TALES AND SKETCHES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6072, 8 January 1898, Page 1

TALES AND SKETCHES.

- ♦ THE FIGHT FOR THE CROWN. [Bt W. E. Norms, j Author of "My Friend Jim," "Misad- *" venture," "Marcia," "Baffled Conspirators," " Matrimony," " Saint Ann's," "A Dancer in Yellow," "No New Thing," &c, &o. {All Bights Reserved.) Chapter IX. THB TIL-NET STEEET SISTERS. T-ady Virginia might have chosen her parting words more judiciously if she was really anxious to welcome her protege in Tilney Street again at an early date. That harassed young man, whose present habitation was ridiculously unsuifced to a bachelor, and who was painfully conscious ef the impossibility of holding it against feminine invasion for an indefinite length of time, was far from being attracted by her ladyship's announcement that she had a sister who was one of the prettiest girls in London. There were so manyprettiestgirls in London ! — whereas there was, so far as he was aware, but one Lady Virginia Lethbridge. Why must she needs proclaim that she was blessed or cursed wifch a sister, and thus rob a modest stranger of certain flattering unctions which he had been laying to his innocent soul ? Consequently, Wilfrid took his time over the perusal of those books. As a matter of fact, they demanded rather careful perusal, accompanied by meditation and verification of some of the statements which they contained. They did not invariably stand the latter test ; they wero avowedly onesided, and thoy were composed for the mosfc part in an impassioned sfcyle ill adapted to enlist fche sympathy of AngloSaxon readers. Yet when all deductions had been made and every exaggeration allowed for, it remained undeniable that the advocates of Home Bule (or, at least, of self-government in seme shape or form) had a strongish primd facie case. That much, Wilfrid thought, might be conceded without prejudice, and with as many "neverthelessses " and " notwithstandings " as further research and rumination might justify. The wrongs of Ireland in the past had been more cruel and less excusable than he had supposed, while the mere fact that, in the present, an immense majority of the Irish people declared, through their representatives, their dissatisfaction with the existing method of government must be accepted as entitling them to something different. Not, perhaps, to what they demanded, bufc afc all events to some measure wbioh might possibly content them and inflict no intolerable injury upon others. For the rest, Home Rule was not at that particular moment the burning question, nor had any responsible English statesman as yet associated himself with an exceedingly troublesome band of politicians. The Ministry, confronted, immediately after the re-assembling of Parliament, with votes of censure upon their Egyptian policy in both Houses, had other fish to fry, and indeed only escaped overthrow by a narrow majority in the Commons, while they were, as a matter of course, defeated in the Lords. The incident of the -Bussian advance upon Penjdeh and the consequent pnblio excitemeht did not' tend to render their position more enviable; so that the resignation of some members of the Cabinet, if not of all, was rumoured to be imminent. In any case, an Administration which must, in the nature of things, be so near the end of its tether, was unlikely to attempt any fresh departure so far as Ireland was concerned, and although it was as yet uncertain whether the Crimes Act was to be renewed or not, .nobody expected that it' would be allowed to lapse. "All the same," said Lady Virginia, "Ireland is the one thing that signifies. The Irish members (by the way, won't you come and meet some of them at dinner? — they are quite tidy, I assure you,, m spite of what you may have been told), can almost do what they please already, and in the next Parliament there are sure to be more of them. So nobody will be able to do without fchem. Added to which, theirs is a righteous cause. You acknowledge now that it's a righteous cause, don't you ? I was sure you would." It was in Hyde Park, one mild February afternoon, that her ladyship thus addressed a wayfarer to whom she had beckoned, telling her coachman to draw up. beside the railings. Wilfrid, in reply, did not think that he was prepared to go quite aa far as that. • "I am willing," said he, " to acknowledge that there is nothing surprising in the fact .that a good many Irishmen wish for Home Rule, and Fll denounce the policy of the last century as loudly as you please ; but " "Oh, bothor the last century!" interrupted Lady Virginia; "it's the policy of the present century, beginning with the Act of Union, that wants denunciation. I perceive, as Sfc Paul — or was it St Peter ?