"Maud, wUl you be quiet?" said the old THE ROSE MD THE KEY. lady, very much vexed. " I—I—weU, it is veiy disagreeable." CHAPTER XXXVI. IN THE GALLERY. "It vexes her my telling it; but it is " WHAT a beautiful clear evening it is," quite true," whispered Maud. "I must said Miss Max, doing her best to find a see that young lady's maid in ten minutes." topic. " The stars look almost as brilliant '^You don't mean to say you are going as they do In a frost. You have come a long so soon?" exclaimed Mr. Marston. way, Mr. Marston, I dare say." '^ I must leave this in about ten minutes," " Coming here, it seemed nothing," he said Maud. answered, vnth a look at the yonng lady, "WeH, 1 beHeve you must," put in Miss " It was a very fine night, also, when Max; "and so must I, for that matter. we took leave after our little tea-party at And, Mr. Marston, your sister is to be at CardyUion, do yon remember ?" the baU; she is coming with the Tinterns ; " I do remember," he said very gently. of course you wiU look in ? And I really " You'll turn up at the ball, of course ?" want to introduce you to a very particular answered Miss Max. friend, and you must look in; if you don't, "That depends ou who are going," he I give you my word, I'U never answer a note answered. "Is there the least chance of of yours again as long as I live." your being there ?" *' Under that threat I shaU certainly turn "Who? I?" with a Httle laugh, said up," he said. Miss Maud, to whom, nearly in a whisper, He glanced at Maud, and thought she the question had been addressed. looked a Httle sad. " I think that was a cruel question," she "Where will you be when the ball com­ continued, ^Hhat is, if you remembered what mences ?" he inquired, with a hope that he I said, when we last spoke about this ball." might have divined the cause of those "I remember every syllable you said, looks. "Here?" not only abont this ball," he answered, " Certainly not. Oh, no !" " but about everything else wc talked of. "And, surely—I have so much tosay. I ought not to have asked, perhaps, but It is two months since I saw you, and you changes, yon know, are perpetually occur­ can't think how I have longed for this Httle ring, and you, I think, forget how very meeting, and lived, ever since, upon the long it is since I last saw you." hope of it. Yon can't think of reducing " The interval has brought no change it, after all, to a few minutes !" for me—no good change, I mean," she Miss Max understood, though she did answered. " I shall be rather busy to-night, not hear the terms of it, this ardent murmur and tired enough in the morning, I dare close to Maud's pretty ear, and she said, say. My gay cousin, Maximilla, is going, good-naturedly: or coming, shall I say, as we are here, to "I have not had time yet to read old the ball with a young lady whose dress I Heyrick's letter, and I really must finish have seen." And here Miss Maud laughed it, Mr. Marston. I know you'U excuse me very morrUy. " And I shall have, I think, for a moment," to help her maid to put it on her." And this spacious document, which she

VOL.V. ^

=& 50G [April 2D, 1S71.] ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [Gonduoted bj

luekily had about her, Miss Medwyn un­ u WeU, go you shall,'* replied the oH folded, and proceeded to peruse, with her lady, crumpling up her letter, and standing £>lasses to her eyes, greatly to the rehef of erect, with her head a little high. " There's Mr, Marston. nothing to delay me a moment." "I have ever so much to say, and I've And relenting a Httle, she added: been looking forward to this chance of tell­ " Mr. Marston, would you mind seeing ing you a great deal—everything ; and— me across the street ? We are going to the may I say it ? yes, I do say it—I thought Old HaU Inn, exactly opposite." you did not seem so friendly as our old You may suppose that Mr. Marston was acquaintance might have warranted. You very much at her sei'vice. were cold and indifferent—I am sure it is " Shall I be sure to find you ?" he mur- aU right; but, oh! if you knew how it mm'cd, very earnestly, to Maud, as they pained me—as if you did not care ever so turned to go. little to see your old CardyUion friend '*I think so," she said. "Now, you again. And 1, who have never thought of must take care of ray cousin," 'any one but you all that time! And—oh. The young lady went down, and crossed Heaven!—if you knew how it tortures me, the street at the other sid© of Miss Mas^ tlnnklng of the cruel mjustice of fortune and scemg Her maid about to mount the that condemns you to a Hfe of so much staircase of the mn, she joined her, passed trouble and anxiety, and how I have longed her by with a word, and ran up the stairs, to tell you how I honour you, how, if I dare without once turning her pretty head to speak it, I adore you; how, every day, I look back on her friends in the hall. long to lay myself and all my hopes at Maximilla was vexed for her friend, Mr. your feet. But you wUl never Hke me; Marston. you will never care for me. It never yet " I did not say, in my answer, because it was the way to be loved to love too madly." embarrasses me, sometimes, trying to write " What am I to say to all this ? Who what I feel, HOAV very nice I thought your am I ? You may know something of Miss letter—how particulariy nice!" Medwyn, my cousin Maximilla, but of me " Oh, Miss Medwyn, do you think she you can know nothing. There are in­ will ever Hke me ?" equalities eveiywhere. I have often wished "I only know she ought, Mr. Marston; that fortune had placed me exactly where hut, as yon see, she is an odd girl One she is. But good people tell us that what­ thing I assure you, you have a very fast ever is is best, and now you must promise friend in me, and, mind you don't fail mc. me this—you must, if our acquaintance is You must come to the hall, for I want to to go on—that you will not talk to me so introduce you to the only person living who, wildly any more. WJiy can't we be very I think, has an influence with her. 1 shall good friends, and grow better acquainted, expect you at about a quarter to eleven. I and come, at last, to know one another ? shall be sure to be there about then, and Why should you try lo force me to say be­ so shall my frieud. Good-bye, till then." gone, and to lose an acquaintance: I who And without giving him time to answer, have so few ? I think that is utterly selfish." and with a very kind smile, she nodded, Her cheeks were fiushedwith a beautiful ran up the broad stairs, and disappeared. colour, and there was an angry fire in her vexed eyes as she said this. CHAPTER XSXVir. THE BALL. " I must go away in a few minutes, but WHEN Mr. Marston returned to the ball, I shall be back again somewhere about this he loitered a littie in the cloak-room, he room to-night, and you will have little diffi­ rambled throngh the building into the re­ culty in finding me again to say good-bye. freshment and waiting-rooms, wherever he As ibr me, I feel sad to-night, as if I were thought it possible the beautiful girl who parting with an'old friend and a quiet life. alone gave this trumpery scene its magical I am half sorry I came here. interest, might be. She pressed Miss Max's arm lightly as He was a little late, and also a Httle she spoke, and that lady lowering her dhsplrlted. He began to fear that she might letter, looked rather sharply round on her, not appear again that nlglit. a Httle vexed. What a bore it was, his having, in such a "What is it, dear? I wish you would mood, to look out Miss Max among the allow me to read my letter," said the old chaperons, and to be introduced to some lady. insupportable person, girl or matron, ho " It is time to go. I must go, at least," forgot which! said Maud. Here and there, as he made his way iip

^ ==f •k Cjinrles Dickens, Jun.] THE ROSE AND THE KEY, [April 2D, 1671.] 507

the room, a friendly voice among the men his talk at other times—happier times recognised him, and cried; (were they ?)—when he suspected notliing "I say! Is that you, Marston?" or, of her great name and fortunes. " What brings you here, Marston, old Had he been trifled with ? Had he been fellow?" fooled ? How did these ladies regard him ? At length he caught a glimpse of Miss These questions were quieted. Neither Medwyn, In high chat with his sister; then was capable of enjoying his strange mor­ she was hidden again, as he slowly moved tification. Whatever had passed was in through the people ; the baud was braying good faith. But however good-natured the and thundering now obstreperously from masquerading, still the truth, now revealed, the gallery, and the stewards were clearing broke up and dissipated, with an inde­ a space for the dancers. scribable shock, his more Quixotic, but iu And now, again, he saw Miss Med\^yn, many respects happier, estimate of their much nearer, and she advanced a step or two relations. with her cheery smile to greet him. She What had become of his unavowed con­ said something pleasant to him, smiling fidence in his rank and reversions ? Here and nodcUng toward his sister, who was was no longer the poor and beautiful idol busy at that moment, talking to old Lord of a half-compassionating love. Pondlebuiy. Mr. Marston did not hear Here was in fortune absolutely, and in Miss Medwyn's remark, for his attention pure patrician blood nearly, the highest was fixed by a figure standing near her, lady iu England, Despair was stealing the outline of which bore a marked resem­ over his sunny prospects. He began, in blance to the lady of whom he was think­ an expressive phrase, to feel very small. ing ; her face was turned away; she was Being proud and sensitive, he was not only speaking to a tall, rather handsome young a Httle stunned, but wouuded. man, with good blue eyes, and light golden Something, however, raust be said and moustache. proposed. It would not do to stand there Miss Medwyn tapped her gently, and the doincr nothing. lady turned. Accordingly, Mr. Marston asked Miss She was dressed, I am enabled to tell you, Vernon to dance. She had number one. in "a pale blue tulle, with a very graceful Had she kept it for him ? There was not panler, the wholo dress looped and studded a moment to lose. It was a quadrille, as with pale maize roses." It was the work of Is the infiexible practice at public balls. the gTeat Madame Jleyer. AU these par­ They took theii' places In a set just form­ ticulars were duly set forth in the county ing, with Lady Helen de Flambeaux and paper. Captain Vivian ris-ii-ris. Mr. Marston re­ She had diamond stars in her rich browu cognised the tall young man with azure hair, diamond ear-rings, and a diamond eyes and yellow moustache, to whom Miss necklace. These were remarkably large Vernon had been talking. diamonds, and the effect of the whole cos­ The music was roaring over their heads, tume was dazzling, rich, and elegant. so that people could not iu the least over­ Old Mr. Tintern was a Httle pleasurahly hear their neighbours' talk. flushed and excited In the consciousness of " I have been very much surprised this haring, in that room, such unparaUeled evening," He said. brilliants under his wdng. "And shocked," she added. She had turned about, at the touch of "No, Miss Vernon; amazed a little— Miss Max's hand, with a regal flash, and as dazzled." the old lady introduced Mr. Marston to "Itis so odd a sensation, being cere­ Miss Vernon, he grew pale, and hesitated: moniously introduced to an old friend," "I am introducing only a name, you see. she remarked. You have kuown the lady some time," "It is, somehow, so Hke losing an old said Miss Max, smiling very cheerfully. friend and finding only an acquaintance in Maud looked beautiful as a princess in a exchange," he answered, "when first im­ fairy-tale ; but in all her splendour, more pressions, very much cherished, are proved good-natured, and somehow more simple, to be Illusions, and circumstances change thau ever. so entirely. Everything becomes uncertain, She was smiling gently, and put out her and one grows melancholy—it is enough hand a little, as it seemed, almost timidly. to make one suspicious," He took it, and said something suitable, "That Is very tragical," laughed the I suppose. Perhaps It seemed a little cold young lady. and constrained, contrasted, at least, with "Happy are those, say I, for whom life 508 [.\pri]29,1371,] ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [Oondncted by

