The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-12-13
BELLING THE CAT.

come, paid him by a grateful nation, Tor
six hours attendance daily in the Wafer
Department of Somerset House, was sup
plemented by an almost equal amount ac-
cruing from private property, and he had
married the object of his hearts alteration,
one of the prettiest girls in all England,
to-wit: Felicia Hope; but that plaguy con-
junction generally steps in as an alloy
but Felicia's mother had permanently taken
up her abode in the neat little house at
Bayswater which Val had provided for his
living treasure.
Felicia was the only offspring of her
mothers union with the late Col. Hope, of
the Bombay, N. l., and had left India but
a year when mischievous Cupid threw her
in the way of Val Hardy. They met, they
loved; he proposed, and she accepted him.
1t was quite a love match; Walls income
was not sufficient to make it worth the
while of a dashing brunette to wed him
solely for that; and, on the other hand,
Mrs. Hope had just enough to maintain
her position in the world.
Felicias mamma was still in what some
persons term the prime of womanhood;
she was not vain enough to think she could
pass for her daughters elder sister, but
few would have taken her to have reached
the age of forty-two. Her husband twenty
two years previously had fallen in love
with her tender brown eyes and rose tint
ed-cheeks; even now the eyes had not lost
their old expression; and though the hot
Indian sun had driven away the former
fresh, healthy look, leaving in Its place a
more subdued in tone, Mrs. Hope was still
a very attractive woman. Grizzled Cole
nels and tanned Majors, who knew her
amiability, womanly sympathy, and devo-
ton to their deceased comrade, had more
than once limited that the matrimonial
market was still open to her; and jealousy
and heart burning had i'eigned in the little
settlement of Borriogboolah Cha, up the
country, ere the Colonefs widow and her
only child resolved to return to England.
But Mrs. Hope smiled sadly and shook her
head; she was deaf to all flattery; the
citadel of her love was impregnable, and
her future now was bound up in the happi-
ness of her child. At one time-soon after
the Colonel and his wife arrived out, when
her spirits were less bueyant than they had
been of late years-there was rumor
that, had her wishes been consulted, she
would far rather have been the spouse of a
certain civilian in England than have
iourneyed to India the bride of Col. Hope.
This, however, was only rumor, born no
one knew where or how; and when her new
acquaintance witnessed her assiduity to
her husband, and saw the color returning
to her cheek, the rumor died away in the
obscurity in which it had arisen; certainly
it had never reached the ears of Felicia.
The day Val Hardy sought the consent
Of Mrs. Hope to the marriage was probably
one of the most miserable the trio had ever
spent. Val, who really was soft hearted
fellow, despite his burly form and thick
IluSJdCIlt,) NHtu llC WilICSSCu luC CulOllOu
Of his future mother in law, considered
himself one of the most despicable Great
ures in the world. Mrs. Hope amid her
tears told him of the yearning love with
which she had watched the growth of her
offspring from infancy to childhood, and
thence to blushing, blooming womanhood,
and hoy she had hoped they might have
spent many future years together; at
which the young lover felt his own eyes
moistening, and stammered forth the sug
gestion, that though Felicia was about to
become his wife, the mother and daue liter
might still remain undivided. Mrs. Hope
shook her bea,,'. hAnnaforth, she said,
st care must be for her husband,
as hers had been twenty-five years oe1ore
that for him she should sacr;!,ce inc nome
and friends of her youth, existing, trusting
only in his love; the struggle of separation
would be great, but she must nerve herself
as she had done for former trials, and-aal
but here Mrs. Hope fairly broke down,
and could say no more.
Now, under these circumstances, Eals
sympathetic nature could not do less than
repeat that the desire to separate Felicia
from the tender guardian of her youth was
farthest from him; he trusted-nay, would
take it as special favor, if Mrs. Hope
would take up her abode with them. He
called upon Felicia to aid him in his plead
ing. The young people knelt before the
distressed matron, whose face was buried
in the sofa pillows, and the result of this
little episode was that when Val took his
leave at night it was thoroughly under
stood thing that Mrs. Hope was to merge
her home into that of her daughter.
Walls relatives were few, and were scat
tered over various parts Of the world; SO
he confided-for a young lover must dis
close his hopes and fears to some one
many of the aspirations of his heart to q
certain Herbert Price, who Glanced to
belong to the same social club which Val
entine in his early manhood had been in
duccd to join. Price was many years his
friends senior-indeed, he confessed lie
was over forty-and though their occupa-
tions were dissimilar, Price being con-
tributor of leaders y and "reyiews" to
a newspaper, and having to work hard for
limited amount of pay, a certain sym
pathy, speedily ripening into friend, hip.
sprang up between them. The journalist
was bachelor, living in musty chambers
in a street off the Strand, and Val knew
nothing of his early career, friends or con-
nections; but whenever the young fellow
was in any strait, he always found Price
able to put him in the right road to extri-
cate himself Price was not clever man:
but he had met with many disappoint,
ments and difficulties on his way through
life, and had thereby gained all experience
and worldly knowledge not to be attained
by those curled darlings whose path
through the world lies smooth and invit
ing. Herbert Price had trodden many
rough pebbles in his time, and had still a
recollection of their unpleasantness. To