortnight after the meebing,k tbe reading- i room of the hotel, Oswald Brawly and Miss-! Gainsford'g niece were talking, .toit Gains- \ ford had been reading the Times', and was, [ consequently asleep. I 1' 1 coald never like anyone "

""We were taking of love, Maggie." [ " Well, love then. I could never lovaaayon& \ unless I had first tssted his affections."' \ " Test away," said Oswald airily. Ifcwill b& seen that Oswald Bradly was scoring (ate Mscustom) pretty fast. j "And 'of course," said the young iadr gravely, " I should choose my own time aoiiay j owm mode, Mr Bradly.'"' i " I have a Christian name, Maggie.". . j " Don't brag, sir." \ " I insist on being called Oswald." . " Well, Oswald," said the young lady shyly. >| " I would call you dear Oswald, were I sura j you did not care for anybody else." 4 "You may he quite sure about that, deft? ij

girl." " Not even for Madams Seutier ? " \ " Not even," repeated Oswald with a flush— j " not even for Madame Seutier." ; And then ths two young people affected to> \ be reading Le GUulois, and all the time kissed. ; furtively and pressed each other's hands aucii j toes. Aunt GaiDsford woke up. i When Mr Oswald Bradly was nearly well hft i decided to return to England and to cricket.. . So he called at No. 157, ana said good-bye to. ; Madame Scntier. If that s«j*rb lady felt any; regret at Oswald's departure a&8 cloaked it with. , most excelient art. ' "You leave at 10 to-morrow?" she said, with an air of polite interest. "At "10.10 to-morrow, from the Gare dv. Nord." ( "Then," replied Madame Seahier, "an \ revoir, inon (tini. Amusczvmis bicn." , At 10 o'clock the next morning,, at theNorthern station, Oswald Bradly was' seeing; after the luggage of his new friends ; for- they, too, were going back to London. Maggie-,, with cheeks flushed and the light of excitement in her eyes, went to the telegraph office and composed a wire to be sent (so she told the clerk) \ a few hours later. It was to this effect: — | Oswald Bradly, passenger, Tidal Boat, Folkestone. I Gome back to me ; I cannot live without you. i —Sentier. }

Oswald saw the Hun. Bliss Gainsford and her niece into a dames seules compartment, and himself went to a/u»ieiM\ At Boulogne, as the boat was starting, an I Zingari man in his flannels and cap of black, red, and gold—an '■ old cricketing chum of Bradly's—standing on the quay, caught sight of him and roared : — "I say, Bradly, old man. Hullo! I say, will you " The rest was unintelligible. The man in flannels waved frantically his arms, and would have run down the plank on to the Alberb ». Victor, only that Napoleon the Third, or some | ofiicial like him, ordered the excited cricketer ■ to be stopped. j The sight of the man in flannels brought to ■< Oswald all that acute yearning for a game that comes to the cricketer after an.enforced close \ time, and he would have given a good deal to ( have had the chance of playing there and then j in a decent match. But he knew he would j have to- possess his soul of patience, for all the. ;■ county matches were over. Coming across the- ■ Channel the small party presented an appear- ■ ance of variety. Blaggie was singularly dis- ; traite; Osv/ald was singularly elated; Aunb i Gainsford was singularly sick. At Folkestone, at a place where the passengers step off to enter, between the ropes, the customhouse-, a ! small, sharp telegraph boy in a long brassbuttoned frock coafc was holding up a foreign* telegram envelope, and shouting shrilly., i i "Nime of Bradly." " Here you are," said Oswald, taking it from-, the boy as they went through. Oswald saw toto the clearance of the ladies' handbags au<3: bundles of rugs. " Hadn't you better look at your wire, dear ?'" said Maggie nervously, as she stepped into a, first-class compartment. Oswald took it from his pocket and read; it. His face glowered with delight. He tara«£ io the carriage. " Miss Gainsford — Maggie, dear — do- you think you could go on to London alone '? I most particularly want to catch the nighfc bwst back." Poor Maggie swallowed a lump in her throa* and said they could see to themselves quite well, thank you. The Hou. Miss Gainsford was too ill to have an opinion. ' "I'll tell the guard about the luggage," cried Oswald Bradly rapidly, " and I shall be back again the day after to-morrow and I'll drive at once to Prince's gate, >nd I'll " The train went quickly out of the station Londonwards, and Oswald saw Maggie's white face looking at him steadily and sadly. As he went across to an hotel to get some dinner, he reproached himself for having acceded so impetuously to the request contained in the telegram. Still, by the night boat he went back.

By order of her niece, the Hon. Miss Gainsford had not unpacked her trunks. Maggie had decided suddenly to stay but a day or two in London and was then going with her chaperon on to Scotland, or Ireland, or—anywhere. " But Mr Bradly," suggested Miss Gainsford. "I beg, auntie," said Maggie frigidly, looking down at her, " I beg that the name of Mr Oswald Bradly may never be mentioned to me again." Nevertheless, on the morning of the second day his name .am mentioned. "Mr Oswald Bradly was in the drawing-room," the servant said. As Maggie entered, very pale and wearied, he came towards her. "My dear Maggie, can you forgive me for leaving you so hurriedly at Folkestone ? " " I am sure that I never can forgive you." "I knocked up 157" went on Bradly enthusiastically. " How dare you speak to me o? No. 157 ? " said Maggie hotly. "I knocked up 157 against the Boulogne Johnnies—ls7, not out. There's the total score. Wo simply made mince-pie of them. And look here. Here's a most extraordinary wire from our frienl Madame Seuticr. The boy gave it me at Folkestone early this morning as I cams oft1 the night boat. It's dated the day before yesterday, only the boy said it came too late. He remembered me because he brought that telegram from the I Zingari chaps." Maggie looked at the telegram, which had cost her 3s GAd and hours of subsequent wretchedness. '' And what are you going to do with it, my dear, dear Oswald ? " For answer Mr Oswald Bradly tore it into small pieces and seat them sailing out of the window into space. Then he turned, and took the hand of the young lady beside him, and kissed her with considerable fervour. —St. James' Budget.

— Dutrochet found that distilled water holding in solution a small quantity of white of egg will not generate fungi in a twelvemonth, but unou Ilia addition of the miuutcst quantity of nitric, sulphuric, muriatic, phosphoric, oxalic, or acetic acids, it generated them in eight days' time in abundance.