Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-05-10

going for many years and then made atone
ment very easily. Il Ia needless 10 state that
tho two brothers were faultlessly dressed N
the evening garb Of the nineteenth century.
IL will also be guessed that the dinner table
was most tastefully laid out. In spite of TN
season being midwinter, IL was CAV with
flowers. Quaint antique silver spoons and
forks did the duty which Ia enacted from the
fiorid kings pattern and tho ugly fiddle nat,
torn denominations Of our day. The napery
was Of the whitest and finest description
the polish on the glass such a. TO make ths
most careful housewife or conscientious ser.
want wonder and envy. There Is tale con.
nected with the glass.
Once upon a time a lady who was dining Il
Hnxlewood House asked her hosts, with par.
donable curiosity, how they were able to in.
duce their servants TO send the decanters and
wine glasses to the table In such glorious
state Of refulgency. Horace Talbert smiled
and answered with exquisite simplicity:
I'VE should never think of trusting ouI
glass to the hands Of servants My brother
and see to IL ourselves"
Thereupon the lady, who had marriageable
sisters and was no doubt keenly alive TO the
fact that her hosts were eligible bachelors,
bshius ~ WuS very bWttt VI JueI0 10 Lako 81
much trouble;" but her husband who heard
the question and the answer, burst into a fit
Of uncomfortable laughter. His was q low,
coarse, commonplace mind, utterly unable to
divest the ideal from the material. To such
a groveling nature the picture Of these two
six-feet, brawny men washing and rubbing
their rare and costly glass seemed intensely
comical.
The Talberts showed no signs Of annoy.
ance; they even smiled gravely in response 70
bis vulgar mirth but Hazlewood House knew
that person no more
But the wretch took his revenge after the
manner Of his kind. Unluckily, in spite of
his faults, his position in the county was not
to be despised, and more unluckily he DOS
sessed certain amount Of humor Of the low
class. He was brutal enough to nickname
our friends the "Tabbies," and, appropriate
or not, the name chung to them, and will
cling for ever and ever This ia but another
proof of how careful man should be In the
selection Of his friends.
Although tonight the glass was as radiant
as ever, there was at present no one to admire
it save its owners and caretakers. BY virtue
Of his year Of seniority, Horace Talbert sat
at the head of the table. Herbert was at his
right hand. The two brothers were strangely
alike both in figure and face. They were
wn-haired men, with long, straight noses,
calm, serious eyes, rather arched eyebrows,
and average foreheads. Each wore q well.
kept beard and mustache, the beard clipped
close, and terminating in point at the chin
"a fashion which suited their long, oval faces
remarkably well, and, perhaps, added a kind
Of old-world courtliness to their general ap-
pearance. Their looks may be summed up
by saying that the Talberts were men who
one felt ought to possess picture gallery Of
distinguished ancestors. The absence Of such
a desirable possession seemed heartless
freak Of lature.
The room in which the brothers were sitting
was furnished with bold mixture Of modern
and antique Where comfort and utility were
the first consideration, the modern prevailed
where ornament or decoration had to be sup
piled, the antique, often the grotesque antique,
was called into requisition. On the high,
carved mantelpiece stood Oriental bronze
vases with bideous dragons crespaug round
them, and gaping, grinning kylins, who
looked mockingly and fearlessly at the fierce
metal monsters. They knew-old china
figures know more than people suspect-that
the dragons were welded to their vases more
irrefragibly than Prometheus to his rock.
Here and there was plate of rich-colored
dotssonne enamel, piece Of Nankin china, q
specimen Of old brass work, bracket Of real
old carved oak, an antique lamp, or some
other article dear to the collector. Some hall
a dozen medium-sized but valuable painting,
hung upon the walls The floor was covered
by sober-hued Persian carpet, and of course
a roaring fire filed the CRATE.
The Talberts looked very grave-as grave
and sOla,un Roman ia ofha,-u Il, hi11, dobs to