NUMBER FIFTY-SIX.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5273, 1 June 1895, Page 1

NUMBER FIFTY-SIX.

[BT BTEPHBN X.IACOOX.] (Detroit Frsi Pretf.)

"What I narrate wu told me one w inter'f evening by my friend Ah Yen in the little room behind his laundry. Ah Yen is a, quiet little celestial with a grave an 4 thoughtful face, and that melancholy, con; templative disposition so often notioed i#. a his countrymen. ,' r Between myself and Ah Yen t\ffi\ exists a friendship of some yekjra* sending, . and we spent many a long evening jn th? dimly-lighted room behind t)__\ shop. smoking a dreamy pipe together, and plunged in silent meditation. lam chiefly attracted to my friend by the highly imaginative cast of his mind, which is, I believe, a trait of the eastern oharaoter, and which enables him to forget.to a great extent the sordid cares of his oalling in an inner life of his own creation. Of the keen, analytical side of his mind, I was in entire ignorance until the.- evening of which I write.

The room where we satonps small and dingy, with but little furniture except onr ohaira and the little table at which we filled and arranged our pipes, and it was lighted only by a tallow candle. There were a few pictures on the walls, for the most part rade prints cut from the oolamns pf the daily preßß and posted up to hide the bareness of the room. Only one picture was in any way noticeable, a portrait admirably exeouted in pen and ink. The face was that of a young man, a very fine face but one of infinite sadness. I had long been aware, although I know not bow, that Ah Yen had met with a great sorrow, and had in some way conneoted the fact with this portrait. I had always refrained, however, from asking him about; it, and it was not until the evening in question that I kaew its history. We bad been smoking in silence, for some time when Ah Yen spoke. My friend is a man of culture and Wide, reading, and his English is consequent^ perfect in its construction, although his speech is of course marked by the lingering liquid accent of his country, which I will hot attempt to reproduce.

"I see," he said, "that you haye been examining the portrait of my unhappy friend, Fifty-six. I have never, yet. told yoa of my bereavement, bat as to-night ia the anniversary of bis death, I would fain speak of him for a while." Ah Yen paused; I lighted my pipe afresh and nodded to him to show that I wbb listening. " I do nob know," he went 00, " at what precise time Fif ty-B_x oame into my Ufe. I could find it oat by examining my books, but I have never troubled to do 40. Naturally I. took no mors interest in bim at first than in any other of my onßtomers— less, perhaps, since ha never in the course of our connection brought his clothes to me himself bnt always sent them here by a. boy. Wheu I presently perceived that, bei wpa^beoomingpijis of my. regular custowuarfc I allotted to him his number, Fif ty. six, and began to speculate as to who and what he was. Before long I had reached several conclusion* in regard to my unknown client. The qnality of his linen showed me that, if not rioh, he was at any rate fairly well off. I could see that he was a yonng man of good and regular habits, who went oat into Booiety to a certain extent; this I could tell from his always sending the same number of articles to the laundry, from his washing always coming on Saturday night, and from the faot that he wore a dress shirt about onoe a week. In disposition he was a' modest, unassuming fellow, for his collars wero only two inoh'eß high* I stared at Ah. Yen in some amazement: the recent publioaticns of a favourite novelist had rendered ne familiar with this process of analytical reasoning, but I was prepared for no snob revelations from my eastern friend.

"When I first knew him," Ah Yen went on, " Fifty-six was a student at the university. This, of course, I did not know for some time. I inferred it, however, in the course of events, from his absence from town during the four summer months, and from tbe fact that during the time of the university examinations the cuffs of the shirts came to be covered witb dates, formula and propositions in geometer. I foUowed bim with no little interest, through hia university career. During tha four years that it lasted, I Washed for him every week ; my regular connection with him and the insight whioh my observation gave me into the lovable oharaoter of the man, deepened my first esteem into a profound affeotion, and I beoame most anxious for his success. *I helped him at each succeeding examination, as far as lay ih my power, by starching his shirts half way to the elbow, so as to leave him as much room as possible for annotations. My anxiety during the strain of hiß final examination I will not attempt to desoribe. That Fifty-six was undergoing the great crisis of his academic career, I could infer from the state of his handkerchiefs, which, in apparent unconsciousness, he used as pen-wipers during the final test. His conduct during the examination bore witness to the normal development which had taken place in his character during his career as an nndergradaate ; for the notes npon bis cuffs which bad been so copious at hiß earlier examinations, were limited now to a few hintß, and theße only upon topics so intricate as to defy an ordinary memory. It waß with a thrill of joy that I at last received in his laundry bundle one Satnrday early in June, a ruffled dress shirt, the boßom of which was thickly spattered with the apillings of the winecup, and realised that Fifty-six had banqueted aa a Baohelor of Arts.

