THE TALE oF- TIMBER TOWN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2651, 4 January 1905, Page 63

THE TALE oF- - TIMBER TOWN.

\ • t By A, A. GRACE, j Author of "Talcs of a Dying Race" (Cliatto & Winclus) ; "Maoriland Stbries," etc. CHAPTER V.— RAGHEL VARNHAGEN. E sat on a wool bale in his "store," amid bags of sugar, chests of tea, boxes of tobacco, octaves of spirits, coils of fencing-wire, bales of hops, rolls of carpets and floorcloth, piles of factoryt made clothes, and a mis- ' cellaneous collection of merchandise. j Old Varnhagen was a general merchant, ; who, with equal complacency, would sell j a cask* of whisky or purchase the entire j woolclip of a "run" as big a: an English county. Raising his eyes from a keg of^ nails, he glanced lovingly round upon his abundant stock iD trade, rubbed his fat hands together, chuckled, placed one great hand on his capacious stomach -to support ! , himself as his laughter vibrated through ! his ponderous body, and then said, "Tear me,- tear me, it all ■com' to this. Tear, tear," how it make me laff. It jus' com' to this; the Maoris have got his cargo. All Mr Cookenden's scheming to .beat me gifs me the pull over him. Tear , me," it" makes me ill with laffing'. If I believed -in God, I should" say Jehovah haf : . after' all turn his face" from the Gentile, and> fight for hig Chosen x People. The . ' cargo is outside the port ; a breath of - wind,, and it is strewn ,along the shore. Now,' that's' wliat I calll' "something like an intervention of Providence !" - - - - " He got off' the wool bale' much in the ; manner in which a big seal' clumsily takes •'{ the water," and walked up and down his store; hands in pockets, hat on the back of his head, and a complacent smile overspreading his face. As he paused at . the end of the long alleyway formed by his v piles of merchandise, and turned again to traverse the length of the warehouse, he struck an attitude of contemplation. < "Ah! but the insurance?" he exclaimed. As he stood, with bent head and grave looks, he was the typical Jew' of the > Ghetto.; crafty, timid, watchful, cynical, cruel ; his grizzled , hair close-clipped, crisp", and curly; his face pensive, and yellow as a lemon. "But he will haf seen to that ; I gif him that much credit/ But in tlft meantime he is without "his goods, and the money won't be paid for months. That gif me a six-months' pull ofer him." The old smile came back, and he began to pace the store once more. ! There was a. rippling laugh at the j \ f urther^ end of the building 1 , where Varn- ' hagen's* private office, partitioned off with • glass ,_and .boards from the rest of the store, opened oh -the street. It was a • laugh' the old man knew x^U, for he • hopped .behind a big pile of bales like a boy playing '"hide-and-seek, and li&ld his f breath in expeptation. ' ' Presently, A theW bustled into the warehouse avision of muslin, and ribbons. Her ■ face was the face of an angel. It did not contain a feature that might not have •been a Madonna's. She had a lemon-yellow complexion, brightened by a flush of carmine in her cheeks; her eyes were like two large, lustrous, black pearls ; her hair, parted in the middle, was glossy and waving; her eyebrows were pencilled and black; her lips were as red as the petals of the geranium. But though this galaxy of beauties attracted, it was the exquisite ! moulding of the face that rivetted the attention of Packett, the Jew's storeman, who ' had conducted the dream of loveliness to the scene. She tapped the floor impatiently with her parasol. "Fa-ther !" She stamped her dainty foot in pretty anger. "The aggravating old bird ! I expect ! he's hiding somewhere." j There came a gurgling chuckle from • amid the piled-up bales. The girl stood, listening. "Come out of ihat !" she cried. But there was never another sound — the chuckling had ceased. She skirmished down a by-alley, and | stormed a kopje of rugs and linoleum ; but ' found nothing except a store torn cat in hiding on the top. Having climbed down the further side, she found herself in difficult country of enamelled "Ware and* wood buckets, but successfully extricating ' herself from this entanglement, she as- ! cended a. spur of- carpe.t-rolls, and trium^ phantly crowned the summit' of the lofty inpuntain of wool bales. The country round lay at her feet, and lialf-concealed behind a barrel of Portland cement, she saw the crouching form of the enemy. j * Heu. head tvas ujj among the timbers 1

