The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-01-20
P II.
Continued.

. They all came home, as people say
though it was no home to which
they were coming, though they had
been very much at home in this Swiss
villa. 1t was rather a depressed and
downcast family party that arrived
after a brief but rough crossing of
the Channel and all the and tear
of the journey-Lady Car, very pale,
with lines on her forehead 81 that
showed all the freshly awakened anX-
iety with which the sight of her ma
tive country, involving, as it did, the
renewing of many responsibilities n
of life in its commonest aspect after
a long holiday, had filled her; little
Janet, very fretful and tired, almost
paler than her mother, with her
black brow, and black hair, and big
blue eyes accentuating the whiteness
Of her face; Tom, distracted with the
confinement and the impossibility of
any play or commotion beyond that
which could be carried on within the
limited space of a railway carriage,
exasperated and exasperating; and an
attendant group of tired maids, rem
dered half frantic by his pranks and
the impossibility of keeping him in
order.
Next morning the whole party was
revived and cheerful. The children,
when they burst into the room, after
a long enforced waiting in the tenn
porary nursery which looked to the
back, and from which they saw moth
ing but chimneys and the backs Of
other houses, rushed to the large win
dow of the room in which Lady Car
was b~reakfasting, with a scream of
pleasure. To look out upon the busy
road full of carriages and people, and
the trees and space of Hyde Park be-
yond, delighted them. Little Tom
stood smacking the whip which was
his perpetual accompaniment, and
making calculations. "Oh, I say!
What lots and lots Of people! There's
a pony! but he can't ride a bit, that
fellow on 1t. Where's he going TO
ride? What's inside those gates? Is
it a palace Or is it a park, or what is
it? I say, Beau!-what a liar he is,
Jan! he said there was nobody In
London-and there's millions!"
"Tom," said Lady Car, IF you say
such things you will be sent away"
"Let him talk" said Beaufort; "he
is quite right from his point of view.
You must remember, Tom, that,
though you're a clever fellow, you
don't know everything; ind there
may be millions of people in London
though there's nobody"
They both turned upon him incred-
ulous faces, with that cynicism Of
childhood which is as remarkable as
it's trust, overawed by a sense of his
superior knowledge, yet quite uncon-
WINGED Of his good faith. Their faces
were very like each other-rather
large and without color, their eye
brows shaggy and projecting, their
large round eyes a feur de tete.
Janet's little red mouth, which was
her pretty feature, was open with
suspicion and wonder. Toms bore an
expression of half-assumed scorn. He
was a little afraid of Beau" and
had an alarmed belief in him, at the
bottom of much doubt of his meaning
and resistance generally.
You seem to have a great budget
of correspondence this morning, Car"
From the house agents there seem
to be houses to be had everywhere.
Instead of any difficulty in finding
one, we shall only be troubled where
to choose. What do you say to Rich
mond? The river is SO lovely, and
the park SO delightful for the chill
dren, and"
IF Tom is going to school, as I
suppose he is, there will only be one
child to consider, and little Jan is not
diffcile."
Am I to go to Elton straight of,
mother? I want to go a good long
way off. I don't want to be near
home. You would be coming to see
me, and Jan, and kiss me, and call me
"Tom,' and make the other fellows
laugh"
What should you be called but
Tom?" said Lady Car, with a smile.
Torrance" cried the child with
pride, as who should say Plantagenet.
She had been looking at him, smiling.
but at this utterance of the boy Lady
Car started and turned burning red,
then coldly pale. Why should she?
Nothing could be more fantastic, more
absurd, than the feeling. She had
done no harm in making a second
marriage, in which she had found
happiness, after the first one, which
had brought nothing but misery. She
had offended against no law-written
or unwritten. She had wiped out
Torrance and his memory. and all be-
longing to him Except his money!,
for years. Why should the name
which she had once borne, which was
undeniably her sons name, affect her
SO deeply now? The smile became
fixed about the corner of her mouth,
but the boy. of course, understood
nothing of what was passing in his
mothers mind. though he stared at
her a little as if he did, increasing her
confusion. "The fellows never call
a fellow by his christened name" said
Tom, great in the superiority of what
he had learned from various school
boys ON their travels.
You'd better come and have a
stroll with me. Master Tom" said
Beaufort. ell show you Piccadilly, !