Evening star., 1925-08-23
Mr. Jack Hollins Against Fate
Never Had His Will Been Thwarted His Daughter

happy. He had defeated the an.
cient Northumbrian family. Minnie
would be Lady Coggleshall in due
course. and he would hear servants
refer to her as "her ladyship." His
mood softened as the mood of Napo
leon would soften in intimacy after
vast triumphs.
You needn't worry. Sir Maurice. -
said he. My Wills made and has
been this long time. Minine's the sole
legatee, and she'll come into $4,000 a
year when l kick the bucket. And
don't mind telling you now, as we've
come to an understanding, that l shall
give her f0, 900 a year to do what she
likes with. I'm a reasonable mani
You are. You are, indeed, Mr.. Hol-
Inns. Very generous of you.">
But l can't be forced, and l can't
be bullied"
Thus the marriage of Minnie Holhns
and Marmion Coggleshall, captain of
the 1St Life Guards and heir to an an
cient baronetcy, came to pass. Mr..
Jack Hollins behaved character
istically. First he said to his daugh-
ter:
Look here, my lass, none o this
fashionable wedding nonsense, or you
won't have your father at your we'd
ding
"Oh, father" answered Minnie. soft
ly. You needn't trouble about that.
Well have the marriage at the regis
try office. and I'll be married in my
going away dress"
The plan was altered by her father.
little by little. The old man couldn't
get the idea of orange blossoms out of
his head. nor the vision of his daugh-
ter in a white dress and veil. He had
insisted at first that the wedding par
ty should consist of the two persons
chiefly concerned and two witnesses,
himself and Sir Maurice. And to this
he adhered strictly, because he was
afraid that in the midst of a con-
course he might make himself ridicu-
lous. In all other respects, however,
the wedding was fashionable.
After the register was signed Minnie
kissed her father, thus thoughtfully
saving him the agony of making the
first move to kiss her. The touch of
her lips on his raspy cheek affected
him disconcertingly. She was very
mysterious to him in that moment
not like his familiar daughter, but like
a woman strange, exquisite and in
comprehensive.
He presented to the pair a small
house in select Hill street, together
with two thousand pounds for fur
nishing, and he paid in advance the
first half-yearly installment Of the
promised five thousand a year. In
short. he behaved with an old-fash-
ioned grandiosity, and his satisfaction
in doing so was much enhanced by
his conviction that the CoggleShallS
We're as poor as church mice and that
II he chose he could eat up the Cog
gleshalls and Coggleshall Haigh their
place.. and all that was theirs, without
having indigestion. The prospect Of
living alone in Carlos place did not in
the least alright him.
3
- months, reaching Para and then
doing a further thousand miles or so
up the Amazon.
On the morning after his arrival he
had the idea of strolling round to Hill
street. to see how his daughter had
been getting along. The color of the
front door OF the Coggleshan house
annoyed him very much. 1t was a
brilliant uncompromising vermilion.
Not the color itself, but the fantast
public Stiffness of the thing vexed
him. He noticed moreover that the
blinds and curtains Of the house were
a challenge to the conventions of
British domesticity. A parlor maid,
dressed like no other parlor maid
within his memory, opened to him.
The maid let him into a room which.
like the front door. aroused his angry
contempt. The door of 1t was black,
and the decrease pale blue. The walls
were not papered but palely distem-
pered. The scanty furniture was
painted in strange tints, and there
was not a bit of mahogany or oak
anywhere. The fireplace was draped
in slaty silk. The lower half of the
walls was covered with paintings and
drawings and prints whose subjects
were in his opinion either incompre-
hensible or idiotic or indecent, and
most of which had the air Of having
been daubed by humorous children.
He could better have withstood these
tasteless jokes had they been respect