1 fa S" IT- TERM $1 25 per Annum if paid in Advance xa., Satuuday. December I7t!i 1SG4 NO 19 fc.t-.iK, jwy Jo' win- mi www i A, it at 01. 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
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