Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 May 1900 — Captain Brabazon [ARTICLE]

Captain Brabazon

BY B. M. CROKER

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CHAPTER X.— (Continued.) The crowd was hurt and indignant that their lion had left them thus; they would have liked him to talk to them a little, to roar for them a bit, to tell them all about himself, who he was, and where he came from. But he and the tall girl in the serge dress were already far away down the parade, and almost out of sight. For some time they walked along at a brisk pace, battling with the wind, at least Esme was. At length she came to a full stop under the lee of a boat, gasping for breath. “Yes, I’m going too fast,” said her companion, apologetically. “Hold on a bit, and fix up your hair,” which was hanging down below her waist in one thick, shining plait. A few vigorous twists made it once more a compact mass at the nape of her neck, and, turning to her companion, w r ho was engaged in tying up a bleeding hand with his handkerchief, ahe said, very humbly, “Miles, will you forgive me for last night?” tears swelling up into her eyes as she spoke. “For heaven’s sake,” nervously, “don’t cry, Esme; of course I will; it was all the fault of my own vile temper; I’m afraid that I nm an awfully jealous fel-low-worse luck; and I can’t bear to see you speaking to or noticing anyone. ' That’s the truth in plain English." “No, no, no! It was all my doing,” interrupted the young lady, not to be outdone. t “I was provoking; I was in a rage; J would have told you, and I will tell you, although it is not my secret—” “Then don’t!” he exclaimed, emphatically; “never mind it now; if it is another person's secret, keep it. I know I can trust you, Esme,” determined to show how magnanimous he could be, and to make amends for his foolish suspicions—for Esme'a wild, distracted appearance had raid him more than her lips bad ever uttered, and he felt that he could afford to be generous. “And what can I ssy to you for risking your life, just now?” she said, tremulously “Pooh! nothing; it was not half so bad as you thought; any other fellow would have ()oue the same.” “And pray why did they not?” “Those lubberly cats of boatmen, afraid to wet their feet, choked them off. 1 would not insult a brave race of men by calling them sailors." “But it was touch and go, Miles; an old naval officer said so. We never expected to see you back, and you went to please me. How am I to thank you? What can I say?" “That's easily answered," he replied, moving a few inches nearer to her. “I’ll tell you what you can say—say ‘Yes.’ ” This was a strange place in which to decide such a momentous question, under the lee of an old fishing smack, in the midst of a high gale which was blowing about the sand and spray, and almost drowning every sound but the thunder of the waves breaking on the shingle. Esme leaning her back against the boat, bareheaded, endeavoring to repair the elastic of her hat, which she held in her hand. As her cousin leaned over and suggested this one word, the color returned like a flood to her pale face, and rushed up to the very roots of the little curls, which were frolicking merrily about her forehead in the breeze. For fully two minutes she made no reply, but kept still mechanically twisting the elastic in her hand, not once raising her eyes, but her color and her quivering lips betokened that she was not absolutely indifferent. “Well, Esme,” exclaimed her cousin, a little impatiently. “1 suppose you know Jhe old proverb, ‘Silence gives consent.’ What am I to think?" he asked, with impetuous insistence. Esme made no verbal reply to this somewhat impervious hesitation, but after a moment’s hesitation she put out her hand very shyly. “Dearest,” he said, seizing it eagerly, but almost ere he had touched it she snatched it hastily from his grasp, exclaiming, in a hurried whisper. “Oh, here are the Clippertons'.”

chapter xi. Barely a month of the six remained, and if Miles und Esme were to be married, there was no time to lose. There were settlements to be drawn up, the trousseau to be set in hand, aud many weighty questions to be decided. Milea talked over these matters with Miss Jane, the evening after he had been accepted by hia cousin and between them they persuaded Mrs. Brabazon to have a quiet wedding, aud to let the two girls go and stay with Annie, and choose the trousseau with her assistance. Miss Jane herself was also to be squeezed into Mrs. Curzon's bandbox of a house, but such an important person as Mrs. Brabazon would have to. go to a neighboring private hotel. Indeed, Mrs. Brabazon loved not her step-niece, and took up her abode close to Chesham street, with n useful, fashionable friend, and was elaborately amiable to Miles and Esme, but disposed to be very arbitrary about the trousseau, and close-fisted with the necessary funds. London was empty, but to our young ladies from the country, even in September It looked remarkably full, und they enjoyed themselves immensely. Bsme, of course, especially. Bhe had the daily society of Miles, who loaded her with flowers and gifts, and anticipated her most capricious whims. A splendid diamond ring adorned her third finger. A diamond butterfly and pair of aolitaire earrings followed. It waa useless to endeavor to restrain him. He declared to Esme that this being bis own money, and not their mutual property, he had every right to spend it as be pleased. He had all .the pleasure of taking her to a theater for the first time, of introducing her-to Westminster Abbey, 'Hampton Court, and the parks, anti he was a pattern of patience with regard to 'Bond street and Regent street, allowing (her to flatten her pretty, straight nose ■against as many shop windows as she Ipleawd. and to stare in at hats and cospumes in a perfectly unbridled manner.

