| OCR Text |
Show I INTERNATIONAL PRESS ASSOCIATION. HJ CHAPTER I. M, ' sp?OHN V A It B Y , ill' ' NICHOLSON " I jJfffifi stupid; yot stupider tf rT raon '10 aro I illwTirW5 now EPraw"nS !n I HA HI III 1 1 lL J parliament, and I 113 1 M vray mu("nS themselves I 111 nJ vn na tno nutnor8- ' I j -uwilii . their own dlstlnc-I dlstlnc-I S?nvt t'on" " wna o( a I 1 v fat habit, ivoo f oni 'VII N boyhood, Mid 111- I Jlned to a cheerful und cursory road- lug of tbo fade ot life, and possible-I possible-I Oils attltudo ot mind was tbo original I cause ot his misfortunes. Beyond I this bint philosophy Is silent on his H career, and superstition steps In with I the moro ready explanation that ha was dctCBted ot thu gods. His father that Jron gentleman I had long ago enthronod himself on tho I heights ot tho Disruption Principles, I What thcbo are (and In splto of their B grim name they are quite Innocent) I no array ot terms would render think- ablototlio merely English Intelligence, bat to the Scot they often prove unctu-I unctu-I ously nourishing, and Mr. Nicholson I found In them tho milk of lions. About H, tho period when the churches co:icno HL'. at Edinburgh In their annual nssem-iHV nssem-iHV biles he was to be scon descending the HP mound In tho company of divers red- hendod clergymen ; these voluble, ho only contributed oracular nods, brief negatives, and tho austere spectacle ot his staotchod upper Up. The names of Candllsh and Begg wcro frequent In these Intervlows.and occasionally the talk ran on tho Residuary Establishment Establish-ment and the doings ot one Lee. A stronger to tho tight little theological kingdom of Scotland might have listened lis-tened and gathered literally nothing. 'And .Mr. Nicholson (who was not a dull man) know this, and raged at It. Ho knew there was a vast world out-sldo, out-sldo, to whom Disruption Principles wore as the clatter of tree-top apes; the paper brought him chill whiffs from It; bo had mot Englishmen who had fiked lightly If he did not belong to tho Church of Scotland, and then bad failed to bo much interested by his elucidation of that nlco point; it was an ovil, -wild, rebellious world, lying sank In dozenedness, for nothing short of a Scot's word will point this Scotsman's Scots-man's feelings. And when ho enled into his own house in Randolph Crescent Cres-cent (south side), and shut the door bo-hind bo-hind him, his heart swcllod with security. se-curity. Here, tit least, was a citadel inipregnablo by right-hand defections or loft-hand extremes. Hero was a family whero prayers camo at the same hour, where Uio Sabbath lltcraturo was inlmpeachably selected, whero the guest who should nave leaned to any falsa opinion was Instantly set down, and over which thero reigned nil tho 1L) week, and grew denser on Sundays, a silence that was agrccablo to his ear, and a gloom that he found comfortable. comfort-able. Mrs. Nicholson had died about thtrcy, and left him with three children, a daughter two years, and a son about eight years younger than John; and John himself, tho unlucky bearer of a name infamous in English hlstory.Tho -daughter, Maria, was a good girl dutiful, du-tiful, pious, dull, but so easily startled that to speak to her was qulto a perll-ous perll-ous enterprise. "I don't think I care to talk about that, It you please," she would say, and strike the boldest speechless by h?r unmistakable pain; this upon all topics dress, pleasure, morality, politics, In which Uie formula was changed to "my papa thinks otherwise," other-wise," and oven religion, unless it was approached with a particular whining tone of volco. Aloxander, the young-er young-er brothor, was sickly, clever, fond of bookB and drawing, and full of satirical satiri-cal remarks. In tho midst ot theso Imagine that natural, clumsy, unintelligent unintel-ligent and mirthful animal, John; mighty well-bebavod In comparison with other lads, although not up to tho mark of tho house In Randolph Cres-xjont; Cres-xjont; full of a sort of blundering