New-York tribune., 1902-12-25
BY BARRY PAIN

9 gRs hsS assR snH it but H qHfs IN
fessor, single and elderly. but he ChapPy man
liking. but he was married. and his Christmas
ranged for him by bis wife There ere We're hun, So
same obi obiectionHyou could not ask them to dine
on Christmas Day by telegram sent the after
do It effectiveiy There was always MIR Evans. the
curate. of course. AS she thought Of him. the old
''And who are you?'' she asked savagely. speak
Who are YOU that You should be so mighty supe-
rior? Have you ever done half the good In e.lI the
and in some respects he is unfortunate But
what's that got to do with ~ He'd give EMS MS
ask him. Now then"
Ths old lady did not tsIssaPh or wts sIvd she
and drive him home with her Somewhere at the
fs faek b 0t 81 oed ony sb 9 Wa sge ad the I d
She caught the curate accordingly on Christmas
how how kind it It would be of him if he would save her
from solitary dinner. His face fell
rare used ls 100 one Wor Mhere %o Wnt d %
a moment of weakness l promised to dine at the
rectory to-day
TT would have been much more pleasant and
agreeable have dined at the Court OF course
I did not know of your kind and amable invita-
tion-for which. by the way. I have forgotten to
He hadNshe had noticed it, She hoped fervently
adding to his meaning she would have enough
self-control to refrain from throwing her prayer
''Weii; it can't be helped Some other time.''
Possibly some excuse might be managed. willy
and cunning. I could say ...,,
'Oh, dear, not' she broke in The rector would
never forgive me if 1 robbed him like that. Good
Her first feelings were of pride and reef-pride
that she had conquered her natural feelings and
asneG ask o3 f conns The cUrate got on her nerves
very badly. After ten minutes of him she felt
trad IlYTt ha
ings supervened; she was TO be compelled to eat
her dinner alone on Christmas Day IL Was against
She reached the gates of Rune's Court. and then
Two-thirds of the horses had entered the gates,
and the remaining third, together with the car
riage, still in the road. when a cyclist came
around the corner, a moon faced male cyclist;
young ana iaIge aa II Min not q dine 81 verv fast and
he was not grotesquely unskilful rider as a gem
get past But (as occasionally happened with hn)
he was thinking very hard of something which ssn
was not the thing he doing: the necessity Tor
swerving and to avoid the carriage did not occur
Wheel and fell massiveiy 1t is fair to him to add
that when he said what he did he was not aware
ths5 5e e5s he6s no noea Of IN wht she
shocked and frightened by his falI ano vas ouL OF
hurt ,,n ns ,o,,,sb
Ta ae b rose to his feet not hurt in the
least 1 only hope 1 haven't taken the paint on
But it's Stuff and nonsense. cried the old lady
excitedl you are hurt Your @ ha4ds md ond cut ana 1o
might-and do look at the-er-readie OF your
He protested that the scratch was nothing. He
would walk the machine along to the nearest re-
PaFfr mnch troube She Would not hear him He must
come up the house with her and get MS SoInes mes
brushed and that hand attended to- And she hd
a gardener called smith-duite sr2 fo1d ~
bicyrlng-who could put the machine r1ght IN nVe
minutes zL.s .+a .bi1i+v of a short
tempered gardener to mend broken crank In NV, hvs
minutes or any longer period Of time But he liked
he L<a6 np-
and he let himself be persuaded But he would not
fsu1t or that ii was in the slightest degree any
on the way to the house
In the han he was handed over to PaIslow as "a
gentleman whom We've nearly murdered and
please ten 90 n9ss he found Himself 5cieny clean
and s boas 90 once more and say goodby
you Edgg to any RdIR1 RaFeulaT 46 aaTPhefs
.Cod lay 7bsn Won must save me from lunching
alone course aT dnnfT f s
This is really very kind Of you But Suit it Is sal also
rode a bicycle very badly this morning
oh my dear childL exclaimed the he ,i old LADY LADY
mother rather amused him Il know great ea deai
Almost eveTyyting very S except Your Par
Slow has given you the advantage Of me- But
SoS %MV ViIy names Tangier-Rchard Tanger took
degree Cambridge last summer and my N.Y. IaLne1 amer
Pelton this morning.;
I'm glad you did
ParsIov announced that luncheon was served -
at hope you're as hungry as am. said the OLD
1adv smiling Tangier gave her his arm .
~ suppose." said the old lady nedtattvely at
Iuncheon 'that men do these thngs-but women
never do .,, - -.
,ha faintest idea what she talking about
at mean this riding off to particular place
i,1st for the sake of exercise 1t would be quite
impossible for me to leave my house without KNOW
ing iIIst exactly where was going.
gwen If your house were on fe?
.1Then Of course, Il would be different But l
II only mean that It was not for the sake Of
EXERCISE that left my fathers house this morning
left IL simply because couldn't bear to stop IN
it any longer. I told them that would come
ha when Christmas definitely over. The
young mans round face darkened as he spoke
s'I don't know though. why should bother you
with these little domestic matters"
''Pars1ow" said the old lady firmly, Il Will have
to Tangier 'T always make a point of taking