San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-10-11

the narrowness Of the present stage, have
not been introduced to the reader, as
well as to one or two who have. Mr..
Schneider, for example, if he had been
concealed behind one of the numerous
screens which adorned the room, would
have been forced to listen to certain
truths about himself which could hardly
have failed to make him unhappy, al
though he might have been to some ex-
tent consoled by hearing Lady Belvoir
take his part.
Il don't know why you are always so
hard upon my poor little Schneider
she said. He isn't clever, of course:
but one can't expect everybody to be
clever"
"No-only don't think he is a gen.
tleman," Dorothy replied.
Has any one ever had the effrontery
to assert that he was? What do you
mean by gentleman? mean a person
entitled to use coat armor, and don't
see what all the other elaborate defini-
tons that one hears have to do with the
subject. Schneider has just about as
many ancestors, suppose-a few more
or few less-as half the men whom
receive"
Very likely: but l was thinking of
his manners rather than of his birth,
and as for half the men whom you re-
ceive never can understand why you
receive them"
The truth was that Dorothy could not
enter into the good humored disdain
with which Lady Belvoir regarded her
suitors, one and all; and as rightly or
wrongly she thought better of her friend
than most people thought, it provoked
her to see the encouragement freely &C
corded to persons who had no right at all
to expect anything of the kind. One of
these was announced before Lady Bel
voir had time to reply, and at the sound
of his name Miss Leslie made a grimace.
Mr.. Eustace Moreton was probably en-
titled to the use of coat armor, but that
did not alter the fact that he was lazy,
selfish and inefficient.
Now. if Dorothy disliked this young
gentleman-as she did very cordially
he had no great fancy or admiration for
her, and, although he did not go so far
as to make face at her, he allowed it to
be plainly seen that he was both sur
prised and displeased to find her in the
room. What business had he to be
either the one or the other? That was
what Dorothy wondered and what Lady
Belvoir could have told her.
But Lady Belvoir only laughed little,
as though tickled by some thought of
her own, and said to the new conner:
"You have arrived just in time to
stand up for yourself. Miss Leslie has
been telling me that she can't under
stand why l admit half the men who
come here. Does that include you, do
you suppose, or do you belong to the
other half"
Moreton had the manners Of the mod
ern young man, which, with all due re-
spect to the modern young man, is tan
tamount to saying that his manners
might have been more refined and ur-
bane without any detriment to his gen.
eral attractiveness. He sank into low
chair, felt for the mustache which had
recently been sacrificed, and allowed
some seconds to elapse before he an
swered:
81 don't know, I'm sure; but l should
have thought Miss Leslie might as well
have condemned the whole of us while
she was at it. It's very evident that we
haven't had the good luck to please her.
out perhaps that Is because we haven't
tried as hard as we ought to have done"
At this Lady Belvoir laughed again.
Suppose you begin now?' she suggest
ed. 81 shall be happy to retire to the
other end of the room if you think you
would get on better without me-"
II don't think we should get on at all
better without you," answered Dorothy
and Moreton in one breath.
1t was pity that after so emphatic
concurrence of opinion they should have
been forced to do without her; but at
this moment two other visitors made
their appearance, and so it came to pass
that Dorothy and Mr.. Moreton, being
left sitting side by side, had to entertain
one another whether they liked it or not.
Neither of them liked it at all, and
Dorothy did not even make an effort to
DO her duty. so that it devolved upon
her neighbor to open the proceedings.
This he did by observing in a somewhat
aggrieved tone:
Il didn't know that Lady Belvoir had
tea fight on this afternoon"
Il don't think she expected anybody
to come" answered Dorothy coldly.
Not even you, perhaps"
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