— said to somebody who didn't agree with him, that you are ' still in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity.' You had better come home to tea with me and be washed clean of your lingering tenderness for Irish landlords. Jump in," she added, lifting up a corner of the bearskin rug which covered her knees ; " it's very nice of me to ask you, considering that you haven't had the common civility to leave a card at my door all this time." So he jumped in and was whirled away towards complete surrender under conditions which made that surrender easy, and pleasant enough. . For Lady Virginia besides being so pretty and so vivacious, was really, quite convincing. What, she put it to him, as a reasonable and intelligent being, was the sense of making two bites at a cherry? When once you had admitted the justice and necessity of a , great reform you only stultified yourself and pleased nobody by advocating mere snippets of it. The Union between Great Britain and Ireland had proved an unsuccessful experiment. Very well; then let it be frankly abandoned, and if somebody must needs suffer pecuniary loss, why should ifc not be the landlords ? — who, for that matter, had only themselves to thank. "It isn't as if they had ever done their duty, or even tried to do ifc." Possibly she would have been loss convincing if she had been less pretty ;bufc she appeared, at any rate, to be both enthusiastic and sincere, and of course it is perfectly truo that no great reform can be carried without detriment to certain members of fche community. Wilfrid, taking into consideration the liberty which attaches to irresponsibility and insignificance, was almost, if not altogether, disposed to declare himself a Home Buler then and there. Darkness was falling, and shaded lamps had been carried into the warm, luxurious Tilney Street drawing-room by the time that he was conducted thither. As he entered, in the wake of his conductress, a tall young woman started up from the deep easy-chair in which she wa3 reclining by the fireside, and announced, addressing nobody in particular, that she had been asleep. This was Lady Laura Mayne, an auburn-haired, violet-eyed girl, whose loveliness deserved, beyond all question, the praise bestowed upon it by the elder sister, to whom Jshe bore no sort of resemblance. Wilfrid's first impression of her was that she looked as stupid as she was

beautiful ; but then to be sure, she was, by her own confession, only half -awake. "Are you going to talk: politics?" she asked, after Lady Virginia had introduced Wilfrid, with brief explanatory remarks, and had begun to pour out tea. " Don't mind me, if you are; lean drop off again with the utmost ease in a minute." "But we aren't," her sister replied; " There's no immediate occasion for ifc. Mr Elles, I am glad to tell you, is converted, . and it only remains for him to discover ' some right-minded constituency. Meanwhile, I wish you would entertain him for ten minutes or so ; I must go and scribble half-a-dozen notes to catch the post." She hastily swallowed a cup of tea and left the room, throwing over her shoulder on the threshold, a backward glance which struok Wilfrid as expressive of mischievous amusement. Was ifc of malice prepense, then, that she had picked him up on her passage through . the Park, and had tossed him, so to speak, afc the feet of a debutante whom she was doubtless solicitous of establishing? Such a suspicion was neither unpardonable nor unnatural; but he had not boen many minutes in Lady Laura's company before he came to the conclusion that it was probably unfounded. Por, indeed, the girl did not exert herself in the slightest degree for his amusement, nor was he, affcer all, so prodigious a prize that an Earl's daughter of striking beauty need be assumed to have designs upon him. Lady Laura responded to the conversational efforts which ho felfc bound to make after*a placid monosyllabic fashion which ended t»y provoking him a little. Every now and then she yawned unrestrainedly. He mentally accused her of " putting on side," and would fain have conveyed a hint to her, had thafc been practicable, that he was at least as much bored as she could be. "You are not particularly interested iv politics, I suppose," said he at length, after racking his brains in vain to hit upon any subject that did interest her. She shook her head drowsily. " Not in the least. In fact, I think I rather hate them. Bufc perhaps that isn't their fault, poor things \" " Whose fault ?" asked Wilfrid puzzled. "The fault of the politics. It's the politicians who are so deadly dull ! I wonder why Virginia persists in surrounding herself wifch them." Wilfrid could not say, but suggested that it might be because she did nofc fchink fchem dull. " Oh, she must ! Didn't you meet a lot of them that Sunday when you lunched here?" "I met Sir Samuel Bland, • Wilfrid answered. " Well, he is typical. He used to have a hideous wife, I remember ; but she died last year. Now he has a plain-headed daughter, who is sure to make him happy by marrying well, as she will