m L I E) RAR.Y OF THE U N I VER.5ITY Of ILLINOIS Ax- 33 V.l RING AND CORONET. mm ATO COROOTT. A STORY OF CIRCUS LIFE. BY " ARENA." IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON : TINSLEY BKOTHEES, 8, CATHERINE STREET, STRAND. 1883. lAll rights reserved.'] CHAELES riCKENS AUD EVANS, CBTSTAI. PALACE FBESS. 8^^ v/.l CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD .... 1 CHAPTER II. THE SPIDEH AND THE ELY 28 CHAPTER III. brayson's ciecus ■ . 46 CHAPTER IV. THE LEITEB 66 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. ANTECEDENTS . PAGE 74 CHAPTER VI. DIPLOMACY 88 CHAPTER VII. PEOSPERITY 102 CHAPTER VIII. LITTLE BOBBLES THE CLOWN 121 CHAPTER IX. THE SUPPEE AT "THE EGYAL 130 CHAPTER X. OLD AND NEW FACES 150 CONTENTS. vii CHAPTER XI. PAGE SUNDAY EVENING AT THE EECTOKV 165 CHAPTER XII. MISCHIEF 178 CHAPTER XIII. love's young dream 199 CHAPTER XIV. LITTLE BOBBLES AND HIS LANDLADY .... 216 RING AND CORONET. CHAPTER I. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD, A BRIGHT, sunny day late in autumn. Sunshine, glorious sunshine everywhere. Not burning with the fierce blinding glare, the scorch- ing heat of ardent summer rays, but beaming with a soft and tender radiance, diffusing a halo of mellowed glory over the surrounding country, and waking into being new and marvellous combina- tions of colour in the already richly varied autumnal landscape. Sunshine — scattering tints of ruddy golden bronze upon the crisply rustling but now scanty leaves, waving gently in the breeze. VOL. I. B EING AND CORONET. Sunshine — momentarily caressing the tiny head of some little feathered songster of the wood, as it peeps saucily from the branches of the trees. Sunshine — gleaming blandly over the wide, undulating slope of meadow land. Sunshine — striking sharply against the bold and ruo-ged outlines of the distant mountains of Craigshire. Sunshine — flinging a rainbow veil over the glittering crystal drops the mountain streamlet splashes recklessly around, as^ bursting from its rocky prison, it bounds joyously from crag to crag, in frantic haste to join its quieter, graver sisters in the valley beneath. Sunshine — dimpling with golden dimples the surface of the babbling brooklet, slowly meandering through the glen. Sunshine — serenely smiling upon the broad bosom of the silent river, widening to join the sea ; and far out yonder, in the horizon, a glorious floating island of liquid, living sunshine, flashing its myriads of ever-changing sparkles over the vast expanse of the illimitable ocean. TEE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD. 3 But, briglitest, truest sunshine of all ! the glad sunshine of innocent happiness, overflowing in the heart of a young girl who was walking briskly along the road leading from the prettily situated town and port of Tayside, towards a thickly wooded gleu, deep in the vale beyond. She was very young, scarcely seventeen, almost a child in years, but her movements were instinct with a careless, unstudied grace, whilst the erect and fearless carriage of her proud little head gave to her an unmistakable air of refinement and distinction. By her side gambolled a little dog, evidently a favoui'ite, a fact of which it seemed perfectly aware, as it bounded playfully round its young mistress's feet, with gleeful barks, endeavouring to express its delight and enjoyment. And soon they reached the leafy arcade that formed the entrance to the secluded glen. Faster and faster grew the young girl's steps as she descended the rocky and uneven pathway; denser and yet more dense became the shadow of the overarching trees ; yondei', some distance BING AND CORONET. below, she can trace a slender streak of silver winding througli the glen, rushing in mimic water- falls over loose boulders and masses of rock that intercept it on its way ; and in one part, where it widens into a miniature lake, large stones, irregularly placed at unequal distances from each other, seem to form a passage across the stream to a picturesque little grotto, where sparkles a fairy-like cascade. Taking her little dog in her arms, the girl sprang, light as a young fawn, with perfect balance over the rude stepping-stones of the little lakelet, and having gained the opposite bank she threw herself upon the thick long grass, and, im- patiently pushing the rich bright hair from off her low wide forehead, bathed her face in the refreshingly cool waters of the stream. A sweet innocent face, in whose ever-changing expression, as in a transparent mirror, might be traced the varying emotions of the soul within. She was very fair, but it was not that fragile pink-and-white Dresden china-like fairness for which our young English beauties are famous TUB SLEEPING BEAUTY IX THE WOOD. 5 throughout the world. This young girl's com- plexion would have been too dazzlingly marble white but for the faint tinge of colour on her cheek, like the opening petals of a blush rose. Her eyes were of the true oriental type, large, almond-shaped, and of a lustrous golden hazel, shaded by dark silken lashes ; her nose somewhat inclined to be saucily retrousse. She had a sweet little scarlet rosebud of a mouth, opening to dis- close small, white, even teeth, and a round and dimpled chin, the whole set in a frame of luxuriant deep-golden hair, that rippled over her white fore- head in soft natural waves. Having finished her impromptu toilette, the young girl proceeded to the grotto, and, seating herself upon the carpet of soft fern beside the cascade, took a book from her pocket and com- menced reading attentively. But she did not read long. Being doubtless fatigued, and yielding gradually to the feeling of drowsiness that stole insidiously over her, she at length suffered the book to fall from her hand, and gently closing her eyes fell fast asleep. RING AND COBONET. A sleep from whicli slie was, however, soon awakened by tlie slirill barking of lier little dog, who, jumping suddenly from her post, ran at full speed towards the stepping-stones, and commenced barking furiously at some object or other on the opposite bank of the stream. Starting quickly to her feet, the young girl hastened to the spot, and, looking across the lakelet, saw standing, partly concealed by the thick branches of the trees What ? Nothing more formidable than a man of middle age and height, clad in the extreme style of tourist costume, which had the effect of making him seem a sort of walking advertisement for an entei'prising East End tailor, rather than what he doubtless considered himself — a gentleman. At sight of the girl, the man, whoever he was, attempted to cross the stream, a feat which he accomplished clumsily enough, and not without sundry splashes and other damage to his extra- ordinary costume. Arrived, however, safe on terra Jirma, and THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD. 7 placing a gold, eye-glass in his eye^ through which he coolly and leisurely surveyed, the young girl, he slightly raised, his hat, and proceeded, to address her in a formal and rather pompous tone. " I fear I have most unwittingly disturbed your slumbers/^ he began, with an ostentatious wave of his hand in the direction of the grotto — a gesture probably intended to invite attention to the large diamond rings that glittered on his fingers — ^^but I assure you the very valorous zeal of your noisy protector here has caused you quite unnecessary alarm." At the close of this speech he paused, waiting for her to speak, coolly continuing his eye-glass inspection of her with looks of ill-concealed admiration. " By Jove ! " thought he, " what a pretty girl ! Who can she be ? One of the young ladies belong- ing to the Hall, uo doubt. What splendid eyes ! Where the deuce have I seen her before ? " Meanwhile the girl cast a quick, inquiring glance up at his face. She thought he must be laughing at her, and, feeling at a loss how to BING AND CORONET. reply, made a pretence of quieting little Dido, who was still barking violently at tlie stranger, doing her utmost to show that in her own doggy mind she entertained no very good opinion of him. Perceiving that she made no answer, he con- tinued perseveringly : " But since, unhappily, I have been the un- fortunate cause of so much mischief, permit me at least to offer my humble apology, and at the same time to venture a hope that you are not irrevocably offended with me." Then, advancing a step towards her, and again raising his hat, he held out his hand. She did not take it, but this time she made a gentle reply. " I am not offended, but I could not help feeling a little frightened just at first, when Dido barked ; there is really no occasion for any apology." And with a slight but graceful inclination of her head, as if to intimate that the conversation was at an end, she stooped, and, taking her little THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD. 9 dog in lier arms, moved in tlie direction of the stepping-stones. In order to recross tlie stream it would be necessary for lier to pass the stranger. But he did not wish to part with her so soon. The longer he looked, the more convinced he became that he had seen her somewhere before. His curiosity- was excited, and he was, moreover, greatly nettled at her evident unwillingness to enter into con- versation with him. " I am on my way to Sir Hugh Pieri'epoint^s place at Lowood. Some fellows I met on the high road told me this was a shorter route to the Hall, but I confess I feel at a loss which path to take. Perhaps you can kindly direct me." Pure fiction on the man^s part ; he was certainly not of a class to be on visitiDg terms with the family at the Hall, but he was desirous of making himself seem of importance, " I am sorry I cannot assist you ; I am a stranger here, and have never even heard of such a place as Lowood. Will you please to let me pass ? " 10 RING AND CORONET. " A stranger ! Then slie cannot be one of the baronet's daughters ? " And now that his eye falls for the first time upon her dress, and he notices the well-washed cotton that she wears, her simple tartan shawl, straw hat, and thick-soled boots, he thinks to him- self what a fool he has been all this time, wasting politeness upon this girl when she is not even a lady after all. Not a lady, certainly, judged by his superficial standard, which looks for meretricious outward adornment, rather than the inborn modest grace of the true gentlewoman. Still, he feels more certain than ever that they have met before. But where ? Pshaw ! She may be some nursery governess he has seen by chance in the park with her young charges ; or perhaps a mere milliner's apprentice enjoying her fortnight's holiday after, the season with her country friends, whose pretty face may have attracted his passing notice in the London streets. No need to stand on any ceremony then with her. TEE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD. 11 Thus reasoning: in his own. mind, he made no attempt to move out of her way, but continued his efforts to engage her in conversation, his manner towards her gradually assuming a tone of unpleasant familiarity. " One moment, my dear/^ said he with a leer- ing smile. " Don't be in such a hurry to run away. Time seemed to be no object with you just now, when you were so cosily asleep yonder; you can surely spare me a minute or two just to improve our acquaintance. Your face is one I seem to know, and I want you to tell me where I have seen you before." The man's sudden change of tone and manner astonished and alarmed the girl; but, assuming a courage and composure that she was far from feeling, she looked him full in the face, saying in an almost imperious tone of command : " Let me pass this moment, sir ! " " Don't lose your temper, little one," returned the man banteringly, '^but just tell me where we have met, there's a good girl. One doesn't forget eyes like yours in a hurry, you know," and as 12 BING AND CORONET. he spoke lie advanced towards lier with arms out- stretched, as if he would have taken hold of her. For all reply, the girl, now thoroughly alarmed, turned sharply aAvay from him and began running as fast as she could in the contrary direction, little heeding that the path she followed led into the most intricate part of the wood. The man looked after her with a disagreeable smile. " By Jove ! I remember all about her now. And to think of her giving herself such ridiculous and prudish airs. Stuck-up little thing. But she shall speak to me. She shall not escape me so easily as she thinks.^' Thereupon he followed rapidly after her and soon succeeded in overtaking her. The girl could not repress a slight scream of terror at seeing her persecutor once more at her side. Further flight was now rendered impossible, for the man, laying his hand upon her arm, forcibly prevented all chance of escape. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY m THE WOOD, 13 ^^Look here now; don't be such, a silly little thing/' he said^ holding her tight. "No one wants to hurt you. What is there to be frightened about ? Listen to reason like a good little girl. Come back with me, there's a good child ; you are running you don't know where, and you'll end by losing yourself in this wood. There, now, let us make friends ; and do, for goodness' sake, stop the howling of that noisy little brute." But she only struggled the more to get away. "Loose your hold at once, sir. You have no right to detain me against my will. Do you hear, sir ? Let me go ! " She spoke courageously enough, but her heart was fast sinking within her as she thought of the utter impossibility of anyone coming to her assistance in that lonely, deserted place. The man, too, was beginning to lose his temper. He was exasperated at what he deemed her obstinacy and affectation. He, therefore, held her more firmly than before ; giving vent to his ill-humour by bestowing a muttered curse and a savage kick upon the poor 14 EING AND CORONET. faithful little dog, wlio was doing its utmost to defend its mistress by tlie only means iu its power, that is, by barking. At that moment two quick reports of a gun were heard at no great distance from where they were standing. ''Too close to be pleasant, by Jove! " exclaimed the man, involuntarily dragging his captive a step or two back.. "Help! help!'' cried she, struggling wildly with the supreme desperation of a sudden hope; one that seemed, however, doomed to disappointment. When ! A sudden crackling sound of trampled brushwood, a tearing and parting of the tangled branches of the trees, and a young man stood before them, carrying in his hand a gun, the barrels of which were still smoking from their recent discharge. A tall, powerfully-built young fellow, before whose haughty bearing and sternly piercing glance the other, visibly disconcerted, cowered and turned pale. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD. 15 " Crosby St. Clair ! " exclaimed tlie new comer in a tone of recognition and contemptuous disdain, while the man thus addressed relaxing his hold, the girl, acting upon the first impulse of self- preservation, fled to the young sportsman for protection. The baffled coward made a poor attempt to swagger, in order to cover his defeat. "Since the young lady,^^ he said, with a sneer- ing emphasis on the last two words, ''chooses to prefer the company of an entire stranger, I humbly beg to take my leave.'^ Then, with ironical courtesy, addressing her : "Good day. Miss Nina," he continued; "it is really unfortunate that you should be unable to call to mind where, and under what circumstances, we have met ; but perhaps the name of Brayson may not be altogether unfamiliar to you.'^ With these mysterious-sounding parting words uttered at a respectful distance from the strong arm of her new-found protector, the man slunk off, the evil glitter iu his cold blue eye speaking plainly of treachery and revenge. 16 BING AND CORONET. Wlien lie was out of siglit, and not till then, the strangei' turned towards the girl beside him. "Is it possible that you know that man?'* inquired he, with evident astonishment. " I never saw or spoke to him before," she answered simply. " But he seemed to know you ? " " Yes." " He addressed you as Miss Nina." "I am called Nina." " He also mentioned the name of Brayson." " Mr. Brayson is my uncle." " Then he evidently does know you." "I am afraid so." And with a slight hesitation, and a deepening colour in her cheek, she added : " He must have seen me some time or other at the — at Mr. Brayson^s — at my uncle's " She stopped in some confusion, leaving her sentence unfinished. The young man was watching her attentively. He observed her hesitation of manner, the abrupt TEE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD. 17 termination of lier speecli, and the vivid blush that suffused her face. Clearly there was some mystery here. ''And yet you say you do not remember to have seen him before ? " he asked after a slight pause. The girl shook her head. " It would be impossible to distinguish him amongst so many," she replied. This answer but served to make the mystery greater. However, it was clearly no concern of his, and it would be mere impertinent curiosity to press the subject more closely. Notwithstanding, he bent a keen and scruti- nising glance upon the girl, as if to penetrate her inmost thoughts. But surely there was nothing disingenuous in that innocent, artless face. Her eyes met his unshrinkingly with a look of thankful gratitude for his timely intervention, and the young man thought, as he gazed into their liquid depths, that he had never before seen such eloquent, soul-speaking eyes. VOL. I. 18 BING AND CORONET. "Poor cliild/' lie said, noticing that slie was trembling still, " were you then so much alarmed ? " " I was indeed. I am afraid you will think me a terrible coward." "Not at all. But pardon my saying that it was perhaps scarcely prudent for you to venture into this wood alone." " I never thought of that. It is very seldom I have an opportunity of taking a walk in the country at all. To-day I was left in the house by myself, and I could not resist the temptation of paying a farewell visit to this beautiful place before leaving Tayside." " You are leaving Tayside ? " "Yes, in a week or so — very soon. But see, we are now close to the lake, and I can find my way easily. Thank you very much for your kind and timely assistance." Once more she raised her eyes to his with a sweet winning smile. But the young man felt interested in this charming little wood-nymph, so unexpectedly en- countered. He therefore begged to be permitted TEE SLEEPING BEAUTY IX THE TFOOD. 19 to escort her as far as the town^ and the girl, or Nina, as we will now call her, secretly fearing that the unwelcome stranger of her recent ad- venture might still be lurking near, thankfully- accepted his offer ; and the ice being now fairly- broken between them, she continued talking merrily as they walked along. Presently her eye fell upon an object lying partially concealed in the long grass, and she darted towards it with an exclamation of joy. " The book Miss Woolrych lent me," cried she, holding it up. " I quite forgot I had left it lying on the grass." " You had been reading ? " '' Yes, but I was fast asleep when that man came, and Dido woke me with her barking. After that I was too frightened to think anything more about it.'" He took the book from her hand, and glanced at it with passing curiosity. " Shakespeare ! " he exclaimed in some surprise. '' And so you wander into these lonely woods to study Shakespeare ! " c 2 20 RING AND COEONET. " I have only been liere twice before, and as 1 have ah-eady confessed to falling asleep over my book, you will not think I studied very intently.^^ ''And are you fond of reading?'^ " Oh, yes ; I love it. It is my greatest happi- ness. But I like reading poetry best ; and Shake- speare most of all. It is a wonderful book, full of strange fancies and grand ideas. And then it teaches me so much. Of course there are many things in it I cannot at present understand; but Mr. Woolrych says some parts are difficult even to scholars like himself. But to me it seems an enchanted book. As I read, a new world rises before me, peopled with bright fanciful beings, growing more and more distinct to my imagination, until they seem actual living realities, and I am lost in a glorious yet bewildering dream, from which I wake, alas ! to find how sadly different life really is.^^ Her heart warmed with her subject, as she spoke the fire of enthusiasm glowed on her cheek and sparkled in her eye, until there seemed almost THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD. 21 an air of inspiration about her; and the young sportsman, gazing on lier, thought he had never seen anyone so charming as this little wood-nymph so unexpectedly encountered. But she, becoming suddenly conscious of his earnest, inquiring look, turned away her head, perhaps to hide the deepening colour on her cheek, saying, in a slightly mortified tone : " I fear you will think me very silly/' " And why ? Because you have true poetic feeling ? But tell me, have you read much of Shakespeare ? " " Parts only of the ' Tempest ' and the ' Mid- summer Night's Dream,' and some of the beautiful lines and speeches Mr. Woolrych and Bessie have marked for me." Thus, pleasantly conversing, they reached the outskirts of the town, when the young man's keen glance at once observed an old man coming towards them. He seemed somewhat lame, though he managed to get along pretty quickly with the assistance of a stout stick. He had a decidedly '' horsey " appearance, and 22 RING AND CORONET. seemed indeed to be something like a superior sort of groom. At sight of him the young girl started. " It must be late — much later than I thought," murmured she^ turning hastily to her companion. " I must;, indeed, now bid you good-bye ; for see, here is old Peter coming to meet me. Once more, I thank you very, very much.''^ Her eyeSj as she glanced timidly up, thanked him more eloquently than her words. " You will shake hands with me ? " A bright blush swept over her face as, with a charming smile, she held out to him her little hand, saying once more, '' Grood-bye.^^ The young man stood looking after her for some moments, he marked the course she took towards the town, accompanied now by the old servant, who had come to meet her; he felt sur- prised at the interest with which she had inspired him, he almost resented the reluctance he felt to part with her. A reluctance that seemed to grow upon him THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD. 23 as his steps began slowly to follow in tlie direction she had gone. Some mystery evidently hung about her. What could it be ? With these thoughts he still pursued the way the girl and the old man had taken; passing straight through the town, and some distance by the river-side, till they reached a solitary, dismal- looking house, built of gi'ay stone, standing detached, enclosed within high walls. Here the old man stopped, and taking a key from his pocket, he unlocked the outer gate of the neglected, weed-overgrown garden in which the house stood ; then they both passed in, and the gate was shut and relocked on the inner side. The young man drew near to reconnoitre the spot. The cold gray walls could tell him little enough, yet he still lingered, looking at the gate through which the girl had disappeared. " At any rate, I know her name," said he 24 BING AND CORONET. musingly. " Nina ! and her uncle is Mr. Braysou. Brayson ! Where can I have heard that name before ? But what a charming little creature ! " his thoughts unconsciously reverting to the young girl. " Unformed, perhaps, as yet ; but she will grow into a beautiful woman. What a relief to meet a poetic little enthusiast like that, after the cold, selfish, heartless women one meets with in the world ! All business and traffic there, from the Royal Exchange to Belgravia, from Fenchurch Street to Mayfair — merchandise, hearts, and coronets — all a mere matter of sale and barter weighed in the golden scales of Mammon, one and all trying to make the best bargain for themselves." "Love!^' continued the young man, with a short, contemptuous laugh. " What do fashion- able belles of the present day know of love ? It is a flower too pure to flourish in the murkiness of souls devoured by greed and avarice. Money is the god they pre-eminently set up as the idol of their hearts — the golden image they fall down THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IJV TEE WOOD. 25 and worship. This is the age of gold, indeed; but what a satire upon that other golden age — the peaceful and the pastoral ! And yet this is the very age that vaunts itself as being the age of science, of progress, and of Christianity ! " The young man thought bitterly, but he was smarting still from the keen venom of the sting the gold fiend can inflict alike on votaries and victims. He had loved a high-born, beautiful girl, who had smiled upon him, and, by those numerous little artifices so dear to every finished coquette, had insinuated encouragement to his suit; yet, almost at the last moment, he found himself scornfully set aside, his love contemptuously re- jected; and for what? For those empty, though fair-seeming baubles of the golden mirage — wealth, position, and a coronet ! He paused to light a cigar. In striking the match his eye fell upon a gaudy, theatrical-looking bill affixed to the garden wall. It was phrased in the ordinary, unmeaningly 26 BIXG AND COEONET. grandiloquent style of sucli compositions, and ran thus : BKAYSON'S GRAND CIRCUS AND HIPPODROME. LAST WEEKS OF THE SEASON. GREATEST COMBINATION OF TALENT EVER WITNESSED! Patronised by the Royal Family, ami all the Crowned Heads of England, Europe, and tlio AVorld ! To the PhUIc at large. Mr. Brayson takes this opportunity of thanking his kind friends, the Nobility and Gentry, for their unanimous support, and the very cordial and flattering reception they have accorded him, as well as the whole of his exceptionally talented troupe, dui-ing his present visit to Tayside ; and begs most respectfully to call their attention to the accom- panying programme, which he feels confident will be found unrivalled and unexampled in all the many ages of the Equestrian Era ! N.B, — Mr. Brayson begs to inform all other Circus Proprietors and Imitators that ho defies Competition; his Establishment being the only Properly Organised Circus in the Universe ! Then followed the usual list of " Lightning- Acrobats, Barebacked Jugglers, Boneless Wonders, and Highly Educated Arab Steeds,'^ etc., until the following notice arrested his attention : The chai'ming and graceful Equestrienne, Mdlle. Nina, will illustrate the Poetry of Motion in her Entrancing and Intrepid Act of Enchantment entitled, Les Poses du Scarfe. Clown, Little Bobbles. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD. 27 He read no farther. The matcli burned out unheeded in his hand, his cigar remained unht, as his eye wandered back again and again to the lines announcing " The charming and graceful Equestrienne." So then, the mystery was soon solved. It was hardly worth while following her so far for this. The pretty girl who had the grace of a young fawn, and the same softly wistful eyes, who had seemed so simple and artless, and whose ladylike bearing had so charmed and interested him — she was then only a little circus rider after all ! He struck a fresh match, lighted his cigar, turned on his heel, and went his way. CHAPTER II. THE SPIDER AND THE FLY. It was in no very enviable frame of mind that Crosby St. Clair retraced his steps towards Tay- sidoj after tlie incidents just related. No man likes to be made to feel ridiculous, even in the company of men like himself; but, when a pretty girl is in the case, and he has been placed in this very undesirable position by another man, younger than he, and of superior personal advantages, the feeling becomes intensified a thou- sand times. Bitter, implacable hatreds of a lifetime have often emanated from no graver provocation or offence. "Curse him!" muttered he with suppressed THE SPIDER AND THE FLY. 29 rage, biting his thin straight lip, as his thoughts dwelt upon the unpleasant subject of his recent discomfiture. " Curse him ! Is that man fated, then, always to cross my path ? Twice has he injured me. It was his influence that got me blackballed at his club, and then in Paris " He broke off with an angry oath. ''Let him beware the third time!^^ said he, grinding his heel savagely upon the gravelled path, as if the subject of his thoughts lay there at his mercy and he were trampling him under foot. " Let him beware the third time ! " Just then the noise of wheels was heard coming along the road behind him. Crosby St. Clair turned round. The noise proceeded from a light dog-cart, and the gentleman driving it stopped as he came up with the other, exclaiming in surprise : " Hallo, old fellow ! Whoever would have dreamt of seeing you here ? Two days ago, when I called at your chambers in London, they told me that you had set out for the Continent — Switzerland, Interlaken, I think they said.