TALES AND SKETCHES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6120, 5 March 1898, Page 1

TALES AND SKETCHES.

THE FIGHT FOR THE CROWN. [By W. E. Norbis.'J Author of "My Friend Jim," "Misadventure," "Marcia," "Baffled Conspirators," " Matrimony," " Saint Ann's," "A Dancer in Yellow," "No New Thing," &c, tic. {All Bights Reserved.) Chapter XXV. "fob the suture government op IRELAND." Not with impunity — or, at all events, not with, immunity — can one be a young M.P. of attractive exterior and considerable personal property. Wilfrid at this time found that his days and nights .were occupied with many unavoidable private engagements, in addition to those imposed upon him by his duty to his constituents, and thus he was prevented from seeing as much as he would fain have seen of the very small group of persons who alone, amongst the vast crowd which hemmed him in, appealed to his interest and sympathies. But from time to time he met one or two of them, and from time to time he learned, by scrap3 of casual intelligence which came to his ears, that they formed in literal truth, as well as in his thoughts, a compact group. " From all that I hear," he remarked, with a touch of impatience, to Lady Laura Mayne/whose neighbour he chanced to be at a dinner party one evening, "your prediction ia not very likely to be fulfilled. Do you remember telling me rather confidently what would be the result of your sister's taking up Miss Power ?" " That Southfield would drop her Y' asked Lady Laura. " Oh, yes, I remember quite well. So he will." "Yet it appears that she and he have been constantly coming across one another in Tilney Street of late." "Of course, they have ; what else did you expect Virginia to do P;<* -Miss Power, don't you see, is her friend— almost one of her set — and must be approached with respect, if she is to be approached at all." " I should hope so." i " Well, but Southfield doesn't care very much about ladies who have to be approached in that way. As far as I can see, it will all work out according \to programme, and Virginia, who never makes a mistake, evidently expects that it will. Do you admire this diamond and emerald bangle ?" " I have been admiring- it ever since we sat down," answered Wilfrid. "Presented to me, the other day, by Virginia, as a small reward for my having been sharp enough to put her on the scent. She always recognises her obligations, and if she can't give you jewellery, I daresay she will show you some other small mark of favour which you will "value even more. She will do the handsome thing by Miss Power, too — very likely find a husband for her by the time that Southfield has been cajoled into gulping down his unavoidable Bland." " You are rather cynical," said Wilfrid. " One hears that term used so often that a few days ago, in an unusual fit of curiosity, I asked Tom who the original Cynics were. He said he wasn't a walking eneyclopcedia, but roughly speaking, the Cynics were a sect who took ' don't care a ' for their motto. That sonnds so like me that I suppose I mnst have been one of them for years without knowing it. If you were to join us " "I am afraid I couldn't," said Wilfrid. ... "No, I'm afraid you couldn't — and, after all, it's less important for you than it is for me. All the same, you would be a good deal happier if you -were give up caring about things which aren't worth caring for." Wilfrid did not invite her to . explain. Whether Nora Power was worth caring for or not, it was assuredly beyond him to help caring for her, and he was to some extent comforted by what he had just been told i but perhaps it was not to Nora that the allusion had been meant to apply. Meanwhile, he was educating himself to care a little more about politics in their party aspect than he had hitherto done. He could not but perceive how desirable ib was that he should learn to take an interest in the vicissitudes belonging to the career which he w.as destined to follow, and those were days unusually propitious for such a purpose. The newly-formed Ministry, which many of Mr Gladstone's former colleages had declined or had not been invited to join, were virtually pledged to bring in a Home Rule Bill — Mr John Morley's appointment to the Irish Secretaryship was held to be conclusive upon that point — and how far the ostensible supporters of the Government would respond to the crack of the whip when the critical moment should arrive wa3 beginning to be a really interesting question, to' themselves and others. The revolt of the ,Whigs had been foreseen ; what looked more serious was the threatened defection of certain Radicals, in whose ranks — there really was no knowing — the member for the.Heckingley Division might possibly be miinbered. There was do knowing, because no information bad been vouchsafed either to him or to more important persons than he ; nor did he mean to surrender his right of private judgment by making premises in the dark. Consequently, it behoved him to get up facts and figures — a dry, weariBome, discouraging task which left him