Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-05-19

of artistic taste" And l looked round
the room with an expression OF lofty
contempt.
"Oh, rs far rs artistic taste goes,
Dick, / ON sure you are wrong Tor I'm
Gle Matt is ever 80 artistic. why, ne
draws and paints himself
81 have no doubt he is second
Raphael." sneered. "but he does not
know how to choose bis carpets and
curtains. Look at that " and L shook
the folds OF blue repp savogely, "and
that " and ] kicked yiciously at one oil
the blue roses which, with a yellow
flower rs vet unknown to botanlsts,
meandered over the carpet IN proiusion.
"Do Won mean to say you do not see
the awful vulgarity OF it? But" re-
turning once more to the enraglngly
pntronlzing tone, "you arc blundell
now. my dear Celia, and You must Just
try to forget everything you ever learnt
as a Dobson rs fast as ever you can.
Celia fired up with an une1pectedness
which took me aDack.
of you are going to say nasty things
about my family, Dick, l shall certainly
not stay to listen to YOU. If You think
so little of the Dobsons l wonder YOU
married one Of them And as to for
getting all / ever learned rs DOB
son-" 10y this time the angry tears
were running down her cheeksb there
is one thing I was taught which should
10 very sorry to forget. though 1t seems
m have been left ont OF your education,
and that is gratitude
MY heart and my conscience both
smote me at these words. ! said nothing.
and she turned from the window and re-
sumed her work with feverish energy.
| could see by the agitated way in which
tho needle was stuck in the material and
then snapped ont again that her feelings
we're very considerably ruified.
made one or two attempts at starting
a new topic of conversation, but was met
with chilling monosyllables. AT last 1
said a:
cecilia, dear. I am sorry if I offended
YOU lust now. | should not have been so
cross if my digestion had not been upset
by being shut mp for nearly three days
without exercise, and eating too much
wedding cake.
tried to finish my sentence with q
semijocose expression. But ! got no
answering smile from Celia.
alt would be much better to saddle
the right horse, Dick, she said sternly,
"and say that your temper got the bet
ter OF you. We Dobsons may be a very
inferior, vulgar race, but thank goodness
we have not got the Blundell temper "
"Oh, very well !" said shortly, 81
sec you wish to quarrel-so l shall leave
YOU TO Yourself to recover your temper,
Dobson or Blundell, whichever 1t may
be :" And walked out OF the room,
slamming the door after me, and feeling
half sorry and half glad that Celia had
scorned the olive branch of reconciliation
/ had held out 70 her.
/ now had o fairly plausible grievance
Cat least l thought / had, and ! thrust
my arms in my macintosh and took nay
umbrella out OF the stand with grim
satisfaction in the thought that by gong
out in weather like this-drivon out into
it by my wife's obstinate refusal to make
fuends-I should probably catch a bad
cold. All the dramatic possibilities OF
this imaginary cold filtered before my
minds eye IL pleasing succession
chills to the liver, pleurisy. rheumatic
fever. "Perhaps she viii be sorry
then " l muttered to myself as / shut
the hall door behind me, and walked
ostentatiously under the drewing-room
windows, whistling as l went, aud
striving to impart TO my features per
fectly uncOncerBed, amlsble expression.
| thought | heard a tap at the window,
and my name called, but would not
look up, and strobe on with as much
dignity as | could command.
Once out of view OF the windows
paused to consider in which direction
should 90 to look for the pleurisy and
rheumatism which were to bring my
erring wife to a sense Of her misdoiD2s.
/ might either 90 down to the sands,
which rs far as / could see outlined the
coast under the dark, oyeThanging cliffs,
or / might follow the main road which
passed through the struggling village on
into the country beyond. We had come
by it the night OF our arrival at ut.
Bridrets, and l had a vague remem-
brance of somewhat monotonous, m
dulating downs. But just at this mo-
ment the relative merits OF inland and
coast scenery interested me- comparative
ly little. .
III toss up," I said to myself.
"Heads, the road tails, the sands.
Heads it was, 30 of l set along the
road. | passed through the village and
walked on for some distance, mental y
matchmaking Matthew Dobson fol
having decoyed me into such dead
alive kind OF place. Nothing could Toe
more depressingly commonplace than
this well-kept road, with Its close
cropped downs on each side, and its tele-
graph poles recurring at regular inter
walls. But any great wealth OF scenery
would have been thrown away upon me
Just then, for all my faculties were EN-.
ployed in hand-to-hand encounter Will
the elements.
The wind seemed to take n malicious
pleasure in trying to tangle me up ID my
macintosh by driving the tapping tail.
between my legs and by getting under
the cape and whirling 1t over my heaC
and about my ears in most bewildering
fashion. Then, no sooner had reduced
the cape to comparative submission thar
stronger gust than beforeli lifted my ha'
off my head and sent it spinning alone
the road ia front OF me.
/ know no time when a man look'
more thoroughly ridiculous than wheI
he is in pursuit of a runaway hat. Will
that hendish delight it waits until yor
have actually stopped to pick it up, an(
then how aggrayatingly it bounds anC
skins on for few more PAGES, only tC
resume the same process, until somt
kind eddy carries it intoa corner which
1t cannot escape.
No less than three times did the vino
play me this nasty trick, and at last IL
desperation / drew ont my silk hand
kerchief and tied it securely over the re
fractory headgear and under my chin
painfully conscious of what my appear
ance must be, and devoutly Thankful
that by no possibility could Celia see mt
from the villa windows. With such &
get-up dignity was impossible, and hac
come To the conclusion that n mixture O