, 1873-09-21
MILE. OLYMPIC ZABRlsKl.
a Pieco Of Club Gossip.

From tie dt1ant;c for October.

y
10 gosaip, NJ f .o ri" Itself, il 1t is sn, weze
Of tho gent!or acs, md coull by no chance 10 n
masculine recca,iillo. So far no my observation
goes, mon aro ~ mich Eivon to- smnil talk as
women, and IL is unloniab1o tint wo hnve pro-
tluccd tic highest typo Of gosBipor extant.
Wlerc will you ind. In Or out Of literature,
another such dro1 delightful, ohatty busybudy
ss Samuel pcpye, EHQ., seorotary to the Ad-
miraltv In tho reign Of thoso fortunate gent!o-
mon Charlca IT,. and Ja1nea II. Of England
11o is tho king Of tattlors as Blakspearo is the
kingof poets.
II 1t camo to 4 mattor Of pure gossip, would
back Our Club ngainBt tho Boroais or any
women's club in oxirtunce. Whenever you SEQ
In Our drawins-room four or five young fellows
loungipg in ensy-ci,airs, cigar in hand,
hnd now nna t!.eu bringing thcir hcHls
together over Tho Bn,all round Jnpnn-
cs6 table Which ia always tho pivot OF
theao social circles, you may bo suro they aro
discussing Toms engagement, or Dicks extrav-
aganco, or Nasry's hopo}ess passion for tho
younger Mius Flourdclya. It is hero that old
Tippleton geta ezecsnted for that everlasting
bon mot Of his which Was quito auccesa at din
nor-parties forty years ago; 1t is horo thobello Of
the soason paBscB undor tho scn'pe's- Of mefei"
lcns yoi'ng surgeons 1t ia hero D.a financial con-
hair stand oil end 1t is lerc,. In short, that
everything ia canvaeRcd; ;--ovorythinE that hap
rens in our SGT, I mean, mitch that never lap
pens, and great dea 'Gnt could not posa'th,ly
particulars Of tho Van Twiller affair. -..:.,.
It was grcat entertainment to Our Club, tho
Van Twillor affair, though Il waa rather joyloFa
tbing, fancy, Tor Van Twillor Io understand a9
Ralph Van Tniller ls one Of the p1oudcst andmost
sensitive mon living. 1Io iB 1inea descendants ct
Woutor Van Twiller, tho famoua old Dutch Gov.
ernor Of Now York, k,-NIeuw Amsterdam. es 1t
was then ; his ancestors have always been Bur-
gomasters or Adntirals or Generals, md nis
mothor il tke Mis-. Vanrena.olaer Vnnzandt Van
Tui1lor whose magnificent place will be pointed
ont to you on the right bank Of tho Hudson, az
yon rnss up tho historic river towards Idlowild.
halph is about 25 yoars old. Birth nado him
gentleman, and tho rice Of roal cssatc-aome OF
it in the family since tue old Governors time
that stepped jn and mado him good fellow
also. Fortune, take 1t, Was in her most jocund
mood when she heapod her gifts In this fashion
on Van Twillcr, who was, and will be agaln,
whou this cloud blows over, the hower OF Our
Club.
About d year ago there came whlsper-if tho
word q whisper" Ia not too harsh term to ap-
ply to what seemed mere breath floating gently
through the atmosphere OF tho billiard-room-
impnrting tho intelligence that Van Twiller was
in rome kind Of trouble. just aa evorybody sud
denly takcs to wearing equnro-toed boots, Or to
drawing his neckscart though ring, so 1t be-
collce1ted agreement, for everybody to speak Of
Van Twllor aB uann in Some way under cloud.
But what the cloud WINS, and how he got under it.
mud why he did not get away from it, were points
TINT lifted themselves into tho realm Of pure
conjecture. There was man In tho Club with
Strong enough wing to his Imagination to soar to
the HuppoBition that Van 1willor waR embarrassed
in monoy matters. Was ho in love That up
pcn1cd near}y as impossible for il he lad boen
In love all tho world~that IL, perhaps hundred
first families-would lnvo known nil about 1t i'll
Btantly.
