MAJOR MOLLOY'S WIFE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 2785, 7 March 1877, Page 3

MAJOR MOLLOY'S WIFE.

(Fi-nm the Xew London Ciliujazinc.) (Concluded.) With tho exception of the adjutant the ofllcors of tho mess wore perfcc ly satisfied with tho explanation, but that gentleman, with the view of eliciting something further, assumed tho manner of a counsel at tho bar, und commenced cross-examining Gravely a_ to who the young lady wan ; from wh-.-nc- alio camo ; how long mid alio boon at S-.uthdown, and how long did she intend staying ? Al-o whom did sho know in tho town, and where did she visit, to all of whioh queries Gravely maintained a sullon silence. " I've told you," said he, when his tormentor had resumed his scat, " alll know ; I can toll you no more." "On the following morning ao Lieutenant Farr, of " Ours," was hurrying down tho High street, aft'.-r a detachment of men who had gono on some distanco in advance, ho accidentally struck a b;ok from tho hand of a young lady who was reading it as she strolled along, and on recounting the adventure at the mess table afterwards, his descripbion of her exactly tallied with that of Miss Morton, our inamorata of the provious cay. " Was deuced sorry that I hf.d no time to speak to ber," iiuid tho young dandy ; " I was bo pressed for time, you know ; bufc I say, Gravely, I admiro your taste, old fellow." " What timo waß that, Farr ?" inquired Adjutant Jones. 1" About noon, I think." " And at two o'clook, gentlemen," said Jones, 'our dear John Gravely waa seen walking

with the same young lady along the beach, two miles from the town." "Who P-v-v r"> ?" noVprl n. ? n r? '- q-; : j] y"No matter who caw you ; suffice ie that you were there, and in company with Miss Morton ; I've found out the name, you wiil observe; but, if report speaks truly, the young lady has an invalid mother, whom she leaves in her lonesome Jbath chair, to wander down the High street, and overturn military pedestrians." "Confound your impertinence!" Bhouted Jack ; " you had better be cautious what you are saying, Jones ; I can appreciate a joke as well as most men ; bufc you go too far." "Gentlemen! gentlemen!" cried Colonel Hobbs ; " a little decorum, if you please." " A phenomenon !" exclaimed the placid adjutant ; " a philosopher with a bad temper ; cheer up, dear boy ! I meant no harm ; if you love the girl, why don't you marry her ?" Gravely's indignant reply — a powerful malediction — caused a roar of laughter from the officers, in the midst of which he roße and left the room. After that day Jack was a changed man. From being a pleasant fellow, addicted to joviality and all kinds of amusement, he grew into a morose and gloomy recluse. He never accepted a single invitation to party or ball, and caused considerable discussion among the select few who had the honour of his acquaintance as to the unaccountable alteration in his habits. "Do you know Mr Molloy," said old Lady Carkless, " I am of opinion that poor dear Oaptaia Gravely is deeply smitten with a young person I have noticed sometimes on the parade or in the High streot, invariably reading a book." "Don'fc you know who she is? " chimed in the Honourable Julia Midas ; "my brother Alay, who came up from town yestorday, recognised her as a burlesque actress of the Pandemonium Theatre, London, playing under the name of Patti do Olifton ; I wonder the Earl of Norris Court's son hasn't a better taste." I can't describe to you, gintlemen, what a shock this piece of information gave me. I had suspected for some time that Jack was in lovo with the girl, for he was Been daily in her Bociofcy ; but I was almost certain fchat ho know nofching of who and whafc sho was, further than whafc she had told him herself. The Honourable John Gravely belonged to one of the proudest families in Englund, and I knew sufficient of his nature to feel convinced that, under the present circumstances, he would contrive to master his feolings, and shun her for the future. So I resolved to seok him out on the following morning, and tell him what I had heard. I suppose I must have overslept myself on the next day, for I did not turn out till past eleven o'clock, and then Gravely's servant informed me that his master had been gone some two hours or moro. It was a terribly hot morning, and I was glad to keep to the shadow of tho houses in tho High street, and started in search of my friend. One or two acquaintances whom I met informed me that Oaptain Gravely had passed them some time since, further down in tho direction of the beach. On to the parade I accordingly went, and from thence to the beaoh in the direction of Rock Cliff, whoro I knew Jack had been seen on