^' 30 nma and cobonet. " I intend going there sliortly," returned Crosby slowly. " I had business here in Tayside, and it's a habit of mine to get rid o£ business before thinking of pleasure. But if I may be permitted to return the question, what brings Mr. Percy Marchmont so far north as this ? "Business, Crosby, business/' returned the other, laughing, " though of a different nature to yours, no doubt. I am staying up at my uncle's place, Lowood Hall, close by, and I'm loaded with commissions for the girls. By George ! I'm deuced glad I chanced to di*op upon you to-day, for I wanted most particularly to see you. Come up here, old fellow, and I'll drive you back to the town and tell you all about it as we go along." A greater contrast could scarcely be found than that afforded by the two gentlemen now seated side by side in the dog-cart, which pro- ceeded on its way at a sharp trot. Percy Marchmont was a careless, good-hearted, extravagant young fellow, well connected, but a younger son, by profession in the army, also in THE SPIDER AND TEE FLY. 31 debt; he was of a lively temperament, his keen sense o£ fun and humour making him a little too much inclined to indulge in practical joking; but he was a capital companion, and true, staunch, and loyal to his friends. His appearance agreed with his character. An open, honest, good-humoured face of the true English type, with a frank and genial smile ; there was a merry twinkle in his clear blue eye, and his nut-brown hair fell in clustering rings over his broad brow. Not a handsome face, but one very pleasant to look upon, nevertheless. The other, sitting cringing at his side, casting ever and anon a shifting sidelong glance at his companion — Crosby St. Clair never by any possi- bility looked anyone in the face — seemed an embodiment of all that was mean, crafty, and treacherous. "Yon are staying at Lowood. Sir Hugh Pierrepoint is your uucle,'^ remarked Crosby, making a mental note of this piece of informa- tion. " A fine estate, I believe ; I have heard it 32 EING AND CORONET. stated that Sir Hugli Pierrepoint is the largest landholder in Tayshire.'' " Very possibly/' returned the other carelessly. " But where are your quarters, old fellow ? Do you know many people in Tayside ? " " I am staying at ' The Royal/ " replied Crosby evasively, " not much of an hotel, but the best these unenlightened parts can boast. May I inquire the object of your visit to my chambers up in town ? '' " Well, old fellow, it wouldn't require the divination of a magician to arrive at that. I've such confounded bad luck ! Dashed if I can understand it at all; what with one thing and another I could hardly be more unlucky than I am ; and if it wasn't for the kindness of your accommodating friend Simmons, I should be altogether in the wrong box." "Ye-e-es/' drawled Crosby, rubbing his thumb- nail against his teeth, a habit he affected when thinking or wishing to gain time. '^ Yes, I see. It comes to this then, Mr. Marchmont, as I under- stand it, you are hard up again ? " THE SPIDER AND THE FLY. 33 "The fact is," continued Percy Marclimont a little impatiently, " Vve been hard hit over that Don Whiskerandos. Everybody said it was a good thing, and so it was till I touched it ; just my luck ! After backing it heavily, thinking to land a good stake, hang me if that weedy thing Catapult didn't go and win in a canter ! " "Ye-e-es!" again drawled Crosby, giving the other a sly look out of the corner of his eye. ''The usual way with these good things and certainties ; " and he indulged in a quiet chuckle, as he saw the cloud of annoyance that settled on Percy's usually placid brow. " Well, and what's the figure this time, Mr. Marchmont — eh ? " " Fifteen hundred, at the very least, Crosby, to set me at all on my legs ; and then it'll be a devilish awkward job, for I've heaps of duns, and I don't know how on earth I shall pull through, I don't want the dear old governor to drop off the hooks," ejaculated Percy fervently, "but I am often inclined to think long-lived families a devil of a nuisance." " Fifteen hundred, after what you have so VOL. I. D 34 RING AND CORONET. recently had, is a large sutn/^ commented Crosby slowly^ and with great gravity of manner; "a very large sum indeed." " Man alive ! one needn't be quite a Solomon to arrive at that sage conclusion/' interrupted Percy with impatience. "And/' continued Crosby in the same tanta- lising drawn-out manner, " there may possibly be some little difficulty in arranging this matter for you. You see, my dear sir, it isn't as if it were a little amicable arrangement between you and me — that is, between friend and friend. I hate dwelling upon unpleasant topics, but only the other day I happened to meet Simmons, and he immediately began talking about his trans- actions with you, and in his coarse way said that you'd had * about rope enough.' I must apolo- gise, really, for making use of his vulgar lan- guage, but it is so expressive of the man — hard, hard as nails. He's evidently getting tired ; now have you any idea how you really stand with him ? " And Crosby softly rubbed his hands together, THE SPIDER AND TEE FLY. 35 chuckling inwardly as he saw the evident trouble caused by his speech. "My dear Crosby, you are positively worse than the nightmare. How the devil should I know how I stand with him ? It's bad enousrh to be obliged to have recourse to him at all — hang it all, man ! I try to put disagreeables out of my head as soon as possible. But it's all right, Crosby, you know that it's all right, or it will be in time, which amounts to the same thing." " Ye-e-es," again drawled Crosby ; " only you see Simmons may not take it perhaps in the same way. He's only a vulgar, cunning, illiterate fellow, a professional money-lender, nothing more or less ; and he was hinting besides about those acceptances of yours which will come due in a few days. What are you going to do about them ? Will they be taken up ? " " How the deuce can you ask, Crosby ? You know they will have to be renewed as a matter of course. But, dash it all ! a man can't possibly go on for ever having such infernally bad luck as mine. It must change soon, I've had such D 2 • # » 36 RING AND CORONET. a very hot time of it ; it can't always keep on like this, you know/' Crosby St. Clair made no immediate reply, but sat filing his thumb-nail against his teeth meditatively. Presently he looked up. '' I'm afraid it'll be a difficult job, Mr. March- mont; it is such a large amount. Now if you could find anyone who would be inclined to lend part of the sum, a friend for instance. Well, Captain Gordon, he's a great friend of yours, I know. Would he be inclined to help you ? " " Caryll Gordon, dear old Caryll ! " exclaimed Percy with enthusiasm ; " the most generous fellow in the world. He'd do anything in his power, I know that well enough ; but he's not in funds himself just now. His tastes, Hke mine, are first- rate ; and he has had to pay a first-rate price for them. No, Caryll Gordon, I have every reason to believe, is already hampered, and the dissipa- tions of the London season have not tended to mend matters for him." *^ Oh ! " said Crosby, "that's rather a pity, for THE SPIDEB AND THE FLY. 37 • I believe he happens to be in Tayside at the present moment." " Captain Gordon is up at the Hall on a visit to Sir Hugh/^ returned Percy. " The shooting is excellent^ and Caryll is in great request there, especially with the ladies." " Yes, I suppose so," and a gleam of malice shone momentarily in Crosby St. Clair's pale blue eye; " but I heard he had been singularly unfor- tunate this season nevertheless.'^ " Unfortunate ! '' repeated Percy with some warmth. "Fortunate I should say, if you allude to the affair of the Honourable Edelgitha Amyott. Better to know at once the metal these fair-seem- ing enchantresses are made of, than find it out after marriage in the Divorce Court. I give Lord Hiltoun joy of his bargain ; peerless beauty though she be, Caryll is a hundi'ed times too good for her. No doubt he was a little smitten; she was the fashion, all the world ran after her, but there was no great harm done ; his wings may have been slightly scorched, but he will soar the higher and stronger for it next time." 38 BING AND CORONET. "HumjDli!" ejaculated Crosby with a quiet sneer, " people soon get over these affairs of the heart, I was never inclined to put much faith in the report ; and I have good reason to believe that Captain Gordon has already quietly deposed the goddess of the Loudon season, and has enshrined a new deity iu her place. Only," continued Crosby, with a little sniggering laugh, " instead of soaring higher, as you suggested a minute ago, Captain Gordon has sought perfection this time in a much lower sphere of life, so low, indeed " and Crosby paused to see the effect of his words. Percy Marchmont turned sharply on him, a tinge of hauteur in his tone. "What can you possibly know of Captain Gordon's intentions, Mr. St. Clair ? " enquired he. " Of his intentions, nothing. I should hope they are honourable for the young lady's sake," replied Crosby chuckling. " But I happen to know who the young person is. A pretty girl enough, and well-behaved too, I have no doubt, for her class," concluded St. Clair patronisiugly. THE SPIDER AND THE FLY. 39 " Good heavenSj man, don't deal in mysteries/' cried Percy, quite out of patience. ^^Oh, there's no particular mystery," sneered Crosby. "Anybody may make pretty speeches, and pay pretty compliments, and send pretty presents to people of her sort. There may not be anything serious in it at present, and un- doubtedly Captain Gordon has excellent taste. The fair Edelgitha would have to look to her laurels were Mdlle. Nina, the circus-rider, beside her in a drawing-room on equal terms." " Caryll Gordon entangled by a circus girl ! Pshaw ! man. Your authority on one head is about as good as on the other. You do not know Captain Gordon, Crosby St. Clair. He certainly would not stoop to any low intrigue, such as you insinuate." ''I insinuate nothing, Mr. Marchmont," re- turned St. Clair with suppressed rage. " I have seen them together, that is all, and not so very long ago ; but I have given you unintentional offence, and I beg to apologise." " You have seen them together ? 3} 40 EING AND CORONET. "Let us talk of something else/' said Crosby, ■who thought he had gone far enough. " Really, you and Captain Gordon are model friends — a perfect modern exemplification of Damon and Pythias." '^ Midas would be more to the purpose just now, so far as I am concerned/^ said Percy in some displeasure. " If everything I touched would only turn to gold I'd forgive the ass's ears, and own I richly deserved them for listening to such confounded bosh ! " Crosby's intention was by no means to offend Percy Marchmont, so he quietly resumed : *' Midas and his gold brings us back to our subject, Mr. Marchmont. I suppose you really must have this money ? " "My good sir, haven't I been saying so all along ? " "Ye-e-e-s," drawled Crosby, " but you see the difficulty remains — those acceptances. And, as I tell you, Simmons is inclined to be a bit trouble- some. Now, look here, Marchmont/^ he went on. It was characteristic of the man that his manner always increased in familiarity, as he thought he TEE SPIDER AND THE FLY. 41 ■was getting his victim more completely into liis power. "In spite of your temper just now I'd do anything I could to oblige you merely from a feeling of friendship. Simmons will be no use at all here, but, if I can possibly do it for you through the governor, I will. If I had the money handy I'd do it in a minute, I would, by Jove ! " " 'Pon my soul, I shall be most awfully obliged if you can, and just square old Simmons too. It would never do, you know, for this sort of thing to come to Sir Hugh's ears, or my father's either ; they are both such steady-going, old- fashioned, strait-laced, dear old boys." "By-the-bye, Marchmont, you might take me over to Lowood and introduce me there. I've heard it's a very fine old place, and I'm anxious to see it." " All right, Crosby," interrupted Percy, redden- ing. " We'll see about that some other day. Here we are at ' The Eoyal,' " added he with a feeling of relief as he pulled up at the door of the hotel. "AVhen shall I know about that little matter of mine? " 42 BING AND COBOXET. " Let me see ! " said Crosby, as he got down from the trap^ cooling suddenly. "As soon as I can, in a week or &o." " But, man alive ! that'll be no earthly use. I must have the money now. I must know to- night whether you can do it or not. And look here, Crosby, Pll drive you over to Lowood when- ever you please, if you care for shooting " "Well, well, Marchmont, give me a call here to-night, say ten o'clock or thereabouts, I may be able to suggest something. Meanwhile Pve no time to lose, so I'll wish you good-day." Thus cavalierly giving his commands to the young man, who was secretly smarting at the humiliating position in which his recklessness had placed him, Crosby entered the hotel and passed upstairs to his own apartment. Crosby St. Clair was the only son of a wealthy contractor and provision merchant, hailing formerly from Whitechapel, who, having amassed a large fortune, had retired from business whilst Crosby was still a lad. Mr. St. Clair had been content to write his THE SPIDER AND THE FLY. 43 name over liis warehouse-door plain William Sin- clair ; but this name was not half fine enough to please his wife, who in her youth had acted as chief assistant to a fashionable West End dress- maker, and who had peremptorily insisted after her husband's retirement from business, upon this change of name. Crosby's father and mother had taken up their abode in the environs of Tayside, and were now located in a large, straggling, but what Mrs. St, Clair considered, a highly imposing dwelling, perched on an eminence ovei'looking the sea, and which she was pleased to call *' The Sea-gull's Nest," a title that she said sounded both romantic and distangay. Everybody round about Tayside talked very much indeed about Mrs. St. Clair and her daugh- ters, of which there were two, and there was no doubt at all that these ladies made themselves unduly conspicuous. Nobody, however, seemed to know anything at all about Mr. St. Clair. To be sure it was he who had made all the money, but having made 44 BING AND CORONET. ifc he was considered by Mrs. St. Clair as of no further importance. He was to be put altogether aside, as a vulgar, inferior kind of being", one whom it was totally impossible for her to introduce into what she termed society. But if Mrs. St. Clair and her daughters were ashamed of poor Mr. St. Clair, Crosby on his side was equally ashamed of his mother and sisters. " Confound it,'^ muttered he moodily, as he sat sipping his claret and lazily smoking a cigar, " whoever would have thought of meeting Percy Marchmont and that Captain Gordon here ? If my father's antecedents should ooze out or my connection with Sea-gull's Nest be even hinted at, it would ruin all. As for that Marchmont, I hold him jDretty tight. He shall introduce mo to Sir Hugh Pierrepoint and his daughters. Percy, I know, is sweet there. It wouldn't be a bad move for me to marry one of them myself. With a baronet's daughter for my wife, and a baronet for brother-in-law — for Percy is next heir — I should have made a stride in the right direction at last. But there again that proud upstart Gordon comes THE SPIDEB AND TEE FLY. 45 in my way. I think I sowed good seed though, about that girl : Marchmont was quite staggered. And so Gordon is getting into difficulties, is he ? That is good news indeed ! Money is a great leveller, and the want of it may help to level even your insolent pride, Caryll Gordon, and bring you ultimately into my power." CHAPTER III. beayson's ciecus. Beatson's Circus was a large and flourishing concern, in no way to be confounded with the small travelling, or tenting circuses as they are technically called, upon all of which it looked down with patronising contempt. For whereas tenting circuses usually journeyed by road in a cumbrous, gipsy-like manner, the riders and their families living for the most part in huge waggons, that were, in fact, houses on wheels, fitted up with sleeping accommodation, such as may still be seen at racecourses and country fairs — a special train was always chartered to convey Brayson's Circus, performers, horses, grooms. BBAYSON'S CIBCUS. 47 and all the necessary materials and paraphernalia from town to town. Then too, instead of a rough, scrambling per- formance, given in a draughty, ill-conditioned tent, which let the water in plentifully when it rained, and not unfrequently blew down altogether in windy weather, and which at night was dimly and insufficiently lighted by objectionably odorous naphtha lamps affixed to the tent poles, Brayson's had its own permanent circus-buildings in the towns it visited, these buildings being all brilliantly illuminated by gas. True they were, for the most part, mere wooden structures of extremely primitive design ; in elevation suggestive of a compromise between a railway goods shed and an antiquated Methodist chapel, with interior arrangements and decorations about as incongruous and unsatisfactory; never- theless, Brayson's, proudly conscious of its own superiority, loftily disdained all the smaller tenting circuses, in much the same manner as people who keep their carriage and pair look doAvn on those who ride in one-horse vehicles, and the still less 48 RING AND CORONET. favoured oues whose want of means compels them to go on foot. Then, again, " Brayson's " never condescended to the vulgar exhibition of a parade in costume through the town previous to performance, as was the custom with all inferior or tenting circuses. In short, Brayson's set itself up for a iirst- rate circus, being, in the proprietor's estimation, as we have already seen it stated in the announce- ment bills, " the only properly organised circus in the Universe." The Brayson family, comj)rising Mr. Brayson, his wife, and two daughters of the respective ages of twenty-two and thirteen years, were all circus to the backbone. From their point of view, circuses were the most important and wonderful things in the world, and circus people, themselves especially, the most extraordinarily gifted and talented beings of the human race. There was one other member of the Brayson family — though she was scarcely regarded as such, or indeed considered of the slightest consequence BBAYSON'S CIUGUS. 49 by either Mr, Braysou or his wife — this was Nina, the heroine of the adventure iu the wood, an orphan dependent on Madame Giuseppina's bounty, her only brother's child. Mr. Bray son's wife — Madam, as she was always called, though Signora would have been far more appropriate, since she was Italian by birth — had been a Continental circus-rider of great celebrity in her younger days, well launched in her pro- fession by her father, Giuseppe Romani, at that time one of the largest circus proprietors on the Continent. In her profession Giuseppina Eomani had always known how to make herself appreciated. She had sufficient tact to show off to the best possible advantage those personal attractions she undoubtedly possessed, though in a coarse and meretricious style. She looked her best in the ring; and at night, with the glare of the lights around her, judiciously rouged and " made up," she was as perfect in her particular line as any artiste of her day. VOL. I. E 50 RING AND CORONET. Mr. Brayson had been a " trick act " rider, as it is called, and had undergone a thorough ap- prenticeship to his business. He was excessively proud of his handsome wife ; in point of fact, he had made no bad bargain for himself, as she com- manded a high salary, was a decided acquisition to any circus, besides owning three splendidly trained horses, which she exhibited to perfection. But the admiration her appearance created, and the applause she nightly received, soon excited her husband's jealousy, giving rise to domestic disagreements, which generally terminated in Mr. Brayson's signal discomfiture, for Madame Giuseppina was fully determined to have the upper hand. Then it was that Mr. Brayson gradually began to frequent public-houses, and to drink with low companions at such places after the hours of per- formance, frequently returning home intoxicated. During the early portion of their married life Brayson's Circus had no existence. He and his wife were merely paid performers at other establish- ments, and although they had always been fortunate BBAYSON'S CIRCUS. 51 iu makiug good engagements and receiving liigli salaries, yet after fifteen years of married life tliey had not saved the value of a penny piece. How Mr. Brayson ultimately became proprietor of a circus of his own, is a matter which for the development of our story it will be necessary to relate ; we therefore crave our readers' patience whilst we carry them back a space of ten years, into the second-floor front room of a large dreary- looking house, situated in one of those semi- respectable looking streets that are to be found in the neighbourhood of Drury Lane and Covent Garden. The room itself was a fair specimen of third- rate lodgings in this locality. It was of large size, having three windows looking into the dismal street, but the curtains of faded moreen were fast dropping into holes, and the glass window panes were begrimed with dust and dirt, as could be seen plainly enough in the daytime. The floor was covered with a well-patched and dilapidated -looking carpet, 'while an odd square E 2 52 BING AND CORONET. of entirely different pattern did duty as hearth-rug before the rusty fender and fireplace. The furniture consisted of the usual complement of hard and most uncomfortable horsehair chairs, all well worn at the corners, with an old-fashioned sofa to match. In various parts of the room stood several large wooden boxes or chests, like those seamen use. Cupboards were fixed on each side of the tall, narrow mantelpiece, over which was placed a dim cracked looking-glass in a heavy dark wooden frame. A deal table, covered with a red -and -blue checked table-cloth, plentifully besmeared with ink, stood in the centre of the floor, several gaudy- looking prints hung about here and there upon the walls, while a Dutch clock, with pendulum and weights, ticked merrily in one corner. In this room a woman sat one evening reading a letter, that had a foreign post-mark and a large black seal. She was tall, robust, and still handsome, with bright dark eyes and black wavy hair. BBAYSON'S CIRCUS. 53 She read and re-read the letter with unabated interest and attention for some considerable time, appearing to meditate deeply and earnestly upon its contents ; then she gave a glance up at the old Dutch clock on the wall opposite to her. The hands were at a quarter to twelve. " So late as that ! " murmured the woman, with some uneasiness. " He ought to have been home by now. I hope he has not gone to drink again at the public-house. I must see and talk to him about this to-night," The woman again commenced reading, but, wearied at length, she rose, putting the letter carefully into her pocket, and throwing some coals upon the fire, she wrapped her shawl more closely around her, for it was the month of November, and the nights were very cold. " He will not come now,^' said she with another look at the clock, and drawing the lumbering old sofa up to the fire, she threw herself upon it, and was soon fast asleep. The hands of the old Dutch clock were pointing to a quarter to three, when an attentive listener 54 RING AND CORONET. miglit have heard a fumbling at the lock of the street-door, as of an unsteady hand trying to use a latch-key, followed by uncertain, staggering steps ascending the stairs. A minute later the handle of the room door was softly turned and a man^s head peeped cautiously round the corner into the room. The head, which was surmounted by a consider- ably battered hat stuck very much on one side, having made a careful scrutiny of the apartment, was presently followed by its accompanying body and legs, the former draped in a long-skirted drab overcoat with huge buttons, the latter encased in Hessian boots and breeches. The proprietor of the head and other members was a man of sallow complexion and short almost diminutive stature. He had small cunning grey eyes, a very receding forehead, large nose, and coarse mouth, almost hidden by a heavy sandy moustache. The man had evidently been drinking, retain- ing just sense enough to be aware of the fact, which made him dubious as to the reception he might meet with from his wife. BBAYSON'S CIRCUS. 55 Observing that she was sleeping souudlv^ the little fellow advanced noiselessly, on tiptoe, thinking to pass by the sofa, and thus make good his retreat into the inner room, but, unhappily just as he reached the corner, he gave a sudden larch, which sent his hat flying off his own head plump down upon his wife's, while in endeavouring to regain it, he reeled up against the fender, and overbalancing himself fell full length upon th floor. Thus rudely awakened, the woman started up, and seeing at a glance the true state of the case, exclaimed : " You little beast ! this is the fourth time this week you have come home drunk/^ These ominous words sobered Mr. Brayson sufficiently to enable him to recover his hat, which he immediately replaced at the extreme back of his head, and the resumption of it having apparently, in some slight degree, restored his confidence, he forthwith commenced a mild form of explanation still seated on the ground, for he did not exactly know how he should manage to get up. "Accident, 'Peppina — Accident. ■'Shure you! 56 BING AND CORONET. — Leg of sofa, — Would get in my way ! — That's all, my love — I'm all right — 'Shure you ! " This speech, delivered in an indistinct, mumbling voice, plentifully interspersed with hiccups, failed entirely in convincing his wife, who spurned him contemptuously with her foot. " Get up, idiot ! " said she. '^ That is, if you are not too tipsy to stand upon your feet ! " Thus emphatically admonished, Mr. Brayson — for such indeed it was — made several ineffectual attempts to rise, and having at last, by great good fortune, successfully accomplished this result, he struck a ridiculous attitude, and, with a theatrical flourish, kissed the tips of his fingers to his wife, as circus riders and acrobats do to their audience when they wish it to be considered that they have exe- cuted some more than ordinarily difficult feat. Insensible to this gallantry, the woman stood gloomily surveying him, as if uncertain what mode of conduct to adopt; whereupon her husband assumed another absurd attitude, and, with out- stretched arms, began strutting consequentially up to her, saying in a wheedling*, affected voice : BBAYSON'S CIRCUS. b7 " Don't look so cross, Peppina dearest ; don't be angry with your own true love, your own true Neddy " and, bursting all at once into song, he commenced, in a very husky voice, which hadn't the slightest particle of music in it : " Your Neddy has never been false, he declares, Since the last time " " Silence, fool ! Do you wish, then, to alarm the whole house ? " fiercely interrupted his wife, and, giving him a push, she sent him reeling back against the opposite wall of the room, where he arrived with a resounding bump. Nothing daunted, and still musically inclined, Mr. Brayson returned boldly to the attack, advanc- ing as if to embrace her, making a tipsy lurch at her, with an idiotic laugh, " Keep off, or I shall do you some mischief ! " cried the woman, with growing fury and impa- tience. " Saints above ! " continued she, as if speaking to herself, ''where can he have been to get so very drunk ? " " Drunk ! " repeated her husband, making hope- 58 BINO AND CORONET. less attempts to steady himself^ and winkiug and blinking at her witli tipsy gravity. " Drunk ! Peppina, you really liurt my feelings. I may be a little bit jolly, perhaps ; it's a gentleman's duty to be jolly sometimes, but — drunk ! I've only been having a glass or two with my friends. You know a gentleman can't refuse his friends, Peppina. Now, can he ? " But the woman^s only answer was a contemp- tuous shrug of her shoulders, accompanied by a short snort of derision. "Now look here, Peppina," he continued per- suasively, " I'll prove it to you in no time. A man can't be drunk who can dance a hornpipe; now can he ? Well, you just see me do it. You just keep your eye on your Neddy." And divesting himself of his long-skirted over- coat, the extraordinary little man commenced dancing a hornpipe, making the most extravagant and ludicrous gestures, continuing meanwhile his conversation with his wife. " Look here, Peppina," he exclaimed trium- phantly, " did you see that ? Look at me ! Keep BBAYSON'S CIRCUS. 59 your eye on me ! Do you think I could dance like this if I were drunk ? Do you think I could do the double-shuffle ? " And he went on dancing with more energy than ever. " Do you think I could do this?'^ and he danced more wildly still. " Do you think I could cut like this if I were " Unfortunately, just at this moment, happening to make a false step, Mr. Brayson came down with a great clatter, in a sitting position, upon the floor, where he remained for some minutes, looking vacantly from one side to the other, as if he didn^t exactly know where he was, or how he got there. " Good heavens ! Where can he have been to get like this ? '' exclaimed his wife, aghast at this new phase of her husband's tipsy antics. "Pig and Whistle; capital ale; jolly dogs," murmured Mr. Brayson, smiling vacantly at the carpet. " My friends, Peppina, would treat me. * We won't go home till morning"' he spluttered incoherently, once more attempting a vocal effort. " Friends ! " repeated his wife indignantly. 60 RING AND CORONET. '' Fine friends, indeed, to let you get in such a state as this ! A set o£ low vagabonds and. blackguards ! " From his lowly position on the floor Mr. Brayson looked up at his wife with comical solemnity. " Giuseppina ! " said he. " Don't abuse my friends. They are gentlemen — all of them.'' " Pshaw ! " exclaimed the woman in a voice of thunder. " Don't talk that rubbish to me. As if gentlemen would get drunk with you at a place like the ' Pig and Whistle.' Stuff ! " The little man opened his eyes to their very fullest extent, and remained staring stupidly at her, speechless at the audacity of her last words. " How dare you say * Pshaw ' to me ? " he shrieked, as soon as he was sufficiently recovered to make use of his tongue. " How dare you say ' stuff ' and. ' rubbish ' to me ? " he continued, making frantic efforts to rise from the floor. " You forget one thing, Madame Giuseppina," he continued, and down he went again. "I am BBAYSON'S CIRCUS. 