Our French Professor, . 352, 368, 385 773 'Dot,' Housekeeper, a, Man in Possession, a, ence in India, . Strange Story, Slight Scare, a, Inez, the Old Coaching-days, 759 Startling Adventures, VALENTINE STRANGE, a Story of the 33. Primrose Way.-By David Christie 28. A Messenger from the Bank, 460 29. 'I am afraid, Sir, it is talked Ants, Bees, and Wasps, by Sir 822 207 Gaelic Proverbs, edited by Sheriff 734 Herring and the Herring-fishery, 477 591 521 Notes and Jottings from Animal 466 32. 235 35. 36. 42. All Day, Hiram looked about 251 44. Ay!' cried Garling in a quiv- 284 45. Constance! maybe God will 46. Hiram,' she said dejectedly, 315 47. Mister,' said Hiram gravely, Heroes of Science, by Professor Life-work of John B. Gough, 276 Manual of Injurious Insects, by My Garden Wild, by Mr Heath, 134 George E. Davis, F.R.M.S.,. 407 Report on the City Day Census, 549 Antipodes, Meat from the, Good Living, Ascending Ben Nevis in Winter, Bess! a Character Sketch, Book Titles, Concerning, 'By Contract,' Cancale and its Fisheries, 696 343 199 Articles of 834 482 407 549 835 661 536 Conjurer Outwitted, the, 499 750 Case of Foster-nursing,. 263 Disease Germs, . 521 705, 720 English Universities en Fête, 639 Episode in the Life of a Poet, an Epping Forest, 118, 776 30 309 Larceny, 47 Londón, Odd Nooks of, 137 Felix Dean's Adventure, Friendship, a Word or Two upon, 728 99 Future of Road-travelling,. 311 374 Fishery Exhibitions, SO Going Forth to Labour (w. c.), . 313 249 Göttingen, Student-life at, . 119 Hedgehog, the Domesticated,. 65 Herring-fishery in Iceland,. 724 Highland Collie and her adopted 173 563 439 601 489 355 745 86 565 393 807 626 703 Indian Forest-notes, Ingenious Smugglers, the, 62 247 89 326 Kyrle Society, Lambeth Art Pottery, Life in Egypt, European, SOG 370 17 790 151 147 576 Marriage of Wards of Court, 771 441 Married Women's Property Act Mental Prescience, Curious In- Minor Stage, Reininiscences of Misapplied Virtues, 233 Mr Superintendent's Test, 824 231 229 Music, Royal College of,. · Luck,' Newgate Past and Present, 110, 126 New Zealand, Tea and Silk Farm- North Uist, Rod and Line in- 585 383, 552 Notes on Continental Travel, 787, 816 Obituary Curiosities, 701 370 103 761 86 Secrets of Success, 503 Servant-girl Question, Silkworm-farming in England and 553 Singular Delusions, some, 519 Slight Scare, a, 436 Small Folk's Postbag, 185 Snake-anecdotes, Page 530, 545 153 Sudden Deafness, 681 452 521 560 655 Relief of the Poor at Home and 161 Remarkable Dreams, more, 49 Typographical Trippings, 468 Road-travelling, the Future of, 311 Roaring Game, the [Curling], 30 Rod and Line in North Uist, 383, 552 Volcanoes, 468 Wards of Court, Marriage of, 771 Water, Simple Facts concerning, 338 112 Well of St Keyne, 264 429 Will Stout the Parish Beadle, Sea Stories for the Young, Seamy Side of Human Nature, 755 33 414, 462 Snake-poison, Experiments with, 71 679 Some Modern Changes, 708 Song and Sympathy, . 257 401 State Banquet in Madagascar, 580 Story of an Old Coat,. 215 309 831 374 • 178 390 87 670 Travelling Notes-South Africa, Trial of a Peer [Lord Cardigan], 263 17 713 True Story of Old Coaching-days, 811 270 216 483 441 466 613 361 LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART. CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS. No. 941.-VOL. XIX. POPULAR SATURDAY, JANUARY 7, 1882. PRICE 14d. VALENTINE STRANGE A STORY OF THE PRIMROSE WAY. BY DAVID CHRISTIE MURRAY, AUTHOR OF A LIFE'S ATONEMENT,' 'JOSEPH'S COAT,' &c. CHAPTER I.-HIRAM SEARCH. A DUSTY, hilly road wound up and down, here | renewed look of anxiety, he made another search in broad light, there in deep shadow. It was a in his waistcoat pockets; and again he smiled sweltering English summer day, and there was as he drew forth a single lucifer-match. Balancno wind; but a dry quiver was in the air at ing this between his finger and thumb, and times, as though the parched earth panted. The regarding it as though it were in some sort a birds chirped in feeble enjoyment of the drowsy curiosity, he opened his lips and broke into heat, and the grasshopper shrilled incessantly from speech. cool and tangled grasses. A lame traveller came toiling up a stiffish slope in the lane, bearing a bundle on his shoulder. The bundle, which was bare and scanty, was slung on a walking-stick with a crook at the end of it. Arrived at the top of the slope, the lame traveller sat down in shadow on a smooth table of rock which cropped out beneath an elder-bush. He was lank in build, and sallow in complexion. His nose and his beard were each long and pointed, his cheekbones were prominent, his cheeks sunken, and his eyes as bright as a hawk's. The stone on which he sat was in an English lane, and a true English landscape smiled and dozed around him; but he, though dressed in a commonplace English costume, was evidently foreign to the scene. In age he might have been anything from five-andtwenty to five-and-thirty. 