Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1894-09-20
CHAPTER XVII.
4 BALCONY scE~E

Gilbert Sinclair and his chosen set
the half.do, en- turiy gentlemen with
whom he was united by the closest
bond of sympathv-had spent this De-.
cember morning agreeably enough at
u rustic steeple-chase nine miles from
Davenant The race was an event OF
the most insignificant order-unchron.
icled in Ruif-but there was pleasure
in the drive to and fro on Mr.. Sirc,alr's
drag through the keen frosty air, with
an occasional diversion in the shape OF
a flying snow storm, which whitenel
the mems rough Oyercoat5 and hung on
their boards and whiskers.
Just at the hour in which Sir Cyprian
and Constance were bidding each other
a long good-by, Mr.. Sine air was driv.
ing his sorrel team back to Davenant
at slashing pace. He and his friends
had enjoyed themselves very thor,
oughly at the homely farmers meet
ing. The sharp north wind had given
keen edge to somewhated jaded ap
petites, and game pie, anchovy sand
wiches, cold grouse, and hoar's head
had been duly appreciated, with an ad
libitum accompaniment of dry cham
paigne, bitter beer, and Copenhagen
kirschen wasser.
The gentlemen's spirits had been i'm
proved by the mornings SPORT and
the hOmeward drive wa hilarious. 1t
Was now between three and four o'clock.
There would b. time for quiet smoke,
Or game at pyramids, and fresh
toilet before afternoon tea, opined
such of the gentlemen as still held by
that almost exploded superstition, a
taste for ladies' society. The more
masculine spirits preferred to smoke
their Trabuca3 or lnfantas by the har-
re 3s-room fire, with the chance of get
ting the straight tip" out of somebody
else's groom.
JamesWyatt was the only member of
the party who.e spirits were not some
what unduly elated, but then Mr., Wy
att was an outsider only admitted on
sutferance into that chosen band as q
fellow who might be useful on an emer-
gency, and whom it was we'll to
square" by an occasional burst of ci-
Witty. He was one of those dangerous
men who are always sober, and find
out everybody else's weak points with
out ever revealing his own. He was
Sinclairs anne damnee, however, and
one must put up with him.
Gilbert was driving, with Sir Thomas
Houndslow, a gentleman of turf celeb
rity, and late captain Of a cavalry reg
iment, next hi u, smoking furiously,
while Mr.. Wyatt sat behind the two,
and Joined freely in their conversation,
which inclined to the boisterOus. How
calm that smooth, level voice of his
sounded after the strilent tones of his
companions, thickened eve so slightly
by champagne and kirschen wasser!
The chief talk was of hOrses-the
sorrels Gilbert was now driving-the
horses they had seen that morning
with an ineXhaustible series of anec.
dotes about horses that had been
bought and sold, and bred, and ex-
changed, including the story of arheu-
matte horse, which was a splendid
goer in his intervals of good health,
and was periodically sold by his owner
and taken back again at half price
when the fit came on.
James Wyatt admired the landscape,
an enthusiasm which his companions
looked down upon contemDtuOusly from
the serene height Of stolid Indifference
There's u glade, cried the solicitor,
pointing to an opening in the undulat-
ing woodland, where the snow
wreathed trees were like picture of
fairy-lapd.
Pretty tidy timber" assented Sir
Thomas Houndsow; but for my part
1 could never see anything in tees to
go into raptures about, except when
you've sold em to a timber merchant
Shouldn't like to see cremation come
into fashion, by the by. 1t would
spoil the coffin trade and depreciate
the value of my elms and axis"
ITO BE CoNTGNUED,l