of the roof, and hanging to nails in the cross-beams were countless twisted lengths of clothes-line, and with these dangerous projectiles she began to harass the foe. Amid the hail of hempen missiles tie white flag was . hoisted, and the enemy surrendered. "Rachel ! Rachel ! Come down, my girl. You'll break your peautiful neck. Packett, what you stand there for like a wooden verandah post? Go up, and help Miss Varnhagen down. Take care ! — my tear Rachel ! — look out for that bucket ! — mind that coil of rubber-belting ! Pc :areful! That bale ' ol hops is ofer ! My tear child, stand still, I tell you; wait till I get the ladder." With Packett in c position to ?ut off retreat, and the precipice of wool bales in front, Rachel sat down, and shook, with laughter. Varnhagen naturally argued that his pretty daughter's foot, now that the tables were so suddenly turned upon her, would, with the storeman's assistance, be quickly set upon the top rung of the ladder which was now in position. But he had not yet learned all Rachel's stratagems. ' j "No !'' she cried. "I think I'll' stay ! Ji«re." i "My child, my Rachel, you will fall !" ' "Oh, dear, no ; it's as firm as a rock. No, Packett, you can go down. I shall stay here." "But, my tear Rachel, you'll be killed ! ' Come down, I beg." "Will you promise to do what I want?" "My tear daughter, let us talk afterwards. I can think of nothing while you are in danger of being killed in a moment !" ' - "I want that gold watch in Tresco's window. I sha'n't come down till you say I can have it." "My peautiful Rachel, it is too ex- i pensive. I will import you one for half j the price. Come down before it is too V late." -». ' • j . "What's the good of watclies in London? T want that watch at 'Tresco's, to wear going calling. Consent father, before it ' is too late." ■ - , * * "My loafly, how much was" the -watch?" "Twenty-five pounds.'.' / - • ,"Olf, that is too\much. -First you wili ruin,- me,., and \killr--yourself -afterwards ~to 'spite my- poverty. Rachel,^ you make' your poor old father, quite ill." "Then I am. to have the watch?" "Nefer mind the watch. Some other time talk to me of the watch. Come down safe to your old father, before you j get killed." ' J "But Ido mind the watch. It's what I i came for. I shajl stay here till you con- j sent." | "Oh, Rachel, you haf no heart. You , don't loaf your father." ' j "You don't love your daughter, else you'd give me what I want." "I not loaf you, Rachel ! Didn't I ' gif you that ring last week, and the red silk dress the week pefore? Come lown, my" child, and next birthday you shall have a better watch than in all Tresco's shop. My tear Rachel, my tear child, you'll be killed ; and what good will be your father's money to him then ? Oh ! that bale moved. Rachel ! sit still." "Then you'll give me the watch?" "Yes, yes. You shall have the watch. J Come down now, while Packett holds your hand." "Can I have it to-day?" • "Be careful, Packett. Oh ! that bale is almost ofer." - "Will you give it me this morning, father?" • - "Yes, yes, this morning." "Before I go home to v dinner?" • "Yes, pefore dinner." "Then, Packett, give me your hand. I will come down." Thje_ dainty ■victtress placed her Bible foot nrnxly on the uppermost rung ; and while Packett held the top and the. merchant the bottom of the ladder, the dream of muslin and ribbons descended to the floor. Old Varnhagen gave a sigh of . "You'll nefer do that again, Rachel?" "I hope I shall never need to." "You shouldn't upset your poor old father like that, Rachel." "You shouldn't drive me to use such means to make you do your duty." "My duty !" "Yes, to" give me that watch.'* "Ah, the watch. I forgot it." "I shall go now and get it." "Yes, my child, get it." "I'll say you will pay at the end of the month ; perhaps it will go towards a contra account for watches I shall supply to Tresco. We shall see." "Goodbye, father." "Goodbye, Rachel; ibut won't you gif your old lather a kiss pefore you go?" The vision of muslin and ribbons laid her parasol upon an upturned barrel, and came towards the portly Jew. Her soft dress was crumpled by his iat. hand, and her pretty head was nestled on his shoulder. "Ah ! my tear Rachel. Ah ! my peautiful. You loaf your old father. My liddle taughter, I gif you everything ; and you loaf me very moch, eh ?" "Of course I do. And won't it look well with a brand-new gold chain to match';:" "Next time my child wants something,

