The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-03-13

Turniptops. This divinity was still q
young man, unmarried, and not much
given to call on anybody; and for three
long years all the efforts of the Dorno-
way-Diclkes had been unavailing to in
duce him to honor the "Courtn with
his august presence. Two months aoo.
however, he had sent his card by a
mounted messenger, and one month
ago, oh, Joy of joys! he had accepted an
invitation to a garden party at the
house for one of the very days on which
1 was to remain Its guest.
1t was just after this gracious prom
Use had been given that Mr.. Dornoway.
Dicke had made his appearance at the
club. to make arrangements with Gun
ter; and now that 1 knew the circum-
stances, was not only not surprised
at the magnificence of his department
on that occasion, but astonished that
he should have been so affable as he
was. My private impression is, that he
asked me down to Dornoway Court not
so much from personal affection, as. to
secure an additional witness to his So
cial triumph; but that is neither here
nor there. The Duke was coming, and
the family were in a state of excitement
rare, 1 should hope, in Hanwell, and
not habitually exhibited even at Broad
moor.
The great subject of discussion among
them for weeks had been, who was to
be invited to meet the Duke, and it was
not exhausted yet. Everybody-who
was anybody-had been asked excepi
the Titbats; and the knotty point sb~t
could not be settled was, whether thsss
people should be asked or not. Captain
and Mrs. Titbat were their immediate
neighbors; their lawn-tennis grounds
were IN fact contiguous, and tie two
families, though not absolutely on a
friendly footing, were well-kn'wn to
one another. Young Titbat, when a
player was wanting, had sometimes
even been invited to make up he party
at their favorite amusement;and when
the balls went over the wire fence that
separated the two domains the juve-
nile Tltbats did not preteni Gas some
young people would) tha they were
lost, but would honestly chuck them
back again. Still the Tibats were not
among the County Families, nor any
thing like it. Their efbrts-far more
desperate than those of the Dornoway-
Dickes-had miserablJ and utterly
failed in that direction. 1t was not so
much that their mansion was too small
to be reckoned as country house; that
their paddock could not by any strain
of courtesy be called /, park; or that
their ornamental lake was an undenia-
BILE pond. There was something amiss
I never could find out what-about
Mrs. Titbat.
She was woman-1 mce beheld her,
and under circumstances l can never
torget-of large proportions and hir-
suite aspect Gndeed, she had very
respectable beard0 her complexion was
rubicund, and to the unclaritable might
seem to indicate that she INDUCED in
liquor, though never heard that she
did so.
However that might have been, Mrs.
Titbat was not "visited," nor would
the Dornoway-Dickes have dreamt of
asking her to their garden-party except
for that contiguity, to which have re-
ferred, of their lawn-tennis grounds.
The Duke, it was known, was devoted
to the game; and if the two grounds
could be thrown into one, it was feltby
all the family that it would have been
an immense improvement. This could
scarcely be done, however, without
asking Mrs. Titbat's permission, and
also the pleasure of her company; and
upon the whole it was judged best to
leave matters as they were. The wire
fencing between the two lawns was so
very slight that they really looked to
be one and the same, and as there was
plenty of ground for the Duke to play
upon, he would probably never dis
cover that both the lawns did not be-
long to Dornoway Court.
In the course of the intimacy that ex-
listed between the Junior members of the
two families, the young Dornoway-
Dickes. with frankness characteristic
of their age, had told the young Titbats
that the Duke was coming on Friday to
play lawn-tennis, but that nobody but
tip-top (not Titbat) people were to be
asked to meet him; nor was even this
the worst, for it had certainly been
limited by elder members of the family,
in view of the suggested amalgamation
of the tennis-grounds, that such good
neighbors as Captain and Mrs. Titbat
would certainly be included in the in
vitation list. To explain what follows
must add that Mrs. Titbat herself was
firmly persuaded that she would be
among the guests, and was transported
with the idea of it; for the being asked
to meet the Duke of Turniptops' Gas
was stated on the cards) was in Mangel-
wurzelshire like being presented at
Court, and at once both whitewashed
and gilded the invitee. Mrs. Titbat
had actually ordered dress from Lon
don in which to appear before his
Grace of Turniptops, and the sight of
it, as it hung useless in her wardrobe,
envenomed her whole being, as though
she had worn it, and it had been the
garment of Nessus.
She clutched the skirts of Hope to the
very last, but when Friday morning ar
rived and no invitation had come it
fled from her soul, and was replaced by
the desire for vengeance. If the Dorno-
way-Dickes could but have known what
was passing in that injured lady's mind
they might have been reminded of those
warning lines
Lest when our latest hope is fed We taste of
our despair,