Is a holiday, and the world a toy—I mean long before that we shall be on our way the people who have a good deal of satire home to Roydon. But I mean to be very and very Httle compassion, who are not Honest to-night; and If we can find a quiet unkind, but very cold, who enjoy the place at the table in the tea-room, we can comedy of life, and can even smile at its talk a Httle there." tragedy; they can afford to laugh when " I half dread that Httie talk. Miss Ver­ others suffer," said Mr. Marston. " It can non. Some people have more power of be of no consequence to you. Miss Vernon, inflicting pain than they perhaps suspect. how the strange delusion 1 have—I don't I scarcely think that can be your ease; deny it—in a measure practised on rayself, but—don't—I think I may ask that; affects me." don't, I entreat, say anything that may " Well, I hope it won't embitter you for give me very great pain to-night. Give me ever, Mr. Marston; it is a comfort, at all an opportunity of speaking first. I hope events, it has not made you give up that is not a very unreasonable petition." dancing." He spoke very low and gentiy, but very At tins interesting moment Mr. Marston earnestly. was obliged to advance and retreat, cross " What a crowd !" aaid Miss Vernon, as over, and aU the rest; and when he had If she had not heard a word. set to his partner, and turned that splendid As they slowly made their way, many an lady about. It devolved on her to execute admiring, and many an envious eye was the same manceuvTes with handsome Cap­ directed on that princess, aud many a tain Vivian for vis-u-ris. curious one upon the handsome young The next subject was not so interesting. gentleman ou whose arm her hand was "I don't think our Wymering friends lightly placed. She continued: "This Is have done all tbey might for the floor," the best ball we have had at Wymering for she remarked. two years. It is my third. I begin to feel To which he made suitable answer, and very old." artfully endeavoured to lead back the con­ "Eh? Hollo! HI! How d'ye do, Miss versation into more interesting channels. Vernon?" bawled old Sir John Martingale, But Miss Vernou held him fast during of Whistlewhips, short aud square, pulling the remainder of the quadrille to the deco­ up and blocking half the passage, with his rations, the music, the room, and the other wife on oue arm and his elderly daughter, details, and he began to think it was all over Arabella, on the other, with both of whom with him, and with his hopes, and that he Miss Vernon Had to exchange greetings. had had his last serious talk with Miss "You're not turning your back ou the Vernon. dancers so soon, eh?" "AVhen this is over," he thought, "she His shrewd Httle grey eyes that lighted will ask me to take her back to the Tin­ up his mulberry-coloured features, were terns, and leave her again with Miss Max, scintinising Mr. Marston with very Httle and so she will take a friendly leave, and I disguise. shall have a theme to think of for the rest " Oh, tea is it ? And right good tea it of my life." is, I can tell you. Old Mother Vanell In But he was mistaken. Miss Vemon, the High-street here, the confectioner, is when the dance was over, said: doing the refreshments this time. And I "Would you mind, Mr. Marston, taking have just been telling Lady Martingale, I me to the tea-room ? I have not had any hau't got so good a cup o' tea this twel- yet." month." Very happy this little reprieve made "Don't mind him. Miss Vemon. We him. treat him a great deal too well, and he's How the Hght touch of her hand npon always grumbling," Interposed Lady Mar­ his arm thrilled him as he led her in! tingale, " half joke, and whole earnest," as " What dances can you give me ? Surely the good old phrase is. you can give me one ?" he asked, implor­ Here Miss Martingale, who had been ingly, as they went along. secretly squeezing and plucking at his arm, "1 could give you a great many," said having secured, half an hour before, an the yonng lady, gently; " but I don't mean eligible old bachelor, Mr. Plimbey, of Cow­ to give you one more," slip Meads, for number two, prevailed, and Mr. Marston stared. Sir John, with a jocular "I won't stand " You must not think me very unkind. no more of your rubbish for breakfast, mind I might have said I have not one to give— ye, my lady," and a wink at Miss Vemon, not oue—earlier than number twelve, aud in which Mr. Marston, though a stranger, GbarleB DLi:k6ns, Jun.] THE ROSE AND THE KEY. [April 29,1871,] 50y

was included, pulled his women through, as gaze of devout enthusiasts, have, in a mo­ he phrases it, with a boisterous chuckle, in- ment of ecstasy, lighted up sad portraits ten-upted, alas ! soon by a fit of coughing. with smiles, or crossed their beauty with a By this time Mr. Marston had led Miss shade of sorrow ? Vernon to the long tea-table, that, like a The next moment she looked just as counter, traversed one end of the tea-room, usual. and at an unfrequented part of this they "I saw my sister for a few minutes in took their stand, and he called for a cup of the cloak-room," he says, suddenly, "and tea for the young lady. she told me that she had asked Miss Vernon to her house in Warwickshire. It did not CHAPTER XXXVlir. A MAIS" WITH A SQUARE interest me, for I little knew, then, who BLACK BEARD. Miss Vernon really was. Do you think THERE are few loiterers left in the room; you will go to her ?" the distant roar of the band accounts for " I hope I shall—that Is, if I can, I cer­ this desertion. The damsel who administers tainly w^ill. Miss Medwyn is going, I be­ tea to them is stricken in years, thin, and Heve, and I could go with her; but I don't anxious with the cares of boiling kettles know yet what mamma will say to It; and behind the scenes, and many tea-pots, and mamma Is the only person living who can sponge and plum-cakes, and soup and ices, prevent my doing exactly what I please." in immediate perspective. She has not a " But Lady Vemon, I hope, won't dream thought for other people's business, and of preventing it ?" he says, very anxiously. is the moat convenient possible attendant " Mamma decides for herself in all thiugs, upon two people who have anything of the and acts very strictly according to her ideas slightest interest to say to one another. of duty, and sometimes thinks things that "Yes, it is very nice tea," says the young appear to me of no importance whatever, lady; "and, I forgot, I promised this dance very important indeed ; and you know that to Mr. Dacre, I^ suppose I'm in disgrace, there has been some—something very like but I can't help it." She glances up at a quarrel—and Lord Warhampton doesn't the cornice, and thinks for a moment. "I Hke her, and I'm afraid mamma doesn't want you, Mr. Mai'ston," she says, more Hke him—and I really don't know whether gravely, and her diamonds make a great that might not make a dlfiiculty in her flash as she lowers her head, '^ to remember allowing me to go to Lady Mardykes; but this : that if we are to continue to be good a few days wUl decide." friends, you must never be offended at any­ "Heaven grant it raay be favourably," thing I do, or ever ask the meaning of it," murmurs the young man, vehemently. Marston laughs. It is a pained laugh "And you have asked me to say nothing she thinks. to-night that could give you pain," says " You can't suppose me so unreason­ the young lady, referring to a speech that able," he says. " I know, perfectly, I have she had not before noticed, "audi, in re­ not the least right to ask a question, far tnrn, exact the same promise from you. less to be offended. In fact, you can You must say nothing that may make ns hardly feel, more than I do, how very Httle part worse fiiends than w^e were when Ave claim an acquaintance, founded in so much met." ignorance and misapprehension, cau give " And I have so much to tell you, that rae to more than, perhaps, a very slight is, ever so much to say; and, oh ! how I recognition." hope yon will not refuse my sister's Invita­ " Well, I don't quite agree with you. Mr. tion." Marston; I think, on the contrary, that I " I like Her so very much," says the know you a great deal better than I pos­ young lac^. " And this dance will soon sibly could have known you under ordinary be over. You must take me now to Miss circumstances iu so short a time; and I Medwyn—she is with the Tinterns—and think we ought to be better fiieuds—I remember, I have a reason for eveiytliing I think we are better friends—for that very do, although you may not understand it. reason." You arc not to speak to me again to-night, That was the sweetest music he ever when you have taken me back to the Tin­ heard in his life, and he could not answer terns." immediately. It seemed to him, as she "Then," says Mr. Marston, with a look spoke, that her colour was a Httle height­ of sadness, almost reproach, " I am to take ened, and, for a moment, a strange, soft my leave ia something worse than uncer­ fire iu her eyes. But was this real, or only tainty?" one of those Ulusions which, before the " Uncertainty ?" with a half angry, half

'^ A. 510 [April 29, 18710 ALL THE TEAR ROUND. [Conducted by

startled glance, the girl repeats, but in the ing the next dirislon, they say, to be in moment that follows the haughty fire of again. She knows aU the clever people of her fine eyes Is quenched, and she places her party, in both Houses, and the foreign her fingers lightly on his arm, and says: ministers, and all the people distinguished " Shall we come now ? I'm afraid the for talent. I do so hope Barbara will let passage will soon be crowded. Let us you go to her." come before the dance is over." The grave man with the black beard As they pass together toward the great now made his bow and smile, and turned room where the dancers, gentle and simple, away and disappeared in the crowd, and townsfolk and rural, skilled and clumsy, before Maud Had time to ask Lady Mar­ were all whisking and whirllugthclr best, to dykes who he was, Captain Vivian ap^ the inspii'ing thunder of the band, she re­ peared to claim number three, promised peats : to him, "You understand? You ai'e not to Marston did not dance this, nor the next, speak to me, or look at me, or come near and he saw Miss Vernou give both dances where I am again to-night—not in the to the handsome young man with blue eyes cloak-room, not anywhere—and you must and golden moustache, whom he had seen leave me the moment yon place me beside in conversation with her at the begiuning my cousin Maximilla. I should not like of the evening. you to think me capricious or silly," she " Fine girl. Miss Vernon, Miss Vernon adds, a little sadly, he fancies. " So, as of Roydon, you know; that's she with the a proof of your friendship, I ask yon to diamonds, and devilish good diamonds believe that I have good reasons for what they are," said Marston's schoolfellow, Tom I ask. No, not this door; let us come in Tewkcsbuiy, who, after an absence of five by the other. Good-night," she almost years was just what he always was, only -whispers, as they reach Miss Medwyn's a little fonder of his bottle, '^by Jove she side. is; positively lovely, by Jove ! Don't you That lady was standing a little behind think so ? I do. I wonder who that Mr. Tintern and Lady Mardykes, and the fellow is she's dancing with^-not a had" door by which they entered brought Miss looking fellow. I say, Marston, I wonder Vernou beside her cousin, without passing whether a fellow would have any chance before the other figures in this group. of getting a dance from her? By Jove! " Good-night," she repeated, a little They are going it. Do yon think it's a hurriedly. case ? I've a great mind to go and try. "God bless you," he said, very low, She's with the Tmtems. Shall I ? What holding In his the hand she had given him, do you say ?" longer than he ever had held It before, "You had better be quick. She's not "and come what may I will see you very Hkely to remain long standing," said soon again. Marston, who was not sorry, in his present "Well, dear, you have been to the tea­ mood, to lose bis friend's agreeable con­ room ?" said Miss Max, greeting her versation. young cousin with a smile; "and where is Marston shifted his point of observation Mr. ^—-wasn't It Mr. Marston w-ho took to see more distinctly how Mr, Tewkesbmy you ?" fared. " Yes; I think he's gone," said the young That gentleman bad made his way by lady. this time to Mr. Tintern. Miss Max was looking round to find him, "Here I am—come to ask a favour, bnt he had left by the door through which he said, taking a button of Mr, Tintem's they had just entered. coat, and looking persuasively in his face. " He has vanished," she continued, " but "I want Miss Vernon to give mc a dance, of course he'll turn up again." and you must introduce me. Do. " Who is that man with the black beard, Tewkesbury has more than twelve thou­ aud large eyes^ and solemn, pale face, who sand a year, represents an old county is talking to Lady Mardykes?" asked family, is a popular mau, and not the kind Mand, after a sUencu of a minute or of fellow to excite a romance. He is just two, the person whom Mr. Tintern would have " I don't know; rather a remarkable face, chosen to dance with the heiress of Roydon, clever, I think," answered Miss Max ; " she But he said, with a very amused chuckle : knows every one that is worth knowing. " I'U Introduce you with pleasure. Cer­ Her house is quite delightful. Warhampton tainly, if you wish it; but I've just done baviufi' held office so often, and only await­ the same thin^ for Lord Hawkshawe, and

