Tyltyl

“ Tyltyl and Mytyl woke up next morning, feeling very gay; with childish carelessness, they had forgotten their disappointment. Tyltyl was very proud of the compliments which Light had paid him: she seemed as happy as though he had brought the Blue Bird with him:
She said, with a smile, as she stroked the lad's dark curls:
"I am quite satisfied. You are such a good, brave boy that you will soon find what you are looking for." ”

“ The Fairy said to them:
"It is just possible that the Blue Bird is hiding at your grandparents' in the Land of Memory; so you will go there first."
"But how shall we see them, if they are dead?" asked Tyltyl.
Then the good Fairy explained that they would not be really dead until their grandchildren ceased to think of them:
"Men do not know this secret," she added. "But, thanks to the diamond, you, Tyltyl, will see that the dead whom we remember live as happily as though they were not dead." ”

“ THE LURCH
[Tyltyl. “It seems hardly worth while, then, to take so much trouble.”—The Betrothal.]
I AM afraid this little Guiggol has somehow got mixed up With M. Maeterlinck; but the two schools have, of course, a good deal in common, so it should work out fairly well.
The play opens in The Place Which is Neither Here nor There; it seems to be a high hill entirely surrounded by fog. The unfortunate Bill Tyl and his sister Methyl [3] are doing their utmost to die, driven on by the sinister figure of Indigestion, which grows larger and larger as the play progresses. ”

“ Don’t you know since the old dragon, Lady Lucie, who might have found you an establishment if she had really had the liking which she professed for you——”
“Lady Lucie was my dearest, best friend,” interrupted Lady Bell passionately.
“Who has died and done nothing for you, any more than for her pug, if she had one,” went on Mrs. Die in cool derision; “so that we are all in the same boat, whether we like it or not, and must sink or swim together. There, girl, go work at your ruffles, or some other of your fiddle-faddle acquirements, to pass the time till some change offer. You are young yet ”

“ Within an hour, Lady Bell heard that the Kingscotes had been no small drink in England a mort of years before, as early as King Arthur’s time or thereabouts—when they would have thought neither Clifford nor Talbot of their brewst. What a proper young man Master Charles was, and how all the girls were pulling caps for him. How well Miss Kingscote had looked when she walked into Lumley at Assize time, in her pea-green tabinet petticoat and cherry-coloured gown. ”

“ Selina whispered, “You had better put it away, Matilda; you know it is only reels of cotton you require.”
“No, Selina,” she said, “you are quite mistaken; you forget that I could not find my thimble this morning; I looked every where for it, and lost so much of my time; and see only how I have hurt my finger with sewing without one, it is quite red; you would not wish me to do that again, I am sure; so I must buy a thimble, and it is only the scissors in addition, you know.”
“But, Matilda, your thimble is only mislaid; it will be found I am sure. ”

“ They found Leila clasping Peggy’s hands and sobbing violently.
“Her eyes are shut,” she said; “she does not hear me; oh, Charles, tell me, is she dead? Can we do nothing?”
Dash began at this moment to lick Peggy’s face, she opened her eyes. “Am I dreaming,” she said, in a low faint voice, “and am I still in the land of the living? surely it is the faces of my own dear bairns that I see; but it canna be. Na, na, it is a vision o’ the night, and it will leave me with the light o’ morning as it has ever done afore ”

“ Lady Bell had not long time given her to pursue her own course and the even tenor of her way at St. Bevis’s. In the first spring of her stay, about six months after her arrival, the great man of the neighbourhood, Lord Thorold, came down to his place of Brooklands, on the eve of his marriage, accompanied by a large party, including his intended bride and her family, and feasted the public in his house and grounds, thrown open in honour of the occasion. ”

“ However, I must state to you in fairness, Miss Barlowe, I also warned Miss Kingscote that her proposed companion was a very genteel, pretty young girl.”
“I am much obliged to you, madam,” acknowledged Lady Bell in an accent of anything save obligation.
“But she would not be warned any more than yourself,” protested Mrs. Siddons bluntly, “for the woman is a born idiot, though I don’t mean that you are similarly afflicted,” she broke off, laughing; “at the same time she is very good-natured, is this Miss Kingscote, as I hear. ”

