The news., 1885-07-14
Il SHILoRs YARN.
CHAPTER VIII.

TAKE LODGINGS.
My motive in walking into Bristol
was not to inspect the docks and ship
ping, but to hire lodging. | did not
relish the errand. 1t was blow to be
obliged to give up my noble bedroom
at my uncle's, and the comfortable
and plentiful hospitality of his table,
because old Hawke was prig and a
two-penny squatter, who wanted his
daughter to marry baronets son,
and would not suffer her to visit a
family because | was their guest. l
say | did not relish the errand; nev-
ertheless, it was a stern duty. 1t was
ont of the question that / could con-
time standing between the friendship
of Miss Hawke and my cousins-that
is, preventing them from meeting at
| one or the others house. Nor could
be sure of my aunt's opinion on the
subject. She was kind, she was amia-
BILE, but she valued her neighbor's
opinion and liked society and DO you
suppose that could have gone COM
fortably to bed in her house, that |
could have sat down to meal in it,
haunted, as | must certainly have
been, by the misgiving that behind
my back my aunt would be saving to
her husband, "Your nephew is nice
youth; but I cannot help thinking,
dear, that he would have shown gen.
tlemanly spirit in leaving us when he
knew that Florence was prohibited
from calling while he stayed" No, it
was my duty to my relations to make
tracks," as Jack says; just as it was
my duty to myself to look out for
lodgings in the neighborhood. So,
lighting my cigar, swung out of the
grounds into the highway and the
blazing summer sun, and struck ont
for Bristol city.
The truth is, though / could very
easily have found the accommodation
wanted in Clifton, | considered that
it would be nnwise to bring up in the
immediate neighborhood of old
Hawkes. mansion: it would have been
little too defiant He was bound to
hear that | had left my uncle and
where | was living; and though Bristol
as everybody knows, is within an easy
walk of Clifton, yet the sense of ada
cency, and the CONSERVATION and anger
it would arouse in him, were not likely
to be so violent in the old chap If he
heard was lodging in Bristol as if he
should be told, "Jack Seymour, sir
oh, he lives around the corner. You
may see his diggings from your daugh-
ter's bedroom window, sir"
And do you ask, my lads, what
scheme | had-what policy? am
talking about old Hawkes. consterna-
ton and anger as if | was afraid of
him. Now, had no policy at all. /
was a young fellow deeply in love,
forced by sense of honor or courtesy,
or whatever you please, to quit my
uncle's roof, but constrained, by my
passion for Florence Hawke, to dwell
in the neighborhood. Some dim hope
of making her as much in love with
me as was with her, and of inducing
her to elope haunted me. A dim hope
1T was, vague and thin; yet it had
kind of lurking life in me too, and so
l confess it. But, policy! Heaven bless
your hearts, had none Never was
courtship begun more aimlessly; never
were chances heavier against man.
Had / an occupation in London, all
that am writing would have been
impossible; twas all the same whether
| lived in London or Bristol. | was
twenty-five, an age of immense resolu-
tions and poetic fancies; l had two
cousins who goaded me on; l had met
with no particular hindrance in the
young lady herself; above all, l was
deeply, honestly, enthusiastically in
love, with an absolute scorn of Hawkes.
gold, and with no other desire, as call
my conscience to witness, than the
possession of my Australian beauty
And so mates, you have in a few lines
all the reasons can offer for walking
into Bristol to seek lodging.
found rooms better suited to my
purse than my ambition in little
house not far from College Green, to
which neighborhood I had been di-
rected, possibly, by the memory ofthe
morning l had spent with Miss Hawke
in the cathedral there. | had to
choose with care as to the cost, for
had my London lodgings still on my
hands ; so that the two rents together
might easily mount into the charge
for big house. The Bristol woman,
who was gardner's wife, named Mrs.
Chump-a person with severe eve
dressed in black agreed to let me
have sitting-room and bedroom, to-
gether with a plain breakfast, for fif-
teen shillings week. This agreed
to pay, undertaking to shift for myself
in my other meals; and it was set
tied that should install myself that
evening.
As stood looking about me in the
little parlor-the furniture poor,
though clean; few prints of naval
victories on the walls; circular con-
vex mirror reposing like shield upon
the mantelpiece, and causing the OBJ
server to recoil as he remarked the
hideous caricature of himself in it-I
could not help wondering whether
was not making very great fool in
lettering in Bristol instead ofreturnine
to London. The poor bit of room
gazed at set me thinking of the spa
cious and glittering chambers of Cliff
ton Lodge. / imagined Miss Hawke