The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1908-10-29
: eMarooned =

I accepted my Aunt Maltrevor's in
vitation TO her river picnic, for the
simple reason that l dared o refuse.
A broken leg OF a Doctors certificate
that you have something infectious are
the only excuses Mrs Maltrevor recog-
nizes, and l could produce neither. Be
sides. Dulcinea was sure to be there
and public opinion would expect me TO
be in attendance.
1 may, perhaps. say a few straight
forward words about Mrs. Maltrevor
later. Dulcinea you win take for grant
ed l cannot describe her-she is
neither the most beautiful, the most
accomplished nor the cleverest Of the
girls ! know; but there Is b about
her which Is beyond the power OF ad-
5~ectfves TO describe. Most men win
understand me-they all know at least
n girl Of that sort
I perhaps might mention that I have
always known D~ulcinea; we grew IN
beauty, so to speak, on opposite sides
of the same road and when she put up
her hair. 1 started smoking. When
b left school, l proposed and she re-
fused me- Unfortunately our friends
(and for he moment the definition
u include Aunt Maltrevor) don't |
know this. and they smile on us both
In the fatuous way that the world al
ways does reserve for matrimonial fol-
~. And when Dulcinea gets up a prom
Using filtration (as she did with Jack
Guthrie In the spring. people only
murmur Lovers QUARREL while II 1
pay ardent II somewhat spasmodic at
tenfion to some other girl (Dulcinens
declares l iirted outrageously with
Daisy Gordon at the Hockey Dance) I
only hear a whisper, -Oh, those foolish
young people" 50 you see my position.
Now about the picnic.
Mrs. Maltrevor's picnics are pretty
Important things. The country people
ire always represented. and as many as
.hree motor cars have been garaged on
Ter ennis lawn at the same time; while j..
he reporter OF the local paper always :
preads himself on a forid reDort Of ,
he function, which 1 (acting under my
UNITS orders). vigorously sub-edit. 6
On the present occasion I rather !,
7anted to see DuIcinea she had Just
ad her t~wenty-hrst birthday, and l :
sent her some red roses and a short !
oem which began: !"
A poet, miss. would write a sonnet y
Facilitating you upon It.
naturally l wanted Il see how she u
ould take IT. n
Arriving punctually at 1:3O, at the
OK which Mrs. Maltreyor had ap- n
as rendezvous. I found the lady Ct
Irrounded by the youth and beauty Of In
aston (this phrase l deleted regularly
om the local reporters outburst) and re
IMPLY overlooking with good humor. 70
Ills, as I discovered later, was partly ne
cause my Uncle Maltrevor had rot
othache. partly because sre had roped
a broken-down baronet for the picnic.
ulcinea l could not see for the mo-
(she had gone on, 1 found. TO Iook oil
r forget-me-nots with Jack Guthriel a
having been presented to Sir Hugo
mes. I retired into private life and
ade myself agreeable to Daisy cir
,rdon- ]
. small iotiIla Of boats lay in the
team ready for us. and as soon as nv SUD
mt had introduced the baronet 10 pla
eryone except Mrs. Neville Ponsonbv
d the Hon Ethel Ponsonby (wbom her
. had asked specially to snubl. we .
to embark. wa
watched the process with admin KIN.
n. My Aunt Maltreyor being nv Gin
cle's mistake and not my own. I 4 o J
! pretend to understand her, but ant
re is little doubt that. excluding her har
pee, and her complexion. she is COM sen
'ed mainly OF tact. II such a thing ped
] beer conceivable. I should have Mr.
d she winked at me as she despatch 1 c,
Jack Guthrie OF with Daisy Gordon p
one OF the first boats to start. and the
ceivable or not, 1 believe she did 7 N,
k as she waved her hand to me In "
ting, having left Dulcinea and me to rea,
" up the rear in a single sculler. rms