"In the following' winter the habit of wiping his pen with his handkerchief, which I had remarked during his final examination, became chronio with him, and I knew that he bad entered upon the study of the law. He worked hard during the year, and dress shirts almost disappeared from his weekly bundle. It was in the following winter, the second year of his legal studies, that the tragedy of hia life began. I became aware that a change had come over his laundry. From one, or at most two, a week, his dreas shirts rose to four, and silk handkerohiefs began to replace his linen ones. It dawned upon me tbat Fifty-sis was abandoning the rigorous tenor of his student life, and was going into sooiety. I presently perceived something more* Fifty.six wsb in love. It was soon impossible to doubt ifc. He waß wearing seven shirts a week; linen handkerohiefs disappeared from hiß laundry ; his collars rose from two inches to tiro and a quarter, and finally to two and a half. I have in my possession one of bia laundry lists of that period ; a glance at it will show the soruj pulous care whioh he bestowed upon bis person. Well do I remember the dawning nones of those daya, alternating with the gloomiest despair. Each Saturday I opened his bundle with a trembling eagerness to catch the first signs of a return of his love. I helped my friend in every way that I could. His shirts and collars were masterpieoea of art, though my hand often shook with agitation as I applied the starch. She was a brave, noble girl— that I knew f bee influence trot elevating the

whole nature of Fifty-six. Until now he had had in his possession a number of detaohed cuffs and false shirt fronts; these he discarded now— at first the false shirt fronts, Bcorning the very idea of fraud, and after a time, in his enthusiasm abandoning even the cuffs. I cannot look back upon those bright, happy days of courtship ■without a sigh. The happiness of Fifty-six seemed to enter into and fill my whole life. I lived but from Saturday to Satnrday. The appearance of falso Bhirt-fronts would caat me to the lowest depths of despair; their absence raised me to a pinnacle of hope. .It was not till winter softened into spring * chat Fif ty-six nerved himself to learn his fate. One Saturday he sent me a new white waistcoat, a garment which had hitherto been shunned by hio modest nature, to prepare for his use. I bestowed npon it all the resources of my art; I read bia purpose in it. On the Saturday following it was returned to me, and, with tears of joy, I marked where a warm little hand, gently perspiring, had rested fondly *>h the right collar, and knew that Fiftysix was the accepted lover of his sweetheart/'

- - Ah Yen paused and sat for some time silent ; bis pipe had sputtered out and lay cold in the hollow of bis hand; his eye was fixed upon the wall, where the' light ind shadow 'shifted in the dull flickering of the candle. At .last he spoke again :

"I. will not dwell on the happy daya that ensued— days of gaudy summer neckties and white waistcoats, of spotless shirts ind lofty collars worn but a Bingle day by tho fastidious lover. Our happiness seemed ..complete, and I asked no more from fate. Alas ! it was not destined to continue ! .W'hen the bright, days of summer were fading into autumn, I was gf&vod to notice an occasional quarrel — only four shirts, instead of seven, or the reappearance of the abandoned cuffs and Bhirt fronts, Reconciliations followed, with tears of penitence- upon the collar of the white waistcoat, and the seven shirtß came baok. But the quarrels grew more frequent. The shirt3 went.Bldwly down tothree.then fell to two, andthe collars of my unhappy friend nubBided to ah inch ' and three-quarters. In vain, I lavished my utmoßb care upon .Fifty-sir. It Beemed to my tortured jjnind that the gloss upon hiß shirts and obllarß would have melted a heart of stone. &Vas ! my every effort at reconciliation seemed to fail. An awful month passed; the false fronts and detached cuffs wero all back again; the unhappy lover seemed to glory in their perfidy. At last, one gloomy evening, I found on opening his bundle that he had '' bought a stock of celluloids, and my heart told mo tbat itho had abandoned him for ever. Qt what my poor friend Buffered at this time I can give you no idea; suffice it to say that he passed from celluloids to a blue flannel shirt, and from blue to gray. The sight of a red cotton handkerchief in his wash at length warned me that his disappointed love had unhinged his mind, and I feared the worst. Then came an j agonising interval of three weeks, during whiob he Bent me nothing, and after that j oame the last parcel that I ever received j 'from him, an enormous bundle, that j seemed to contain all his effects. In this, i to my horror, I discovered one shirt, .the breast of which waß stained a deep crimson witb his blood, and pierced by a ragged i hole that showed where a bullet had singed j through into hi3 heart.

" A fortnight before I remembered having heard the street boys crying the newa of sin appalling suicide, and I know now it must have been he. After the firßt shook of my grief had passed, I sought to keep him in my memoty by drawing tbe portrait which hangs beside you. I havo some skill in the art, and I feel assured that I have caught the expression of hia face. The picture iB, of course, an ideal one, for, as you know, I neret saw Fiftysix."

The bell on the door of the outer shop tinkled at the entrance of a customer. AU Ten rose with that air of quiet resignation that habitually marks hio demeanour, and remained for some time in the shop. When he returned he seemed in no mood to continue speaking of hiß lost friend. I left him loon after and walked sorrowfully home to my lodgings. On my way back I mused much npon my little eastern? friend and the sympathetic grasp of his imagination. But a burden lay heavy on my heart— ■ something I would fain have told him, but which I could not bear to mention. I OOnld not find it in my heart to chatter the airy castle of his fanoy ; for my life has been secluded and solitary, and I .have known no love like that of Ah Ten'a ideal friend. Yet I have a haunting recollection of a certain huge bundle of washing than I sent to him about a year ago. I had been absent from town for three weeks, and my laundry was much larger than usual in consequence. And, if I mistake not, there was in' the bundle a tattered Shirt that had been grievously stained by the breaking of a bottlo of red ink in my portmanteau, and burnt in one place where ah ash fell from my cigar as I made np the bundle. Of ali this I cannot feel absolutely certaiu, yet I know at least that until a year ago, when I transferred my custom to a more modern establishment, my laundry number with Ah Yen was Fifty-six.