The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-09-11
D0CKRELL'S DEPARTURE.

Whatever else Dockerell intended to d.
it was evident that he did not mean to ga
! Mrs. Rashley began to be alarmed. Sh
had asked him down, to be sure, withou
specifying the exact day he was to leave
but now the last guest had made the las
pretty speech, and the dogcart containing
lingering sportsman and his belonging
! was disappearing down the drive, and yet
/ by blazing fire in the coy study, sh,
knew that at that moment WilloughbJ
! Dockrell was unfolding the morning pa
! pers and lighting a cigar, with that com
! placent smile which irritated her so much
when she was not in the mood for it. AnC
she was by no means in the mood for it to
| day 1t was not only that fresh set oil
people were to arrive tomorrow, most oil
whom would by no means share her en-
| thusiasm for the poet who was now
stretched at his ease in her favorite arm
chair, but that the party invited for the
next few days was to include a faithful
and somewhat stolid admirer, Major Cham
pion.
Now, Mrs. Rashleigh was not one of the
order of women who are unhappy if they
have not a secondlover to play off on the
first. Under such circumstances, she
opined, both were apt TO be fretful and un-
amusing. Mrs. Rashleigh, to be sure, had
been widow for exactly five years, so that
it may be inferred that she knew some
thing of the other sex. Young, cheerful
and well off, without being pretty, she was
distinctly attractive, and, having the so
cial instinct, her place in Blankshire was
nearly always full. In London she was
inclined to affect the smart intellectual
set," and she liked to be credited with
ideas and opinions. Ideas and opinions
were, perhaps, rather scarce in the circles
In which Mrs. Rashleigh usually moved.
1t was probably this which had made her
seek the society of Dockrell, for the man,
at any rate, had brains. But there were
gu stions which she could not help asking
herself in her present unsteady frame of
mind.
Apart from a volume of poems which
had made certain stir, who and what was
he2 Nobody seemed quite to know, least
of all in the rather fashionable set into
which he had effected an entrance. He
had a clean cut face, plausible manners
and pretty talent for giving the talk a
neat and epigrammatic turn; while it was
certain that he had lived in Paris. in Rome
and in New York, and that he knew every
body little and nobody well. If men, too,
instinctively disliked him, it was notorious
that for most women he had an irresistible
attraction, so that one was apt to meet
Willoughby ;Dockrell'more frequently in
inner drawing rooms than in the more
breezy mental atmosphere of the clubs
But though Mrs. Rashleigh was fond of
having long discussions with her literary
admirer, it by no means followed that she
intended to continue those discussions for
life, and during the last day or two Dock
rell had assumed an all conquering air
which was distasteful TO her. 1t is always
awkward for a hostess to have to tell a
guest to 60, and Mrs Rashleigh racked her
brains for an expedient as the hall door
closed TO on the last member of the party
and she thoughtfully crossed the hall.
well, shall have to tell Jack all about
it when he comes tomorrow, /" she said to
herself at last, with that little sigh of re-
lief which woman gives when she has
determined to transfer her troubles to
shoulders broader than her own.
And meanwhile Willoughby Dockrell,
having finished a second cigar, was medi-
tating on his plan of campaign. For nearly
thirty hours he would have his charming
hostess to himself, for the young sister
who was there to play propriety hardly
counted, and be would surely be able to
get her to drive or to ride alone with him
that very afternoon. Thirty hours, he told
himself, alone in a country house with a
woman who obviously likes you is worth
thirty months of afternoon calls and din
ner conversations in London.
He glanced around the room. How de-
lightful it all was-so coy, so old fash
Toned, with the air of having been always
just like that The leather bindings of the
books were worn and mellowed the gilt of
the picture frames was a little dim with
age A Romney and a Gainsborough-
portraits of departed Rashleigh
down on him from either side of the fire
place. A granduncle with dilettante tastes,
who had made the grand tour" had
brought back that Canova from Rome
Generations of gentlefolks had lived and
read and chRtted in that room. At his
age, and with his tastes, it was all Just
what appealed to him most-the sense of
security, of rest, of long unchanging years
Willoughby Dockrell had been of late a
frequent guest in English country houses.
but no home that he had entered had ap-
pealed to him quite so intimately as this.
A man of forty-five, who has lived in most
of the capitals of civilization, generally
turns at last to some such haven At for
ty-five the boulevards of Paris. the clubs
OF London and the balls of New York may
begin to pail.
AT that uncertain age, when he is neither
old nor young, he had begun to think that
a man wanted a home, a position and
wife Now, all these things, he thought, !
were well within his reach. There were no
the place was hers for her life
time, after which it would go to distant
cousin. As TO that unpleasant affair in
America-well, it all happened fifteen
years ago, and New York is a long way
from London, even if London is tolerablv |
near New York Only one man in England |
knew anything about the story of chose |
bonds, and that man he was certain not to |
meet in q small country house. And then |
Mrs. Rashleigh had said nothing in her |
note of invitation as to the length OF his |
stay; indeed, il had been word or two |
only. Dockrell took the note out of his |
pocket and read il with curiously salts /
fed smile.
Can't you come and see me In the coun- |
trvtn i ran, and the fact of there being no /
ueSinnlng was an important one in tie /
eyes OF such g student Of femininity as
Dockrell. 81 shall have some /
nice people staying with me at the begin
ming Of the month. Could You come on the
Sd' We shall be able to discuss-Bourget
and lots of thingsi Ever sincerely yours.
LEFTY RAsELEIGH."
Well, he had come on the Sd, and here
be meant 20 stay-to stay until he had
made himself master Of the situation.