several occasions in company with Miss Morton. The cliff at this part of tho coast rose in somo places to a prodigious height, and, in the afternoon, afforded an agroeable shelter from the sun to those who cared for a stroll along tho shinglo. Before noon, however, fcho solar rays poured . down with tremendous power upon tho beaoh, and being to somo extent refracted by the chalky walls, creatod a dazzling glare fchat was perfeotly unbearable. Ifc was, however, wifch no slight sensation of relief thab I discovered an oponing in tho cliff — a cavern of considerable extent ; its exact area I was unable to determine, the change from tho light without to tho gloom within rendering everything of an opaque blaokness. In this shelter I sank gratefully down, and, soothed by tho soft lapping of the sea upon the beaoh, and the comparatively delightful coolness of the atmosphere, went off into a comfortable sleep. I must havo dozod away for some littlo time, for I dreamed I -vas a dragon which had come to devour poor little May Morton, and that Bomehow John Gravely had rescued her and fastened me to a rock. And then I dreamt that ho claimed her hand a3 the guerdon of his valour, and pleaded so eloquently that it seemed quite natural, and no dream at all. " Mino," ho said fervently, "is no boy's fanoy, born of admiration for a pretty face. It is moro, far more than that ; ifc is a strong lovo which quito overpowers my judgment. I have watched and studied you, May, when you never gueaaed it. I havo noticed your devieea to attract men'a attention. I have read you -till deopor, and boliovo you to bo in spito of all, und independently of your vanity and want of proper training, a good, truthful, warm-hearted girl. Forgive mo for speaking out as bluntly as I havo dono. Don'fc ory, my darling, and toll me will you he my wife." Would you br-liove it, gentlemen, but I found myself sitting bolt upright with my eyes op.n, and not asleep afc all, bufc listening attentively to a conversation botween two figures thifc woro ou.linod ' ildly at the entrance of the cavern against . - sea without. And yo would scarcoly credit it >•• en I tell you I obsv rved the shorter and more i.elieate figure of the two sink into tho arms of tha bigger one, and ever am' above the sounds of tho aea without nnd tho broken sobs wiLhin, I heard a noiao liko that produced by a kiss, and then several moro of a similar character, and before I could recover the uso of my voico I saw both figures walk forth together, and the arm of tho big one was wound round fcho other's waist. And then pulling myself together a bit, I got. up and said, " Be gorra, Molloy, but you'ro v. trifle* behind time ?" ***** As 1 was gol ting ready for dinner, a meesige came f.<r n>_ t-.« tho effect, that Captain Gravely would feel t'raicful if Adjutant Molloy would join bim at dinner in Captain Gravely's private room, as tho captain did nofc intend joining the moss on that ovening. To which note Adjutant Molloy replied iv tho affirmative. I had determined upon my courso of aotion, bo I greeted Jack in the roost innocent manner in fcho world, and I must admit fchat tho philosopher's impenetrable features showed no signs of emotion that could bo in any way assigned to tho events of the morning. " Well Gravely," I began, so as to givo him no opportunity of broaching the subject first, " I have something to tell you. Your name's bruited abroad in conneotion with Miss Morton's," " What of that," said Jack, coolly. " Nothing," I answered, " only I must ask you one quostion; do you know who and whafc she is ? Have you ever seeu this crippled mother of hers ?" " I-don'f, know whafc in the name of goodness you aro driving at," rejoined Gravely ; " bufc if you are very curious to know, let me tell you that I have, and a very estimable

person she is — the widow of a clergyman who died some seven or eight years ago, and left h. r in raiher cia.res.od circumstances." " Exactly," said I drily, " thac deceased clergyman was. as I have discovered, a drunken prompter in a provinoial l__e_.