but few play-hours. Once, when he had a spare evening, he went again to see Tho Ambassador's Wife, and perceived by the crowded condition of the house that the piece had as yet lost nothing of it3 popularity. Towards the close of the evening Southfield sauntered in and seated himself at the end of the second row of stalls. _He wore— or Wilfrid imagined' that he did — a somewhat irritating air of proprietorship, and there could not be the slightest doubt that when Nora stepped before the curtain to (make her acknowledgments, she addressed a special smile and bow to the founder of her fortunes. He jumped up immediately afterwards and • shouldered his way out in advance of the dispersing audience. It might fairly be presumed that he was going behind. A lady of Wilfrid's acquaintance wanted to know whether there was any truth in the rumour that Lord Southfield was going to marry " that charming Miss Power." "It would be almost a pity, wouldn't it? Although they say she is quite 8 lady by birth, and his sister, I believe has her to dinner, and that sort of thing as if she approved." "I don't think," answered Wilfrid "that his sister would be very likely tc approve of such a match." < " And you, of course, are such a fnenc of Lady Virginia's that if there were anything in it, you would be sure tohav< heard. Besides, it is an open secrat thai she means her brother to marry money Wei} then, I wonder that.^for the girl i sake, she doesn't stop this." # " Stop what ?" Wilfrid enquired. «Oh the flirtation— to use a mild term Mild terms, unfortunately, haven tbeei fewHy suitable to Lord Southfield'a by gone flirtations, and if there were a younj Stress whom I wished to betnend th last thing that I should dream of doioj would be to encourage an intimacy betweei her and him." , .., "There is a good-natured and an ill

natured way of looking at everything," Wilfrid was uncivil enough to remark. " Good-natured people might think — and they would be right, too— that Lady Virginia was doing her best to shield Miss Power from calumny. Anyhow, that is her affair." " But, my dear Mr Elles, it becomes my affair, from the moment that I, am invited to meet the girl. She may be, and I hope ahe is, as innocent as she is pretty -, only she can't in her position, afford to be talked about — and really one has to be careful nowadays. I have grown-up daughters, you must remember." Wilfrid might have retorted that she had taken very good care not to let him forget that fact ; he might also have reminded her that, if report was to be trusted, her own youth" had not been marked by the excessive dread of possible contamination whi6h appeared to ,cbarac.terise hermaturer years. But it was better ,to close his lips tightly, to avoid making a fool of himself, and to get away. The worst of it was that the good woman was quite right, and that he entirely agreed with her. How long he would have had the strength of mind to resist an overwhelming temptation to betake himself to Warwick Crescent, and invite the rebuff which officious interference merits, it is impossible to say, if he had not felt 'convinced that Lady Virginia knew what she . was about, and if he had not been immersed, day and night, in the tedious researches aforesaid. To these he stuck with obstinate tenacity— finding, no doubt, in fatigue some equivalent for oblivion— and if, at the end of all, Mr Power would still have declared that he knew nothing about Ireland, he did at least make considerable additions to his stock of historical and statistical information. He flattered himself that he was fairly well primed when, after repeated postponements, the eventful day arrived on which his leader was to announce the much-talked-of Home Rule Bill to an expectant legislature. That it was to be a. measure for granting a more or less independent Parliament to Ireland was no longer disputed. Mr Chamberlain and Mr Trevelyan had resigned office rather than associate themselves with it, the terms Unionist and Separatist had already come into common use, and everybody was conscious that the old party divisions which for so long had granted alternate leases of power to progressive and quiescent ministries were in danger of obliteration. Wilfrid, like everybody'►else, who wished to obtain a seat, lushed down to the House at an hour when he was usually in bed, and by eleven o'clock not a single place remained unsecured. Some two dozen chairs were subsequently placed upon the. floor of the House for the accommodation of members: bslatedarrivals were fain to stand or to seek admission to the upper galleries. The scene, when at last the Prime Minister entered, wa3 a striking and memorable one. He was/' of course, received with tumultuous applause by his supporters, and the dense packing of the inadequate chamber gave this applause the appearance of being well-nigh unanimous. Yet itwasnotso. The old man, who stood by the table, surveying his audience with the fire of undying youth in. those luminous eyes of his, had already been forsaken by all the more influential