Puck — December 18, 1878 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

PUCK. II A ROMANCE OVER WHITEBAIT. MRS. ADOLPHE SMITH IN “ TINSLEY’S MAG- AZINE.” eA = ““c Ke done it, Glyde!” cried Edmund Dudley, as he entered his friend Glyde’s rooms in Bond Street on a brilliant June morning. ‘Do you mean to say that you have not had your breakfast yet?” «Now, don’t talk, but have a kidney while it’s hot,” responded Glyde, pushing a chair to- wards his friend, and indicating the dish he had mentioned. “No, no, my dear fellow,” said Dudley, sinking into a chair, “I can’t eat.” “Can you drink?” asked Glyde laconically, « Yes, I fancy so,” replied Dudley moodily. “Then all is not yet lost. Don’t howl and rail at your fate, and so on, if you can still en- joy your weed and your peg,” said Glyde. He finished his breakfast tranquilly, and when he had lit his cigar, he said: “What is it that you have done, Dudley? Murdered your tailor because of a misfit?” “T’ve proposed to the girl I mentioned to you,” said Dudley, almost sullenly. Glyde gave a long whistle. “Oh, I see,” he muttered; ‘and you have been accepted ?” Dudley nodded, and went on smoking in si- lence, 5 “Tdon'tsee, however,” said Glyde presently, “why you should not look at the matter more cheerfully. Of course matrimony is a nuisance, because it is a tie, and one loses the pleasant sense of irresponsibility, which is the greatest charm of life, I think. But if you begin as you mean to go on, there is no reason why she should be too much of atie upon you. And then, think of the neat sum of money she re- presents.” “T know, I know,” said Dudley fretfully; “ but just think of what all the fellows will go about and say of me everywhere—that I am mercenary, and that I am marrying in order to pay my debts.” * As to that, you know,” said Gly: men tell the truth there is nothing “But the point is that men, and much less women, never do tell the truth, unless it be un- pleasant,” said Dudley.‘ There are plenty of truths about me that I should rather like to be circulated in society; but depend upon it, not a word will ever be breathed but about the one incident I would rather have kept quiet.” “ When did you do it?” asked Glyde. “ Yesterday evening,” said Dudley, his tone and aspect by no means those of an accepted lover. ‘We were at the Pomeroys together; so I took her into the conservatory, and swore, till Iwas black in the face, that my very life depended upon her answer. I thought at first that she was laughing at me; but at all events she accepted me; so it does not much matter whether she were laughing or not laughing.” “ But what do you suppose was her reason for accepting you?” said Glyde. « Pm sure I can’t tell,” said Dudley—* that's the most extraordinary part of it all.’” Here Glyde burst into a hearty laugh. “You're a convivial suitor, I must own,” he exclaimed, “and I hope—” But his aspirations were never revealed; for at that moment a third young man entered Glyde’s room; crying: “ Glyde, I've got a little party on to-day at Greenwich. Will you join us?” “Very sorry, dear boy,” responded Glyde gravely; “but the calls of friendship are im- perative, you know. I must stand by Dudley here in his affliction.” , when “I beg your pardon, Dudley,” said the new- comer; ‘I didn’t see you at first. How do you do? What's the matter—have you lost any one?” “Oh, no; quite the contrary,” said Clyde; “he’s won some one—that’s what is the matter with him, He has consented to try a remedy for his ills in the form of matrimony; and though the pill be gilded with sixty thousand pounds, it sticks in his throat. We had better take him down to Greenwich, Russell; he will soon regain his spirits with us.” In vain Dudley protested that he had pro- mised to call on Miss Lovel that very after- noon. His friends would hear no excuse. ‘They forced him to write a note to her, plead- ing a previous engagement, and they insisted on his joining the merry, if not strictly reputa- ble, party to Greenwich. Dudley was presently the gayest of the gay, and forgot his new duties and responsibilities in the piquant conversational charm of certain “light” ladies. The party consisted of four men and two women; and when they all reached the Trafal- gar, and a privateroom was suggested, the fem- inine element strongly resisted the idea. “We do not want to hide ourselves,” cried Mile. Tata. “Nor our cavaliers,” said Mlle. Toto. So a table was taken in the public room by the wall and near the window, The ladies, having divested themselves of their wraps, seated themselves at the table, and prepared to have “a good time.” Russell, and his bosom friend Hobson, who were the hosts, ordered a considerable quantity of wine; and jokes were falling so thick and fast that the laughter of the party attracted general attention. At one moment there was a sudden influx of visitors; and Dudley, who was bending towards Mlle. Tata with great em- pressement, did not notice the new arrivals as they entered. He was sitting with his back to the public, and consequently could see very little of that