Mexico weekly ledger., 1890-11-20

u IltI. bul IL "otlti iithtI : oiit
He is a good fellow, but he has old fash
Toned ideas, and he has gone i'll strongly
for politics, which bores Inc to death.
Besides, he disapproved of my ways and
style of conversation, and he took to ex-
pressing his d~isapproval, which was in
tolerable. He pretended to De quite cut
up when l told him that | had had
enough of him, but in reality he was
Just as relieved to be set at liberty as |
was. We are now the best of friends.
| think you would like him, because he
is awfully clever, and takes serious views
of life, as you do. and he is going to be
prime minister or something Of hat kind
before he dies. Come and meet him
some evening at dinner. will you?"
Thank you; l should like it very
much" answered Dorothy. "But-but
does he still come to dinner with you!"
He will if ask him. Why shouldn't
he? We are cousins, You know, and, "a
| tell you, we are very good friends.
| Added to which it would be a little too
| ridiculous to allow ones self to be cut by
all the men whom one has peer obliged
to throw over"
Percy Thorold had never had the least
intention of cutting his cousin, and she
was not far wrong in her assertion that
the recovery of liberty had been as well
come to him as it had been to her. That
she and he were the best of friends was,
however. not quite so accurate a state
ment. She had treated him a little too
badly for that, and although he no longer
loved her he had been in love with her
for "a great many years. He was glad to
have been Tilted, but he could not alto
gether forgive the jilt; nor. in truth, is
any man likely to forgive a woman who
has DESTROYED his faith in iii IN
Nevertheless he accepted her invitation
to dinner for the following Sunday, his
chief reason for doing so being that he
did not want her or anybody else to i'm
agine that he was brooding over his
wrongs.
Dorothy Leslie received a somewhat
hesitating permission from her mother
to be present at the informal gathering.
II don't quite like Sunday dinner
parties" said Mrs. Leslie, who perhaps
did not realize the difficulties experienced
by modern Legislators in meeting their
friends on any other evening in the
week. And | think" she added more
reasonably, that Lady Belvoir ought
sometimes to ask me. She seems to for
get my existence"
Lady Belvoir had not forgotten that
there was a Mrs. Leslie: but her impress
sion was that Mrs. Leslie was a bore,
and she would no more have thought of
asking Il bore to one Of her little dinners
than of Offering UNBEATABLE food to her
guests. These little dinners, which she
had taken to giving since her widow.
hood, We're in a fair way to become
ter of his craft: she knew everybody
worth notwithstanding to a phrase
which may perhaps be misleading. yet
is accurate enough for its purpose-and
without giving herself much trouble
about it she was always able to bring
together people who were likely to gel
on well together. Percy Thorold. fol
example. got on remarkably well with
Miss Leslie. whom he took in to dinner
and in whom he was delighted to recog
nize a girl as yet untainted with ''ths
ISoiioIhiAS Liul iIlACtiS TIC "oi40.
The world. at which we are all apt tt
rail as WE approach middle ~ is doubt
less what we choose to think it or make
it. In the opinion of this rising states
man it was a melancholy failure, inhab
tied by millions of toilers and sufferers
and governed by a few thousands who
upon the whole. used their power selfish
ly and unwisely. He was a Conserva
! tive because he believed that, bad as tn,
existing state of things is, it would b.
even worse were the toiling and suffer
ing millions to get the upper hand; a
+ heart and in theory he was probably al
advanced Radical. The upper class. t,
> which he himself belonged. he consid
| cred to be almost, ifnot altogether, rotten
allowing it no virtue save that of cour
/. age, and foreseeing without desiring it
inevitable submersion. Probably h
3 would have entertained a higher opinion
. of it If Lady Belvoir had been a goo,
woman, but he had not pushed sci
analysis quite so far as to nave divine,
, that circumstance.
r To such a pessimist it was NATURAL,
q refreshing to encounter a young womal
, of his own station whose ideas wer
q simple and direct, who did not affect tn
= uniformed skepticism which has be
+ come fashionable, who had brought
: t%olerably clear intelligence to bear upo,
contemporary politics, and who did nc
9 in the least despair of the future glor
and greatness of her native land.
II think You are quite wrong to snee
r at politics" she said, after she had lie,
r him to confide certain views of his t
her: land l don't believe you are sir
cere either. If you are really convince
that all your party or any other part
r cares for is Office, and if you yoursel
y don't care for it, why do you waste you
/ time in the house of commons when yo
might be hunting, or shooting. or but
4 ding roses, or amusing yourself in som
4 pleasant. healthy way?"
4 Because l am idiot enough to be all
q bilious. | suppose, he answered, with
! shrug of his shoulders. Because. lik
the other fools. | really rather enjoy tn
idea of being pointed at and gaped at"
"No; because you hope to leave til
! world a little better than you found it.
ooh. | am not SO ambitious or SO sar
guine as all that" answered Thorold
laughing. He shrank. as most English
men do. from ascribing high motives t
h himself. and even from hearing the1
: ascribed to him. Still. he knew that tn
girls estimate of him was true enough
y and how could he help ad;niring he
penetration in having discovered a secre
u which he had been at such pains to cor
ceal? He found. too. that there We're man
points in respect of which her tastes wer
identical with his own. She was yer
4 fond of music: she loved a country lif,
she did not particularly care for whs
she had seen of the society of Londo1
a nor WAS she more ~passionately devote
to dancing than a girl of her age ougt
to be-
All this made her a pleasant compal
ion in spite of her sex and after all
was not the poor things fault that 81
had been born a ma As for Il
other women present, they Were wome
T of the world, and by that fact alor
odiuus for the time being in Thorold
). eyes. Therefore it was that he scarce
spoke a word to anybody but Miss Lesl
:, the whole evening, and that. when |
= took his leave. Lady Belvoir looked
- him with a %peculjar smile and raise