amongst his colleagues of former years ; at the close of his career he rose, virtually alone, to proclaim that he had broken finally with the past and to bring in a Bill "to amend the provisions for the future Government of Ireland." Right or wrong, patriotic or unpatriotic, he could not by any impartial spectator be refused the tribute of admiration due to courage. So,..at all " events, Wilfrid, who was tolerably "' impartial, thought; for the vulgar theory, which attributed* this veteran's change of front to mere ambition and greed for office, might j surely be disregarded. ' I The young member, therefore, was pre- ! pared to be charmed, if nob swept away, by an oratory which had swayed many a wavering politician within the walls of Westminster, and multitudes outside them. But after the exordium, which was certainly fine and splendidly delivered,' he began to feel a little disappointed. Even the exordium, with its unfortunate allusion to certain Continental experiments in the direction of dual government which were not believed to have resulted in conspicuous success, was somewhat short of satisfactory, from the moment that details began to be stated the empiricism of the whole scheme became manifest to one who was fresh from a laborious study of details. Wilfrid, if not exactly critical by temperament, was cool-headed ; words, however eloquent and impassioned, had no power of blinding him to hard facts, and he could not see how this measure, as presented, was to be made to work. The exclusion of the Irish members from the Imperial Parliament ; the control of the police, which was to be provisionally denied, it appeared, to the new Legislature ; above all, the financial arrangements, which, though rather hard to follow, sounded anything but conclusive — all these points evidently opened the door to endless dissensions. There remained, to be sure, what was perhaps the greatest difficulty of all, the question of the purchase and sale of land; and tliis, it had been announced, was to be made the subject of a separate Bill, to be introduced in a week's time. Judgment, consequently, might for the time being, he held in abeyance. " Only, a3 far as we have gone," thought Wilfrid to himself, "it doesn't seem to me that we have got much beyond the declaration of a principle." Possibly it had not been Mr Gladstone's, aim to gefvery much beyond that ; for he alluded to the happy effects .which might be expected to follow "freehand full discussion," and he appealed to his hearers to "rely less upon merely written stipulations and more upon those better stipulations which are written on the heart and mind of man." He resumed his seat, after having spoken for three hours and a half during which time it may well be doubted whether he had won over a solitary fresh adherent to his views. He was followed, after an interval, by Mr Trevelyan, with a personal explanation accompanied by sundry obvious criticisms upon the proposed measure; then came Mr Parnell, with acrid denunciations of the previous speaker, and qualified approval of "the Bill ; finally, the adjournment was moved by Mr Chamberlain, who, it was understood, would also have a personal explanation to offer on the resumption of the debate. Lady Virginia Lethbridge, descending from the Ladies' Gallery, whence she had been a deeply interested spectator of the proceedings, drove the weary member for thoHeckiugley Division away with her in her brougham. " Magnificent !" she exclaimed. " Now, don't say it wasn't, or I will stop the carriage at once and turn you out into the mud." "It was magnificent," answered Wilfrid; "but it was not — not business. At least, lam afraid it won't prove so. I have been trying to work out some of those financial figures, and — " "Good gracious! what have you to do with stupid sums in arithmetic ? The important thing ia that the greatest man in England has done what no English minister eveifdared to do before and has acknowledge the right of Ireland to goyern-herself." '„ "F,* 16 were the greatest man that ever lived, he couldn't compel two and two to m . a -~J5l!/' observed Wilfrid, rather obW- Strange and Co. "a. registered brand Excelsior" clothing ftikboys, youths and »9n-is cheapest and bsW*

stinately. " But let us wait for the Land Purchase Bill." > " Are you going on like this ? " Lady Virginia inquired. "I don't understand." " Because if you are, we sliall quarrel. And then you will be sorry. It ■will be my duty and my desire to make you sorry. Who helped you into Parliament, pray? Who guided your hesitating steps into, the right path ? Who has done all manner of kind things for you in public and in private life ? And now you reward me by cavilling and throwing cold water ! " "I will be good," Wilfrid promised. " What do you want me to do ? " Lady Virginia laughed. "For the moment, I want you to come and partake of the refreshment which we both. need. After all, so long as you rote straight when the time comes, I won't forbid you to grumble a little, now and than. Only you are to reserve your grumblings