Sketches From Life.

Otago Witness, Issue 1417, 18 January 1879, Page 22

Sketches From Life.

* By Jane.

No 9 -HERE KLAUS'S PROPOSALIt was a lovely summer's afternoon, and that particular afternoon I was getting my last lesson from Herr Klaus, who had been more than usually pre occupied and absent. I knew very well that it was not the thought of giving me a farewell scolding that had this effect upon him, nor was it because he would have to bid me a final farewell when he went away. Indeed, I could not flatter^ myself that" I was in any way the cause of his being " so indisposed" as he would have called it, and was wonderiDg what in the world was the matter wit him, when I heard my Aunt and Lizzie go out of the front door. I knew that they were going to meet Mr Raymond and bring him home to tea, but I was startled by the heavy sigh that escaped Herr Klaua, who was standing at the window watching them as they went past. He stood there for a very long time, and then he cacae slowly over to where I was standing and looked at my work for a few moments. Then after another heavy sigh, he said in a melancholy tone of voice, "Mees Jana !" " Yes," I said, looking up, " What is it ?" "It is much," he said, "too much; I meet yon lady, yon very fine lady, and now," —and he gave a very heavy sigh indeed —"and now she is my vot you call yon sweetheart," and his hands dropped down by his side and he looked perfectly miserable ; and yet, reader, so ludicrously stout; and comical. For one moment I had almost betrayed myself, but I managed to hide my face, and after a few vigorous daubs, looked up and s*icl gravely, "I think, Herr Klaus, these sort of things ought to be kept to oneself." "But Mees Jane," he said, "you know de lady, you are yon friend of de lady, I must speak to y ax." "Oh no, I do Dot think so," I said, as it juat flashed across me, that it must be poor Lizzie that he meant, and who had got to the bottom of his evidently capacious heart. "But I must," he said tragically. "She ia too goot, too kind; and lam always tink, tink of dis lady : and Mees Jane, you are yon friend of me Will you say one word fnr me. mees ; only one little word ?" and he clasped his hands iraplorincly. " Really, Herr Kliuin," I said, trying to look dignified, " I think you are completely forgetting your manners." " Manners ! meets," he said, " I forget my manners. Vot you call manners ?v? v It would havebe°n useless then to attempt an explanation, so I only said, " You are not doing right: You are behaving very foolishly, why not speak to the lady herself!" "Mees Jano," ho said, and he looked at me with almost a look of contempt, " you do not know do fersl of my heart. I speak to de lady, I would die." "Then," I said, "I rno3t certainly will not do so." "Will not, mees, you not-mean that you will say one word for hip, one leetle word." "I am very porrv, Herr Klaus," I said, that you should make my last lesson so un pleasant. If yon do not; stop, I shall just go away and leave my work." ".No," he said, "no, you must rot do that meep," and he walked away to the window with the air of a martyr, and stood there about t3n minutes, sighing all tho time as if his heart were brexking. I was beginning to wonder what he would do next, when be turned round with an exclamation. I heard the gate shut, and then I knew that my aunt ?nd sister were coming back. How thankful I was ; bub this feeling speedily gave way to something very different, when Herr Klaus rushed forward, rud begged nw in the most broken, excited, and tn-rihle English, "to do something, say something, only yon leetle word in his favour." "She is too good, mers Jnne, too pood ; she is yon angel; one word, meo-s, one leetle word." And in desperation he flopped down on hi=i knees in front of me. " T love her, meo 1, I love her to do points of do toes." Whether he meant his own or my sister's toes I have jet to leai n ; for just at that moment I rose from my seat pushing over my easftl iv my excitement, which fell picture and all to the floor, and we heard aunt Carry's voice even louder than usual at tho very door of the loom. Before I kuwwhero T \va°, or what he w.u< going to do, He n< Klaus made made one ilyingleaj) to theiarg 0 ess iv the corner room, and, was in it in a

