Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-28

very much. mutatis mutandis, as he
would have done under similar circum-
| stances.
But as time went on and his sense Of
perspective adjusted itself. he began to
discover signs that beneath all her airs
and graces and foam and froth, the old
Joey endured. She was a creature Of i'm
pulse. and her vagaries were more fire.
Quently due to the influence of the mo-
ment than any desire to pose. She would
ised tete-a-tete on the river, to go and
play at shop in plantation with the
! underkeepers children. She would shed
tears over narrowing but unconvincing
narratives Of restitution at the back door.
\ She was kind to plain girlS-Which at
tractive girls sometimes are not-and
servants adored her, which is a good sign
Of anybody.
She was lavishly generous: indeed. it
was never safe for her girl friends to ex-
| press admiration. however discreet, for
anything belonging to her. for she had an
| embarrassing habit Of tearing off articles
of attire or adornment and saying. ''Ill
give 1t to you!' with the eagerness and
sincerity of a child.
| And her code Of honor was as strict as
| a schoolboy s--than which no more can be
said. A secret was safe with her. She
had once promptly and permanently re-
nounced the friendship of a particular
crony Of her own, who boosted to her,
giving names and details, OF q proposal
of marriage which she had recently re-
fused.
| In short. Miss Joan Gaymer strongly
| resembled the young lady who in times
| long past was q certain poetical gentle
mans only joy. She was sometimes for
ward. sometimes representatives.. be 1t
added. detestable-but she never failed to
please--or rather, to attract, which is bet
| ter still.
| Mrs. Jack Leroy spared neither age nor
sex on the night of the hunt ball. Her
husband. Hughie, and the Rev. Montague
lD'Arcy-all suffering from that peculiar
varia bly, attacks the male sex about $50
pm. when dancing is in prOspect-were
| bounded into pumps and white gloves and
packed into the omnibus. which. after a
| drive of seven miles, during which the
gentlemen slept furtively and the tongues
of Joan and her girl friends wagged UNI
ceasingly, deposited the entire party OF
twelve on the steps of the town hall at
Midfield.
| Their numbers had been completed by
some overnight arrivals. The first two
were Mr.. and Mrs. Lance Gaymer. joan 8
only brother had taken upon him the re-
sponsibility Of matrimony at the early
age Of twenty-five. and the rather ap-
palling young person who preceded him
| into the drawing room and greeted Joan
as "Jowey." was the accessory to the
fact. Why or where Lance had married
her no one knew. He had sprung her one
day, half proudly. half defiantly, upon q
family circle at Manors. which was for
the moment too horror struck to do any,
thing but cape. Fortunately, Uncle Jim
| my was not present-he had departed on
| his voyage by this time-and it was left
| to Joan to welcome the latest addition to
the house Of Gaymer. This she did very
sensibly and prettily, though she wept I'M
Irestrainedly upon the sympathetic bosom
| of Mildred Leroy afterWard.
For Lance's sake Mrs. Gaymer was ac-
lcepted without dennur. Whatever she was
| or had been-whether she had manipulate
ed beer engine or gesticulated in mu-
steal cOmedy-there she was. and had to
be assimilated. No questions were asked.
but she was religiously invited to Manors
| at intervals, and Joan and Mrs. Leroy,
when they went up to town in the season,
paid occasional state calls upon Mrs.