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Jan. 10, 1852.
SOUTHERN LITERARY GAZETTE.
[Copyright secured according to Law.]
THE GOLDEN CHRISTMAS.
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Compiled from the Notes of a Briefless Barrister, by the Author of “ The Yemassee,”
“Guy Rivers,” “Katharine Walton,” etc., etc.
CHAPTER I.
A doubtful case of love on the tapis.
It was during that premature spell of cold weather which we so
unseasonably had this year in October, —anticipating our usual
winter by a full month or more, —cutting off the cotton crop a
fourth, and forcing us into our winter garments long before they
were ordered from the tailor, —when, one morning, as I stood shiv
ering before the glass, and clumsily striving, with numbed fingers,
to adjust my cravat ala nceud Gordienne , —my friend, Ned Bul
mer, burst into my room, looking as perfect an exquisite as Beau
Brummell himself. He was in the gayest clothes and spirits, a
thousand times more exhilarated than usual—and Ned is one of
those fellows upon whom care sits uneasily, whom, indeed, care
seldom sets upon at all! He laughed at my shiverings and
awkwardness, seized the ends of my handkerchief, and, with the
readiest fingers in the world, and in the most perfect taste, adjust
ed the folds of the cravat, and looped them up into a rose beneath
my chin, in the twinkling of an eye, and to my own perfect satis
faction.
“ That done,” said he, —“ what have you now for breakfast ?”
A bachelor’s breakfast is not uncommonly an extempore per
formance. I, myself, really knew not what was in the larder, or
what my cook was about to provide. But this ignorance occa
sioned no difficulty. I knew equally w r ell my guest and cook.
“ There is doubtless quite enough for two moderate fellows like
ourselves. Let us descend to the breakfast room and see.”
“ I warn you,” said he, “ I am no moderate fellow at this mo
ment. lam hungry as a Cumanche. I was out late last night at
the house of that starched framework of moral buckram, the widow
D e; and got no supper. Her freezing ladyship seems to
Lncy that she provides well enough when she surfeits every body
with her own dignity ; and, though there was a regular party, —a
monstrous re-union of town and country cousins, —yet, would you
believe it, except the tea service at eight o’clock, cakes and crum
pets, and such like unsubstantial stuffs, we got not a mouthful all
Hie evening! Yet, in momentary expectation of it, every body
bung on till twelve o’clock. The case appearing then perfectly des
perate, and the stately hostess becoming more freezingly dignified
than ever, people began to disappear. The old ladies lingered to
die last, and then went off breathing curses, not loud but deep !
I dl Mrs. F was terribly indignant. I helped her to the car
ria S e * 1 Did you,’ said she, ‘ ever see such meanness ? I wonder
if she thinks people come to her parties only to see her in her last
lhi * Sheet is issued Semi-Monthly as a Supplement to the Southern Literary Gazette, published by Walker, Richards & Cos., Charleston, S.C., at Three Dollars per annum.
SUPPLEMENT.
Parisian dresses ? And that we should stay till twelve o’clock
and get nothing after all! Let her invite me again, and she
shall have an answer.’ ‘ Why what will you say V said I. ‘ What
will I say V said she. ‘ I'll tell her yes, PH come, provided she'll
allow me to bring my supper with me.’
‘ And she’ll be very sure to do it too,’ said I: ‘ she’s just the
woman for it.’ ” •
“I shall not quarrel with her if she does. I calculated some
thing on the supper myself, took no tea, and was absolutely fam
ished, I was so hungry that, but for the distance, and my weari
ness, I should have driven down to Baker’s, and surfeited myself
upon Yankee oysters. Aon see now why I am so solicitous on
the subject of the sort of breakfast you can provide.”
“Faith, Ned,” said I, “one might reasonably ask, why, being
so monstrous hungry, you should yet sally forth on an empty
stomach ! Why didn’t you get breakfast at home ? Why come
to sponge upon a needy bachelor, and without due warning given
of the savage character of your appetite ?”
“Oh ! you penurious monster! You are as stingy as Madame
I) e. But, confound you ! Do you think it is your break
fast, in particular, that lam in search of? Let me quiet your sus
picions. Hungry as I am, I have a much more important quest
in seeking you, and came as soon as I could, in order to catch you
before you should go out this morning. I slept so late, that,
when I sprang out of my bed and looked at my watch, I found I
hadn’t a moment to lose. So I took the chance of securing you
and my breakfast by the same operation. Thus am I here and
hungry. Are you satisfied ?”
“Quite ! But what’s in the wind now, that you must see me
in such a liurry. No quarrel on hand, I trust.”
“No ! no! Thank God ! It is Venus not Mars, at this season
of the year, to whom I address my prayers. It is an affair of the
heart, not of pistols. But to the point. Have you any engage
ments to-day ? lam in need of you.”
“None !” with the natural sjgh of a young lawyer, whose de
sires are more numerous than his clients, and whose hopes are
always more magnificent than his fees.
“ Good! Then you must serve me, as you can, efficiently.
You alone can do it. You must know, then, that Paula Bonneau
is in town with her grandmother. They came yesterday, and may
leave to-morrow. Tliev are hurried; I don’t know why. I heard
of them last night at Dame D e’s. They would have been
present, and were at first expected ; but sent an excuse on the plea
of fatigue.”
“ And did not accordingly—we may suppose —go supperless to
bed. But what have Itodo in this matter ? ‘ What’s I lecuba to
me, or Ito Hecuba ?’ You surely don’t design that I should take
Paula off your hands.”
“Off my hands, indeed. No! no! mon ami! I wish you
rather to assist in putting her into them.”
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