BWiwi HILMtJAf W ■*■*■! Tii^i r * >pt -''*='^ J BL'tf.-i l if<'T J If 1 u t'A.' mill i N l!Wfli < TlirOT lir O she won't climb on xhe irool bales and nearly kill herself:" "Of course not. I shall wear it this afternoon when I go out calling." "Now kiss me, ami run away while I make some more money for my liddte Rachel." The saintly face raised itself, and locked with a smile into the face of the old Jew ; and then the bright red lips fixed themselves upon his wrinkled cheek. "You are a good girl ; you- are my own child ; you shall have everything you ask; you shall have all I've got to give." "Good-bye. father. Thanks awfully much." < "Good-bye, Rachel." The girl turned; the little heels tapped . regularly on the floor ; the pigeon-liko walk was resumed; and" Rachel Varnhagen, watched by the loving eyes of htr father, passed into the street. The gold clerk at the Kangaroo Bank was- an immaculately dressed young man with a taste for jewellery. In. his tie he wore a pearl, in a gold* setting, shaped liked a diminutive human hand ; his watch chain was of gold, wrought in a wonderful and extravagant design. As lie stepped through the swinging, glazed doors of the bank and stood on the broad step without, at the witching hour of 12/ he twirled his small black moustache so as to display to advantage the Sparkling diamond ring which encircled the little finger of his left hand. Hia Semitic features wore an expression of great self-satisfaction, and his knowing air betokened- intimate knowledge of the world and ill that therein is. He nodded familiarly to a couple of young men who passed by, and glanced with the appreciative eye of a connoissew at the shopgirls v.ho ."were walking briskly to their dinners. • • t Jjoitering across, the pavement, jhe stood upon the curbing, and looked -wistfully iip and down tlfe street. > Presently there hove in sight a figure that riveted; his attention: it "was "'Rachaer'Varnhagen, ■ "with "muslins blowing in the traeeze and ribbons' wliich streamed behind, approachii>g r like a ship in .full sail. ' '.'*--, V,- J „, - ' S . ' The", gold elferk crossed 'oyer- the'vsisreei to;meet~her,_'anci raised his hat. . / .^^ ' '-'You're «in an awful '-hurry. v " Where bound, Rachel?" "If your old dad toH you. to go and buy, a gGld cratch, and. chain, you'd be in a hurry, lest he might change his mind." "My soul hankers after something dearer than watches and chains. If your dad would give me leave I'd annex his mostprecious jewel before he could say 'Knife.' He'd never get a chance to change hia mind. But be ' always says, *My -b»y, you wait till you're a manager and can give me a big overdraft.' At that rate we shall have to wait till Doomsday.'' "The watch is at Tresco's.- Come- along ; help me to turn the shop upside down 'to find the dandiest." "How d'you -manage to get round lha Governor, Rachel? I'd like to know ths dodge." ,- , "He wouldn't mind if_you fell jff a stack of bales and- broke your neck. He'd say, 'Thank God! that solves the liddle difficulty.' " "Wool bales! Has wool gone up? I don't understand." "Of course- -you don't, stupid. ' If -you were on the top of a pile of swaying bales, old Podge would say, take away the ladder ;.i,hat nice young man must stay there. It's better for -him to die than marry Rachel-; she'd drive him mad with bills in. a month.' " "Oh, that wouldn't trouble me; I'd draw on Ihim." "Oh, wouldi you?" Rachel laughed sceptically. ; "You don't know the Gov. if you think that. You couldn't bluff hinr into paying a shilling. I manage him all right. I can get what I want — from' a trip to Sydney to - a gold watch, deai boy." "Then why don't you squeeze a honeymoon out of him? That would be something new, Rachel." She actually paused in her haste. 'Wouldn't it be splendid?" she exclaimed, putting her parasol well back behind her head, so that the glow of its crimson silk formed a telling background to her face. "Wouldn't it be gorgeous? But as soon as I'm married old Podge will say, 'No, Rachel, my dear child, your poor old father is supplanted ; your husband - now has the sole privilege of satisfying your expensive tastes. Depend on him for everything you want.' What a magnificent time I should have on your twelve notes a month !" The spruce bank clerk was subdued in a moment — in the twinkling of one of Rachel's^ beautiful black eyes — his matrimonial intentions had been rudely reduced to a basis of pounds, shillings, and pence. But just at this embarrassing point- of the conversation they turned into Tresco's doorway, and confronted the rubicundgoldsmith, whose beaming smile seemed to fill the whole shop. "I saw an awf'ly jolly watch in you? window," said Rachel. "Probably. Nothing more likely, Miss Varnhagen," replied Benjamin. "Gold or silver?"

