CHAPTER XII.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XX, Issue 17, 12 February 1892, Page 21

CHAPTER XII.

Momy ia a defenci. So sang King Solomon. I'm defended then, against the outrageons quirks of time now. Bat stop : let me give a detailed account of all that has happened. 1 wish I oculd describe oar back parlour, where I received thr ie kind and interested acquaintances, nay friends, of mine. Megiddo's back parlour is a study in black oak. A series of shelves creeps up the walls, and those shelves are crowded with a motley assemblage of objects. Prom the tea-cup to the Widding-rine a representation of life is on those shelves. The profane laugh the .-nous sign, the artistic rejoice. There is food enough for conversation to last a century here. I had coffee and cakes arranged on a costly table, all Sevres and ormolu. The Fieach queens star it round in miniatures. Megiddo procured it, as be procured everything, by waiting : he waited seven years for that table—jost as long as Jacob waited for Leah as it turned out— and was better pleased with his bargain, I fancy ' Mr Harrison's big black eyts (I uee black with poatical'licensa of course) were riveted on it. ' "If it's youra," he eaid to me, «it mast go. Ten little black girls shall be supported and washed white with the price of that table " I made no reply. I can't reply when prophets call, and' Mr Harrison calls me, as he calls others, very loudly. Mrs Oudlip-Gaye is always amueing. She looked to charmine to-night in that peculiar style of dress she affects-all harmony She says England will yet wake up to wholesale savagery in national dress. The natural ling of the figure will ba followed, and will be worthy of both mind and matter. Fabrics, not stuffs, will be banded down once more among us. I can see, I can't help seeing, that she is very much attracted by the individuality of Oonway Hope Yet 1 bow perfectly free from everything that is odious and wrong and unworthy of wifehood is her most frank admiration I Mr Archdeacon has her vows, somebody else has her admiration, but nobody has her love. I could declare Emma has never been in love by one sinele sign : she is just a little bit hard. X M feel like a witch to-night Il'I 1 ' she s.id, glancing at Oanon Hop, the lime-trees, the hill, the J,w Megiddo, and tL Megiddo then at Mr Harrison, who invests wealth of one sort to produce wealth sort. Has St Swithun ever looked upon a more peculiar Canon Hope drew himself out of an abstraction .- •• Great discoveries, perhaps, lie before Miss Megiddo ; tben she will discover the greatest discovery ot all— herself." "O, please don't, Oanon Hope I" said Pietra Beckett « «Mr Har nson is to have all Miss Megiddo's money. That was settled lone ago. ™ When Pietra Beckett spoke I felt myself forged to meet tht eyes of Mr Hairuou. How that nu'i will v itronger tbj» loina/wid I

really hated him at that moment for holding me in that glance, which seemed to deprive me of free will. I straggled to recover the passage of my eyes, as it were, bnt conld not. I stared till I cursed my boldness, and then my boldness seemed to cnrse me. Not till Mr Harrison gave me leave consciously to •' go " did I go. Pray what is this ? Did I describe Mr Hauison, of Ncwtown Town, the States? I said he had black eyes ; but did I tell of his beard, of bis height, of bis intense calmness, which has the effect of arousing every nerve and exciting you to the highest pitch of intellectual effort, and then reducing you to a state of abject humiliation, by feeling that it was he who drew you forth, and he again who, by a sudden change of manner, left you Btranded on the dry, arid deserts of no will, no thought, except wLat he evoktd ? His face is inscrutable : it is folded and refolded - a scheme of thought to whicl only adepts, I suppo -, could have access. His face is the instrument of his will. He is, perhaps, old ; I Bay perhaps, he will never show those indisputable signs of age which are the lot of those who cannot manage either themselves or their lives. He has arranged a great scheme, and he sits at ease in the middle of ii. You don't dare dispute his goodness, because his arguments command yon ; you can't walk away from him : you might run. and