If Only etc. | Page 2

going to marry the whole family;
which might be true in a sense and yet might not mean the entire
independence it implied. Bella's relations must, if he made her his wife,
mean more or less to him.
However, youth is sanguine, and Jack Chetwynd did not look too
closely at the thorns which hedged his dainty rose-bud round. She at
least was all he could wish her to be--unsophisticated as a child, and
pure and good at heart.

After a month's acquaintance it began to be understood that he was
engaged to her. "Ma" wept copious tears, and reckoned her Bella was a
lucky girl to get such an "elegant" husband; and Saidie wished him
happiness in a voice like a corn-crake, and declared that her sister was
"just the sweetest and best girl out of N'York," which she was; "and
born to lead a private life," which she wasn't.
Bella herself had very little to say. She blushed rosily when Jack made
fervent love to her; acquiesced confusedly when he told her she must
give up the music-hall stage, and seemed to take happily to the idea of
a quiet, uneventful life as Mrs. Jack Chetwynd.
They took a small house in Camberwell New Road. Jack put up a brass
plate with his name on it, and M.D. in imposing letters, and invested in
a telephone for the accommodation of night callers; and Bella began to
busy herself about the furnishing.
That was a delightful time. The little bride elect was so excited and
eager, and showed herself wonderfully capable, and with quite a pretty
taste in draping and ornamenting; but there was a terrible hole in Jack's
purse: chairs and tables seemed to cost a mint of money; and the young
man sighed and hoped fervently that it would not be long before
patients appeared, or he would be obliged to say No to his darling when
she turned her appealing eyes upon him and begged him to give her
money for that "duck of a screen," or something else that was from her
point of view the most extraordinary bargain, but which, Jack reflected,
privately, they could very well have done without.
He was giving up a certainty in settling in Camberwell, for as House
Surgeon at St. Mark's his income was assured; but then as a married
man he could no longer have lived at the hospital, and "one must risk
something" said Jack, hopefully.
They were married in May, just three months from that eventful night
when our hero first saw pretty Bella Blackall, on the boards at the
"Band Box," and Mrs. John Chetwynd was altogether so sweet and
winsome in her simple white gown, that Saidie was right when she
hilariously remarked that Jack might well be forgiven for falling in love

with her "all over again."
The wedding was just as quiet as it could be, for Jack did not care to
invite any of his friends. "Ma" and Saidie were altogether too
impossible; and unfortunately no one seemed to mind whether he did or
not. There was one unpleasantness connected with the day which
Chetwynd felt Bella might have had tact enough to avoid. Two or three
of Saidie's friends, in light and eminently professional attire, were of
the party, the women a good deal worse than the men; and they all
returned together to Holly Street, where a meal had been prepared in
the front parlours, the landlady having generously placed them at the
disposal of her lodgers for the occasion. There was a good deal of
banter and side jokes were bandied about from one to another; which
was galling to young Chetwynd, and made him devoutly thankful that
none of his own companions and friends were present. When at last
Bella rose from the table to change her gown for the pale grey he
himself had chosen, with the big hat and nodding plumes in which she
had looked such a dainty little mortal, he pushed his chair back with a
look of disgust on his face and left them to talk amongst themselves.
Saidie was distributing small pieces of wedding cake, laughing and
screaming at the top of her voice.
"Saikes, man! you are not to eat it. Put it under your pillow and as sure
as I'm a Yank you'll see your intended," she cried. And then followed
an amount of vulgar chaff and coarse pleasantry which caused the
"happy man" to set his teeth hard and register a vow at the bottom of
his heart that this should be the last occasion on which his wife should
associate with her sister's friends.
And then Bella came tripping down the narrow staircase, her cheeks
warm with a pale pink colour that made her inexpressibly lovely; and
the