Chapter I.

Otago Witness, Issue 1832, 31 December 1886, Page 8

Chapter I.

T had been a hot day. Ever since early morning the sun had flung his beams down upon the earth, which reflected them again with enervating heat The day before it bad been rainy, and the day before that the wind had boisterously driven simoons ot thiok, powdery dust over the land ; and far baok in the calendar a bewildering succession of climatic changes were registered. The aun had sunk in a red halo away beyond the hills, and now the silence of evening suo ceeded. A few inseots flew in buzzing oircleß through the air ; from away on the bills a faint tinkling, lulling the distant folds, was wafted ; and at intervals the clear note of a chanticleer, rendered hollow and sepulchral by the distance, was borne vaguely to the ear. But these faint echoes only served to show by contrast the general silence that reigned. From batween two distant, darkening peaks a last ruby shaft of sunlight streamed forth. It shone qb the windows of the housea on the, UUIKOe and uiatfe theui gUttfer lika dfaiuWde,

and fell warmly over the patient, oareworn fase of a girl who was sitting silently at an open window watching the fading scene without. All day she had tended by the bedside of her dying father, who waß now asleep, breathing heavily and uneasily, and muttering absently, aB he restlessly turned on his pillow. After the close confinement in the unwholesome atmosphere of the sick room, the scent from the new-mown hay that lay in heaps in the adjoining fields was inexpressibly refreshing, and the tranquility of the Boene soothed her with its quiet beauty. ' Margaret, baa the message been sent?' was asked in a tremulous, husky voice aa the invalid awakened. •

* Yes, father, it waa Bent early thin morning. I expect Mr Balder here every minute now.' She left her station at the window; but her oharge had again sunk into slumber. His hollow cheeks and sunken eyea indicated the near approach of death : but everything had been done that oould be done to ease - bia last moments. As Bhe stood gazing pitifully at the old man's waßted face, the awift pounding of hoofs on the road caught her ear, and hastening again to the window she saw a horseman draw rein and dismount ab the gate. The sound had aroused the sleeper, who, in his excitement, had raised himself up in bed, and gazed^j eagerly at the door at which the visitor woul&fl enter. In a few minutes he was in the room, Mr Balder was a tall, hard-looking man, whose features might have been oarved in wood for all the power of mobility or variety of expression they possessed. His face had permanently assumed the contortions originally imposed by habitual tobacco-chewing ; and he had a habit of making a fork of his thumb and forefinger, in whioh he invariably rested and chafed his stubly chin when speaking that waa far from enhancing his general behaviour, Hia further appearance was marred by an accentuated a r of awkwardness which he displayed aa he entered the room, owing to hiß clumsy endeavours to mitigate the pronounced tramp of hiß hobnailed boota. In any other ciroumstanpes bis abortion of an expression of commiseration would have been ludicrous ; as it. was, it plainly indicated its fiotitiousness. Hia dress waa of thick, coarse homespun of some kind that waa traversed generally over its surface by hard creases perpetuated by a long period of continuous wear.

He took a seat beside the sick bad, replying in a hoarse, harsh whisper to the querulous welcome of the invalid.

At a glanoe from her father Margaret left the room, and then with the feverish impatience ao often displayed by persons in his condition over alight occasions, he turned- to his viaitor.

* Now, Balder, he B&id, ' you know me for a cautious man, a keen, worldly man, and o' course you know my will is— is made out — Lawyer Brief. My daughter Margaret aho gita everything— money, lands,— everything. I oan't live for ever, you know, and indeed I'm doubtful if I shall get over this. But in oaße I don't, you know — in oaae I don't, you'll take oare of my — my Margaret, and give an eye to her—to her concerns. She has no mother, y'know. I know you will; we've bin-— bin neigh '

4 Yea, yes,' said Balder, seeing the speaker was unable to complete his sentence. 'My wife shall make her comfortable, and I have no doubt we shall be very happy together,' ha added, resorting to the before mentioned gesture. '

The invalid would have continued, but the struggle between bis eagerness to speak and a sudden accession of weakness that prostrated him left him gasping and helpless, much to the perturbation of Mr Balder, who ran to the door and vociferated for ' Margaret.' Soon afterward! the doctor arrived. 'After a lengthy interval, spent with the invalid, he came out again with a very serious aspeot, but endeavouring at the same time te appease the fears of Margaret, whose grief waa overpowering" Aa Mr Balder had no reason for prolonging hia stay, he shook banda with the latter, and telling her to cheer up and that he would send his wife over, departed at the same time with the doctor.

Mr Balder was a farmer whose financial condition waa an insoluble problem to the neighbours— or rather the wives of the neighbours round about. Though the busy housewives made inquiries with great ingenuity in all practicable directions, no information could be gained. It was known that fortune fluctuated with him considerably, and that the losses he had sustained were large, and relieved by but few intervals ef prosperity. From this accident, coupled with a rather taciturn disposition, he was not universally popular; for, as the majority of the other farmers were slowly but surely amassing a competence, the singularity of his fortune was illogically attributed to some antecedent crime, which took this retributive and indefinite method of evading concealment. This belief found no acceptance among, the burly, materialist farmera themselves, who were of opinion that he had embarked upon a calling of which he was ignorant ; but among their wives the proposition waa unanimously accepted, and hia misfortune viewed as a judgment upon him. What his private means were, and whether they were sufficient to enable him to maintain hia position till better times, waa unknown, but formed grave matters of doubt. Hia wife —a puny, spiritless woman— was frequently put upon the interrogative wraok ; but, in the words of her questioners, 'she never knew nothing about anything,' and no information was ever gained from that source. She -would sit with hands meekly folded in her lap, invulnerable in her rapid nonentity of individuality, If she ever ventured beyond monosyllables, whioh she very seldom did, aha involved herself* and interlocutor in such a random labyrinth of parenthesis that her meaning defied elucidation. In fact, her mental powers, never very powerful, had been gradually obliterated during her married lite, leaving her a mere culinary automaton ; and if the wife's chief object should be to please her husband, as 1b admitted in theory, she attained that end when reduced to thia state of imbecility. Her absence of ideas was plainly traceable in her dress, which was like Pamela's —invariably a gown of sad coloured stuff, that wag worn till it gave palpable signß of the approach of dissolution. Her hair was alwaya drawn tightly away from her forehead and gathered in intricate convolutions at the back of her head. And thus she lived from day to day, no change nor shadow ef turning appearing in dress, habits, or conduct. One other member completed the household, Edward Balder had from infancy been allowed to follow his own bant unchecked. In his first year, before her mental deoay had supervened, his mother bad taken him through the incipient stagea of the Shorter Catechism, and had made conscientious but fruitless efforts to arouse the moral consciousness of the boy, But as years accumulated he grew more and more (selfwilled and intractable; and as what little strength of mind Mrs Balder had originally possfiased dwindled rapidly away, he was left wittemt the fe&st guidance fedm bia tfatural

protectors ; for his father took no interest in him beyond making a rough calculation aB to how Boon be would be able to give assistance in the nominal labour of the farm. Thus he was permitted to grow up to early manhood animated by the unamiable traits inherited from bis sire and the acquired unruly passions engendered by his want of moral restraint, unmodified by any education save such as he chose to hearken to from the village schoolmaster.