succeed to an enormous fortune. He is " But apparently Lady Laura could not face the exertion of defining what he was ; for her voice died away in a prolonged yawn. Presently, as Wilfrid remained silent, she remarked : " They are all of them either like that or like you. Mosfc of them are like that." In what respect he differed from Sir Samuel Bland and other politicians Wilfrid was not on that occasion destined to learn. Lady Virginia reappeared before he had time to institute inquiries, and immediately afterwards Lady Laura rose with great deliberation, stretched herself, and slowly left the room. "Well," said the elder sister, as soon as the door had closed, "didn't I tell you so?" -„,.. "Really," answered Wilfrid, with a touch of irritation, " I can't remember that yon did. . You spoke, I believe, of exceptional beauty— which I don't dispute." " What more would you have ? I am afraid you have been a little bit spoilt, Mr Elles, and if Laura has snubbed you — as of course she has, because she snubs everybody — that will do you no great harm." "It hasn't done me an atom of harm," Wilfrid declared ; " it hasn't even put me out of conceit with myself — though that may have been your sister's kindly intention. I knew perfectly well, before she took so much trouble to make it clear to me, that I was quite unworthy of her notice. Whatever I may be, nobody can called me ambitious." Lady Virginia laughed delightedly. , " Oh, how cross we are !" she exclaimed. "Nevermind! You .han't be teased any more to-day. If you aren't ambitious, I don't mind telling you that you ought to be, and now thafc you are committed to our side, I shall make it my business to further your legitimate aspirations. Are you game to fight an uncertain seat before the general election? In case one should fall vacant, it might be worth your while and your money to do that, even if you should be beaten." He was not aware of having formally committed himself to any side, nor was he afc all eager to rush into the arms of expectant,desfciny; but he liked very well to sit by the fireside and listen to Lady Virginia's predictions of the triumph that awaited the great Liberal party, to the extreme advanced guard of which she prided herself upon belonging. She might, be talking rather nonsensically; the Liberal party might be, and probably was, far from any intention of embarking upon the sort of general crusade she advocated ; but that did not prevent her from being fascinating, as well as amusing, nor was it altogether disagreeable to be likened to a crusader. According to Lady Virginia, he was a man of that stamp (though he never would have supposed it), and she counted upon him fco aid her and others in levelling the antiquated barriers which still divided the classes from the masses. Anything more grotesque and incongruous than the profession of , such opinions by such a person ifc would have been difficult to imagine, and her auditor encouraged her by acquiescent nods, every now and then, just for the amusement of seeing how far she would go. She went a good long way. Absolute, universal equality, it seemed, was her ideal, and she did nofc shrink from declaring that this equality ought to apply to the distribution of wealth jusfc as much as to political privileges. It was absurd to assert that A. had any right to an annual income of half a million while B. was starving in tho next street ; it was even doubtful whether A. had a right to more than a mere pittance — a thousand a year or something equally farcical — and there was no doubt at all that lazy plutocrats ought to be made to disgorge what they had never earned. "lam afraid that means me," observed Wilfrid. "It must, of course, mean Sir Samuel Bland. Are you prepared to give us a lead by voluntarily resigning ninetenths of your income?" " I would in a moment," Lady Virginia unflinchingly averred, " if I ever had such a thing as a balance to dispose of. Unfortunately, my account is always overdrawn, and nothing can be hoped for from Tom, who is an unregenerate Tory." "So that you can enjoy the luxury of being a Socialist or a Communist upon tolerably easy terms." "If you are going to begin sneering," returned Lady Virginia, with dignity, " you had better take yourself off. Anybody can sneer ; and everybody knows that a high ictaal can't be realised from one moment