for my private ear, please." Wilfrid assented. It seemed unnecessary and inopportune to mention that there was a possibility of his not voting with his' party when the time should come. !r Chapter XXVI. BILL NUMBER TWO. If things were as easy as they generally look ab the first glance/ this "pleasing, anxious being;" would, no doubt, be intolerably dull. It is perhaps pleasing chiefly on account of the ceaseless anxiety which attends it and the difficulties whereby it keeps our physical and mental powers in working order; so that we really ought not to complain of their being baffled and worsted, since combat of one kind or another is our de3tiny and our joy. With the above profoundly philosophical reflection Wilfrid endeavoured to console himself while listening attentively to the second night's debate upon the Government of Ireland Bill. The problem did not seem to be such a very hard one. A certain section of Her Majesty's subjects demanded, through the medium of fiVesixths of their representatives to be allowed to govern themselves ; they did not expect or ask for independence ; they only objected to alien and unsympathetic domination. Now, seeing thatalien and unsympathetic domination had been forced upon them for seven centuries without any sort of success, a plain man might well assume that compliance wrth a request which had five-sixths of a nation behind it, and w.hiph could not in itself be called unreasonable was the simplest and surest method of converting disaffection into loyalty. Yet here were Mr Chamberlain and Lord Hartington arguing — and arguing very forcibly too— to prove that no method could be less simple, less sure, or less safe. The former orator, while explaining the causes which had brought about his resignation, laboured under something of a disadvantage through being promptly forbidden by his late chief to refer to the provisions of the Land Purchase Bill, which was not yet before the House; nevertheless he was able to point out defects in the measure under discussion which seemed amply sufficient to justify him in refusing to vote for it. Lord Hartington, who at the outset had declined to join the Administration, was even more convincing. At All events, he seemed so to one who had been brought up, like other Englishmen of his class, in traditions of discipline, and who could not but recognise, now that they were set before him, the complicated and disastrous results which might follow a dissolution of the Act of Union. Still, and in spite of all, the fact remained that Ireland never had been, and probably never would be, coerced or cajoled into hugging her chains. The whole dilemma was utterly discouraging, and every way out of it appeared to lead only into a cul-de-sac. Therefore, Wilfrid was fain to seek comfort in the abstract musings above mentioned, and to thank his stars that he, at any rate, was responsible for nothing beyond his personal, insignificant vote. On which side that rote ought to De cast remained tiucertain to him after two more night3 of exhaustive disputation ; only his mind was made up that conscience, not his constituents, should dictate his course of action. He had, to be sure, been returned to Parliament as a follower of Mr Gladstone, if not as an actual Home Ruler; but he had never pledged himself to support a scheme which had not been submitted to the country at the general election, nor did he intend to surrender his right of private judgment to anybody. If in the sequel he should find himsolf compelled to oppose the party to which he belonged, nothing would afford him greater pleasure than to give up his seat. The case, however, did not immediately present itself, the Bill being read a first time without a division, after its author had summed up the debate with a reply to his various critics which neither lacked energy nor closed the door against possible conciliation. His project, he remarked, had many enemies, but not a single rival. It must, therefore, continue to hold the field, and until it could be so far altered or improved as to commend itself to a majority of the House and thus pass into law, all other legislation must of necessity fall into arrear. " And a very good thing, too ! " was Mr Fifczpatriclc's subsequent comment upon this threat. "If we poor Irishmen have done you fellows no other service, we have at least preserved you for some time from having your lives legislated out of you. That irrepressible leader of yours is bound to be always attacking something or somebody; aren't you plad that he is busy now going for the Irish landlords instead of tho Englis-h ones ? An'dhadn't you better give yourselves a little" more breathing time now that ho has provided you with such a capital excuse for dismissing him by committing himself to an impossible design ? You'll allow that it is impossible." Wilfrid made the same reply that he had made to Lady Virginia. "Let us wait for the Land Pnrchase Bill." " Oh, the Land Purchase Bi'l ! " returned Mr Mtzpatrick, laughing; "it is easy to prophesy what sort of a thing