Part 27 (1/2)
”Hallo, Musgrave! We were expecting you to-night or to-ht Well, how are you? How many Gaikas did you bowl over, and all the rest of it?”
There was no s, anyway And the swift glad flash of intense joy in Mona's eyes, and the pressure of her fingers told all that could have been told had their lass of grog, Musgrave,” went on Suffield, ”and tell us the news froh, by the way, that'll keep till after I've counted in There's Booi's flock nearly here already, I see
Never mind We'll have our _sobje_ anyhow”
There was so in the situation that reminded Roden of his first visit here; for Suffield soon departed to look after his sheep, and his wife did likewise to see to her la him alone with Mona Hoell he relow, the sarace of that splendid figure standing there by the openoutlined against the roseate sky
Even now that thefor was come, he hesitated to break the witchery of the spell, to disturb the unrivalled beauty of the picture
She turned fro into each other's eyes, and then--the pro, darling!” shesweet erip that was alain I did not believe it was in me to think so much, to suffer so much, on account of any one--any one Oh, Heaven! how I have suffered! One night--the night before last--I had such a frightful dreaer I could see you, and you were lying asleep in a dim and shadowy place, and I could not warn you, could not raise my voice, could not utter a word Hideous shapes, horrors untold were creeping up, crowding about you; still I could not speak Then the spell was broken, and I called aloud, and woke up to findthere in the doorway looking the very picture of scare For I really did call out”
A strange, eerie sensation crept over her listener What sort of poas this--of separating soul fro the mere ordinary unconsciousness produced by slumber?
”And that drea of my life, Mona Listen, now” And then he told exactly how he had lain asleep in the deserted house, and how, thrilled by the startling accents of her anguished voice in the ht silence, the vision of her troubled countenance, he had awakened barely in time to escape certain death The hour coincided exactly
”Hoas I dressed?” whispered Mona, a strong awe subduing her voice, as she gazed at hi somewhat
”The vision was more or less indefinite, all but the face Yet you were in white, with flowing hair, as on that night when you braved everything to try and et my bruised and battered condition in sleep”
”It is--is rather awful,” she whispered, with a shudder ”But in every detail the--the picture corresponds--ti, surely your life is ivenAnd then, running like a strand through the entranceht of what such a consideration al tie least of all This was one thing; but love united, with its hundred and one petty, uphill struggles and hardshi+ps, its fa contempt, its daily friction of teh to see only the enchantment of the moment, all deliriously sweet as this was The other side of the picture would obtrude itself--disillusion, life soured Nothing lasts; nothing which is real, that is Such moments as this, such transitory blissful moments of a fool's paradise, ca this life could afford; yet even they were dashed by the consciousness, the certainty, that they were nothing e beads constitute the whole rosary; happy indeed were it, if the proportionate parallel held good, and that one great joy were allowed for every decade of sorrow, and disillusionment, and deadness and pain
Greatly concerned was the household on learning the approaching transfer of Mr Van Stolz, of whoht have been pleased to create a ood sort, but that He hadn't
”So he's going to Barabastadt, you say, Mr Musgrave?” said Grace ”We ain, then There are soo and stay with them sometimes”
”Up there! Why, they're about sixty ot a place called Ka is heavenly”
”And the second family is the reverse,” said Mona Then, for Roden's benefit ”There's a second wife and two unutterably detestable step-daughters, and between the three they've ed to oust poor Ida, who is dear old John's only child She was sent to England to be educated We were great friends when I was over there last, though I aood deal older than she is”
To the credit of Doppersdorp be it said, it likeas greatly concerned over the departure of Mr Van Stolz; and if that genial official had ever felt doubts as to his widespread popularity, no further rooret which iving public expression to this, a banquet on such a scale was organised at the Barkly Hotel, as to inspire in the coovernhly popular officials to Doppersdorp, providing at the same time for their transfer at least every threethat historic entertainreatwas of deliberate purpose, and of ; and now he not only cheerfully perforely of the infantile porker, in direct defiance of his tormentors and of the law of Moses; and how the thunders of applause which greeted the toast of the guest of the evening, caused Jones to treulphed in a fate sion; and how Roden Musgrave, responding for The Civil Service, waxed so eloquent upon the virtues of his departing chief, as to draw froe-whispered remark, that ”butter seeraven in the annals of Doppersdorp, which is the Centre of the Earth? How, too, many of the assembled worthies, those who ate peas with their knives, and those who did not, finished up the evening by getting gloriously drunk, the anxiety of who only defeated by those whose regard for that official's valuable existence, even though it should thenceforward be spent elsewhere, was of a practical nature;--this, too, we regret to say, is likewise faithfully recorded a the archives aforesaid But the enthusiashly demonstrative, not to say uproarious, was, for once in a way, very real
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
”WHO KNEW NOT JOSEPH”
Mr Frederick Roistrate of Doppersdorp, was in every respect a direct antithesis of the old one
In aspect he was a square-built, rizzled hair, and rather thin, short beard, prominent nose, and cold blue eyes; adistinctly that in the speaker's htest consideration in all the world--viz, that of Mr Frederick Roht, one whose ht be termed brusque for the sake of euphemy, but which so offensive; a eniality or kindly feeling; a cold, flaccid, mental jelly fish
The flourish of trumpets which had enveloped the departure of his predecessor was an offence to hi the certainty of a very different farewell, when his own time should come In this spirit he went closely into all connected with the office, hoping to discover so ht as well have tried to chip a sobll out of the rave he took an intense dislike, which he exhibited in first pointedly wondering at finding a e in that position; an inore