*,re, and his wife, Mrs Morton, a decayed actreßS, who broke her leg in falling through a trap-door." Gravely's face was now black as thunder. " Be careful what you are saying," he hissed out ; " I'm in no humour to be fooled with." " Listen, Gravely, my boy," I wenfc on ; " you love this girl, everybody knows ifc, and you must leave her." " Leave her, why ?" he said wildly. " Because," I said, '* she has deceived you as regards her social position. Mercy Morton is a burlesque actress, who dances breakdowns in a third rate metropolitan theatre, under the name of Patti de Clifton." For a moment he looked afc me angrily, and then he held me by the throat. " It's a lio ! a oowardly lie," he cried ; "confess it, or I shall kill you !" Captain Gravely had only one master in physical strength in the whole regiment, and that one, as fortune willed it, was Adjutant Molloy. Had it been otherwise, I should havo died then and there of sfct angulation; but I foroed him back again into his seat; and, getting a little cooled, he wiped his forehead and begged my pardon for his violenoe. "Listen to me, old boy," I said, "what I tell you now ie for your own good. This very afternoon I have had a long talk with a fellow from town, Algernon Midas, a man who knows everything pertaining to town life. He is acquainted with this girl and het family. He admits that she is modest and respeotable, far above the average ; and, for the mattor of that, I believe so too. But yoa have seen certain things about hor, a disagreeable freedom with strangers, which, although perfectly compatible with modesty in a thirdrate stage-danoer, would be by no means welcome in the wife of the son of the Earl of Norris Court. Your inoome, as you have admitted, barely suffices you for everyday expenses ; how could you manage with an establishment to maintain ? Do you think thafc your father " " Stop, for God's sake !" said the poor fellow ; " fche die is cast ; I have proposed to the girl, and have boen accepted." " You have proposed ;" said I, "to Miss Morton, the daughter of a clergyman, not fco Patti de Clifton, of the Pandemonium Theatre, London. The dancer has no olaim upon you." " I must havo time for reflection ; leave me till to-morrow." " Not a minute," I rejoined ; " you must be off to London to-night. I have planned it all out. Exchange into another regiment ;go abroad, anywhere ; but as far away from that girl as you can." " I must see her and explain beforo I go," said he, imploringly. " Not a word ; I'll toll her all ; you must accept tho inevitable; will you follow my advice ?" Ho rose to his feet and graßped me by the band ; hia face was ghastly white. " God bless you, old friend," he Baid ; " as Ho shall deal gently with you, bo deal with her." I saw him off thafc night, and I've never set eyes on him since ; for a week after that be exohanged infco a regiment ordered out for Indian service. And as for May — poor ohild ! I pitied hor more than I cun tell. I saw her after he had gone, and I told her that Captain Gravely, having been ordered unexpectedly out on foreign servioe, had had no time to wish hor good-bye, but that he had desired mo to do bo for him. She looked round in a half-dazed fashion, and, with her protty mouth quivering, asked me if he would over oome back." " Como baok !" I repeated, " not for many, many years." And then I was sorry for what I had said D for, looking piteoualy up in my face, she turned round and fainted away * * * * "That's all, gentlemen; pass the sherry, Mac." " Well, but what became of Gravely ?" asked one of tho guests. " Ho got along right enough," replied the major ; " two years afterwards he married the wealthy daughter of the Rajah of Battledoor, and now has quite a large family." " And poor little May ?" pursued fche interrogator. " O, I beg your pardon," said Major Molloy, as though the circumstance had quite slipped his memory ; " but I don'fc mind telling you in confidence that I married her myself." There was a shout of amazement and laughter from all present. " Why, then, Mrs Molloy," began fche inquisitive one, " was " " Exactly," replied the major ; " I sent an apology to Gravely which he nover answered, and upon my sowl, gentlemen, I can conscientiously say thafc I've never had occasion to regret his departure, for it's a good wife she's been to me." " One more question, major," puroued the importunate guest, " who wus the Binsible, clever man whom you, at tho commencement of your story, Baid mada a fool of himself?" " Mesilf, Bir, moflilf!" replied the major sternly ; *' and now I think we'll join the ladies. But mind, boys — not a word beforo Mrs Molloy !" Somo clerical blunders are afc once pardonable and amusing, but others at times aie hard to endure. A parishioner who nover wenfc thr < ; „h a summer without complaining bitte* 1 „-. i.O heat, much to tho annoyance of hia Irii-iids, at last took sick and died. His pastor wus üb-ont ab the time and did not hear of the sad event. On his return ho mot the son of the deceased, and unwittingly inquired, saying, " Well, my friend, how does your father boar fche heat now ?" Imagit c his surprise afc being told that the father hud been dead two months, and his bewilderment when the hope was expressed thafc the place to which he had gone was not noted for the height of its temperature.