that will be. An offer which no landlord can accept, and •which will enable the Government to say to us, after our estates have been confiscated, ' Weil, wo did the -best we could for yon. You turned xip your noses at half a loaf, and it isn't our fault if you have no broad to-day.'" But the proposals which were announced three days' later did not appear to Wilfrid so illiberal as to warrant any instant turning up of Jnoses ob the part of those for whose benefit they were stated to have been framed. The landowners were to have the option of being bought out at the price of twenty years' purchase on the judicial rent— which sounded pretty well. There were, however, conditions and diawbncks. The ahovo price might be augmented or diminished, and applications mightjbe rejected altogether; the medium between vendor and purchaser was to be a "State Authority" appointed by the Irish Parliament; there was to be a Re-ceiver-General, nominated by the Impend Government, through whose hands all Irifh revenues were to pass, and the rentcharge was to be the first charge thereon, Finally, the sum to be advanced by the nation for the purpose of carrying out the purchase scheme was fixed at .£50,000,000. Now, as Wilfrid's reading had led him to conclude that the- total value of rented agricultural land in Ireland at twenty years purchase could not fall very far short of .£170,000,000, it was obvious that the sum in question could not possibly suffice, supposing that every landlord saw fit to avail himself of tbe offer made to him. Hat,

indeed, the whole plan as it stood, scarcely produced the effect of being serious, it was coldly received by the Nationalistmembers and laughed at by Mr Fitapatrick and those who sat near him, while representatives of the British taxpayer on both sidfis of the House raised ominoiis murmurs. As for the member -for the Heckingley Division, who had begun by being favourably impressed, he ended by indulging in a gentle shrug of the shoulders. Not by such means as these were dissentient Liberals likely to be tempted back into the fold ! !No division was challenged, and the House adjourned between one and two o'clock in the morning. In the damp, chilly darkness of Palace Yard, Wilfrid secured a hansom, and was in the act of stepping into it when he was familiarly accosted by a person whom he certainly would not have expected to encounter in such a place and at such a time of night. " Oh, I've been listening tc you," Lord Southfield said, iu reply to some expressions of surprise — " heard you out to the bitter end, with occasional intervals of slumber. What infernally dreary speakers you are, most of you ! Worse even than we are, I should say ; though I don't often patronise our branch of the business. However, I promised to be present thi3 time, and I'm a man of my word. I shall be able to report that there was- nothing worth reporting, except Chamberlain's speech. It struck me that he let your revered leader have it pretty straight, and that you're done for this journey, if you weren't done for before." "To report to whom?" Wilfrid inquired. But the question was really superfluous ; for it was easy to guess at whose instigation Lord Southfield had consented to grace the Peers' Gallery on this occasion, and, indeed, his lordship was not concerned to make any mystery about the matter. "Miss Power would have liked to be here herself," he answered, " and I believe my sister had a place for her ; but professional duties stood in the way. So I said I would come and take notes, as a corrective to Virginia's, which couldn't be relied upon for impartiality. How do you feel about the thing yourself by this time ? A bit sick, eh ?" " I never expected to find the House of Commons anything but sickening," replied Wilfrid, rather petulantly, " and so far X have not been disappointed. As for the Bill, I don't know ; I haven't had time to think it out yet." He could not refrain — though he wished to refrain — from adding : "I suppose you see a good deal of Miss Power now. She is prospering, I hope ?" " Oh, bless your soul, yes ! She's a star — a comet — whatever you like to call it. As soon a3 this piece stops running she ought to get a much better engagement. In fact, I may aay that I can get her a much better one. What are you doing now? Will you " " I'm going home to bed," Wilfrid answered, somewhat discourteously cutting short the invitation which appeared to be on its way ; " I'm less fortunate than you. I haven't had any sleep yet to-night." It occurred to him later that Lord Southfield might have intentionally waylaid him, aud might have had something to say which it would have been just as well to hear ; yet what more could the man have told him ? He had already been infoi'med that Nora's patron considered it his business to enter into future engagements on her behalf ; he had already been given to understand that her patron was her slave, to the extent of attending a sitting of the House of Commons at her behest. The remainder of the story told itself. Events were not