Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1889-03-01
BEAUTIFUL JIM.
Il JOHN STRANGE WINTER.
CHAPTER TX.

u
brilliant success, and the funds Of the
hospital We're considerably increased BY
the proceeds thereof. a great deal of
pleasure and fun had been got out Of it,
too, by many persons. and if there had
been some pain attending it--why, nobody
knew much about IL.
Polly Antrobus, for instance, in spite of
her brave attire and the lavish gifts Of
.ir. Mandarin. which had made her out
and cut the best dressed Swiss peasant in
all the show, had suffered very martyr
dom of pain-but after all nobody was
any the wiser, and only one or two people
suspected what Polly never spoke OF TO Il
living soul.
AMI Lord Charterhouse. whom Mrs. An
trobus had once oulogized as being 80
frank and open" to him also that Swiss
Fair and Mask of Flowers was an ordeal,
period Of such exquisite anguish that on
TIE second day, when my lady spoke of
ing again. he found ont. in sheer self
ocfensc, that his leg was bad again, and
lie would rather keep quietly at home.
So Lady Charterhouse, not unwillingly,
went off by herself and had an uncorn-
monty good time. much better than if
Mr. Ninls" who was. she made no
secret of saying, dear old boy, but as
slow as top, had been with her. But
when she came home and enlivened him
with full description of everything, and
of how that beautiful fair haired girl with
the fat fUssy mother, apd the lovely silver
ornaments, had looked more beautiful
that day than she had done on the day
before, Lord Charterhouse found himself
wishing that he had gone too, and made
up his mind that he would go on the NOR
row. And sure enough on the morrow he
did go. aud finding his way to the stall at
which Polly was helping, stayed there,
his game leg giving him an excuse for o
chair and the chair giving him an excuse
for remaining where he would be out of
the way.
think Mr.. Winks" hardly knew that
he was inficting positive agony on the
girl lie had once called his Mayfower
Polly WAS very quiet. making no effort to
get rid of the various wares which she
had come there to sell, and neither he nor
any ono else guessed that there were
times when she could have covered her
eyes with her hands and shriekcd aloud
for tie very anguish in her heart. Poor
Pollyl
| say poor Polly advisedly, for it was
hard that after Blankhampton had seen
her as the possible. aye and probable,
bride of such men as had worshiped at her
shrine in the days gone by, she should
have TO appear before her world acting
Hernia to this Bottom-this monster
this Caliban. Nor -sas this ALL She was
in utter ignorance that Charterhouse had
engaged himself to his cousin after he had
known her, and had done his best to make
her like him. She believed that the mar
riage had been some family arrangement
to which ho had committed himself he.
fore he had entered the army. She be-
lieyed that hc would have got out of it if
he could, and that in his heart he was
just as desperately in love with her as he
had ever been! Yes, it must be owned
that it was very trying time for poor
Polly.
Perhaps the two persons who enjoyed
the affair most were Mrs. Antrobus and
Ir. Mandarin. To Mr.. Mandarin it was
10Y unspeakable to faunt round buying
anything that took his fancy. with loud
voiced remark to his mothcr-in law elect
that Polly will be sure to like this" and
to Mrs. AntrObus it was delight beyond
tho expression of words to waddlo from
enc stall to another, making o great show
of patronage out of Mr.. Mandarins fat
purse.
And it had tho desired effect. Blank
hampton had laughed at the unutterable
s-etentiousness Of poor little To To's
marriage. but Hiankhampton this time
could hot but believe that Mr.. Mandarin
was as rich as CrGsus.
And how dear that was to Mrs. Antro
bus soul it would be hard for me ade
quately to convey. She loved money and
all the pomp and display and hattery
and adulation which the possession Of
money enables you to enjoy. II Mrs. An
trobus had thought it necessary to start q
new religion she would certainly have set
up the worship Of Cresus; and don't
suppose If her golden image had only been
big enough. that she would have had her
josshouse empty or even i'll filed
But there was yet another person who
enjoyed the week thoroughly-thatw was
young Stuart. the last Of the Earles.
On the whole. the young gentleman had
famous time Of It; from the Eve blithe
and bonnie Leslie girls he was passed on
to the acquaintance Of almost every de
cent looking girl in the town; his happy.
good form impudence stood him in good
stead and proved a. fascinating as II lie
had been Of . manageable age instead OF.
IS he was. mere slip Of . lad eighteen
to mess when he greatly edited Bcauti.
other officers of his new regiment and laid
up a goodly store Of suffering for himself
in the days to come by his frank and easy
comments on men and manners alike, by
the careless and friendly ease with which
he took the lead as beftted him who had
been born the last Of the Earles.
But, unfortunately for him, he was also
the last Of tho Blankshire regiment and
his future comrades were only able to
check their disgust BY remembering that
he was as yet a guest, when. having per.
haps had Z tribe more wine than his young
and unseasoned head could carry q do not
mean to say that the boy was drunk, far
from III. he gayly undertook to chat Or.
quhart, the commanding officer Of the
Black Horse. who was also dining there.
''Of course. / don't remember the stage
rs far back as yourself. colonel. he began.
in the tone of Q man Of the world. "1dare
say you'll remember Macready."
Il never saw Macready," said Col. Or.
quhart. giving the youngster credit fol-
being good deal moro nearly drunk than
he was
''Noi-ah-l should have thought you'd
he quite up in al that period, returned
Tommy. flippantly. but you'll have
heard what an irritable chap he was"
Heard WHAT" asked Urquhart.
You'll have heard what an irritable
chap he was, Tommy repeated. tipping
the wink to one or two Of the less. dis.
gusted Of the officers Of tho Blankshire
regiment. who were grinning with ex.
pectation.
Whether he had some joke or catch
about Macready's peculiarly Of temper
or not it would be hard to say, but If he
had. Urquhart nipped them in the bud
after fashion quite his own. He looked
up Is courteously as il Tommy had beer
field officer instead Of an unAedged sub
altern, and fixed him with . pair of keen
and clear gray eyes that seemed able te
look right through him and out ut the
other side; Yes" he said. gravely. q
believe Macready was an irritable man.
Some men are born bad tempered-they
can't help it. and, In fact, it is really moi
their fault. They are born so, he went
on, mildly, SO mildly that Marcus Oxford,
who was dining there that night. looked
sharply up to hear II anything more sub
tie and smart than usual was coming
they are born so. and silly people irritatt
them by asking foolish questions"
To the surprise of the lad, who was moi
1ust then clear enough in his head, nor al
any time clever enough, to understand s
shaft Of quiet sarcasm, every man round
the table burst into roar of laughter.
They would have laughed to man Of
any joke of Urquhart's, whether they hao
seen it or not; in this case, however, they
did see it clearly enough; and the officers
Of the Blankshire regiment would each
and all have thoroughly enjoyed punch.
ing" the lads head for being such youne
fool as to bring SO severe snub upoI
himself.
Finally, wher, still highly pleased with
his r,erfoYynance md on fha hoct TOWNS