“ Tyll Owlyglass or Tyll Owleglass, by Thomas Murner, a Franciscan monk, of Strasbourg (1475-1536) ; the English name of the German “Tyll Eulenspiegel.” Tyll is a mechanic of Brunswick, who runs from pillar to post as charlatan, physician, lansquenet, fool, valet, and Jack-of-all-trades. He undertakes anything and everything, but invariably “spoils the Egyptians” who trust in him. He produces popular proverbs, is brimfull of merry mischief, droll as Sam Slick, indifferent honest as Gil Blas, light-hearted as Andrew Bode, as full of tricks as Scapin, and as popular as Robin Hood. ”

“ The whole building had a cheerless and spectral air to Lady Bell. There was no want of life in it, however, such as it was. A troop of men, most of them in stable-boy’s jackets or country frocks, one or two in tarnished livery, rushed out at the sound of wheels to hail the chaise, and shout for news before the travellers had time to alight. ”

“ He grumbled resentfully before he looked round. “What the plague do you mean by bringing any one here at this hour, Sneyd?”
“It is your niece, Lady Bell Etheredge, squire. I thought you would like to see her at once, as Mrs. Die is not to be disturbed after supper,” answered the squire’s butler, as if he were delivering a carefully considered speech.
The squire with a little “humph!” possibly meant to be inaudible, got up and turned round. “My dear niece, I beg to welcome you to St. Bevis’s,” he said, in a voice cultivated and agreeable in spite of its slight hoarseness. ”

“ Mrs. Die continued more gently; “I did not say that you could help it; I think none of us can help anything in our miserable lives. What are you to make of yourself here?”
“I’ll not be in your way,” asserted Lady Bell in her youthful desperation. “I’ll not eat grudged bits, which you do not have to give. I did not know that Uncle Godwin was ruined, or that you would hate the sight of me. I’ll go elsewhere. Oh! why did you let the chaise go back without me?” ”

“ The landlady was not surprised that the young madam had stretched her tether and lain at her friend’s; nay, was she not better out of the way, the worthy woman calculated, though she herself was not at all sensitive with regard to the state in which her lodgers were brought home to her house. Moreover, she had known many a madam not much older than Lady Bell, make no bones about it, but take it as a matter of course, that their gentlemen should be lifted out of their chairs like so many logs on their return from the tavern, and not be fit to bite a finger when they were set down. ”

“ He conducted her into a dreary unfurnished hall on a vast scale, paused a moment, laid a flabby finger on his forehead, scratched his head under his wig, spoke to himself, but yet as it sounded in confidence to Lady Bell. “Curse me if I know where I had better take her first. Mrs. Die is not to be seen at this hour, or it will be the worse for the person who sees her. Mrs. Kitty won’t leave Mrs. Die’s room to do the honours; I think I had better take his niece to the squire himself, though we do interrupt his game.” ”

“ The idea of their jumping at any man!—you have drawn me into vulgar language, Jonathan,—the moment he makes his bow is too bad or too good, I do not know which to say. You do not mean that I ever accustomed you to such forward behaviour?"
"No, no, Maria," the gentleman assured her with a smile, "far from it. There was a bad epidemic raging at the time our little business came off, don't you remember? I forget now [131] whether it was small-pox or scarlet fever, but I know I was not only tremendously busy, I dared not go to your father's house. ”

“ It struck more home where Lady Bell was concerned.
“Murder! how comes it,” cried Miss Kingscote, not waiting to divest herself of her yellow pelisse and her hat tied down over her lappets, but sitting brandishing a whip, to the danger of Lady Bell’s eyes, on the first chair which Miss Kingscote could drop into after coming back to her own parlour, “that Nutfield should be a refuge for distressed wives? Sure Master Charles and me is neither husband nor wife, that we should draw such a lot, like honey draws flies. Our lodger to be, is parted from her husband too! ”

