The Astonishing History of Troy Town Part 55

Now it so happened that in the Booking Office there hung a gorgeous advertis.e.m.e.nt of one of the princ.i.p.al Steams.h.i.+p Companies, representing a painted s.h.i.+p, the S.S. _Popocatepetl_, upon a painted ocean, with a deckload of pa.s.sengers in all varieties of national and fancy costume. Mr. Fogo, as his eye rested on this company, halted and looked more closely.

"That Highlander," he said, "is out of drawing."

Purse in hand, he paused before the advertis.e.m.e.nt and slowly yielded to its spell. His eyes grew fixed and gla.s.sy: tickets, train, and waiting bride had pa.s.sed out of his mind. Mr. Fogo's fit was upon him.

Meanwhile the Twins, unconscious of the flight of time, and untutored in the ways of locomotives, were loading their sister with parting advice.

"This 'ere," remarked Peter, pulling a bulky parcel from his pocket, "contains a variety o' useful articles for travellin', which I've a-reckoned up durin' the past week an' meant to hand 'ee at the las'

moment. There's a wax candle an' a box o' lucifers for the tunnels, an' a roll o' diach'lum plaister in case o' injury, an' 'Foxe's Book o' Martyrs,' ef you shud tire o' lookin' out at the windey, an'

Thorley's-Food-for-Cattle Almanack for the las' thirteen year all done up separate, an' addressed to 'Mr. P. Dearlove, juxty Troy.'

'Bout this last, I wants Mr. Fogo to post wan at ivery stashun where you stops, so's we may knaw you've got there safe."

"I see," broke in Paul, who had been spelling through the notices with which the carriage was adorned, "there's a fine not exceedin'

saxty s.h.i.+llin' ef you communicates wi' the guard wi'out reason, an'

wuss ef you cuts the cush'ns or damages the compartment. You'd bes'

call Mr. Fogo's 'tention to that."

"An' warn 'un not to get out while the train's i' motion; but you was al'ays thoughtful, Tamsin. G.o.d bless thee, little maid! Et makes my head swim o' whiles to think 'pon the times I've a-danced 'ee 'pon my knee, an' now you'm a married woman!"

"G.o.d bless you both, my dear brothers!"

"Amazin'," said Paul; "I see the c.u.mpenny won't hold itsel' liable for--"

There was a slamming of doors, a shriek of the whistle, and the train began to move away. At the same moment Mr. Fogo darted out of the Booking Office, and came tearing up the platform.

"Where's my wife?" he cried. "Which carriage--?"

It was too late. The carriage was already beyond the platform, and the train had gathered speed. But presence of mind belongs not to experience only. At the end of the train was. .h.i.tched an empty clay-truck, bound on a return journey to Five Lanes Junction.

Quick as thought the Twins, as Mr. Fogo rushed up to them, caught him by the coat collar and seat of his trousers, and with one timely heave sent him flying into this. When he staggered to his feet-- hatless, without spectacles, and besmeared with clay from head to foot--the train was fifty yards beyond the station. And so, staring back mournfully at the little group upon the platform, he vanished from their sight.

"That," said Peter, turning slowly to his brother, "was nibby-gibby."

"Tamsin mou't ha' communicated wi' the guard," responded Paul, "on'y that, wi'out sufficient reason, wud ha' been not exceedin' saxty s.h.i.+llin'. Do 'ee think 'twud ha' been held sufficient reason?"

"I dunno. I reckon they mou't ha' made et two-pund-ten, all things conseddered," said his brother thoughtfully, "but there's no knawin'."

It is always hateful to say good-bye to friends, and here, with his leave, the reader shall be left to guess on the later fortunes of Tamsin and Mr. Fogo, the Twins and Caleb. It may be, if he care, and the Fates so order it, he shall some day follow them through new adventures; but it will be far from Troy Town. And for the present they shall fare as his imagination pleases.

Of Tamsin, however, who is thus left with her good or sorry fortune before her, something shall be hinted. Public opinion at Troy condemned her marriage. As Miss Limpenny neatly asked, "If we were all to marry beneath us, pray where should we stop?" "We should go on," replied the Admiral, "_ad libitum_." I am inclined to think he meant "_ad infinitum_;" but the argument is quite as cogent as it stands.

And yet, since they returned to Kit's House, which they did after an absence of three years, Mr. and Mrs. Fogo have been called upon by the _c.u.meelfo_. Some months ago the Admiral b.u.t.ton-holed me in the street.

"I say, who are all those people staying with--with your friends? I mean, the strangers I saw in Church yesterday--a very creditable lot, upon my word."

"I am glad you approve of them," I answered gravely. "The lady with the spectacles is Miss Gamma Girton, the Novelist of Agnosticism; the tall man in black, Thomas Daniel, the critic--"

"Oh, literary people."

"Quite. Then there is Sir Inchcape Bell, the great Engineer; and Lady Judy Twitchett--her husband (the young man with the bald head) sits for Horkey-boro', you know, and will be in the Cabinet with the next--"

But the Admiral was already hurrying down the street. That very afternoon he took his family up to Kit's House, to call; and has been calling at short intervals ever since.

The Goodwyn-Sandys, unless we are sharper than the police, we shall never see again. So close was the pursuit, however, that they were forced to leave the portmanteau in the cloak-room at Paddington Station, where it was discovered and opened. It contained a highly curious clock-work toy, and enough dynamite to raze St. Paul's to the ground. Even without exploding, it converted three statesmen to Home Rule.

Mr. Moggridge's resignation of his post in the Customs was received without expressed regret. He has since married Sophia Buzza, and edits a Conservative paper in Wales. I see that another volume of his verse is in the press. It is to be called "Throbs: and other Trifles," and will include the epithalamium written by him for his own nuptials, as well as his "Farewell to Troy!"--a composition which Mrs. Buzza said she defied "you to read without feeling as if geese were walking over your grave."

Sam Buzza has gone to College.

And what of Troy Town? By degrees the old phrases, old catch-words, and old opinions have come to reign again. Troy's unchanged loveliness too, the daily round full of experiences familiar as old friends, the dear monotony of sight and sound in the little port--all have made for healing and oblivion. If you question us on a certain three months in our life, the chances are you will get no answer.

We have agreed to forget, you see; and so we are beginning to persuade ourselves, almost, that those months have never been.

Almost. But, as a fact, Mrs. Buzza had been right. "It will never be the same again-never!" Something we have lost, and I think that something is Troy. For strangers have come amongst us, and have formed a society of their own. The Town is grown out of our knowledge. They have built, and are building, mansions of stucco, and a hotel of hideous brick; a fifth-rate race-meeting threatens the antique regatta; and before all this the savour of Trojan life is departing. Ilion is down, and by no a.s.sault of war.

And yet--

The evening before last I pa.s.sed up the road in front of No. I, Alma Villas. The air was warm, and through the half-opened window a voice stole out--

"In the Great Exhibition of 1851, my dear, Her Majesty the Queen, while partaking of luncheon--"