Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-10-18
AN INTERESTING STORY.
a Trip Round the Isle of Wight.
! fbaa Sidoa and sealed the last Of d

Trip Round the Isle of Wight
Ihad foidod and sealed the last Of d
huge pile Of letters, wiped my quill pea
and turned the key in the lock of the
heavy, ink-stained desk before me, ano
now 1 impatiently pushed back my chair
stretched my legs, and ran my fingers
through my hair with a half uttered ex-
clamaiion of WEAKNESS.
IN Il WAS hot oppressive afternoon.
Ear of, perhaps, smOng country fields
and woods, it might be fair and fresh
enough; but here, the sun streaming
through the dimmed glass only served
to show the dull, discolOred walls, the
faded carpets and chairs, and the dusty
lawyers books upon the shelves. Aay,
even if had turned TO the window, L
knew that I should have seen only the
grey-fagged pavement rejecting back
the glare, and beyond, inclosing the
court on every side, grim rows Of houses,
like to that was then inhabitines But
did not 20 near the window; sat on
gloomily, biting the feather OF my quill,
and wondering in what mad moment /,
rakora aud bred eeuatry lad, hsdchsiHed
myself down to a lawyers desk. True,
the opening had been too good a one for
a poor parsons son to make fright Of /;
but yet, when l recalled the fishing and
the cricket, the bathe in the bright
letneam on. a summers morning, and al
the past joys Of my life, and then turned
60 the present, l was fain to sigh. l
had been hardly used to.
The lawyer into whose hands I had
fallen was vell-meaning maa, bat with
sundry queer Ehims of his own. BE
took me on the most liberal terms, and
treated me well, but he kept me very
close to the desk, and insisted that the
first eighteen months l should expect
no holiday. "Those jaunts, he said,
ssonly unsettled boy, and made him un-
fit to work; and though my mother
pleaded that eighteen months was weary
while, he turned a deaf ear. -.
So there I was, at the end Of n IF
teenth month, pining in my IEfoomy
London prison, and verify sickening f ,
some change.
= a sharp tap at the door, and thea s
brown, weather beaten face peeped in.
Am l right? All, Charliel"
l sPrang TO my feet with delight.
q Frank, hurrah Who would shsve
thought of seeing you?
81 told you should come, didn'tI?"
he replied.
"Ay, and so did lots Of other fellows,
said ] " but yours is the frat Of the
old school-faces I've seen in this den"
4" Den, indeed - said he. =" This sti-
fling smoky London air makes me pant
FOR the sea. But now, turn around and
let me inspect you. +" .-. .-.-# -r
We stood facing one another, gazing
up eagerly into the face which was
closely scrutinizing mine He was some
eight years my senior, and had been
head boy at Marlborough when l frst
went there. He was a sort of distant
cousin, too, and had taken me up and
petted me; and as his people lived
near, he often, after he had left the
school, had me over there, and gave me
q taste of rat hunting and rabbit shoot
ing. Perhaps he liked my worship for
! was MS faithful and untiriog follower,
and TO be ike him was my grand ambi-
ton. Alas in outward things, at least,
veFsre sufficiently unlike for be was.
the owner ofa pretty place in the West
Country, round IS, GOO per annum and
last, but not least, "a clipping cutter
yacht, in which, ono never-to- be-forgot-
ten summer holiday, l had gone cut sail
ing with him.
"Charlie, Charlie, he said, dropping
my band at last, and shaking his head at
nae, that's not the face eIpeeied to
see. What do you mean BY those SAL
low cheeks, and the great circles round
your eyes? Is it work, old boy, or ia it
cards and theaters?n
-f"Not much of that, Frank, laughed
Mr.. Lucas keeps Inc too tight. You
know be promised my mother to look
after me, and he would be scared at the
bare notion of play, and doesn't know
r knave from king.
Well, at least / hope he does not de-
vote your evenings 10 drawing out leases
and making wills ~ .-a=. ~
Oh, no; be leaves me 10 myself after
o!5ce hours, if he knows where | m to be
founG. I'm not oYerworked, but I'm 50
sick of II all" and, to my own surprise,
no less than l=y companion's, the tears
rushed tony eyes. y /. q , ~h3 90
think it must have been the familiar
voice, the warm, CHEEKY tone, unbeard
COZ for nearly two years, which broke
me down /, however. recovered my
self in q moment, ashamed to have been
such d baby.
Never mind me and ny work" said
l. "Tell ne what yop have been do
ing"
- Taking run alosg the French coast,
and jubt dropping in at the Channel
islands, cruising here, there and every
where. I'm of again tomorrow, but
that's to be only lsdy's trip-round the
Isle Of Wight snd home again Byltbe-
by, Charhe,P he broke OF eagerly, 9 why
shouldn't you come too i would Do you !
all the good in thewotld. Let me see,
to-mOn0ws Tdesdays you could be
back again by Wednesday afternoon, so
your respected master could not grum-
bic" .Tz1 -lEE uHoca.ff ~ on
WouldA'tc he7" said |, sighingi
q bat what fun it would be "a
tsFnnl9 SAID he; " of course il would,
aud shall be, too. I've an uncle and
two cousins going with me, but there's
a bit of berth in a .eesner which viii /
Just hold you IThs girlstre as nice and
as pretty a. they can be- and) for their
sakes Fm going to put up with their
venerable fsiher, who, 20 tell the truth,
a. ssmstking-of . sannuagson. 10 be