The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-06-18

HEN the King of the Cam
TIT nibal Islands made faces
wv at Queen Victoria and a
European monarch set the
cables tingling with his
compliments on the ex-
plot the Indignation In
England was not less
than the surprise, for the
thing was not so common as it has
since become. But when II transpired
that a gift of peculiar significance was
to follow the congratulations, to give
them weight, the inference prevailed
that the white potentate and the black
had taken simultaneous feave or their
fourteen senses. For the gift was a
pearl of price unparalleled. picked
aforetime by British cutlasses for a
Polynesian setting and presented by
British royalty to the sovereign who
seized the opportunity of restoring it
to its original possessor.
The incident would have been god
send to the press a few weeks later.
Even in June there We're leaders,
letters, large headlines, loaded type,
the Daily Chronicle devoting half it's
literary page to a charming drawing
of the island capital which the new
Pail Mall. In a leading article head
ed by a pun. advised the government
to blow to flinders. | was myself
driving a poor but not dishonest quill
at the time and the topic of the
hour goaded me into satiric verse,
which obtained better place than
anything l had yet turned out |
had let my fiat IN town and talSen
inexpensive quarters at Thames Dit
ton on the plea of a disinterested
passion for the river.
First rate. OLD boy!" said Rafhes
(who must needs come and see me
there lying back in the boat while
/ seulled and steered I suppose
they pay you pretty well for these
eh?"
Not penny"
Nonsense, Bunny! l thought they
paid so well Give them time and
you'll get your check"
"oh, no. l sha' MT" said I gloomily.
-Ive got to be content with the hon
or of getting in; the editor wrote to
say so in so many words" added.
But gave the gentleman his distin-
guished name.
You don't mean to say you've
written for payment already?"
No; it was the last thing L had in
tended to admit. But l had done 1t.
The murder was out; there was no
sense in further concealment. l had
written for my money because ] real
ly needed 1t; If he must know, I was
cursedly hard up. Raffles nodded as
though he knew already. j warmed
to my woes. 1t was no easy matter
to keep your end up as a raw free
lance of letters; for my part 1 was
afraid I wrote neither well enough
nor i'll enough for success / suffered
from a persistent Intellectual feeling
after style Verse I could manage,
but it did not pay. To personal para
graphs and the baser journalism I
could not and l would not stoop
Raffes nodded again, this time with
q smile that stayed in his eyes as
1 had stopped to. and I thought |
knew what he was going to say. He
had said it before so often; he was
sure to say 1t again. 1 had my an
swer ready, but evidently he was
tired of asking the same question.
His lids fell, he took up the paper
he had dropped, and l seulled the
length of the old red wall of Hamp-
ton Court before he spoke again.
"And they gave you nothing for
these! MY dear Bunny, they're capi-
tai, not only qua verses, but for crys-
talizing your subject and putting 1t
taught me more about 1t than knew
before. But it is really worth $780,
OOO-a single pearl?"
"a hundred, believe; but that
wouldn't scan."
"a hundred thousand poundsw said
Raffes, with his eyes shut And
again I made certain what was COM
ing, but again l was mistaken. IF
it's worth all that" he cried at last,
s.there would be no getting rid of 1t.
at all; it's not like a diamond that
YOU can subdivide. But I beg your
pardon. Bunny l was forgetting"
And we said no more about the EN-
peror's gift, for pride thrives on an
empty pocket, and no privation would
have drawn me the proposal which
had expected Raffles to make. My
expectation had been half hope,
though I only knew it now. But
neither did we touch again on what
Raffles professed to have forgotten
my "apostasy," my lapse into vir-
tue" as he had been pleased to call
It, We were both a Ntle silent.
little constrained, each preoccupied
with his own thoughts. 1t was months
since we had met, and as l saw him
II o'oloalx tbaf Sunday