"Gold, of course. Let me see what fou've got." "Why, certainly." Tresco took gold watches from" the window, from the glass case on the counter,' from the glass cupboard that stood against the wall, from the depths of the great iron safe, from everywhere, and placed them in front of the pretty Jewess. Then he glanced ■with self-approval at the bank clerk, and gaid: "I guarantee them to keep perfect time. And, after all, there's nothing like " a good watch: A young lady cannot keep iher' appointments or a young man be on time without' a watch. Most important; no one should be without it." Rachel was examining the chronometers one by one : — opening and shutting t|i ce i r cases, examining their dials, peering into their mysterious works. She had taken off 'her gloves, and her pretty hands, ornajnented with dainty rings, were displayed in all their shapeliness and delicacy. "What's the price?" she asked. "Prices to suit all buyers," said Tresco. 'They go from, £10 upwards. This is the one I recommend; it carries a guarantee „for five years — jewelled throughout; in good, strong case' ; duplex-* escapement ; keyless ; Dent's compensation balance ; price, £25." He held up a gold chronometer in a case which" was flat and square^ with rounded corners,- and engraved elaborately — a watch which' would catch the ■ eye and'induce comments ~ ~ "* ,- _ " ' The jeweller had gauged the taste of ' his fair customer. *, "Oh, -the duck!" "The identical article; the ideal lady's iratch," said Tresco, unctuously. "And now the chain?" said Rachel. - Benjamin " took a dozen ladies watch-^ guards from a blue velvet pad, and handed' them to the girl. The »gold clerk of the Kangaroo Bank - stood by and .watched as Rachel tantalisingly held the dainty chains, ■ one •by ■ one* across her bust. "Quite right, sir; quite right," remarked the goldsmith. "When, a gentle- - man makes a present to a lady, let him do the thing handsome. Them's my sentiments." The girl looked at Tresco, and laughed. "This is "to be' booked to my father," Bhe'said. "There, that's the one I- -like best 1 ." She held out an elaborate chain; with a round bauble, hanging from it. you had to depend on Mr Zahn here, Jou'd have to"' wait till the cows came ome." JBenjamin wa* wrapping up the watch in" a quantity of tissue paper. ' ~ -■ "No, no; I'll .wear it," -exclaimed Rachel. One dainty hand stretched for- . .ward and took the watch, while the other , iheld the chain. "There," she said, as -she- handed the precious- purchase to. her ■ sweetheart, "fix it on." • -• She.,threw her head back, laid 7 her hand- - lightly on the young- man's arm, and aliowed^ him to tuck the ~watch into • her bodice and fasten the chain, around her seek.- . ■ - " He lingered long over -the process. J^Yes, I would," said the -voice" from l>ehirid>;the counter; *"I most "certainly" thbuldjpve "her" one on *the~ cheek, as>res-,-wardv Don't "mind me; I've done it my : eelf when I was young; before 1 lost my looks." . .... The young man stepped .back, ,and Rachel, after the - manner of . a "pouter r ipigeon, nestled her chin'oji her breast in w.«r endeavour to see how the watch looked in wearing. - Then she tapped the floor with the toe of her shoe indignantly, Land said, looking- straight at the gold.stiith, "You lost your looks % What a fiitd they must have been for the man jw!ao picked them up. -If I were you I'd •advertise for them, and offer a handsome reward; they must be valuable." "Most certainly they were,"" replied (Benjamin, his smile spreading- across his broad countenance; "they were- the talk -of all my lady friends and the envy of toy rivals." . -- "I -expect it was the rivals that spoilt Jhem. B.ut don'tjay.over spilt milk, ..old,; gentleman." "J .' *" -"- - "Certainly not, most decidedly not.;;there are compensations. The . price of . the watch and chain is £33; " ' "Never mind the -price; "I -don't want-to-know the- price ;, .that'll -interest ihySend- the account to -him,- arid makejTourself happy." . '* v-» And, touching -her 'sweethearts arm as^a signal for departure, the jdazzling vision ~Df r -muslin and- ribbons' vanished from the BhripT- ;" ." ■■ • " > -