61 your lord and master/' — here once more he came to grief — " and you, madam, are only the weaker vessel — my wife ! " But at this point, suffering another relapse, Mr. Brayson gave it up as a bad job, and quietly reseated himself on the floor. "You quite forget, madam," said he, looking up at his wife with comical seriousness, " the res- pect due to a person of my position. My father and mother were big people, and had a grand 'show' of their own." " We'll soon see who is the weaker vessel if I've any more of this," cried his wife, making a dash at him which by ducking he barely con- trived to avoid. " And as for your position, don't think to impose upon me, you little simpleton I Have I not heard scores of times since I committed the folly of marrying you, that your father and mother used to go about to fairs and races with a small wax- work caravan." " It's a lie ! A base bouncing lie ! " exclaimed Mr. Brayson, beside himself with rage. " And you're a base bouncing hussy for saying so ! But 62 RING AND COBONET. I'll be revenged ! I'll teacli you what it is to insult Neddy Braysou, your lord and master ! " As lie concluded this ultimatum, he contrived someho^Y or other to get upon his feet; and swaggering and blustering in tipsy rage, he snapped his fingers derisively in his wife's face. "Brutto scimiotto ! " hissed she between her teeth, coolly awaiting his attack. Then, as he came reeling towards her, she seized him by the collar of his coat, shaking him violently in her powerful grasp much as a terrier would shake a rat, until she was completely exhausted, when she flung him, half - strangled, nearly senseless, and quite breathless on to a chair some distance off, upon which he alighted doubled up all of a heap, and in a far more hopelessly bewildered condition than before. "You'll talk to me like that again, won't you ? " exclaimed the woman when she had re covered herself a little. " But it's high time we came to an understanding of some sort. We have been married now fifteen years. All that time I have worked hard — like a slave. Our engagements BEAYSON'S CIRCUS. 63 have always been good. We have earned plenty of money. What have we saved ? Nothing ! What have we put by for our children, Lisetta and the little Jemima ? Nothing ! All and every- thing you have spent in drink; frittered it away in drunken frivolities. What is our home ? " The woman glanced round the cheerless room. " Poor, miserable, wretched ! Thanks entirely to your extravagance, we are as poor now as when we began." "Peppina!'' remonstrated the unfortunate little man, attempting to rise from his chair. " I can't help it. My friends will treat me. I can't refuse.'^ At this point, however, observing his wife re- commencing preparations for another onslaught, Mr. Brayson suddenly broke off, doubling himself up with amazing alacrity in his former half-crouch- ing position on the chair. " Absurd little idiot ! " fiercely rejoined his wdfe, " you make yourself the laughing-stock of all the company. '^ " Jealousy, jealousy. They are all jealous of 64 RING AND CORONET. me," whined Mr. Brayson, beginning to cry, for he had by this time reached the maudlin stage of intoxication. "He gets worse and worse," muttered the woman, *'but I must sober him by some means, for what I have to say to him must be said to-night." Meanwhile her husband began imploring her in pitiful accents to give him something to drink. " I am so thirsty. I do feel so bad, Peppina ; I am half-strangled; you nearly killed me. One little drop, my throat is parched. A glass of ale for pity^s sake — one glass, only one glass." His evident distress seemed at last to make some impression upon his wife's stern relentless nature ; at all events she went to one of the cup- boards, and pouring something into a large tum- bler, she brought it to her husband, bidding him drink. Mr. Brayson clutched the glass eagerly and raised it to his lips, quickly putting it down with an exclamation of disgust. "Soda-water!" cried he, with a shudder. "Good heavens, Peppina, do you wish to poison me ? " B BAY SON'S CIRCUS. 65 His wife smiled grimly. "Drink, it will sober jon," said she sternly, handing him the glass. Mr. Brayson dared not refuse, and with a shudder and grimace, once more raising the glass to his lips, he drained it at a draught. Madame Brayson put down the empty tumbler, stirred the dying embers of the fire; and then, drawing one of the armchairs up to the fender, she pushed her husband unceremoniously into it, whilst she placed herself in the other. VOL. I. CHAPTER IV. THE LETTER. "Now/^ said Madame Brayson^ witli a sharp, scrutinising glance at lier liusband, for slie was doubtful if lie were sufficiently recovered to under- stand clearly the nature of the news she had to communicate, '' now we will talk/' And taking from her pocket the letter she had that evening read and re-read so many times, she tossed it carelessly over to her husband, saying as she did so : " I received this to-night. Read it if you are sufficiently sober. My brother is dead." She spoke in a hard, passionless voice, in which was no trace either of emotion or sisterly grief at the sad tidings she had so abruptly communicated. TEE LETTER. 67 ''Your brother Antonio dead ! " murmured Mr. Brayson, much shocked. '' Is it possible ? Why, Peppina, he was younger than you ; and such a good-looking chap.^^ *' Young or old, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, what does it matter ? " returned his wife with a sneer. "Death comes to all, none can escape. What then ? The sooner it comes, the sooner it is over. That is all." " But, Peppina," said Mr. Brayson, staring at his wife ; " your own brother ! " "My brother,^^ repeated his wife, turning sharply upon him. "What then? Can I call him back to life ? And if I could, would it benefit us ? But the news that letter contains I shall be able to turn to good account. The news it brings would be worth a good round sum to us if you were not such a tipsy idiot. Antonio must have left some valuable property,^^ she went on, in a cool, calculating manner ; " his horses were almost priceless, they were so perfectly trained, and he was always fortunate in his enofasrements.''' F 2 68 RING AND COEONET. Mr. Brayson glanced timidly afc his wife, and ventured a mild form of expostulation. " But he was married, you forget that, Peppina. She was an English lady, quite a lady, and awfully clever; she could play on a grand pianer, so Franceschi^s people told me. And there is a child, you forget that." " Do I forget ? " interrupted his wife, her face assuming a harsh and forbidding expression as she spoke. "No, no; my memory is pretty good. I remember well enough my brother married an Englishwoman. Beautifnl ? " She shrugged her shoulders with contempt. " Perhaps. Clever ? She had been a governess. But she was clever, too ; clever enough to get my silly brother to marry her. Antonio worshipped her, and they said her dresses and jewellery were superb. '^ The woman paused with an angry gasp. The jewels and costly dresses were crowning iniquities in Madame Giuseppina's eyes. " Giuseppina ! You speak as if you did not like Antonio's wife, and yet you have never seen TEE LETTER. 69 her/' exclaimed Mr. Brayson, staring at her with. vacant astonishment. " That is true. I have never seen her. I have never seen her child. But I hate, oh ! how I hate them both ! Does that surprise you» Mr. Brayson ? " and she laughed a harsh, un- feeling, cruel laugh, rubbing her hands together softly as she continued : '' Did she not separate my brother from me ? Before he married her he was a good brother. He trained my horses, gave me my diamond buttons and my set of carved coral. But when he married her — good-bye. I was no longer of any consequence. She taught him to look down upon his profession, his com- panions, ay, even upon his own sister. All were things too vile for her, his wife, to recognise ; they would have contaminated so pure a pearl as she. And Antonio was her dupe ! She spent his money, and was ashamed of him in her heart. She would not condescend to associate with such as I. Then I said to myself, 'Patience, patience, your time may yet come. By-and-by; some day 70 BING AND CORONET. or other.' And I Lave waited patiently, oli ! so patiently, for eiglit long years, till now — and now, to-niglit, it lias come. It is here, it is here ! I hold it in my hand.^^ And, tearing the letter from her husband's grasp, she flourished it triumphantly aloft. The Italian's eyes flashed fire, she ground her teeth savagely in the uncontrollable fury of her wrath ; the words came hissing with venomous distinctness from her lips. She paced furiously up and down the room, her hands clenched, her countenance distorted with irrepressible rage, like some caged tigress powerless to restrain the wild ravings of her frenzied passion. In the course of a few minutes the woman grew calmer; and when she had apparently re- gained her self-possession, her husband timidly ventured to inquire what she thought of doing. " What shall I do ? " repeated the woman, resuming her seat. " This. I start to-morrow for Brussels ; everything is prepared for my journey. I go to see and console the poor bereaved widow," she continued, with ironical emphasis. " I go to THE LETTER. 71 see those matchless trained horses o£ my brother's, which are worth so much money, and which you will perform so well. They will look handsome in oar stable. I go to bring back to England this proud miladi and her child. I go to see all her splendid dresses and jewels ; and all and every- thing I shall bring back with mc, and they shall be ours, ours entirely. Horses, wife, child — everything of which my brother died possessed. Do you begin to see now ? The game is in my hands — and I know how to play it.'^ "But your engagement here is not yet con- cluded," reminded her husband. "Cancel it for the remainder of the term. The loss will be trifling compared to the profit I mean my absence to ensure. Leave me to act, and you shall have a circus of your own and be a rich man vet." The following morning Madame Giuseppina Brayson had already left the English shores, and was fast speeding on her way towards Belgium. She had set her heart upon Mr. Brayson be- coming a circus proprietor, but how to accomplish 72 BIKG AND CORONET. this result she did not in the least know; but she did not despair. She hardlj so much as asked herself in what way she intended to attain her object. She had willed it — that was enough, for Madame Giuseppina Brayson had implicit faith in the somewhat sarcastic French proverb — " Ce que femme veiit, Die^i le veut." The unoffending English lady, who all unknown to herself possessed such an implacable, relentless enemy, was the orphan daughter of a poor country clergyman, who had made an early and imprudent marriage — at least, that was what everybody said — and, as the poor curate had little or nothing to depend upon but his miserable stipend, and the lady he married, though well connected, was entirely without fortune, doubtless everybody was right, at any rate in a worldly point of view. Three years after their marriage a child was born to them, a baby girl ; but, alas ! the Angel that bore into this world the precious new-boru soul, resoaring to the realms of light, took back with him to everlasting bliss the pure spirit of her who had given it birth. THE LETTEE. The loss of liis mucli-loved wife was a sliock too great for Mr. Maynard to endure. Privation, sorrow, liard and unremitting toil and labour am"ongst tlie poor in the daily discharge of his ministerial duties, all told upon him, and in the space of two short years his earthly remains were resting peacefully by the side of his beloved wife in the quiet country churchyard. And the baby girl ? This tiny waif and stray, cast thus alone on the uncertain sea of life, to be buffeted by its waves, tossed by its billows, what of it? " God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb." So was it also tempered to this poor little shorn lamb, this orphan child. The vicar's wife brought up the little Edith, and having completed the appointed time of train- ing, she was duly provided with an engagement as governess in the family of Crosby's mother^ Mrs. St. Clair. CHAPTER V. ANTECEDENTS, Edith fulfilled lier duties as governess couscien- tiouslj and satisfactorily for a period of nearly two years^ accompanying the family on a Continental tour, undertaken by Mrs. St. Clair as a certain method of getting into what she was pleased to call the heaii tnonde of society. At Milan, Edith was unfortunately taken ill, and being in consequence summarily discharged by her unfeeling mistress, the poor girl was left almost penniless, unfriended, and alone in a strange Continental city. It was at the house of the kind-hearted Italian 'padrona with whom Edith found a refuge dui'ing her illness, that she met her future husband — ANTECEDENTS. 75 Antonio Romania Madame Giuseppina Brayson's brother, a well-conducted, liandsome young fellow, greatly superior to the generality of his class. Two years after their marriage the little Nina was born, and the happiness of both the delighted parents seemed complete. When the little Nina was about seven years of age, Antonio happened to be travelling through Belgium. The circus to which he was attached was an excellent one, worthy in every way of the patronage accorded it. Antoniowas the owner of four horses of great beauty and value, so wonderfully had they been trained. He took great pride in them, treating them with a gentleness and patieut kindness, in which, perhaps, lay the real secret of his almost unparalleled success. But if Antonio was proud of his horses, Peter, the groom who looked after 'them, was even more so. Peter had originally been a clown — a favourite too, but a kick from a vicious horse effectually put an end to his career by rendering him a cripple for life. EING AND CORONET. Under these circumstances he had consented to take service with Antonio as groom ; Antonio, with true delicacy, treating him as a friend rather than a servant. At the time of the Belgian tour, upon the arrival of the troupe in Brussels, they found the arrangements at the circus where they were to give their representations in a very backward and unfinished state. The first of the series was to take place on the following Sunday evening, the most popular day in the week on the Continent for entertainments of this class. But everything was as yet so in- complete that it was very doubtful whether any performance could take place for several days. The manager was furious ; he well knew what the consequences would be of disappointing the public ; ready or not ready, he said, the performance should take place. The arrangements for lighting the building were of the most consequence; and the large central chandelier had yet to be fixed. So a number of workmen were hurriedly set ANTECEDENTS. 77 to work at the very last moment, and altliougli they did the best in their power, and the chandelier was eventually put in its place, the circus was very far from being complete, and looked cheerless and uncomfortable. But this notwithstanding, when Sunday even- ing came, the large building was closely packed by an eager and expectant audience. The performance commenced. It was much the same sort of thing everywhere seen at circus entertainments. There was a lady on the tight-rope, in a short satin tunic, a suspicious-looking quantity of back hair, and very deep pink legs. There was a fierce-looking gentleman, highly rouged, who appeared as " he Postilion de Long- jumeau,^^ principally remarkable for his very big boots, his powdered pig-tail wig, and the perpetual cracking of his whip. He rode and drove four horses with bells jingling on every available part of their harness. There was an acrobat, a big burly fellow; he performed with four tiny children dressed in 78 Brno AND COBONET. spangles, who did difficult tricks painful to witness, the little fellows all the while trying hard to smile and appear as if they liked it. Then, too, there was a fascinating fairy-like lady, who represented the four seasons, beginning with winter, and gradually undressing herself throughout the spring and summer stages, until she reached autumn, when she appeared in a more fragment of maize-coloured satin, crowned with cornflowers, and with a sickle and sheaf of wheat in her hand. Then came one of the great attractions of the evening. "The celebrated Signer Antonio would have the honour of introducing his truly magnificent and wonderfully-trained Arab steed, ' Schamyl.' " People fidgeted, rattled their programmes, whispered to one another, and finally resettled themselves quietly in their seats, as audiences always do before the grand or exciting part of any' entertainment. And now the Signer Antonio stepped into the centre of the ring and made his obeisance to the multitude around. A murmur ANTECEDENTS. 79 of approval from the female portion of the visitors accompanied the applause with which he was received; and no wonder^ for he looked superbly handsome with his easy, graceful, aristocratic air, his figure shown off to the best possible advan- tage by the semi-military style of costume that he wore. He had a long whip in his band, but it seemed scarcely to be required. At a mere word from Mm a splendid grey Arabian horse, of purest breed, bounded into the arena, and playfully tossing its pretty head as if it knew well enough the admiration its appearance was sure to create, and was half disdainful of it, at length trotted quietly up to its master, pawing the ground and rubbing its nose lovingly against his shoulder. And now he proceeded to put the beautiful creature through its various paces and performances, making it march in strict time to military music; walk on its hind legs; fly like lightning round the ring; salute the audience by kneeling on its fore legs and bowing its graceful head; lie down as if dead at the mere word of command, not moving although a pistol was 80 BIKG AND CORONET. fired close to its ear ; take its master's hand- kerchief out of his pockety and cai-ry his whip like a dog ; finishing by waltzing all round the circle in time to music, as if it had been accustomed to figure in a ball-room all its life. The gentle docility and obedience of the beautiful creature fairly enraptured the audience, who broke into acclamations of delight at the conclusion of the performance, and the whole building re-echoed with the tumult of applause. Again the horse appeared, and again its master put it through some slight additional performance, which being finished, Antonio had just stepped into the centre of the ring to make his final bow, when all at once A horrible, snapping noise, a heavy crash, that seemed like the falling in of the very roof itself, accompanied by immediate and almost total dark- ness, a dense cloud of dust, a sudden panic, uproar, and general confusion, all and every one of the spectators in affright and dismay starting from their seats, trying to escape pell-mell from the circus, fearing, in the terrible uncertainty ANTECEDENTS. 81 of their alarm, that the building was falling in upon them. A mad, helter-skelter rush for the open street, fraught with inexpressible danger, worse than any that threatened them within; for there, unhappily, the mischief was already done, fatally and irrevocably. The poor, terrified spectators had no further cause for fear or alarm, and might with safety have retained their seats. The central chandelier, a heavy, cumbrous- looking affair, which hung immediately over the centre of the ring, had been insecurely fixed, and either the vibration of the applause, or some other unexplained cause, at this moment made it give way, and it fell with a deafening noise, burying Antonio beneath its cruel weight. Peter was the first on the spot. When at last, with the assistance of several others, he succeeded in extricating his master from the broken mass of the fallen chandelier, Antonio was quite dead. He had been struck on the back of his head, and the medical men in attendance were of opinion that death was instantaneous. VOL. I. G 82 RING AND CORONET. Peter broke tlie sad intelligence to the poor wife as gently and tenderly as he could. She listened to him at first with quick feelings of apprehension and alarm. Then suddenly she started to her feet with hands and eyes upraised to heaven^ as if in mute but earnest appeal against this cruel decree; and reeling backwards^ with- out either sob or groan, but with a wild, agonised look in her tearless eyes, she fell a senseless heap upon the floor. The kind physician who had been called in looked grave and shook his head. '^ Tears alone can save her," he said to Peter ; "if they do not come to her relief she will go mad." And good-hearted, simple Peter, watching over her, thought much upon what the doctor had said, and he took a little faded silk sachet, con- taining the remains of a few withered flowers, Edith's first love-gift to her husband, and brought it to her, telling her how it had been found after his death lying close against his heart. But she shivered as - if with cold, and feebly pushed ANTECEDENTS. 83 Peter from her, murmuring faintly her anguished moan: " Let me die too ! Let me die too ! " And Peter, sad at heart, was fain to put aside these relics, which were powerless to rouse her from her despairing hopeless wailing. As he placed them reverently upon the dress- ing-table in the inner room, he noticed a half- opened door, leading into a small room or closet beyond, and, by the light of the feeble night-lamp burning there, he could see the child Nina asleep, in that pure sweet innocent sleep that belongs to childhood only. Peter paused a moment, then, pushing the door open, he walked into the room. Gently, so as not to frighten the pretty child, he awoke her; she opened wide her soft dark eyes with wondering surprise. '^Nina,^' he whispered, "your mamma is very ill ; come to her, the sight of you may do her good." The child sprang to the floor in eager haste. " Mamma ill ! Oli, Peter, is my dear mamma G 2 84 PiING AND CORONET. really ill ? But it is night ; see, tlie lamp is still burning. Has not papa come home ? " A tear trembled in the old man's eye as he thought of that long last home to which her father had but too surely gone only a few short hours ago. When Nina caught sight of her mother lying' on the couch, she flew to her side, flinging her little arms around her and covering her with kisses. " Oh, mamma ! " she cried, " what is it ? Speak to your little Nina, who loves you so. Mamma darling, kiss your little Nina; do kiss your own poor little Nina ! " But the afflicted mother seemed only indistinctly to hear the voice of her child, and without return- ing her affectionate caresses, she still continued moaning piteously : " Let me die too ! Let me die too ! " The child drew^ back with a terrified look. " Oh, Peter !" she cried, almost broken-hearted, " what shall I do ? Mamma doesn't hear me, she doesn't know me, her own little Nina. She will not speak to me, she will not even kiss me." '' My dear Miss Nina," said Peter, almost more ANTECEDENTS. 85 affected than the child herself, " when we are in trouble it is always good to pray to Him who is ever ready to hear the prayer of the fatherless and the widow. '^ Then withdrawing to the farther end of the room, the good old man knelt on the floor, whilst the tears trickled fast down his weather-beaten face. The little Nina knelt down beside her mother's couch, looking like some fair white-robed angel, and folding her little hands together, began repeating in a sweet silvery voice her simple childish prayers. The sound of the familiar words, as she com- menced the grandest, most beautiful, yet most simple of all prayers — the " Lord's Prayer," which she had been accustomed to repeat morning and evening from earliest infancy at her mother's knee, seemed to strike some hidden chord in the memory of the poor afSicted mother ; mechanically she turned her eyes towards Nina, her lips moving as if following the words as the child uttered them. When she had proceeded as far as " Thy 86 RING AND CORONET. will be done/' Edith gave a deep sigh, and repeated audibly, " Thy will be done ! " The child stopped, and looked at her mother,, who kept saying to herself, " Thy will be done ! Thy will be done ! '' Then raising herself, after one long look at her child kneeling before her, with a loud agonised cry she threw her arms round her little daughter's neck, exclaiming : " My own precious darling Nina ! My poor little fatherless child ! '-' The icy band of despair that had frozen the poor mother's soul, till it seemed numbed and deadened to all else but the selfishness of its own great sorrow, had at length yielded, and was thawed by the mere breath of an infant's prayer. And then the wild passion of grief burst forth in a torrent of tears — tears that in all their exceeding sorrow and bitterness were far more precious than aught the wealth of this world could bestow, for they were the bright rainbow drops of hope, bringing salvation and life once more to the ajBlicted mother's heart. ANTECEDENTS. 87 And Peter, kneeling still in tliat far-off corner of tlie room, knew that she was saved, and from the depths of his grateful honest heart he thanked God that He had been pleased to hear and answer the simple prayer of a little child. CHAPTER VI. DIPLOMACY. Four days after the events just recorded, Madame Giuseppina Brayson arrived iu Brussels, too late indeed, to assist at lier brother's funeral, but at the very moment of all others when the afflicted sorrowing widow most needed the tender sym- pathising care of one of her own sex ; and who so suitable to afford comfort and consolation in her grief as Antonio's own sister ? The artful, designing Madame Giuseppina had therefore no difficulty in winning the confidence of the gentle, unsuspecting Edith by her apparently kind sympathy, and the thoughtful considerate manner in which she advised her with respect to her late husband's affairs. BITLOMAGY. 89 She persuaded Editli that Mr. Braysou could command a better price for Antonio's beautiful horses in England, than she could possibly hope to get for them if they were sold on the spot. Then she cautiously represented to the young widow that, although she and her husband were obliged to follow the circus profession for a living, they could still offer her a home, if one more humble than that to which she had been accus- tomed. And she induced Edith to believe that she would be warmly welcomed by them both. She also skilfully played upon the fond mother's feelings by praising and caressing the little Nina, affecting wonder and delight at the child's ability and intelligence, inwardly hating her for being in every way so superior to her own children. She attempted to make an ally of old Peter, whom she praised and flattered, being profuse in her surprise and admiration of the care and atten- tion with which he treated the horses in his charge; but Peter, though silent, was in his heart not a little inclined to regard this smooth-spoken lady with feelings of dislike and misti'ust. But 90 EING AND CORONET. Madame Giuseppina displayed so mucli diplomatic skill and address, and acted her part with such consummate tact, that in less than a week from the time of her arrival in Belgium, she had com- pletely won the forlorn widow^s heart, and Edith could hardly feel sufficiently grateful to this new- found friend who had come forward so unexpectedly with her gentle sympathy and disinterested kindness to comfort and sustain her in the overwhelming tide of affliction by which she had been so suddenly beset. Meanwhile, Madame Giuseppina lost no oppor- tunity of making herself fully acquainted with all the minuti^ of her late brother's affairs, those especially relating to the money and valuables left by him. She was considerably disappointed with her examination of Edith's wardrobe ; for although her dresses and wearing apparel were in every way suitable for a lady's use, there was nothing of the gay, costly, and extravagant character that Madame Giuseppina had expected to see. The stock of jewellery disappointed her even more. True, there were some very handsome and DIPL02IACY. 91 valuable articles, and every tiling- had been selected with good taste, but she preferred a more showy style, with larger stones and a coarser setting. If Edith had been tempted to exhibit any little tendency towards extravagance, it was with regard to her child ; the little Nina's dresses and clothes being singularly elegant and all of the finest quality ; but even these were not showy, and as Madame Giuseppina hovered like a bird of prey over the spoils she fully meant to appropriate, she could not help a feeling of annoyance as she bethought her that her own two girls were of such different ages to Nina that the child's clothing would be com- paratively of little or no use to them. But her joy was unbounded when she discovered that her brother had left a larger sum of money than she had considered at all probable; a sum amounting in all to nearly eight hundred pounds in cash, besides valuable horses, trappings, and various other properties and effects. This money she of course intended should also pass into her hands. And now, having virtually accomplished the object she had in view when she first started on 92 BING AND CORONET. her journey to Brussels, she began to feel desirous of landing victims and booty in safety as soon as possible upon English soil. Edith herself had no desire to remain longer than was necessary in a place that held for her such sad and gloomy reminiscences ; in fact, she was scarcely less eager than her wily confidante to reach the supposed shelter and protection of her new friend's home. Mr. Brayson was therefore very agreeably surprised at receiving a short but concise letter from his wife, informing him that her arrival from the Continent with Madame Romani and the little Nina might be expected the following day. Edith had been desirous of bringing over with her the child's French honne ; but this the artful Madame Giuseppina had gently dissuaded her from doing, her chief object being to isolate the poor widow as much as possible from all friends no matter how humble their station. She would willingly have dispensed with Peter's services, but for the present at least she felt that to be impracticable ; therefore, while she secretly DIPLOMACY. 