“ Perhaps Harry Jardine had himself made inquiry—the pale girl who kept in the background, with the little scar—was it—on her temple? Joanna quivered under the process, and the witness beneath the light brown hair throbbed painfully. She was glad when Mr. Jardine walked away quickly; but the next moment he came back and turned directly towards her.
"I have been introduced to your sisters, Miss Crawfurd, and you must excuse further ceremony from me. Will you allow me to take you into the next room and get a glass of wine or a biscuit for you? You should not try fasting at an evening party. Mrs. ”

“ But when I’ve got over it, I should not wonder though you and me were better friends than ever.” Miss Kingscote ended by smirking and nodding.
“I am content,” submitted Lady Bell, sadly. “But, if you please, Miss Kingscote, we’ll not speak of these unhappy passages in my life. I cannot give you particulars. I must keep my own counsel, only you had better call me Mrs. Barlowe, and let Master Charles know why you do so. He will be tender of my secret. For that matter, I’m not alone; I’m not the only unhappy wife in England, who has been driven to fight her own battle to-day.” ”

“ One need not condemn that man alone—there were hundreds and thousands of men like him, desperately jaded, mind and body, with the springs of life poisoned early, who might have been capable of higher and better things.
The couple were swift to recognise Lady Bell’s position, as she recognised theirs, and to show her what had become the courtesy of foes. It touched her all the more when she recalled it, after she had happened to see from her window Mr. Trevor’s encounter with Mr. Sundon in the market-place. ”

“ She stays out at Nutfield with a bachelor brother, who is half a dozen years younger than she is; in short, who stands between her and you in point of age. I wish the difference had been the other way.”
“Why, madam?” demanded Lady Bell, like a little Turk.
“You need not look affronted.” Mrs. Siddons did not mind much having given the affront. “Try for your own sake, Miss Barlowe, and not be so thin-skinned; however, neither that defect, nor Mr. Charles Kingscote’s twenty-two years can be mended in a day. ”

“ In his Confutation he says:—
“Friar Barnes was of Zwinglia’s sect against the sacrament of the altar, believing that it is nothing but [58] bare bread. But Tyndale was yet at that time not fully fallen so far in that point, but though he were bad enough beside, he was yet not content with Friar Barnes for holding of that heresy. But within a while after, as he that is falling is soon put over, the Friar made the fool mad outright, and brought him down into the deepest dungeon of that devilish heresy wherein he sitteth now fast bounden in the chair of pestilence with the chain of pertinacity.” ”

“ Die’s bidding with the utmost dispatch, put on her hat and habit, and hurried back to the parlour.
Mrs. Die, in her hat and habit, was not so crazy looking, and was more like a lady of birth and breeding, than she had been in her morning gown. She directed the horses—there was usually no lack of horses at St. Bevis’s—to be brought to the door, and ascertained that Lady Bell was fit to guide the pony allotted to her, while Mrs. Kitty was mounted double behind a groom.
“Sneyd may come with us if he likes, and is not frightened for his master; or Greenwood may attend,” Mrs. ”

“ Sneyd, the butler, in his unencouraged essays at conversation the night before, had made Lady Bell acquainted with the habits of the family. The squire was never down in the morning till it was late, when he was at home, and that was but seldom, as he attended all the races. Lady Bell need not fear to stumble on her uncle, and be frozen to stone by his distant greeting. ”

“ He is only waiting at home for a pair of colours, which he is certain to get in these war times, so that you may not be long troubled with him. An idle young man is a great trouble and snare. You see I think it right to warn you, Miss Barlowe”—Mrs. Siddons cleared her conscience—“before sending you to this situation.”
“Mr. Charles Kingscote will not keep me back,” asserted Lady Bell, crossing her hands with an almost comical, youthful arrogance in her attitude, which expressed, “I shall put the young bumpkin in his proper place and keep him there, trust me for that.” ”

“ Miss Kingscote, who was apt to be in a muddle, and never ready for anything, was, as she described it, “slipping” into her best gown. Master Charles was out. “Oh, the dickens! the dickens! What ever is to be done?” cried Miss Kingscote to Mrs. Barlowe. “Run like a lovey, you are always as neat as though you’d been lifted out of a box, and wait on madam at the coach door. Say we’re main glad to see her, which we beant not yet awhile; but them’s the words. Help her out; take the child, and call it a pretty lamb. ”