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IT- TERM $1 25 per Annum if paid in Advance
xa., Satuuday. December I7t!i 1SG4
NO 19
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j inr back languidly in their well np.
pointed barouches, and bound for the
Park, were scarcely heeded, so busy
were tuv thouuhts with the future. A
i'cw hours and 1 should be lav nway, a
few days, and Caroline Lcthbridgc and
Edsrar Henley would have i-tartcd on
life's voyage together, as prosperous and
happy u young pair as ever determined
to face the vu'ld, hide by side. Nor
had I luu-jh ' Fiipsifl J'jus time on my
hauda. One or two places I had tJ cull
at, and afterwards 1 was engaged to an
nn ! early dinner at my club with two or
al : three of the oldest analyst cI my baoiic.
lor menus, anxious, as ttiey saiu, to "see
the last of me." My preparation f r
ha'-'ng London were all but complete.
My packing was done, and it had been
settieu that my fathoi's old sorvaut, who
was tho most punctual and .steady of
men, should convey my effects to the
railway terminus, so that my own pro
codings might be unembarrassed by i.ny
auxiety respecting portmanteau and hat
boxes.- I did not expect to be iu Lon
don again for some time, since wo had
agreed to spend the first months cd' our
married life iu Germany and Switzer
land, aud there had even been some talk
of a more protracted resideuce abi'oal.
My first call was at the shop or tiic
well known court jewellers (Miles and
Henderson,) and its object was to fetch
away a certain set of pearl and ruby or.
nauionts which my father had ordered
and which were his present to his future
daughter-in-law. Mr. Henley had look,
ed forward with pleasure, to placing these
costly toys in the bride's hands ; but
should take the jewels down with me,
aud give them to Carry in his name. I
had not seen the design of the ornaments
but I was aware that the device was a
lUVVt vVU ' .wJLcJwKtt. fK w. i .p i. . v v . Ate
childhood, received so many proofs, I
had little doubt that the gift would
prove fo be a splendid one.
As I was in the act of opening the
jeweller's door, a man passed mo so
closely as to bi'iuh my elbow, and turn
ing his head, looked me for a moment
in the face. His own face was a re.
markable elsewhere than in London,
whore the natives of all countries are
every day to bo met, jostling each other
unnoticed iu the midst of the great see.
thing stream of resiles human life that
fills our streets. This person, evidently
a foreigner, was about forty years of age,
wore spectacles, a bushy red-brown
beard, and a threadbare suit of black,
shabby, but well brushed and neat, b'o
far his appearance corresponded more
or less accurately with that of a legion of
professors, doctors, and philosophers,
dubious hungers on of the learned pro.
fes sious, whom red republican UneH
opened first one and then another of the
dark morocco cases, and showed me the
jewels my father had ordered. A very
super'.) prrsnt it was, tastefully magnifi
cent, mid such as a peeress might have
been proud to wear. I was quite duz.
zled by the first fl ish of the sparkling
necklace, the blood red rubies glinting
the brighter for the moony lustre of the
pure white pearls. I had expected
that the jewels would prove bauJsome,
but their beauty f:r surpassed my anti.
cipation.-, and 1 fc't that a certain ner
vous uneasiness at the idea of walking
London' streets with such valuables in
my pocket. WprayandLrooeli,Xbarace
let, rings end eavrngs, and thra, were
all equally splendid and elegant ; and I
was half disposed to scold my father for
generosity, but consoled myself with the
recollection that nothing cnM possibly
be too ?ooo.i for Car-y l.c'.hri Uo. Old
Mr. Miles accompanied n.o fo thestreet I
door, chatting a? volubly as was h's !
practice, his tongue running mostly on j
the splendor of the wares he had justl
debvercd over to my charge.
"Pretty, very pretty, the design," he
fiaid, as he oneticd the plate :.-!ass door
of the shop. "And as for the stone?,
I defy the sharpest eye to make out a
fiaiv iu any one of the rubles. Hotter
stones never camo from Ceylon, nor
pearls of a finer water. Ah ! Mr. Ilenly
it is not every one who is able to give
such presents as your good father. T.
sent a set neatly similar, last, week, for
the wedding of Tuly Florence Fether
ton, but not so fiuc. I give ybu my
word, as a tradesman of fifty years'
standing, not so fine."
jeweller's discourse, or a lull in the roll
and rumble of the carriages made them
unusuiiy distinct, but at any rate tinea 1
or lour ot the passers-by turned their
way. And among those three or fvur
was theugly foreigner with the red-brown
beard. He was rcpas.-iug the bhnp,
coining down from the opposite direction
to that iu which he had previously been
walking, A coin';!-'. nee, no iLubt
Merely a coineidei.ee.
