Aurora Floyd

s friend that he had never enjoyed himself so much in his life. This declaration must, however, be taken with some reserve, for it was one which John was in the habit of making about thr

ith a few glasses of those effervescent wines which Archibald Floyd imported from the fair Moselle country, had been quite enough

ours, and I'm head over heels in love with her already. What is it that has knocked me over like this, Bulstrode? I've seen other girls

amp-post, and stared fiercely at h

ed his teeth

e same effect upon others as upon himself; and while he was arguing with, and protesting aga

o his room, where he sat with his window open to the mild November night, staring out at th

uld he

years, and he had heard the history of those years over and over again? How often he had artfully led Lucy to tell him the simple story of her cousin's girlhood - the governesses and masters that had come and gone at Felden Woods - the ponies and dogs, and puppies and kittens, and petted foals; the little scarlet riding-habit that had been made for the heiress when she rode after the hounds with her cousin Andrew Floyd. The worst blots that the officer could

ecause there is a mournful tenderness in the old man's voice when he speaks to his only child! If I were sixty-seven years of age, and had such a daughter as Aurora, would

lf, he would perhaps have added, "Or John Me

he found Mr. Mellish on the door-step talking to Miss Floyd's groom and inspecting the horses, which were wait

said, good-naturedly, "you can ride the gray I spoke

hank you," he answered. "But if you'll let your groom ride down to the

, was fain to cross the road once more for the chance of taking Aurora's foot in his hand as she sprang into her saddle; but John Mellish was before him again, and Miss Floyd's mare was curveting under the touch of her right hand before the captain could interfere. He allowed the groom

w determined he was to be bewitched with her rather than by Aurora. "If she had fallen in love with me," he thought, "I would have snapped my fingers at the black-browed heiress, and married this fair-haired angel out of hand. I meant to do that when I sold my commission. It was not for Aurora's sake I l

et girl by his side lifted her blue eyes every now and then to steal a glance at his hard profile and moody brow - if he could have read her secret later, when, talking of Aurora, he for the first time clearly betrayed the mystery of his own heart - if he could have known how the landscape grew dim before her eyes, and h

both John Mellish and Talbot were to assist, and the captain savag

of perfume upon his varnished boots, and smeared his face with a terrible waxy compound which promised to lisser sans graisser his mustache. He broke one of the crystal boxes in his dressing-case, and put the bits of broken glass in his waistcoat-pocket from sheer absence of mind. He underwent semi-strangulation with the unbending circular collar in which, as a gentleman, it was his duty to invest himself; and he could have beaten the ivory backs of his brushes upon his he

l-colored sea, and glancing, dazzling gas-light, and hare-soup, and cod and oysters, and Aurora Floyd - yes, Aurora Floyd, who wore a white silk dress, and a thick circlet of dull gold upon her hair, who looked more like Cleopatra to-night than ever, and who suffered Mr. John Mellish to take her down to dinner. How Talbot hated the Yorkshireman's big fair face, and blue eyes, and white teeth, as he watched the two young people across a phalanx of glass and silver, and flow

had to endure on account of some old school-boy acquaintance. All Rugby might turn up against him in a day or two, and dispute with him for Aurora's smiles. But John Mellish was engaged in a very animated conversation with Archibald Floyd, having contrived, with consummate artifice, to ingratiate himself in the old man's favor, and, the visitors having one by one dropped off, Aurora, with a listless yawn that she took little pains to conceal, strolled out into the broad iron balcony. Lucy was sitting at a table at the other end of the room, looking at a book of beauty. Oh, my poor Lucy! how much did you see of the

our friends in the pit are as much amused with our trumpery griefs as the Haymarket habitués when Mr. Box finds his gridiron empty, or Mr. Cox misses his rasher. What can be funnier than other people's anguish? Why do we enjoy Mr. Maddison Morton's farces, and laugh till the tears run down our cheeks at the comedian who enacts them? Because there is scarcely a farce upon the British stage which is not, from the rising to the dropping of the curtain, a record of human anguish and undeserved misery. Yes, undeserved and unnecessary torture - there is the special charm of the entertainment. If the man who was weak enough

for ten minutes or so, and every steel-blue star in the sky glared wa

oak; no stiff, embroidered, young ladified garment, but a voluminous drapery of soft scarlet woollen stuff, such as Semiramide herself might have

