LITMIR.BIZ

       CHAPTER II.

      KEITH MEETS WITH AN ADVENTURE.

      After a storm comes a calm; so next morning the sun was shining brightly in the blue sky, and the earth had that clean, wholesome appearance always to be seen after heavy rains. The high wind had dried the streets, the drenched foliage of the trees in the Fitzroy Gardens looked fresh and green, and there was a slight chilliness in the atmosphere which was highly invigorating. Indeed, it was like a spring morning, mildly inspiriting; whilst all around there seemed to be a pleasant sense of new-born gladness quickening both animal and vegetable life.

      After breakfast, Ezra, who was going to the office of The Penny Whistle. the paper for which he worked, asked Keith to walk into town with him, and, as the young man had nothing particular to do, he gladly assented. They strolled slowly through the gardens, admiring the glistening green of the trees, the white statues sharply accentuated against their emerald back-ground, and the vivid dashes of bright colour given by the few flowers then in bloom.

      Stewart appeared to have quite recovered from his megrims of the previous night, and strolled gaily along, every now and then inhaling a long breath of the keen air. Ezra, who was watching him closely, saw from his actions his intense appreciation of his surroundings, and was satisfied that the young man possessed in a high degree that poetical instinct which has such an affinity with the joyousness or gloom of Nature.

      "Ah! this is a morning when it is good to live," said Keith brightly. "I always envied the satyrs and dryades of heathendom, with their intense animal enjoyment of Nature--not sensuality, but exuberant capability of enjoying a simple life."

      "Like that with which Hawthorn endowed Donatallo?" suggested Ezra.

      "Poor Donatallo!" said Stewart, with a sigh; "he is a delightful illustration of the proverb, 'Where ignorance is bliss'--he was happy till he loved--so was Undine till she obtained a soul."

      "You seem to have read a great deal?" observed Lazarus, looking at him.

      "Oh, faith; my reading has been somewhat desultory," replied Stewart carelessly. "All is fish that comes to my net, and the result is a queer jumble of information; but let us leave this pleasant gossiping, and come down to this matter-of-fact world. How do you think I can better my position?"

      "I hardly know as yet," replied the Jew, thoughtfully caressing his beard; "but if you want immediate work, I can put you in the way of obtaining employment."

      "Literary work?"

      "Unfortunately no--a clerkship in a--a--well, an office."

      "Ugh! I hate the idea of being cribbed and confined in an office; it's such an artificial existence. However, beggars can't be choosers, so tell me all about it."

      "My father wants a clerk," said Ezra deliberately, "and if I recommended you I think you could get the position."

      "Humph! And what is your father's occupation?"

      "Not a very aristocratic one,--a pawnbroker."

      Keith stopped short, and looked at his companion in surprise.

      "I can't imagine you being the son of a pawnbroker," he said in a puzzled tone.

      "Why not?" asked Ezra serenely. "I must be the son of some one."

      "Yes; but a pawnbroker, it's so horribly un-poetical. Your father ought to have been a man of letters--of vague speculations and abstruse theories--a modern Rabbi Judah holding disputations about the Talmud."

      Lazarus shrugged his shoulders, and walked slowly onward, followed by his companion.

      "My dear lad, the days of Maimonides are past, and we are essentially a money-making race. The curse which Jehovah pronounced on the Jews was the same as that of Midas--they turn everything they touch into gold."

      "A pleasant enough punishment."

      "Midas did not find it so; but to resume--my father, Jacob Lazarus, has his shop in Russell Street, so I will speak to him to-day, and if he is agreeable, I will take you with me to-morrow. I've no doubt you'll get the billet, but the wages will be small."

      "At all events, they will keep body and soul together till I find my El Dorado."

      "You refer to literary fame, I suppose. How did you first take to writing?"

      "I think you asked me that question last night," said Keith, smiling, "and I told you I couldn't explain. Like Pope, I lisped in numbers, and the numbers came. I've no doubt they were sufficiently bad. I'm sure I don't know why all authors begin with verse; perhaps it's because rhymes are so easy--fountain suggests mountain, and dove is invariably followed by love."

      "Have you had any articles accepted since your arrival in Melbourne?"

      "One or two, but generally speaking, no one acknowledges that a possible Shakespeare or Dickens is embodied in me. I've sent plays to managers, which have been declined on the plea that all plays come from London. I have seen editors, and have been told there was no room on the press--publishers have seen me, and pointed out that a colonial novel means ruination--encouraging for the future brainworkers of Australia, isn't it?"

      "We must all serve our apprenticeship," answered Lazarus quietly. "The longest lane has a turning."

      "No doubt; but my particular lane seems devilish long."

      Ezra laughed, and they walked down Collins Street, watching the crowd of people hurrying along to business, the cabs darting here and there, and the cable tramcars sliding smoothly along. Pausing a moment near the Scotch Church, they heard a street organ playing a bright melody.

      "What tune is that?" asked Keith, as they resumed their walk. "Sounds awfully pretty."

      "Song from 'Prince Carnival,'" replied Ezra, referring to an opera then running at the Bon-Bon Theatre. "Caprice sings it."

      "Oh, Caprice. I'd like to see that opera," said Keith. "You might take me to the theatre to-night to see it."

      "Very well," assented Ezra. "You will like Caprice--she is very charming."

      "And if rumour speaks truly, very wicked."

      "Added to which, she is the best-hearted woman in the world," finished the Jew dryly.

      "What a contradiction," laughed Stewart.

      "Women are always contradictory--'tis a privilege of the sex."

      "And one they take full advantage of."

      This airy badinage came to an end somewhat abruptly, for just as they arrived near the Victoria Coffee Palace, they were startled by the shriek of a woman.

      On the other side of the street a gaudily-dressed girl was crying and wringing her hands, while a child of about seven years of age was standing paralysed with fear directly in the way of a tram-car that came rushing down the incline. The two men stood horror-struck at what seemed to be the inevitable death of the child, for, though the driver put on the brakes, the speed was too great, and destruction appeared inevitable. Suddenly Keith seemed to recover the use of his limbs, and, with a sudden spring, bounded forward and

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