Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-12
The Strange Discovery Of Long
Buried Romance Is the Subject O. This
Unusual Story by a Master of Fiction.
Gals70orthyb MeAuthor of ''1he For,yte
Saga, :" q History Of an English Family

WITH faint grin Soames dropped the yell
lowed letter-six years older than himself
ON his knee and sat broodng. Poor old Tim
othy And he had never sent it. Why not?
Never put it to the touch" after all If he
remembered Hatty Chessman, the old boy had
been well out of it. Bit of dasher, Hatty
Chessman, in her time from all that he had
heard!
Still There was the letter! Irrefutable evil
dence that Timothy had been human once upon
time. Eighteen ffty-one? The year of the
Great Exhibition! Yes, they had been in the
Bayswater road by then, Timothy and the girls,
Ann, juicy, Hester! Fancy a thing ike that
letter coming out of the blue at this time of
day! What had Hatty done that he didn't send
the letter? Or what had Timothy done? Eaten
something that disagreed with him-he shouldn't
wonderland a scare of some sort.
The envelop had just Hatty's name, but no
address; she, then, staying with them at
the time or what?-she had been great friend,
he knew, of juicy and Hesterl He put the
letter back into its yellowed envelop with
Timothy's cypher in an oval medallion on the
flap, dropped 1t into tray, and went on with
his task of coming over his uncles remains
Hallol What were these?
Three thin red notebooks held together by q
bit Of dingy rainboy-colored ribbon tied in q
bow. Whose writing? Aunt AIMS undoubted-
ly, more upright more distinct than any other
in the family. diary, by George, and pretty
old! Yes, begun when they went to 1.-The
the year that old Aunt juicy married Sep
timus Small. It would be old-fashioned
twaddleI
But suddenly Soames' eye lighted again on
the yellowed letter In the tray, and taking up
the second volume of the diary, he turned its
pages till he came TO April, 1851:
April 8: We all agog about the great
exhibition that is to be opened IN Hyde Park
They are making great TODD and the park
does not look itself at all. 1t has quite upset
Hhry Ia L. frat That VH1lI q r.
tract many rogues and foreigners and that our
house will be burgled."
Saomes eyes scanned on over the thin, pre-
else pages till he came to this:
May S: Hatty Beecher" Cab! here it wash
"came on April Is to spend a month with us.
She is a fine figure Of girl and has become
buxom. We all went to the opening OF the
exhibition. 1t was such a crowd, and the dear
little queen SO becomingly dressed. 1t
was an occasion I shall never forget How the
people cheered
Timothy attended us; he seems quite taken
with Hatty he can hardly look at her. hope
she is really nice. Hester and juicy are al
ready full of her praises. They all want TO
walk In the park today and look at the crowd
going into the exhibition, though there was a
windy drizzle; but as our dear father used to
say, it was only pride Of the morning, Tor II
soon cleared and the sun shone.
May Z: We all went to the opera. Dear
Jolyon sent us his box-he put it so droliy.
Take care Timothy doesn't lose his heart 10
Taglioni-she wouldn't make him good WIFE
I must say it is really wonderful how she sup
ports herself one toe, but Timothy seemed
quite preoccupied. He was staring at Hattys
back all through the ballet
I'VE had great difficulty coming away. 1t
rained and our crinolines got wet, the stupid
coachman took some one else for Timothy and
we missed our turn and had to walk outside the
portico. But Hatty was In such spirits that 1t
did not seem to matter. She Is such rattle.
I wonder whether it Is quite wise for dear Tim
othy to see so much of her. I am sure she Is
very well intentioned, but I feel her evening
dresses are lower than Is quite nice. have
given her my Brussels ichu.
GENTAY ID: Today we went to the Zoo. Hatty
~ had never seen It, In some ways she Is
quite provincial, but she picks things up very
fast. Dear Timothy came all the way from his
Office to meet us. I fear 1t was Hattys beaux
yeux rather than the animals which brought
him. confess that the Zoo does not give me
much pleasure; 1t is very common.
''Hatty insisted on mounting the elephant and
Of course, Timothy was obliged to be her squire
of danes, but am sure he did not really enjoy
it. and indeed, he looked SO grave bobbing be-
hind her in the howdah that could not help
smiling and Hester laughed SO that thought
she would burst her bonnet strings. was
obliged to check her, for fear dear Timothy
should see.
May II: James came to tea. He told us that
Ewithin has bought q new pair Of grays, very
spirited, and that he doesn't know what viii
happen. He advised Hatty not to venture If
Bwit1in asked her to go driving. But Hatty
said, I should adore it. She certainly has @
great deal Of courage indeed, she Is inclined TO