Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-06-16

confidently did my heart ebb and iow as
| sought my rest, for knew that thus early
| In life had / achieved my felicity.
| The next morning Ethel was not to be
| seen. She had taken a severe cold and was
| quite feverf:h, her mother said. and In the
| simple saying that good woman spoke vol
| lines of sympathy and concurrence. In
| deed. when l babe them farewell on Gisem-
barking, both Mr.. and Mrs. Davenant In q
| society novels most approved style. subsu-
| tuted "au revoir," and heartily invited
| me to visit at their home OF course, /
| cepted, for was not that home also to be
| mine?
| II was the following afternoon that with
heart bounded with ingenious enthusiasm.
1 entered the vast building where the Of
! fees OF Harold Markham. ESQ.,, were stu
ated. That exaltation, however, perceptibly
ed when reached the ifth story and
saw door after door lining the front marked
| with his name. Evidently my old friend
had made a beginning. l hoped not rashly.
but IL he was splurging my fortune would
settle and my judgment restrain him.
| In the main room there was a concourse
of young men writing, typewriting. examin-
| ing authorities as IL driven by diabolic ne
cessity. 1t was with difficulty that inter
| rupted one sufficiently to send my name 20
| their chief. Having succeeded, though In
the head Of my walking stick became as
| ashes In my mouth. At length a bell sound
| ed, and / followed a Lad In buttons. whose
| manner gave me the impression that for
| what / was receiving i certainly ought to
| be humhly thankful
| A door opened aud closed behind me-
! sprang forward with both hands extended
and my heart in my throat My dear
Markham" / cried. and one hand fell to
my side, while my heart slipped into my
| boots. From behind a great desk there for
mally progressed a corpulent. heavy-shoul-
dered man. bald, with face deeply lined and
| bordered by scraggy red whiskers streaked
| with gray. He was dressed IN voluminous
and dingy black. and garb and bearing in
| cedes decay. Even as he advanced he eyed
| uneasily the piles Of papers around him.
yet he was not unkind In manner; neither
used my grandfather TO be when 1 broke
| into his study.
| Mr.. Jermaine. 1 believer" Markham be-
gan. glancing at my card II am sincerely
glad, sir. to welcome you back after your
| absence OF many years. and TO renew our
agreeable acquaintance. Won't you sit
DOWN.?
/ was more than willing to do so, my
| knees were in such a quake. / actually fall
tered something about trusting that did
rot interrupt him-the idea. as IL could
Old!
NO" Markham replied rather question
ingiy. Il have few moments to spare be-
fore an important insurance conference
Let US speak Of your plans. / suppose you
| Intend TO set your house in order and to
| OF hfe?"
1 said that had not yet given over my
preference for the law, that
impossible" he answered. you are too
old Above all things. people require ex-
perience. Think of the years I worked as
those young men out there are working
Gould You do that? Ridiculous and, luck
| lily, unnecessary. since your fortune renders
you Independent No, no. my dear fellow,
stroll along the sunny side and 'desipere I'm
lcco. That's about your size. And now"
and he looked at his watch.
And now. ! repeated. rising. Il had
better m 70 mil lat a,..ls. -
| out an unobtrusive funeral director"
There. there" said Markham. with a
slight show Of feeling. "A little plain truth
can't effect such an old friendship as ours
| You can't eat your cake and have Il, too
you know. Now, let me see where are YOU
stopping. at the Elite? Well this day week
you must let me pick You UP and take you
out to my place at Roseborough. I'm going
| 70 lay on for few days. We have quite a
lively party Of young people staying with
US. and. besides, there are some good fami-
the Davenants-"
Not Judge Davenant OF the state court"
cried eagerly. for I recollected that his
summer home was at Roseborough
Certainly. Why OF course. You remen-
Der him; he was In 20. you know. We used
to call him Chubby Davenant Well. good
bye. then. until this day week at pm
i passed out Of the Offices, ayitated by
varying emotions. One was a desperate
temptation to buy a suit of voluminous and
oinsy black and let my whiskers grow
space: another was a Joyful anticipation OF
once more taking my place as a leader
among quite a lively party of young peo-
pie, and a third was amazement that the
elderly. disnified man whom i had rever-
| turn out to be Chubby" Dayenant. the hero
or innumerable college scrapes. However
the volatility or years came 10 my aid. /
simply refused to think OF disagreeable
things. Doubtless my Ethel would be one
| of that jolly crew with whom Markham had
surrounded himself, despite his senility L
would show them alland especially my host
that no man was fascinatingly danger
| Gus as he who while young In face and heart
indeed.
That day week at pm. promptly, as IL
court had Just opened. Markham stopped for
me with q light road wagon, drawn by a
spanking team of bays.
| Look out for the bundles" he said apollo
footing. "of course the children had lots
OF commissions"
Have you many?" hazarded.
Thirteen That is. three died in infancy"
Good Lord!' 1 calculated. why, YOU
made family"
Il don't know what you mean by your
readymade family" retorted Markham
testify: Il married Tessie Armour. James
rriend, the year We were graduated. You
used to know her very well yourself
Why. of course / did. Little Tess,e Ar
mour! How pretty she had looked at Junior
promenade. and how Jealous old Markham
had been. and Jane. too.
I'm sure" l said. courteously, nothing
could be nicer than such a nest of chicks
But don't they interfere somewhat with your
social pleasures. with your lively party of
young folks. for instance?"
Interfere! Why. the lively party is COM
posed Of their friends. of course You see
the boys have just come home from Pier
son, where they are seniors, and naturally
brought some Of their classmates with them
And then. Anna and Bessie have their girl
friends. There's Ethel Davenant lust ar
rived from Europe BY the way, one OF our
collegians. they are twins. you know, is
| named after me, and the other after you.
There's proof that you haven't been forgot
ten Now. what do you think OF that?'
didn't say what I thought of that but
did think. and modify. until our Journey
terminated. We turned into well-kept
grounds. over a winding. shady road: We
approached a mansion essentially rural In
| its irregular roominess. and just as essen
TALLY comfortable. In the open doorway two
ladies, one stout, the other slight, were
| standing: and they Hospitality waved their
handkerchiefs. Near by on the broad YER
anda a bevy of fair young girls were cius-
| tered over their embroidery: and these
sprang to their fairy feet and gazed with
| inteISst on U.S.
"Ho. no! my boy" I soliloquized, you
haven't lost bit OF your attractive power"
and I gave my mustache a killing twirl as
| In that charming group I recognized a face
flushed With loves CON aciot,Sne~s the S,eo