^^ 1^^

CharleB Dickens, Jiin.] SUNDAY IN THE SEVEN DIALS. [April 20,1671.1 511

she had not a dance. I don't know. I'U is gliding through old hedge-rows iu the introduce yon with pleasiu^e." soft moonlight, among misty meadows and Perhaps Tom Tewkesbury thought that silent farm-steads. he could afford in this game to give Lord Hawkshawe, who was fifty, and had a couple of thousand a year less than he, SUNDAY IN THE SEVEN DIALS, some points, and was not very much daunted by the report of the nobleman's THE week-day aspect of the Seven Dials fiiilnre. must be tolerably familiar to all who Have Did he succeed ? Alas ! no. She was ever had occasion to make a short cut a^aln cai-ried off by the rictorious Captain from Charing'CTOSS to New^ Oxford-street. Vivian; and she and he beheld Mv. Mar­ In order to accomplish this, they are bound ston, who had seen this early enough to to traverse the locality in question. Its secure Miss Chevron, figuring in the next main characteristics may be summed up as set to theirs. There he was chassceing, narrow streets, dingy houses, and dingier for it was a quadrille, and setting to that inhabitants; men whose sole occupation in young lady, aud turning her about, looking life appears to consist in loafing about, the whUe black as thunder. pipe in mouth, slatternly women, and His eyes stole, in spite of his resolution, squalid children. Every object, both ani­ now and then, in the direction of Miss mate and inanimate, seems to have been Vernon. Once he thought their eyes met; toned down by dirt to one common neutral but he eould not ho certain, for hers be­ tint, and the very names on the street trayed not the sHghtest sign of conscious- corners are utterly illegible from the smoke uees, and no more shrank or turned aside aud grime with which the houses are thickly than the gleam of her brilHants. coated. There is an all-pervading air of And now, the dance ended. Miss Vcruon dowdiness ; a decidedly depressing atmo­ returned to the Tiuterus, and said a word sphere, the effects of which arc to be seen to Miss ilax, and Captain Vivian led her In the slouching shuffle forming the habitual away to the refreshment-room where people gait of the natives, aud a generally dead- were sipping soup or eating ices. alive appearance, from which, however, There they loiter. The next dance has the place wakes up to sorae extent in the begun. She does not intend to dance it. evening- She has refused it to half a dozen distin­ But it is on Sunday morning, between guished competitors. Every one is inquir­ the hours of eleven and one, that the Dials ing who that fellow with the yellow mous­ wUl best repay the trouble of a visit. Let tache is, and no one seems to know exactiy. the iutendmg visitor, however, bear in mind He is hy no means popular among the as­ that it is best at Rorae to foUow the ex­ piring youth of Wymering. ample of the Romans, aud so avoid shock­ The dance is nearly over by the time ing the susceptibilities of the Dialians by a they return to Miss Medwyn, and the sha­ too recherche costume ; otherwise, he must dow of Mr. Tiutern's protection. expect, if he loiters about the neighbour­ Tiie youth of the county, with here and hood, to run a gauntlet of ciiticism upon there a sprinkling of middle age, are dancing his personal appearance. For, as the male number seven, and are pretty well on in it, population have nothing to occupy their when Miss Vernon resolves to take wing, time till tho public-houses are open, the aud drive home to Roydon under the care majority pass the morning In languidly ob­ of Maximilla Medwyn. serving all that goes on around thera, and She has taken leave of the Tinterns and inpassing thereon remarks, more free than Lady Mardykes. The devoted Captain flattering. The writer found a pUot-jacket, Virian attends to put ou her cloak and a pair of horsy trousers, and a slouch cap, sees her into her carriage, with a last word, serve his purpose of mixing unnoticed iu and a smile, and a good-night to Miss Max. the crowd, admirably, and he was only once Miss Max yawns, and loans hack. Miss discussed seriously by a group of loungers, Vernon does not yawn, but she looks tired, who hesitated whether to set him down as and leans back also, no longer smiling, Hst­ a Prussian or a pugilist. lessly in her corner, Let us then suppose the intending visitor, "Home," says the young lady to the duly equipped, to have threaded St, Mar- footman at the window. tin's-lane. Passing Aldildge's, he will find With the high-blooded trotters of Roy­ himself at the bottom of Great St. Andrew- don, the carriage rolls swiftly through street, which will take him direct to the the High-street, and in a few minutes more Dials. And here let me remark that I have .:5: 512 [April 29, lS7t] ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [0 on due tod by

written "In the Seven Dials" at the head bloater, or ita rasher for breakfast some of this article, in deference to the common hours ago. StiU the baker has the best of rule of speaking, bnt had I been studying the reasons for keeping His shutters down this feelings of the inhabitants, I should have morning, for is it not Sunday, and has not slightly altered my title. For a denizen the Sunday's dinner to be consigned to hia of the locaHty, when asked to name his care and oven ? Solemnly, as though bear­ place of residence, will invariably reply, ing a sacrifice to the altar, a long file of not that he Hves "in," but "on," the Dials. men, women, aud children pass through hia Seven Dials proper, though the name Is portal laden with the repast iu question. used to designate the whole surrounding A bit of meat perched upon an iron trivet district, is an open space formed by the over a brown earthenware baking-dish, half junction of seven streets. To two of these of which containa potatoes, and the other notice is directed. The one, Great St, half a batter-like compound, representing in Andrew-street, is blocked up by a crowd the lively fancy of the Dialians, Yorkshire exclusively masculine; the other. Earl- pudding, appears to be the staple dish, street, is almost impassable, owing to a though it is sometimes replaced or sup­ predominance of the feminine element. plemented by a pie. Place aux dames. Let us devote our at­ But these are not the only shops; there tention to Earl-stroet. are sweetstuff-shops, and tobacconists, and Here Is an open-air market doing a crockery-shops with rows of blue dishes thriving trade, just as if acts of parliament and yellow jugs, aud ironmongers, open prohibiting Sunday trading had never been presumably in expectation of any one heard of. The staple commodity of this having bought the materials for a more market appears to be cabbages. Pour-fifths sumptuous repast than usual, and finding of the shops in the street are kept hy himself or herself without the necessary greengrocers, and their windowless fronts uteusUs to cook It. Then there are sta­ are heaped up high with cabbages. Huge tioners whose windows offer especial at­ baskets of the same useful vegetables are tractions, adorned as they are with the ranged all along the curbstone, and a fly­ last number of the latest sensational ing brigade of venders, whose stock-in-trade publication, and grocers where you may consists of a couple of savoys or half a dozen be suppHed with "The People's Tea" heads of broccoli, are darting abont in all di­ at two shillings, or superior souchong at rections, and pertinaciously thrusting their half a crown, to be sweetened with moist wares iuto the faces of passers-by, accom­ sugar at threepence per pound, or varied panying this action by a most energetic ap­ by coffee sold at the rate of two ounces for peal to purchase. In the matter of noise the three halfpence, the rest of the stock-in- stationary dealers are by no means behind trade consisting seemingly of stick liquorice their perambulating compeers, and their and sweet biscuits. And there are batchers. reitei'ated announcement that "Now is the Not many of them, though, for the great time, ladies," their continued vociferations meat mart of the neighbourhood is just a of " Here's yer fine cahbagees," and their stone's throw off In Newport Market, aud gratuitously volunteered Information that there is a constant stream going and potatoes are selling at the rate of "four coraing from that direction. StIU thero puns for tuppence ha'penny," are absolutely are one or two butchers here who cater deafening. Besides the greengrocers, there indifferently for the huraan and for the are bakers, with a gigantic seven displayed canine and feline races, displaying upon the in their windows to indicate the price of the same board the sheeps' heads, the tripe, quartern loaf. There Is not much doing in the dark-coloured lumps of liver, and the the staff of Hfe just now. Neither are the pigs' feet intended for the former, and the numerous fish-shops, which exhibit piles neatly skewered rolls of paunch and bits of dried haddocks and smoked mackerel, of horseflesh destined for the two latter. bushelsofshrimps, cockles, and periwinkles, There are also pork butchers with their and boxes of red-herrings ; nor the cheese­ legs aud loins of huge coarse-rinded pigs' mongers with their prime WUtshU'e bacon, meat, their black and pease-puddings, their displaying its alternate streaks of leather savoury fagots, gmall Germans, and long and lard, their best Dorset butterat fourteen- strings of unsavoury abominations playfully pence, andtheir eggs (warranted) at sixteen called sausages, into the composition of a shilling ; nor the milk-shop, which is also which it is not for us, but rather for the a pork butcher's, attracting much custom. sanitary inspector, to pry closely. And For Seven Dials bought its daily bread doing one of the best businesses ia the when it purchased its ha'porth of milk, its market, despite the coolness of an early >a ^ ^ ^ Clurles Diebena, Jnn.] SUNDAY IN THE SEVEN DIALS. [April 29,1S71.) 513

spring day, is a ginger-heer shop. The the bed at home, they have salHed forth Dialians are thirsty souls, and one o'clock, with whatever thev found left in his that blissfolhour when a tyrannical legisla­ pockets, in search of a Sunday's dinner. ture permits a man to refresh himself, is yet And when two of them who are acquaint­ far off. So, in the meanwhile, thev gnlp ances meet, they geueraUy come to a dead down tumblers of foaming pep, and some­ stop iu the midst of the crowd to indulge times even venture as high as twopence in in a quiet gossip, such as women dehght the purchase of soda water. in, freqnentiy having reference to the state However, the shopkeepers are not alone in which "he" came home last night. The in the receipt of custom. Besides the girls are a Httle smarter. Some of them perambulating dealers in cabbages already have washed their faces, presumably in referred to, there are others upon iihe honour of the day, and, furthermore, ground. The poHce do not permit barrows adorned themselves with strings cf glass to be drawn np here on Sunday morning. beads and gilt ear - rings. They have bnt they tolerate baskets; and so baskets either run out to buv something forMtten of vegetables, of fish, and of crockery are by "mother" last evening, or to indulge ranged along both sides of the roadway, on their own account in an iUustrated vrith the owners bawliuET encomiums of periodical of fiction, which they unfold their wares. whUst bovs and girls with in the streets, and read as they walk pennyworths of onions, bunches of carrots, along, often in pairs, with their arms kandiuls of greens, and cheap Sundav news­ around each other. This style is exceed- papers, add their shrill trebles to the con­ ingly popular amongst the poorer of them, cert. Numerous merchants of unconsidered who habituaUy dispense with bonnets, be- trifles, such as sweetmeats, cakes, ginger- cause then oue shawl can be made available In^ad nuts, toys, combs, hair-nets, boot and for two wearers. stay-laces, braces, tin-ware, gridirons, chick- The surrounding streets offer no slight weed, groundseh flowers, roots, &Q., are contrast. Here quiet prevails. Nine- also strolling up and down, and adding to tenths of the shops in Dudley-street are the din. There are also flower-seUers, bnt devoted to the sale and purchase of second­ they receive but scant patronage. The hand garments. Like the poet's bedstead, inhabitants of the Dials, and it is a bad they contrive to pay a double debt, for sign, do not appreciate bouquets, and I whilst the dealer in old clothes occupies the fear the dandiest of them all would hardly shop itself, the ceUar beneath it is tenanted venture to sport a rosebud or a " bunch o' by a vender of old boots and shoes, whose vUets" in his button-hole. stock-in-trade, poHshed to a wonderful The customers are aU women and eirls, degree of brightness, is ranged in shining and the former are aU eqnaUy dowdy and and symmetrical rows along the pavement. fpouzy. Whatever may have been the ori­ Boots of aU kinds. fi*om the navvy's ankle- ginal colour of their garments, time, wear, jack tothechUd's shoe, from the mechanic's and dirt have toned them down to pretty blucher to the lady's balmoral, aU equaUy weU the same dingy hue, and even the few ghttering, are to be had here. And not feded flowers in their battered bonnets faU without reason have they been so polished ; to reHeve the sombre monotony. There is for a larish appHcation of the blacking- no particularising their attire, and their brush goes far to conceal all the cunning &ces, too, are equaUy pinched, haggard, derices of heelbaU aud brown paper, which and careworn. They are keen and quiet have helped to restore them apparently to bargainers, and silently and carefuUv turn their pristine soHdity. Avoid them, for over the pUes of vegetables, or lift and they are Dead Sea fruit; fair to look at, sniff at the fish, quite indifferent to the but rotten at the core. Purchase a pair, smart salesman who is rattling off his in- and you wUl behold them at the first vitetions to purchase in their very ears. shower of rain coUapse into a shapeless, Some, indeed, have come back to resume a sodden mass. The old clothes are mostiv bargain aU bnt concluded last nighty in the women's, and bear so close a resemblance hopes of now obtaining the article over to those you see worn in the streets, that winch they chaffered a few halipence you have no reason to wonder where they cheaper, but with the majority it is a come from. Very remarkable are the different story. They were unable to do general odd-and-end shops to be fonnd in their Saturday's marketing, for "father" these streets, iu which ron may purchase did not come reeling home tiU the last almost eveiy conceivable thing in a more or pubHc-honse was closed, aud now, whUst less dUapidated and imperfect condition, he is StUl lying in a drunken stupor upon and which appear to be doing a very good