affection, af-fection, full ot caresses which were nover very warmly received; full ot sudden and loud laughter which rang out In that still house like curses. Mr. Nicholson himself had a great fund K. ,. of humor, of tho Scots order Intcl- Jr loctual, turning on tho observation of mon; his own character, for instnnco I It he could havo seen It In another 1 would havo been a rare feast to him; I but his eon's empty gdffnws over a I broken plato, empty, almost ltght-I ltght-I hoartod romarkB, struck hlra with pain I as tho Indices ot a weak mind. I Outside tho family John had early attached himself (much as a dog may follow a marquis) to, tho stops of Alan Houston, a lad about a year older than himself, idle, a trifle wild, tho heir to a good estato which was still In tho hands ot a rigorous trustee, and so royally contont with himself that bo took John's dcvo'tlon as a thlug of course. Tho Intimacy was gall to Mr. Nicholson; It took his son from the hoMflo, and ho was a Jealous parent; it kept him from tho office, nnd he was a martinet; lastly, Mr. Nicholson was ambitious am-bitious for his family (in which and tho Disruption Principles ho entirely lived), and he hated to boo a son ot his play second flddlo to an Idler. After bo mo hesitation he orderod that the friendship should cease an unfair command, though seemingly Inspired by tho spirit of prophocy; and John, Buying nothing, continued to dlsobojr tho order under tho rose. John was nearly nine toon whori he . -was ono day dismissed rather earlier uM than usual from bis father's omce, where he was studying the practice cf tho law. It wns Saturday; and except that ho had a matter of four hundred pounds in his pocket whlch'lt was his duty to hand over to the British Linen Company's Bank, ho had tho whole afternoon af-ternoon at his disposal. IIo went by Prince's 'street cujoylng the mild nnu-shlne, nnu-shlne, and the little thrill of easterly wind that tossed tho flags along tho terrace of palaces, nnd tumbled tho green trce3 In the garden. The band was playing down In the vnlloy under tho castle; and when It came to tho turn of the pipers he heard their wild sounds with a stirring of the blood. Something dfstantly martial woke In him; nnd ho thought of Miss Mackenzie, Macken-zie, whom ho was to meet that day r.t dinner. Now, It Is undeniable that he should have gono directly to tho bank, but right In the wny stood the billiard room of tho hotel where Alon was almost certain to bo found; ani the temptation tempta-tion proved too strong. He entered tho billiard room and was instantly grcet-od grcet-od by his friend, cue In hnnd. "Nicholson," said ho, "I want you to lend mo a pound or two till Monday." "You've come to tho right shop, haven't you?" returned John. "I havo twopenco." "Nonsense," said Alan, '"iou can get sorao. Go and borrow nt your tailor's; tail-or's; they all do it. Or I'll tell you what; pop your watch." "Oh, yes, I dare say," said John. "And how about my father?" "How Is ho to know? Ho dqesn't wind it up for you at night, does ho?" Inquired Alan, nt which John guffawed. "No, seriously; I am in a fix," continued contin-ued the tempter. "I havo lost somo money to a man here. I'll glvo it you to-night, and you can get tho heirloom heir-loom out again on Monday. Como; it's a small service, after all. I would do a good deal more for you." Whereupon John went forth, and pawned his gold watch under the ns-eumod ns-eumod name of John Froggs, 85 Plcas-ance. Plcas-ance. But the nervousness that assailed as-sailed hlra at tho door of that Inglorious Inglori-ous haunt a pawnshop and the effort ef-fort necessary to Invent tho pseudonym (which, somehow, seemed to him a necessary part of the procedure), had taken more time thin ho Imagined; nnd when he returned to the billiard room with tho spoils the bank had already al-ready closed its doors. This was a shrewd knock. "A ploco of business had been neglected." Ho heard these words In his father's trenchant volco, nnd trembled, and then dodged tho