j, to another. Take the Sermon on the Mount, for instance. I don't suppose the c Archbishop of Canterbury or anybody else J would expect us to carry out that proi, gramme to-morrow. However, you are t sound about Ireland, which is the main i thing just at present, and I bave every reason to hope and believe that, when once . you are in Parliament you .will stick to the r strait and narrow way which leads to the i Treasury Bench." . p Wilfrid could see no warrant for such . an anticipation ; but he cautiously and r submissively professed himself -willing to 3 follow his leader. "Then," said Lady'' Virginia "you will . be an avowed Home Ruler, depend upon it, before, this time next year. Oh, I am not; •fcalking at random ; I know which way your * leader's nose _3 turned. And if I were you, I should gain a harmless little triumph for ' myself by getting a yard or two in front of [ him," '. Chapter K. . AN EASTER HOLIDAY. Lady Virginia's confident prediction— " destined though it was to be fulfilled — was 1 not very seriously accepted by her disciple. [ Wilfridjwas her disciple first and foremost, -* because she charmed him (which, to be [ sure, was . a reason like another) • but he ' did not imagine that practical statesmen 1 contemplated any concessions to the Irish 1 Nationalist party, nor was he at all sure * that' such concessions could be safely made. ' Meanwhile, persons who were neither * statesmen nor under any particular oblif gation to be practical, might very well be ' permitted to indulge in harmless, pleasing 1 visions of Utopia. So, during those early I spring days, he occasionally horrified his friends by utterances which they did nofc | hesitate to stigmatise as downright ' seditious. - Of Lady Virginia he saw as much as her exceedingly numerous engagements would 1 permit, and he became better acquainted 1 with her sister, who, he was fain to admit, \ improved a little on acquaintance. ' The girl, he soon perceived, did not really mean to be rude ; she only did nofc L care to be afc the pains of being polite ; and 1 if this attitude of hers was somewhat un- < flattering and disconcerting, it was in a great measure atoned for by its impartiality. Smart young men, whom she ruthlessly snubbed, turned away from her in | rosy indignation, notwithstanding her ; beauty, and thus it came to pass thafc she * was not unfrequently left in the company of a young man who had no pretensions to ; be smart. She liked Wilfrid, ifc appeared, a good deal better than she liked most people. So, at least, her sister found ' an opportunity of telling him, and he received this gratifying information with a bow and a deep sigh. " Why do you make fchafc snorting noise ?" Lady Virginia inquired. 1 "It was meant to signify mild expostulation," he replied. "If there happened to be a person by whom you were particularly anxious to be liked, and who had ceased to take much notice of you, I daresay you wouldn't be ; greatly consoled at hearing ' from him or her that somebody else thought you comparatively unobjectionable. The truth, lam afraid, is that I allowed myself fc« bo talked over far too easily. I no longer interest ; you, now that I have been securely penned in the Radical fold with the other blaok sheep." Lady Virginia was not displeased; discreet flattery never came amiss to her. But she told Wilfrid that the blackest thing about him was his ingratitude. " What more cJan ome do than keep ort • asking you to dinner ? And then you don', always come! " • , " I should have thought";" said Wilfrid, "that when I did come you might sometimes allow me to sit within shouting distance of you." " So I will as soon as ever youmake your--1 self useful enough or useless enough to command the \>ffer of a peerage. En attendant I really can't, Radical as I am, throw the laws of precedence to the winds ; nobody would ever dine with me again if I did, and then Tom would turn rusty. However, you may sit beside me now and talk to me for the next half-hour if you like." It was at a large party in a very large house that the above colloquy took place, and as the house in question contained several sequestered nooks, well adapted for purposes of quiet conversation, Lady Virginia was enabled to be even better than her word. Her husband, indeed, had considerable difficulty in discovering her at an early hour of the morning, and after (according to his slightly exaggerated statement) everybody else had gone away. "What," he inquired, as they drove homewards, " do you mean to do with that unhappy young man ?" " To make him happier, for one thing," ' was her ladyship's prompt reply. " How ? — by marrying him to Laura ?" " Well, one never knows. Laura makes herself so impossible! — and roally she might do a great deal worse. He must be as rich as Croesus, besides having literally no extravagant tastes. Meanwhile, I am endeavouring to keep his spirits up with political instruction. He has strong Conservative leanings, poor fellow ; and Conservatives, as you know, are always pessimists." "You are an unprincipled woman, Virginia," observed Mr Lethbridge. " Who but you would say such a thing as that of me ? I don't suppose there is a woman in England who is so true to her principles as I am." " Yes ; bufc your principles are so shockingly unprincipled. Moreover, my dear, you are too clever by half ,• you make no allowance for an independent man's natural isinclination to do as he is told. I'll lay you two to one in what you like that Elles ends by slipping through your fingers." "Done with you," returned Lady Virginia instantly. " We'll make it monkeys, please." This was not so pleasant for Mr Lethbridge, who perceived that he was in danger of losing .