"^ T ^. -& 614 [April 2D, 1S71.1 ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [Conducted by

business just now, though it certainly does tive, and might draw the entire crowd in puzzle one to guess what a man can front of his window, and so block up the possibly want with a concertina, minus all street, I am unable to say, but It is certain its keys, half a dozen yards of tarnished that on Sundays he witljdraws the glass gilt cornice, three-fifths of a pair of scales, cases containing his finny and scaly wares an odd carriage lamp, or the upper half of into the darkest recesses of His shop, leav­ a bagatelle board, on a Sunday morning. ing nothing in their place but a few weakly- There are second-hand furniture - shops, looking ferns, a stuffed bird or two, and which run into the old iron trade, and also some bundles of porcupines' quills. But branch out into the picture line. Pictui^es, there is ne lack of attractions left, seeing indeed, are plentiful about here, both sacred that, with the exception of a couple of and secular, including a number of saliifs hatters, a herbalist, a sweetmeat-shop, and for the Irish, wlio, however, are far from a picture-frame maker, the street presents being so numerous in this neighbourhood ou either side a long Hne of aviaries, the as of old, and a liberal sprinkling of royal windows of which are filled from top to personages for the patriotic. bottom with cages. Canaries form the These quiet streets are favoured by the majority of the occupants of these mlnia- juvenile denizens of the Dials, since here tarc ]jrisous, but linnets and finches are to they can indulge in their sports and pas­ be met with in considerable numbers, and times without fear of Interruption. Some, there are larks and starlings, blaekbird.s in clean pinafores, with tlieu- hair brushed and thrushes, love-birds, paraquets, and and faces shining from the recent applica­ even sparrows. Yes, not only the Java, tion of yellow soap, are sitting on the door­ but the commou sparrow Is to he found here, steps, sucking sticky sweetstutf, or munch­ and the London Ai'ab, as I observed, de­ ing big lumps of bread-and-drlpping, given votes twopence to his acquisition, but them to amuse them till the joint comes whether to rear him, to eat him, or to Home from the baker's, or are wandering pelt him to death down "our court," I about, hand-In-hand, in family groups of four cannot say. Nor are singing birds the or five. Others, and by far the majority, in only creatures exposed for sale here. There their natural unkempt state, are jilayiiig at are parrots aud cockatoos, jays and mag­ battledore and shuttlecock, a game fashion­ pies, jackdaws and ravens, fowls of every able in the Dials at this season of the year, breed, pigeons, rabbits, and a perfect host for amongst London children certain games of such sraall deer as guinea-pigs, white succeed each other in regular and mystic mice, dorraice, hedgehogs, squirrels, and relation, and hopscotch has jnst gone out. ferrets. The cages offer almost as much The only spectators are lounging bachelors, variety as their tenants. There are long who stand in the doorways, four or five low hutches, each containing a regiment of deep, m their .shirt-sleeves, looking on. the rank and file of canaries, marked for The upper half of Great St. Audrew- sale at six sliillings per cock, and two f:treet is the Sunday morning lounge of the per hen bird. There are smaller habita­ natives of the Dials, and if there were tions of brown wood and steel wire, set any rank and fashion to be found In the apart for approved songsters of the same neighbourhood, the visitor might expect tribe, and eligible family residences, with to find them here. The speciality of Great inner chambers, and sliding partitions, and St. An drew-street, as any one who has little fluffy nests, for the accommodation of ever passed down it cannot fail to be such birds as may be matrimonially dis­ aware, is birds, and it is to look at, ex­ posed. There are little green boxes, with amine, admire, criticise, aud even buy the woodo]! bars, for the Hnnets and finches, specaaHty in question, that this crowd is white wicker baskets for blackbirds, elegant congregated here. Every bird-shop has its little domes of blue aud silver, or green and circle of spectators, devouring the contents gold, for love-birds, and gorgeous pagoda- of the window with their eyes. There is like constructions, of bright steel or gilt only one exception, and that is the esta­ wire, for the paiTots and cockatoos. And not blishment on the east side of the street, for birds alone are residences provided, ibr which on week days makes such a brUlIant there are tiny dog-kennels, and hutches, exhibition of frogs, snakes, lizards, newts, and cages, for white mice and squirrels, tortoises, gold-fish, and sticklebacks. Whe­ together with such miscellaneous odds and ther the proprietor is afraid that these ends as dog-collars, muzzles, bells, seed- creatures are not sufficiently strong in troughs, water-bottles, bird-baths, nests, Ac- constitution to bear being stared at, oj- And every tirae the sun peeps through the whether he fears they are even too attrac­ clouds the burst of sunlight calls forth a

^- *i^

:^ Ctiej-Iea Dickens, Jun.] SUNDAY IN THE SEVEN DIALS, [AprU 29, 1S71,3 515 corresponding burst of bird-song, whilst Towards noon costermongers' barrows flocks of circling pigeons, whirling up laden with nuts, oranges, cocoa-nuts, and amongst chimney-pots above, join in the ginger-beer, began to make their appear­ salute. ance, and were extensively patronised. The crowd is essentially a loafing oue, Periwinkles, too, found great favour in the and the members of it present a strong eyes of the multitude, for it takes some family resemblance to each other. There time to get through half a pint of these are attempts at smartness in the matter of delicacies, and with that quantity in your dress on the part of individuals, but they pocket, a good store of pins, aud a comfort­ only serve to render the seediness of the able post to lean against, you can while mass more apparent. For the people assem­ away half an hour or so pleasantly and im­ bled here between eleven o'clock and noon perceptibly. A fondness for leaning against are almost aU inhabitants of the quarter. posts is, bythe way, one of the distinguish- Some have come out to purchase a turf, or in Q; characteristics of the natives of this some bird-seed, or a handful of groundsel or district, and one which theyappear to have chickweed from the basket-bearing dealers, inherited from the Irish, who preceded for the bird at home; and there are boys them iu their occupancy. For amongst the with cages for sale, but the vast bulk have things not generally known may be classed not even such a reason as that for their pre­ the fact that the Irish element, as I have sence here. They loaf about listlessly, for already hinted, has almost entirely disap­ their object is merely to kill time till the peared from the region of the Dials, and I pubhc-houses open, and they find it hard have not heard the brogue once this moru­ work to accomplish this feat. There was, ing, though I can remember when you however, when I visited the Dials on Sun­ could not have passed down here on a Sun­ day, one old mau who had an object. This day morning, without noticing a dozen posts was a long-bearded individual in a snuff- supporting stalwart Hibernians in the full coloured great-coat, who was distributing national gala costume of steeple-crowned tracts. He was a brisk, cheerful old man, hat, swallow-taU coat, kneo-cords, and blue for when a Frenchman, to whom he offered stockings. one of his Httle books, politely declined it, As one o'clock di'aws near the crowd in with the remark. In his native language, Great St. Andrew-street begins to lose its that he did uotunderstandEngHsh, the old local character from the increasing stream fellow observed to those around him, "Ah, of traffic pouring through the street. The nou comprong, poor fellow; it ain't his constant passage of soldiers, clerks, shop­ fault that he's a Frenchman; the Lord 'U girls, and holiday makers generaUy, soon look after him just the same !" tones down the peculiar features of the The slightest Incident attracts as many thorouo'hfare. spectators as a fight or an accident would The aborigines now begin to concentrate upon ordinary occasions, and is eagerly their forces npon the Dials themselves. welcomed as reliering the monotony. A Two of the seven corners at this spot are boy, for instance, after looking aud hesi­ occupied by public-houses, and towards tating for a long time, at length makes up the clock imbedded iu the fajade of one of his mind to purchase a bird. He plunges these establishments many anxious looks into the shop, and is at once followed by are now cast. The market ia by this time a dozen companions, all eager to ten^^er over, and the loungers at the doorways have their advice npon this important matter. burst from the grub into the butterfly He coraes out, grasping his acquisition as btate, and sallied forth In all the glories of tightly as if he expected it to fiy away, slangy swelldom, their clothes cut accord­ cage and aU, and becomes at once a centre ing to the inflexible mathematics of the of attraction. Grave men cluster around ready-made system. There are gorgeous him, ask how much he paid for his treasure, exceptions to the general moh, but there and solemnly counsel him as to the future is one fact in connexion with the entire diet of his purchase. Many of the men multitude which is rather remarkable. themselves have dogs uuder their arms, and However seedy and shabby a Dialiau may friends assemble round them to discuss the be in his attire, his boots, or what is left animals' points, bystanders quietiy joining of them, are invariably polished to perfec­ iu the conversation. I do not notice many tion on a Sunday morning. One side of the birds bought, and the depressing influence open space is occupied by a row of a dozen of the Dials seems to overspread every- shoeblacks, who indulge amongst themselves thinc", for there is an entire absence of chaff . in the playful badinage pecuHar to their or horse-play. I tribe, whilst attending to the wants of their F A =fe 51G [AprU 29,1371,] ALL THE YEAR ROUND. tCondacted by

