Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-14

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the two were playing from the bunker to-
gether before a minute had passed.
fou and l would certainly do better at
the mansie IL this goes on" the doctor ex-
claimed with honest conviction: ..the third
bunker I've found today. A man cannot
be well who does that"
Rheumatism, undoubtedly" the vicar
said slyly.
A boyfsh laugh greeted the thrust
Shall We call 1t curiosity? Hang the
game! What does 1t matter? You put
think you are better man than am. But
you're not. I'd play you any day for the
poor-box- Let's talk of something else
Lady Evelyn. for instance"
WITH she marry him, Frederick -
'Him-the sandy-haired foreigner with
the gypsy friends?''
rs there any other concerned?"
''oh. don't ask me. Do keep her pocket
book ~
II wish you did. my dear fellow From
every point OF view this marriage would
be deplorabie
From every point of view but that of
the two people concerned. perhaps She Is
a girl with will of her own-do you think
she would marry him If she didn't like
him?"
She might, from spite. There are bet
ter reasons. perhaps worse. You told me
at their first meeting that you believed her
to be in love with him
Il was an idiot. Let's finish the round
The man will probably live to be hanged
what does 1t natter"
Well. If 1t doesn't matter to you. it mat
tiers to nobody. I'll tell you something
queer-a thing l saw last night It's been
In my head all day. TIL tell you as we go
to the next green
They drove couple of good balls and set
out from the tee with lighter hearts As
they went the vicar unburdened himself
OF that secret which golf alone could have
prevented him disclosing an hour ago.
Il told you that / dined with Sir John
Hall last" he said in a low voice; well
young John drove home pf
he went through the park. Poor boy, his
case is quite hopeless. He drives his
horse to death round and round the house
on the or chance of seeing the fash of her
gown between the trees. Well he drove
me home, and just as entered the park
what do you think-why, three or four men
passed us at the gallop-soldiers 1 say. in
white uniforms with gold sashes and gold
sword-hilts. l them as plainly as l
see you now-the earl was one OF them
the young count another. Now, what do
you think of 1t? Are they mad. or is some
great jest being played? l give it up. This
sort of thing is beyond my experience-it
should be a case for you, Frederick though
II you can make anything of it, I'm a
Dutchman.
The doctor shook his head. He did not
doubt the truth of the Wears story, but he
made believe to doubt it.
You dined with John Hall Harry?"
Il have told you So
Sixty-three port, 1 suppose, on the top
of champagne?"
That is mere foolishness. Frederick"
Admittedly, forgive mel can be serious
and am, Here's affair which man
might write about in textbooks This
grown man puts on a coat he may have
worn in his youth and rides like a steeple-
chaser through the park Why does he do
1t? What's he after? I'll tell you his lost
youth; that's what he's after Trying TO
catch up time and give the fellow the GO
by. I've seen that disease in many shapes
but this is new one. Try to think it out
This young count comes over from Rot,-
mania; he brings these gypsy TascaIs with
HIM. Their tongue, their dress. their music
speak to the earl as his youth used to
speak to him. He's living for a moment q
life he lived thirty years ago. L can see
him grasping at the straws of youth every
time go up to the Hall. These midnight
carousalS are SO much midnight madness.
The man is saying to age, you shall not
have me- Ten years of responsibility go at
one fell swoop He'd sell those he loved
best on earth to win back year of the
days which have been. That's my diagnosis.
The bacillus, La Jeunesse! And that's
bacillus you cannot cure, Harry
He was in deadly earnest and the vicar
looked grave enough In his dim way he
understood the doctor and believed him to
be speaking the truth. Lord Melbourne
had been an enigma to him from the first;
an aristocrat and not an artstocrat; one of
the Melbournes and yet an alien a man
whose mask of reservation the keenest
eyes could not pierce; a silent man when
one asked for that key by which alone the
secret chambers of his mind could be enter
ed. or such a one any fable might be told
and believed The vicar understood that he
had come face to face with some mystery,
but of it's witnesses he could make nothing.
II do believe you are right" he said at
length; there have been tales strange
in the story Of the house-generaIly con,
corning lady, fear. AT least Evelyn can
know nothing of this" he added a little
thoughtfully; 1T would be great mis-
fortune for her."
Heritage has little regard for the for
tunes of others said the doctor m
suppose she would have married an Eng
lishman-she's not the girl to do it. That
comes Of educating them ABROAD would
sooner send daughter of mine to fight the
Russians than to a school IN Paris. Make
Englishwomen of them. / say, and leave
the fal-de-lals alone. What's 1t worth to
girl if she can jabber French and has
lost her English heart? No. my dear vicar,
England for me and~English roses for my
home. Evelyn will marry this man be-
cause France taught her to think well of
foreigners. If she had gone to Derby
shire school he might as well have proposed
to Cleopatra's monument on the Thames
Embankment. I'm sorry for her, truly,
but words won't change the thing, and
that's the end of It. Let's go and lunch
We have done nothing i'll for one morning
anyway.
They went to lunch and afterward to the
business of a common day. AS it fell out,
they did not meet again until after church
upon the following Sunday, when the vicar,
still wearing his surplice he crossed
from the vestry to the parsonage, found
the doctor waiting for him with the air
of one who has important tidngs and must
impart them quickly.
mo bad news from the Hall?'' he ex-
claimed, so much was that great house
now in his mind.
The doctor however. drew him aside and
told him IN a word.
THE counts gone" he said quickly. He
comes back In October. The earl told me
so himself She's to marry him in the
winter and that's the end of it, Harry
The vicar shook his head gravely.
THE beginning OF 1t, Frederick, the be-
ginning, he said wisely.
CTo be continued tomorrow