He has the symptoms" said Delaney, laugh;
Ing: II remember onco whom Jack Flcmn1i1lg-"'
"Ecl!" cried Flens1ning, " protest against
any nllusion to- that business"
Ibis was QUO night when Van TwiIer had
wandered into the Club. turned over the magh-
zines absently in tho rcading-ro9m, and wa1a-
dered out again without spcaking ten. woIds.
The most cai eleRs eye would l.ago remarked tue
great change that hid como over Van IwAler.
with Blot Harto Or John nay, Of stop to cl,at a
tnomcut in the ycstiEulo with WhitelnW 1oid ;
hut he waa an aItelcd man. When at Tho club,
Ao Was usually to be found i'll ilo small snok.
nsleep, with tho lakt number Of the Nation in
his lund. Onco ii ynu went to two or three
places of an evening, you were corta1n to meet
Van Twilef at tleln hl. You seldom met him
By and by cnmo whisrer number iwo,.. a whfa..
rcr mo1 10 emphatic tbnll number enc, but still
nnsraceaLle to- any tangible m1uth-piece. This
time the whisper bnid Ann Twiller 9rGs n loye.
Ent with wlltin The 1ist Of possible Mrs. PGr
1sillorH VAS carefully examined BY experienced
hands, and check pluced against a. fine old
knicke1Gorker hclc md there, but nothing sata.
facioly airiycd nj. lien that tame. still small
voice If rn1nor, but now With an easily detected
stnccnto ELairuets to it., enid that Fnn Iwiller
Nas in lo>c--wi,h an actrees!' Van Iwillcr,
whom it led taken all theHo years and nil tnia
watto of raw lnatciial In TIC Mny Of Of ancestors {,
ri, nil Hntf II m
net result and flower Ct his face, tic descendant
OF Nunter. Tie gon Of Mrs. Vaurensse1aer Van;
zandt Van T"illot,-in love with M actrcss
That waH loo ridiculous to be beloved, d,--And ae
everybody believed it.
Six or seven mcmlcra Of tho club abruptly
discovered in themselves an unsuspccted latent
passion for the hissriono art. In Eqaada Of tWc
9r three they aosed os eha waaa 81 n
tlciD, and tho Grand Opera-Houso. Even th'
shabby homes Of the tru1na over in the Bowery
where tho Gc,1nanio Ihespius haH not taAen ou
biz naturalization pnpors, underwent rigid ex
plo5at,on But no cluo WIS found to Van Twill
10, 3 mysterious attachment. The opera 1ott0e
Shich promised Tho widest f1eld Tor investiga
lion, produced abEolutely nothlne, not even
crop Of BuBpicionB. Ono ,isht, after seve1a
WceAa Of this, Delaney and Iancicd VIC cnugh
n glimpse Of Van Twiller in tue priyate-box o
M uptown theatro, where so1no thrilling tEa
pczo performance wab going on, which wo dt
not caro- to sit through hut We conoludc
afterwards it was ouls somebody that loose.
like him.. Delaney, by the way, was un1lauall
active in this search. I dare eay lie never quit
forgave Van Twillor for calling him Muslin Do
laney. Ned III loud OF laGieB' society, aud TINT
R fact.
The Cimmerian darltnoss which surrounde
Van Twiller'B ua,noratA left us free to indu!g
In tho widest co,'jocturcs. Whether sho wa
back-tresaed Melromene, with bowl aud dagger
OF Thalia, with the fair hair aud laughing face
WAS only to be guessed ht. 1t VAS popularl
conceded, howoser, that Van Iwiller WAS Oh th
point Of forming dreadful mes9iliance.
larry. Suddenly he ceased to appear. Ho wa
not to be seen Oh broadway, or in The Centra
park, or at the housea he generally frequentec
they weye-on Thirty fourth street we're deser!
ed He had dropped out Of the world, shot lik
bright particular star from hlH orbit in th
heaven Of the hest society.
"Wheres Van Twtl!er"