customers. These latter have by this time Tall and straight with the snows of age on her head, Brave and stern as a soldier's mother might be, pretty well exhausted the round of amuse­ Deep in her eyea a living look of tbo dead, ment afforded by the place. They have Sho grasped her sta^ and silently gazed at me, been shaved, for the penny barber close I thought ['d better be dead than meet her eye; by has been Hard at work, scraping away Sbo guessed it all, Td never a word to tell. the week's gi-owth of stubble, all the morn­ Taking tbe sword in her arms she heaved a sigh. ing; they have looked at all the birds, Clasping the curl in her hand she eobbed, and fell. they have drunk ginger-beer, and eaten I raised her up, she sate in her stately chair, Her face like death, but not a tear in her eye ; oranges and periwinkles, and now, as a Wo hoard a step, and tender voice on the stair last resource, they are having their hoots Murmuring soft to an infant's cooing cry. cleaned. I verily believe that some of My lady she sate erect, and sterner grew, them go away, rub off the polish, and then I'inger on mouth she motioned mo not to stay ; come back and have the operation repeated, A girl camo io, the wife of tho dead I knew. roerely for the sake of killing time, Happy She held his babe» and, neighbour, 1 fled away [ are those who can read. Por their de­ I tried to run, but I heard the widow's cry. IJeighbour, I have been hurt and I am not well: lectation comes a swarm of newsboys 1 pray to God that never untU I die. bellowing at the top of their voices the May I again have such sorry news to teD! titles of the journals they have for dis­ posal and their contents. A few genuine working meu, mechanics in their white THE THREE-EYED MAN OF CYPEUS. slops, and navvies in moleskin aud cordu­ roy, now make their appearance, for, to tell *^ IT comes to the Foi'ty Thieves, after the truth, the Dials is not a working-class all," murraured Rupert, at the end of a neighbourhood, and women and children pause, during which he had been quietly with jugs in their hands assemble on the smoking an elaborately adorned meer­ outskirts of the crowd, now every moment schaum, and staring at the fire. growing denser and denser, aud fall to " A great many things come to thieves, gossiping after the manner of their kind. and thieves come for a great many things," As to the raen, they are getting too anxious observed Adolphus, " but what particular to talk, and puff their tobacco in silence, booty falls to the lot of the renowned whilst some of the lads vent their im­ Forty?" patience iu softly whistling breakdowns, "Perhaps you are not aware," said Ru­ and keeping time to them in a shufling pert, " that whUe modern philologists de­ hop upon the pavement. The excitement vote their energies to the comparison of intensifles, and all eyes are rivetted upon various languages, and succeed in deriving the dial-plate in front of the Crown, all from a common stock many hitherto sup­ oars are straining to catch the notes of posed to have no connexion with each One frora the belfry of St. GUes's. Now, other, a simUar process is adopted in the ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding- case of popular tales, and tbat it is ascer­ dong, dong ! and as the last welcome sound tained beyond the possibility of doubt, that dies away, there is a creaking in front, abolt the same story, modified In its details, may is heard to shoot, and then, Hke one mighty frequently be found in countries separated wave, the crowd surges through the opened by vast distances, between which no mutual door to break against the bar. In two intercourse can be proved. The tale of minutes they have vanished. That mass Cinderella, for instance, is to be found of human beings has melted like snow almost everywhere. Do you understand?" before the sun, and has been swallowed up "Perfectly,'' replied Adolphus; "but I by the gaping jaws of the public-house. fail to perceive that you have answered my question about the Forty Thieves." " To those I was coming," said Rupert, JS"EWS TO TELL. " I have just been reading a popular tale of WETGnBOXTRt lend me your arm for I am not well, Cyprus, one of a collection pubHshed about This wound you see is scarcely a fortnight old. two years ago In modern Greek, by M. All for a Borrj message I had to tell, I've travelled many a mile in wet and cold. Athenasios SakeUarios. Now, in the main, no two narratives can be more dis­ Yon ia the old grey chiteau above the trees, He bade me seek it, my comrade brave and gay ; tinct than this tale and the famiHar story Stately forest and river so brown and broad, of Ali Baba, but in one particular incident He showed me the scene aa he a-dyiog lay, they meet, and, what is strange, this in­ I have been there, and, neighbour, I am not well; cident cannot be classed among what ma^^ I bore his sword and some ofhis curling hair, be termed the commonplaces of fairy lore. Knocked at the gate and said I had news to tell, " Commonplaces of fairy lore ? I do not Entered a chamber and saw his mother there.

c:^. z ^: :fc Charles Dickens. Jan.] THE THREE-EYED MAN OF CYPRUS, [April 20,1871.:; 517

quite apprehend your meaning," remarked of whom she loves far more than the others, Adolphus. who are thereby so much exasperated that "I can easily make myself clear by they determine to pnt an end to their example," said Rupert. " Among fairy mother's life. They therefore decoy her commonplaces I would class the frequent into a spinning-match, the terms of which nae of the number three. In tale after are, that the spinner whose thread breaks tale we find parents with three children, of shall be devoured by the others. The poor which the third, if they are boys, is raore old lady loses, and implores for mercy, clever, if they are girls, is more beautiful winch is granted; bnt when her thread than the other two." breaks for the third time, furtlier respite is "Oh, yes," rejoined Adolphus, "in the denied, and they prepare to kill her. She good old days, when fames were our god­ contrives, however, to give a valuable hint mothers, the third of three was the best as to her youngest daughter, who took no a matter of course. But tell me about part in the spinniug-matcli. When she this tale of Cyprus, which it seems is so has been eaten up by her \ricked children, much like and so much unlike the story of Cinderella is to collect the bones, put them the Forty Thieves." into a vessel, and smoke them, without in­ "Well," said Rupert, "it starts with a termission, for forty days. The old lady is violation of the very rule which we have duly boiled and eaten, Cinderella refusing just laid down as general. A poor wood­ to share in the impious repast, aud taking cutter had three daughters, and employed care to obey her mother's mandate. She three asses to take his wood to market. lights a great fire, places over it the vessels His profits on a certain fine day being containing the bones, and for forty days somewhat above the average, he purchased keeps her place on the hearth, not quitting a kerchief of the kind that was used for it for a moment. The sisters dress and go head-gear, whereat the girls were greatly out, asking her to accompany them; but delighted, especially the eldest, who at once she prefers to remain at home. When the tied it about her head, and took her seat at prescribed forty days have passed she opens the window, expecting to be admh^ed by the vessel in the absence of her sisters, and, the passers-by. Nor was she disappointed; lo ! the bones are transformed to diamonds for she attracted the attention of a country­ and gold. The rest of the story coincides man, who was going along the street, and with the Cinderella of ourchUdhood. The so highly was he pleased by her personal two sisters go to a wedding-party, learing appearance, that he made inquiries among Cinderella at home; but she presently the neighbours whether she was married follows them, magnificently attired, and or single. The satisfactory result of his attracts the notice of a prince, who is Investigations led to a proposal of marriage, araong the guests. When she hurries which was gladly accepted by the wood­ away she loses one of her slippers, which is cutter, and the eldest daughter left her found bythe prince, who, of course, marries fiither's house, with ahusbandraagnanimous its owner. The nuptial ceremony being enough to take no account of herpoverty." concluded, she pays a visit to her sisters, " But the other sisters, more especially shows them the treasures in the vessels, ex­ the third " Adolphus began to inquire. plaining that these ai^e their mother's trans­ '* Are never mentioned again in the muted bones, makes them a present of a course of the story," said Rupert, finishing portion, and takes the rest home to her the sentence. " There is the very solecism royal husband's palace." to which 1 just now referred." "Heyday!" exclaimed Adolphus; '^so " You don't mean to say that, contrary these two abominable wretches, not only to all precedent, this eldest girl will remain kill and eat their mother, but are actually the principal female personage In the tale?" rewarded for the hideous crime. The moral "Yes, I do." of the story is atrocious." " Then it is very clear that the people of " Your indignation is natural enough, if Cyprus never heard of Cinderella, however yon regard the personages in this \rild tale widely that lady's fame may be spread in as mere ordinary mortals, occasionally sub­ other directions," remarked Adolphus. jected to supernatural influences, as in the " On the contrary," retorted Ruperi, common ruuof populartales. The Cinderella "they have a Cinderella of their own, in of our youth and her two sisters are per­ which the rule of three is rigidly observed, fectly human, the godmother, as a wonder­ and which, In its way, is as ghastly a tale working fairy, standing apart from aU the as any myth of Ancient Greece. An old rest. On the other hand, note the clrcum- woman has three daughters, the youngest stauces of the strange mother in the Ciude- ^:

618 [AprU 29,1371.] ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [Condacted bj

rella of Cyprus, She is not waylaid, but same miserable predicament as that ne­ she voluntarily stakes her Hfe on the result glected body; for her husband had ex­ of a contest of skill with her daue;hters, pressly ordered that none of her family who are more lenient than is required by should be allowed to visit her," the conditions of the game. Then, oddly "Aha!" shouted Adolphus, with much enough, though she is hated by the elder delight, " that's the reason why we hear daughters for the preference she shows to no more of the woodcutter's youngest the youngest, they display no ill-feeling to­ daughter. Possibly she figures In another wards the latter. When they go out they tale." ask her to accompany them, and her ad­ " Possibly," said Rupert, dryly; " but if herence to the hearth arises, not from any there be such a tale, 1 have not read it. oppression on their part, but from her deter­ Well, the corpse haring been duly buried, mination to perform a pious duty. Nor does and the persons who earried it having re­ the crime which they have committed in­ tired, who should march up to the ceme­ spire her with abhorrence. On the con­ tery hut the lady's husband. No sooner trary, she presents them with a share of the had he reached the grave than his head wealth which she has acquired through swelled to an enormous size, the number of their wickedness. The death of an old lady, his eyes Increased from two to three, his whose bones are slowly but spontaneously hands became wonderfully long, and were converted into gold aud precious stones, is, decorated with nails of proportionate in my opinion, not to be judged by ordinary dimensions. With these he dug up the rules of right and wrong; but the main body, which he greedily devoured." story is some sort of allegory, with which "There seems to be a great deal of the tale of Cinderella and her slipper has cannibalism in the Cyprian consciousnees," been clumsily interwoven. Again, forty is gravely observed Adolphus, "Two young not a number of frequent occurrence in women eat their mother, and a very ugly fairy tales, and the fact that the days of gentleman feasts on a newly-buried corpse. Cinderella's watching correspond to the By the way, our three-eyed friend looks duration of Lent may be worth considera­ very Hke the old Ghoul In the Arabian tion" Nights." " Likely enough," said Adolphus ; " but "Certainly he is a ghoul to all intents we are forg'ettinGforo-ettino: ththee woodcutter's eldest and purposes," said Rupert. "His ap­ daughter." pearance and conduct had sueh an effect " True," rejoined Rupert. " WeU, we'U upon his wife that she became violently 111, i^eturn to her_ The young lady •^^'as con­ and took to her bed. Soou afterwards he ducted by her husband to a splendid house, returned home, entered the empty room, and jiresented with a key, whicli would deposited the bones of the devoured body open the doors of a hundred rooms. There In the coffer, and noticed certain footprints was another room, which he told her was which could not be his own. Shrewdly empty, and the door of which he forbade surmising the cause of this phenomenon, her to open. The key of this he retained," he went to his wife's bedside, and afiection- " We are coming straight to Bluebeard," ately asked her what w^as the matter, cried Adolphus, " and I suppose we are to whereat slie was so greatly horrified that be favoured with a museum of slaughtered she plunged her head under the clothes, wives." and declared that she was going to die. "Nothing of the sort," said Rupert, His ofler, as kind as it was unexpected, to " theresembhinceof the tale tothat of Blue­ fetch her mother, was readily accepted; so beard Is very transient. There was actually slipping out of the room, he reappeared In nothing whatever in the room but a large the likeness of that excellent per.son." coffer. The only object that arrested the " As the three-eyed ghoul seems able to young lady's gaze, when. In her husband's assume any shape at pleasure, I wonder absence, having ascertained where the key that he ever wears the hideous form at was kept, she entered the forbidden pre- aU," observed Adolphus, ciacts, was a window that looked upon the " Probably if we were able to obtain the street. At this she took her post, and re­ narrative in a more complete state," replied signed herself to the contemplation of a Rupert, "we should find that the hoirible dismal cemetery, to which a corpse was form with thi^ee eyes, and even the consump­ carried without the usual accompaniment tion of human flesh, was imposed upon our of mourners. The sight suggested mekin- cannibal friend by a law of necessity, and choly reflections. She felt that if she her­ was not the result of a depraved inclina­ self chanced to die, she w^ould be in the tion. Remember, that in the tale of Pusf