93 feai'ed and hated him, she did all in her power to humour and conciliate him. Although the best rooms in the house occupied by Madame Giuseppina had been placed at the disposal of her brother's widow, Edith thought them sadly dark and dismal after the light, elegance, and cheerful simplicity of Continental apartments and hotels. The sombre paper of the room, the heavy curtains before the windows, the old Turkey carpet upon the floor, the miserable daubs of oil-paintings upon the walls, portraits of some ancient scarecrows in immense but tarnished gilt frames, the suite of furniture, covered in dark -looking stuff, and the old square piano, that did duty for a sideboard as well, with a collection of chimney ornaments in bronze, all contributed their share of dreariness and gloom. The very air seemed thick and stifling, and Edith felt oppressed with a vague indefinable sense of weariness and discomfort, which in spite of all her efforts she was powerless to overcome. Her London experiences, however, were not of long duration. 94 BINQ AND CORONET. The period of Mr. Brayson's engagement terminated a week after Madame Komani's arrival in England, and arrangements liad already been made by liim for joining another circus at Liver- pool, for the winter season. And now Madame Giuseppina began gradually to tighten the net she was weaving round her victims. With regard to the money, she had already represented to Edith that it would be both un- wise and unsafe to keep it by her ; she therefore advised her to let her husband pay it into his bank, of course giving her a due acknowledgment for the amount. As for the horses, she agreed they were splendid animals, and would undoubtedly fetch a high price — that is, if judiciously sold; but the present time was not the most favourable for disposing of them, and they were besides just a little out of condition. Happily, dear Madame Romani could afford to wait, and in the town they were next going to visit they would be more likely to meet with suitable purchasers. DIPLOMACY. 95 In the meautime, they could stand with Mr. Brayson^s hoi'ses, and Mr. Brayson would exhibit and perform them, so that they would have every opportunity of being seen to the very best possible advantage; and as for their feed and keep for so short a time, what was that ? Madame Giuseppina would not allow her " so very dear Edith" to mention even such a trifling thing as that. Thus the crafty woman kept up her false pre- tences and honeyed sweetness, in order the more easily to despoil her prey. Upon their arrival in Liverpool the circle was still further narrowed. Madame Giuseppina no longer kept her own children in the background, nor was she careful as heretofore of their appearance or behaviour. They were rude and rough to Nina, and the little Jemima, who already displayed a very decided temper of her own, would scratch, and pinch, and try to bite, if she failed in doing anything the spoilt baby had set her mind upon. The children were moreover allowed to remain 96 BING AND CORONET. dirty and neglected ; and disorder, discomfort, and entire want of method everywhere prevailed. Madame Giuseppina was apparently as kind and affectionate as ever ; but she told Edith she had now so much to do that she could not possibly manage as well as she could wish, she having to ride during their present engage- ment ; and then, too, Lisetta was beginning to perform. That made more work, and besides it was so very awkward in lodging?; and she really could not afford to travel with a servant. If dear Madame Romani would just see to little Jemima, and give poor Lisetta a hint now and then, she would think it so kind, and feel so grateful; for her time was now fully taken up, and she could hardly look properly to her own and her husband's things. And then she would kiss Edith, calling her her dear angel friend, and her little house- mother, and praise and extol the wonderfully clever, pretty Nina. The plain English of all which was, that by degrees she was forcing DIPLOMACY. 97 Edith into the position of joint governess and housekeeper, and Nina into a sort of attendant nursemaid to the intractable little Jemima. All this was particularly repugnant and dis- tasteful to the naturally refined feelings of Madame Romani. Yet it was not on her own account, but on that of her child^ that she felt uneasiness and alarm, for she dreaded the effects such association and companions might have upon Nina's future life. She resolved therefore, bitter as was the thought of parting with her little daughter, to send her away from her to some thoroughly good school. For herself, she would not desert her kind friend, and if she could assist her in her household manage- ment, or by teaching Lisetta and Jemima, she would try to be of service to Madame Giuseppina. But the latter did not intend Edith to have the fingering even of the smallest particle of the money lodged presumably in her husband's hands, but virtually in her own. To spend it in educating this forward little minx, who already knew more than all the rest of them put together, who spoke VOL, I, H 98 RING AND CORONET. three languages and played the piano, that was an idea not for a moment to be thought of. If possible, she would still contrive to keep up a fair exterior towards Madame Romani, but once compelled, she would not hesitate to show her teeth, and if necessary even bite. She therefore begged her dear Madame Romani not to be in a hurry, but to wait until the ter- mination of the Liverpool engagement. A month or six weeks could not possibly make much difference, and Nina, dear little clever thing, was still so young. If Madame Romani had a little patience, a fitting opportunity was sure to present itself. But a more powerful ally than any Madame Griuseppina could evoke, was now fast coming to her aid. Edith^s delicate fragile nature was ill adapted to endure the hard work, self-restraint, and priva- tions to which she gradually submitted. Not only did she find herself entrusted with all the responsibility of the domestic arrangements, which alone kept her at work early and late, but DIPLOMACY. 99 in the evenings also Madame Giuseppina wheedled her into accompanying Lisetta to the circus, to dress and attend upon her, and at the conclusion of her performance to see her home. This of all her new duties was the most repulsive to Edith, bringing as it did into fresh prominence the memory of the unhappy circum- stances of her husband's death; and it was pre- cisely in anticipation of this result that Madame Giuseppina made such a special point of it. The season happened to be a particularly wet one that year, and both the circus and the lodgings occupied by Mr. Brayson's family were situated in the very lowest and most unhealthy part of the town. Circus buildiugs have improved very much indeed of late years, some of them at the present time being truly elegant and superior in construc- tion and convenience; but at the time to which we are now referring they were mere barns of places, draughty, ill- drained, clumsily erected, always damp, and most inconvenient in accom- modation for the artistes. H 2 100 BING AND CORONET. Madame Romani had not long undertaken the task of accompanying' Lisetta of an evening, when she caught a violent coldj which, however, Madame Giuseppina affected to make light of ; and Edith bravely continued in the fulfilment of her arduous duties, when she ought indeed to have been in bed, carefully nursed, and under the doctor's hands. She was, however, soon obliged to succumb ; and when at last, with great outward lamentation and apparent distress, Madame Giuseppina called in medical advice, inflammation had already set in, and all that could be done for the poor sufferer was to try to soothe and relieve the few remaining hours of her life. But before her death, Madame Romani made Madame Giuseppina solemnly promise her two things, the first of which was that Nina should go every Sunday to church, and the second, not to turn away old Peter. Madame Giuseppina promised both these things, and kept her word ; she also promised many others, that she had no intention whatever of fulfilling, especially concerning Nina's education DIPLOMACY. 101 and future prospects, who, whatever slie pre- tended and promised to the contrary, in her own mind she fully determined upon bringing up to be a circus-rider. Thus the wily Madame Giuseppina found her plots and artifices crowned with success, the only difficulty in her path being now removed ; for there was no one to dispute her absolute appropriation of all the property of which her brother and his widow had been possessed. Madame Giuseppina having once grasped the reins of government, never afterwards permitted her husband^s interference or mismanagement. The year following Madame Romanics death, Mr. Brayson met with a chance of becoming a circus-proprietor ; and although there were still great difficulties to be overcome before the desired object could be completely attained, yet at the end of about five years from that period he found himself sole proprietor of a very flourishing con- cern, for which happy result he was principally indebted to his wife^s indomitable energy and perseverance. CHAPTER VII. PROSPERITY. The years had come and gone since tlie death of Nina^s father and mother, and everything had prospered with Mr. Brayson and his wife. They had made money, and now had a first- rate circus of their own, of which Lisetta, the eldest of Mr. Brayson's two daughters, was the bright particular star. Lisetta, now about two-and-twenty years of age, was a tall showy-looking girl, greatly resembling what her mother had been when in her prime. Jemima, the younger, had been completely spoilt and over-indulged by both parents ; and now, at thirteen years of age, she was an awkward hoydenish tomboy, almost entirely without education PBOSPEBITY. 103 and fond of loitering about the stables talking to the grooms. Her uncouth appearance, rough manner, and hoydenish tricks had procured her the sobriquet of "Master Jimmy/' by which name she was always called behind her back. "Master Jimmy " was her father's especial pet; he encouraged her in all her mischievous pro- pensities, and in so doing not a little contributed in forming the almost unwomanly coarseness of her tastes. With regard to Mr. Brayson himself, he had become a very great man indeed, that is in his own estimation; and the ideas he entertained of his dignity and importance were consequently more extravagant and ridiculous than ever. He indulged in outbursts of this particular description, principally for the benefit of his grooms and stable-men, who did not dare to laugh at him to his face, though they did so most unmercifully the moment his back was turned. Now and then, when he had been drinking, for his old habits still clung to him, he would occasion- 104 RING AND CORONET. ally launch out into all sorts of improbably absurd statements, which were a great source of amusement to a certain class of vulgar persons with whom he associated, who took a delight in " chaffing " him, making game of him to his face, and otherwise fooling him to the top of his bent. But his wife did not trouble herself much about this now. So long as she was putting money by for herself and her children's benefit, she could very well aiford to let her husband amuse himself in his own way so long as he kept at all within bounds. After his acquisition of Antonio Romani's stud, and since becoming a circus-proprietor, he merely exhibited the performing horses, everywhere pro- claiming that he had broken and trained them himself. But all who knew Mr. Brayson took whatever he said cum grano salts, one thing at least being very certain : the horses he really did attempt to train never performed any tricks worth mention- ing, whilst their exhibition usually fatigued and wearied his audience. PBOSPEBITY. 105 Nina, our heroine, meanwhile had grown into a singularly graceful girl. Madame Giuseppina had begun to make her useful from the very first moment of her mother^s death; and the poor child had been little better than a household drudge, and a butt for Jemima to vent her caprices and ill-humour upon ever since. She had, however, been thoroughly taught the circus business, but not by either Mr. or Madame Brayson. Her instructors had been a certain Signer and Signora Carlini, Continental riders of great talent and repute, who had at one time been engaged as their principal attraction by Mr. and Madame Brayson. These clever artistes had taken a fancy to the graceful winning child, and had been at much pains to teach her ; in the end making her a far more skilful and clever rider than Mr. Brayson could possibly have done. The Signora Carlini also liked the companionship of someone who understood and could converse with her in her own language ; and having no children of her own took a still greater interest in the little Nina, 106 RING AND CORONET. encouraging her to come to her house as often as Madame Giuseppina would spare her. These visits were a great treat to the poor child, for the Signora Carlini had a piano (her husband's sister was in fact a Continental prima donna of some note), and she encouraged Nina to play and sing to her, being especially charmed with the freshness and sweetness of the child's voice. At this period Nina's professional services were worth a good sum to Mr. and Madame Braysou, and Lisetta not being able to ride the manege, Nina combined both branches by riding " scene acts " as well. Madame Giuseppina behaved most unfairly to the young girl. She dressed her principally in her eldest daughter's cast-off clothes, which from meanness she had patched up and remanufactured for her at home ; indeed, she seemed to take a positive pleasure in trying to disfigure the girl j but Nina had, nevertheless, one dress of a better class to wear on Sundays, and on high days and holidays, though these for the poor child were few and far between. PBOSPEBITY. ^ 107 Notwithstanding all this, Nina had thriven wonderfully, and, best of all, was not in the least spoilt or contaminated by the rough and inferior class with which she had been brought into con- tact. She was a general favourite at the circus, the people of her uncle's troupe all liked her on account of her good temper, and her amiable and obliging disposition. With the public her youth, grace, and beauty were sufficient passport to their favour, whilst she was grateful to Mr. Brayson and his wife for having had her taught a profession by which she would be enabled at some future time to gain her own living ; . some- times, however, when she remembered the kind Signora Carlini's piano and her eulogiums on her voice, she could not help secretly wishing that her aunt and uncle had had her taught singing and music instead. To say the truth, Nina had no great love for circus riding ; and in this respect she differed very materially from the majority of her class. Mr. Brayson was greatly annoyed and dis- gusted at this evident want of intelligence, a 108 RING AND CORONET. defect which he attributed to the fact that she was only half-bred, as he was pleased to term it ; meaning that Nina's mother had been a lady, and not one of the same profession as themselves. " His children, now," he used to say, " were real ' thoroughbred,' no mistake about that. Look at Lisetta, for instance ; she took no interest in anything but circus business, neither, in fact, did he or his wife; and as for little Jemima, you couldn't keep her out of the stables, and she nearly always had a whip in her hand. She was a true chip of the old block, if ever there was one." The day on which Nina paid her memorable visit to the fairy glen, Mr. Brayson, his wife, and two daughters had driven over to some second-rate town, distant about ten or twelve miles from Tayside in order to be present at a morning performance given on that day by Linnett's Grand Tenting Circus, which had just arrived in the place. These excursions were the grand gala days ^ar excellence of the Brayson family. PROSPERITY. 109 Then it was that the portly Madame Giuseppina displayed her most gorgeous and expensive finery, and overlaid herself with chains, lockets, brooches, bracelets, and all kinds of jewellery. Then it was that the showy, bold-looking Lisetta would sweep rustling along in her latest Parisian costume, an elaborate combination of millinery eccentricities such as no true Parisienne would ever think of disfiguring herself by wear- ing. Then it was that Mr. Brayson would present a magnificent and resplendent appearance, arrayed in a brand-new coat and hat of the glossiest type ; a large diamond horseshoe pin stuck in a bright -coloured satin tie, with a massive gold chain and locket dangling in front of his liberally displayed waistcoat, and several immense rings upon his fat red fingers. Then it was that the best trap, a waggonette, and pair of spotted horses were called into re- quisition, in conjunction with the services of the head groom, who sat beside his master on the box attired in an incongruous but imposing livery 110 RING AND CORONET. that the Brayson family considered strictly correct and proper. Now and then at rare intervals Mr. Brayson had been known to invite some favourite member of his troupe to accompany him, generally a favourite clown ; but Nina never by any chance was included in the party. Mr. Brayson's wife kept the girl entirely at a distance^ fearing she might prejudice her darling Lisetta's prospects. Madame Giuseppina did not think Nina's personal appearance to be compared for one moment with that of her own daughter Lisetta ; still, there were people who had thought her rather pretty, and the jealous mother was determined to keep Nina in the background as much as possible for fear of spoiling Lisetta's chance, for Mr. and Madame Brayson were both quite certain in their own minds, that with care and discrimination their eldest daughter would one day marry a nobleman. Nina bore her exclusion from these grand excursions with great equanimity. To say the truth, she much preferred the few hours of PB08PEBITY. Ill peaceful rest they ensured her; they afforded her almost her only opportunities of enjoying the beauties of nature. She loved being in the free and open country, in the pure fresh air, rambling in the fern-strewn woods under the waving trees, that seemed ever whispering soft delicious fancies as she strayed beneath their welcome shade, or listening to the wild, thrilling notes of the song- birds, gathering the simple wild flowers, or watch- ing the sparkling ripples of the silver streamlet gently murmuring as it flowed along. Nature was to her a vast and beautiful poem, of which she had as yet but a vague and indefinite perception. Madame Giuseppina Brayson usually arrived at home after these fatiguing visits to other circus " shows ^^ in a very pettish and unenviable frame of mind, and the present occasion formed no exception to the general rule. For things that day had not gone entirely to her mind. Mr. Brayson had met with several friends and acquaintances, and they had naturally gone to an adjacent public-house to have a quiet 112 RING AND CORONET. chat, and to talk over old times — days wlien lie had been struggling as these were now, before, thanks to the skilfal manoeuvring of his clever wife, he had risen to be the person of consequence that he had since become in the eyes of people travelling with a tenting circus. It was highly pleasing to the vanity of Madame Giuseppina to show off the bravery of her attire and the brilliancy of her jewellery to her less fortunate sisters in the profession. It was soothing balm to her to be able to speak patronisingly to them, to criticise, with an air of grandeur and importance, and shrug her shoulders at any little shortcomings, which would not be tolerated, of course, in a circus like Brayson^sj but above all, she loved the deference and respect always paid her by people with tenting circuses like the Linnett^s. To begin with, her daughter Lisetta, in spite of her elaborate Parisian costume, had failed to receive the notice and attention her mother con- sidered her just due. Madame Giuseppina also happened to stay a PBOSPEBITY. 113 little later tlian usual ; and when at length she wished to leave, Mr. Brayson was nowhere to be found, being, in fact, most agreeably engaged in entertaining his friends at the nearest tavern, which was, however, some little distance off. When Mr. Brayson finally returned to escort Madame Giuseppina home, he was not quite so steady or careful in the management of the reins or the horses as he might have been, and, driving recklessly round a sharp corner of a very heavy road, he contrived to bespatter Madame Giuseppina's and her daughter's expensive French bonnet and hat very liberally indeed with mud. This to Madame Brayson was the last straw, . the finishing touch ; and, considering that she had several splashes on her face as well, there certainly was some excuse to be made for her ill-humour. After partaking, however, of a very hearty meal, Madame Giuseppina became somewhat mollified, soon after proceeding to her duties in the money- box at her husband^s circus, whither she was followed by her two daughters and Nina. VOL. I. I 114 BING AND CORONET. The circus was a wooden barn of a place, totally devoid of all architectural pretensions or embellishments, standing at no great distance from Mr. Brayson^s house. The interior fittings and decorations were meagre in the extreme, and of the most ordinary description. As they entered the front or bos entrance, Jemima's sharp eyes caught sight of a tall, thin, very primly got-up young man standing in an affected attitude at the money-box, talking to Madame Giuseppina. Jemima gave Nina's arm a sharp pinch by way of arresting her attention. " Do you know who that is, Nina ? " said she, in a loud whisper, jerking her head backward in the direction of the prim gentleman. " That's Gussy Mangles, that I was telling you about; ain't he an awful swell, and don't he think a lot of himself ? I wonder what's brought him here to-night ? To spy about and see how many horses we've got, and what sort of business we're doing, I suppose. They're the most inquisitive, prying PBOSPEBITY. 115 lot out, these Mangles ; and for all they're so stuck up and la-di-da, pa says they're as mean as mean can be." " Hush, Jemima ! he may hear you/' whispered Nina, trying to pass thi'ough the door which led to the artistes' department, " I don't care if he does," retorted the girl, pertinaciously loitering behind ; " listeners never hear any good of themselves. Just let me catch him round in the stables, that's all, see if I don't put a pail of water for him to tumble into and spoil all his fine clothes ; I'd do it as soon as look at him, that I would." By this time Nina had managed to draw the mischievous Jemima into the passage leading to the dressing-rooms, where they came suddenly upon a small, pale-faced, weak-eyed little man, with funny crooked legs, and a painfully shy, timid manner. This peculiar little fellow said good-evening as they passed, colouring violently and seeming heartily ashamed of himself immediately afterwards. He was escaping hurriedly by, when Jemima, I 2 116 RING AND CORONET. stretcliing out her arms across the passage, brought him to a full stop. "Hallo, Little Bobbles, is that you sneaking over here ? " commenced she, in her usual free and easy style. " I say, how red your eyes are. You've been crying again ! Oh yes, you have now, so don't try to deny it ; they're as red as ferrets' ; landlady's been whopping you, I suppose. They say she pitches into you like one o'clock if you don't stand all the whiskies she wants." Before Jemima had got quite so far as this. Little Bobbles, making a sudden and desperate dive under his tormentor's arm, had escaped, over- whelmed with confusion and crimson to the tips of his ears. " Jemima, you really shouldn't say such things ; you only mean it in play, 1 know, but that poor little man thinks it all earnest. You hurt his feelings." "What?" cried the girl with her noisy laugh; "hurt his feelings, Little Bobbles' feelings ! Well, if that isn't rich. As i£ clowns had any feelings ; why, he's paid to have no feelings, and to get PBOSPEBITY. 117 knocked about. Nina, you're a perfect fool, that you are ! " With those words "Master Jimmy" slammed the dressing-room door violently in Nina's face; for Nina was not permitted to dress in the same room with Lisetta and Jemima. Nina was announced to ride the manege that evening, her performance being previous to the quadrille in which Jemima took part, while Lisetta's act came still later on, in what was considered the post of honour in the programme. Nina liked riding the manege, and, attired in her black velvet habit, she looked to far greater advantage than when dancing and performing a scene act on horseback, dressed in one of Lisetta's cast-off costumes. Her appearance as she rode into the ring, mounted on her beautiful horse, was always the signal for a genuine round of applause; and her sweet winning smile and graceful bow of acknow- ledgment at once predisposed the audience in her favour. Mr. Gussy Mangles had taken up a prominent 118 BmG ANB CORONET. position in the back seats^ wHcli were by no means full, tliougli the house was fairly attended in every other part; and Mr. Brayson, when his presence was not required in the ring, considered it a mark of attention on his part to occupy the seat next to Mr. Mangles, and to keep talking to him in a particularly loud voice which could be heard distinctly over the greater part of the building. "Nice little thing that/' drawled Mr. Gussy, finishing- an elaborate inspection of Nina through his eye-glass ; " very neat, 'pon my word." " Yes, nice bit of 'orse-flesh, ain't it," acquiesced Mr. Brayson with alacrity; "broke and trained it myself. That's where no circus man can touch me ; I break all my own 'orses ; makes all the difference, you know.'" Mr. Brayson thought Mr. Gussy Mangles was praising the horse, which was, in fact, the last that poor Antonio Eomani had ever trained, and therefore entirely innocent of education at the hands of Mr. Brayson, whatever that gentleman might please to say to the contrary. PBOSPEBITY. 119 Mr. Mangles looked at Mr. Brayson througli his eye-glass, tlien referred to his programme, and from that to Nina. " I see, the lady is Mdlle. Nina ; a daughter of yours, I presume ? " inquired he, with an affectation of carelessness. " My daughter ? Oh, dear no," hastily replied Mr. Brayson, as if the supposition implied an indignity. " My daughters are thoroughbred, she's only half-bred, you know. Nina's a distant con- nection of my wife's, and as she was left without father or mother we brought her up." " She rides very well," observed Mr. Gussy Mangles, who had been intently watching her. "I taught her," replied Mr. Brayson with dignity and importance. " Poor girl ! she does what she can; but her soul isn^t in it. Oh, wait till you have seen my daughter Lisetta," he continued with paternal pride; "you'll see something like riding then. It's in the blood. She can jump fifty balloons ! good staying power in her legs ; and then her appearance, it's magnificent, she's nearly six feet, a whole head and shoulders taller than 120 RING AND CORONET. me. Bless her! something to look at there, if you like/^ At the conclusion of Nina's act Mr. Gussy Mangles went out, and Mr. Brayson was good enough to accompany him to a neighbouring tavern, where they both had a drink or two, until Mr. Brayson, beginning to be somewhat in- coherent in his remarks, Mr. Gussy bethought him that it was high time to propose a return to Madame Giuseppina^s charming society at the money-box. CHAPTER VIII. LITTLE BOBBLES THE CLOWN. Nina, having finished her performance for that evening, was waiting in the artist department of the building-, to take Jemima home, as Little Bobbles, now in full clown's costume, with white and red patched face, came by ready to commence his performance when Lisetta's act came. Little Bobbles was a capital clown and a great favourite, for he was always successful in making his audience laugh ; he was also a light, agile vaulter and tumbler, a good ''knockabout,'^ as the jargon of the profession has it. When quite a little fellow, not more than six years old, he had been apprenticed to some acrobats, who had made him what is termed a 122 BING AND CORONET. '' Eisley " boy ; from tlie style of performance witli children, first introduced into this country by Professor Risley. Having commenced tumbling at sucli a very early age, bad perhaps assisted in muddling his brains, and keeping them in a perpetual whirl; poor Little Bobbles being remarkably weak and confused in that department. He was a quiet, inoffensive little man, so diminutive in stature as to be almost a dwarf. Out of the ring he seemed to be affected by quite a chronic lowness of spirits, so that when- ever anything happened to trouble him, he would sit down in some odd corner by himself and cry like a child. His wheezes and repartees, were always given in a quaint and mournful tone, with an air of mild remonstrance, or grave and sorrowful concern, that the audience, not being in the secret, thought irresistibly droll and comic. Little Bobbles was sober and saving in his habits, in these two particulars differing greatly from most of his fellow comiques and equestrians. LITTLE BOBBLES TEE CLOWN. 