which was going on in the room. “By Jove! what a handsome girl!” cried Russell, who was opposite Dudley, as he looked straight over Dudley’s shoulder. The other inen signifying their concurrence in the opin- ion, Dudley turned round. His face fell considerably as he recognized in the object of his friend’s admiration Bea- trice Lovel, his betrothed! She was alone, with her father only a yard or two off; and as he realized this bewildering state uf things his eyes met hers and she smiled and bowed, while he responded with an awkward nod, muttering to himself that he was the unluckiest dog alive. From that moment all Dudley's vivacity and enjoyment were over. He exerted himself by fits and starts to talk and laugh. He tried to resume his jokes and absurdities, he was assidu- ous in passing the wine, he paid the most forced compliments to his pretty neighbor, he related the wildest anecdotes; but there was no real animation in it all, and the boisterous party soon began to joke him about his sudden digression. “Dudley, you must have seen a ghost,” said one. “Ora creditor,” said another. “Or the pater,” suggested a third, “Perhaps Mr. Dudley thinks his wife is not far off,” hazarded Mlle. Toto, with a malicious smile. “Impossible,” I assure you,” began Dudley. “Because he’s not married yet,” added Glyde significantly. “I see,” said Mile. Tata; ‘ then perhaps he has seen a vision of the chosen fair one. That would of course be very terrible, especially if Mr. Dudley were considering matrimony as a genteel form of bankruptcy.” ‘There was a general laugh at Mlle. Tata's speech and Dudley muttered to himself that they were all deucedly ill-bred, and that he was deucedly sorry he had ever consented to join the expedition, His game was of course entirely up; Miss Lovel would never forgive him—women were invariably severe on such matters—the sixty thousand pounds had disap- peared, as far as he was concerned; and not only was he distressed about the money, but he felt a vague and lingering regret which he would have been puzzled to define. What could he do to mend matters? he asked him- self again and again. He could not leave his party and join the Lovels: to begin with, it would be monstrously ill-bred on his part; also, Miss Lovel would certainly not receive him well; and he should only be laughed at generally. Yet it would be decidedly unpleasant to see her leave the room with her father, and to know that she had made up her mind to throw him over, He was utterly bewildered; and in order to get rid of the tiresome influence of these thoughts, he helped himself copiously to champagne, and certainly succeeded in mak- ing his troubles seem lighter. In the meantime, the young lady at the neighboring table had been by no means un- observant. She and her father had only been seated a few moments when she leant across to him and asked: “Do you see whom we have close to us, papa dear?” Mr. Lovel, who was a good-hearted, easy- going man in everything disconnected with the business in which he had made his fortune, had seen his future son-in-law immediately on en- tering the room, but would not have drawn his daughter's attention to the fact. “Well, yes, my dear, I do see,” he answered now. “ But what’s to be done, papa?” inquired Miss Lovel. “T can really hardly say,” answered Mr. Lovel tentatively. “ What do you think of it?” “T think, then, we won't talk of it just now, papa dear,” replied the young lady decisively. “You shall have your dinner in peace, and will return to the subject after the whitebai “So be it,” said Mr. Lovel, nothing loth; and the father and daughter went very tran- quilly through the lengthy list of dishes, dis- turbed only now and then by the boisterous merriment at the tabie beside them, When the four successive dishes of whitebait had been placed before them, and the exquisite fish in their different dresses had been duly tasted, Beatrice Lovel said quietly to her father: “T hope you don’t feel very angry with Mr, Dudley, papa, because of his being with that party—a very mixed party, is it not?” « Well, my child, the party certainly is mixed —indeed, excessively mized—and I'm afraid there is very little character to speak of at the table,” replied Mr. Lovel, glancing discreetly at Dudley's companions as he spoke; “still, 1 am not so irate at Mr. Dudley’s behavior as some persons might be. You see, young men will be young men. But I wouldn't have you distress yourself on the subject. You know young men are led into things without think- ing.” §; I know, papa,” said Miss Lovel, “and that is why I am not inclined to be so severe, The thing is, that if we are judicious, we may save him from future harm.” “God bless my soul!” muttered Mr. Lovel, looking up at his daughter in amazement, “I never heard such a generous speech come from a woman before.” “But do you think I am wrong, papa?” asked Miss Lovel. “ Certainly not, my dear,” replied her father. “T think that if women could more often be as liberal young men would not be so unman- ageable. Still, I don't quite understand what comicbooks.com