moment, though how he found room amongst the preserves and miscellaneous articles it contained is beyond me to Bay; but find room he did, for he quickly disappeared and shut the doar just as my aunt entered. "Goodness me, Jane," said Lizzie, who wai closely followed by Mr Raymond, " whatever is the matter ? You are looking as if you had got a fright. " "Ob, nothing," I said, endeavouring to pick up my picture and look at my case, "I knocked this over by accident and I sat down and attetnped to go on with it, wishing that Mr Raymond would go, so that I could tell my aunt, or better still that I had the presence of mind just to turn round and give them an account of what had happened. "Is that painting body gone ?" said aunt Carry. " Yea ; well, no, aunt," I said, "I think not, and I grew crimson. They all looked at me. "Why, whatzs the matter, Jane?" said Lizzie. " There v some mystery ; you are as reel as hre. My aunt said no more. She picked up a parcel she had brought in, with an offended air, as if she thought there was some secret thit she was to be kept out of, and with an air of dignity marched over to the cupboard and I Parted from my seat ' "Oh! not there, aunfc." I said; "atleasr I mean let me put it ia." "What in the world is wrong with the girl?' said aunt Carry, with her hand on the handle and speaking in her loudest and severest tones. I knew that the poor man in. side must be shaking in his shoes ' "If you will only come away from 'there, auufc, and come outside, I shall explain what I mean. "I'll not stir a step till you've told me' here." Mr Raymond picked up his hat and went out of the room, and I rushed over to mv aunt. J ' "Oh! aunt," I said, "dear aunt, don't bo angry ; but Herr Klaus is so frightened of yon, and he went in there to hide." "Jane," said my aunt, and she let go the handle in her astonishment ; " Jane ! frightened of me ! hide ! preposterous ! I would no!; have believed it — I never could have believed it, Jane, that you could behave so ridiculously, bo foolishly." V° h ! ■ aunt." I cried, feeling quita hystencal, "don't speak and look like that I did nothing; I haven't behaved ridiculously If you will only go out of the room, I will get him out. " ■ " Never !" said my aunt, trasically, and she again caught hold of the handle and shut the door ; but it would not open, and I saw that he must be standing with his back against it. "I am surprised at you, Jane," and mv aunt turned round on me again, "I am worse, I am shocked at such ongoings •" and and then she turned to the cupboard " oDen this door directly, sir." This request was immediately followed by the most terrific crash of crockery inside that it is poS3iblep oS3 ible to conceive. "Oh ! mercy, mercy on me I" cried my ?u n \ 0??£0 ??£ *?J?? J ? ° Slng all control - " What is that bald-headed sinner doing ?" -• " ' ' "Aunt Carry," I said , getting desperate, "the maa will be dead with shame, and fright If you will only go away for one mmute, I' let him out, and he will never comeback." YW " Lizzie," and my aunt looked past me indignantly, «,f you don't want me to \Z Sefi? g ° aDd h «»^ aav-ond Away Lizzie wfnt, and in another moment brought him back with cousin Tom, dear reader, who was pretending to look very much shocked indeed. y " Arthur," said my aunt, «do you know who is in here?" Mr Eaymond looked incredulous at the « w beinGf an y bod y there at all. t Its tnat rascally painting body," she c"cd, excitedly; "looked up amongst my best spo ong an( | f or ]j Sj smashing my china, and the Lord only knows to what he's help, ingr himself, and jaue here just as bad." I was almost hysterical. "Oh! Mr Kaymond," I said, "the man is frigbtpned of my aunt • I'll explain everythine; afterward. Get her to go away from there, find you let him out, he is quite honest " " Herr Klaus, will you please come out ?" Fe said it fio mildly, and it sounded so comical, that it was as much as I could do, vexed thoueh I was, to keep'ffom laughing ; while Tom made .a holt from the room and exploded in the lobby, and Lizzie tittered audibly at tho window. My aunt sniffed impatier>tlv at his mild tone. "Will you please come out?" said Mr Bavmond again. "It is getting late." StiH no answer, and no sign. " He can't be dead." sv'd Lizzie, and ohe went; over fo the cupboard and with a voice me.rrier perhaps than usual she said, "Herr K\aua. I think you had better come out ;" and slowly, very slowly, render, the door was opened and poor Herr Klaus came out amongst ua. He was as *rhit;e as white as a ghosfc ; his old yellow coat was marked in Feveral nlaoei with raspberry jnm ; aDd ho had evidently milled over himself a basin of white snear, fnr he was soeckled all over with white. He did not look round, but with his eyes nn the floor, he found his hat which efenerallv lay in a corner of the room, and then he tried to bow himself out ; but what with his fright, the thoughts of his love affair and indisposition generally, he ran t ighfi up against the edge <nf the door that stood w'de open. Tom, who had come back, wn to his rescue and helped him to get outside, where they both set to work to get off the raspberry stains My aunt immediately rose, went to the cupboard, but found that not a thing was musing, and the only things broken wi re, a white basin and two old bottles. Therj she insisted nn a full, true, and particular account of what had happened, wh ; ch I gave them, much to my advantage and Lizzie's confusion. And now, readers, my Sketches, " such as they are," as aunt Carry would say, are finished. I must, however, just say one 'word more about Herr Klaus, and take him out of the awkward position in which he has been placed. Some six months afterwards we saw him again, at* the time my sister waa married — very happily, of course, dear reader. She looked charming, and the bridegroom wa3 in capital spirits ', and Tom, in whoso eyes alj

girls had riaen fifty per cent, sinon his friend's engagement, waa beside himself with mischief. After the ceremony, breakfast, and bo forth, we saw my sister and her husband on board the steamer that was to take them to another port, and what was all our astonishment when we saw standing on the poop of the vessel, bis face radiant and beaming with happiness, no less a person than Herr Klaus himself, with a very pretty half caste girl leaning on his arm. He came forward directly he saw us, and introduced her in the most impressive manner possible as "my vife." Of course, we were all delighted to make her acquaintance, and found her very chatty and agreeable. When we were going away after bidding them good-bye, Herr Klaus came forward to me and whispered in the most expressive and heartfelt tono : " Mees Jane, I have vot you call too much of happiness. She is ' yon black angel !'"