^ •^ /^ =& Charles Dickens, Jan.] THE THREE-EYED MAN OF CYPRUS, [April 23,1S7L] 519 in Boots, the ogre, who is able to assume might, he said, have been disposed to various shapes, remains an ogre notwith­ leniency; but why in the world, when she standing. WeU, the mother affectionately had been so circumspect with all the rest asked the yonng wife whether she had been of her kith aud kin, should she be so pro- maltreated by her hnsband. The invahd vokingly communicative to her grand­ answered in the negative, whereupon her mother, uo doubt, a garrulous old lady, risitor suggested the propriety of sending more given to gossip than aU the others a present home to her family. No, the put together ? Such a combination of per- wife would not touch the husband's pro­ verseness and absurdity demanded the perty iu his absence, but she promised to severest punishment. So the offended hus­ speak to him on the deUcate subject when band kindled a huge fire, made a spit he returned Home. Nothing could be more red-hot, and told his wMo she must prepare satisfactory than the result of the cross- to be roasted and eaten, esaniination; so when, after the retii'ement "The vrife acknowledged the justice of of the supposed old lady, our cauuibal re­ the sentence," pursued Rupert, "but a^ked turned in his proper form " and obtained a respite of two hours for the " Which form was that?" asked Adol­ ostensible purpose of making her peace with phus. Heaven, No sooner was she out of Her " AVhy, of course, the form in wliich he husland's sight than she armed herself married her," answered Rupert, peerishly. with the key of the forbidden room, entered *' Yon don't snppose he was such a fool aa it, and leaped from the window." to let the cat out of the bag, by reappear­ " With a hundred and one rooms in his ing with his long nails and three eyes.'' house, how excessively stupid the cannibal " I beg your pardon," said Adolphus, must have been that He could not find a meekly ; " I did nor know whether the law nook where to hide his key!" objected of necessity to which you just now referred Adolphus- might not have come unexpectedly into " Nay," repHed Rupert, " there is an in­ opei^tion. But go on," stance of a law which more or less prevaUs "Well," proceeded Rupert, "when he through the whole region of popular lore. reappeared he was apparently in a very The battle is always that of the strong good humour, and wUHngly consented to against the weak, and the former, who is send a ti^ifle to his wife's family Indeed, certain to be conquered, is genei^ally over­ as the sum she required did not greatly weighted with a load of stupidity which exceed twopence, he had the opportunity insures the victorv of his antaETonist. The of reading her a kindly lecture on her young wife, knowing that her husband scrupulous disposition, and of reminding would be at any i^ate shrewd enough to her that she was the mistress of his house. foUow her, ran down the street with aU her All the wife's relations were now iurited might, and main, tUl she came to a man one by one, with the sole exception of her T\"ith a waggon, who, when he bad heard grandmother, and the forms of aU were her case, said that he could not assist her, successively assumed by the husband, with inasmuch as her three-eyed persecutor a result as satisfactory as when he had put would not scruple to devour hira and his on the semblance of the mother. But when horse. He adrised ber, therefore, to continue he made his appearance in the likeness of her flight tUl she reached the driver of the the grandmother, things took an unpleasant king's camels. This adrice she took, and tmn, for his wife, inspired by a confidence when the camel-driver was informed how she had not before manifested, begged the matters stood, he took a bale of cotton fi^om venerable dame to sit do^vn, and proceeded the back of his animal, and within it con­ to describe in the foUest detaU aU the cealed the fugitive. In the meanwhile, the horrors she had witnessed from the win­ cannibal having reheated his spit, caUed dow in the empty room. A howl of rage for his wife at the expiration of the twa from her husband immediately followed hours, and receiving no answer, proceeded the end of Her narrative, and casting at once to the empty room, leaped out of aside the semblance of the old lady, he window, and scampered down the street stood revealed in aU the hideousness be­ tm he came np to the waggoner, who, longing to what you caU his proper form. thi'^eatened with Immediate consumption His wife's inconsistency seemed to dis­ unless he gave information respecting the please him even more than her inordi­ runaway, protested utter ignorance, and nate curiosity. If she had been content to referred him to the camel-driver. The watch the proceedings in the cemetery, and latter, however, when overtaken, was so 'md kept her knowledge to herself, he strong in his negatives that the three-eved z. =^ ^: =:t 620 [April 29,1S71.] ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [OondQcledby

persecutor turned back, and searched His known to everybody. She feared that her house once more. The search proving first husband would no sooner hear of her fruitless, he armed himself with his spit, second marriage, than he would contrive to which he had again reheated, and once eat her np, and her bridegroom into the more overtook the driver of camels, whora bargain. She, therefore, counselled the he ordered to stop, Tbe poor man, king to have the nuptial ceremony per^ frightened ont of his wits, but less formed at night-time, as quietly as pos­ frightened than the lady in the bale, sible, and also to buUd an upper story to obeyed the command, whereupon the the palace, that conld only be approached monster thmst his spit into one bale after by seven steps. At the foot of the lowest another, but took his departure when he there was to be a large hole, concealed by a saw that no result ensued. When he was mat, and all the steps were to be smeared fairly out of the way the worthy camel- with tallow." driver naturally asked the lady if she had " The clown in a Christmas pantomime not been hurt by the spit, aud learned that is familiar with the last stratagem,"observed the point of the formidable weapon had Adolphus, "but he usually employs butter." entered her foot, but that she had had the "The attempt to keep the wedding a presence of mind to wipe off the stains of secret,'* proceeded Rupert, " proved, of blood with cotton." course, a failure. The cannibal heard of *' A strong-minded woman!" cried Adol­ the approaching marriage of his fugitive phus, with admiration, " This incident of wife with the king's son, and immediately the bales of cotton and the spit is de­ collected a number of black men, whom he cidedly sensational." hid in sacks, and -with them proceeded to "The young lady," proceeded Rupert, the royal castle, in the guise of a merchant. " was consoled by her protector's assurance All the wedding-party had assembled at that she was certain to be kindly received the supper-table, and the bride, detecting by the king, at whose palace they shortly the unwelcome visitor, gave a hint to her arrived. By piling the other- bales of royal mother that she should cause the tra^ cotton in the court-yard, and conveying veller to be inquired as to the nature ofhis the one which contained the lady into his wares. Hia answer was to the effect that own apartment, the driver caused the he had brought pistachlo-nnts, dried apri­ servants to suspect that he was committing cots, and chestnuts, all of the finest quality; a robbery, and he was accordingly brought whereupon the bride expressed a strong before the king. This explanation, which desire to taste luxmies so dehcious. He was foUowed by the production of the begged to be excused till the following young lady, perfectly satisfied the benevo­ morning; but the king's jester, anxious to lent monarch, who having heard her story, oblige his young mistress, crept stealthily ordered his physician to bandage her up to one of the sacks, with the design wounded foot. When she had recovered of pilfering a dainty, and was not a little she expressed a desire to make herself use­ astonished when a gruff voice inqTiired, ful, and haring been prorided with proper ' Is it time, master ?' Trying all the sacks materials, embroidered so magnificent a in succession, the jester heard the same portrait of the king seated on his throne, inquiry repeated, and lost no time in re­ with his crown on his head, that every one porting his discovery to the guests in the was astounded. Nay, the king was of banquet-hall. Perfectly understanding how opinion that so expert an embroiderer, al­ matters stood, the bride gave orders that though not of royal descent, would make the merchant should be compelled to open an admirable daughter-in-law, and his his sacks immediately, and his speedy queen entirely agreed with him." retreat at once ensued. The services of "Ah!" observed Adolphus, "whatever the public executioner were now required, might have been the faults of those kings aud that usefal functionary answering the in fairy tales, they always encouraged successive iuqnh*ies in the affirmative, talent. ' struck off each head as It was thrust from "With the proposal that she should the sack." become the bride of the crown prince," " I see," exclaimed Adolphus, " there 15 continued Rupert, "shefelt highly honoured, the passage which connects your story with but at the same time perceived a difficulty." that of the Forty Thieves. Here, of course, " In the circumstance that she was al­ we reach the conclusion, and have only ready married ?" suggested Adolphus. to believe that the bride and bridegi^oom "No," replied Rupert, "that was perfectly Hved happy ever afterwards,"

'=^- =? :& Charles Dickens. Jun.] MY CENSUS PAPER. [April 2!>, 1871.J 521

"Not quite so fast," replied Rupert. deed, I could see that my rather sudden " The cannibal returned in his hideous return had taken them by surprise. There form, and ascended to the upper story, in was a young feUow called Tithebarn, who order to carry off the bride; hut the had been assiduously paying attentions to spirited lady succeeded in tumbUng him my Patty, aud whom, on account of his down the shppery stairs, and he fell into irreverence as to all matters of business, I the hole, where he was immediately de­ had forbidden the house. I had not time voured hy a couple of wild beasts. Now now to ask about him, for I saw the blue you raay indulge In your blissful belief if form on my desk. I trembled as I thought you please. But of what are you think- how close I had "run it." My wife treated the matter with a carelessness that really ^?' approached lerity- " I ara thinking," said Adolphus, "about GUI" ancient friend Polypheraus, who had " Oh, there was no fear," she said. " I one eye in the middle of his forehead, fed was near filling it in yesterday, I hear upon human flesh, and made much use of any sort of nonsense will do, provided you a roasting-spit. Now, it seems to me that give thera figures." the monster of Cyprus is very like the " Any nonsense!" I said, appalled. "Do monster of SicUy, with one eye in his fore­ you know what you are speaking of?" head, not in Heu of, but in addition to, the "No!" she said, contemptuously, "nor ordinary two." do they know themselves. Collecting all the women's ages—how many nurses and cooks there are in a street. Mrs, Widging- MY CENSUS PAPER. ton's little girl, Polly, put tiiem aU down cooks; but they're too stupid to find it I HAVE been at last recognised by the out." State. Officially, I mean, for in the matter I was reaUy shocked at this sort of pro­ of taxes, &c., any person, I believe, would fanity. "Do you know," said I, calmly, be recognised, who was content to discharge "that if you Had done what you said you its claims. But in the present case it wUl would do, you would have put your hand admit no substitute; it looks to rae and to a falsehood, signing yourself 'head of to me only. Sh, I am the " Head of the the house ?' " Family !^^ "Fiddle-de-dee !" was her answer. "Per­ I have the blue census document nowopen haps it would not be a falsehood," before me, with its elaborate dirisions and "Further," I went on, "listen to this: subdivisions, "members of this famUy, of any one not giring correcb information is risitors, aud of all others who slept or abode Hable to five pounds penalty, besides the iu this dwelling on the night of Sunday, inconvenience and annoyance—these are April the 2nd." lam proudly at the head the very words of the form—of appearing of them aU. before two justices of the peace, and being I approach the first column, where I find conricted of having made a wUful misstate­ that nobody who was absent on the night ment of age, or of any of tbe particulars. of Sunday, April the 2nd, is to be entered You see on what a precipice you stand." in the column ; excepting those who were "Nonsense," she said, laughing; "jus­ tra velhng, or were out at work on that par­ tices, indeed ! Who has been filHng your ticular nicrht- This seems to me rather head with this chUdlsh twaddle ? By the finessing ; no decent, well-ordered head of a way, dear, to-raorrow night the girls asked house would allow any of his people to be some friends here for a Httle quiet tea, out at work, or indeed any of his family " Sunday uight !" I said, horrified, that he cared for, to be traveUing in the "Tea-parties on Sunday night! oh, I can't cold night air, have it! This is always the way when I had been away from home on business I go awoy. Heaven knows what takes of importance, but during the whole tirae place iu my absence." I was really angry this great national enumeration was before at this unworthy advantage that had been my eyes. Inquisitorial, some caUed it; taken of my absence, when she inter­ yet how iraportant it was that every fact rupted me, and with more sense than I aud figure should be recorded for our could have believed her capable of, said: nation's good. I was eager to get back, and " You know they wUl count as risitors^ ahnost the first words I uttered, as ray eldest and keep up our respectability. The go- girl ran to meet me, were, " Has the enume­ verument must take notice of it 1" rator been here ?" She did not know. In­ I could not help smiling at this idea. T V =5 522 [April 29, isri.] ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [Oond acted by

