The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1880-03-26

was rubicund, and to the uncharitabie |
might seem to indicate that she indulg- |
ed in liquor, though / never heard /
that she did SO. Whatever was wrong +
with her had happened SO long ago
that it would have been much better t
and kinder of her felIow-creatures to
have forgotten it. My impression is,
that instead of rushing into matrimony I
with the imprudence OF most young +
couples, Captain Titbat and herself had
exercised an unusual prudence, and had
not got themselves indissolubly united |
till time aud trial had shown them to
be suited to one another.
However that might have been, Mrs.
Titbat was not "visited," nor would
the Dornoway- -Dickes have dreamed
OF asking her to their garden-party
except for that contiguity, to which
have referred, 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 felt by all the family that it
would haye been an immense improve
ment. 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
we're. 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 pro-
baby never discover that both the
lawns did not belong to Dornoway
| Court.
In the course of the intimacy that ex-
listed between the Junior members of the
two families, the young Dornoway-L -Lickes,
with frankness characteristic of their age,
had told the young 1itbats that the Duke
was coming on Friday to play1awn-t tennis
butJth nobody but tip-top mot TitcaD
people were to be asked to meet him nor
was even this the worst. for it had been
hinted by elder members of the family, in
view of the suggested anlalgamation of
the tennis grounds, that such good neigh
bors as Captain and Mrs. Titbat would GER
tainly be included in the invitation list.
To explain what follows must add that
Mrs. 1itbat herself was firmly persuaded
that she would be among the guests, and
was transported with the idea OF it for the
being asked Ito meet the Duke of Turnip-
tops'' tas was stated on the cards) was in
Mangelwurzelshire like being presented at
| court, and at once both whitewashed and
gilded the invitea. One has heard of the
lie of the tigress when robbed of her young,
but " hat is that as compared with the state
OF mind of lady of blemi>bed reputation
who has persuaded herself that it will be
rchabilitated, and that in the most splen-
did fashion. and then suddenly finds that
she has been given the cold shoulder
Mrs. Titbat had actually ordered a dress
from London in which to appear before
His grace of Turniptops, and the sight of
it. as it hung useless in her wardrobe, er-
venomed her whole being, as though she
had worn it, and it had been the garment
of Nessus.
She clutehed 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 Dornoway-
Dickes could but have known what was
passing in that Injured la,ly's mind they
might have been reminded of these warn
| ing lines
Lest when our latest hope is fed ye taste
of our despair,
And learn by proof i'm some wild hour how
| much the wretched dare
Or eten if that quotation had not occurred
| to them | am quite sure they would have
asked her to their garden party even at
that eleventh hoitr.
| The guests arrived, and in due course
that is to say, exceedingly late-the Duke.
The meeting of his Grace and my host and
| hostess was positively affecting. thought
Mr.. Dornowhy- would never leave
| off shaking his hand, and that his wife
would have kissed It. However, he got
away at last to luncheon. About 200 peo-
pie sat down to it a select 20 on medieval
chairs and the rest on much more COM
Portable but common ones. A dozen Of
the last had been borrowed, tays ago, by
the housekeeper without her mistress
knowledge, from the Titcats. The host
enjoyed himself as most people do under
similar circumstances, that is to say, he
was intensely miserable and anxious, bat
buoyed up by the thought that 1t would
all be over presently, and he would have
This friend, the Duke of Turniptops,' to
talk about for the rest of his natural life
After luncheon we all repaired TO the lawn
| tennis ground.
"What capital lawn you have ~ OBJ
served the Duke and what good plan
that is of dividing your grountl.'
He was referring, Of course, to the iron
fenciug.
ut was plan of my wife's." Observed
MIR: Doruoway -Dieke for as the other
Il