even then your head would be over your shoulder all the time. I wanted to say, " If there is a fortune awaiting me, I shall dance about a bit," but I didn't dare. I only looked at Mr Harrison like a simpleton, and smilr d the smile of enforced acceptance of the comirand this man had laid upon me to yield up my fortune. Miss Clutterbeck had that paradoxical dog under her arm. I say paradoxical because you take i 1 whiteness on hearsay— it's as black as my Tyrolese hat ! She says it's white. Mr Harrison has no power over her. She says he has more wives alive than the Bishop ol Bengaline has dead, And she talks about polygamy in a way that makes my hair stand o D nd. I have always noticed that ladies of the Clutterbeck type mak such alarming statistics, Miss Clutterbtck has Bet about protect! ng Conway Hope. She says he needs protection, all the time the isgusting old thing is making up to him herself, and, of course, be doesn't Bee through it. Why should he ? Only very conceited men think they are attractive. I saw her march off down the cloisters with Conway Hope the other day, just like a lucifer-match in petticoats. I don't know why this Bimile occurred, but it did. I watched her, and then I felt myseJ* laugh with that silent soul-laughter which is not pleasant ; it's that strange laughter which is only known to adepts io knowledge of life. Well, he won't marry her, neither will he marry me— no, not even if I'm a great heiress I He will marry his " vision," whatever it is, and I— Conway Hope propo3ed music should be used to charm the hidden treasure to the surface, for Megiddo left no certain record. He merely said, " Beneath the lime-trees." There is an organ, among other things, in the parlour, and Canon Hope sat him down and played. The strains floated out on the perfect stillness of the night and we five gathered about the trees in the quaint old garden, which leads 01 to the water-meadows. The prophet Harrison had a epade, and he carefully drew a circle round each of the Beven trees ; then he raised his head, and the elantiog moonbeams smote downwards on his broad brow, and one impish ray got among the rope-like hairs of his long beard and played for several seconds therein. Mrs Cudlip-Gaye stood with her back against one of the treeß, acd her arms high above her head, as if invoking the boughs to help us. Just above her the northern Bruin blazed downwards. I forgot about my fortune in my desire to paint her by brush or word. That dreadful Pietra absolutely got out her cigarette-case and put her cane under her arm. Miss Clutterbeck kissed the poodle, and said, " Its late, darling, for ub to be out. He shall have an extra hour's ] nap to-morrow, he shall, the angel I" 1 thought I heard Mr Harrison mutter something awful under his beard. If he did, it shows he dislikes her, because he has no power over her. If I fondled ten cats, he would view my mis-placed affection with a glance of compassion. Conway Hop© h&d just commenced a mf-ch, the wildest, saddest, maddest, sweetest thing I have ever heard. You beat the time with I your heirt to the measure, and in some odd way you apprehend that the music is a sermon which creates or rather develops all your latent forces. Between the music of Canon Hope and the spade of Prophet Harrison I felt strung to a pitch cf felt living hitherto unknovsj. The march bad just burst into a series of chords, abrupt, almost harsh, highly effective, when Prophet Harrison struck something with his spade. Mrs Cudlip-Gaye's arms fell from their dramatic height, Pietra flung away her cigarette, Miss Clutterbeck threw the poodle down in an access of forgetf ulness and then screamed like a maniac, I held my hands over my heart to Btill its wild beating, and even Conway Hope left the organ and absolutely jumped out of the window by the low window- sill. Mr Harrison cleared away the earth, and lo I a big box came to view, tin covered, more like those over-land route boxes than anything else. It was directed to Lady Angela Dewbberrv. daughter of the Earl of May. "" B a - " hat «T^ uOiXl'lu OiXl 'l Bai( ? Pietr *' who ' when Bhe > 9 B ft y. i fl a^ays flippant. "We have heard of the Earl of March, but there the titled seasons stip, don't they, Mr Harrison?"