'I dew not think,' he said, in slow distinct and nasal tones, 'as there was ever anybody in my fam'ly as was gifted with mi-racklous powers. The professed spiritualist is not an animal I feel called upon to admire. But if I am not an unwillin' medium, there never was, an' never will be, sech a phenomenon on the face of the universal globe. There ain't a breath of air stirrin' at this minute; but this is the last lucifermatch I have, an' I've on'y got to strike it to raise some gentle zephyr that'll just come round the one corner that ain't guarded an' blow it out. Now, that's a remarkable fact, an' illustraytive of my general luck. An' if anybody was to be here, an' I was to bet on the zephy the atmosphere would lie in dead stillness till this match had burned clean through, an' then most likely it'd blow a tornado just to rile me.' He spoke with a look and voice of weary gravity. "This old country ain't so thick crowded as I used to fancy; or if it is, it's my luck that drives the people off any road I happen to be travellin'. If this lucifer don't strike, or if it blows out, or the pipe won't draw, I shan't see a human creetur for ten mile. If by any chance I get a light, I shall prob'ly find a boxful on the road, immediately after. Ay, ay. Things re'ly air contrairy.' The seat he had taken being a low one, and his figure tall and gaunt, his knees were ungracefully prominent. He sat in an attitude of great fatigue, his head drooping, and his arms hanging loose at his sides. After a time, he shook off this broken look, and began to explore his waistcoat pockets with an aspect of anxiety. A smile crossed his features; and between finger and thumb he drew out a very little bit of twist tobacco. This he shredded with an enormous pocket-k, and packed carefully into the bowl ked clay-pipe. Then, with a of a He made grimly elaborate preparations for lighting the match. He took off his broad-brimmed felt hat, laid it above his knees, and drew himself back upon the stone until the hat and his legs made a little cave of safety for the lucifer. Then he rubbed the end of the match gently on a bit of roughened stone, and smiled to see the flame. He gave an anticipatory pull at his pipe, smiled again, bent above the light, and pulled gently till flame and tobacco just kissed each other. Then came disaster. If the weary traveller had turned his head, he might have seen through the parted boughs of the elder-bush a sun-tanned healthy face with a pair of honest gray eyes alive with fun. A young man clad in a suit of dark tweed lay with his elbows on the grass, with his chin supported on his hands. The band of his hat was stuck full of flies, and a disjointed fishing-rod lay on the grass beside him. The strap of his creel pulling tightly at his shoulder, seemed to indicate prosperity in sport. Close to his sun-tanned cheek were the hairy face, black muzzle, and glittering eye of a broken-haired terrier. The dog's hind-legs quivered with readiness to obey an expected order, and his black nose wrinkled and his eyes glittered as if he understood the coming mischief. At the critical second recorded, the young man slightly raised his head and gave an almost imperceptible wave of the right hand. With a bark and a leap the terrier flew through the hedge, and lighting on the traveller's shoulders for the fraction of a second, bounded over his head, twisted himself round and barked himself backward along the dusty road, recoiling at each explosion like a canine cannon. The traveller dropped the extinguished match and reached out in sudden anger for a stone. Before his hand had secured the missile, he drew it back again. "Tain't no use throwin' stones at Destiny,' he said resignedly. I might ha' been prepared for it. I'd rather it had been the gentle zephyr, though, because then I might ha' took credit for bein' a prophet. But even that consolation 'd be tew much for a man like me to look for.' The unseen auditor was grave, as if his jest had failed. There was even a slight look of shame upon his face. 