The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1883-06-16
Select STORY,
A DRAWING-ROOM COMEDY
From Chambers Journal.

Mr. Thomas Bilbury is the junior part
ner in the great firm of Bilbury, Backbone
& Co., tea merchants, of Calcutta and Lon
don. The senior partner is Mr.. Joseph
Bilbury, his father, who has very nice
house at Kew; and until a year or two ago
there was a third member of the firm in the
person of Thomas uncle, Mr.. Babbington
Blackthorn, the Calcutta representative of
the establishment. But, unfortunately,
Mr.. Blackthorn, like many Englishmen
who live in India, drank too much Scotch
whisky and Bass ale, and ate too much
curry and too many Bombay ducks" the
result being that at the age of fifty-fve his
liver declined to bear the strain put upon
it, and collapsed, leaving its owner so weak
and ill that he had barely time ere he died
to telegraph to his partners in England a
brief note of his impending fate. This
alarming dispatch arrived at particularly
inopportune moment. Mr.. Thomas Bill
bury had on the day previous married
very charming young lady, Lydia Topples
by name; and the intelligence of his uncle's
sad condition necessitated that the newly
made husband-who, by the way, had only
become acquainted with his bride about six
weeks before marriage without
moments delay take the train for Dover,
cross to Calais, and thence 60 by the quick
est route to Calcutta. The affair was
pressing. Mr.. Blackthorn's death would
certainly throw the business into confusion,
and any hesitation on the part of the Eng
lish partners might imperil the future of the
firm.
''Go at once, my dear boy" wrote Mr..
Joseph Bilbury to his son, who was on the
Isle of Wight; Hand send your wife to me.
/ will take care of her, and see her settled
in your new home at Richmond. Iwould
60 myself, but my gout won't allow me.
And above all things, take care of your
liver"
There was no hel lp for it. Mr.. Bilbury,
junior, felt that he must go; so 60 he did,
putting the best face on the matter, and
bidding a very long and tender good
bye to his poor little wife. He escorted
her across to Portsmouth, put her into
London train, kissed her, saw her off, and
then took the next train for Dover.
She settled down in her new home on
Richmond Hill and he for many months
afterward worked hard at his desk in Cal
cutta, arranging the worldly affairs of his
dead uncle, and from time to time sending
home reports of his progress, and love let
tiers to Lydia.
Two years, in fact, elapsed ere he was
able to return to England; and then he re-
turned as he had gone out, at a moments
notice. Unforeseen circumstances suddenly
left him free, and, unwilling to lose day,
he took the first homeward- bound steamer,
which, so it happened, was also taking to
Richmond letter, written few days
earlier, in which Mr.. Bilbury, among other
matters, regretted to his wife that the pres
sure of business would not leave him at
liberty for at least month.
He travelled home without adventure,
landed in due course at Dover, arrived in
London late at night, and, without having
written word of warning to Lydia, hur-
ried on next morning to Richmond Hill.
Why he did not write or telegraph, we
cannot say perhaps he thought his sudden
appearance would agreeably surprise his
wife; or perhaps he was too excited to be
able to think at all. But in any case, he
neither wrote her nor telegraphed single
word of preparation.
1t was fine sunny morning in summer.
Mr.. Thomas Bilbury had scarcely seen his
new home, which he had taken in hurry
Immediately before his marriage; and he
was walking eagerly up the short carriage
drive leading to the house, when, happen
ing to cast his gaze toward the upper win
dows, he caught sight of fair, white
draped figure which was watering some
Towering plant that stood in row on the
sill. He at once recognized the figure as
that of his wife, and was about to utter
cry of salutation when he suddenly became
conscious that she did not recognize him,
for with graceful modesty she withdrew
from the window and disappeared as soon
as she became conscious that he was watch
ing her. An idea struck him. 1t was
foolish, but not wholly unnatural one. He
would pretend to be some one else-a
friend, say, of her husbands, and would
ask to see her as such. Of course she
would at once recognize his voice; but then
the surprise, and the consequent pleasure,
would be the more complete if he thus de-
ferred them. He knocked, therefore, at
the door, and to the servant who appeared
announced that he had just returned from
India and desired to see Mrs. Bilbury.
He gave no name, but he was admitted
and shown into the drawing room, where,
in some perturbation of mind, he awaited