I beckoned to the driver of a Hansom,
fauntering past iu quest of a fare, and
rattled down to the club, it wanted
some, time as yet to the diuner Lour, but
I preferred waiting a! the e'ub fo? my
friends' arrival to driving back to my
lather's hou-e iu Ifarley tureet. The
second editions of the m 'niti.r paper.,
had juit eoino in as T arrived, and there
was a Uu:a and buzz of c-mvunotion
going on upon the subject of some im
portant telegrams from America
of a tortoise within its shell. I did not
give a second thought to this oircuui
stance. "Drive fast, my man. I want to hit
the night train for C . Half a
crown extra if wo don't miss it."
The cab bowled swiftly off, and the
streets being clearer than at an earlier
hour we met with no interruption until
suddenly, in a narrow part of ono of the
roost frequented thoroughfares, a lock
occurred, in which a string of carte and
wagons", two oi three cabs and a dray
were entangled confusedly together.
'1 here was the UsuM exchango of oaths,
street witticisms and nbu5c, the usuI
cracking of whips, grinding of wheels
and interference of a single bewildered
policeman, but the provoking feature of
the case wa3 the'great probability that I
should lose the train. My charioteer
had been forced up a narrow cross street
by the pressure of the loaded vehioles in
front; And as he flourished his whip, and
rated the carters and draymen in do
measured terms, I looked anxiously about
me for signs of a clearance. Then It waa
that I noticed hard by the very same cab,
drawn by a floa.biiten light gray horse,
that had been stationed close by my club
door. 5y the dim light of the street
lamp I could see that the horse was in a
hither of foam, and had evidently beet
forced aV.g at a jreat pace.' The win
dows of the cab were, close shut, hot and.
stifling as w.-H the atmosphere of that
reeking and crowded quarter of London.
But just as.I had conjectured thatprob-
y iue uccupauiH oi tne caD, like my
they contained. It was iust then that
MeClfllan was meeting with bis first
' reverses, if I retueinh' r rightly, in his
' Peiiitisulareamp.iiii, and I dadlv seen.
ati'l ioi;ee I. ostihty liave landed in the red one ol the cor,;cs of'he ?',,,... and
car-saw
t t i r
' c. -i-u.-1 coma
ot help fooling a thrill of repi'ignaiieo j btrango feverin'u li tk:
nd 'dislike at the aspect of that broad, j me; there was a dull v
limbo of Leicjst
no
an
flat, white face, with its Tartar coarse
ness of featuie, the sharp white teeth
just visible between the thin lips, and
the long and narrow eyes blinking cat
like through the glasses of the spoeta
cles. Can you fancy a white-faced ti
ger, badly pitted by the smallpox, wu-k.
ing erect in human guise, and stealthily
pursuing his way through a jungle, not
of trees, but of hoaxes? Such was the
impression which the first glimpse of
that foreigner's faco made upon mo. Iu
the next I laughed at myself f my
folly.
"The poor man cannot help his mrli.
r.esa'satd I to myself, as I followed the
shopman to his employers' studio on the
first floor, near the glittering show,
rooms ; "he is a Iim.sian, of course, too
advanced in politiool ideas, ho doubt, to
please the Czar aud the police prefet.
Not a very pleasant person, though to
ti;ust with a guillotine if this pary
should ever bo uppermost."
And then Mr. Miles, bald and florid,
catue civilly forward to welcome me, nnd
I forgot tho llussiau, aud all connected
with him.
"Certainly, my dear sir, certainly,"
said the jeweller, unlocking the stron
gest of safes, with the tiniest of Urainah
keys, and tossing over a quantity of
eerins labelled with the names of half
tho duchesses aud countesses in the red
book.
'Hero is the set that vour esteemed
father, lit. Henley, wag so good as to
order, Very old aud respected custo.
mcr of ours, is Mr. Henley. I sold him
dear ine thirty years ago it must have been
a set ot emeralds for Mrs. Henley's
wearing. Not a very costly sot, but in
good taste, in capital taste.
Mr. Henley had but lately come back,
then, from Calcutta. His was a new
name, thou, on tho Hoy.il Exchange,
and iu tho bank parlor. No name
higher, now; but his taste was always
excellent, always. Here the stones
are.
Aud the talkative old man, who was
reputed to be euoruiously wealthy, but
who btuekto his thop like a Lurnuolu to
its rock, aud never forgot a customer,
appiiel myself to
spirits,
road. In vain! A
tkssness oppressed
;ht u;m niv
. . ii. i .
tiiiaj uua uiv imuu cunici co ue
possessed by a sort of aiii.less activity
that wearied my though's tono purpose.
In vain, I fixed my eyes upon tho news
paper, resolved to concentrate my f'acul.
ties upon Mr. lleuter's telegrams. Tdie
big black words swum before my eyes,
and tho sounding sentences were barren
of meaning. Had I at that moment beeu
put on my examination bef.ire the stern
est of commissioners, with all I valued
at stake on tho results, I could not for
my very life given a lucid definition as
w ho was fording tho Chickahominy or
passing tho James river, or what the
bone of contention miht be. Vagm,
formless apprehensions of'soire invisible
of something too shadowy to bi boldly
grappled with floated through my brain,
and 1 found myself looking forward with
positive dislike to the solitary journey
that lay before me that night.
