The Washington times., 1920-04-11
CHAPTER Nv. (coatinssd) }
NJ Aussf Enix.

M DA0 NV hnc"s - ~ "~~ 49, -
business to know, and as 1
- did not want to. what fornssr
relations there may have been be-
tween Aunt Enid and him. only
knew Of him as soldier-friend OF
Aunt Ends In India. He had actu-
ally been In simla at the time
when Uncle Ralph got engaged to
her. had indeed hardly heard his
name mentioned until Aunt Enid
announced quite casually at lunch
con one day: @
"wiiIy Wharf (she always spoke
OF her men friends by their Chris
tian names) is coming down to-
morrow"
There were several people at
luncheon. I saw very curious ex-
preston come into Uncle Ralph's
-fsce. All he said was: "vibsrt!"
He said It I'm way which,
coupled with the look, told me that
he was thinking great deal more
than he said. have thought since
that Aunt Enid brought out the
topic OF the Wharf visit thus, when
there were'a lot of people sbout, SO
that uncle should not be able to
raise any objection to IT. Besides,
II he had an objection, It must be
made quickly, since 1t was only on
the morrow that the guest was due.
"Yes. Willy Wharf" Aunt Enid
said again "You met him at
Simla, You know. sSurely you re-
member ,g3 GE4 4.
"Oh. yes" Uncle Ralph an
swered, with q laugh which he cut
short. II remember meeting him
quite we'll"
lido not know whether any more
was said about It between them
afterward., That, 1t all events, is
all that passed at the time, and the
next day Captain Wharf duly ar
rived.
I expect that he was a type Of
the kind of man that exercises a
tremendous fascination over wo.
men Of q certain nature. It is q
type which find rather repellent.
He was broad, blond, weil-made
msn, with good features. He was
beginning already to go bald on
..he top of the head. He had a very
long, golden mustache. I expect
he was proud of his mustache. for
he was always playing with 1t and
twisting 1t about with his mani
cured fingers. .
He was always quite agreeable
and pleasant, and had Aunt Enid
been with him Just as she was with
all the other men friends that she
liked to have about her / do not
suppose should have taken par
ticular notice of him for good or
i'll. but emphatically Aunt Enid
was not the same with him as with
the rest. She seemed quite altered
when he was there.
To me It was most curious to see
her. II reminded me Of stories one
has read of certain people having
a peculiar power over dangerous
animals, as of q lion tanner dominatr
ing some fierce and beautiful Feline
thing. For certainly had always
realized q possibility Of fierce will.
fulness underlying the vanity and
veneer of my lovely aunt,>and yet
more certainly there was much
that was very feline about her.
There was a singular and absolute
reversal OF her role here, as com.
pared with her attitude toward
Uncle Ralph. Whereas with him,
II was he that followed her with
the dog-like gaze; in the case Of
this other man 1t was she who. was,
more or less covertly perhaps,
watching him all the time, hardly
taking her eyes off him while he
was in the room, and adopting. pos
sibly quite unaware, his phrases
and terms of speech.
He, on the contrary, appeared
perhaps he made It his pose-to be
rather rudely Indifferent to her,
smiling at her in an amused way,
as if she we're scarcely to be taken
seriously, and this indifference, in
stead Of angering her, seemed to
subjugate her only the more. All
that by.play, however, I could have
borne with patience, and might
have been merely amused at It, but
what really did cause me most furi-
Gus internal anger was his attitude
toward Uncle Ralph.
II was impossible to say that he
was absolutely discourteous to
uncle or forgetful OF his relation
toward him as guest to host, but
there was In his attitude an air OF
smiling tolerance, almost of patron
age, the air of one who deemed