As she and Miles were walking in Piccadilly one afternoon they met Capt. Berkeley rushing out of a bootmaker’s, evidently in a violent hurry, “Hullo, Brabazon,” hse cried, "what on earth are you dong up in the village at this time of year? Why are you not out among the turnips? Miss Brabazon,” raising his hat as he recognized Esme, “how do you do?" “You are off next week to the Cape, are you not?” said Miles. “Yes, by Jove, on Thursday; not much time to lose. I’m trying to get my kit together.” Miles glanced at his beautiful fiancee, and was amazed to see that she had become very pale, and that her lips were quivering strangely. “Your second battalion is going out, too, I see by this morning’s paper. No chance of meeting you out there, eh? Well, good-by, I must be off; time is money. Good-by, Miss Brabazon.” Next morning the Brabazon ladies, young and old, departed from the metropolis with loads of luggage, and Miles was left to put in a whole week, intervening before his wedding day, as best he could. The fourth day of this time had passed, and he was beguiled into going down to Portsmouth to see an old friend off to the Cape. He met his chum at the i’ler Hotel, where they lunched together, and then sallied forth to the dockyard. The trooper was alongside, and a regiment of lancers in the act of embarking. Horses, obstreperous and otherwise, were being put on board, and crowds were watching the proceedings with the gravest* interest. Miles and his friend, after inspecting the latter gentleman’s cabin, which was one of those known as a “horse-box,” ascended to the upper regions, and began to pace the deck together and have a few last w.ords. “I rather envy you fellows going out,” said Miles, nodding his head at the crowd of soldiers between decks; “and (inly for circumstances I would be going, too.” “You mean matrimony,” said the other, smiling. “And when are you to be told off?” “The day after to-morrow.” “Married men are best at home; it plays the deuce with a fellow having to leave a wife or a sweetheart. I’ve always done my level best to keep out of such matters. Look round now on this pack of wretched women, crying their eyes out; come to say good-by, and take their last look at fellows they will never see again. You’re a lucky chap not to have to leave your sweetheart like that' poor fellow over there there under the lee of the shed. Look! it’s a desperate bad case; the girl seems heartbroken. I don’t believe she’ll ever let him go!” <*Miles glanced indifferently over in the direction indicated, and beheld a tall, handsome young sergeant of lancers, who was evidently making a brave struggle to keep his feelings well in hand, and a girl, with her back toward him, leaning on his arm in a perfect abandon of grief. The lancer appeared to be trying to soothe and comfort her. “She looks like a lady,” said Maj. Vere, speculatively; “and I would not wonder if she was a pretty girl in the bargain.” ‘'■ft's rather a shame to watch them,” returned Miles; “and hard lines that they have to say good-by to one another at all, poor girl!” “A fellow-feeling makes us wondrous kind,” quoted the other, with a laugh. “There was a time, old chap, when you would have called them a pair of fools." “Ah! I ” Whatever else he was going to say remained frozen on his lips, for the girl had suddenly turned her face toward them; he could see it plainly now, and one glance at those familiar features was enough. It was the face of the girl who was to be his wife the day but one following, the face of his cousin, Esme Brabazon. Esme, pale and distracted, her eyes swollen with crying, but still Esme. And he also recognized Miss Jane’s own maid, Mrs. Eliza Flack, pacing up and down at a discreet distance. In one instantaneous scorching flash everything was revealed to his mind, everything accounted for now. The meeting at the gate, the photograph, Esme’s unaccountable interest in this particular regiment; but all Miss Jane's solemn asservations were lies, she and her niece were partners in a league and covenant to deceive and delude him. In an instant this had passed like fire through his brain; he felt as If he were going to choke, aud dizzy with rage and bewilderment, und for a moment the dockyard and sky seemed to reel before him, but he clutched the bulwarks with a vise-like grasp, and nerved himrelf to look once more; as he gazed with livid face and dilated eyes he comprehended that the hour of parting had come. Esme flung her arms around the sergeant’s neck and kissed him, and clung to him in a wild abandon of despair, and as if she would never release him, and he, Miles Brabazon, was looking on quite sane, quite in his right mind; it was no delusion, no dream. At last the lancer, who seemed a good deal moved, beckoned to Flack to approach and take charge of her young lady, and Esme made no resistance, but allowed herself to be led away toward a fly that was evidently waiting for them at a short distance. But then she turned and looked back—it was fatal—he was doing the same; in a second she had rushed to him and clasped him once more in aw agonized embrace. At last, with an heroic effort, she motioned him to leave her, and with her face buried in her hands, waa instantly seized upon by Flack, who taking her arm in a peremptory manner, and shaking her head very impressively, led her young lady away, seeiqingly bowed down tq the very earth with grief. The whole scene had a horrible fascination for Miles; not a loqk, not a gesture had escaped him; and now that it was all over, now that his betrothed had passed weeping from his sight, he turned his whole attention to her late companion, who was coming up the gangway, pale, indeed, but not so pale