All theio gloomy fancies, vanished,
however, at the first grasp of a friendly
human baud, and the first sound of a
friendly human voice. I wa3 in excel,
lent spirits at dinner time, and took the
fire of good humored banter with which
my campauioiis plied mo in very good
part. We lingered rather longer over
our wine than I had anticipated, while
wo talked of oi l duys, and wondered
wheu our next meeting would be: but
at last I jumped up, looked at my watc'.i
and found that I must uriva fast if
me:"', lo eaten the train. I shook haud3
cordially with my friends, and ba le them
goodby; and, amid a shower of hearty
wishes tor my future happiness how
little did I think that I should never see
the speakers more? left the club. A
Hansom cab had been called for mo by
ono of tho messengers, aud I found it
drawn up by the curbstone, as I briskly
descended the steps. It was twilight
by this time in the streets, aud the
lamps had long beeu twiukling. I no
ticed, as I stepped into tho cab, that
another, a four-wheeler, was stationed a
few doors off, and that a man's ead was
nrotruded ihmu.rd iha nm.
uearost the paveuiuut, but the instant I tn? obstinate traveller; and the guard,
louked that way the head disappeared I bng an English and not a French
into tne interior t)J the vehicle like that ' .- " lwluu
self, w ere eager to catch some train, tha
lock of carries broke up audi was borna
quickly to the terminus.
"Vour luggage is labelled, Mr. Edgar,
?nd ready to be put info tho van," said
old Jones, my fuller's confidential
servant, touching his hat respectfully.
'I have put the rugs and Micks, and tha
fi-bing-rnds into an empty first class car
ri.ige, third from the bookstall to tho
left."
'Very well, Jones; JU3t see the
luggage put in. I must get my ticket."
answered I, and hurried to tho ticket
olli-c, where several impatient passen.
gers wei-3 jostling aud elbowing one an.
other, while a stout lady, ono of thosa
yol ibla but unprotected female travel
ler.? who are the scourges and tormenU
of all oTu ials, was blocking up the wiu
dow, an 1 holding a long and dsscursive
argument with the booking clerk, on tho
i.rence of slow trains aud cheapness' to
mga cnargea, and the
beat way m vvh.eh she could reach some
cross country hue eighty miles off. At
lut linnmvo.. .1- , .,
exhausted. I managed to crush my way
to tho window, and to take mj ticket for
"First class toC , monsieur!" sail
a peculiarly harsh and strident voice at
myelbjw, with a slight but perceptible
foreign a'ecfiit in its tones, and I glanced
around at the man, who was thrusting a
half washed muscular hand, decorated
by a heavy gold :.-ignet ring, past me to
lay Iks money on the counter.
With some surprise I recognized tha
Russian whom I had seen twice on that
very afternoon in front of the jeweller'
hh op. Thereeogni ion did not appear
mutual, lie nover looked at me, but
redemanded his ticket iu a quick:angry
uiauner, and, having got it, fell back aud
mingled with tho crowd.
by the time I had reached the
Wage third from tho bookstall, I
.jones opproaoii along with tho guard,
who unlocked the carriage, lield open
the door for my entry, and, having te.
ceived the? usual silver compliment" that
has now becotno a vested interest on
railways, closed and reloeked it, saying
that T should :have the compartment to
myself, if I wished to smoke." Then
Joues, after asking if he could take any
message to "marter," touched his hat and
vanished. 1 remained alone, lazily ga
zing out of tha wiudow ut the lively
seeuo which tho well lighted platform
presented. Tho usual bustle which pre
cedes tho departure of a train was going
on. Porters were wheeling heavy bar
my loads of luggage rapidly past me, all
the quicker in their movements buoausa
tho warning bell had beguu clanging for
the fii st time ; mail guards were draggiu
akng b h-e sacks of letters thatwero
impatiently awaited by the sorters in
the post offioo carriage; newspaper boys
were thrusting evening journals into tha
faces of nervous passengers, wistfully
loaning our. to see after the safety of
shose trunks that the porter had glibly
assured them would "be all right ;" aud
l'aterfamilies was gathering his strayed
family around him, or wrangling over
a charge for overweight.
"Open this door, you guard 1 Halloa,
guard ! Open tho door of this carriane.
will you V 1
It was thus that my reverie was bro.
ben in upon. A strange traveller, with
a railway rug over his arm, was roughly
shaking tho door of tho compartment
where I sat alone. Tho guard came up
iatlicr reluctauily. lUilway guards are
discriminating persons as to social con.
dition, and the newcomer's coarso man
ners and husky voice wero not calcula.
ted to inspire respect.
"First class, sir 1" asked the guard,
and when the man, with a curse, produ
ced his ticket, tho. guard was still too
loyal to my tacit compact with him to
permit tho invasion of ny privacy with
out an effort to preserve it.
"First to C , sir? This way,
please. Plenty of room here." And
he tried to draw the intruder towards a
distant carriage that was half full. But
this manoeuvre failed.
"There is plenty of room in this car
riage. Look sham and lot in a In'saiil