£IOOO, while his chances of winning .£SOO in addition to the moral triumph which he anticipated, were small indeed. Ifc seemed, however, as if he might yet prove to be a true prophet; for Wilfrid, not long afterwards, suddenly left London for some destination unknown to his friends. The cause of this abrupt departure was nothing more nor less than an unexpected encounter in Piccadilly one morning with a gentleman whose existence it must be confessed that he had well-nigh forgotten. Perhaps he would not have recognised Mr Power if Mr Power had not at once recognised him; but he was really glad to see the kind old fellow again and really interested in listening to the domestic annals which were subsequently imparted to him. Nora was at horne — educated, finished, fit to hold her own with anybody in several modern languages; Jim was away in India ; Poor Denis had been packed off to a Colorado ranch, in default of any other opening for him. "You'll find us even duller than you left us afc fche Abbey, if I could persuade you to run across for an Easter holiday. You wouldn't be persuaded, I suppose ? ! You're too great a man in these days to be free, or to condescend so far." But Wilfrid, as ifc happened, had no engagements that could not be cancelled, and, Mr Power's invitation being repeated in a somewhat more pressing and definite shape W. Strange and Co. are now showing enormous stocks of carpets, floorcloths Mid linoleums, and invite inspection.

after dinner in Butland Gate on the morrow, he gratefully accepted it. It behoved him (so he told himself) to seize any occasion thafc might offer of gaining some insight into the actual condition of affairs in Ireland ; he had been long enough in London to experience a craving for fresh air; possibly, too, he was not altogether averse from asserting his liberty to Lady Virginia, who had given him to understand that he might be wanted to join in a brief excursion to Paris, "in case one of our party, who is a doubtful starter, should fail us afc the last moment." Filling up an empty place is all very well when one is asked to do so as a favour ; it is another thing to be instructed to' hold oneself in readiness upon the chance of a place falling vacant. Thus ifc came about that our friend, Flurry, waiting at the railway station one afternoon to receive " the master," who had been over fco England on business, was made to grin from ear to ear by the appearance, in Mr Power's company, of a gentleman whose liberal tip on a previous occasion he had not yet forgotten. "Ifs Miss Nora will be glad to see your honour, sorr," he announced confidentially, while Mr Power was engaged in conversawith the station-master. " She's leading a lonesome life now the young gentlemen are away— bad luck to thiin as drives all the ould families out from the country ! " Wilfrid said something about its being pleasant to be welcomed. He hoped, indeed, that a welcome awaited him ; although, on the road towards Eathfinnan, his careless host mentioned casually that no instructions, telegraphic or other, had been issued to prepare a room for his reception. "We've empty rooms enough, Heaven knows !" Mr Power remarked, with a shrug of his shoulders. But was ifc really Nora Power who, oh their arrival, came out into the hall and shook hands with her father's unexpected guest? Was'jfciiis very beautiful, very selfpossessed„4xi r d very neatly attired young lady thesame girl who had taken a header into the sea two years ago fco rescue a drowning urchin ? Gone was the easy, swinging, somewhat clumsy gait that Wilfrid remembered ; gone was the pigtail of lingering childhood; gone, too, beyond recall, was the brogue which had erstwhile been one of Miss Nora's charms. If she was glad to see him— as she amiably declared that she was — her gladness seemed to be of a conventional order, and he fancied that he could detect beneath it some suspicion of the annoyance which every mistress of a household must feel at having a visitor sprung upon her when neither fish nor entrees have been ordered for dinner. Her manners, however, were perfect. His room was soon made ready for him; she did not apologise for the very simple repast to which they presently sat down, and during its progress she discoursed upon all manner of subjects with a well-bred fluency which really ought not to have disappointed him as much as I did. Not until Mr Power had fallen sound asleep in the smoking-room did he take courage to remark, in a slightly aggrieved tone : "I wish people wouldn't grow up!' I don't recognise you, Miss Power; and it is a most depressing experience to be unable to recognise former friends." "But I recognise yon," she