Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-08-31
MY LUNCHEON PARTY.


the moor, Billy. Count the game and put it in
the bag. and then hurry home and put on your
buttons. and tell Mrs Dawkins I'll have lunch
in an hour. I'll try for q snap shot or two in
the spinny."
''Yessir," my little page gamekeeper re-
sponded. "Three brace of pheasants and q
hare. sir
''0h. leave a brace and the hare at the Miss
Smiths; it's very good of them to let me shoot
over the moor; cut along, here's the rain.
Hullo wait bit. Who are those two gentle
men coming out of my spinny?"
Billy's sharp eyes scanned them.
Dunno, sir, they be strangers to these
parts"
why, bless my soul r. said, as saw the
two drenched figures approach, ''they have lost
their way ON that bleak moor in the rain squall.
III bet anything they have been walking in
circle. Here. Billy, you bolt and tell Mrs.
hawkins to cook the sucking pig for lunch, and
make one of her best Indian curries. There's
no decent place for these gentlemen to lunch
at for miles except the rectory, so Ill give them
brother sportmen's pot luck and welcomes;
and Billy hastened off while went forward TO
meet them.
Ny name is John Hobbs, middle-aged bach
elor, only child of the Rev. John Jackson Hobbs,
whilom church Of England clergyman at Riga,
Russia. to the British merchants and sailors
who 60 there. / had the small jointure left me
by my mother and after leaving the university
] did bit of blockade running during the
American war, and with what cleared, added
to what my father left me, settled down in my
little cottage to enjoy a country life, with an
occasional run up to town and trip to the con-
tinent. l hadn't come across the future Mrs.
Hobbs as yet, and as my only nelghbors were
two elderly maiden ladies', who let me have the
shooting over their moor, which extended some
miles, and the sleepy old rector and his wife,
and few villagers in our little hamlet didn't
seem likely to. On the other side of the moor
noblemen's and country gentlemens mansions
and estates clustered thick; but / seldom went
In that direction. my occasional fits of restless
ness invariably taking me Londonward. As I
walked toward the two gentlemen who had Just
emerged from my little spinny and were look
ing utterly ''lost as to their bearings, guessed
what had happened.
Good morning, gentlemen" said "CanI
De of any service TO you? 1 think you must
have lost your way."
Indeed we have" one of them replied with
bright laugh. I'VE were just beyond Lord
Mounteagle's woods when that squat came on,
and we have been walking>ever since"
Why, his place is miles off on the other side
of the moor" i said. ''You have come out the
wrong side; you have been walking directly
away from it; however, trust there is no great
harm done, If You will do me the pleasure of
lunching at my place and resting. The little
station Is only about mile of. and you can get
back before night, or I'll take you over in my
dog cart"
They bowed and accepted the offer with
thanks. and the taller whispered something to
his companion, who nodded.
"Allow me to introduce ourselves; am Lord
Monteroi, and my friend is a Russian gentle
man, the Count de Moscow"
Very pleased to see you. gentlemen. /
know your brother. nv lord; he was at nv COL
lege, and generally have a rubber with him
at the Oxford and Cambridge club when go
nm IN tnxr II
didn't think it necessary to tell his lor6ship
that Sam, his impecunious younger brother. had
q habit and custom of patheticallv holding
forth on the Ubiquitous laws of primogeniture,
which had doomed him to 200 year while
his brother had f15.000 income MY name is
Hobbs. l can speak Russian a little - added;
my father was British chaplain at Riga"
The count laughed and bowed, and replied
In perfect English
Il thank you, Mr.. Hobbs but shall not have
TO tax you. am governor of Moscow, and have
had to learn so many languages of the people
who come to the town. 1t was pleasure rather
than trouble to add a cultivated language
like English to the list" and the ice being
broken, and, above all, knowing s'who was
who" they were soon chatting Familiarity, with
sportsmens bonhomie, as We reached the
house.
had no fear about the culinary arrange
ments, my esIimable housekeeper who ruled
me and my small establishment being a perfect
Gordon bleu. knew the lunch would Just suit
them. as grandees such as they would probably
be tired of game and high class cookery,
much IN the same way as the prince regent
asked Major Hanger to invite him to a plain
leg-of-mutton dinner, and knew they must be
hungry after their long walk So soon as got
them installed in my dressing room, with its
cosy fire, I went to hurry up things and place
some of my old port TO mellow by the fire.
When they came into the room honestly ad-
mired Count de Moscow's splendid physique
Standing some two or three inches over six feet
he was the embodiment of perfect manhood:
he looked the military governor of a fortified
town, and born to be a ruler of men, and though
both Lord Monteroi and are over the average
size, we looked small beside HIM. The lunch
was a perfect success. The count preferred
English draught beer" to anything else: and
when we had finished the whole of the sucking
pig and the curry. with other details. and the
port and had adjourned to my smoking room,
both declared they had never enjoyed meal
better in their lives. Mrs. Dawkins had at
tended IN her go-to-meeting cap. Billy had
been active, and We settled down seriously to
piping-hot whiskey punch and cigars. i
thought mine were good, but the count pro-
duced a huge silver case covered with armorial
bearings, and with it such delectable cigars as
1t had never been my lot to moke before.
The two rain squalls had been but the prelude
to steady downfall, SO set work to try and
amuse my guests for some hours. There was
plenty OF material / showed them bullets that
had stuck and become imbedded in each other
in the air, picked up ON American battle fields:
a shot-torn flag OF the stars and bars given TO
me on my last blockade-running trip when
Charleston was being evacuated. to prevent
the nag falling into the hands of the Yankees.
coins and antiquities found on the neighboring
moor; and, in a moment of forgetfulness some
Russian helmets and weapons collected at the
Crimea by an uncle of mine who had fought
there. The counts brow grew dark as he
looked at them and twisted a silver rouble
that had been picked up on one of the battle
fields nervously in his fingers
by Jove you are strong" thought as
saw when he laid II down that he had bent it
double. He didn't seem to notice, he was in a
dreamy fit Of abstraction; in fact once or twice
he appeared to have nervous attack. and
would give slight start and look appre-
hensively around, but tine next moment he re-
covered himself and was chatty and pleasant
as before. l was vexed at my sight gaucherie
and hurriedly replaced them. while 1 said.
Here, count are some relics of your great
emperor, Peter the Great; an ancestor of mine
was one OF the superintendent of Deptford
dock yard when he worked there as a CARPENTER.
the emperor took a fancy to him and gave him
many mementoes." The interest the count
took in the relics so keen and deep that I
could not forbear begging his acceptance of a
ring and miniature of Peter the Great he
seemed specially to admire. He hesitated to
take them, but, seeing L really meant it, he ac-
cepted them with grave courtesy.
Have you photograph of yourself you
could give me, Mr.. Hobbs 2" he said II desire