The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1903-08-14
The Megaphone.

They were only forty between them
and he was twenty-one, and she was
much the older of the two. The boy was
playing with the girls racquet, and botl
of them had forgotten all about the PEG
pie who were munching sandwiches and
drinking clarct cup in their immediate
lcighborhood.
"And so, Mr.. Audley, your regiment is
really going out on foreign service this
week."
eyes" said Audley shortly. He didn't
in the least want to talk about the rcgi
mcnt just then, but the girl persisted.
"Oh, do tell me all about it, Mr. Aud,
ley the inside things. mean. what you
really do with-what is it-your hall,
company:'
As usual the boy oheyed her, speaking
more or less at random on things in gen.
eral, from the goosc-Step to skirmishing
order, from the exact position Of the men 5
raZorS at Il kit inspection to the latest
w s'N'i' III no " N II III W MI
listened, slightly bored, but wondering
how long she,could keep him in hand.
honestly she didn't wnnt to spoil his last
few days at home, even by the kindly
process of letting him down easily, being
a sister to him and all that sort of thing.
And rs for anything else, even at nineteen,
Miss. Niyirt l-,,ny,y
much for that. She knew that apart
from kis hundred year, his six feet and
one inch, and his coming and anticipated
seniority, Richard Audley had absolutely
nothing now or in the future Still he
was very, very nice, and in a vague way
Miss Wears felt sorry that she couldn't
afford him.
Il thought I'd bore you, Miss Wears,
but You made me do it. | wanted to
talk to you about something
quite different. and it may be my last
chance. You see, | have to go up to
town the day after tomorrow, and Miss
Vicars-Niolct-can't you sce?" Oh, |
~ N'I' II Iiol SlllSi Will
Miss Wears had half risen, but as her
eyes fell upon the flushed, puzzled face
bending eagerly forward, she sat down
again.
You will listen to me, won't you, Nio-
let: have sort of right to speak
attcr-after-oh, you'llnevcr, never know
''Oh, please, Mr.. Audlcy. do know,
but Lady Synclair is bearing down on us
with that new man with the monoclc. "
In spite of the presumptivc tenseness OF
her own dramatic situation, Miss Vicar 5
voice WAS not without note of alien in
tcrcst, in which MIR. Audley could find no
| share.
The newcomer was introduced by their
hostess, who, after few rambling re-
marks and Il close scrutiny of Audlcy S
face, very properly left the trio to their
own devices.
At this period of her life Miss Wears
felt the responsibility of ten thousand
pOullllS III IlSi u" III ANU ulll
ambitious mother very acutely. She
knew that what semi-distant philoSo-
pliers called the trivialities of life must be
entered into with only external careless
ness. Internally she must analyze, Judge,
weigh, and above all, know a little before
hand just what she was going to do or
say next. With Dicky it had usually
| been very simple, because he was frankly
Ineligible. Even his miserable hundred a
year had been rescued from the credi-
tors of his grandfather, a ruined Irish
peer.
But the new man with the monoclc, oil
whom her mother had already talked to
quite different. To begin with, the
ac"mcn acquired i'll her one season, added
to the vigorous suggestions Other mo Their,
| told her that Mr.. Stuart Smith-She felt
u little dubious about the Legitimacy u
the hypIIcn-was exactly the sort of mar
| who was likely to arrive. She knew that
he had inherited large fortune from an
unmentioned relative in Australia. and
that he had purchased a periodical to
which he was an occasional contributor.
She knew that setting aside these funda'
mental virtues, he was the sort of man
who made people listen to him. Person,
ally, she did not feel quite so sure about
him. He wore. she thought, his dark
curly hair a little selfconsciously, and
there flashed, at all events, one ring too
many on his long, white fingers.
In the meantime her two companions
! ignored each others existence, each after
his own fashion. Dicky by staring
angrily at his tennis shoes. Mr.. Stuart
Smith by talking over his rivals head
Occasionally Diclly, from motives of ami
mostly rather than intelligent interest
plunged into the conversation; when he
did so, he always addressed Miss Wears
directly.
81 say, Miss Wears, why do you al
make such fuss about the reading and
writing fellows? | never heard of any
one doing himself proud about the Other
R-except Colenso," he added, vaguely
Now, to Dicky the associations of tho
maligned bishops name were simply
hacked desks. inky fingers and the des
pissed regime of a preparatory school
To Mr.. Stuart Smith, on the other hand
the name suggested many phases o
thought. And he rambled lightly oI
from the awakening of the clerical con
science to the tractarian movement, from
the popularizing of the Darwinian theor,
in England to the reactionary mysticism
of Partisan symbolists.
Opinion" he said, "is like apendulun