Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-12-08


tocracy. Unlike the Almanach de
Gotha, however, the price of each Is
set down. Unlike the Almanach de
Gotha, the names of few common
ers are admitted.
Macon was here and even Black
ways cider. the favorite tipple of the
old Duke of Taunton.
Jones ran his eye over the list
without enthusiasm. He had taken a
dislike to alcohol even in its mildest
guise.
"Er-what minerals have you got?"
asked he.
"Minerals!"
The man with the wine card was
nonplussed. Jones saw his mistake.
Soda water" said he. Get me some
soda water"
The fillet of.sole with sauce tartare
was excellent Nothing, not even the
minerals could dim that fact. AS he
ate he looked about him, and with all
the more ease, because he found now
that nobody was looking at him; his
self-consciousness died down. and he
began specializing on the men around,
their probable rank, fortune and in
tellect. 1t seemed to Jones that the
latter factor was easier of determine
ton than the other two.-
what struck him more forcibly was
weird resemblance between them
co.verable yet somehow there. This
tribal expression is one of the strang-
est phenomena eternally comforting
and battering our senses.
Just as men grow like their wives.
tradesmen, walters like walters,
grooms like grooms. lawyers like
lawyers. politicians like politicians.
More, 1t has been undeniably proved
mat landowners grow like landown-
ers, Just as shepherds grow like
sheep, and aristocrats like aristo-
Gratis. 80"
A common idea molds faces to it's
shape, and a common want Of ideas
Allows an external circumstances to do
SO the English conservative poll
ticians of the higher order being
worked upon by external circum.
Stances OF similar nature. have per
Radical politicians on the other hand.
shape TO- common idea-evil-but
still an idea. "'
Jones was not thinking this; he
WAS WAS }ust recognizing that all these
he felt in himself that. not only did
ne not belong to that class, but that
rochester also, probably, had found
himself in the same position.
mat might have accounted for the
Wildness and eccentricity of Roches-
ter. as demonstrated in that mad
caEouse and limited at by the woman
in the feather boa-the wildness Of
a monkey condemned to live among
soa a nanging on to their horns,
playing all the tricks that contrari-
ness might suggest to a contrary ma
ture.
Something of this sort was pass
a anE thnrGu sia Jones lone mind, and as he
nrst time since reading that mo-
mentous piece of news in the even
ing newspaper, his mental powers
became focused on the question that
Jay at the very heart of all this bust
Iorcibiy that he laid down his spoon
and stared before him, forgetful of
the place where he was and the peo-
pie around him.
"Why did that guy commit sui-
cide?"
That was the question
He could find no answer to it.
man does not as a rule commit
suicide simply because he is cccen-
trio or because he has made a mess
OIL, MISE ms estates iae, or because. being
twin image to- defraud. Rochester
had evidently done nothing to bar
him from society. Though perhaps
coldly received by his club. he was
something that society did not know
obtrude itself? '
Jones was brought back from his
reverie with a snap. One of the
COMPOUNDED walters was making off
with his half-caten ice.
Hi" cried he. What you doing?
Bring that back"
His voice rang through the room,
people turned to look. He mentally
cursed the ice and the creature who
had snapped it from him, finished it,
devoured a wafer and then. rising to
his feet. left the room. 1t was easier
to leave than to come in; other men
were leaving. and in. the general
breakup he felt less observed
Downstairs he looked through glass
doors into a room where men were
smoking. correct men in huge ARM
chairs. men with legs stretched out,
men smoking big cigars and talking
politics, no doubt. He wanted to
smoke. but he did not want to smoke
in that place.
He went to the cloakroom, fetched
his hat and cane and gloves and left
the club.
outside in Pail Mall he remem-
bered that he had not told the waiter
to credit him with the luncheon, but
a trife like that did not bother him
now. They would be sure to put 1t
down.
What did trouble him was the still
unanswered question. "Why did that
guy commit suicide?"
Suppose Rochester had murdered
some man and had committed suicide
to escape the consequences?
tho, rr1, - ~.