A TRIP TO THE ISLE OF MAN.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2528, 22 September 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)

A TRIP TO THE ISLE OF MAN.

CHAPTER 111.-(Continued),

Foil a wonder wo found both Sarah and Bella engaged in what appeared iin animated disnourso behind the counter.

"Well ladies," said Walter, " we are going out for a walk, to seethe beauties of Douglas, animate and inanimate. I prefer the former, and I wish wo could persuade you to uccoinpauy us, for then, \vu should be indifferent, in what direction wo walked ; since we should luive sufficient beauty beside us, wherever we may no. Don't you think tho sea breezo on the Quay would do you both good ? Oould'nt mamma, be persuaded to attend to the customers for nn hour?"

"Quite impossible," said Sarah, "mamma lws other to attend to, and we are not allowed to μ-o wandering about the streets in tho evening." " Well, I'm sorry for that; Charley, here, is rather a melancholy sort of companion at times." "It is not your friend who is always out or uorts though, I believe," said Surali; " I was sorry to hear that you had met with some misfortane whilst bathing this morning, Mr C ." " Please don't put that dreadful Mr to my name," he said, "you would find "Walter simpler aiid easier to pronounce, and I know it would sound far pleasanter to me ; besides, we have been under the same roof for an age, it seems to me, and ought to be like brothers and sisters. Don't you think we might begin with Walter and Sarah now; and then we should feel like friends at once? If you would only call me Walter I would tell you all about ■that mishap, that I see you arc curious to learn the particulars of." "Well then. Mr Walter what dreadful thing happened this morning to cause you to come home looking so very illtempered ?" " That's as bad as the other," ho replied. "It must be plain Walter, or the secret is for ever locked in my breast."

"Well, please tell us all about it, Walter, if it must be Walter," she said, laughing. "Oh! that inspires confidence, he said. " I now feel that my tale of woe will be confided to a sympathetic ear. Sympathy is what I need, the laughter of the unfeeling crowd this morning was almost more than I could endnre. I felt that humanity had fallen in my estimation, when a oase of such evident distress was only looked upon as a source of amusement, when undeserved misfortune like mine provoked nothing but merriment. One thing I especially regret, and that is that I was compelled to leave the scene of my disaster, without having administered a little wholesome chastisement to the delinquent; the designer and perpetrator of the diabolical act. I ask you, Sarah and Bella, what would have been your feelings, if yon had witnessed a fellow mortal, (with head and arms entangled in his shirt, which was only half on) hurled ruthlessly and remorselessly, headlong through the doorway of his bathing machine into the tide? Such was my fate this morning , . You laugh, but surely I am right in attributing your merriment to nothing but exuberant joy at my safe deliverance ■ -'from the : fearful plunge. I esonpxl uninjured, except in my wardrobe, and the baneful effects which a good quart full of sea water (swallowed involuntarily, and at a single gulp), may have upon a stomach, unfortified by a particle of footl. Pray, don't restrain your laughter; I can see it is almost hysterical," such laughter as the mingled feelings of joy and horror only could produce. The unfeeling \Vrotch who accomplished the vilbiiuons act, was the boy who drags misguided people up and down the beach in those rickety, illcontrived, low-roofed, abominable bathing machines. The scamp, without a word of warning; knowingly, designedly, and (as they Hay in law Courts) of " malice prepense," "started his horse, and has thereby incurred my undying hatred. I should lik& to be that boy's schoolmaster; I would make him read his lessons backwards like the Chinese; I'd set him impossible sums, aud cane him till he howled again for not doing thorn; I should like to carve, mutilate, aud disperse his miserable body, till it would be impossible to hold an inquest on him for want of miiterial: I should like—but there, I leave him in the hands of—not I trust, a merciful, but an avenging Providence. You've read Tom More, all of you, I dare say. Do you remember the 'Curse, in tho 'Fire Worshippers.' Well! that anathema expresses my feelings exactly. I shall havo to alter the lines slightly, but here they are—

O ! for a tongue to curse tho slave, Whose treason like a deadly blicht Pitched me headlong into the wave, And with salt water choked me quite. May life's unblessed cup for him He drugged with treacheries to the brim With hopes that but allure—to fly With joys that vanish while he sips ; Like dead sea fruits that tempt the eye, But turn to ashes.on the lips.

There's more, of it, the curse pursues Mm after death, but ray memory fails me, and let him get the benefit of.it. > Let his punishment, therefore, be limited to this life ; I don't want to be too hard on him." He spouted these lines in such a melodramatic tone, and with such exaggerated gestures, that we were all convulsed with laughter, Tears, coursed down Bella's cheeks, and Sarah was obliged to put one hand to her side and lean for support on the counter with the other.