There was in truth something in it: and "Ridiculous," I said; "this is mere when I was alone I betook myself to study­ fooling, I forbade you to enter the house. ing the form carefully, and was aghast at Besides," I said, "you don't understand finding that after all this minuteness of the meaning of the form. You don't know cHrection, there was a certain obscurity and what you are talking about." ambiguity. I have often found this the "Then w^here is it?" he said. "Let us case where you try to be specially siraple, see it," and to adapt your ideas to the meanest "I'll convince you in a second," I i^e- capacity. Thus it said that, " Persons plied. And I hurried him down to the foUowing more distinct occupations than study. I showed him the column, and how one, should insert them in the order of the visitorship applied only to snch persons their importance.^' as stopped the night. He owned his error, How was I to decide between conflicting I must say, modestly, and asked my pardon. claims ? Here was I, holding an office of It was a misconstruction, he said. Ho trust in a City house, and at the same time would leave at once. He knew that I fult contributing largely to the literature of the so anxious about the government getting a country, many of ray little lucubrations tme return. being complimented with a place In the "WeU," I said, "you had better stay Little Pedlington Mercuiy, the Caraden for dinner, at all events," Town Gazette, aud other influential organs. I must say the dinner that followed ^^•as How was I to take on me the inridlous very pleasant, every one was iu sueh spirits; task of deciding between these occupa­ and I must also say tbat Mr. Tithebarn, of tions ? Here was a breakdown at the start. whom I had known Httle before, rather I'c- But the most alarming embarrassment commended himself by his stories. But, for carae from column number three, which all that, he would have to enter himself iu described "condition," where "married" or column number six merely as " com­ "unmarried," &c., was to be placed oppo­ mercial clerk;" he would nob do as " oc­ site the names of all except " young chil­ cupier of a house" with ray Patty. After dren .'' What was a ' ^ yonng child'' ? There dinner there was tea. And then the party was Polly, my second girl,, thirteen years broke up. I was still thinking of my official old: was she a young child, or an old one ? form. There was a vast deal of work be­ If the latter, was I to put "unmarried" fore me, collecting the ages—the women against her ? How many families were would be the difficulty tliere^—^and the enu­ there in the kingdom in which the same merator would come early in the morning. doubt would arise, and the error be thus I went down to ray study to think It multiplied ? What was I to do ? I had over. Suddenly young Tithebarn camo to declare solemnly the truth of the matter, down to me hurriedly. It was midcighfc. under my hand. "Not gone!" I said. Thus distracted, and seeing what enor- "My dear sir," ho replied, "what arc mous difficulties were before me in what we to do—you must tell me. For you, appeared a very simple matter, I looked as ' head of the House,' will have to decide, ruefuUy at the form, determining to ad­ and it seems a serious responsibility," journ it till the morning. " What do you mean ?" I said, with some Ou the Sunday eveniug I found the little nervousness, party assembled. Patty ran to me. '^ My "The siraple point is, where are you to own dearest duck of papa, you won't be enter me ?" angry ; hut you must ask !Mr. Tithebarn to " I shall not enter you at all. You are stay tlie night. He could not help it; he Is not," I said, reading from the form " either obHged, by the government, yon know " head of the family, wife, child, or other re­ I was speechless with indignation, for lative, or risitor." there before me was the free-and-easy "Other relative," he said, with a sigh. Tithebarn. " Ah, if I conld be entered under this ! "Look here," he said, "sh\ Just one But you are surely bound to set me down word, and you will forgive. I am forced as visitor ?" to be here on account of the census." " Not at aU, my dear Tithebarn," I said, "The census!" I repeated. "What do getting interested. " You should sleep here you mean ?" to night to be a visitor. That," said I, *'iB "I mean," he said, "by its stringent abont as probable as that the moon should rules you are bound, in conscience, to give faU," a true return. Am I not a visitor here ?" "WeU, then," he replied, "see there- & Charles Oickena, Jun,J PLOGARRIAN, fApril 2D, 1S71.J 523 suit—I shall not be counted at aU. I shall would not have slept here the uight before. have to travel all to-night, and shall not If I did not pnt him down I should be the get to Loudon until to-morrow about mid­ cause of a false return, thereby contributing day. What is the result, I am left out of to imperil the success of the gi^eat measure, the census. And tlie fault will be yours," or he might, as he had threatened to do, he added, reproachfully. " If every one be­ secretly " abide" about the premises, and haved that way government might whistle showing himself next raorning, estabbsh a for its census." valid claim to be counted a member of my It liad not struck mein that view before. household. And once legally recognised in He was right. The returns would be worth­ such a way, with his name coming after less if made up in tliat manner. I would Patty's, I knew the coolness of the man to havo to attach my name solemnly, to what be such, that he would never let the matter I knew was a nullity. Tet what was I to rest, bnt would use it as a lever to prize do? I could not enter him as a risitor, himself into my household. After a short and would not if I could. He saw my struggle I had to give way, as I felt the hesitation, and went on, State had a paramount claim, and within " And you know there is the penalty, five a month, as I anticipated, he had entitled pounds fine for not giving * correct informa­ himself to a place In the second column as tion;' besides," he added, reading from the son-in-law. fonn "'the annoyance and inconvenience of appearing before two justices of the PLOGARRIAN. peace.' " " Yes, papa," said Patty, who had just ra SEVEN CHAPTERS. CHAPTER V. come in- THE young are passionate, but not per­ " But what Is all this to me?" I said. sistent mourners. It is the wise and bene­ "E^en on the constructiou of this form, ficent law of their nature that such should you will not pass the night here, and there­ be the case. And it is a very great mistake, fore we have nothing to do with you. too often made, to imagine that a lad or lass Yes"—helooked nonplussed at this—"only IS heartless because the God-given elasticity those," I continued, "be they visitors or of their forward, and not backward look­ members of my own household, who sleep ing hearts successfully rebels against, and in this house, are to be set down by me, as throws off the weight of, a great sorrow. occupier." Marie came to her uncle's house in He had nothing to say. But Patty sud­ Rouen a heart-broken girl enough, fully denly cried, " ARODE, papa I" conrinced that smiles and happiness were " Yes," he said, " I can abide here, walk over for her in this world. But in a very about all night " few weeks her mind was opening itself to "Or sit on a chair by the kitchen fire; all the new surroundings—the new sights, that would amount to abiding," said Patty, the new faces, the new occupations of the I could not but admire this ingenuity, new world into which she had come. Poor which was worthy of a special pleader's Captain Morel was still pacing his deck office, though I tried to look angry. " He during many a soHtaiy hour in distant shall not abide here," I said. seas, with his head sunk on his breast, busy "Well,i£hedoesnot, papa," continued she, with memory only, when Marie was already still more eagerly, " one can be ^ travelling laughing her old bhthe laugh as musically or working'all night long, and retuim here and as merrily as ever, and was busying to-morrow. You see it says so : 'no person herself with a hopeful outlook Into the absent to be entered here, except those who future. It was quite right, quite wise, may be travelling, or out at work during quite natural that it should be so. that night and who return home on Mon­ Mademoiselle Generieve Vezin was en­ day'" tirely of that opinion. She was not one of " That is clear," said the young fellow; those who approved of, or tolerated, what " so I shall return to-morrow, after travel- she called "giring way." Nor would it Img aU night, and you wIU have incuiTcd have seemed in any wise natural to her, the penalty of the law, I have given you that a young person brought from a resi­ warning I shall return here to-morrow, dence at Havre to live at Rouen, should after working all night." not have felt the change a consolation It was really a serious dilemma. I turned uuder any circumstances- She was a Nor­ it in every way. If I put him down as man to the backbone, and in her heart of "visitor," it would be an untruth, for he hearts considered the grand old Norman -& 52^! tA-pril29, 1S71.] ALL THE TEAR ROUND. [Conducted by

capital to be as much superior to Paris, in other day, this could hardly have been the every respect save size, as Normans were case. For it would not have been com­ to all other Frenchmen in every respect, patible with the duties of her position size included. which the gouvernante prided herself on She was entirely pleased that Marie never, on any account, neglecting, to leave should recover her good spirits, and for­ Monsieur le Chanoine to himself duiin

^^ fc Charles Dickens, Jun.] PLOGARRIAN, [April 29,1871} 525

It was impossible, as the good gouver­ a ciril little speech apiece, conversed with nante urged, that anything could become each other across her. And Marie congratu­ Marie hetter than her thin black barege lated herself upon the safety of her position. dress, setting off, as It did, her tall slender In a very few minutes, however, she fionre, and the snow-white purity of her found that it by no means afforded the delicate and lily-like complerion. Made­ security she had imagined. The master of moiseUe Generieve was quite right. She the house had not yet been presented to knew perfectly weU what she was talking her; and he now marched np to her to about. And so the black barege was put perform that ceremony for himself He on ; a simple black velvet band hound, and was a gi'cat burly man, looking much more in binding showed well the lovely tint of like an Englishman than a native of any her abundant blond ham; and Marie other part of France could have done, with suffered herself to be taken to the honse in a broad, red, good-natured face, kind, and the Avenue des Marronniers, looking, had well-meaning, but with abont as much she but guessed it, lovely enough to have possiblHty of conceiving the idea of any caused no Httle sensation iu many a far person being caused to suSer hy haviug more brilliant assembly. their most sacred sorrows touched by a It was the first party at which Marie rude hand, as one of his own oxen. had ever been present. And a girl's first " MademoiseUe, charme d'avoir le plaisir. party is an epoch in her Hfe. Little Marie So you are Marie Morel. My daughters was terribly nervous, ten-ibly alarmed. have only just told me yon were here— Again and again she besought Made­ excusez. Ma foi, mademoiselle, the captain moiseUe Vezin to remember that she had may be very proud of his daughter, per- never been introduced into society before; mettez que je vous le dise—mais en verite tbat she did not know what she ought to et sans compliments, N'est ce pas qu'eUe do, and what to leave undone; that she was est jolie comme la plus jolle de tontes les sure she should not be able to speak a word. anges, Ma-ame Bourdon?" he added, turn­ The gouvernante told her that it was very ing to one of the stout dames by her side, easy and simple to do as the others did, and who having blouzy daughters of her own, that as for speaking, les petites demoiselles thought that le pere Vezin was quite were intended to be looked at, and not to getting Into his dotage. be heard. " Et comme cette petite robe noire lui So Marie, stiUing with a strong effort the va a rarir, n'est ce pas?" continued the heating of her heart as far as she could, and worthy grazier, little heeding the heightened with the whiteness of her cheek a Httle colour and painful embarrassment of the tinged with a delicate blush, walked behind poor girl. "And that reminds me," he Mademoiselle Generieve into Monsieur went on, pitUessly, " they tell me yon have Vezin's Httle salon, brlUiaut with half a lost your mother. Panvi'e petite. C'est dozen lamps, and fonnd herself in the dommage. But we must aU die you know : presence of some half a score of stout, com­ aud itis no good crying over what can't be fortable looking Norman bourgeois aud helped. How eld was Madame Morel bourgeoises, together with as many more when she died ?" less stout and less comfortable-looking Poor Httle Marie was by this time biting jeunes gens of the next succeeding genera­ her quivering Hp to restrain herself from tion, with just for all the world the same bursting into tears; and, when she looked feelings, w^hlch your grace may remember up piteously into her tormentor's face at to have been conscious of, when some five- his last point-blank question, she was and-twenty years ago, you made your first utterly unable to speak a word. appearance at Almack's. Just at that critical moment of her dis­ Of course she soon found that the ordeal tress, a young man, who had lounged up was not so dreadful as she had imagined. to the spot, where she was sitting and was The three Mademoiselles Vezin took posses­ ostensibly employing himself in speaking sion of her, crowding around her in them to Madame Bourbon, bnt whose very eri- blue-ribboned white musHn robes, and en­ deut object was to ask the master of the deavouring to the best of their power, and house for an introduction to Mademoiselle with some measure of success, to make Morel as soon as he could find an oppor­ curiosity assume the semblance of interest tunity of doing so, said suddenly and and friendhness. Then she found herself abruptly, " Monsieur Vezin, Madame Vezin placed ou a chair with her back against the is calHng you. She vrishes, I think, the waU, between two fat old ladies, who aft^r piano to be moved."

