San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-10-08

q cCUTuIftUtn inc 'DiJJ UtIU uitW iHtH
chairs close together
On certain evening in the spring of
certain year lit would be possible to
be more precise, but for various reasons
some degree of vagueness seems desira-
ole, Lord Cruise gave little dinner at
his club He was fond of giving such
Observation-Disclosures he belonged to
that particular club for no other reason
than that it was celebrated for the ex-
cellence of the fare which its members
were enabled to set before strangers
0ut. either because he did not think it
vorth while to trouble himself about
'ngruity or because he was persuaded
1T Incongruity is more amusing, he
r-r chose MS guests with any regard
the question of whether they were
-ly to suit each other or not. Assur-
!ly he must have been aware that the
Iret whom he had invited on the pres
ut occasion could have little in COM
ION unless it might be an appreciation
i good cooking and good wine,
FIRST there was his old friend and
orme, ~'looIfellow, Percy Thorold, a
lands,.. square faced, dark haired
md r&;h-; Spr' 1us looking man of lit
le oveI .:J WAC u4d entered parliament
t an early age. mad soon won distinc-
non as debater. and was now a junior
ord Of the treasury Then there was
hat very good looking and, as most peo-
he were inclined to think. hopelessly
god for nothing young fellow Eustace
M0reton Moreton had been in the
iuards for time; but had resigned his
commission, averring that he could not
stand the expense.
Whether he or his father found it a
less expensive plan that he should reside
IN London without any profession at all
may be open to doubt: but at all events
he had no means of earning his living
nor prospect Of any. nor desire for any.
He was clean shaven, in obedience to
the latest edict of fashion: he had curly
fair hair which grew low down upon his
broad forehead; his sleepy blue eyes ex-
pressed languid contentment with
world which had treated him, upon the
whole, quite as well as he could expect.
Socially he was much in request, for he
was good dancer. did not object to
London balls. and knew how to make
himself agreeable Finally. there was
little Mr. Schneider, of whom not much
was known by his host or by anybody
else. except that he had a great deal Of
money, that he was to be seen driving
tour-in-hand in the park and elsewhere.
that his late father had been a German
banker, and that he was very anxious to
gain firm foothold in society
Of the four Lord Guise himself was
the eldest and by far the least smart in
appearance. His hair, which he wore
rather longer than is the custom in these
lays. was not very carefully brushed;
he had ashort. reddish beard: his clothes
htted him loosely: his features were
large and irregular. Altogether he was
common place looking person, although,
rs he was the eldest son of duke, many
people had been able to discover in him
an air of distinction He passed for be-
ing eccentric: but this. perhaps only
meant that his manners were not as
good as they might have been. and that
le was still unmarried
That Lord Guise remained bachelor,
Notwithstanding the many seductive and
more or less direct invitations which he
mad received to change his condition,
was due not in the least to eccentricity,
uwr to his profound conviction that when
il liIan binds himself tor life to any wOm-
an the chaiiV-S are at least ten to one that
that man will soOuer or later rue an act of
rTelara Ole folly H. WAS fond of saying
this. and he WAS saying it now to his
three guests. who listened to him with a
good deal OF interest and attention
Marriage as an institution is a neces-
Sity, of course. he observed. in his slow,
slightly drawing accents; nobody
would think of disputing that What /
protest against is the English system of
arranging marriages What the deuce
mas love to say to the question? Is any
man such consummate ass as to believe
that he will be in love with the same
woman all his life long?"
i can imagine man being ass enough
for that. Thorold said. with slight
smile.
Well, on second thoughts, so can L
in point of fact that is just what one
does imagine each time that one falls
in love put It wrongly: what ought !