as the man above him, who was literally devouring him with a pair of glowing, dark eyes. “Tell me," he said to Maj. Vere, as he pulled him by the sleeve, “who is that fellow of yours coming on board now—there, the tall sergeant?” pointing with unsteady finger, and speaking in a voice that sounded strange and far away even to himself. “Oh, that,” returned the other, briskly, “that chap is our young sprig of nobility, as some will have it; any way, he goes by the name of Lord Brown, or Gentlemen Brown; looks frightfully down in the mouth, too. Did you see the girl? Hullo, Brabazon, what ails you, old ehap?” suddenly looking around at his friend, and struck by his altered appearance, his drawn and ghastly face. “It’s nothing,” said the other, impatiently; “it will go off directly; don’t mind me. A—a gentleman, you said,” harking back to Lord Brown; “a gentleman?” “Yes, or, yes, and a very smart fellow. Safe to get? his commission in a few months; the girl was evidently in his own rank of life; come down to say goodby under the rose. I saw her at the station, and was struck by her at once; awfully pretty, and looked quite frightened among all the soldiers. Never saw a troop train before, I’ll swear. I’ve a notion I’ve seen her somewhere; 1 wish I could remember when, but I’m sure I've seen her,” throwing back his head and half-closing his eyes, “but where? Oh,” becoming startled, “I know,” as it flashed into his mind that he had seen the young lady at Sandborough ball, where she had been pointed out as Brabazon's fiancee. “Brabazon, old fellow, what can I say to you!” surveying him with a horror’struek expression, “I see it all! No wonder you look queer.” “Say nothing about what you have seen,” returned his companion; “keep your own counsel, that’skhll you can do for me,” wringing his hand, “and don’t keep me,” in answer to the other’s expressive face. “I must go,” once more shaking hands, and then hurrying blindly, headlong, down the gangway. Miles was perfectly indifferent as to what anyone thought of him, as he hailed a hansom, and told the driver to go like mad to the railway station. He might catch Esme, and two words were better than twenty letters. Thank goodness his eyes had been opened in time —it was not too late—he was not married yet. The express was about to start, the engine was emitting great clouds of white steam, the platform was crammed, as, pitching the driver a sovereign, he dashed into the station, and looked into one carriage, another, and another. Ah! here she was at last! close to the door, with her back to the engine, her handkerchief to her eyes, actually crying still; Flack, in an opposite corner, holding herself ostentatiously aloof from her broken-hearted companion, and reveling in the contemplation of flaming and gorgeous advertisements, of ships and turnips and furniture. “Miles!" gasped Esme, in a tone of dismay as her cousin flung the carriage door violently open and stood before her astonished gaze. “Yes, Miles,” he echoed, in a voice She was unacquainted with, bitter sarcasm struggling with some potent emotion. “An unexpected pleasure, is it not?” “But what has happened?” she faltered tremulously, justly alarmed by the expression of his face, and awed by some vague, undefined dread. “What brings you here?" vainly striving to master her long drawn sobs. “A mere trifle,” in a voice that' shook in spite of himself. “Nothing to speak of. I was only on board the trooper just now and had the honor of witnessing the affecting parting between you and your lancer friend. Everything is accounted for now, your flattering interest in the regiment included. I’m a lucky fellow to have found you out in time, am I not? Needless to tell you that, as far as I’m concerned, the money may go, and I've only one word to say to you, the word *Good-by.’ ” (To be continued.)