, this young man, as

atigued yourself this evenin

she answered him. "I am

eart of his subject, and he told her how he loved her; how he had done battle with this passion, which had been too strong for him; how he loved her as he ne

and those dear lips trembling visibly. Then, with a half-averted face, and in words t

er was a

eared to mislead him by so much as one syllable that could leave a loop-hole through which hope might creep into his heart. He was rejected. For a moment it was quite as much as he could do to believe it. He was inclined to imagine that the signification of certain words had sud

so, as it seemed to him - in order to

ase seemed; he could have used no worse had he been inquiring for furni

o, no

ddenly that it almost startled

decision is

irrev

but - but Mr. Floyd may perhaps

fled sob as she clasped her

aid; "poor, dear old

ink that, meeting you with your affections disengaged, I have yet been utterly un

straws and chopper of logic, talking of building h

on her name for a moment, first because it was so sweet to say it, and, secondly, in the hope that she would speak

ain that he would be a consummmate fool if he was ever beguiled into making Aurora his wife. He reversed the parable of the fox; for he had been inclined to make faces at

I know how proud my father, poor old Sir John

was refusing. He was trying to bribe her with the baronetcy which was to be his in due time. But she made no answer to the pitif

ith her red drapery wrapped tightly round her, stood shivering in t

, repeating a phrase that Talbot u

-by at the same time," Captain Bulst

od-

Brighton ear

sudd

s meant to travel this winter. Can

as perfectly clear - refused him! The soft blue eyes filled with tears at the thought that a demigod should have endured such humiliation. Talbot pressed

hat did it matter now? His great affliction set him apart from his fellowmen, and gave him dismal priv

back to the Old Ship; for it is peculiar to us, in our moments of supreme trouble or joy, to l

e watering-place; but he resolutely abjured the neighborhood of the East Cliff, and, the day being wet, took a pleasant wa

lock, the captain met Mr. John Mellish clos

tared aghast

arth are you goi

y the first train th

n't the way t

n my portmanteau, and my shirts are g

h and bitter cachinnation, but affording wondrou

d, "you have been prop

"It - it - was n't honorable of

t. I've just come from Shoreham, and you've only lately lef

many colts as she pleased for the Derby, and give her own orders to the trainer, and I'd never interfere; and - and - Melli

o find another wretch in the waiting-room; and I like to have my tooth extracted first, and to see him glare enviously at me as I come out of the tortur

him, clad in imperial purple, with hieroglyphics on the hem of her robe, and wearing a clown's jacket of white satin and scarlet spots, such as he had once seen foremost in a great race. Captain Bulstrode arose early the next morning, with the full intention of departing from Sussex by the 8.45 express; but suddenly remembering that he had but poorly acknowledged Archibald Floyd's cordiality, he determined on sacrificing his inclinations on the shrine of courtesy, and calling once more at the East Cliff to take leav

he servant told him - up stairs in the little study, he thought. Talbot waited for

was there, seated with her back toward him, and her head leaning on the cushions of her chair. He stopped for another moment to admire the back view of that small head, with its crown

e of a dead woman, and her nerveless hands hung over the cushions of the arm-chair. A newspaper was lying at h

open window, he set her with her face to the wind. In two or three moments she began to shiver violently, and soon afterward opened her

, she who five-and-thirty hours befo

r good-by; but I deceived myself. I came to ask you once more, and on

thought it was w

it wa

sh me to r

wish?

: for you are a brave and honorable man, Cap

ry dregs thereof, and was drunken. He dropped into the chair in which Aurora had sat, and, absent-minded in his joyful intoxication, picked up the newspaper that had lain at her feet. He shuddered in spite of himself as he looked at the title o

S FL

dun w

nt

over the front page; it was almost entirely filled with advertisements (and such advertisements!), bu

and a crack French horse had been killed. There was a great deal of regret expressed for the loss of the horse, and none for the man who had ridden him, who, the reporter stat