123 He was also reputed to be very clever in tailoring, and designing costumes; his clown's dresses were all said to be his own manufacture, and they were always extremely characteristic and effective. In addition to this he was an honest, un- assuming, good-natured little man, too simple to be aware of his own value, which enabled Mr. Brayson to retain his services at an almost nominal salary. But however commonplace his life might be, there was one bright luminous spot in the little circus clown's existence after all, one which would have been sufficiently powerful, to keep him con- stant to Brayson's, even had other rival circuses tempted him with more munificent offers. This powerful attraction was no other than the Brayson's slighted niece, Nina, who, almost unknown to himself. Little Bobbles positively worshipped. If, by any chance, as perhaps, when the star of the circus, Mdile. Lisetta, did not ride, he was put in to " clown " to Nina's act, his delight was unbounded. 124 RING AND CORONET. Once, when riding, she had dropped a flower, a worthless crumpled, artificial thing — to him a price- less treasure — which he had picked up, and kissed again and again before returning to her. How he wished he might have kept it, and loved it for her sake. He never asked himself why this was ; and assuredly, in his own simple mind, he never once acknowledged the fact that he was in love with his master's and the stern Madame Giuseppina's niece. He would have considered it unwarrantable presumption on his part, to dare to raise his eyes to any member of their family ; yet Nina was the one absorbing idea and motive of his life. She was never absent from his thoughts; but he scarcely dared to mention her name except to Peter, who only accepted service with the Braysons for the sake of his old master Antonio Romanics daughter. So now, as Little Bobbles stood, outside the ring doors, waiting for Lisetta's act, he felt com- pletely happy, simply because Nina was by his side. LITTLE BOBBLES THE CLOWN. 125 He longed to speak to her, that he might be able to hear her soft, sweet voice in reply; he wished to say something very nice and complimentary, that would make her smile at him in return ; but the words refused to come, at least he could think of nothing but his old wheezes, he could therefore only stand gazing at her, like some loutish school- boy before a pastrycook's shop, and smother his sighs and discomfiture as best he might. Soon Lisetta joined the group, attired in very short fairy skirts, brilliant with tinsel and spangles. At this juncture Mr. Brayson also made his appearance, in an imposing ring costume, whip in hand, ready to assume dictatorship of the arena while his accomplished daughter was riding. " Ready are you, Liz ? " shouted the little man as he pushed fussily through the group. " How ^andsome you look. Beautiful as a peacock, that's the style ! And I say, Liz, you must ride your very best to-night ; Gussy Mangles is in front, and I want him to see what my girl can do. You can ' lick ' all his father's lot,'' he went on conceitedly, " and no mistake ! " 126 BING AND CORONET. " Come, George," this to the groom, " have you put the best pad cloth on Apollo ? " Apollo was the big, spotted horse Lisetta rode. " Now then, Lisetta darling, we'll just show the long gentleman what riding is." The time for Lisetta's act having arrived, Mr. Brayson entered the ring, followed by Little Bobbles. Madame Giuseppina, in her husband's absence, duly mounted guard over Mr. Gussy Mangles, in the boxes, and after a suitable preliminary flourish by the band the star of the evening bounded into the arena. A showy strapping girl, possessed of more muscular agility than grace, with unbounded confidence, and splendidly dressed, although her costume lacked the taste to make it becomino: to her tall angular figure. Madame Giuseppina, the box-keeper, and all the available extra hands, were here requisitioned to start the applause for the reception of '^Mdlle. Lisetta, Incomparably the Greatest E-ider of the Age in her Unapproachable, Unequalled, and Un- exampled Flight through Innumerable Balloons." LITTLE BOBBLES THI^ CLOWN. 127 So^ at least, it was stated in the bills. The " Greatest Rider of the Ag;e," at the con- elusion of her act, smilingly reappeared on the occasion of her ''call back/' kissing the tips of her fingers to both sides of the audience, with a final curtsey to the gallery portion of it seated at the back, the box-keeper and extra hands again assisting in keeping up the applause. Mr. Grussy Mangles applauded also, in a faint and languid manner, inwardly thinking it a " bore " to be compelled to listen to the encomiums of the proud mother, Madame Giuseppina, upon her daughter's ability and skill. But the London visitor had not failed to notice Little Bobbles, and he resolved to make a quiet note of the Brayson^s clever clown, for he con- sidered him worthy of being transplanted into the more congenial and aristocratic surroundings of his father's circus. He also thought Nina pretty and attractive ; and he remembered they wanted a stylish rider for the manege, and since Mr. and Madame Brayson evidently fancied their own daughter so far 128 RING AND CORONET. superior, tbey might possibly be disposed to accept an engagement for Nina elsewhere. The performance being over, Mr. Grussy Mangles still waited, employing his time in making compli- mentary speeches to the sweetly-smiling Madame Giuseppina, who, at her mature age, was still not quite insensible to the incense of flattery. But Mr. Gussy Mangles' real object was to try to find out a little more about Nina. He was curious to see how she looked in her ordinary dress, and if she was really as pretty and graceful out of the ring as she appeared when riding. But, to his disappointment, no Nina was to be seen ; nor, indeed, was her name so much as men- tioned, so that as a last resource, hoping, that under the influence of whisky toddy, Mr. Brayson might become more communicative, Mr. Gussy Mangles invited the little circus proprietor to supper with him that evening at '' The Royal,^^ the hotel always patronised by Mr. Gussy Mangles whenever business necessitated his presence at Tayside. Madame Giuseppina, having vivid recollections LITTLE BOBBLES TEE CLOWN. 129 of lier husband^s former eccentricities, was strongly averse to trusting him at that period of the evening out of her sight; but, doubtless fancying that the young man was desirous of improving their ac- quaintance on Lisetta's account, she finally yielded the point, and Mr. Brayson accordingly marched off in triumph, arm-in-arm with Mr, Gussy Mangles, en route for " The Royal." VOL. I. K CHAPTER IX. THE SUPPEE AT "THE EOYAL." "The Royal" was a fairly comfortable hotel; rather in the old-fashioned coaching-house style, without the least pretension to any of those new-fangled elegancies and improvements, which, for the most part, seem to be more for external show and parade than for real convenience or adaptability to personal ease or home comforts. There was one snug, cosy room at " The Royal," where gentlemen frequenting the hotel could smoke and talk, and have a quiet, enjoyable meal as well j and, although the cuisine boasted not the much- lauded superiority of a French chef or long menu with grandly sounding names, often the best part of the dish, the food was always of excellent quality. THE SUPPER AT "THE BOYAL." 131 well cooked and nicely served, while the liquors were equally deserving of praise. In short, " The Royal " was an hotel that could be used without ceremony, where everyone could feel at his ease; the fact of its being well patronised, was, therefore, not at all remarkable. Now old Mr. St. Clair liked nothing better than an evening at " The Royal" with a friend, who had once been his shopman, a certain Mr. Podmarsh, who had set up in business for himself in Tayside, in the cheese and butter line. It was very seldom that the poor man was able to indulge in a talk over old times ; but Mrs. St. Clair and her two daughters having gone to a grand entertainment and ball, given by the mayor in honour of his eldest son coming of age, it so happened upon this particular night that Mr. St. Clair and his friend Podmarsh were seated in the room already alluded to at " The Royal,^^ enjoying a very hearty supper. " Look here. Poddy my boy,^^ Mr. St. Clair was saying confidentially to his friend over a preliminary glass of ale, " this is what I call enjoyment, when K 2 132 EING AND CORONET. you can do as yovi like, and eat wliat you like, and drink what you like into tke bargain — that is,'^ he addedj tapping his waistcoat-pocket, with a knowing wink and a good-humoured, if somewhat beery, chuckle, "if you've got the money, to pay for it. No d d nonsense you know, no stuck-up affectation about this not being polite, and that not being done in good society ! " " Very true, sir," put in Podmarsh rather timidly. He had no objection to an evening at "The Hoyal," which meant plenty of good eating and ■drinking at Mr. St. Clair's expense, but he was inclined to think his quondam master's discursive- ness rather wearying nevertheless. " At home, now," Mr. St. Clair went on to observe, " my wife won't have such a thing as ale at the table, they all drink nasty sour claret, at the Lord only knows how much a bottle, because it's the fashion in society ! If society is fool enough to poison itself with stuff that would give a horse gripes, is that any reason why I should ? " And the little, round fat man shook his head knowingly, and patted his well-lined waistcoat. THE SUPPER AT "THE EOYAL." 133 Podmarsli gave a sigh and looked at his emptied glass on the table beside him. " I must say, Mr. St. Clair, sir," ventured he, " I am partial to a glass of good ale, and my old woman she likes a drop too, she does.'" After which speech Podmarsh relapsed into a submissive silence, and gazed reproachfully at his empty glass. "I say. Poddy," continued Mr. St. Clair, warming with his subject, " do you remember the jolly harmonic meetings we used to have at ' The Crown and Anchor ' when we'd shut up the shop ? Ah, those were days ! There was little Tom Barton, with his song about Liberty Hall and everybody doing just as they liked, and that other about an Englishman's house being his castle^ That was a fine song ! And how we used to rap out on the tables and shout ' Hongcore ! ' Ah, those were times," said Mr, St. Clair, breaking off with a regretful sigh ; '' and I'm sure I, for one, believed fully in Liberty Hall, and the English- man's castle, though I'd neither then, but only kept a shop. But now what better am I ? With 134 RING AND CORONET. a house big and fine enough for a castle, though for some reason or other it's called a ' Nest ! ' But, hang me, if I can do a bit as I please or be master at all in my own house that I've worked and slaved for all my life, and that my money has paid for into the bargain." "Very true, sir," again hazarded Podmarsh, who felt he ought to say something, though he didn't exactly know what. "Why, Poddy/' recommenced Mr. St. Clair, with a shy chuckle, " if my missus only knew what we're going to have for supper, she'd go clean out of her mind. Not but what she must be pretty well out of it already. Everything must be French to please her. French fashions and a French cook, who dishes up a lot of greasy messes with French names ! Egad, I think she must have taken French leave of her senses ! She never will have a good wholesome cut-and-come-again-looking joint or anything satisfactory. Why, bless my soul ! you can't get a good dinner up at ' The Nest ' any- how. How they manage I can't think, bnt dinner is quite a farce with me ; I have to send to the TEE SUPPER AT "THE ROYAL:' 135 kitclien for something I can eat, tlie moment I get back to my snuggery, or I sliould be starved to death in no time." And rosy-faced, plump Mr. St. Clair poured out for himself and his friend Podmarsh another glass of ale from a fresh tankard just brought him by the head waiter. " Oh, Mr. St. Clair, sir ! " exclaimed Podmarsh, with a sudden burst of eloquence, " times have indeed altered with us all ! Who would have thought of me, Jonas Podmarsh, settling down and keeping a shop here in Tayside ? " " It was just one of them things as was to be,'^ continued the local tradesman after a deep draught of ale. " When I came down here first and took service with Mrs. Pitcher her old man was alive, and looking that robust you might have taken a lease of his life. But for all that, here am I, Jonas Podmarsh, master of the concern ; and she, Mrs. Pitcher that was, now Mrs. Podmarsh, my wife ! All owing, as I may say, to careful attention to the strict principles of business," continued the cheese and butter man, who, once fairly started, found it 136 BING AND CORONET. no easy matter to pull up ; " and a careful study of the state of tlie markets, by wliicli we are enabled to offer our customers a superior article at the lowest possible price, confidently relying on a continuance of your kind patronage and support, which we shall ever conscientiously endeavour to deserve/^ Here Mr. Podmarsh suddenly pulled himself up, in no little embarrassment and dismay; his wild career of eloquence having led him unwittingly into the well-worn phrases of his trade cncular^^ issued regularly every sis months with his half- yearly accounts. The head waiter, however, entering at this juncture, afforded an agreeable diversion to the conversation, and Podmarsh at once set steadily to work discussing the savoury fare before him. Mr. St. Clair, invigorated by the proud feeling of freedom from home tyranny he for that evening enjoyed, also ate heartily, talking volubly all the while. " You can't better good, honest, English beef,'' he went on between his mouthf uls ; " and what THE SUFFER AT "TEE BOYAL." 137 can be nicer than a fine^ well-cooked, tender steak like this ; yoa can taste the flavour of this meat, but I'm hanged if you can tell at all what meat you're eating up at * The Nest.' It might be horse, for all you would know to the contrary. And then if you want a relish, where will you get anything better than onions fried like these ? — with a nice mealy potato/' continued he, helping himself as he spoke, " white and flaky as a ball of flour. Do you mean to tell me that the English would have beaten Napoleon if they'd been brought up and fed upon such rubbish and messes as the French themselves eat ? Not a bit of it ! It was English pluck, and hurrah for Old England that conquered at Waterloo ! but it was English pluck fed upon prime, honest, English beef, washed down with good English malt and hops." " Bravo ! capital ! bravo ! Very well said. Hurrah for the roast beef of Old England ! " ex- claimed a loud, coarse voice immediately behind Mr. St. Clair, who, turning quickly round, became aware of the presence of a droll-looking little man clad in a long-skirted drab overcoat with huge 138 BING AND CORONET. buttons, wlio carried a heavy ridiog-wliip in liis hand. The little man advanced with a swaggering gait, and removing his hat with a theatrical flourish, bowed in an exaggerated style to Mr. St. Clair. "Beg pardon. I must apologise for interrupt- ing your conversation, but your noble sentiments quite overcame me," explained he fussily. " I have not the honour at present of knowing your name, sir,'^ he went on, " but you may perhaps have heard of mine, I am well known in Tay- side, and, although I say it myself, there is no one more appreciated or better patronised in this town than your humble servant to command, Edward Brayson, or as my most intimate friends will call me, Neddy Bray. Brayson's Circus you know, that's me. And if ever you come there, sir, I'll pass you in, and show you my stud. Thirty beautiful horses and ponies, and two donkeys, all thoroughbred. Allow me to shake you by the hand, sir. Tor oh, the roast beef of Old England ! ' " finished the little man, attempting to sing, and making a dive at the THE SUPPER AT ''THE BOYAL." 139 somewhat limp-looking hand that was dangling by the side of the much astonished Mr. St. Clair's waistcoat. " D d absurd little ass/' muttered a tall thin young man of foppish appearance, who had followed Mr. Brayson into the room, and who now seated himself at a table as far removed as possible from that occupied by Mr. St. Clair and his friend Podmarsh. Now Mr. St. Clair had a sneaking partiality for " horse-riders " as he would have expressed it. Had he not vivid recollections of other days — far happier ones for him, poor man ! when he had taken his wife and children, then little babies, to see the " horse-riding at ' Ashley's ! ' " Had he not enjoyed beyond measure the thrilling and exciting equestrian drama of " Mazeppa, or the Fiery Untamed Steed of " — well somewhere or other, it didn't matter where. The fiery un- tamed being generally represented by an extremely meek-spirited, bilious-looking animal, whose ap- pearance was highly suggestive of a used-up cab- horse hastily colour-washed for the occasion. 140 BING AND CORONET. " Glad to know you, Mr. Brayson," said lie cheerily. " I shall be pleased to come and see your ' liorse-riding.^ But perhaps you^ll join us ? This is my friend Podmarsh, Jonas Podmarsh, cheese and butter line in the High Street/' " Thank you, thank you, sir. I should only be too proud to accept your offer, but I am already engaged to a friend, brother-professional, circus-man like myself. But there, you might like to know him too. So with your kind per- mission I'll introduce him." Upon which Mr. Brayson looked round for Mr. Gussy Mangles, first on one side, and then on the other, and then all round the room, and looked in vain, for Mr. Gussy Mangles was nowhere to be seen. Mr. Brayson felt no little surprise. He could not make it out at all. His friend, he was certain, had entered the room at the same time as him- self. He had come to " The Eoyal " expressly at Mr. Gussy Mangles' own invitation, and now where was he ? Ah ! perhaps seeing him, Mr. Brayson, engaged speaking to some friends, he had taken THE SUPPEB AT " THE BOYAL:' 141 that opportunity of going out to order supper. That was it^ no doubt. At all events he would go and look after him. The waiter just then entering the room, Mr. Brayson inquired whether Mr. Gussy Mangles was below. " If you please, sir," replied the man, " Mr. Mangles said I was to tell you, sir, that he had received a telegram of the highest importance, sir, and he^s gone to see about it, if you please, sir. He didn't like disturbing you as you was speaking to those gentlemen, sir, so he left a message, and said he would try and see you in the morning, sir." " I find my friend has suddenly been called away upon important business," said Mr. Brayson to his new friends, with rather a crestfallen air, "I shall therefore do myself the pleasure of accepting your kind invitation." "That's right," exclaimed Mr. St. Clair heartily, offering Mr. Brayson a seat at his table. '' My name is St. Clair," continued the retired 142 RING AND CORONET. tradesman, remembering that Mr. Brayson was still ignorant who his entertainer really was. " I live at Sea-gull's Nest, that large house on the high hill looking on to the sea." " I say, Mr. Brayson/' put in Podmarsh, who was beginning to feel rather the worse for his many glasses of toddy, " I've seen you at the circus. One night I took my old woman, paid a shilling for her and went into the pit. It was real fine. There was a lady all in satin and gold on a spotted horse; she jumped about no end, as if she was on springs, she had short petticoats and " '^My daughter, sir," interrupted Mr. Brayson, with great dignity and paternal pride. " Showed her legs awful," unluckily completed poor Podmarsh, unable to pull himself wp in time. " I'll make a point of coming to see you some night soon, Mr. Brayson," said Mr. St. Olair, hastening to his friend's rescue. " I've heard your circus is first-rate, but I can't promise when, for between you and me, I don't often get a night like this. My ' missus ' and the girls have gone THE SUFFER AT "THE BOYAL." 143 to a grand kick-up at tlie mayor's/' lie continued with charming candour, for the toddy was begin- ing to affect even him, '' and that's how it is I'm here with Poddy to-night." " You know the mayor, sir ? " cried Mr. Brayson, with an eye to business. " Perhaps you could kindly obtain me his patronage for the circus, one evening next week ? " " Well, I can't promise, but I'll do what I can; and I tell you what, Mr. Brayson, if he does promise you, you'll have the missus and the girls there too, and as fine as 'fippence.' They always go when it's fashionable." ''And I and the old woman, we'll patronise you too, Mr. Brayson," chimed in poor Podmarsh, who was now getting greatly confused in his ideas. " Come, gentlemen, we'll just have one glass more all round, and then we'll finish for to-night. I don't care to get home too soon," Mr. St. Clair was good enough to explain, " for my folks won't be back before four o'clock in the morning." So the last glasses of toddy were brought in, 144 RING AND CORONET. and now Mr. Brayson became even more grandi- loquently effusive. At the conclusion of one of his brilliant speeches, happening to turn his head, he became aware of the presence of two other gentlemen, silent, but amused spectators of the little scene he Lad been enacting for their benefit. These were no other than Percy Marchmont and Caryll Gordon, who had both entered a minute or two previously. " Queer little fellow in the drab overcoat ! " remarked Percy to Caryll in an undertone. " Good sport in that direction — eh ? " But the other did not appear to hear his friend's remark ; he was, apparently, busily engaged taking mental notes of Mr. Brayson and the various peculiarities exhibited by that fantastic little personage. '^ Our eccentric friend over there seems to have made quite an impression ; you have done nothing but study that funny little fellow ever since we came into the room. Why, Caryll, you're looking as grave as a judge." TEE SUPPER AT "TEE BOYAL." 145 It was the fact_, for upon hearing that this was indeed Mr. Brayson, Niua^s uncle, Caryll's disgust and annoyance were unbounded. Why, he did not stop to inquire ; he would have scorned the idea that he could feel interested in the domestic surroundings of a mere circus girl. Yet, in spite of himself, his thoughts would wander back to their meeting in the wood, when he had been so charmed by her grace and artless sim- plicity. Artless simplicity ! Pshaw, it was too ridiculous ! A girl, whose very calling threw her into the constant society of mountebanks and grooms, whose time was spent either in the stables or in dancing and capering about on horseback for the amusement of a set of country bumpkins, whose life was as false as the colour at night upon her cheeks ! How could such as she be either artless or simple ? And yet she seemed actually to haunt him, for do what he would, he could not help thinking about her. And the provoking part of it was, the more he reasoned with himself upon the exceeding folly of VOL. I. L 146 EING AND COBONET. all this, tlie more liis thoughts would wander back to her again. Just at this moment the door was suddenly thrown open, and Crosby St. Clair entered the room. Seeing Percy Marchmont, he advanced to meet him, his countenance changing when he noticed that Percy was accompanied by the man of all others he hated, Caryll Gordon. Mr. Bray son now bethought him of finishing his last glass of toddy, seating himself once more at the table, for he began to feel particularly ill-adaj)ted to either walk or talk. Mr. Podmarsh had meanwhile quietly fallen asleep, and Mr. Brayson was also fast nearing the insensible stage. Old Mr. St. Clair felt it high time to put an end to it. Paying the reckoning, he ordered Burridge, the head waiter, to have Podmarsh quietly conveyed downstairs and placed in his, old Mr. St. Clair's, trap, for he was determined to see his friend safely home. THE SUPPER AT "THE BOYAL." 147 He didn't know wliat in tlie world to do witli Mr. Brayson ; he was a conundrum, that he thought it best to give up. Crosby St. Clair was not a little disconcerted at seeing Caryll Gordon so soon after their morning's adventure, nevertheless he made a poor attempt to conceal his vexation and annoyance. " Our business being of a stricly private cha- racter, Mr. Marchmont, I must ask you to step with me into my private room ; this place is far too public for transactions of the kind. Captain Gordon will doubtless kindly excuse us . I shall not detain you more than a few minutes." As Crosby St. Clair's shifting sidelong glance avoided meeting Caryll's haughty eye, he caught sight of those two pitiable objects, Mr. Brayson and Mr. Podmarsh, as the latter was being carried out of the room by two of the waiters, preparatory to being deposited in Mr. St. Clair's phaeton. " Is it possible that such truly disgraceful scenes are permitted at an hotel like 'The Eoyal? '" exclaimed Crosby with disgust, when, to his unutterable horror, following close upon Podmarsh and his bearers, L 2 148 RING AND CORONET. came what for worlds lie would not have seen in the company he then was, his own father ! Meanwhile, Captain Gordon remained in the room, with the now quite insensible little circus proprietor. Amongst those to whom Mr. Brayson had always paid assiduous attention was the superin- tendent of police, and this gentleman, a kind- hearted man, was in the bar of the hotel at the very time when Burridge in great concern came to tell the manager of " The Eoyal " of the helpless state of the circus gent upstairs. Now Tayside being a quiet, early place, it was by no means easy to find a conveyance at that late period in which to despatch Mr. Brayson to his own house, situated at quite the other end of Tayside. The superintendent, who was something of a wag in his way, loved a quiet joke, and amongst other innovations recently introduced into the force was a kind of compromise between an ordinary truck and an elongated wheelbarrow, intended for the more easy transportation of inebi-iates to the police-station. THE SUFFER AT "THE FiOYALr 149 These curious, almost coffia-sliaped macliines, were gaudily painted in red, green, and yellow, and caused great laughter and merriment whenever occasion necessitated their being brought into use. The superintendent, therefore, hit on the bril- liant idea of sending for one of these vehicles, and under the care of two constables, who greatly enjoyed the joke, the insensible inebriate was safely wheeled home and deposited at the door of his abode. Of course the news got wind, and for a long time Mr. Brayson was unmercifully chaffed about the undignified conclusion of his evening at " The Royal. }} CHAPTER X. OLD AND NEW FACES. Caeyll Ainsleigh Gordon was tlie younger son, by a second marriage, of Geoffrey Caryll Gordon, of Castle Gordon, Stoneshire, in tlie North. The Caryll Gordons were descended from a good old family, who had preserved many ancient legends and traditions in the annals of their ancestry, all of which they devoutly believed, although a thoroughly disinterested listener would doubtless be inclined to suppose that these wondrous tales did more credit to the ambitious imagination of their originators than to their strict veracity or common sense. But, this notwithstanding, it was a family which had often been connected with nobility. OLD AND NEW FACES. 151 and tliat even now boasted a title among^st its distant connections. Caryll's father, Mr. Geoffrey Grordon, liad in- herited large landed property in Stoneshire, and Castle Gordon, his principal estate, was a beautiful, picturesque old place, perched on the brow of a hill, from which it looked frowningly upon the village beneath, like some semi-barbarous castle of feudal times. In his youth Geoffrey Gordon had been a gay, dashing young fellow ; reckless and heedless of all save his own gratification, free-handed and generous so long as he had money, sour-tempered, morose, and taciturn when the straitened shoe of poverty began to pinch. He married early in life his first love, the beautiful Lady Florence D'Arcy, daughter of the Earl of Beaumanoir, a peer who was miserably poor, and therefore glad to marry one of his many daughters to a gentleman possessing such a satisfactory income as Mr. Geoffrey Gordon. Lady Florence with easy, languid grace, pas- sively submitted to be admired, courted, and, in 152 EING AND CORONET. dutiful obedience to lier father's wisLes^ also won. She liked the handsome young fellow as well as she was capable of liking anybody ; she was, more- over, anxious to get away from the penurious and scanty surroundings of her father's home. As Geoffrey^s wife she formed plans of glory and magnificence that she did her best to carry out, which helped not a little in commencing the serious embarrassment of her husband's affairs, for she lived in a constant whirl of gaiety and excite- ment, denying herself no fancied luxury or extravagance, while her doting husband could refuse her nothing. The Lady Florence did not live long enough to wear out her husband's love, though she contrived to make a very considerable hole in his pocket. She died before she had been married quite four years, leaving one son, Gerald, a delicate little fellow of about two years of age. Then it was that, after slowly recovering from the shock his darling's death had given him, Geoffrey Gordon made the unwelcome discovery OLD AND NEW FACES. 