Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-11-22
CHAPTER \IN.

CHAPTER AlA-
Strange found the preliminares of
his induction into the role of an Eng
lish squire even more unpleasant than
he had expected.
During the period when he had
read Roman law and knocked about
the courts with the hope of supple
menting his income by the experience
he picked up there, the technicalities
of the law had bored him to eXcrucia-
ton point. Now. when they were
brought specially to bear on him he
found them more CALLING still but be-
ing wise man i'll his way. he shirked
none of them. and took good care not
to take solitary step in the dark. till.
by the time they had got him off their
hands. the solicitors of the Stranges
were in position to congratulate
themselves at last. on the fact Of hav-
ing found a whole man in the family
! He had gone the rounds of his duties
doggedly and had found them insult
ferably dull. he had been down to
, Strange Hall. had left things there in
trim, and had now flown back to Lon
don.
One afternoon in June he was stand
ing in the shadow of deep window,
in one of his rooms in Piccadilly. laZily
sharpening a pencil.
! He had plenty Of work to do. but
somehow he had no stomach for it. the
change in his life had got into his
bones. and mad filled him with unrest
and a certain loss of faith in himself.
i When at last after long meditation.
the truth of this broke upon him. it
came with an audible and ample.
DAMN
II may as we'll give it up and amuse
myself in a mild way" he thought.
after hasty review of matters, moth
ing can be too weak and vapid for my
present condition. feel fiabby."
A mild grunt at his back made him
swing round. 1t was Tolly, just back
from the dentist, of deeper puce than
usual. and with terrible uncompro-
missing row of glistening teeth shoot
! ing out agressively between his thin
I lips.
| He gave a deferential duck. and
stood on approval, with labored at
tempt at an appearance of modest
, depreca ton.
/ ''Turn round. Tolly," said his mas
ter, away from me. / can't bear it all
at Once!'
He was shaking with silent laughter
"How do you feel about them your
self, Tolly?'
! "Fust-rate. SiT-yO1lr wuSSuD.''
! Since his masters rise in life he was
which to give him honor, and he varied
them daily.
81 can bite nails. your wuSSup.'
'Ah! You mustn't play fast and
loose with these tusks as you might
with ones bred and reared on the
premises
i Lord! your wussup, | wouldn't make
! that free, being as they are your prop
erty, sir, besides, any fool can see as
how they be the real bought article.
money down. not your everyday COM
mon grinders. There weren't a toff l
met as didn't mention 'em, l tried to
keep 'em dark, sir
81 shall expect good deal more
from YOU" said Strange, pointing the
moral, now you're complete. If any
one calls today say I'm out and won't
be home till night, and-take these to
the post before I start" he pointed to
a big heap of notes on the table, land
don't drop any of them, nor swallow
your teeth.
'Twenty invitations in g week." re-
hected Tollys master, ''the first-fruits
of my rise in life! They used to aver
age six a week. I'll 60 and see Lady
Mary. Damn it all, why need a man
lie to himself, I'll go and see Miss
Waring!'
And he went, and somehow the next
day he went again, and the next, and
the next after that. Then he and
Gwen discovered a mutual passion for
riding, not up and down the Row, that
seemed as tame a pastime to the one
as to the other, but in the early morn
ings out on the heath at Hampstead,
or sometimes far out on the Surrey
side.
Once they went as far as Surbiton,
where they got drenched in a shower
and had to take refuge and have tea
in an old inn.
But it is not at all to be supposed
that with all this intimacy those two
got an inch nearer one another. they
We're intellectual companions, nothing
more, not even to be called comrades.
! Gwen neither evaded nor Shirked
conventions, she simply swept them
aside, as she did her lovers. AS for
Strange, he felt her and the rides very
distinctly a boon. She was an excel
lent flint to make sparks with. her
ways of thought We're SO new, let alone
startling, her tongue so remarkably
sharp, and she had such a brutal habit
of speaking undiluted truths For
the once the two agreed, they dis
agreed at least three times, and q
good pitched battle had to be fought
to settle any question. The sponge
was never by any chance thrown up,
it was forced out Of the hand of one
or of the other of them. 1t was a most
bracing and delightful experience for
Gwen, it was so satisfactory and so
absolutely free from mawkishness. and
she reflected. with superb self-congrat-
ulation. that the man had just as little
capacity for that phase as herself
"She's hard-hard as nails he re-
fiected after an evening at Lady
, Mary's. land yet. she wasn't made
like that, / could swear. 1 wonder
what the devils wrong with her eyes,