San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-08-17

III.
well! to think of your Aunt Agnes be-
ing intimate with one of the nobility,
and having never mentioned the sub
Ject! have always given her credit for
being an agreeable woman at bot
tom if one could only forget her eccen-
tricities. But this is EXTREMITY fortunate
for you, Virginia. To be sure, there is
no knowing how your aunt will receive
him. she Is 50 hostile to every one who is.
is not as queer as herself. But she
must see, if she is not fool. what a
very advantageous match this would be,
for you. 1t could do no harm Just to
drop Mr.. Ferroll a hint to humor her
little and seem fond of seriOus sub
jects at the start, for if she should hap
pen to take 1t into her head to ask him
to stay at her house it would be very
convenient"
These sentiments were frequently re-
iterated by Aunt Helen during the re-
naming weeks of our visit, and it must
be allowed that the attentions of the
Honorable Ernest soon justified her
urgency, seeing that she really believed
1t was matter of vital Importance for
me to become the future Duchess of
Clyde. Nor was | at all sure myself
that if nothing else turned up might
not be tempted by the brilliancy of such
a position. Not that thought about it
quite so definitely, but was conscious
G the exceptional advantages incident
V high rank in England to the extent
that did not treat his gallantries with
marked Indifference ! let him reveal
himself for what he was. which is not
possible without a certain degree of in
tilnaCy. Beneath his conventional ways
discovered great deal of energy and
decision He was we'll read and had
his own opinions
On many of the days when | did not
go down town, took strolls with him
in the park and elsewhere. We dis
cussed all sorts and kinds Of subjects.
We did not often agree, but that rather
added to the interest of our intercourse
than otherwise. was acuriosity to him,
he said. He complained that was too
radical and visionary in my ideas, and
that was qdite different from his con-
ception of American girls. To be sure,
he said, | was ready to do things-that
is, so to walk with him, and Danish
Aunt Helen when be called; but he had
been told that American girls knew moth
ing about politics or any serious matters,
and We're principally interested in the
study of their inner consciousness as af-
fected by man: whereas ! was perpetual
ly taking issue with him on questions of
government policy and pauperism, driv-
ing him into holes in regard to the value
of an hereditary nobility and the discs
adjustment of the English church.
Women at home We're not like that, he
said The men told them what to be-
lieve, and they stuck to it through thick
and thin; but voluntary feminine ratio
cination was the rarest thing in the
world among his country women.
As for himself. he was a conservative
"a conservative without money. Money
was all he needed to build up the SPLEEN
did estates of Clyde, which had been
slowly decaying for this lack during two
generations His chief ambition was to
retouch and refurbish the broad domain
of his Inheritance, SO that its lordly
manors, ivy mantled abbeys and green
meadows might know again the peace,
poetry and prosperity of an ideal En-
glish home. There would then for the
lord of Clyde be happiness and romance
equaled by none on earth. For, eager
to benefit his fellow men, he would have
within the radius of his own estate
hundred cabins to call in play his inven-
ton or humanity, and with. ones con-
science at rest, he said, could There be
purer JOY than to wander with her of
ones choice under the ancestral elms of
old England. with the September moon
overhead?
This was the Honorable Ernest's dream,
but to realize it he must make money.
He had come to the States, so he told me
when we grew more intimate, in order to
seek it. There were great chances in the
far west for shrewd man with a little
capital, and to find some investment that
promised large returns was the real OBJ
ject of his journey thither Already,
even since his arrival in New York, he
had done extremely well There was a
smart $50 he had heard him called young
fellow who had put him into several
profitable spec ulations: very likely
might know him-Roger Dale was his
name; every one said he had made a lot
of money, and was one OF the coming men
of Wall street was kindly to consider
this as confidence, for he did not care
to have it noised about that he was other
than an idler here.
The Honorable Ernest Ferrolps atten-
tons, as have implied, grew apace from
the evening of our introduction. and soon
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