153 that he had been living considerably beyond his income. But he was not the man to retrench, if that meant selling his horses, narrowing his expenditure, giving up his town residence, and retiring quietly to his estate of Castle Gordon. He had sipped the sparkling cup of pleasure, and had become intoxicated with the draught ; he had also acquired that taste for dissipation and reckless enjoyment so easily learnt, so very, very dijQScult to forget or lay aside. From one thing he went on to another. Racing, betting, card-playing, succeeded in their turn ; there was no doubt about it, Geoffrey Gordon was going to the bad. Society shook its wise head, and began to grow distant and shy, with various other signs of the times peculiar to high life, when, to the surprise and bewilderment of all, Mr. Geoffrey Gordon suddenly disappeared in the very height of the London season, A few years afterwards he reappeared, ap- parently a better and a wiser man in a worldly 154 RING AND COBONET. point of Yiew, for his former companions in dis- sipation were in his new phase completely ignored. Geoffrey Gordon had married again. His second wife was the only child and heiress of a certain Mr. Ainsleigh, a wealthy brewer, who, it was whispered, had advanced his son-in-law considerable sums of money, and who had further put his affairs straight for him on condition of his marrying his daughter Lydia, the cautious brewer settling the principal of his money upon her, to go to her children, if any, on her decease, and the brewer himself virtually ruling and directing Mr, Geoffrey Gordon's establishment. From this moment Geoffrey Gordon became gloomy, morose, and taciturn, taking up his abode at Castle Gordon, where he passed several years, if not in o|)en enmity with his new wife, at least with feelings of cold aversion and dislike. The only being in whom he evinced any interest was his son by his first marriage — Gerald — a sweet and lovable child. Geoffrey Gordon persistently refused to mix in OLD AND NEW FACES. 155 society, or to forward in any way the ambitious views entertained by bis wife's father, and when at length she became the mother of Caryll, he took a positive hatred to the child, and would scarcely tolerate his presence. Mr, Ainsleigh, always a man much given to the pleasures of the table, who drank freely, and was of a full habit of body, died suddenly in a fit of apoplexy, about ten years after his daughter's marriage. Gerald was about eight years older than Caryll, in appearance greatly resembling his mother. He was tall and slight in figure, with pale but aristocratic featui'es. His health had never been sufficiently robust to admit of his participating in those rough healthy outdoor amusements in which most boys delight. He had acquired graver and more studious tastes. Gerald's own wish was to enter the Church — a wish which his tutor, the Rev. Marcus Woolrych, a conscientious and worthy man, had perhaps un- consciously fostered. Gerald loved his younger brother devotedly. 156 RING AND CORONET. and bore liim no grudge for being the most riolily endowed of tlie two. Had he not voluntarily- chosen a life of poverty and self-denial ? At this point of our history Caryll Gordon was four-and-twenty years of age. He was a fine, free- handed good-hearted young fellow, proud and over- bearinor at times towards those whom he did not consider his equals in position. He had done nothing much at college, except perhaps in the way of learning how to form extravagant habits, to run into debt, to make imprudent friendships with fellow- collegians and others not altogether of the most orthodox description. Still he had passed muster ; at all events, he had not been rusticated, as had been the case with more than one of his friends, and his peccadilloes, whatever they were, had never been publicly found out. But even at this early period, in grasping too eagerly the fair rose of pleasure, young Caryll Gordon had felt the sharp prick of a concealed and treacherous thorn, inflicted — need we write it ? — by a woman's hand. OLD AND NEW FACES. 157 The Honourable Edelgitha Amyott was tlie new and reigning beauty of tlie London season. Society, male society especially, completely lost- its bead about ber. Even tbe female portion of it, wbicb looked we may be sure tbrougb very green spectacles indeed, was compelled to admit that tbe Honourable Edelgitba might possibly be possessed of a certain amount of personal attractions, in that peculiarly overstrained gesthetical style which had obtained so much of late, since fashion had decreed that all her votaries should be smitten with the "hydrophobia" of art, and go raving mad after exhibitions of old masters, pre-Raphaelite and medifBval costumes, blue china, art needlework, music of the future, and numerous other eccen- tricities of modern taste. Female society, however, whilst issuing its withering fulminations against the questionable taste and style of this newly heralded queen of beauty, very minutely copied her costumes, her mode of coiffure, the colours she affected; nay, even her boots and gloves; doubtless they would 158 RING AND CORONET. have copied lier more closely still, had sucli a course been at all possible. The Honourable Edelgitha, besides being a young and lovely woman, in her first freshness and bloom, was an entirely new style, hence the secret of her extraordinary success. Caryll Gordon encountered this peerless beauty in the gay whirl of the London season. Young, ardent, impetuous, never having seen any woman hitherto worth loving, it was natural enough that he should fall desperately in love with her. Natural enough too, seeing this handsome young fellow, a universal favourite, the most fascinating man she had ever met, or at least so it appeared to her young mind — remember, it was her first season — natural enough then, that she too should be prepossessed in his favour; at any rate, she encoui-aged his attentions, and flirted desperately with him, seeming perfectly inclined to follow his lead, and end by falling in love with him, as he had already fallen in love with her. The young man was enraptured; he fully believed the beautiful Edelgitha returned his affec- OLD AND NEW FACES. 159 tion. He fondly imagined bis fair prize was won, or nearly so ; and lie was on the eve of avowing his love, when, all at once, the lady grew cold, and altered both her mind and her behaviour. And now appeared a rival on the scene, a strange one truly. No other than a distant con- nection of the Gordon family, the Earl of Hiltoun, a distinguished-looking courtly gentleman, younger in years than Caryll's father, but belonging en- tirely to the old school, being formal and precise in manner, and intensely polite to the ladies. In addition to his title, he was enormously wealthy. The advantages possessed by this new suitor put Captain Gordon completely in the shade. The beautiful Bdelgitha had played with the young man's feelings as cruelly as a sleek treacherously-purring cat plays with a poor silly mouse. She had received his bouquets with passionate love verses enclosed ; they had even exchanged gifts, trifles certainly, but precious beyond compare to the infatuated young man. From one thing to another, she had led him artfully on to the very last point; then with- 160 BING AND CORONET. drawing with cold and haughty disdain, as if he were hardly indeed her equal, she left him to make the discovery through the medium of his friends, who would be sure to add a deeper venom to the sting, that she had accepted Lord Hiltoun's offer of his hand and title, and that in point of fact she had jilted him for the prospect of wearing a coronet. Caryll's heart had received a severe wound, his amour jpwpre a deeper one still. He felt himself an object of pity, ridicule, perhaps even of contempt. To his fiery, untamed, and not a little, self- sufficient nature, the idea was insupportable, torture more than he could bear. He would not remain in London, he would obtain leave or sell out of his regiment, he would go abroad to America, Australia, the Holy Land, Jericho — anywhere, the further the better, away from the falsity of women, and the hollow baseness and mockerv of the world. This was his first determination. His second ■was to see and consult his brother Gerald, his OLD AND NEW FACES. 161 one true friend and adviser, who would sympathise witli him and endeavour to console him. The Rev. Gerald Gordon was staying at this time with his old tutor and much valued friend, the Rev. Marcus Woolrycli, at his pretty vicarage of Clairvale, some two or three miles from Tayside. Outdoor esiercise, hard work, and incessant employment of the mind and body, are the best healers, after all, of the heart's wounds, and Gerald, putting the picture in as attractive a light as he could, invited Caryll to come and spend a short time with him, promising him agreeable and cheerful company, plenty of fishing and shooting, and a very hearty welcome. Anything was better than the gloom of Castle Gordon, for Caryll's father invariably treated him with the cold distant polite uess he would have assumed towards a perfect stranger. So Caryll determined to take a run down to Clairvale and pay a short visit to his brother Gerald. Gerald was unfeignedly glad to see Cavyll. He knew his careless, free-handed, prodigal nature, that, young as he was, he had already far exceeded his VOL. I. M 162 EING AND CORONET. libei\il alLiwaiicc^, so tliat money-lenders and their snares liad noi; Leon altoGjeiher avoided ])y In'ta; and ho ho})cd wLon once withdrawn from the baneful iuihieuces and temptations of London life to be succepsfid in persuadiug hitn to avoid in future those shoals and pitfalls of society which too often cause the misery and ruin of the heedless and unwary. Caryll, to his surprise, found the change agree- able, even enjoyable. By chance, oae day iu Tayside he encountered Percy Marchmont, cornet in the same regiment as himself, and Percy was delighted to introduce his friend at Lowood, where he was consido-ed a decided acquisition by Sir Hugh Pierrepoiat and his three charming daughters, Kose, Violet, and Marguerite. Caryll Goi'don had also encountered, as we have already seen, another person of his acquaintance, namely Crosby St. Clair, known to Caryll, indeed, from the time of his college days as a convenient person from whom to borrow money, though he had hitherto escaped falling completely into his OLD AND NEW FACES. 163 clatclies, as was uufortunately the case with Percy Maichmont. Bat although Caryll Gordon borrowed money, when it suited him to do so, o^ Crosby St. Clair, he persistently refused to notice him in any light but that of a professional money-lender, which was by no means far from being the true state of the case. Crosby St. Clair's object was by this means to get his victims completely in his power, in the hopes, by their influence and aid_, to force his way into their circle in society. He was therefore greatly exasperated at the hauteur and distance of Caryll Gordon's demeanour ; it had been the means of fostering in no slight degree the ill-feeling and dislike entertained for him by Crosby St. Clair. When Caryll turned away in such disgust upon discovering that Nina was a mere circus-ridor, it must not be forgotten that he was still so Soring from the effects of the severest wouod a woman has it in her power to iriflict. Woands of the heart are bad enough — but, save in rare instances, these heal with time. M 2 164 BING AND CORONET. Few, indeed, marry their first love, and those •wlio do so generally regret it afterwards. But wounds to our self-love, our vanity, our sense of self-importance, are a widely different affair. They touch a hidden meanness in our souls, that we all are conscious of possessing, no matter how carefully we try outwardly to disguise it. This it is which makes it far easier nohly to forgive an open enemy, who has done us grievous wrong, than to pardon those doubly poisoned shafts of satire and ridicule that ever rankle in the humiliating wounds they make. This was also the feeling which actuated Crosby St. Clair in the evil plots and designs he was secretly planning against Gary 11 Gordon. CHAPTER XI. SUNDAY EVENING AT THE KECTOEY, It was early morning — the first Sunday after Nina's memorable adventure in the glen attached to the grounds of Lowood Hall. The first faint beams of the rising sun were falling slant-wise upon the tall trees surrounding the grim-looking stone house in which she lived, casting strangely long and fantastic shadows over the dewdrop- sprinkled grass, the newly-awakened birds were chirping merrily in noisy glee, the fresh, pure morniug breeze was whispering gently to the falling autumn leaves, and a luminous veil of silvery opal mist hung tenderly far away over the bosom of the seemingly still sleeping ocean. Heedless, perchance unconscious, of the slight 166 RING AND COBONET. chilliness of the fresh roorning air_, Nina stood a few uDomonts gazing with rapture at the fair scene before her, while the cool wind kissed her soft cheek and played among the luxuriant tresses of her deep golden hair. Then, sinking on her knees, with eyes fixed on the clear blue sky above, she murmured gently those simple prayers of childhood she had been tauglit in inllancy to lisp at her raother^s knee — prayers which, morn- ing and evening, she still accustomed herself to repeat, before proceeding to those of later times, in affectionate remembrance of that dear, sainted mother called away long years ago. For now, at eai'ly dawn, before the busy world beneath was fairly roused from sleep, the girl's poetic imagination loved to pictuT'e her mother's spirit beadiog from its bright aTigel home beyond the stars to listen to the same softly-murmured prayers she had taught lier child to repeat while still on earth. She loved to fancy that beloved spirit hovering near he^', like some sweet, guardian angel, ever ready to protect and shield her from harm. And often, very often. SUNDAY EVENING AT THE BEGTOBY. 167 this same half-sweet, half -mournful fancy gave her strength cheer(:u]Iy to endure her many daily trials and the constant round of her arduous duties. And this was Sunday, that blessed day of rest and peace joyfully looked forward to by Nina; for on this day, when dinner was over, she was permitted to go to church, always accom- panied by old Peter, who was himself a constant attendant. Someiimes Niua stayed to tea after service at the Rectory, and spent the remainder of the evening with her kind friends, Bessie Woolrych and her father, who usually accom- panied her back to Tayside, Peter not being included in the inviiation to the Rectory. Now, if there was one day more thaa another that was a special bore aad weariness to Oaryll Gordon, it was Sua day, above all here in the North, where he was under the eye of his clerical brother, whose religious prejudices, as Gary 11 would have termed them, he was far too good- hearted aod considerate to wish to offend. But from Caryll Gordon's point of view there was little attraction at Clairvale Rectory. 168 BING AND CORONET. The Eev. Marcus Woolrycli and Gerald generally talked on subjects too deep and grave for him to understand. Then Bessie Woolrycli, the rector's daughter, was a staid, very domes- ticated, amiable, but rather plain young woman of six or seven-and-twenty, who did a great deal of good, no doubt, helping her father in his parish duties and in the schools, and who was a clever, sensible woman into the bargain, but not at all Caryll's style, being a great deal too serious and matter-of-fact. He went to church every Sunday at Clairvale, out of compliment to the rector and to please his brother Grerald ; but he thought it was a great bore, nevertheless. But Caryll had by no means forgotten Nina's mention of Bessie Woolrych and her father during their conversation in the wood, nor that the volume of Shakespeare she had been reading was lent to her by them. His curiosity respecting her was inci-easing with each effort he made to restrain it. He could not reconcile in his own mind the strange incongruity of character dis- played by this young girl, who was so quiet and SUNDAY EVENING AT THE BECTOBY. 169 ladylike in appearance, wlio studied Shakespeare, who classed the Rev. Marcus Woolrych and his daughter in her catalogue of friends, and who was yet a circus-rider — nay, worse still, the niece of that odious little man, of whose ignominious exit from " The Eoyal " upon the occasion of his visit with Percy Marchmont he had been an unwilling witness. He had also been surprised to hear how warmly Bessie Woolrych and her father had both expressed themselves about Nina, and at the interest they seemed to take in her, his own brother Gerald apparently not being free from this infatuation. All this was unaccountable to Caryll, who was fully imbued with the narrow- minded prejudices common to his class, who think real merit, talent, or superior mental abilities are not to be met with in any sphere of life it is pleased to consider as inferior to its own. Per- haps Caryll unconsciously caught some of the general enthusiasm; at all events, hearing that Nina was a regular attendant at Clairvale Church on Sunday afternoons, he watched anxiously for 170 RING AND CORONET. her appearance, and was soon rewarded by seeing" her come tripping down tlie road with the old servant Peter by her side. They disappeared into the quaint little church- porch, whither after a few naoments' pause Caryll also followed; but, although his eager eye sought her in all directions, she was nowhere to be seen. There was the old man in his neat, well- brushed Sunday suit of black, his large silver spectacles on his nose, and his heavy-clasped Bible lying open upon his knee, but no Nina could he anywhere discern. Caryll, much dis- appoiuteu, felt sorely tempted to leave the church before the termination of the service; but he finally decided to remain, and was at last re- warded by seeing Miss Woob-ych and Nina emerging together from the oi'gan- gallery. Her surprise at seeing Caryll was unbounded, and especially to find that he was acquainted with her kind friends the rector and his daugliter; but she could not disguise her pleasure at meeting him again. As she answered his respect Cal greet- ing, a bright blush of timid confusion suffused SUNDAY EVENING AT THE BEGTOBY. 171 her face, wliich the young man thought more lovely than ever. Strange to say, that Sunday evening did not appear at all long, dry, or tedious in any way to Caryll ; on the contrary, it passed all too soon. The primitive fashion of early tea at the rectory now seemed a truly charming iouovatioQ, while he could not help noticing that his brother Gerald, usually so calm and almost sad, brightened into quite cheerful animation and conversation. After tea was over Bessie and Nina played and sang sacred songs and duets. Bessie was a fair musician, and had a rich contralto voice ; and Caryll was astonished at the pure, sweet quality of Nina's voice, and the natural taste and expression with which she sang. She was not the least shy or timid, a feeling which mostly springs from vanity. She passionately loved music and singing, but she had little opportunity for indulging in either. She also appeared to be fairly well in- formed, and Caryll could not help thinking that in her plain but suitable costume she looked as much a lady as any of the fashionable belles he had 172 BING AND CORONET. encountered daring the London season — free, indeed from their affectation of haughty indifference ; but after his late bitter experience, this was no dis- advantage in his eyes. When at last the time came for Nina to go home, Caryll contrived to accompany her. "And so your name is Nina/' he observed in the course of conversation. " That is surely a foreign name. Yet you are English ? " " My father was an Italian. His name was Antonio Romani. I was named Antonina after him, but everybody calls me Nina ; it is more simple — an easier name to pronounce." " A pretty one, too. Then you are not English, after all ? But you speak English perfectly." ''My mother was English. She had been a governess, I believe, and I have heard she was very clever and very beautiful, quite a lady. Ah ! if she had only lived, I am sure she would never have wished me to learn the circus-business," finished Nina, with a little sigh. " Why ? Do you not like it ? " '' Oh no ; I positively dislike it. I love riding SUNDAY EVENING AT THE BECTOBY. 173 out of doors, with tlie bright sky overhead, far away froai the dusty town, in the glorious country on the open downs. I love a sharp canter on the soft thick turf, and Brilliant, my beautiful Brill ia at, loves it too. You should see him toss his pretty head, and paw the ground, impatient to be off! But it is very different in the circus at night, with the monotonous round and round of the ring, and a set number of tricks to go thi-ough, each one parcelled out to so many bars of music. There it is all a sham, and Brilliant knows it is as well as I do. Still, I like riding the manege better than the scene acts.^^ Here Nina broke off with a little lausrh. "I forgot you don^t understand the business,'^ she said archly. "" It seems ungrateful to Madame Bray son when I say I dislike riding, for she has had me taught out of kindness, that I might be able to earn my own living; but I wish she had permitted me to learn some other profession instead, such as music or singing.'* " You would have liked singing better ? " ''Oh, yes," replied Nina, with animation, "sing- 174 Brno Am) CORONET. ing, above all. That is not a business^ like circus riding. It is an art. There is soul, feeling, inspiration in singing, and I am so fond of it. But," added she, with a regretful sigh, " it would be impossible now; I must be coutent as I am, for I am too old to learn a new profession.^' " How old, then, are you ? " inquired Gary 11, smiliug. " Seventeen last August." " That is not old," said the youug man, laugh- ing. " Why, you are almost a child." "Bat it is too old to be apprenticed to a new profession," replied Nina, with great seriousness. ''I was taught riding at nine years of age, and began to perform in public on a little spotted pony when I was ten." ''That is very different. Listen, Nina — may I call you so ? " "I suppose so. Everybody does," replied the girl artlessly. By this time they had arrived at the turm'ng of the road not far from Mr. Braysou's house, and Nina at once commenced sayiug good-bye. SUNDAY EVENING AT THE BEGTOBY. 175 "But this must not be tlie last I am to see of you, Nina; you will let me come to meet you next Sunday as you go to church/' urged Caryll. "1 always walk there with Peter," replied Nina with a rosy blush ; " and besides, nest Sunday madame will not give me permission to remain after service. It is only now and then I am allowed to do so." "But I must see you again soon," urged Caryll impatiently. " I don't know when that will be/' mused Nina, with momentary confusion. " Madame Bray- son is so strict, I seldom have any opportunity of going out by myself. But I must really say good-bye now; for see, we are just opposite the gate." "One moment, just one moment/' pleaded Caryll, detaining her hand, which she held out to him with a smile as she wished him good-bye. Nina was alarmed. What did he mean by detaining her? She tried to withdraw her hand, but Caryll held it tight. If Mr. Brayson or her 176 BING AND CORONET. stern auut sliould see lier talking witli this young gentleman ! ''You really must let me go, if you please. Suppose madame sliould see me ! " she exclaimed in a tone of such genuine fear and alarm that^he at once released her. Nina bouuded oS. like a startled fawn^ and in another moment would have darted across the road, but with a quick, firm grasp Caryll seized her once more, and drew her back on to the naiTow footpath where she had been standing, just, and only just in time to save her from beiag ran over by an open carriage, which at that instant came dashing furiously around a sharp curve in the narrow road. As he held her in his arms, a little more closely, perhaps, than either strict necessity or the occasion required, he turned and looked angrily in the direction in which the carriage had disappeared. It was a gaudy equipage, the liveries showy, every- thing in the extreme of bad taste, containing some vulgar, overdressed women, and a gentleman who evidently recognised both Nina and Caryll, and SUNDAY EVENING AT THE BECTOBY. 177 whom the latter, to his great annoyance, saw was no other than Crosby St. Clair. Nina, scarcely recovered from the fright and confusion caused by this incident, broke anew from Caryll's detaining grasp, this time in safety reach- ing the little gate, and passing quickly through, the grim stone walls once more hid his charming little wood-nymph from his sight. VOL. I. X CHAPTER XII. MISCHIEF. Me. Beayson was pacing up and down one after- noon in front of liis circus, previous to the time of the morning performance, looking unmistakably seedy, and feeling anything but comfortable in mind or body. A week had scarcely elapsed since his memor- able ride home from " The Eoyal," and he had been again indulging in his former bad habits, having that morning imbibed at his favourite house of call, "The Cock and Bottle," a great deal more whisky than was at all advisable ; his head was aching terribly, and his indiscretions not having escaped the notice of his lynx-eyed wife, he had been favoured with a severe reprimand, uttered MISCHIEF. 179 in the presence of several of the grooms and artistes employed on the establishment^ who hap- pened to be in the box-office at that particular time. It was a thing of rare occurrence for the cautious Madame Giuseppina so far in public to forget her usual self - command ; but upon this particular day she had been in a state of high indignation with everything and everybodyj her husband's misconduct no doubt being the first great cause. At home. Nina came in for the lion's share; but upon this occasion the favourite Lisetta had not altogether escaped, whilst Jemima, to use her own elegant phraseology, had caught it "pretty hot," having been discovered by her mother enact- ing Dick Turpin in the back-garden, attired in one of her father's long-skirted coats, with an old billycock hat stuck on the back of her head, strutting about in a pair of Mr. Brayson's top- boots, and wildly flourishing a rusty-looking pro- perty pistol. " Master Jimmy " had further embellished her- N 2 180 RING AND CORONET. self with a fierce and smudgy moustache of burnt cork, which apparently afforded immense delight to several very ragged and dirty little urchins who had perched themselves upon the back-garden wall, and who were encouraging the young lady's histrionic efforts with cries of " Go it, Jimmy/' and "Ally hoopla!" All these things having contributed towards making the atmosphere of the money-bos where his wife presided too warm to be agreeable, Mr. Brayson had sought the more refreshing tempera- ture of the open street, where he was cooling his heels at his leisure, and smoking a coarse cigar, chewing meanwhile the cud of bitter reflection, when — could he believe his eyes? — a stylish dog- cart, with a splendid stepper, had driven up to the circus, and two gentlemen having descended from it were actually inquiring for him at the box-office. With much pompous affectation and ostenta- tious politeness, the little circus man strutted forward to receive his kind patrons and friends, as he called them, who were no other than Percy MISCHIEF. 181 Marclimont and Carjll Gordon, while Madame Giuseppina, apparently forgetting her previous ill-humour^ melted into the sweetest smiles as her husband fussily introduced the new comers to her at the money-box. Caryll, who had been a somewhat unwilling companion of Percy's in this expedition to the circus, was agreeably surprised at Madame Bray- son's pleasing manner and address, and her evident superiority to her husband. Notwithstanding, he could well have dispensed with the honour of being presented to her. The circus upon this particular afternoon happened to be a little better attended than usual ; at least, there were more people in the boxes, which at morning performances were generally almost deserted. In the front row, conspicuous by being its sole occupant, sat a man whom Percy instantly recognised as being Crosby St. Clair. " What the devil brings him here, I wonder ? " said he to himself, as he took the programme officiously handed by Mr. Brayson, who had accom- 182 EING AND CORONET. panied his friends to their seats, and was busily engaged in explaining to somewhat inattentive ears the various points of interest in the performance they were now about to witness. Caryll had thrown himself carelessly into a seat, and was looking mechanically up and down the programme, thinking what a bore this last freak of Percy^s was, and whether he should see Nina ride. YeSj there was her name, but to-day she was announced simply as Mdlle. Nina, and was to appear in the haute ecole or manege act, as it is called. " After all, it is perhaps as well that I should see her ride,^^ thought Caryll j "the peculiar cir- cumstances of our meeting have doubtless caused me to think more about her than I should other- wise have done. And it is really getting too absurd ; I think of nothing else. I shall see her to-day among her proper surroundings, I shall be disenchanted, and there will be an end of it." Here the young man involuntarily made a MISCHIEF. 