arranging themselves in accordance with prediction j Lady Virginia and Lady Laura did not know what they were about — or, at least, if they did, theylhad only their own selfish ends in view, and cared little what might be the fate of this or that actress, so long as their brother behaved himself after a satisfactorily conventional and dishonourable fashion. Wilfrid, therefore, failed to obtain the repose which was his due that night, and on the next day but one, being Sunday, he carried his various troubles and perplexities to Tilney Street, where he was rather unreasonably disgusted to find himself one of a large bevy of visitors, which included Sir Samuel and Miss Bland. Sir Samuel, when he entered, was complacently holding forth 'in accents of platform oratory upon the political situation. "I do not in the least regret the secession of the Whigs, for a long time past I have regarded the Whigs as a source of weakness rather than of strength to our party. Mr Chamberlain will probably see before long that, in the nature of things, he can command no following. We shall welcome him back, ■ if he chooses to acknowledge the error of his ways; if not, we shall do very well without him. I 1 © my mind, the two measures now laid before us are statesmanlike, adequate and workable — or very nearly so. Even should they be rejected by the present House of Commons, which Ido not anticipate " " Will he continue to drown conversation in this way much longer, do you suppose?" whispered Wilfrid to Lady Laura, at whose elbow he had found a vacant chair. " Until his breath gives oiit, I expect," she replied, yawning 1 as usual. " Why not ? He iikea it, and nobody seems to mind." " I mind," muttered Wilfrid, " and I should have thought that you would. Don't you long to stuff a sofa-cushion down his throat?" "Never when his daughter is present. Looking at her, one sees what awful possibilities are in the blood, and one feels quite graceful to him for being no worse than he is." Wilfrid thought this rather hard upon poor Miss Bland, who, at least, could not be called loquacious, and whose inane fixed smile did not infuriate him. " I am so sorry Southfield hasn't turned up this afternoon," Wilfrid presently overheard Lady Virginia baying to her. "He woiVld certainly have come if he had known that you were going to be here." Miss Bland simpered and grew unbe- ■ comingly red in the face. Was it possible , that the unfortunate woman could swallow an assertion so palpably mendacious ? In anycuse, if it was in the hope of seeing her lukewarm suitor that she waited until everybody, except Wilfrid, had gone away, , she waited in vnin ; nncl after she and her . father had at length taken their leave, i Lady Virginia exclaimed : , " I owe- Southfield one for this ! He , swore by all he held most sacred that he , wouldn't throw me over again. Where on earth can he be ?" "In Warwick Crescent, perhaps," sug- , gested Wilfrid, drily. "He frequently is i to be found there, I understand." t "Well, don't look at mo in that accus- , ing way," returned Lady Virginia, who was . tired aud rather cross. " There isn't goino- . to be a scandal ; I will answer for that. But I I really can't answer for anything else If [ tho girl is such a goose as to believe that he . means matrimony, that is no fault of mine , I have discreetly warned her, I have , ostentatiously taken her under my wing— what more can I do? From my point of , view she is really useful, don't you see in t her present capacity . because she is keepin- Southfield out of mischief. As a • general rule, he can't spend a week in ; London without doing something flagrantly . shoeking-and the Blands, l believe, are baptists or something. What is it that the Blands are, Laura ?" But the younger sister, as^er habit was,

had already vanished, and thus Wilfrid was enabled to administer to the elder the severe rebuke whioh he conceived that her behaviour merited. Her methods, he said, were marked hy a cold, calculating heartlossness of which she ought to be ashamed. "I ant neither heartless nor ashamed," her ladyehip declared. " Charity begins at home, and my first duty is to my brother ; but when once I have settled his affairs for him — which I mean to do very soon now— l will turn my attention to Miss Power, whom I don't blame at all for thinking that it would be rather nice to be Lady Southfield. Silly oil her, perhaps, but not unnatural, and compensations shall be forthcoming in due time. Oh, the Irish landed interest isn't being neglected; even you muat acknowledge that. Or don't you acknowledge it ?" *; Truth compelled Wilfrid to reply that he doubted whether Irish landowners would derive, or were intended to derive, much, substantial benefit from the Land Purchase Bill. So then it became his turn to be lectured, find nothing more was said about Nora and Lord Southfield. Nothing more, indeed, remained to be said ; nor, when he left Tilney Street, -did he feel' reassured respecting any of the points upon which he had fondly looked for reassurance. (To be continued).