Year: 1869

MS absent tyrant tndL ne COulu NOT dgalD
receive him as an inmate In his house.
Surprised at his own audacity, and fear
ing lest Blake might reply to his letter in
person, Mr.. Jones hurried off to Hastings,
where he amused himself, when the tide
was out by looking for sea.anemones in
the hollows of the low, shelving rocks.


One day, while engaged in this harm.
less amusement, he observed that the rising
tide had almost surrounded point some.
what higher than the others, on which
young lady was half sitting, half reclining,
apparently absorbed in one of Nudes
novels, and totally unconscious of the ap-
proach of the waves. In vain did the
timid swain endeavor to catch themaiden's
eve, as he pointed to the advancing foam


The nymph remained distracted in the for
tunes of an imaginary hero or heroine,
and paid no heed to the increasing We.
hemence of his warnings. At length,
when the rock was completely cut off from
the mainland, she slowly raised her eyes,
and seemed in an instant to take in the
whole danger of her situation. For one
moment she gazed upon the deepening
waters with well-simulated terror, then
suddenly threw herself on her knees in the
attitude of supplication-first contriving,
however, by dexterous feminine move.
ment, to knock off her hat, thereby causing
her hair to fall loose in a perfect deluge of
gold over her shoulders and down to her
waist. For the first time in his life Mr..
Jones was moved by generous impulse,
and, without once thinking of his patent
leather boots, he splashed through the
water up to his knees, snatched up in his
arms the trembling little Venus, and car.
ried her far above high-water mark before
he would suffer her to put her foot to the
ground. Even then, he insisted on seeing
her safe to her own door, in spite of her
mild remonstrances. She was sure he
must be fatigued with carrying her all
that distance; he would catch such
dreadful cold she should never forgive
herself if he did. Mr. Jones not only saw
her into her own house, but extorted,
without much difficulty, permission to call
and inquire after her health on the NOR
row. After that, they met every day,
and were together the whole day, either
sauntering along the esplanade, roaming
about Fairlight, or looking out over the
sea from the heights of the Castle. By
degrees Mr.. Jones extracted from the art
less damsel as much of her history as he
cared to know. Her name was Clara
Knyvett she was the daughter of an In
dian officer, an only child, and an orphan


She had been brought up by her aunt as
a governess, and was seeking a situation,
when i'll. health compelled her to proceed
to the seaside. With men of ordinary
nerve and self-complacency the affair
would soon have been brought to mat
rimonial issue, for the little lady took no
pains to disguise her feelings; but Mr..
Jones' diffldence refused to see in her de-
monstrative frankness anything more than
a childlike reverence for strength and
courage-the qualities in which he hap
pened to be singularly deficient


Still, time, that overcomes all Difficult
ties, would, probably, in the long run,
have overcome even the imbecile reserve
of Mr.. Jones, had not circumstances have
occurred of quite a different character.
His charmer met him one morning in
state of painful depression. Now and
again q stifled sob would burst forth or
the handkerchief would be furtively
| raised to the eyes. If good man, strug
Cling with adversely, is spectacle agree
| able to the gods, tears and sighs are by no
| means pleasant, or even safe, for men to
| witness in pretty woman. Poor Gren-
vile was deeply touched; and, at length,
after much entreaty, he discovered that
she had received q letter announcing the
serious illness of her kind aunt, and sum-
moning her to what would probably prove
death-bed scene; but, alasl her quar-
ter's pension, as the child of an Indian
officer, would not be due for some days,
and she was already indebted to her land
lady for weeks rent and board. In an
| instant, the p0rtemOn1ldte of Mr.. Jones
was pressed into her hands. He would
hear no denial. She could return the
money at her own convenience, and, per-
haps, during her sorrowful attendance
upon her sick relative, she would spare a
kind thought for the lonely bachelor upon
| whose solitary state she had cast ray of
| JOY and hope. The gentleman was clearly
becoming affected, and the now sobbing
Clara cannot be accused of tearing her
self away from him with timorous precipi-
| fancy. She gave him abundant time for
saying anything more that he might
like to say, or even for VentUring upon
some demonstrativeness by arm or lip


But Mr.. Jones courage failed him at this
| crisis and they parted. Weeks passed,
but the money came not ; and, at last, Mr..
Jones began to fear that his sweet little
Clara had caught the complaint from which
her aunt was suffering.


On this eventful day, however, he was
startled by the unprecedented announce
ment that there was lady in the drawing
room who wished to see him. He rightly
| OWNED that his visitor could be no other
than the fair sYren of Hastings. She had
come to repay him the money he had so
generously advanced in her hour of need
and tribulation. She had been for time
so engrossed with constant attendance
| upon her dear aunt, that she had not had
a moment to do or think of anything else.
And, when all was over, she knew it was
too late to remit to Hastings, and, alas |
| she had mislaid his town address. She
had hunted for 1t everywhere, when it
suddenly occurred to her that she might
have put his card into his p0rtemOHndie.
How delighted she was to find it there |
All this, and much more, she said, in tor
rents of words, emphasized with the most
bewitching smiles, and purified by an al.
most infantile simplicity. The hour and
the woman had arrived. Mr.. Grenville
Tremaine Jones was at her feet-literally.
He dropped on one knee, seized her hand,
and covered it with kisses-then sprung
to his feet, passed his arm around her
waist, and drew her to himself, Cabling,
stammeIing, spluttering no matter what.
In less than ten minutes he had pledged
himself to marry woman of whom he
knew nothing more than she had chosen
TO tell him. Taking the bit between his
teeth, he fairly bolted from the path of
reason and common sense. Not content
with engaging himself, he had wrung from
the lady-after feeble show of maidenly
coyness-her consent TO their union
taking place on Friday fortnight
and it was then Tuesday. He only re-
gretted that his housekeeper had gone out
to do some shopping, for he wished her
to say whether she would retain or dis
miss that worthy individual. Clara had
tact enough TO be enraptured with every
thing. his housekeeper, she was quite
sure, must be a treasure. She wouldn't
near OF the dear old thing being sent
away. She would rather stay away her
self-this was said with an arch smile and
q rougish twinkle of the eye that com
pleted the conquest of the impressionable
young man, and LEFT him her slave.


As he slipped his generous Burgundy,
Mr.. Grenville Tremaine Jones had been
recalling this pleasant episode; and as he
| did an ha th0uoht hOuu F,rot1d and hannv