183 gesture of impatience whicli had the effect of recalKng him to himself. Percy Marchmont meanwhile had been amusing himself at Mr. Brayson's expense. The circus-proprietor had been loud in praise of himself, his daughter Lisetta, and the grand people, not to mention crowned heads, who always come to see his circus. For instance, he went on, did Mr. Marchmont observe that very distinguished-looking gentleman down there, right in front ? He came to the circus every performance, and always occupied the same seat. "He can be nothing less than a nobleman, you know,^' continued Mr. Brayson confidentially, " or a lord. Look at his jewels ! But what he comes here day after day and night after night for, I can't make out ; I think he must be getting sweet on Lisetta, my daughter, sir. Ah, she is a clipper ! You'll see her ride presently. Madame and I have always said Lisetta would wear a coronet if she only waited long enough." Crosby St. Clair, the object of Mr. Brayson's 184 RING AND COBONET. admiration, was by no means unaware of the pre- sence of Percy Marchmont and his friend Caryll. By chance he had looked round when the latter was studying his programme, and his vexation was great at seeing Percy apparently on such familiar terms with Mr. Brayson, especially after what he had been betrayed into saying respecting Caryll Gordon and the pretty equestrienne. Percy Marchmont had by no means forgotten the ill-natured insinuations of Crosby St. Clair. He had indeed partly devised this visit to the circus in order that he might be enabled to judge for himself whether there was any truth in Caryll's supposed ijenchant for the circus girl. When Nina therefore made her appearance he watched Caryll closely, failing, however, to detect any symptom beyond that of a slight weariness, which had indeed characterised his friend^s manner during the whole performance, and which at this point of it perhaps rather increased. " That girl rides well," remarked Percy care- lessly to Caryll. " She and her horse are a perfect picture." MISCHIEF. 185 " Yes, Mdlle. Nina is a graceful rider," replied Caryll, affecting to consult his programme. "And seems to excite the admiration of our friend in the front row," continued Percy, a little maliciously, " Confound the fellow ! " muttered Caryll, savagely, as his eye followed Percy's glance in the direction of Crosby St. Clair. At the conclusion of the entertainment, upon leaving the circus, Crosby St. Clair chanced to pass Percy Marchmont, when a slight sign of re- cognition from Percy did not escape Mr. Brayson's notice. '• Is it possible you know that gentleman, Mr. Marchmont?" he exclaimed, in great surprise. " Pray may I ask who he is ? " Percy, always on the look-out for an oppor- tunity of indulging his love of fun and practical joking, thought the present a capital opportunity for mystifying Mr. Brayson ; he therefore vaguely hinted that Mr, Brayson might possibly not be altogether wrong in surmising that the showily- dressed gentleman was a nobleman, enormously 186 EING AND CORONET. wealthy, but very eccentric, whose peculiar whim was travelling about incognito, to avoid the fulsome flatteries of the time-serving toadies who perse- cuted him when his true rank and position were known. Percy also inadvertently called Mr. Bray son's attention to the very marked interest he affirmed that Crosby had taken in his daughter Lisetta's performance, and further promised an introduction at some future time, carefully impressing upon the little man that he must studiously avoid any allusion to the stranger's real rank; and so suc- cessfully did he work upon the circus-proprietor's vanity and conceit that at night, when he laid his bewildered head upon his pillow, Mr. Brayson's rest was disturbed by all kinds of wild ambitious dreams, at one time of Lisetta, as the Princess of Wales, knighting him with a long circus-whip ; at another, of his performing one of his horses before Queen Victoria in the throne-room at Buckingham Palace. Had Percy called Mr. Brayson's attention to Crosby St. Clair's evident admiration of his MISGEIEF. 187 niece Nina, it would have been mucli nearer tlie truth. During the whole time of Nina^s act, he positively devoured her with his eyes ; his vulgar display of jewellery, and his constant appearance at the circus night after night, in the same par- ticular seat, being both expressly designed to attract her attention, for Crosby St Clair was becoming desperately smitten with Nina, a feel- ing greatly intensified since Captain Gordon's unwelcome interference in the wood. Percy Marchmont kept his promise to Mr. Brayson — that is, he duly introduced him to Crosby St. Clair, and in a short time both these gentlemen had become complete habitues of the circus. All went on admirably. The larger and more palpable the bait, the greater the avidity with which Mr. Brayson swallowed it ; Madame Giuseppina, with all her shrewdness, suffering herself in this instance to be blinded by her maternal pride. Already Mr. Brayson indulged fond Lopes that the long-expected " diadem " would be presented 188 RING AND CORONET. to his daughter by the supposed nobleman, Crosby St. Clair ; while Crosby, for the furtherance of his own ends, played completely into Percy's hands, assuming an air of friendly patronage towards Mr. Brayson, and feigning marked admiration for Lisetta as a mask beneath which to conceal his real designs respecting Nina. Lisetta also was fully persuaded that she had made a splendid conquest. Every night now she received a handsome bouquet, which she attributed to the supposed nobleman, though in reality these bouquets were sent by Percy to assist in keeping up the delusion. But, as far as Nina was concerned, Crosby remained at a complete standstill. His only chance of seeing her was during her performance ; and as she was always sent home immediately after concluding her duties at the circus, he had not had, as yet, one single opportunity of speaking to her. Just at this time an event occurred that troubled Nina greatly. Old Peter had unfortunately got himself into the bad graces of that spoilt tomboy MISCHIEF. 189 " Master Jimmy.'^ He had remonstrated with her for some forward " larking " on her part with one of the grooms, and the vicious girl determined to be revenged. The stables were very dark in some parts during the daytime, especially near that portion of them where the corn and straw were kept, lights being from motives of safety prohibited. Watching her opportunity, " Master Jimmy " deliberately put a tin pail full of water in the old man's way, where she knew he would have to pass; and the poor lame servant, falling heavily over the pail, hurt himself so severely that he had to be carried home immediately, and was obliged to take to his bed. Madame Giuseppina knew well enough how to be kind and considerate when it suited her purpose, which happened to be the case in the present instance. Previous experience had taught her how serious a matter the loss of Peter's services would be in a business point of view ; she well remembered in former times how the men had 190 BING AND CORONET. neglected the horses and ill-treated them, be- sides stealing the corn, and keeping the stables in an untidy/ dirty state. Madame Giuseppina therefore went herself to see the old man, taking Jemima with her, and insisting upon that young lady making a proper apology ; she also paid for medical attendance, and ordered Nina to see that some broth and other things suitable for an invalid were made, which she further gave Nina permission to take herself to the old man. Nina was greatly distressed to hear of Peter's accident, and she could not help reproaching the mischievous Jemima for her spiteful and revengeful conduct. Everybody connected with Mr. Brayson's establishment was sincerely sorry for the poor old man; even the stablemen, who were looked after far more closely and strictly than they them- selves exactly approved of, could not help liking the old fellow, for if he was strict, he was also honest, considerate, and just in all his dealings with them. MISCHIEF. 191 Nina was pleased beyond measure when Madame Giuseppina despatched her on an errand to see the old man. He lived close to the circus, for, being lame, distance was of course an object. His lodging, though humble, was neat and clean, the woman of the house being a respectable, hard- working person, a laundress by trade. Nina knocked gently at the door. " Come in ; the door's not locked, and I'm busy ironing,^' exclaimed a loud, but not unpleasant voice, evidently a woman's, from within. Nina opened the door. " I am sent by Madame Brayson to see Peter, who met with the accident," she said, addressing a short, stout, motherly-looking woman who was busy with some linen in the kitchen beyond. "All right, miss," replied the woman, hardly looking up ; " parlour door.'' Just then the door opened, and someone said : " Will you please to step in. Miss Nina ? " and, looking round, she saw the speaker was no other than " Little Bobbles." Peter was truly delighted to see Nina, who in- 192 RING AND CORONET. formed liim she had madame's full permission to remain with him till it was time for her performance at the circus. " So you see, Peter, I'm going to make myself quite at home and have tea with you, and see you comfortably settled for the night before I go away," she said cheerfully, as she began taking off her hat and shawl previous to settling about her new duties, '' No, no. Miss Nina," began the old man, but she stopped him by putting her tiny hand over his mouth. "Now, Petei you must let me have my own way for once at least ; and first of all we're going to have tea ; I'm dying for some, and it'U do you good, and I dare say Mr. Bobbles will take a cup too." All this while Little Bobbles sat in mute adoration, the whole energies of that little man's nature being absorbed in realising the stupendous and overwhelming fact that he was actually sitting at the same table as Nina, drjnking tea she had poured out, and eating bread-and-butter MISCHIEF. 193 cut by her hands ; he was able to see her bright^ winning face, to hear her merry laugh, and, ecstacy beyond everything, she had actually touched the tips of his fingers in handing him his cup. If he had only been put in to clown to her act that night, he thought he should have gone mad with joy; but unfortunately she rode the manege, and he had to clown to Miss Lisetta. When tea was over Nina bathed Peter's fore- head, and put fresh cool bandages upon it. " I shall do it better than your landlady, Peter," she said ; '' but who will see to you when she is out of the way ? '' "I shall be here. Miss Nina, if you please,^' unexpectedly put in Little Bobbles ; " I've come to live with Peter, just to look after him a bit now he's ill. I don't suppose I'm very much company at the best of times," he went on deprecatingly, " but I shall be able to wait upon him, and read to him a little, and at any rate I shall be something for him to look at." Nina turned to the good-hearted little fellow with a grateful smile. VOL. I. o 194 RING AND CORONET. '^This is really kind of you, Mr. Bobbles." *' Oh, no, indeed, Miss Nina, it isn't kind of me at all," interrupted Bobbles ; '^ the truth is^ I've been wanting to get away from Mrs. Vv^idgett's a long while, and didn^t know how to manage it. Mrs. Widgett's an awful woman, she's got a temper — in fact, I may say Mrs. Widgett is really fierce ; and then she's rather partial to a drop, and she's a way of coming down remarkably strong when she's in her tantrums. Mrs. Widgett's nearly sis feet, too, and it's un- commonly unpleasant to be dropped on from that height, and altogether I wasn't comfortable. I don't wish to offend her, for she's an awful woman, is Mrs. Widgett," finished Little Bobbles with a shudder and a deep sigh, as he thought of this terrible landlady. By-and-by Nina and the old man were left alone, and then Nina drew her chair closer to his side, and began to talk to him about her father and mother. " Peter," observed she, in the course of con- versation, '^I often wonder when I hear you say how clever my father was, and what capital en- MISGEIEF. 195 gagements lie had, that he had not saved monej. Surely he was not extravagant ? " " No, indeed, Miss Nina, nor your dear mother either, although your father would insist upon her having everything suitable for a lady, as indeed she was, for he was very fond of her. As for saving money, if he had foreseen his early death, poor fellow, he might perhaps have saved a little more than he did ; but there was a sum of money— about live or six hundred pounds, or even more, for I remember your mother telling me about it. And then he had four magnificent horses, all young and splendidly trained ; he had been offered enormous prices for them, for no one could train horses to the perfection he did, but he would never part with them. He loved them too well. They are the best-looking horses, although now old, that Mr. Brayson has at this moment standing in his stables, and the best-performing animals too. Brilliant was the last he trained, the last horse he ever bought.'^ '' Brilliant ! My lovely Brilliant ! The darling beauty ! Did he really belong to my father ? ■" 2 196 EING AND CORONET. " Yes, he was called Diamante tlieu. Mr. Brayson afterwards altered tlie names of all tlie horses/' " I suppose my education, and clothes, and keep, and all that, have been a great expense to madame," said Nina, after a slight pause. Peter looked up at the young girl in some surprise. ''Why, Miss Nina," said he, ''whatever put that notion into your head ? " " Just this, Peter : I am grown-up now ; I am a woman, not a child, and I don't like the idea of being dependent upon madame ; I don't like to be told I was brought up by them out of charity. I should like to be able to pay her for what she has done for me, and to earn my own living independent of them, that's all." "My dear Miss Nina," replied Peter gravely, " you have never in any way cost Mr. or Madame Brayson anything", or been any expense to them whatever. When your dear mother, in less than six months, followed your poor father to the grave, money, horses, your mother's dresses, her jewellery MISCHIEF. 197 — everything slie possessed, fell into the Braysons' hands, and I have often thought you deserved more consideration fi-om them ; your ^.pprenticeship to the business cost them nothing, they never paid the Carlinis for teaching you, whilst your father's money and his horses started Mr. Brayson on his first step towards becoming master of this circus." " Oh, Peter, is it really so indeed ? " exclaimed Nina joyfully. '' You don't know how happy you have made me ! Until this moment I always fancied I had been such an expense and trouble to them." When Nina left Peter that night, it was with a light heart, and a feeling of freedom and independence entirely new to her. Her noble, generous nature entertained no grudge against Madame Giuseppina for her appro- priation of what j)roperty her parents had pos- sessed — doubtless she thought the Braysons had a perfect right to claim it. But she exulted in the welcome knowledge that, so far from having been an expense and burden to Mr. Brayson and his 198 RING AND CORONET. wife, they were botli the rather indebted to her own father and mother. And from this time forth she felt she could meet them upon a more than equal footing. CHAPTER XIII. love's young dreaji. The time was now drawing near for the expiration of Mr. Brayson's term in Tayside for tlie present season. The days had come and gone ; another Sunday had passed, and upon this occasion Gary 11 had been on the watch for Nina, and seeing her proceeding alone to the little village church — for Peter was still suffering from the effects of his late accident — he had joined her, and after service had accompanied her homewards as far as the turning leading towards Mr. Brayson's house. Caryll Gordon had suffered himself to become interested in Nina, in careless thoughtlessness ; meaning at first nothing more than an idle passing 200 RING AND CORONET. amusement ; attracted by her artless unsophisti- cated manner, whicli added a still greater charm to her fresh girlish beauty, he pursued heedlessly his own selfish gratification, never once pausing to think what harm he might not be working to the young girl herself, or to what lengths his own blind infatuation might not lead him. Who ever in pursuits like these stops first to count the risk or cost of their mad frolic, as, with eyes fully fixed upon the fair but deceitful mirage of pleasure floating overhead, they rashly follow the intangible and mocking vision, all too unheedf ul of the treacherous net that rosy wicked little cherub Cupid is busy spreading the while beneath their feet ? And when his never-failing arrow is finally launched, and, pierced with the fond shaft of love, the stricken victim falls, too late he sees that he is hopelessly entangled in the glittering silver web ; too late to hope for extrication from the wily snares, and perchance fatal consequences, that his own heedless and wilful folly has cast around him. Thus dreaming still, unmindful of the precipice LOVE'S YOUNG DREAM. 201 yawning beneatli his feet, did Caryll Grordon listlessly loiter and linger round the path of this young creature, and she, knowing nothing of those prudish forms and ceremonies so punctiliously adhered to by that which calls itself the world, innocently and thankfully welcomed Oaryll's seem- ing friendship, and his warm-hearted sympathy and interest. It was the afternoon of the third Sunday since their first meeting in the wood. Already the chilly signs of dreary winter were approaching, and still Caryll Gordon lingered in this out-of- the-way country place. And to-day, as we watch him, he seems more than usually impatient, for he paces restlessly up and down that part of the road where he expects to meet Nina. And now he turns quickly round, for his eager ear has caught a sound of small fleet footsteps, pattering along the pebbly gravel path; and in her simple Sunday dress, looking demure as a little Quakeress, comes pretty Nina, her prayer- book fast held in her small neatly-gloved hand. 202 BING AND COBOKET. A lovely blush spreads over lier face, as ske shakes hands with the young man. "I am a little late to-day/^ she commences (it is then by this time quite an understood thing" that she is to meet Caryll!). "Madame had company/' She is anxious to explain, for she is afraid Caryll may think she has kept him waiting purposely, and as she speaks she steals a shy and admiring glance up at him; he seems to her so handsome and so very different to anyone she has ever seen, and in her young mind she fancies him a being too good for this earth ; something, in fact, almost divine. Ah, who can tell in what fair shape it was the serpent tempted Eve ? When all was innocence and peace, before the new-born world had fully awakened to the sense of its own supreme and perfect loveliness, whilst it was yet fresh from the hands of its Maker and Creator, who had seen everything and had pronounced it "very good." But no thought of this dwells for one moment on the bright faces of these two young people. LOVE'S YOUNG DBF AM. 203 Caryll is amusing liimself with thinking Nina grows more bewitchingly lovely each time he sees her. She is happy, simply because she is near him. As they pass the first turning in the narrow road she sees a dog-cart; a well-appointed thing of the kind, with a fine bay horse, and servant in plain but suitable livery. Caryll notices Nina's look, and hastens to reply to it. " That is my trap, Nina,^' he says j " I thought it would be nice to drive to-day, as it is so warm and fine for this time of the year." ''Is it quite right, do you think, to drive on Sunday ? " asks Nina hesitatingly. " Mr. Brayson never has his horses out on Sunday.''^ "Mr. Brayson and I are not very much alike, I hope, Nina," replies Caryll, laughing; " but what harm can there be in a drive ? Even bishops drive in their carriages to church,^' he goes on lightly, " and I don't think, my dear child, we need try to be better than bishops." Nina blushes furiously, for she thinks he is laughing at her. She feels uneasy and troubled. 204 BING AND CORONET. and can find nothing to say. And now they reacli the smart-looking trap, and still she shrinks back, reluctant to go. " Don't be silly, Nina, there's a good child ! " says Caryl], who has perfectly made up his own mind; and without more ado he lifts her up, and settles her comfortably in the seat beside his own, well covered with warm wraps. Then they set off at a brisk pace, and have already gone some little distance down the road before Nina is aware that the groom is not with them. " You have left' your servant behind ! " she observes in some astonishment. " Oh, we didn't want him," returns Caryll carelessly. " But what will you do when we get to church ? Who will mind the horse ? " Caryll laughs outright, and gives an admiring glance at Nina's concerned little face peeping shyly up at him from under her leaf-crowned hat. "Suppose," he says gaily, "'suppose we don't go to church this afternoon ; suppose we go for a nice country drive instead," and his splendid horse LOVE'S YOUNQ BEE AIL 205 trots in grand style along the road, as if proud of the freight it carries. " Oh, but you cannot really mean that ! " says Nina, feeling downright frightened. "You are only joking ! I came out on purpose to go to church. It would be so wrong, so wicked, so deceitful not to do so. And what would Bessie think ? I must go and bid her good-bye. I may not have another opportunity of seeing her. Oh, do stop, please ! Do let me get out. Stop, or I will jump out ! " she finishes abruptly, for she sees a most provoking smile lurking about the corners of the young man's mouth. But he flings his strong arm round her as she tries to free herself from the wraps with which she is covered. " Don't be foolish, child ! " he says almost in a tone of command, a bright fierce light gleaming in his dark gray eyes, and the faintest tinge of sternness making its appearance upon his hand- some self-willed countenance. "You would only hurt yourself if you tried to jump, and perhaps break your neck. There is nothing to look so frightened about," he goes on in his usual easy 206 RING AND CORONET. style; "if any one is to blame, it is I. But I liave made up my mind to have a drive witli you this afternoon, and a drive I intend to have/' And the young man looks round laughingly, in a half-teasing and provoking manner, at the distressed young girl. Nina feels guilty, that is to say as far as getting up into the trap ; but, being there, she knows she is in the weaker position of the two, and is uncertain how to act — what further to say or do. The woman who hesitates is lost — she hesitates, and at any rate does not go to church that afternoon. '^ Come now, be reasonable, there's a good child," says Caryll in the best possible humour, like all men when they are successful in obtaining their object. " One day can't matter, and after all it was my fault, not yours ; I want to have a long talk with you to-day, for I don't know when I may have an opportunity again like the present; and, to begin with, I see the papers announce your leaving here in another fortnight." ''Yes," replies Nina^ with a little regretful LOVE'S YOUNG DBF AM. 207 sigli ; " I sliall be sony, very sorry, to go away from Tayside." " You will be sorr}^, really sorry/' exclaims Caryll eagerly. ''' And why ? '' " Oh, for ever so many reasons/' says Nina, blushing rosy red, and saying tlie first silly words that came into her head, to try and hide the effect of those former ones that have slipped out un- awares. " First, because it is such a pretty place, and then I shall be sorry to leave Bessie and her kind father, Mr. Woolrych; and Peter, I fear he will not be well enough to bear the long journeys, and — and — I have been so happy here, so very, very happy ! " " Peter, and Bessie, and old Mr. Woolrych " (a vicious emphasis on the "old") "ought to be infinitely obliged to you. Miss Nina," retorts Caryll, with unmistakable pique in his tone. " And does that catalogue include all your regrets at leaving Tayside ? Have you no other pleasant recollections or friends you regret leaving behind ? " And he bends his dark gray eyes, flashing more darkly still, with a burning gaze upon the tiny 208 RING AND CORONET. scrap of rose-tinted averted face left visible beneatli the envious sliade of the young girl's hat. What does he mean by forcing these questions upon her, awakening within her sensations of a new, uncomprehended, startling nature, that she instinctively half dreads, yet half invites ? Full well she knows, the little hypocrite, her truest reason of regret of leaving Tayside is the regret of leaving him, of seeing him no more ; full well she knows how treasured are the memories of those too happy hours passed with him. Grim and gloomy indeed will seem to her the dark vista of the future, when this bright meteor-like vision shall have faded from the scene. True, honest, straightforward as she generally is, she takes to fencing with the question; as a matter of course failing signally in the attempt. "What do you mean ? '^ she asks tremblingly, whilst the colour comes and g'oes in her soft cheek. " What other friends and recollections ought I to regret ? " "How can I tell ? " says Caryll fiercely, sending his horse at a furious speed. LOVE'S YOUNG DREAM. 209 " Can this child be a mere heartless flirt after all, like the rest ? " he mutters savagely to him- self. " Of course I shall be sorry on your account as well," she ventures at length very timidly, her head bent down so low this time that her hat completely covers her face, as Caryll looks down upon her from his superior height and position in the trap. " I shall always think the hours we have spent together very, very happy ones," she continues a little hesitatingly, "and I shall never, oh never ! " — this very softly — " forget the day of our first meeting in the wood." Having said this much, she is seized with sudden shyness, and would give anything to have recalled her words ; while Caryll, conscious of having ignominiously begged the question, refuses to be one whit mollified or soothed by her con- fession. After a mile of furious speed, he inquires where Mr. Brayson intends gomg from Tayside. "To Edinburgh," replies Nina. *'We open there to-morrow fortniglit." VOL. I. p 210 JUNG AND CORONET. " Only two more Sundays," says Caryll gloomily. " Only one," corrects Nina. "We are to travel, Saturday week." " And after that am I to see nothing more of you ? " demands Caryll, ostensibly of Nina, but in reality putting the question to himself. Nina makes no reply, she feels that if she attempts one she will burst out crying. Why, she cannot tell ! Of course it is very stupid and silly of her, and she wishes more than ever she had gone quietly to church. Another half-mile of furious speed and he speaks again : "And so, in a fortnight's time, a few short days, you will have left this place, and we shall, perhaps, see nothing more of one other. And you will go on just the same as before we met, as contentedly as ever, smiling gratefully at the people who applaud you as you ride round the ring pirouetting on the back of a spangle-bedizened steed, listening to the old worn-out jokes and so- called witticisms of the stupid clown, and wasting LOVE'S YOUNG BEE AM. 211 your youth, your fresliness, your prettiness amongst a set of creatures utterly unwortliy of you^ who cannot in the least understand or appreciate you — the slighted slave of a set of low mounte- banks ! " His face, despite its handsome features, has by no means a pleasing expression on it now, he bites impatiently his under-lip ; lion-like, he seems to be lashing himself into wrath. And Nina, trembling, shrinks further from his side. How dare he speak to her like that ! But he is impatient of the thoughts he conjures tip. At last the feeling flashes across his mind that he cannot bear to part with her, so young and artless, as yet nn contaminated by the world. Possessing the love of her young virgin heart, he feels it would shed over his life a glory more radiant than the fair torch of fame, or garish worldly honours ever could bestow. In these few minutes he fully realises the emptiness of all the world's most envied gifts weighed in the balance with this fair young girl beside him, a treasure fully appreciated, but at p 2 212 EING AND CORONET. the moment of its being about to be lost to bim for ever ! These thoughts enrage him, his angry, unrestful feelings find relief in words. " You,, in everything seemingly so superior, with thoughts, ideas, feelings cast in such a dif- ferent mould, so poetical, so sympathetic, to remain tamely satisfied with the prospect of such a brutalising career ! " But Nina, terrified, unable to account for terms •of such uncalled-for and savage reproach, breaks -down all at once. " What can I do ? What choice have I ? Are they not my guardians ? Do I not belong to them ? " she pours out rapidly in faltering accents, -.finishing by bursting into a flood of tears. The furious speed may be relaxed now; the -noble animal who has flown along so swiftly and so willingly at his master's bidding may take his rest, for at sight of Nina's unfeigned distress and tears, Caryll, as great a coward as most men under the same circumstances, melts at once. LOVE'S YOUNG DREAM. 