The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1909-05-14
CHAPTER II.
THE EXILES.


~IX years of life abroad, and these
during the most impressionablc
~ period of their young lives, had
left an indelible imprint upon
the two young people.
Horace Simpson had taken to him
self the manners of the Harrow and
oxford youth. He had eschewed the
society Of what he had learned, with
parrot-like aptness, to call those "vul-
gar Americans" and had confined his
social intercourse solely to such of the
European "haut ton" as he could man.
age to scrape acquaintance with.
And this last was somewhat uphill
task, for, whatever else one may say
about the English, they are inclined to
view with very little favor the pos
SCISSOR of no other attribute than
money. True. there are exceptions.
and these but prove the rule
Ethel, who had grown into a really
beautiful young woman, had followed
suit, so far as in her modest powers
lay. Such Of her school friends as
would permit the half formed ac-
quaintance TO ripen she had retained.
Such others of her own modest begin
nings she had quietly but emphatically
dropped. From plain democracy she
had sought the antithesis, and the leap
cause of its breadth.
The Simpsons-and they had added
their mothers maiden name and linked
1t to the paternal nomenclature with
a hyphen-had been deeply bitten with
the aristocratic virus and after long
and arduous struggle had managed to
meet Lady Creech.
This titled mondaine had the misfor-
tune to be viciously short Of patrimony
and Unfortunately long Of lineage, and,
while her life Of self denial had doubt
less imbittered her. she had q most
inordinate value Of birth and distinct
appreciation of cash; hence when it
came her way to pick the Granger
Simpsons out of the slough of COM
monplace acquaintance she did it with
a royal favor and for a stipulated con-
sideration.
Really, my dear Hawcastle"-she
pronounced it as old sailors pronounce
"fo'c's'tle"-she was wont to say,
REALLY, Of course, they are quite i'm
possible, but the girl is an adaptable
little thing, and may be able to make
something Of her in time, while the
boy-ah, fear shall have to leave
him to you and st. Aubyn."
''Do as you like" replied the Earl of
Hawcastle. with some choler, "but
keep them out Of my way as much as
possible. I positively will not be badg-
cred by these unbaked colonists."
Zone might stand quantity Of
badgering, Hawcastle, for 100000"
at which the genial earl would squirm
nervously.
At any rate. the Simpson children
began to be seen in the second stratum
Of London society and met endless
numbers of the shopworn nobility, but.
sad to relate, never one Of the truly
respectable. To those who know their
London there are several layers of no.
bility, and the layer the ordinary in
dividual meets, who has no social pres
tige to begin with, is composed Of that
peculiar class that lends its name to
doubtful directorates, to queer pros
pectuses, to struggling milliners with
an eye on the main chance and who
gladly extend unlimited credit to their
patrons in return for modest and well
put advertisement.
Strangely enough, the Hawcastle-
Creech combination did not drag the
willing Simpsons into the gittering
presence of the real set.
On the contrary. with q somewhat
dog in the manager policy, they awak-
ened both the earl and his sister-in-
law to the fact that they wished no
sharers in those American dollars that
John Simpson had sweated his brow
for, and as consequence they pro-
posed little trip-a quiet, ante-season
trip-to Sorrento, where not a guest
would disturb them and where mat
tiers might be given a chance to right
themselves.
And there, strangely enough, the
Simpsons met the Comtesse de Cham
pigny and were quite delighted to find
the gifted and brilliant Frenchwoman
an intimate Of the earl's. The second
morning of their arrival the gay COM
Jesse put in an appearance and with a
promptitude that was astonishing took
young Horace under the widowly wing
and marked him for her own. And
that same morning the noble earl took
his equally noble son into the shrub
berry and spoke to him.
you've got to do It, st Aubyn," he
said. 1.-THE family honor is at stake.
For heavens sake, marry the little
fooll what II her scurrilous name Is