Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-11-01

I. han.;,r above IL. les sofs rays enclosed
4 ,he euests 10 a circle Of brilliancy, and
!. the semi.gloom beyond offered nothing
: 10 claim the attention or attract the eye.
A dinner man should wish 10 look
. no further than the pretty face Of his
, ris-o-ris or neighbor, and her ripping
! conversation, far from drawing his
: thoughts from the dish under discus
sion, should lend II a more piquant
, favor. Mrs. Campion's natural CO.
ouetry was admirably adapted to make
A man enjoy his food. Instead Of re-
, curing attentions she paid them, and
filled up the pauses with an amount of
cxuberant nonsense which kept her end
of the table in excellent good spirits.
She had been a pretty and lively
girl, and was now a noisy but still
pretty woman. Her conversation was
impeded by no scruples Of politeness,
prudishness, or charity. She said out
whatever came into her head, and the
things which came into her head were
not always Of an unequivocal descrip-
ton. But if she occasionally took her
hearers breath away-at least she never
lost her own-before they had recov-
cred from the effects Of speech number
one she had fred off numbers two and
three, which were usually Of so much
more accentuated nature as to render
number one white by force Of contrast.
When Mr.. Campion first met this
lady it was natural, being then himself
the very pink and pattern Of propriety,
that he should fall victim to the
charms of her audacious tongue. 1t
was equally natural that after marriage
the first task he set himself should
have been to eradicate the very trait
that attracted him. But in this en-
deavor he was cruelty disappointed.
Mrs. Campion's vow of obedience made
far less impression on her mind than
the fit Of her wedding-gown. She
listened to her husbands homilies on
the excellence Of meekness in a woman
with smiling lips and wandering mind,
which, however, did not wander quite
so far as to prevent her from mimicking
the connubiai sermon to the next per-
son she met, under her husbands very
nose. All that, however, was years
ago. Mr.. Campion no longer tried to
improve his wife, or cared in any way
as to what she said or did, provided his
house was comfortable and his dinners
good and she, for her part, had ceased
to find amusement in laughing at her
husband. She seldom thought of him
at all, and never when any other man
was present.
Tonight Linburn, on her left hand,
divided her favors with Webster, sit
ting on her right. On the other side
of Linburn was the governess, next to
her Schonbein, and then Mrs. High
bury Banks. Schonbein had recov-
cred his temper, for his Insignificant
little partner had been shunted to the
opposite side of the table, where she
now sat between Webster and Kerr.
The second Miss Campion did not ap-
pear at dinner at all.
The party split up into two sections
Mrs. Banks, Mrs. Webster, Campion,
Schonbein, and Kerr forming a cOterie
at one end; Mrs. Campion, Linburn,
and Webster, a smaller but still gayer,
noisier conclave at the other.
The silent governess and her silent
pupil served as the dividing line.
You know the kind of dinner where
the menu is good, and the wine still
better; where every one talks great
deal, but no one says anything worth
remembering; where there is much
laughter for very inadequate cause. So
it was at Kolokythia Lodge, with this
further advantage that if you drank
more wine than was good for you, you
were only following the example Of
your host, and ran no danger of scan
dalizing your hostess.
Under Mrs. Campion's auspices the
fun waxed faster than is customary in
good society. Linburn, sitting be-
tween her and Mile. LecGur, turned
slightly away from the latter, both be-
cause ne wished to talk to Mrs. Cam
pion and because he did not wish TO
have anything to do with SchOnbein,
who was on the goyerness's other side.
1t is true there was an ill-feeling be-
tween these two young men, the real
origin of which has nothing to do with
the matter in hand.
With Webster Linburn was soon en-
gagged in loud and shallow argument
on the immortality of the soul. Neither
believed enough in anything to have a
stable opinion on the subject, but both
were still sufficiently under the infu-
ence of old habits of thought to be
tickled at the profanity with which Mrs.
Campion treated it.
At the other end of the table Mrs.
Webster was endeavoring to excite Mrs.
Highbury Banks to combat by attack
ing her pet hobby, The National Tag
dress Association" Of which she was
president. This was scheme to cor
rectly ticket the exact social standing
of the lower classes, and had, as yet,
| besides the honorary members, only one
cOnvert-an old woman who put the
price of her conversion at three shilling5
a week and unlimited snuff. Now and
then Camplon put IN cumbrous oar
on the side of Mrs. Banks, which graft
fed the lady, but materially damaged
her cause.
Linburn enjoyed himself thoroughly;
poetic creature as he was, he could still
appreciate the pleasures Of the table,
and the subtle aroma of Mrs. Cam
pion's presence added the refining sent-
ment. Nevertheless, be found more
than one opportunity to look over at
Kerr, and each time it struck him that
Kerr was unusually silent. Linburn was
surprised and vexed. He knew that it
was rather a notion Of Kerr to make
himself all things to all men, but now
tonight he was not even taking the
trouble to please Mrs. Webster. He
sat gloomy aud silent, staring at his
plate or else abstractedly over in Lin
burns direction. Once Linburn tried
TO catch his eye, to admonish him by a
frown that he was showing off very
badly, but before he could succeed in
doing this Mrs. Campion had again
claimed his attention, and so for the
moment Kerr's extraordinary taciturn-