Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-15
CHAPTER XVIII.
A nueI Over the Tea CUPS

Gavin had always been an early riser and
one who fouted the modern idea that the
world should be aired before men went
abroad Faithful to his habit the following
morning found him riding In the park q lit
tie after o'clock; and not until the sweet
cold air of the highlands had recompensed
him for a waking night did he return to
the hall and the generous breakfast table
there spread for him. A professional disciple
OF the simple life Gavin confessed that the
earIs lavish hospitalities were altogether
too much for his philosophy, and he ate
and drank with the hearty relish of one to
whom these unending luxuries were both a
revelation In the art of living and a satire
upon the habits OF the rich.
What vast quantities of food were heaped
upon that priceless sideboard-in dishes of
shining silver, each warmed by the clear
fame of a silver lamp beneath. Lift lid
of one of those granaries and there you
would espy an omelet which none but man
from Paris could cook. Peep into another
and there are eggs prepared so cunningiy
that they would melt the heart of Master
Fastidity himself. Fish and fowl and flesh,
great red joints upon the buffet, exquisite
peaches from the lighthouses, punches OF
grapes that would have taken prizes in any
show-how ironical to remember the class
of man who usually sat to such table, his
ennui, his distaste, and the abstinence cure
the physicians compelled him to practice.
Gavin was just a hearty Engltshman, fit
and strenuous and needing no ''waters' to
make life endurable. He took what came
to him and made no bones about 1t. Had he
been rich man himself he would have
done the same, he thought. Humbug was
no part OF his creed, and he nevsr mistook
necessity for self-sacrifce.
The earl had not come down when he en-
tered the famous breakfast room, and, not
little to his satisfaction, he found himself
alone with Lady Evelyn for the first time
since his arrival at the manor. A student Of
lUra he Sf,TIj Tod to faNa fn1a
with curiosity which he set down to his
own delusions rather than to an absolute
interest In the personality Of O stranger. A
beautiful woman he had admitted her to be
when first he saw her by her fathers side
upon the night which carried him to the
hall. But now his scrutiny went deeper.
and, so lar as opportunity served, he looked
at her as one seeking woman's secret,
and seeking 1t with a mans desire to help
her
And first he said that It was an English
face IN repose, and yet not an English face
when the repose was lost The masses of
Jet black hair would have excited no sur
prise upon the Corso at Rome shining in
an aureole cast out from Florentine win
dow. Here. in England the tresses spoke
OF the south and its suns-and yet, in fiat
contradiction. the perfect skin, smooth and
silky as the leaf of a pink white rose. could
tell OF English lanes and sunless days and
the kinder climate OF the north. Character
he read in the Arm contour of her chtn-ro-
nance and passion in the deep blue OF her
eyes and the m0dulations of voice whose
music had not been lost In the roaring sat
urnalia of the modern salon. That he him
self had SO far failed to attract her notice
was a fact which neither wounded his veI-
ity nor abated his interest 1t had been the
first maxim of his life to hasten slowly, and
to no pursuit was this maxim more neces-
sary than to that of friendship.
This, then. was the estimate which one
strong personality formed OF another; the
man saying to himself, II would read this
woman's hearth the woman asking herself
If she must talk architecture until the earl
came to her assistance. Breaking the ice
with a common observation, she remarked
that she had seen him galloping across the
park and regretted the dilatory habit which
kept her In bed
Getting up is a foreign art" she said
It lives in kitchens and places where they
scrub. The doctors positively forbid It now
adays, and, of course life Is too short to
disobey the doctors
Gavin looked at her with the air OF a
nan who has too much common sense to
deal in frivoiities ana rarely troubled to
say the thing which was not.
.sThey talk nonsense" he said quietly:
"the profession IL becoming TAR too COM