./^ A 526 [April 29, 16710 ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [Conducted hj

Monsieur Vezin turned immediately to go youug girl. Not that if it had so happened in quest of his wife ; and ilarie, who had that Marie had never again seen or heard very plainly comprehended the ruse of her of Monsieur de Kergouuec after partino* deliverer and its intention, felt infinitely with him that night she would have been gi-ateful to hini for it. heart-broken, or even very unhappy. But He was quite a young man, of dark com­ the foundation was laid, and well laid. plexion, aud very tolerably good-looking. She was sure to think of him in after hours And liis black gloves, and the crape upon of solitude; sure to feel that there was a the hat which he had in his hand, showed wide difference between him and all the that he, too, was in mourning. Having other people she had seeu; sure to put him thus succeeded in his object, as has been on a pedestal in her heart. said, he discreetly waited for awhile to And it did not so happen that she neither allow Marie time to recover herself, before saw nor heard any more of Monsieur de he asked one of the daughters of the house Kergonnec after that, to her, eventful to present him to her: evening. On the following Sunday she " Mademoiselle Morel — Monsieur de went again to Monsieur Vezin's house, aud Kergonnec de Plogarrian," said the youug again met Alain de Kergonnec there. But lady, not perhaps quite as graciously as they had met before that. For he had she might have done, and then turned on caused himself to be presented In due form her heel. to MademoiseUe Vezin, wlio had made her­ Altera few words meanlncr nothincf had self fully acquainted with his name and been spoken between them, Marie could parentage within the first five minutes after not refrain from saying to bim : she had seen him speaking to her charge, " I saw very well just now that you per­ and had obtained from the gouvernante ceived how much Monsieur Vezin was dis­ permission to pay his respects at the house tressing rae, \rithout meaning it the least in of the canon. the world, poor man. And 1 must tell you, And then—after a few such visits, and monsieur, how grateful I was to you for a few more evenings spent In the Avenue your help." des Marronniers, which social gatherings- " Eh ! mademoiseUe, I was but too able Marie had come to consider aa extremely to understand all that you were suffering— pleasant things, and to look forward to all that must have been in your heart. It as the most agreeable feature In her Hfe— needed no great penetration ou my part." then it had come to that pass, that iMarie he added, touching the crape on his hat would have been broken-hearted had she with his finger as he spoke. " It is easy to been told that she was never to see Alaiu sympathise with a sorrow which is tho de Kergonnec any more. comiterpart of one's own. I, too, have re­ And then also Mademoiselle Vezin began cently lost a mother," to bethink herself that it would he well for Monsieur de Kergonnec—Alain de Ker­ her to have a little serious talk with her gonnec he let her know his name was—then brother upon the subject of Monsieur de Avent ou to tell her that his father bad had Kergonnec. She went accordingly one dealings with Monsieur Vezin, having been morning, while Monsieur le Chanoine was wont for many years to send up the lean at the cathedral, to her brother's house fer kIne bred on the lauds of Plogarrian to the this purpose, and was met by the Informa^ richer pastures of Normandy to be fattened, tion, very readily given as soon as she as is the wont of Breton landowners; aud had mentioned the name of Monsieur de that that was how he came to have the good Kergonnec, that the young mau was en­ fortune of malring her acquaintance. And gaged to be married to one of the largest then they spoke each of their homes, so re­ heiresses In the FInistert'e, being himself cently bereaved, and of the blank they had an only son, and the heir to a very con­ felt to be left in theii* Hves, siderable property. The marriage, M, Vezin And when they parted, Alain de Ker- added, would have taken place before now, p-onneo had won little Marie Morel's heart. had it not been that the extreme youth ot He had made her grateful to him. He had the lady raade it necessaiy to wait yet a spoken to her words of sympathy. He had year or two. made her feel as if there were a tie of sym­ Poor Mademoiselle Vezin was terribly pathy between them, which was not shared taken aback at this news, and could not by any of those around them. And this help feeling a certain degree of self-re­ waii aU th[it was necessaiy to enable the proach. She was exceedingly glad, how­ young man to captivate the heart of the ever, that her brother's readiness to tell Cliitrles Uickena, Jnn.J PLOGARRIAN, [April 29, ia7LJ 527

v/hat he knew had put her in possession of roche was dreaming of—-had been far the facts before she had uttered any w^ord enough from Marie's mind, occupied as it that could in any way compromise Marie ; was by another, while they had sat together and she contented herself with hoping that hand in hand, and raingling their tears, no serious mischief had been done, aud tiiat .But it is intelligible enough, and excus­ little Marie would very soou forget that able enough, that the poor seminarist should she Had ever seen Monsieur de Kergonnec. have dreamed a different dream. But the poor gouvernante was shutting The w^aklng came very soon, however. the stahlo door after the steed had been Poor Jean ! And it was a merciless waking, stolen, as completely as any one was ever too, as merciless as sudden and complete. guilty of that piece of wisdom. For Marie was harder tiian she might have Some little time before this conversation been to him. Who is to fathom all the in­ of Mademoiselle Vezin wdth her brother, tricate recesses, jealously concealed as they the period during which the seminarists are from prying eyes, of the youthful female were detained within their walls had come heart ? Why was she, generaUy all gentle­ to an end, and Jean Delai^oche had been ness and loving sweetness, hard to the able to visit his friend and patron as usual. poor fellow, her old close friend and play­ And of course he and Marie met; aud of mate, whose only fault towards her was that course there were tears to be shed between he loved her too truly and too well ? Why ? them, the drops of which mingled with Perhaps from the very circumstance of their each other. And Jean Dehxroche, as he . old relationship. Perhaps the having so long walked home alone and silently in the regarded Delaroche in a totally different evenmg to his seminary, began to think, light, made It seem to her absurd to be asked for the first time, that the high and noble suddenly to change her feeling towards him caUing to which he, a poor foundling, had so entirely, and made him seem absurd and had the signal good fortune to be invited, offensive for asking it. Perhaps it wa^, be­ carried with it some drawbacks of a very cause he forced on her heart the recogni­ terrible kind. For the first time it began tion of how impossible it was that she to seera doubtful to him whether he could should ever think of any man with thoughts fitly, and with such goodwill and zeal as he of love, save of him who had so lately made ought to feel, enter irrevocably the gates that himself master of her heart. Perhaps she were so soon to be opened before him. For was angry with him for mistaking the the first time the vows that were to sepa­ nature of the feeling she had so frankly rate him frora the world in such sort as to manifested at their last meeting. shut hira out for ever from all thought of At all events, it was not difficult to let woman's love, seemed horrible to him. And hini know and understand that there was as he sat iu his little lonely cell, and lay no hope for him. Marie could not tell bim awake for hours afterward iu his pallet, he that she loved another, especially when thonght this renunciation would be impos­ that other had never in forraal terms asked sible to him, that even yet he had not so her for her love. And poor Delaroche had. put his hand to the plough hut that he too much modesty of feeling to make it might still without dishonour turn back. possible for him to ask her whether the But yet there was only one thing, for the reason why he could not have that which sake of which he would fain be loosed from he coveted, was because it was already the bonds which were to bind him. If he given to another. could have, if he might hope to be blessed But none the less did the poor seminarist by Marie Morel's love, not all the Church perceive from the artless transparency of could offer him should tempt him to accept Marie's words, and looks, and manner that her benefits accompanied by her chains. sueh must be the case. And was it a On the first day on which It was possible matter of surprise that such a prize should to hira to do so, he returned to the canon's not have been reserved for him; for him, house, determined to ascertain whether auy the poor nameless pensioner, first on her hope of such a blessing might be his. The father's and then on her uncle's bounty; common emotion which they had shared for him, too, who was—if not vowed—all together at their first meeting after so many hut vowed to the Church ? As he stole out years of absence, and after the death of her of the canon's house, and slunk home to who had been scarcely more a mother to his seminary by back streets, feeling as if one thau to the other of them, was well he were afraid to be seen, he marvelled, calculated to deceive him upon this point. with genuine wonder, at the madness which All thought of love—of such love as Dela­ could have urged him to nourish such a

JL 528 ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [April 20,1371.] hope, and prefer such a suit! Bitter well; and it was not likely that such a sharae at his folly mingled with the bitter­ man as Delaroche should long wait for ness of his rejection and of hopeless love. employment. At the very earliest pos­ A sudden heat came over him, and he sible age he was sent to take charge of blnshod in the solitude of his cell, even as the parish of Tregastel, on the northern he knelt to pray that he might be forgiven coast of the department of the Cotes du for his backturning, and strengthened to Nord. fight down this madness, when his imagina­ Nor did he see Marie Morel again before tion presented to him the picture of him­ departing to begin his new duties. It cost self clad in his seminarist's semi-priestly hira one more struggle—what was that in robe, offering love to that beautiful girl! addition to all the struggling past?—to do It did add to the incongruity that un­ so; but he knew that it was so best and gainly robe of serge, encasing his taU, wisest. slight figure from the neck to the ankles ! Marie's other lover exercised no such And it might well have been, that part of self-restraint. There was a last meeting Marie's harshness in rejecting him, had between her and Alain de Kergonnec, in been due to this outward and visible sign which all was avowed on both sides—one of the abyss, that should Have been im­ of those meetings, that leave more terrible passable between Delaroche and every and enduring scars on the heart, than the thought of human passion. parting they precede. Alain avowed his love Poor Delaroche prayed, and fasted, and for her, and for her only, in all the world, did penance, and mortified the body, and whUe confessing the impossIbiHty of acting prayed again. We all have known what in such a matter in opposition to the wUl it is to struggle in such a fight, whether of his father, Conld he only follow the we caU it a fight against our owu passionSj dictates of his own heart, not all the or a fight with the foul fiend. One man dowers of aU the heiresses iu France may best fight his fight by such raeans as should weigh a featherweight in the scale. the seminarist's education had taught him He was not a man of the same calibre to use, and another may find other raeans as Jean Delaroche. But it was doubtless of wai^fare more adapted to hira. But true that he did love Marie, and would not Delaroche fought truly, and bravely, and have renounced her love for any richer long. And he who does so vrill not fail to raarriage that could be offered to him, if he win the rictory. had been free to act according to the Jean Delaroche did win the rictory. dictates of his own heart. Not that he came out from the fight un- But ifc might be doubted whether there scathed, He had received wounds which were more of kindness than of cruelty in it would take many a long year to heal telling the girl from whora he was about to entirely. And grave and almost melan­ part that there was yet to be a respite of choly as had been the natural disposition two years, and perhaps three, before the of his boyhood, he came out frora the ordeal marriage with Mademoiselle de Tresslnien he had passed a yet graver raan. Never­ could take place. That young lady was theless, he no longer went forward on his not quite fifteen years old at that time; destined path with a half heart. He and though the betrothal was to ^ke place knew that the only way of making his lot at once, the mairiage was to be deferred in Hfe endurable was, on the contrary, to till the lady should be eighteen; aud who put aU his heart into it; and when, knew what might take place in the In­ shortly after the time at which this, the terval ! poor boy's first and last dream had been One word of palHation, feeble enough, dreamed, he received the first orders of may be said for Alain de Kergonnec. Those the Church, the diocese of Rouen did not readers who have not forgotten the picture contain a man more zealously eager to that was presented to them of Gregoire de begin the warfare to -which his life had Kergonnec in his youth, raay conceive that been consecrated, and to give himself and such a man in his middle age would he a aU his best energies to the work. father whom it would not be easy for a The superiors of Rome's hierarchy gene­ son, and especiaUy a French soUj to oppose rally know the men they have under them in the matter of his marriage.

7kB Right of Translating Articles from ALL THE "YSAS^ RouMn is reserved by the Authors.

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