returned, laughing. "Which is exhilarating — besides being quite as ifc should be. There wasn't any necessity for you to change ; whereas it was indispensable for me to improve, and I hope you mean thafc I have improved, f" ' "I made so bold- as to- be very well satisfied with you as you were." Wilfrid said. " Ah, bufc the general public would never have tolerated me, as I used to be — thanks, all the same, for the compliment. After the course of drilling that I have been through, I don't feel much afraid of the general publio now, and I am less ignorant, as well as less prejudiced, than I was. Except, perhaps, in one particular." " In what particular ?" "You mustn't be angry with me for saying that I still detest the English as much as ever. I make you welcome to call that prejudice or ignorance, or both, if you like." "In old days," observed Wilfrid, " you did, I remember, allow a few exceptions." "So I do now. You were one of the exceptions, and I trust you will remain one. Only don't say anything about your political opinions, please ; because I know what Sir John Elles's were, and I would rather not hear that you had inherited them." That being so, Wilfrid observed the silence requested of him. To avow himßelf an incipient Home Ruler under the roof of an Irish landlord would have been almost insulting ; and, after all, he did not as yet know for certain what he was. So he more or less adroitly turned the conversation into different channels, and heard, amongst other things, that Eathfinnan Abbey was shortly to be the scene of a grand amateur theatrical entertainment, in which Miss Bower was to assume the leading part. " Proceeds to be handed to a fund for the relief of distressed Irish ladies," she explained. "I am sure I might claim a share in them ; but, as a matter of fact, we are not actually ruined yet — only going to be. And when we are " " Yes ?" said Wilfrid interrogatively, as she paused. "No ; I won't say what I was on the point of saying ; it would bring us rather too near to politics for safety. I wish I had known a few days ago that you were coming ; I daresay I could have found a part for you in one of the plays." "Then lam very glad you didn't know; for I doubt whether I could even get on or off the stage without disgracing myself. The part for which I am besfc fitted is that of a spectator. I can applaud as loudly as anybody, and I will." " Well, if you applaud with discrimination one will be duly grateful. As the room will be full of Our friends and neighbours, lam afraid wo must expect to be vociferously acclaimed, however bad we may be; but perhaps you will tell me afterwards in confidence what you honestly think of me as an actress." Wilfrid had forgot the girl's expressed determination to earn her living upon the stage ,* but this speech reminded him of it, and he was about to say that he did hope she had abandoned so preposterous a project, when Mr Power, suddenly waking up, remarked, with the solemn irrelevance characteristic of those who wish to show that they have not lost consciousness for a moment: • "Oh, I'm quite with you there; it was kindly meant, no doubt. All I say is that it was ingeniously inopportune, and thafc Lord Spencer ought to have known better than to encourage ifc. Dublin, if you like, and Belfast of course; but what the deuce was to be looked for from Cork except dead cats and rotten eggs, and maybe something worse ?" He was alluding, it appeared, to . the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales to Ireland, which, indeed, had not proved a very brilliant success, and he went on rather testily to assure Wilfrid (who had not opened his lips) that ho knew nothing whatever about the country. "I almost despair of ever knowing anything about it," the young man submissively rejoined. "Then, my fo^ f e ]] 0W) you are j n a fair way towards becoming wise. The one lesson which you Englishmen require to learn is that you never will and never can understand us." "I am going to bed," said Nora, getting :

up. "There will be wigs on the green presently, I see, and the chances are that you wouldboth of you fall upon me if I-tried to stand between you.'" But there was no quarrel in the smokingroom after her exit. Mr Power goodhumouredly apologised, acknowledging thafc he had indulged in forty winks * and had failed to catch his guest's last remarks; while Wilfrid disclaimed all responsibility for, or approval of, the movements of Royal personages. " Only I wish," he ventured to add, " that , Irishmen of all parties would give us credit for being anxious to do the straight thing. The majority of us really do wish to be just — and generous into the bargain.". "H'm!" returned Mr Power. "Well, I won't contradict you; but I should have thought that what the majority and the minority of you especially wanted to do was to secure the Irish vote. However, we won't talk about it." (To be continued.)