Punch (74.1878)

Apbil 27, 1878.] PUNCH, OK THE LONDON CHAEIVARI.

189

STKAPIORE!

A KOMANCE

by

W E E D E E.

Author of Folly and Farini, Under Two Rags, Arryacln'ty, Chuck, Two Little Wooden Jews, Nicotine, A Horse with Glanders, In Somers Town,

Sfiamdross, &c, &c.

Chapter XIV.—" Ventosus."

weetie rose at his approach.

The five servants, with the candles, stood around.
"Pardon, Messieurs!" said Stbapmoee, and every vein of his fierce,
mad, humour was swollen out, black, and strong, while a sneering smile
played round his parched and fevered lips. Then pointing with frenzied
energy to the opposite wall, he turned Sweetie's attention in that
direction.

" Regardez-ld ! " he hissed, in a low, hoarse, rauque tone.
The ruse, though only momentary, succeeded. Sweetie looked in the
direction indicated, for he had no hesitation in turning his back on one
whom he had, hitherto, deemed his friend. In less than a minute he
discovered his mistake. A jarring sensation shot upwards through his
frame, as, impelled by an irresistible force, he flew forward several yards,
while Stbapmoke, reeling from the herculean effort, fell backwards on
the floor. Then, with a loud report, like that of a masked battery, the
last hidden strings and buckles, by which he was bound, and which had,
till now,.exercised so powerful a control over his actions, yielded, and

snapped asunder, like the breaking purse-
strings of an over-taxed householder, under
this tremendous strain.

As the well disciplined servants lifted
Stbaphobe to his feet, they silently re-
marked that he was double the man he had
been.

Sweetie approached him. Even then,
at that supreme moment, he would have
demanded an explanation, and would have
forgiven him. But it was not to be.
Stbapmobe bowed with careless courtesy ;
"Messieurs, you are my witnesses that
I-»

But, ere he could utter another word,
Sweetie's right hand had darted forth,
with a Titan-like force that would have
burst the bonds that clipped the treasure-
bag of the fabled GBolus himself, and, with
the unerring aim of a practical sportsman,
—to whom a bull's-eye in a shop window
had been mere child's play from his earliest
youth, and who, when in the country, could

T ?-©\i(Xis£. v— ^^-^xn~::€3X> with ease bring down a brace of birds that

i- ~ —v_» iy, \ _ ^ ^a(j oniy once geen jn j}on(j Street,—his

blow went, like a lightning flash, straight

un pen dessous le dernier bouton of Stbapiioee's embroidered gilet du soir, and, on the instant, the mighty Cherub bent, like a man on
whom bankruptcy has fallen unexpectedly, succumbing, of sheer and sharp necessity, beneath the sudden overpowering force of the
winding-up act.

With a wild-beast howl of stifled rage, the giant frame collapsed in silent agony.

The strong, broad man became feeble, and flabby, as the helpless sail, in the calm that succeeds the fierce tempest. His face was
deadly pale, his voice was hoarse, and gasping, like that of a drowning man, as he muttered to himself, " Vivre n'est pas respirer,
c'est agir." He slowly ascended the staircase, and, leaning over the balustrade, with one great effort, drew himself up. Then, he
stood erect, as he said, calmly and coldly, " We will meet."

"Where?"

The word came from Sweetie's throat, and the voice sounded like a weird imitation of his own by some derisive, mocking, ventriloquist,
who had chosen to represent him as speaking from out of the depths of the deepest wine vault beneath the marble basement.

The servants regarded one another in a half frightened, half curious manner. They had never, before this, witnessed any such
strange, any such thrilling scene, without having paid dearly for their presence, unless, indeed, they had been admitted in obedience
to some authoritative orders.

Stbapmobe replied:

Where you will. In London. "A VArc de Marhre, pres des Jardins du Pare d'Hyde. Au coucher du soleil."
So they parted.

These two men, who had been boys together at Eton, who had rowed together from Christopher's Clump, in one of Old Brocas's
boats, up to Surly Island, who had played together at "sixes" in the dear old "Threepenny" corner of the ancient sporting fields, who
had sat together, in the same school, one on the edge of the Fifth Form, the other, close to him, on the edge of the Fourth, side by
side, who had run up a rival score at Tap, Bat, and single wicket, and, in the summer heat, had dived off the Barns on the Bridge,
and had swum about, merrily plashing in the pool below.

Stbapmobe had been little " Bukltn de Westcott" then, and Pinto Peeze was " Peeze Majtjb," but even then he had the sobri-
quet of "Sweetie."* And these two were now to meet in deadly conflict. And for what ? For whom? Could they have foreseen

* Editor {to the talented Authoress).—We wouldn't for the world suppose any such place as Christopher's Clump ; secondly, no boat-builder at Eton was
that you are in ignorance of any subject whatever that you once take up and . ever named Brocas ; thirdly, that there is no Surly Islandfourthly, that