Arizona republican., 1892-09-06
P0PPET.


 She was of undoubted aristocratic pa- rentage and descent, and had the entrce to the most exclusive drawing rooms in Mayfair. Had he ever troubled to think about it at all, he would probably have experienced some misgivings as to the legitimacy of the alliance of which he was the result. He certainly was aware of the suspicion which inevitably man. ifested itself in his presence, whenever he happened to be thrown outside of the circle in which his peculiar idiosyncra- cies were overlooked and his social at. tributes duly appreciated.
 She belonged to the upper crust of so- ciety, and, imbued with all the instincts and traditions of her class, delighted in her life of ease and obscurity, He also appeared to be innocent of any exacting occupation. He was generally to be seen hanging about at the street corners or at the doors of taverns, but neverthe- less he had acquired, in certain quar- ters, a reputation as man of action and determination-in a word as "char- acter."
 Her name was Poppet. She was known by no other, and was famiiarly called so by princes and potentates in the grandest salons in London. Great authors, philosophers, artists, musicians and statesmen endeavored to propitiate her. Even dowager duchesses, generally very self contained beings, treated her with consideration and occasionally used all sorts of endearments toward her. Still her pretty, curly head was not turned. The reason why the reader will presently discover.
 He was known as Jim Lukens among his associates. But he was a fellow of infinite fancy, and possessed happy knack of christening himself every now and again as he considered the exigen- cies of the moment appeared to demand it. Thus, when enjoying the hospitality of her majesty, at one pension privee he was one person, and in another he was different person altogether-nom- inally, at least. He did not find that continual rebaptisms mitigated the severity exercised in the official circles in which he frequently found himself, but he did not think it expedient to be- come too well acquainted by name to the lights of the bench. Except in his one love affair, he had deplQrable lack of ambition.
 Poppet lived with Lady Dollydacks in Park lane, Hyde park. She was not her ladyship's daughter, as Lord Dollydacks died without issue; neither was she her niece Lady Dollydacks cultivated a comfortable hatred of all her kith and kin. She felt it was the proper thing for woman of her quality to do, and it saved her from annoying intrusion. Be- fore her marriage to the late lamented governor general of Coromandel, Lady Dollydacks had been the widow of a wealthy sugar planter, and there her past history ended. She had no recol- lection of what she was previous to her West Indian matrimonial venture. No, poor Poppet was merely her ladyship's little protege and can hardly be said to have had any expectations beyond the immediate comfort of her surroundings
 Poppet was admitted by men and wo- men of the most critical, discriminative type, and of the highest rank, to be sim ply perfect in form and beauty. Jim was described in more than one "offi- cial" cyclopedia of biography as repul- sively ugly. In dim sort of fashion he was conscious of his physical de- fciencies, but it did not check his pas sion for her.
 Their first meeting, if it can be so called, happened in this way:
 It was one beautiful summer morning He was leaning over the railings of the "drive" in Hyde park looking at the brilliant equipages and their fair occu- pants as they passed him. There was tinge of sullen, inquiring cynicism on his irregular but expressive features. He was refecting in his own crude way upon the strangeness of the dispensations of Providence. He was homeless, ir- reclaimable pariah; these vivid crowds seemed veritable gods and goddesses.
 All at once the discontent vanished out of his face, and it became irradiated with an appreciative intelligence. An open carriage, emblazoned regardless of expense, and drawn by a couple of beau tiful black horses, was arrested by the opposing stream of traffic immediately in front of him. Two servants in gor- geous livery sat upon the box. The foot mans calves, incased in flesh colored hose, would have made the soidisant first gentlemen of Europe, then l9toly deceased, green with jealousy could he have seen them. The man was model of department, creature after MT. Turveydrops own heart He was mo- tionless, silent and pompous, and his face wore that peculiar look of superior vacuity of which those moving among the aristocratic circles of society seem to possess a monopoly.
 But Jim did not bestow more than a glance upon the servants; his eyes at once became riveted upon her. She sat in the midst of her embroidered cush- ions alone. Lady Dollydacks insisted upon her taking the air ill this way every morning except Sundays, when she accompanied her ladyship to church to listen to the voice of the Rev. Charles Honeymoon crying in the fashionable wilderness During her matutinal drive Poppet performed the only duty ex- pected of her. She brought home her ladyships daily supply of literature from the circulating library in the carriage with her.