Puck — July 18, 1877 — page 12: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“es foaves and a fusen, AN ENGLISH: STORY. (This Story was begun in No. 4. Back Numbers can be obtained at the office of PUCK, 13 North William st.) CHAPTER XV. ore NE morning there came a letter for Mi: Biron from:’Tom Reynolds. Mattie knew the writing and saw the post-mark. She dared not deliver the letter into her mis- tress’s hand. So great was her desire to know what that letter said, that for a moment she was tempted to steal it. It.was a straightforward business letter, with not a superfluous word, in which ‘om Reynolds begged to inform René that the nursery was in working order, the repairs finished, and the house furnished, and that her obedient servant waited for further commands. René left the letter on the table whilst she went to her room to answer it, knowing pretty well what would happen in her absence. Mattie crept into the deserted room, looked furtively round, espied the open letter, and pounced upon it. Ah, it was all true what her father had said in his letter to her. Miss Biron had assisted ‘Tom—perhap$ counseled him - to leave his fic- kle sweetheart for the more constant widow, ‘That explained her inquiry for particulars rela- tive to Mrs. ‘Tompson, Oh, it was cruel, cruel, cruel! is fine lady had no sympathy with a poor girl, and Tom could make no allowance for that poor girl being giddy and silly. No, no; ‘Tom was not to blame. He was always gentle and considerate and kind; but he was also a man, and would not forever subject him- self to her willful wickedness. He was good, and Mattie only was bad —a wicked, naughty, naughty girl! She ran to her room, and said this and more to her pillow. Not until midday dared she ap- pear before René, and then she kept her head averted as much as she might. “You look ill, Mattie,” said René. “Tam,” answered Mattie, shaking her head. “You knuw your way to the esplanade. ‘Take a book there, if you like; I shall not want you until the evening. Drummond may go with you—tell her so.” “Twould rather stay in my room, I Tam not well.” She sat down and fingered her apron in silence; presently her chin twitched, and the next moment she was crying again. René was touched with compassion; and tearing up the letter she had written, she went to the office and telegraphed to her gardener. In the evening a note was brought to René by Drummond, her maid. It was from Mattie. “If you please, 1 am very unhappy,” it said; “and if you will not be angry, 1 should like to go home to my father.” She was more composed the next morning, and René said: “You shall’ go home to-morrow, Mattie. I expect some one here in the course of the day who will perhaps be good enough to take care of you.” Mattie thanked her. “It is very kind of you to find any one to take care of me; but I can go home alone, if it is any trouble. I am not such a silly girl as I was.” . “If you alter so quickly, it is high time I sent you home. If you were to stay here much longer, your old friends might not know you. “They'll never know me as I was.” She stopped and twisted her fingers, thinking | that there was one who would: know her no more at all. PUCK. “ And you don’t care to make new friends of the gentlemen you meet here ?” Mattie shuddered. “Well, the friend who perhaps will take you home is not an Italian, he is an Englishman. ‘That reminds me that he isa stranger here, and possibly might have some difficulty in find- ing our hotel. I expect him by the train that arrives at six this evening. Do you think you could tell an English face amongst a crowd ?”” “Tt would be more difficult to help noticing aclean English face,amongst all these horrid foreign complexions. “Then go to the station, and if you hear a man with such a face asking questions, intro- duce yourself and bring him here.” It was a strange quest, and Mattie undertook it with a fluttering at her heart for which she could not account. In all probability there would be several Englishmen at the station, and how was she to discover the right one? and it was odd to have to introduce herself. And was it natural that Miss Biron should be so heartless as to treat her illness and return home in an off-hand manner, not even questioning her as to the origin of her unhappiness? No, no, she could not hope; and yet she viewed the slowly incoming train with’ such emotion that she had to cling to a pillar for support. Officials screamed, omnibus conductors shouted, travelers rushed about; but confusion had no effect upon Mattie. ‘Three English faces passed her, yet she took no notice of their inquiring voices. O God, there he is! His face all red and beaming, his fair hair curling down into the pink nape of his neck, his blue eyes looking over the heads of the puny foreigners, his best light Sunday suit on, and his linen as white as his teeth, She would have rushed to him, but that her legs refused to carry her; and there she stood shivering, as though she were alone, in the cold. ‘The pillar hid her, and he passed. Then he stopped to speak to a gendarme. O that fool of a soldier! he would neither understand plain English, nor give a plain