The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-09-24
MIR. BEVEL'S HOBBY.

It was in quaint, old-fashioned
quarter of London that old Mr. Bevel
lived. He had been young, Mr.. Bevel,
in his time, when the quarter was not
so quaint. nor the street so shabby,
though even then the irresistible reflux
of fashion had begun to set iE another
direction. But gentility fingered after
fashion was past, and when Mr.. Bevel
installed his bride in her new home, the
region was still spoken of as "eminently
respectable" Alas! nobody called it re-
spectacle now. The very fact of resi-
dence there implied a certain ignomy--a
fact understood and resented by all the
Bevel family except its bead. Even Mrs:
Bevel, who, when first transplapted
thither from her country surroundings,
had looked upol the London residence
as unspeakable promotion, regarded it
now with q contemptuous dlsfavor,
which was instigated and egged on by
her sons and daughters.
at is really quite too bad declared
Maud, the eldcst-born and beauty of the
family. "I'm absolutely ash med to
let Arthur come and see me. 1t might
be enough to lose him his place in
society,""
Arthur" was Maud's fiancee, Arthur
Brook, and the society thus imposingly
alluded to consisted Of his fellow clerks
in one of the lesser public offices-a linn
tied though stylish circle in the
neighborhood of fWestbourne Grove, and
an oft-quoted second-cousinship to that
city magnate Peter Brook, of Lombard
street and Lancaster gate, whilom Lord
80 ,xl~r orI n
his own set. The readiness of a young
man so connected to show himself occa-
sionally in such a locality as that inhab-
tied by his lady-love and her family
could not be regarded as less than conde-
scension. Maud felt it; the boys felt it;
everybody felt it except that insensible
parent in whose hanus lay the power to
stay and the power to 60. Mrs. Bevel
felt it also, but she deemed it her duty to
protest against Maud's remark.
my dear, you are foolish to talk so.
Arthur is quite toe sensible to mind
where we live, am sure"
"Nothlng of the sort, mamma. He
minds great deal. There is nothing he
hates like an omnibus. and cabs all this
distance are an immense expense. He
ought not to take them half 80 often rs
he does" For all her blue, sleepy eyes
and fluff of golden hair, pretty Maud had
a keen eye for the main chance.
"Yes, and the most provoking thing
about it is that if pa would only stop
80 fond of. we could 60 where we liked
and live like other people," remarked
Matilda, the next girl in age. casting
look of displeasure round the room. 1t
was n hideous room. Matilda thought,
d-timy and queer; but to an artist it
would have been q atreasure-trove, Il very
paradise Of quaint and picturesque and
valuable disorder.
For old Mr.. Bevel's hobby was bric-a-
brac, and the house was stuffed with his
acquisitions through forty years of prac-
.tice. Like all pioneers in special lines of
taste, he suffered the fate of being re-
garded by his contemporaries as little
better than maniac. With him the
taste was inborn. He had been q collec-
tor before his marriage, twice u collector
since. Beginning in those earl days
when there were few competitors in the
art. he had worked the rich mine thor
oughly before others became aware of its
value. Little by little his treasures had
accumulated. Armor. brasSes, carved
furniture, china of every age and style,
fragments Of rich stuffS, of altar linen,
ancient missals and brcviaries, quaint
tones in early English, worries creamed
by time to delicious yellow, bits of
bronze, of silver, old tapestries thread
bare and tarnished but still splendid,
lace, pictures, parchments, spoils of cot
tage and cathedral and quaint Tudor
mansion there they were, crowding
every crevice and corner, every cupboard
and closet, till Mrs. Bevel declared that
she couldn't turn round in peace, and
should inevitably 60 crazy if one single
thing more were added to the stock.
"Oh, dearm Matilda sighed, as her eye
an over the accust omed objects which to
her were such unspeakable grievances
II fairly dread to see pa come home, ht
is so sure to fetch some ugly thing OF
other to add to our trials. Maud Sin
namon has just got the loveliest pair O
vases-blue, with the emperor and EN-
press on them. and only ten and six {
pair-fancy! Iwanted some like then
SO dreadfully that I borrowed one Il
show pa. hoping he'd be tempted. But
fancy, he just made up n SORT OF lace
and gave it push, and said: Take i
away. my dear-take it away. It's ex
traordinary that no one of you has eve
learned to know good thing from /
worthless one.' Then when l said the.
were only ten and six, he shrieked out
Ten aud six! they're not worth a farth
ingr"
"It's pretty hard on us ALL" observes
Bryan. the older son. asked the gov
ernor this morning he couldn't affort
to give me run OF the Continent tlli
vacation-:just a 81 rt one, you know
with a second-class ticket; I don't wan
to travel swell = an he said, in a sort O
abstracted way, as if it were of no con
sequence in the world: No, I thinl
not. There's Slater's sale next month
and I've been watching his Henri Deu:
these five years. shall want my read
money, my boy Henri Deux, indeed