Evening star., 1896-11-14

mach Weighted with the cares and respon-
-i1i;tiCS OF his new position. He seems
nowadays 20 spend his whole time trying
to liz" up TO it, OF course. he callet. on
You
ON. YES. he called on us-but then every
body seems 10 be doing that said Rosey.
People in society naturally would" said
our hostess. in a tone which was almost
one OF rcprOof. BUT to US NorthtoWers
foIks-tNes. p-!aSe Mr.. Critic she did say
folks. and | thought it would be rude to
correct her. so that | let it pass. and, q
truthful rnronicler must reproduce the eX-
act words her@D-there is something really
funny ia Sir Thomas Peach setting out TO
give the welcome of the town to newcomers.
OF cCtirS" you know ne only got his knight
hood for entertaining royalty-that was
all
My wife remarked that if the gentleman
in question was good enough to entertain
royalty. ne was quite good enough to call
EpGa us our hostess either Gid or WoulG
ret Sez the satire OF ROsey's reioinder.
"Of course" she said. siight;ngiy, some
one has to entertain these people. and the
Thomas Peaches of life are the only ones
who happen TO have both sufficient money
and push for the purpose
Ms little wife laughed as she rose to take
her leave. All. l dare say every one is
Very Jealous ni him." she said Gayly.
Really. joe" she burst out. as We
walked away from the house. 'it seems to
me that this Northtowers. which we
thought would he a sort of idyllic. out-of-
lNe-N OrII hlisl OF spot, IS just dS mean anu
jealous and petty as most other places
Did you hear how once she called him
Tom Peach and then corrected herself ,
j suppose she is Jealous that her husband
did not get the job of entertaining these
people, she called the royalty in gen
eTdl
My dear child" 1 replied, Il certainly
did not come to NOrthtowerS with an idea
that l should find human nature any diff
ferent to what human nature is in every
other part of the world Probably Mrs.
Jackson's husband is quite as rich and
even more ambitious than Mr.. Peach, and
naturally she cries sour grapes
We gathered later that this was very
much the real state of the case, and we
found the two men very much of much
ness as regarded their class and standing
excepting that Sir Thomas had distinctly
got the best of it. You see the title car
ried weight with it. as. of course, titles are
meant to do. and although Northtowers
professei TO laugh in a good-natured sort
OF way at Sir Thomas and his honorS, yet
it was plain to be seen that the whole town
was very proud of the distinctio which
had fallen upon him.
OF all that / had learned about Sir
Thomas during the first few months of our
life at Northtowers no Information struck
me as being so accurate fair as that
which came from Mrs. Blake the deans
wife
a very fair-dealing and worthy man."
was her verdict: the dean has high
opinion of him. Oh, yes. quite self-made,
and makes no secret of il; on the contrary
l think he is rather proud of it-as he
ought to he, Mr.. Dallas: as he ought to be-
Yes. he is without wife or child-a wild
over, yes. Well, you know, on the whole
IL was rather good thing when poor Mrs
Peach Was taken away-an estimable crea-
tur". but quite untitled for an ambitious
man like Sir Thomas. / remember when
he was CHOSEN sheriff that L called on her
She persisted III calling me .ma'a am, or
rather. mum And she was so distressed
he mot
things with his tea. She assured him they
had cost three shillings a pound, and it
was not until he told her that sugar In any
form was death to him that she would he
pacifted- oh. very good and worthy and
all that, but always exceedingly Uncom-
Portable when she found herself out of her
own sphere Now. Sir Thomas is man os
great ambition. who takes a pride in i'm
proving himself. The whole town does not
know it. put when it fell upon him to en-
iertain the duke he behaved in the most
sensible way possible. for he came to me
and asked ne plump to coach him in all
that he would have to do"
You don't mean itf'
Yes. he did, and as I took great pains
to explain every detail. he got through
beautifully and with much dignity" Mrs
Blake continued. Il confess that l take
a great interest in Sir Thomas future, and.
II he only marries we'll. he may do great
things yet"
In due course of :ime Sir Thomas did
marry again, but as he went far afieid for
his bride, Northtowers people were obliged
to possess tieir souls in patience until the
bride made her appearance in the town
j heard from Mrs. Blake that the new
Lady Peach really was 4 lady, and so
she proved TO be when Rosey and 1 called
upon her, which did the first of the
three days on which she was announced to
receive.
We found her quite young and exceed
II Sly pretty, with curious, shy grace
that was not little out of keeping with
the more than middle-aged man who was
her bridegroom I liked her and SO did
RaSey, who was not always easy to p.eaSe
about people, and vino WIS possessed of
a feeling that the match hal more of
money than of love about it, thing to
which nv wife was strongly opposed. But
We both liked young Lady Peach, and per-