thought. After all, who was to' know? Ho must carry four hundred pounds about with him till Monday, when the neglect could bo surreptitiously lepaired; and meanwhile mean-while he wns free to pass the afternoon after-noon on tho encircling divan of the billiard room, smoking his pipe, sipping sipp-ing a pint of ale, and enjoying to tho mast-head tho modest pleasures of admiration. ad-miration. None can admire Hko a young man. Of all youth's passions and pleasures, this Is tho most common and least alloyed; al-loyed; and every graceful reach, every easy, stand-off attitude of waiting; ay, and down to h!s shlrt-s'esves nnd wrlst-llnks, wrlst-llnks, wcro seen by John through a luxurious glory. Ho valued himself by the possession of that royal friend, hugged himself upon tho thought, and swam in warm azure; his own detects, like vanquished difficulties, becoming things on which to plume himself. Only when he thought of Miss Macjtenzlo there fell, upon his mind a Bhadow ot regret; that young Indy was worthy of better things than plain John Nicholson, Nich-olson, still known among schoolmates by tho derisive namo of "Fatty"; and be felt If ho could chalk a cue or Btand at caso with such a careless grace as Alan ho could approach the object of his sentiments with a less crushing sonso of Inferiority. Boforo they parted Alan madoa proposal that was startling In the extreme. ex-treme. Ho would bo nt Colctto's that night about twelve, he said. Why would not John como there and get tho monoy? To go to Coletto's was to sea life, indeed, It was wrong; It was against tho laws. It partook, In n very dingy manner, ot adventure. Were l known, it was tho sort of exploit tha,t disconsidered a young man for good with tho ranro serious classes, but gnvo him a standing with the riotous. And yet Colotte's was not a hell; It could not come, without vnultlng hyperbole, under un-der tho rubric of a glided saloon; and, if it was a sin to go thero tho sin was merely local and municipal. Colotto (whose nnrae I do not Itnow how to spell, for I wob novcr in ep'stolary com munication with that hospitable outlaw) out-law) was simply an unlicensed publican, publi-can, who gavo suppers after cloven nt night, tho Edinburgh hour of closing. If you belonged to n club you could got a much bottor supper nt tho samo hour and loso not n Jot in public esteem. But If you lacked that qualification, and wore an hungered, or inclined toward couvlvallty at unlawful hours, Coletto's was your only port. You were very Ill-supplied. Tho company was not recruited re-cruited from the Sennte or tho church, though tho bar was very well represented represent-ed on the only occasion on which I flew in tho faco of my country's laws, and, taking my reputation In my hand, penetrated Into thnt grim supper house. And Colotte's frequonters, thrilllngly conscious of -wrong-dolnej, nnd "that two-handed engine (tho policeman) at tho door," wcro porhaps Inclined to somewhnt feverish oxces3. But tho place was In no sense a very bad one; nnd it is somewhat strange to me, ut this dlstanco ot time, how It had ac- ii quired its dangerous repute. In precisely tho Banio spirit as a man may dobato a project to ascend tho Mat-terhoru Mat-terhoru or to 'cross Africa, John considered con-sidered Alan's proposnl, and, greatly daring, accepted It. As ho wnlked homo tho thoughts of this excursion out ot tho sate places of llfo Into tho wild nnd nrduous, stirred and struggled strug-gled In his imagination with tho Imago of Miss Mackenzie Incongruous nnd yet kindred thoughts, for did not each Imply unusual tightening ot the pegs of resolution? did not each woo hlra forth and warn hlra back again into himself? Between these two considerations, nt leMit, ho was more than usnnlly moved; an when ho got to Randolph Crescent he qulto forgot the f ;ur htin 'rod rounds In his pocket of his great-coat, hung up tho coat, with Its rich freight; upon his particular pin of tho hat-stand, und In tho very action scaled his doom. to na inNrifirsii.i |
