The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-10-03


being surrounded on three sides with
moorland and on tbe other side shut in
by the sea, and though his distant neigh
bors would willingly have driven twenty
miles to him, he gave them no invitation
or permission to do so. The great fetes
which had celebrated his majority some
fifteen or sixteen years before had been
the last time in which the reception-rooms
had been Illuminated for great party.
He was an idol of the great world, which
always considered him capricious but
charming; but his county saw only the
caprice and none of the charm, and
thought him rude, eccentric and misan-
thropical. In his fathers and forefather's
time the hospitalities of Ladysrood had
been profuse and magnificent the closing
OF its doors was an affront to the whole
countryside, against the unpopularity of
which the good sense of Lady Sunbury
had In vain often protested.
81 have no desire to be popular"
Guilderoy invariably replied. "There is
nothing on earth so vulgar as the craze
for popularity which nowadays makes
people who ought to know better only
anxious to be fawned upon by the crowd"
'Vox populi vox Del said Lady
Sunbury.
1T always was in the esteem of the vul-
gar themselves" replied her brother.
Myself / wholly decline to believe that
the gods ever speak through the throats
of any mob"
"Can you call your own country people
a mob?"
sob, yes. A well-dressed mob, but a
mob decidedly. If you let them in by the
great gate 1 shall go out by the garden
door,"
ApJ tbar ,,o,-ox ,,,o-o L. 49, T,d,-,
rood, infinitely to thei- disgust. A few
men dined With him occasionally, that
was all. 1t was not wonderful that his
neighbors thought Lady Sunbury would
have been better in his place.
When he looked out on to the terrace
now and saw the little red leaves blow
ing, he rang and ordered his horse. He
was fond OF riding in the dusk for an
hour or two before dinner. But as he
was about to mount his horse he heard
the sound of wheels coming up the ave-
nue. which led to the western door OF the
house, a petite entree only used by intimate
and privileged persons.
"Who can it be?" Guilderoy wondered
TO himself, for no one then in the country,
to his own knowledge, was on sufficiently
friendly terms with him to come thither
uninvited. A moment later he caught
sight of the invader, and with pleasure
and astonishment recognized his cousin,
Lord Aubrey.
A few moments later ne welcomed him
at the west door.
my dear Francis, how glad ami he
said with perfect sincerity. "To what
good chance do we owe this happy sur
prise ?'
III you bestowed a little attention on
the politics of your own county," replied
Lord Aubrey, "you would know that |
had TO attend meeting in your own town
yesterday. | heard you were here, and [
did not like to be so near Ladysrood with
out passing night with you. II | had
known sooner the date OF the meeting /
would have sent you word, but it was
made week earlier than / expected at
the eleventh hour"
81 am delighted to see you, and there
could be never the slightest occasion to let
me know beforehand Ladysrood is yours
whether | am in it or not. Would you
like to go direct to your rooms, and will
take you to Hilda afterward ?"
with pleasure" said Lord Aubrey. 'I
am hoarse, dusty and stupid, for / have
been declaiming for three hours on policy
to some five thousand people, of whom
four thousand probably would spell police
with an 5, if they could spell it at ALI"
Spelling is prejudice, like love for
ground leases" said Guilderoy. "Come
and have a bath and forget demos for a
day."
''You continue TO forget him always"
said Lord Aubrey.
Francis de Lisle, Lord Aubrey, was a
cousin-german of Guilderoy's, and some
few years older than himself. He was a
tall man, with an air OF great distinction
and an expression at once melancholy and
amused, cynical and good-humored. He
carried his great height somewhat list
lessly and indOlently, and his gray eyes
were half yelled by sleepy eyelids, from
which they could, however, fash glances
which searched the inmost souls of others.
He was heir TO a marquisate, and had
dedicated his whole life 10 what he con-
sidered TO be the obligations of his station
He did not like public life, but he fol-
lowed il with conscientiousness and self
sacrifice. He was not man of genius but
he had the power OF moving and controll-
ing other men, and his absolute sincerity
of character and of utterance was known
to the whole country.
allow is your sister?" he asked now, as
he came to the tearoom. "And what are
you going to do in the west of England in
autumn, you who hate grey skies and
cold winds?"
II am delighted to be in the west of
England since it affords me a quiet day
with you," said Guilderoy with perfect
truth, for he liked and admired his cousin.
He had, indeed, warmer feeling toward
Lord Aubrey than Aubrey had for him.
A man who had combated his own in
dOlence and become excessively occupied
is apt to have slight patience with a man
who has allowed his Incidence and his
instincts to be the sole controllers of his
life. Guilderoy's existence was a union
of contemplation and pleasure; to Lord
Aubrey it appeared the existence of an
unconscionable egotist; and yet he had a
friendly regard for the egotist.
"You have much more talent than
have" he said once to his cousin, ''and
yet your voice is never heard by the coun-
try" and Guilderov gave him much the
same reasons for his silence which he had
given to his sister.
"You believe in great many things and
you care about others" he added. "Now,
do not believe, and do not care. Tai
ent, even if / possess (which l doubt
can not replace the forces which come
from conviction. Those forces l have
not"
Here is your model hero; the one per-
feet person endowed with all the virtues
and moral conscientiousness in which
am so sadly deficient" said Guilderoy to
his sister, as he entered her presence with
his cousin as the sun descended over the
western woods.
81 admit that wish your life we're more