318 



KIDD'S JOURNAL. 



" No end on 'em. But she says she has 

 made up her mind to have this one, because 

 he has got so much money; and it's time, 

 too, that she thought of settling, for she's 

 twenty-seven come next month." 



" Lor ! you don't say so ! Why I didn't 

 think she were so much." 



" She don't look her age. She tells Mr. 

 Lutworth she-'s only twenty -three ; but if he 

 happened to be looking into the parish re- 

 gister, he'd find out his mistake." 



" Did she tell you how old she was ? " 



" Not she, indeed ! But there was some 

 law business about a while since, and they 

 had to get a certificate of her baptism, and 

 so I happened to see it. She wouldn't tell 

 me that, bless you. She tells me all about 

 her lovyers fast enough, but she's mighty 

 close about anything concerning herself." 



"Is she very much in love with this Mr. 

 Lutworth ? " y 



" She likes him well enough ; but it's his 

 money she's a-going to marry." 



" Ain't he good-looking, then ? " 



" Amongst the middlings for beauty ; but 

 he seems quite the gentleman, and dresses 

 very well. But she says he ain't the sort of 

 man she could ever love. The one she really 

 loves is that young hossifer that's going to 

 India, only she says he's not rich enough to 

 live in the style she wants." 



u Did she ever show you any of his 

 letters ? " 



" Lor, no ; but I think I've seen all the 

 rest. Mr. Lutworth's beat them all to 

 nothing for loving words. They are real 

 love-letters. He begins some of them, ' My 

 own sweet angel,' and ends, ' your ever-ador- 

 ing Henry.' And he talks more than he 

 writes, and she can just make him do any- 

 thing she pleases. When they was at Maid- 

 stone, she made him let his hair grow long, 

 and wear mousetachies, and a nimperial, and 

 turn down his collar. And one day she 

 made him change his dress three times. Oh, 

 she could just turn him round her little 

 finger,, bless ye ! " 



" The love is all on his side, it seems. 

 That's a pity, ain't it ? I couldn't help lov- 

 ing a man that loved me so much. It's just 

 like my poor dear Sam, that's been to sea 

 for these two long years." 



" Ay, he do love her, and no mistake. The 

 day as she was a-coming away from her 

 uncle's, he met her at the station, and when 

 he was a-bidding of her good-bye, he says, 

 ' Fanny,' says he, ' you're going back to 

 London and all its gaieties,' he says, ' and 

 you will see many handsomer and more 

 agreeable men than me,' says he ; ' but you 

 may be sure of one thing,' he says, ' you'll 

 never be loved fonder or truer than I love 

 you,' says he. And with that he hands her 

 into the carriage, and just as the train was 



a-settin' off he puts a beautiful morocky 

 case into her lap, and he says, says he, 

 'Wear them for my sake, dearest,' and with 

 that the engine shruck, and off they went — 

 he a-kissin' of his hand to her as long as she 

 was in sight. Well, when she looked into 

 the morocky case, which you may be sure 

 she opened the moment he couldn't see her, 

 what should she find but a pair of such loves 

 of bracelets. All beautiful gold, and all set 

 with diamonds, and rubies, and emeralds, 

 till they was one blaze ! " 



" Lor, I never ! " chimed in the wonder- 

 struck auditor. 



" No ; I'm sure you never did ! " replied 

 the other, confidently, and without stopping 

 to inquire what it was that her friend had 

 " never." 



" And was they all real ? " 



" I tell you they was worth fifty guineas ! " 



" Goodness gracious ! Fifty guineas ! Only 

 think!" 



" They never cost a farthing less, take 

 my word for it ; for Miss Winton, she took 

 them to a first-rate jeweller, and he told her 

 they was worth that money." 



A deep sigh, which the worthy gossips 

 could not hear, and a shudder which com- 

 municated a tremor to the leaf whereon I 

 rested, told me how keenly the unsuspected 

 hearer of the colloquy was affected by this 

 proof of the sordid and mercenary spirit of 

 the unworthy object of his love. 



" Well," observed the girl who had 

 answered to the familiar cognomen of Polly, 

 " they do say, you know, that you shouldn't 

 look a gift-horse in the mouth, and I must 

 say I think it was a shame to take them 

 bracelets to find out how much they was 

 worth, as if it was the money and not the 

 love as they was to be vallied for. Here's 

 this here little ring that my poor Sam gave 

 me before he went away to sea the last time, 

 and that will be two years come Michael- 

 mas, and I promised to wear it in a ribbon 

 round my neck till he came back again. 

 And do you know that John Bolder, as 

 wanted to keep company with me last win- 

 ter, he persuaded me that it wasn't gold, and 

 tried to get it from me to take it to be tried, 

 but I wouldn't let him ; for I knowed poor 

 Sam thought it was real gold when he gave 

 it to me, and I like to think so too. Heavens 

 knows whether it is real gold or not ; it isn't 

 for the sake of the vally that I wears it, but 

 for love of him as gived it me; and as I 

 don't want to sell it, it may as well be brass 

 or anything else, mayn't it ? " 



This poor illiterate girl had evidently 

 more innate delicacy of feeling than the ac- 

 complished young lady. 



" A pair of bracelets that cost fifty- 

 guineas will bear looking at," replied the 

 other. 