213 His strong arm winds itself once more round her slender figure, his face once more bends down to hers, lie holds her tight in his eager, passionate clasp ; the warm kisses shower upon her cheek, her eyes, her lips, as she rests, startled, -half fainting, and quite powerless, in the wild ardour of his fierce embrace. "My darling! My own darling Nina ! ^^ he cries, still holding her fast. " Are you then so blind ? Do you not know ? Can you not see that I love you ? Oh, my darling, forgive my cruel words j wrung from me by the agony of the thought of parting from you. Without your presence, life is worse than death itself. With you to gladden my existence, it will be Paradise, a heaven of happiness almost too great for me to realise ! My Nina, my own sweet, darling Nina, tell me what I so long to hear ; what I seem to have lived till now but to listen to. Tell me that you return my love — that you will be mine for ever ! '' Love laughs at locksmiths, so they say. He 214 RING AND CORONET. lauglis at milliuery, and such trivialities as hats and bonnets^ and matters of that sort, too, when he gets the chance. A pretty, crumpled, dishevelled little picture was Nina, when Caryll at length thought proper to relax some of the earnestness of his embrace. He still held her pretty fast, fearing, perhaps, she might attempt another mad leap from the trap. She is still too frightened to speak ; her tears are yet falling as fast as April showers, but a faint glimmer of a smile seems to hover near, like the first peep of sunshine after rain. She has been too suddenly startled to recover herself yet awhile ; but her little fluttering heart is beating wildly yet joyously within her breast, repeating that oft-repeated, ever welcome song : " He loves me ! He loves me ! " And then, blushing like a new-blown rose, she lifts her face, illumined with the glory of its first sweet dawning love-light, and Caryll reads his joyful triumpliant answer in her eloquent, dew- laden eyes. Again he seals the compact with a kiss, this LOVE'S YOUNG BEE AIL 215 time uncliecked by her. Again lie folds lier in his arms, and slie remains passive and unresisting, unspeakably, incomprehensibly happy in his fond and passionate embrace. CHAPTER XIV. LITTLE BOBBLES AND HIS LANDLADY. Peter's progress towards recovery was tardy in the extreme. His nervous system had sustained a severe shock, which, at his advanced age, was a more serious matter than even bodily injury. It would therefore be some considerable time before he could hope to resume his duties at Mr. Bray son's establishment, if indeed he ever resrained sufficient strenjyth to do hard work again. Little Bobbles, simple, good-hearted soul, had been unremitting in his care and attention ; but to Little Bobbles it had been a labour of love, cheerfully undertaken and cheerfully accomplished. But staying to nurse Peter during his ill- LITTLE BOBBLES AND HIS LANDLADY. 217 ness had not been all plain sailing for Little Bobbles. His late landlady, Mrs. Widgett, of whom he stood in mortal fear (she stood nearly six feet), was a grim, gaunt, female grenadier of a woman, husbandless now for the second time, and fond of calling herself a " poor lone widow.'^ This lady had arrived at that mature time of life when it is poetically supposed to be desirable to sit at ease under the shadow of one's own vine and fig-tree, a metaphor which she interpreted to mean a cosy snug fireside, with a good stiff glass of hot whisky - toddy, of which beverage Mrs. Widgett was just a little too fond. She had never been partial to work, even iu the days of her youth; prying into and meddling with the affairs of her neighbours had always been more congenial to her tastes ; while, as for gossip, the stories she told, embellished, and invented^ would have kept all the scandalmongers in the kingdom in full swing. Mrs. Widgett's first husband had been a railway-porter, whom folks said had been in the 218 BING AND CORONET. liabit of beating her when she deserved it, which was doubtless pretty often, as her mischief-making tongue was always getting her into some trouble or other. She was therefore "dootifully resigned to the justice of 'eaven/' as she piously phrased it, " when an accident on the line took him oif sharp and sudden like, without any bother of nussin, which could have done him no good, poor man ! And since it was ordained for him to go it was just as well for him to go at once and have done with it, which he did." Husband number two had been a publican, and, considering the amount of drink he daily consumed, must have been one of his own best customers, though it had the best of him in the end by causing his death ; and Mrs. Widgett, being left almost penniless, had since established herself in a small shop, where she sold snuff, tobacco, and cigars, to which she also added a mixed trade in newspapers, apples, nuts, ginger-beer, sweet- stuff, and cakes. She further eked out her very scanty living LITTLE BOBBLES AND HIS LANDLADY. 219 by letting lodgings, when she could, to single men. She was at this time anxiously on the look-out for husband number three ; but he was evidently a shy bird, and more than usual skill and dexterity would be required in successfully liming the twig for him. Then came an unwary fly, Little Bobbles, to this she-spider's web, and at once Mrs. Widgett said to herself, " Thou art the man," from that time forth setting systematically to work to catch him in her toils. The new lodger improved greatly upon ac- quaintance. He was sober, methodical, thrifty, and industrious; and Mrs. Widgett argued with herself that the money he could earn would be a far better speculation than her shop and the worry of lodgers. Moreover, she had made so many enemies by the indulgence of her proverbially gossiping and mischief-making propensities, that it would be an additional advantage to be able to leave the town of Tayside, where she had acquired a most unenviable reputation. 220 RING AND CORONET. And first slie commenced her plans by coaxing and flattering Little Bobbles ; but finding bim in- sensible to her gracious condescension, sbe suddenly veered round and put berself on tbe bullying tack. Little Bobbles was sadly deficient in courage — ■ he bad been too much knocked about and ill- used by the cruel master to whom he had been apprenticed when a lad to be much of a hero now. He was, moreover, terribly afraid of a harsh, scolding, nagging woman, qualities which Mrs. Widgett in her new character developed to perfection. She thus succeeded in frightening the little man nearly out of his senses, contriving by this means to get him the moi'e completely " under her thumb/' as she expressed it, for Little Bobbles was too meek-spirited to attempt any resistance. Arrived at this point, Mrs. Widgett thought the final accomplishment of her object a mere matter of time, patiently awaiting a suitable opportunity for the complete realisation of her hopes. LITTLE BOBBLES AND HIS LANDLADY. 221 Mrs. Widgett was quite unaware of the fact that Little Bobbles had already bestowed his affections elsewhere, and that in secret he adored Mr. Brayson's pretty niece, whom he worshipped humbly and devotedly, as one far indeed removed from his lowly sphere. As the fire-worshippers of old worshipped and adored the sun, so did he worship the fair sun-goddess of his day-dreams, without once daring to hope that she would ever waste a thought on him, or know anything at all of the ill-fated love that preyed upon his heart. Nevertheless, Nina was Little Bobbles' first, last, ever-present, all-absorbing thought and idea. All at once he remembered that in his past experience a fellow -tumbler had made him the confidant of his love affairs, and that this lovelorn swain, not daring to address the lady of his choice in any other way, had been in the habit of writing verses to her, which the happy lover affirmed had been the successful means of melting his obdurate fair one's heart. Suppose he (Little Bobbles) were to write some verses to Miss Nina, fall of respectful devotion. / 222 EING AND COBONET. in wliicli he might express what he dared not attempt to utter with his lips ! A brilliant idea, and one which he immediately proceeded to put in force. But, alas ! the poor little man found he had set himself a very diflScult task. What poetry did he know, except indeed the rhyming jingle of his clown's " wheezes ; " and where could he find any specimen of the kind of poetry suitable for his present purpose, that might serve him as some sort of model and guide ? Now Mrs. Widgett, in conjunction with the literary portion of her business, invested pretty largely in those popular absurdities called valen- tines ; and this being the only species of love- verses which Little Bobbles had ever seen, or of which he had any knowledge, he induced Mrs. Widgett to allow him to look through her left-over stock, in order that he might gain some idea of the style of versification required. Mrs. Widgett smilingly complied. Could she longer doubt that her object was LITTLE BOBBLES AND HIS LANDLADY. 223 attained, and tliat this rummaging of valentines was an indication of Little Bobbles' love overtures towards herself ? Meanwhile the task of poetry-writing was ex- tremely arduous and unsatisfactory to Little Bobbles. He had carefully perused the specimen valentines with their pink hearts stuck with gilt arrows, their cupids, doves, and roses, their mys- terious couples entering church porches, and the like, but nothing in the least suitable could he find. \ At last, after many sleepless nights, splitting* headaches, much anxious care and labour, and no end of spoilt, blotted, and mis-spelt copies, he pi-oduced an effusion, which, when written out '' fair " on a sheet of extra superfine, pink, gilt- edged paper, he admired so greatly that he con- signed it carefully to the breast-pocket of his coat, from whence he kept taking it out every five minutes to read it over again, and to rejoice his heart in the certainty that he had at last achieved an immortal composition. 224 BING AND CORONET. The immortal composition ran thus : Oh ! beauteous fair one, peerless Nina ! Who ever has her equal seen, ah ! Who ever has so lovely been, ah ! As she, my fancy's fairy queen, ah ! Bright star in yonder sky serene, ah ! To you I'll whisper who I mean, ah ! To you confide who is my queen, ah ! That sweet enchantress, lovely Nina ! When drawn my parting sigh has been, ah ! When these sad eyes their last have seen, ah ! My spirit hov'ring near shall screen, ah! From harm my peerless, lovely Nina ! There was a dedication also^ which cost Little Bobbles almost as much mental effort as the immortal composition itself, which was as follows : To the Unapproachable, Unequalled, Incomparable, and Inimitable Equestrienne, Mdlle. Nina, The Accompanying Verses are Most Respectfully Inscribed as a slight token of Homage and Devotion by her sincere admirer, JosErii Bobbles, N.B. — Commonly called Little Bobbles. Aged 27. LITTLE BOBBLES AND HIS LANDLADY. 225 When all this was duly arranged and written, poor Little Bobbles still felt some misgivings as to whether his dedication was sufficiently imposing and respectful. But, at all events, it was finished ; and now he had only to wait patiently until a suitable oppor- tunity for its presentation offered. In the meantime he continued reading it at every spare moment over and over again, until it was getting quite crumpled and dogs^ -eared with hard usage. One night, upon arriving at the circus, he found a letter awaiting him there, which proved to be from no less a person than the great Loudon circus-man, Mr. Mangles, Mr. Gussy Mangles' father. This letter contained the offer of a very advantageous engagement for the season with a clear rise of two pounds per week upon his present salary. There was also a hinting inquiry as to whether he thought Mdlle. Nina might be disposed to make an engagement with his troupe. This important letter nearly burnt a hole in Little Bobbles' pocket. In his clowning that night, he turned twice his usual number of flip- VOL. I. Q 226 BING AND CORONET. flaps, while he almost forgot several of his favourite ^' wheezes.'^ When he returned home to his lodgings at Mrs. Widgett's, and was waiting for his supper, which he usually took with that lady in the little back parlour behind the shop, Little Bobbles once more brought out Mr. Mangles' letter, for it struck his tardy imagination that the London offer was an unusual slice of luck, and were it only possible for Miss Nina to be engaged there too, it would be happiness almost more than he could realise. In removing this precious letter from his pocket, he unconsciously drew out with it the verses destined for Nina. Mrs. Widgett was busily engaged with her frying-pan, nevertheless, her watchful eye, cat- like, noticed all Little Bobbles' proceedings ; she saw the paper fall, and quietly picked it up, trans- ferring it to her own pocket, to be read and examined by her at her leisure. The agony and dismay of Little Bobbles upon discovering his loss was painfully ludicrous; his LITTLE BOBBLES AND HIS LANDLADY. 227 gigantic mental effort was then unavailing^ his ■work of genius wasted, his immortal composition lost. And the saddest part of all was the fact of his being totally unable to recollect the smallest portion of the magic words that had caused him so much labour to put together^ notwithstanding he had read them over and over again, hundreds of times. But, most horrible thought ! Where could he have lost them ? Into whose hands had his ill- fated verses fallen ? Suppose he had dropped them at the circus! Would some member of the company find and appropriate them to his own use, and so rob him of the glory and merit of their composition ? The poor little fellow wept bitterly over his sad misfortune, but as day after day passed without any tidings of the missing verses, perforce he grew resigned to his fate. Then came Peter's unfortunate accident, and Little Bobbles' subsequent change of abode, which caused no slight disarrangement, as may be sup- posed, to the scheming Mrs. Widgett's plans. Q 2 228 BING AND CORONET. Mrs. Widgett had found tlie[tiinid, weak-minded little man a very pi'ofitable lodger, and she was determined not to part with him without a struggle. And, as a first step, in answer to a polite message from Little Bobbles requesting her to send his boxes and effects to old Peter's where he was staying, she sent word that if Mr. Bobbles wanted his things, he must just come for them himself; that he had gone off in a mean and underhand manner, without giving her any notice, and that she should continue to consider him as her lodger, and should certainly expect to be paid accordingly. She also added by way of a parting threat that if Mr. Bobbles didn't immediately give an explanation of his conduct, and a suitable apology, she should come down herself in the morning to see what he had got to say for himself. This last threat nearly sent Little Bobbles into fits. True to her word, on the following day down came Mrs. Widgett to demand an explanation at the hands of the faithless and absconding Little Bobbles. LITTLE BOBBLES AND HIS LANDLADY. 229 Mrs. Widgett had made a toilette equal to tlie importance of her errand, having arrayed herself in her best edition of mourning for her last husband, consisting of a black stuff gown, black shawl, and a huge poke-bonnet of black crape, underneath which peeped the corkscrew curls of her best front, well oiled for the occasion. She wore black silk gloves, very suuffy at the fingers, for one of the lady^s weaknesses was taking snuff, and she carried on her arm an old-fashioned bag or reticule, contain- ing a heterogeneous collection of articles, among "which were a small whisky flask, a pair of spec- tacles, some snuff screwed up in a bit of paper, and some Cockle's pills. Little Bobbles was at the circus when his for- midable landlady made her appearance; but he returned soon afterwards, and great was his con- sternation at finding this much-dreaded enemy already in possession of the field. Poor Little Bobbles, pale as death, and trem- bling like a leaf, dropped into the first vacant chair that he could find, staring open-mouthed and all aghast at this unwelcome apparition, Mrs. Widgett, 230 BING AND CORONET. on tlie contrary, with a grim and vinegary smile, rising slowly from lier seat, and majestically de- veloping her height of nearly sis feet, made the little man a primly ironical curtsy, and with sarcastic emphasis at once commenced her attack. " Good morning, Mr. Bobbles, sir/' she began, advancing a step towards him, '' I am sure I hope I don't intrude upon this good gentleman,'' here with her snuffy forefinger she designated old Peter, who was sitting propped up with pillows in the easy-chair by the fire-place, " but not having given me any notice about leaving my lodgings, I've made bold to come down myself to hear what you have got to say for yourself, if you please, sir," finished Mrs. Widgett, with another prim and ironical curtsy. " I haven't got anything to say for myself, Mrs. Widgett," stammered Little Bobbles, fidgeting about on his chair ; " that is to say, I didn't mean any harm, or to offend you, ma'am, I'm sure. I've paid my rent, I don't owe you anything — you've no claim against me." " No claim against you, Mr, Bobbles ! " inter- LITTLE BOBBLES AND HIS LANDLADY. 231 rupted Mrs. Widgett, advancing another step and shaking her head and her old poke-bonnet viciously at liim. " Then more shame for you, sir, for making sport of a poor lone widow's feelings, which having had two husbands am now bereaved of both/' Here the snuffy black fingers fumbled about in the reticule^ drawing from that receptacle a white pocket-handkerchief with a deep black border, which Mrs. Widgett applied assiduously to her eyes, though there was no sign of anything like a tear in either of them. Little Bobbles shuflled about uneasily in his chair. •' Mrs. Widgett, ma'am/' blundered he, trying to soothe her, " I should be sorry to make sport of your feelings, I'm sure, or anybody else's," concluded the bewildered little man in great concern. Mrs. Widgett, from her extreme point of eleva- tion, solemnly wagged her head at Little Bobbles as a token of warning reproof, holding up her two black silk hands in dismay. " Sorry to make a sport of my feelings ! Oh, 232 ■ RING AND CORONET. sir, I didn^t think as you was sucTi a licensed hypocrite ! And after all that has passed between us, too/' At this point Mrs. Widgett approached another step nearer to Little Bobbles, but he, executing an acrobatic feat that would have done credit to his tricks as clown in the ring, suddenly made a back- ward leap over his chair, which he immediately utilised as a protecting barricade against the advancing Mrs. Widgett. " Mrs. Widgett, ma'am ! Do please take it easy ! Do please sit down ! " urged Little Bobbles imploringly. " Do give me time to think it over. My head's all in a muddle," continued he, scratch- ing it violently, as if he thought that proceeding would assist him in collecting his ideas. But loftily ignoring Little Bobbles' interrup- tion, Mrs. Widgett proceeded with much energetic shakings of her snuffy black silk forefinger : " After all, you've been and led me on to believe ; what with your valentines, and quires of pink paper, and your poetry-writing, and all that ! " LITTLE BOBBLES AND HIS LANDLADY. 233 At the mention of poetry- writing, Little Bobbles started involuntarily and blushed crimson to the very roots of his hair. " Well, I'm glad at all events, as youVe got the grace to blush," exclaimed Mrs. Widgett trium- phantly. " I hope, sir," continued she, addressing herself to old Peter, "you'll be good enough to bear me witness that he changed countenance at the valentines and poetry-writing." " But, Mrs. Widgett, ma'am, you never could have thought " commenced Little Bobbles. '^ Never you mind whether I could or not," returned that lady, cutting him short. ''That's my business. Pray did I ask you to come and take my lodgings ? " Little Bobbles gave a faint shake of the head. " No ; of course I didn't ! Oh, you do confess that much ! I hope, sir, as how you're kind enough to pay attention," said Mrs. Widgett, again addressing Peter. " I may require a wit- ness." " A witness ! " exclaimed Little Bobbles, fright- 234 BING AND CORONET. ened out of his wits. " Gracious goodness ! What on earth for ? " "You'll know soon enough^ Mr. Bobbles," returned Mrs. Widgett with an air of mystery. "Haven't you enjoyed my company in the back parlour behind the shop, and been in the habit of having your dinners and suppers there with me?" Bobbles groaned, and sank down helplessly into his chair. "You see, sir," cried Mrs. Widgett, again appealing to Peter, " he can't deny it ; and there's several of my customers can prove it too, which they've seen him sitting there — and then there's the whiskies." "Mrs. Widgett, ma'am; you drank them all yourself, and made me pay for them. You know you did ; I never tasted them," feebly remonstrated Little Bobbles. "Well, and who said you did?" retorted Mrs. Widgett in an injured tone. "You stood those whiskies as a proof of your admiration and affection." LITTLE BOBBLES AND HIS LANDLADY. 235 " What ! " screamed Little Bobbles, starting up horror-struck, his intense astonishment and dis- gust momentarily conquering his cowardice. " My admiration ! my affection ! You good-for-nothing old woman, you ought to be ashamed of yourself for saying such a thing." '^Oh, indeed! Ashamed of myself, ought I? Good-for-nothing old woman, am I ? " viciously repeated the insulted dame, somewhat taken aback by Little Bobbles' faint attempt to pluck up spirit ; '* and to throw that in my teeth after all IVe been and done for you; after all you've said to me scores and scores of times, a giving me to under- stand as you was agoing to marry me, Mr. Bobbles." Here Mrs. Widgett thought proper to make a flourish of the black-bordered handkerchief pre- paratory to lifting it to her eyes. " Gracious goodness ! What on earth will she say next ? " ejaculated Little Bobbles, quite over- come, collapsing completely into his chair. " Which so entirely did I understand it to mean marriage," said Mrs. Widgett with a faint sniff 236 niNG AND CORONET. intended to represent a sob, " and honourable intentions, tliat I mentioned it to one or two o£ my friends, they having remarked as Mr. Bobbles did certainly seem to make bisself very mucli at home, and that if I didn't take care, the neighbours would begin to talk " "But Mrs. Widgett,'' put in Little Bobbles, trying to remonstrate with his audacious foe, " you know I never even so much as mentioned the word marrias:e.''^ " Then more shame for you, you base deceiver. To go and take away a poor lone widow's character, which have had two husbands, but am now bereaved of both ! Oh, Mr. Bobbles ! Mr. Bob-ob-ob-obles," continued the lady, making believe to sob violently, and applying her handkerchief to a pair of very dry eyes indeed, " I never could have believed it was in you to go and ruin a poor lone creature like me!'' " My dear Mrs. Widgett," urged the poor little man, utterly confused and distressed, scratching his head in an attitude of the greatest bewilderment, ' I don't know at all what you mean. I'm sure I LITTLE BOBBLES AND HIS LANDLADY. 237 never meant to marry you, and as for taking your character away, I didn't even know you had one," " Oh, oh, oh ! " sobbed Mrs. Widgett, evidently meditating an attack of hysterics, '" listen to him. Oh, the slanderous villain ! Oh, the licensed hypo- crite ! Oh, Mr. Bob-ob-obles ! " "Eeally, Mrs. Widgett," interposed Peter, who thought the scene had gone quite far enough, "I must remind you that this is my room, and as what you have come to talk about is no concern of mine, I must beg you to leave. I am too ill to bear all this noise and disturbance." '^ Noise and disturbance indeed, you old drome- dary," shrieked Mrs. Widgett, forgetting her tears, and turning angrily upon Peter. " And so it's you as have been a-aiding and abetting of him, is it ? It's you as have been a- encouraging of the mean- spirited creature, is it ? That's why he thinks he can get the better of me, is it? But we'll soon see about that. I'll have the law of him. I'll make him pay damages. I'll breach of promise him. I'll expose him before the magistrates. I'll 238 RING AND CORONET. disgrace tim before his master and mistress aud all his play-acting, horse-riding companions. And as for proofs, 1^11 see what his poetry-writing will do ; he can^t deny his own handwriting, I suppose, can he ? " Little Bobbles, who had remained in a hope- lessly disconsolate and doubled-up position in his chair during Mrs. Widgett's long tirade, all at once bounded up as if it had suddenly become red-hot, his face crimson, for, to his inexpressible horror, he beheld Mrs. Widgett flourishing high above her head in her snuffy black silk hand the identical piece of pink paper on which the missing verses were written. " Oh, Mrs. Widgett, dear Mrs. Widgett, that's my poetry, my verses ! The paper I lost so long ago. Please give it me. Do, please, dear, good, kind Mrs. Widgett ! '' imploringly whined the poor little victim with tears in his eyes, clasping his hands in piteous appeal. Mrs. Widgett gave a short snorting laugh, and flourished the unlucky paper higher than ever above poor Little Bobbles' head. LITTLE BOBBLES AND EIS LANDLADY. 239 " Mrs. Widgett, ma'am ! " exclaimed lie, falling abjectly on his knees before bis gaunt tormentress^ " do please give me tbat paper. It isn't yours ; you've no rigbt to keep it. It was never meant for you." "Never mind who it's meant for. "We'll just see what Mr. and Mrs. Brayson will say to it, that's all." " Oh, no, Mrs. Widgett, ma'am, you'll never do that," implored the terrified little man. " Let me have it, please do. I'll pay you for it, I will upon my word. I'll give you a sovereign for it, there ! " And Little Bobbles, pulling a sovereign out of his waistcoat pocket, offered it tremblingly to the indignant female. But Mrs. Widgett's only answer was a loud snort of derision, and a still more elaborate flourish of the paper which had produced such an electrical effect. Even Peter stared with surprise, not knowing what it all meant. I'll give two sovereigns for it, ma'am, I will (C 240 RING AND CORONET. indeed/^ cried Little Bobbles, fairly bursting into tears. "Nor twOj Mr. Bobbles, nor three, nor four won^t buy it," stormed tbe fury at the top of her voice, giving Little Bobbles a push that sent him full length on the floor. " I'll have my revenge ! I'll teach you to trample on a poor lone woman's feelings after promising her marriage. Mrs. Brayson shall know your true character, Mr. Bobbles." "Mrs. Widgett, ma'am, I'll give five pounds for it," faltered Little Bobbles from the floor, for he was too much overcome by this crushing disaster to attempt to get up. "No, no, no ! " raved Mrs. Widgett, getting more and more violent now that she felt herself mistress of the situation, when the door was suddenly thrown open and Peter's landlady, Mrs. Bantam, entered the room. " Heyday ! What's all this noise about ? " inquired she, as she looked round in astonish- ment. "Oh, it's you, is it, Mrs. Widgett?" continued Mrs. Bantam, bustling up to that LITTLE BOBBLES AND HIS LANDLADY. 241 female, and looking her up and down witli great scorn and contempt. "And pray, if I may make so bold as to ask, what might you happen to want here ? " " That^s my business and none of yours/' retorted Mrs. Widgett sulkily, "If it's your business, it's my house, and the sooner you clear off out of it the better, and jast look sharp about it." And Mrs. Bantam commenced tucking up her sleeves above her elbows with great alacrity, pre- paratory to returning to her wash-tub, though it had very much the appearance of preparing for a fight. " Oh, Mrs. Bantam, ma'am,'' said Little Bobbles, appealing to Peter's landlady for pro- tection and aid against his unmerciful tormentress, the tears fast running down his cheeks. "Mrs. Widgett's got a paper of mine there, in her hand, and she won't give it up. And she knows it's mine, and none of hers at all." Mrs. Bantam unceremoniously pushed Little Bobbles out of her way. "Now, you look here. Mother Widgett," said VOL. I. E 242 BING AND CORONET. she, strutting boldly up to tlie female grenadier, "if you've got anything belonging to tbis little man here^ you'd best give it up to bim at once. It's not the first time you've taken a fancy to things tbat don't belong to you, and been in trouble for it too." " Why, you barefaced insulting woman ! " began Mrs. Widgett, making rather a poor attempt at plucking up a spirit. " Come, come, none of that, or it will be the worse for you," exclaimed Mrs. Bantam shortly. " Give the little man his paper and be off with you, I've no time to waste." "Let him give me the five pounds for it then." " Yes, yes ! Only give it me, good Mrs. Widgett, please," exclaimed Little Bobbles, eagerly rushing forward. Mrs. Bantam put her hand on Little Bobbles' shoulder and sent him spinning to the further end of the room. " He sha'n't give you the value of a penny- piece," she said, with a look of defiance at the old LITTLE BOBBLES AND EI8 LANDLADY. 243 poke-bonnet. " Come now, hand it over or it will be the worse for you." " Well, then, there," screamed Mrs. Widgett, finding she was getting considerably the worst of the game. " And much good may it do him ! " And tearing the precious paper into shreds, she flung them viciously from her as far as she possibly could, whilst Little Bobbles hastily precipitating himself on to the floor, commenced picking up the several fragments of his long lost treasure with eager haste. "Now you just take my advice, Mother Widgett,^ ^ Mrs. Bantam called out after that female, as she beat her discomfited retreat ; " send over all the things belonging to this young man to-day, mind, or there'll be a policeman down to-morrow to look after them. You ought to know by this time it isn't always convenient to be too fond of sticking to other people's property ; you've had plenty of experience, you know ! " " Oh, Mrs. Bantam, ma'am," began Little Bobbles, " I don't know how to thank you " " Then for goodness sake, my good man, don't 244 RING AND CORONET. begin," interrupted tlie bustling little woman, unceremoniously cutting bim sbort. " A nice fuss you've let that scraggy old sign-post make bere, and the poor old man so bad too. But there, what are you but a fool — a paid fool and a born fool into the bargain ? Still, if there's one thing on this earth more than another that I haven't patience with, and can't abear, I must say it is a fool." Then with a final tuck-up at her sleeves, she left the room to resume her place in the back kitchen at her wash-tub. END OF VOL. I. CHAELE8 DICKENS AND EVANS, CEISTAL FALACB PBESS. UNIVERSITY OF ILUN0I9-URBANA , MUtimti'anKmmi