Litchfield enquirer., 1881-08-11
HEARTH-RUG FARCES.
sELINA's REVENGE

And the rapture that dwells in the first kiss of The first scene of all, which begins this
 ''strange, eventful history" is lad in the back l garden of snug Bristol villa. and in the sum- mer-house situared therein. The time is the year of grace 1850. The persons represented
 are Theobald Podger, Esq, aged twenty five | and Selina Stickey, aged twenty one. Selina | is the daughter of a wealthy draper still in | business, and Theobald is the son of an equal | ly wealthy pawnbroker, retired. The two | fathers have been friends for many years but ! the families have only become intimate lately. The truth is that, while the fathers were in
 business, the draper's wife rather looked down upon the pawnbroker's wife. When, how ever, the pawnbroker retired, trolling in
 riches. !" so it was said, the draper's wife ad-
 mitted that pawnbroker gone out of busi-
 ness might fairly rank with linen draper
 still in it. Accordingly the families began to
 cousort with each other visiting freely walk
 ing together to and from church, and exhibit
 ing such mutual civilities as only intimates can
 or will Week by week they exchanged
 dinner spitalities-Podger feeding Stickey
 this week, Stickey feeding Podger the next.
 And at these sumptuous feasts the whole
 party sat down with minds as untroubled
 about social distinctions as if they had been
 all personages of the best blood, or beasts of
 the field, who graze and graze and never
 think of pedigree. ,.. ...4 .5r.dE -s l Hence this farce For one Christmas day,
 when dinner had arrived at the plunl-pudding
 stage, Theobald, the pawnbroker's son, had | bit on his spoon, on which he was just about | to fix his eyes, when these moving orbs were
 arrested by the eyes of Selina, which crossed
 their path. Theobald was slightly romantic,
 and wrote poetry. The Byronic fever had not 1 haf ifn dSnl kl1
 small man and very stout, wore Byron collars
 and ties and read ''Childe Harold" Heread
 ''Don Juan" too; but this was privately, at
 night in his bedroom; for his father, having
 got an inkling of the contents of that poem,
 had declared, apoplectically, that no son of
 his should go Don Juanning in Bristol, if he
 knew it; and Theobald, being, even in his
 romance, prudent young man, would not
 displease his father. So he kept ''Childe
 Harold" on the drawing room table, and I ''Don Juan" under his pillow. In other ways
 Theobald was promising youth He could
 make sovereign go quite as far as the great
 est miser in Bristol could a guinea; and if
 you had tried to convince him that two and
 two would ever make five, your prospects of
 success would not have been inspirting. Thus
 was Theobald Podger romantic and thrifty at
 tue same time, having an eye to Don Juan
 and an eye to propriety and profit too; and,
 as has been said. with pudding on his spoon,
 his eyes met the eyes of Selna These four
 eyes had often met before; and SO, reader,
 you may walk on the edge of river for ten
 years quite safely, and tumble in on the first
 day of year eleven Such, fguratlvely was
 the case with Theobaid Podger. sns
 AS to that bit of pudding, its spice might
 have been red pepper, it's raisins might have
 been Reading gravel, for anything Theobald
 could have told. Consciousness was suspend
 ed. When. upon the return of his faculties,l I he looked at his spoon. the pudding was gone; | it had been, and it was not More he did not | know. But he felt two puactures in his heart-the operation Of Selina's eyes, which | had shot into him with the brilliancy and the
 sting of two bright electric sparks. He thought of Haidee, with her light poetic costume.
 through which the zephyrs played, and then
 he acknowledged that comfortable Bristol young lady, with her frock mp to her neck, | might paragon the fair Greek after ali He was madly in love at that moment, and did | not eat another morsel. He would dare any, 1 thing for sweet Selina's sake! Like Bob Acres's ''man in the play," he felt he could do such deeds! e
 From frosty December until sunny July
 that passion burned, secretly, for reasons | flame. Theobald had not told her, either by | speech or ink that he loved He was Bris l tol Don Juan, and had 8 method in his mad
 ness which the original Spaniard did not pos- sess Theobald feared his father, and would | not commit himself either with pen or tongue. l But love has three languages-the written, the | spoken, and the optical. Theobald chose the optical language. He looked his passion. | Looking your passion is very, convenient l way of conveying it, for looks mean anything | if you please, and if you don't please they Sn1Sp intov k>:, lo1I by her own wit and liking and she knew that
 fheobald was her Theobald; and if he did not
 know that Selina was bis Seliua he had read
 his poetry to small purpose indeed. So mat
 ters stood when this July evening found the
 two seated side by side in the Summer-house,
 while their respective mammas were Tn the drawing room considering how the preserves
 were likely to turn out that year, and their
 papas were in the dining room having go port. Selina had been watching The0bald
 with woman's eyes; {; and, from his expres sion, she concluded that he was either on the verge of dangerous illness, or going to pro. pose marriage. She could not for her life | have told which it was. .t ie.t ''Selina," Theobald murmured, ''do you know what your name means?" l.. 'I do not, Selina answered, in an equal
 murmur. Her doubt was clearing up; it was not an illness
 ''Selina, continued Theobald, Tn the same
 tender Byronic key, "your name means the
 moen.p ni. '-s5e-5s4 ss,.. #t..E f... 'Does it." Selina whispered, in yet low l CT tone. A finer and surer master of love than even he who wrote "Don Juan" told her that now her words had best be few and hard to catch. ..t.u a. a6 - 'Yes I assure you," Theobald went on, ss,t
 means the moon. would not deceive you, Selina." l | ssl.sM st.x sft
 '1 know you would not deceive me," she
 murmured
 Mot for all the treasures of the dark and deep blue ocean!' Theobald said, with up. lifted voice; for he forgot his prudence. ssSe lina!" 4aeas- 1G .
 "Wen" a.. .s. II love the moon, Selina." "Yes"
 ''And-and-and-'' Theobald drew his breath for mighty effort, "I love you, &c., lima !'' 2 4sss ..,s! .s '+s' g- .
 .'Do you, Theo ?" she asked artlessly.t Just so Greek-eyed Haidee might have spoken, for we are all alike children of nature when we "Yes, 1 love you better than life--a thou | sand thousand times better!" the young man said. and drew her to himself. There fol- lowed IT -45lE.
 What? A sound. my reader And what is it like ?you ask..d Such a sound I have heard just at the moment that a fond young mother
 bent over her baby. have heard something like It, deep in the dark grove, bubbling from the throat of nightingale. It is the top note in loves whole cantata-happy they who can strike such music from the dull worn key board of human feeling. Rejoice, ol lovers, while you may; but remember you are only actors-acting in farce e-t@ r -'aGfEt7 T. tl,,.,,7ta aa 5d sar 1st' v 4 l -n1s9 . aa3 H. lsb ssj ..A1st.es.,s;g t. l 'I do perceive here divided duty"
 Alas that '20port should be so delicious and l only ten glasses to the bottle Had there been l two more glasses in that particular bottle on
 that particular evening, what I am now to
 tell would not have happened For Podger
 senior and Stickey senior, instead of strolling
 arm in arm through the garden unseen, would