The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Old Meerschaum, by David Christie Murray

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Title: An Old Meerschaum
From Coals Of Fire And Other Stories, Volume II. (of III.)

Author: David Christie Murray

Release Date: August 1, 2007 [EBook #22206]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN OLD MEERSCHAUM ***

Produced by David Widger

AN OLD MEERSCHAUM

By David Christie Murray

From Coals Of Fire And Other Stories
By David Christie Murray
In Three Volumes Vol. II.

Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly 1882

CHAPTER I.

The market-place at Trieste lay in a blaze of colour under the June
sunlight. The scent of fruits and flowers was heavy on the air. A
faint-hearted breeze which scarcely dared to blow came up from the
harbour now and again, and made the heat just bearable. Mr. William
Holmes Barndale, of Barndale in the county of Surrey, and King's Bench
Walk-, Temple, sat in shadow in front of a restaurant with his legs
comfortably thrust forth and his hat tilted over his eyes. He pulled his
tawny beard lazily with one hand, and with the other caressed a great
tumbler of iced beer. He was beautifully happy in his perfect idleness,
and a sense was upon him of the eternal fitness of things in general.
In the absolute serenity of his beatitude he fell asleep, with one hand
still lazily clutching his beard, and the other still lingering lovingly
near the great tumbler. This was surely not surprising, and on the
face of things it would not have seemed that there was any reason for
blushing at him. Yet a young lady, unmistakably English and undeniably
pretty, gave a great start, beholding him, and blushed celestial rosy
red. She was passing along the shady side of the square with papa and
mamma, and the start and the blush came in with some hurried commonplace
in answer to a commonplace. These things, papa and mamma noted
not--good, easy, rosy, wholesome people, who had no great trouble in
keeping their heads clear of fancies, and were chiefly engaged just then
with devices for keeping cool.

Two minutes later, or thereabouts, came that way a young gentleman of
whom the pretty young lady seemed a refin