Semi-weekly Bourbon news., 1883-12-07
f, AN ODD ADVENTURE.

.,. AN ODD ADVENTURE TeTAa
Tom Morcambe was in love aand. in
debt-twe circumstances which consid-
erably disturbed his equanimity. His
pecuniary embarrassments were less
serious than his love affair; for the for
mer were of. a temporary nsture. gwhile
the latter threatened to be permanent.
The combination made him restless and
anxious to avoid the society of his fellow
men, so he packed up his portmanteau
and started off to refresh his weary soul
by a weeks solitude by the sad sea
waves. Slocum- -super-Mare; was his
destination, but when he arrived there
he found, to his intense disgust, that the
quiet seaport town was in a state of tur-
moil. being, on the eve of contested
election. Not being pleased with this
state of things, he moved on the next
day to Morriston, small fishing village
few miles up the coast. ''.'F'' ;''-
Tom was in an unsociable frame of
mind, and he never even looked at his
ellow-passengers. The compartment
in which he travelled was full, but he
resolutely buried his face in the news
paper, and read steadily on till he
reached his station. When the train
slackened speed at Morriston, he
dragged his portmanteau off the rack
and alighted on the platform with a
blessed sense of relief at the prospect of
a few days of absolute quietude.
The aspect of Morriston was emf
nently calcuted to soothe his nerves, for
at that period of the year he had the
place all to himself. There was no
other guest at the little inn where he
took up his quarters; the native popula-
tion was represented by few children
and old men; the bathing machines
were drawn up high and dry above the
deserted beach, and the most complete
desolation prevailed. Tom Morcambe
wandered for an hour or two along the
;seashore with perfect satisfaction, and
then returned to the inn.
He undid the straps of his portman-
teau and unlocked it in an absent frame of
mind, but without any misgivings. He
even began to throw the contents, pell-
nell, upon the bed, when suddenly he
awoke to the fact that there was some
thing wrong. A gaudy pair of worked
slippers first aroused his suspicious,
and, upon; further inspection, be per
ceived that the portmanteau, though it
was the counterpart of his own, evident
ly belonged to some one else.
Immediately occurred to him that, in
his hurried exit from the train, he had
appropriated IA strange Portmapteau by
mistake. At ffst"he was disposed to
blame his own carelessness, but he was
not in mood for establishment. He
then commenced Eto launch hearty i'm
precautions at the head of the other fel-
low, and to speculate on what had be-
come ofhi own property. 744k}l
From the pointof equality of exchange
there was not much to choose between
the two portmanteaus and their respec.
tive contents; but when Tom reflected
that his contained, among other things
a precious photograph and a lock oi
golden, hair. he became angrily con.
Vinced that he had the worst Of the bar.
gain. He was seized with a feVerisf
anxiety to recovery his property, anC
finding among the Strangers luggage 6
sealed letter addressed TO a Mr.. Bur
rows, of Chichester, town about thirty
miles off, he resolved to 90 on there i'm
mediately. Doubtless he would succeed
with the assistance of Mr.. Burrows, il
tracing the. person who was the bearer
of the letter.
Hesaccordingly travelled to 'Bilchestel
by the afternoon train, which improved
bis temper by. taking the longest tim,
on record in doing the journey. Whel
he reached his destination ,he found b,
could not get back to Morriston tha
night, SO that he had to put up at
hotel. z p.I .raa,ei4.l-f; 4 =, ss,,, Il!
Without a moments. delay. he calleC
at Mr Burrowsf residence, "a! modes
house in the suburbs of the town. Whel
the servant opehed the door he handle,
her the letter rather unceremoniously
and requested to- see hear m asterS but tn
girl explained that, Mr.. Burrows was no
within. and that she, did not know be-
he would return, SO he ,contented him
self with, writing, the. name of his hote
on one Of his cards, and leaving mes
sage that he would call in the evening
He returned to his hotel in an ur
aDsiabfe odsbut having amnl
justice to capital dinner, he fecovere
his good humer.< After ALL, his -ow
portTnanteau would turn up, tsooner I
later, and meanwhile he need feel n
scrqple about making use of th
stranger slpr0perty- L This reflection OF
CURED to him while smokinga soothin
cigar after decent bottle Of claret, an
he consequently resolved to postponeA
gsvisit to Mr.. Burrows till next morning
But Just as he was thinking of goiD
.sIatsa