CONTENTS OF VOL. LXIV. An Episode. By FLORENCE C. Armstrong A Great Bank Robbery: A Confession. By RICHARD 522 403 23 A Third Person. By B. M. CROKER. Chapters XIX. to XXX. In Town for a Week. By C. E. H. . Into Temptation. By A. PERRIN. Chapters XX to XXXVII. 198 Pride's Punishment. By A. E. NOBLE Social Life in Galicia, North Spain. By LOUISA MARY Some Poetical Landscape Painters. By C. WYNN WILLIAMS 464 Some Ways of the World: Bygone and Present. By W. W. FENN. No. V. . The British Sovereign Ladies of the Brunswick Dynasty. No. 3. -Charlotte of Mecklenburg, Consort of George III. 583 616 204 The Little Duchess. A Biographical Sketch. By R. M. NIEDER- HAUSER 172 LONDON SOCIETY. JULY, 1893. A Third Person. By B. M. CROKER, 66 Author of "PROPER PRIDE," DIANA BARRINGTON,' ""Two MASTERS,” "INTERFERENCE," ""A FAMILY LIKENESS," etc., etc. CHAPTER XIX. STEALING A MARCH. CHRISTMAS, however frosty, always seemed to thaw General Yaldwin's heart; he was liberal in tips, he made presents to his next-door neighbours, there was holly about the grim drawingroom, and a monster turkey hanging in the larder. On Christmas morning he actually kissed Rose-that is to say, he rubbed his moustache in the vicinity of her left eye-and told her that after breakfast she was to go and see what her grandmother had for her. A pair of gloves, or a veil, were the limit of her expectations, but she was wrong; the old lady, who was propped up in bed, with feeble hands and the intense sympathy of the nurse, placed a lovely sable boa round Rose's neck, and a pair of gold bangles on her wrists. Her granddaughter was in ecstasies; these were just the things she had always longed for; how could grandmamma guess? Grandmamma had consulted Annie Baggot, and these were the exultant results. As Miss Yaldwin, wearing her new boa, stepped out briskly through the snow, en route to church, that Christmas morning, she felt happy, and her happiness was reflected in her face. Roger was not in church, but as they walked home together, Annie had informed her that he was expected in the afternoon. Mrs. Skyler spoke a few words to the Yaldwins outside their gate, and stared long and fixedly at Rose. Certainly a sable boa looks to great advantage under a prettily rounded young chin, dress works wonders, and Mrs. Skyler felt more respect for the girl than she had ever done before. Roger arrived by the afternoon mail, and VOL. LXIV. NO. CCCLXXIX. I as soon as he had exchanged greetings with his relations and presented his offerings, he hastened in to No. 13. Surely on Christmas Day there could be no ill-feeling, and he was resolved not to stand any nonsense this time. Alas for his determination! Mrs. Skyler accompanied him, volunteered her escort in her pleasantest manner; imploring him in her playful way, "not to go without poor little me." In company with "poor little me," the visit was paid, and he saw his divinity looking prettier than ever, most fashionably dressed, and undoubtedly pleased to see him, but he scarcely succeeded in exchanging a dozen words with her. The general talked to him incessantly about army news, and the chances of a row on the frontier, and the prospect of an advance on Meshed or Herat ; the Transcaspian railway was discussed at great length, and Rose heard with dismay that Captain Hope expected to be ordered off at any moment ; there was a certain amount of conversation about stamps, and then Mrs. Skyler made a signal for departure, and alas! it had been just like any ordinary formal call, and Rose could have gone up to her own room and wept. But instead of this, she had to spend a couple of hours with her grandmother in order to allow the nurse to go and see her friends. As for Roger, he struggled frantically, but in vain, to break through the meshes in which Clara had once more entangled him. She appeared to have apportioned every hour of his day, and repeatedly reminded him that, "Your visit is to us, you know; your time is short, and we really cannot spare you." She laid herself out to charm him never so wisely; but she failed in her project when she threw out dark hints respecting a family disgrace next door, and mentioned in casual conversation, what an awful temper Rose Yaldwin had, and that she and her grandfather fought like a cat and dog, and it was all her fault, every one declared. But as Roger was behind the scenes, he was entrenched from these poisoned arrows as in a fastness, and he noticed that when his cousin recalled all her fair neighbour's unpleasant little attributes, she squinted in a most unbecoming manner, and he began to take a decided, though secret, aversion to the charming but malicious Clara. It was truly a case of so near and yet so far: when the general called he was unfortunately out, and when he escaped from Clara and hurried next door, the general was from home, and, face to face with Leach's grim visage, he could not ask for Miss Yaldwin. He seemed to be baffled so easily, that he could have laughed, only he felt quite desperate and furious. He had come down to Morpingham to see a certain girl, he had been four days in the next house, and only met her once and exchanged a dozen words with her. On the other hand, he saw more than enough of Clara Skyler; she sat over the fire with him, and talked to him confidentially, and flattered him discreetly; she took him for long walks, or to musical teas, and scarcely let him out of her sight. Mrs. Baggot and Annie looked on in the characters of neutral spectators, and marvelled to one another as to how it would all end? Clara was very strong, they knew, and a most determined woman; but could she marry a man against his will-a man who was desperately in love with a girl in the very next house? Alas, according to Mrs. Baggot's experience, such things had been. People may think Roger Hope a poor, weak-kneed creature, and a feeble-minded idiot, but he was nothing of the sort; unfortunately for him, he was not nearly as clever, or as full of resource (and lies) as his cousin, and he had a sensitive horror of hurting any one's feelings, especially a woman's; and when Clara appealed to him to take her out one day, and he had made a gallant stand, and politely excused himself, she had turned upon him a pair of eyes swimming in tears, and said in a broken voice, "There are so-so few people I really care for, so few who understand me, so few who sympathize with me, and I did think you and I were going to be such friends," and slowly then left the room, sobbing softly to herself. Of course Roger felt that he was a brute, and of course he apologized and "never did it again." After five blank days, fortune and fate smiled on him! He had cherished a distracted vision of waiting on the general, and formally asking for Miss Yaldwin's hand, but he had not obtained the young lady's views on the subject, and Clara had assured him that as long as he lived, the general would never permit Rose to marry. One drizzling afternoon, the captive escaped to the club, accompanied by Jacky, who had also revisited Morpingham. As he stood on the steps, he saw a girl laden with books hurry into the library across the street. In less than a minute he was beside her. "Miss Yaldwin," he exclaimed, "I am delighted to see you. Let me carry your books. You are exchanging them, of course? |