Mr Hanison made no reply ? he was dragging the box upward with all hii might, assisted by Canon Hope, and, of course, Mrs Cudlip-Gaye, who declares she has a passion lor moving furniture and carrying loads. " Must have had a railway porter in the family somewhere," is one of ber many theories ; " also a housemaid, and a peer, and a country cquire. Out of this family budget," she says, she traces all her characteristics. We followed the box to the parlour, and then there came a pause. Prophet Harrison went to the " burners " and made the gas flare. Then he came back to the box and bowed to Oanon Hope. " Are yon prepared to be the chief witness in the opening of this box ?" he said oracularly ; " also to take notes of every document, and i attest that everything is as we find it 7" Canon Hope coloured to the roots of his hair (now why?). He glanced c nf used ly at Mr Harrison and still more confusedly at me ; then he said with a little bow at me : " Gladly." " Lady Angela, the key Ib extricated ; please unlock your box." " Don't call me Lady Angela," I said, " I shall always be nothing and nobody. I ha* i titles." "It is all so obvious." said Cnon Hope ; and then he looked at me again, as if I were an entire congregation. Love is personal, I'm told ; now if that's the way be gives a compliment, the compliment, like an entailed estate, is aj much the next person's as mine. Tbe lid flew back and disclosed the entire apparel of a little girl. There was a large dimity hat, profusely trimmed with some very rare lace. There were a qusi nt little rose-coloured silk dress and mantle, a small pair of embroidered boots, and some very fine underlinen. The initials A.D., surmounted by a coronet, were firmly embroidered on each little garment. A faded letter lay on the rose-coloured little frock. Strangely moved, I took it, and then that impulse to cover emotion which is in us all beeet me, and I placed it on one side to be read afterwards ; not for worlds just then could I have opened that letter. The rest of the box was a cram ol documents. Yes, Megiddo had been rich, passing rich, for a man in his position. His investments were quite magnificent, and all was bequeathed to me. Prophet Harrison read out list upon list of stocks and shares, property in warehouses and property in land. His will was quite a curious study. It took the form of a loveletter, for Megiddo, with a pathetic stupidity unworthy of bis age, constantly affirmed that he had dared to love me, tut that with sound, common sense I had deprecated his attentions. This is Megiddo's will, " I, Bartimeus Megiddo, bom, by tbe willjof Jehova, just outside the sacred city of Jerusalem, do, on this Jane Ist, in this year of grace 189—, make my will in favour of Angela Deweberry, the, as I bdlieve her to be, daughter, born in lawful wedlock, of the Earl of May. " Angela came to my dark dwelling as the gracious flowers of spring, and she has ever b to me as fountains of water and as rain after drought, for my soul has known long ysars of drought. I have been, I do now declare it, m wicked old man, full of the lust of possession. My curd' I son Jabia has done but one good action, and that was unintentional : he brought ngela to me. " Angela fell into bis possession as a sparrow to the hawk. He stole her at the gates of her dwelling. It seems tbe brute said unto her : ' My pretty one, will you come with me V and the foolish child placed her hand in his, and went. She served him well while he travelled about with his company, and when he was tired of his show he left ber with me. '1 is all simple enough. "Now to my will. I bequeath to Angela my two streets in Jerusalem. The greatest finpneier of the day, who belongs to my people, has offered me a fabulous sum for them. Hold them, Jerualem has to bj rebuilt, mark that. 11 1 bequeath my warehouse of works of art in Grip street, West* r minster, to Angela ; also the five streets branching out of Grip street, and stretching out to the mansions of the nobility like the hands of the masses to-day. Also that part of New Cambridge street which the County Council are now busy haggling with me for, to make recreation- grounds ouc of, and a people's museum, Also my five lodging-houses in Oxford, near New College. Also my shares in the Nations' Union Hotel, now paying 100 per nnt. Also my bazaar in Stamboul, and my store in Constantinople. Also my shares in the whale-fisheries off New Foandland, and my mine in California, now yielding as much gold as we can carry. Also my gratitude for kindly offices graciously done, also the humble tribute of an old Jew's respectful love. (Bigned) "Babtimbtjb Megiddo. •' P.S.— The frock and letter found in this box were taken from Angela, when a child, by Jabin ; the letter, be says, was in her hand when he stole her, and must, he thought, have been picked up by her unknown to her mother." After the reading of the will the ladies kissed me and said goodnight. Canon Hope graßped my hand apostolically, and Mr Harrison hypnoticpily.