The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-11-16
CHAPTER X
--l.--

SOhllhuCus
AS we'll seek to steer a bit of thistle
down by rule and compass as to turn
aside Lady Lydia birmingham from
the freak that happens to be upper
most in her mad-cap head. The Arab
is, in truth, endowed with the valu-
able talent of playing while he dances
(wild, monotonous strains, twanged by
the fingers of his left hand on a Turk
ish guitar slung round his neck), and
before five minutes are over the deck
Is cleared, the ball has opened;
Daphne, who, ten days ago, would
have regarded such designations from
the moral standpoint Of a Saint Te-
resa, gyrating at pace as rapid as the
rest. Waltz, galop, waltz-the dances
succeed each other with spirit till
long past midnight! Then comes an
improvised supper-by light of the
moon; Lady Lydia will allow Of no
artificial illumination-and then, after
one more waltz, they fall back upon
songs and sentiment and the best half
hour of the night-the half hour be-
fore separation begins.
In q pause after another French bal
lad, sung with increasing false notes,
by the siren widow, it chances that
Daphne finds herself standing beside
Miss Matte Rivers, the novelist of the
future. None Of the ladies of the par
ty have paid much heed to Mrs. Ches-
ter as yet. She is pretty beyond the
reach of cavil; her dress suggests an
empty purse. Did good looks and pow
erty ever insure fattering attention
to q woman of two-and-twenty from
members of her own sex? Now. how
ever, after fixedly surveying the shy
looking country girl from head to
foot, Matte Rivers begins, in club
door, hands-in-pocket sort Of fashion,
to talk-I might more fifty say dis
course, when I consider the part
sustained by Daphne throughout the
length and breadth of the conversation.
You think US q queerly-assorted set
of people, no doubt"'-a couple of
questions having drawn forth as much
as Miss Rivers cares to know respect
ing her hearers Insignificant place in
the scheme Of creation. Put poor
Lady Lydia never got a yachting party
that did not, more or less, turn out a
scratch team. birmingham, you Sec
Miss Rivers belongs to the advanced
school of ladies who call q spade a
spade and men by their surnames-
birmingham is a man with a passion
fish. In the height Of the London sea
son birmingham will run away after
whiting, conger-eels. mullet- heaven
knows what he will not run after
and, at ten minutes notice, Lady
Lydia, like a devoted wife. never ar
CUES unless any extra-good ball is on
hand, but gets together whatever
available materials lie within reach,
and goes with him. You see what the
available materials were on the pres
ent OCCASION"
a theme, feels that silence is her wisest
answer
Max and myself in the first place.
For the last five years Max and l have
belonged to a class tolerably well
known throughout the yachting world
as stray utility people" In her re-
searches after character Miss Rivers
treads many paths; even the slippery
by-paths Of the sock and buskin-as
her speech shows. Neither Max nor
I is ever sea-sick; we are unhampered
BY membranes; we can brew a cup of
tea, take an oar, act, dance or be mu-
steal, or efface ourselves when re-
quired, and are, at any moment Of our
existence, ready to embark for the Isle
of Wight or the Pacific, according to
the fancy of our entertainers. Next,
the Arab"
She stops, as that gentleman, his
guitar still depending from his neck,
PAGES langidly before them, Lady
Lydia on his arm.
"Who is he? What is he? The world
says many things. I know one fact
for c~ertain-that he has been in the en-
ployment Of the Kbedive-Egyptian
reform or the Slave Market his best
friend, / forget which. However this
may be, there is no installing the
mans complexion. Eastern climates?
Not a bit Of it. Opium, I think. l re-
member hearing that his real name
was Brown, and that he had a father
in cereals in the city. Then we have
Mrs. de Mauley."
1.-THE lady with the voice." adds
Daphne, not wholly uninterested in the
widow whose charms and whose cred
itors are to prove Felix B%roughton's
destruction.
Exactly. The lady with the voice.
We'll, Agatha de Mauley is-Agatha
de Mauley," Matte, and.
somehow, the tone in which this truism
is spoken infuses a certain fine venom
more potent than detailed scandal into
its meaning. "This brings us to the
end of the list, to little Glen. Hard
castle and her Cousin Felix. Friends
of yours, you say"
Friends since this afternoon. Our
acquaintance from first TO last may
be eight or nine hours old"
Then you know nothing, Of course,
about the engagement to Sir John Sc
werner"
IL have heard that there was an
attachment" stammered Daphne, her
voice changing.
"Attachment!!-to a Baronetcy and
the proper number of annual thou
sands for keeping the Baronetcy up! l
was in town when that attachment
~ %o