straightforward intelligible answer. The man showed a telegram; the gendarme saw the ad- dress, and in about three thousand words, and as many varieties of gesture, explained the route ‘om Reynolds was to take. At the con- clusion ‘I'om closed his lips, put down his bag, and took off his hat, for the convenience of scratching his head. Some one took hold of his disengaged hand, and a meek little voice asked: “ Have you come to take me home ?” * * * ER XVI. ‘THe three asterisks at_ the conclusion of the preceding chapter I would have to suggest that seventh heaven into which reconciled lovers are transported. You and I have been there; but can you tell me, or I you, of the joys we felt? Look at each star for a minute, and recall the full, deep, boundless joy that throbbed from your breast into hers—from hers into yours—and then you will have a chapter such as | may never hope to write. Mattie and ‘Tom were married at an English church, and they returned to England through Switzerland, where ‘ftom made fun of every- thing which did not excite his ‘pity. But how changed everything was to Mattie! She could not have imagined a country so beautiful, so opposite of that through which she had come. C the glamour of happiness! s She clung to Tom as though she feared he might be torn from her if she relaxed her hold upon his arm; and looking sideways at him as they walked down grandes rues, it thrilled her with pleasure to see the evident pride he took in his young wife. People stared at him be- cause he was big and good-looking, and strutted along as if he felt himself king of England; but he conceived their atteption to be fixed on his wife, and the pride of Czsar thrilled to the roots of his hair. ‘As if it was to be,” said Mattie, the home- ward sea voyage was as delightful as the out- ward passage had been abominable. Not a wave bigger than Mattie’s hand disturbed the water; and getting behind a crate of goods, Tom held her by the waist so closely that she feared nothing. Enough. ‘They were the hours for which men fight and die, often in vain, René was delighted with the successful issue of her stratagem, and less because it flattered her vanity than on accouut of the satisfaction she felt in having actually done a thing which she considered good. Her young soul was in- stinct with simple, yet high, aspirations. She ished to*benefit others by her wealth; she ished to disseminate happiness by such means as she possessed. She hoped to be of use in the world, and to be recognized not merely as a beautiful creature, but as a good and lovable woman., She gravely regarded her money as a trust which she must use wel To her simple seeming, this union of ‘om and Mattic was, though slight, a good beginning to a good career. It put her in spirits, and made her eager to grow strong and healthy in body and mind, M. de Gaillefontaine was also pleased. He was entirely a well-wisher with René as far as her physical health was concerned; her moral condition was for future consideration. He had his own views on the subject. Perhaps he regarded severe morality as a disease which dis- appears with youth, or the temporary affection which forms a physical disability for pleasure. He had seen many men and women, and knew the peculiar phases which human nature takes on under various conditions, He listened with becoming gravity to the wishes which René at times expressed, and agreed entirely; and suggested that art and music and the drama presented a wide and a grand field for the exercise of her beneficence, but counseled that she should wait until her health was completely restored before she agi tated her mind upon so important a subject. He understood the girl thoroughly, and none was more fitted than he to guide her into the path which he wished to traverse. He studied her health like a physician, and gradually re- stored to her her wonted gayety and vivacity. His knowledge of Southern Europe was equal toa bagman’s; and as her health returned he trans- ported her from beautiful scenes of seclusion upon the Archipelago to the animated cities of Italy, He diverted her thoughts from herself, and was pleased to note at the end of a few months that she spoke less of unsatisfied desires than of her gratification with things in general. It_ delighted him also that she concerned her- Self less with the whereabouts of her cousin. She bought pictures of English artists wherever they were to be found, but in several instances she actually forgot to ask the painter if he knew Mr. Hugh Biron, an artist. It was not: remarkable she should forget him she had never seen, when every day new friends were intro- duced to her, in each of whom she found some- thing to interest her. Dull, uninfluenced by lively emotions, the eyes wander impartially over surrounding ob- jects, and see them as they are in their true proportions of light and shadow; searching with fear, they see only the darkness they dread; glancing with hope, they see but the brightness they desire. René’s vision had been in the first and second conditions, and was now in the happier third. Excitement prepared her mind to receive happy impressions, which, in comicbooks.com