'I meant to ha' made that smoke do for dinner,' soliloquised the traveller mournfully. He turned to one side and untied the lean bundle. 'Ridicalous small sum of money twopence is, ain't it? An' a ridicalous small amount o' bread an' cheese it buys. Wal, Hiram, you've played the prodigal; an' I reckon you'll ha' to come down to the swine-husks yet. Hand 'em in at once; I'm game for 'em. I'm holler enough to be ready to fill up with nigh a'most anythin'.-Hello! Air you hungry?' This query was addressed to the dog, who finding himself in safety, had at first sat down to bark in comfort; and now seeing the bundle open, crossed over to the traveller with something of the air of a friend dropping in casually to dine. The man broke off a small- -a very small piece of bread and offered it. The terrier walked round it, sniffed at it, winked at it with both eyes, then gravely seating himself in the dust, yawned and looked into space with a mighty pretence of not having seen the proffered bread at all, and of being there quite accidentally for some altogether different end. 'No,' said the traveller, deliberately masticating the rejected morsel; 'you air not hungry. When you air, you'll know better'n turn your nose up at dry bread. An' I'll tell you what 'tis, my ca-nine friend, I hope you never may be. Hunger's a real cruel thing for man or beast to suffer a real cruel thing it is. If you'd the brains to have the heart, you'd be nigh on cryin' to see a citizen of the Great Republic takin' his last meal with a hunderd an' fifty mile afore him, an' blank starvation at the end of it.-Goin', are you? Wal, good-bye. I s'pose my conversation's kind o' dull to a prosperous dog like you.' The dog saw what the traveller did not see; he saw his master rise noiselessly behind the hedge and slouch along beside it with wary footsteps; and he followed. The young man shook a warning finger at the terrier; and he, comprehending the sign, went quietly in his master's train. By-and-by the young man, being out of earshot of the lame traveller, began to run and the dog still kept at his heels. Reaching a stile, the master halted there, and kneeling in the grass, beckoned the dog to him. Then detaching a joint of the fishing-rod from the bundle, he motioned the terrier to take it. 'Home, at once!' he said with a warning finger raised once more. With a wag of the tail, the dog took the slender joint between his teeth and trotted gravely towards a lofty white house which stood upon the slope of a hill a mile away. The dog's master sat down upon the stile, and drawing from his pocket a well-stocked cigar-case, he began to smoke. The cigar-case bore a monogram and a crest; and its owner, though plainly attired, looked like an English gentleman from head to heel. His broad shoulders and deep chest gave indications of physical strength and soundness, and his tanned cheeks were ruddy with health. His face was not remarkably handsome, but he was goodlooking enough to pass in a crowd; and his bronzed hand swept now and again over moustache which gave character and manliness to his countenance. The carriage of his head was perhaps a trifle haughty; but he was an only son, and was accustomed to having his own way. That circumstance may have helped to decide the fashion in which he should carry his head on his shoulders. His figure was almost perfect in its combination of strength and grace; and there was that exquisitely clean and healthy look about him which is the especial attribute of the well-bred British man. When the lame traveller, having finished his scanty meal, came limping down the lane with the lean bundle still over his shoulder, he caught sight of the figure a hundred yards away, and scanned him with keen a eyes. 'Old country,' he said to himself voicelessly, 'boasts of a likely-lookin' sort o' people. Clean grit all through, some on 'em, an' lots of it, but no lumber. Now, that's a lord o' the sile, I reckon. Looks born to order other folks around while he slides along easy.' Then he caught sight of the cigar. Guess, I'll come on him for a light,' he said; and his lank hand sought the pocket in which his pipe reposed. 'No,' he continued in an irresolute voice; 'can't ventur on that bit o' consolation yet. I shall ha' to keep that for supper; but I may as well get a light, though.' He limped on with one gaunt arm jerking at his side, and with his scanty bundle |
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