Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-27

mental to the table, between sides cap
tanned by Joey and another damsel; and
even after Mildred Leroy had swept her
charges upstairs there had been bear
sages and up the staircase. Then the
younger gentlemen had returned. rum
| pied but victorious, to Quench their thirst
and listen with respectful Difference te
any tale that the great Marrable might
care to- unfold. (The story of the Ortnoce
had gone round, though it had merctfully
escaped the notice Of the halfpenny pa
pers.)
But Hughie had not been communica.
tive. though he had proved an eager and
and athletic shop So the young men
having talked themselves to a standstill
| had gradually faded away. highly graft
| fled to find the great man not only Will
| ing but eager to listen to their meticuioui
chronicles; and Hughie and DARCY and
| Leroy. their symposium reduced to com
panionable limits had compared notes
and snapped lies" as the Americana
say. far into the night.
Hughes impressions Of the day were
slightly blurred and confused-at the
| which let no man wonder. He was &C
| customed to fresh faces and new environ
ments, but the plunge from yesterday into
today had been a trifie sudden. Las'
Manors a masterless man, a superior
| vagabond. an irresponsible free lance
| with hundreds of acquaintance and never
| friend. In twenty-four hours this sense
of irresponsible detachment had gone for
ever, and the spell of English home life
had sunk deep into his being. He felt
for the first time that he was more thar
a mere unit in the universe. He had
| turned from something into somebody
He realized that he had stake in the
| Countrywide county-the little estate OF
Manors ITSELF and a great desire wal
upon him to settle down and surround
himself with everything that Is conveyed
| to an Englfshman here and abroad-espe-
cially abroad-by the word home.
| Then there were the people with whom
he had come in contact that day. They
| were nearly all old friends, but they were
old friends with new faces. There was
Mildred Leroy for instance. He had hall
| expected his relations with that young
matron. the past considered, to be Of q
slightly tender and sentimental nature
Far from 1t. Her attitude to him was
simply maternaEas. indeed. it had been
| had he realized the fact, from the very
| always feels motherly toward q man OF
her own age, and rightly, for she ie much
| older than he Ii. Occasionally she mis-
takes this motherly feeling for something
ously Mildred Leroy now regarded Hughit
as nothing more than an eligible young
debutant. the chaperon's natural prey. te
be rounded up and paired or with all pos
sible dispatch.
Then there was Joey. Twenty-fou
hours ago he had had no particular view.
on the subject Of his ward, beyond
| % The reflection that he would prob
ably find her rather q bore:
CO An idle speculation as to whether, II
expediency should demand 1t, he woult
| be able to bring himself to marry her.
Well, twentyfour hours is q long time
He saw now quite clearly that whatever
Miss Gaymer's shortcomings might be- q
| tendency to bore her companions was not
one Of them: and that IL ever the Other
question should arise, the difhculty would
| lie, not in bringing himself to marry Joey
| but in bringing Joey to marry him.
Like a sensible man, he decided to lei
| things work themselves out in their owl
way, and went to bed. There he dreamed
that Joey, attired in q blue kimono and
| red slippers, was teaching him to dance
| the two-step to a tune played by the en-.
| gines of the Orinoco.
(To be continued tomorrow