The noise of our merriment brought Mrs S—— upon the scene.: She stared with astonishmeut, ; and pfced Waltep (aa the only one who ap.

pearcd capable of making a reply) what we were all laughing at ? "I have been narrating a case of genuine distress to your daughters, madam," he said, "and you see how it lias been received. At first they appear undecided whether to laugh or ery, and now they seem to be doing both." Hero Sarah recovered her voioo sufficiently to give her mother a short explanation of Walter's mishap. She then turned to him, and said " you must give me your shirt Mr C , ».s it will need to be washed and ironed before you can wear it again." He replied that ho thought it was scarcely worth while to have brought it homo; as tho rents in it proved (on examination) to bo so extensive , , as to render it in his opinion beyond all hopo of repair. " Oh ! you give it to me," she said, ,: I dnre say a needle and cotton will put it all right again." ""Well," Raid Walter, "you will find it hanging upon a hook behind tho door in our bedroom, and it is a mercy that. I did not hang myself up there instead ; I was almost driven to it; but I was afraid that I was hardly fit for heaven, and, really, tho other place has got such a bad name, that I did not like to risk it." Here the landlady left us, (to get the slnV,, I suppose) remarking as she went out, that, " oho did not approve of joking on serious matters."

When she had gone, Walter said, "There, now I have offended your mother. It's just like me; I can never open my mouth (as the fellow said) without putting my foot in it. She has gone nwav thinking I am wicked, and carnal minded, when I wished to conciliate and iuspiro her with confidence in my possessing the most orthodox views on religious matters. I had hoped thnt ero many days wero over, we might have been trusted with the care of you ladies in a drive to Castletown."

"There was not much chance of that," said Sarah ; " Mamma would not allow us to go out unless sho went too."

" Well! " I remarked, "there would bo no objection to her coining; only your jaunting cars do not appear to be constructed to carry more than four beside the driver."

"Who would mind the shop if wo all went out," laughed Sarah. " No, no, master Charley and Walter; you will have to go to Castletown by yourselves." " To-morrow will be Sunday," I said, looking at Bella. " You go to church I suppose?" " Yes " she replied; " papa and mnmma usually go in the morning and Sarah and I in the evening; unless there is no one here, and then we all go together." "Oh! that's the arrangement, is it? said Walter. " Well ! I imagine there can be no objection to our attending the same place of worship, and listening to the same discourse as you do ; and as our roads will lie in the same direction afterwards, you will not, I am sure, refuse our company on trie way home." " Of course we could not hinder your goinsr to church, even if we wished, ,, she said ;" and unless you walk too fast or too slow, I suppose we should be likely to come back together." '"But," I said, "you have not yet told us where the church is."

" Perhaps you had better go with papa and mamma in tho morning, and thun you would have an opportunity of judging what kind of sermon you would have to listen to in the evening," remarked Sarab.

" Yes, very true," said Walter, "but I think we ought not to neglect our bodies in a too great anxiety to save our souls, and we had proposed laying in a large stock of health by climbin-j up that beadland to the right of the Pier to-morrow morning; so plenso let us know the whereabouts of the Church.. A long walk will take nil tho nonsense out of us, and we shall be able to sit out the sermon with a proper degree of decorum."

They then gave us the needful direction, and we went out for our stroll, promising to be at the Church door punctually at half-past fix. As we were walking down the street, Walter said, "Well, Charley, you will have golden hair all to yourself for a short time to-morrow. What do you propose to talk about ? " " Oh ! I said, I'll try to find something , that will interest her. What 8-jbject do you intend to discuss with Sarah ? " That's more than I can tell," he replied, perhaps the sermon if it's very good, or very bad. She's a very jolly girl, but of course, it's no use going beyond fun. We shall be leaving in a few days, and then it is not likely that wo shall ever see them again." '' I shall come back next summer if I live," I said. " Nonsense ! you will have had a dozen divinities in the next 12 month*, and will have forgotten all about the golden-haired Bella," he replied. That I felt was impossible, and so I told him. " Well," he said, " I'd make a bet that you will be carrying out Tom Moore's maxim in less than six months." " What's that?" I said. " Why," he quoted— Wb.er, we are far from the lips that wo lov -5 \\ r o have but to make love to the lips we are " No," I answered, "that girl's face will ever be present, ami eclipse all other charms. 1 have never seen anything fO lovely, ao angelic. Yes ! that's tho word, Those delicate features, those soft blue eyes and golden hair, »o other colour would suit tho face, give her just the look that, I imau-ino, the angels must wear. What I feel for her i«, I think, more like worship than lovo." " Oh ;" he said, " now you mention it, I thought I noticed wings sprouting from her shoulders ; but, I say, Charley, I am afraid it's you that will do the flying away. A few short days, and the vision of Pftnulise will be over. It really is a pity that there are no allotments for sale in thn (xirden of Eden just noiv, though if there were were you have not money enouy'i to buy one ; but I forgot there never were any freeholds there. Adam :ind Eve had only a very short lease. They broke the terms of the agreement, and had to leave through a criminal prosecution for orchard robbing, I believe, and the premises have remained vacant iri consequence; or was it the fences that were broken down, and the animals got out and have been running wild ever since." This profane jocularity jarred upon my feelings, and I returned no answer, and for the remainder of our walk I could not help thinking of the fact that I should unavoidably have to leave in a few days ; and though Walter kept on talking in the same strain, I remained silent until we returned home. There was no one in the shop when we got there and we went straight to our room, whore we sat smoking till 10 o'olook ; when we heard the girls coming upstairs to bed. We then went out on to the landing, to renew our promise of being at church at half-past six; and having wished them good night, went back to our rcom; and soon afterwards retired to bed (To lie cor.tiivtfi' , )., .