Year: 1877

y bachelor, still young and weil-to
DO, is for obvious reasons, an Ohiec
of the deepest interest to his friend!
of the opposite sex Lord Feather
stone was as popular with the ladies
as if he had been a spirit-rapper, or &
Hindoo potentate with diamonds t.
scatter broadcast and q suppressed
begun in the background at home
They were always telling him that il
was a sin and a shame the blind.
in the town house should be con
stantly down; the hall filed only
with shooting-parties the jewel:
buried in the strong room at the
bank.


And his heart! What priceless
jewel was that for some sweet maid
en- to win aud wear Scared aifec
tions =? Ridiculous prudery He
had been q desperate ilir., no doubt,
what matter? All men were 0irts
many with less excuse than Lord
Fealherton, who, as an excellen,
pdrti, like the Sovereign, could do nc
wrong. He had been wild, perhaps;
but man might be wild and yet moi
wicked while for those who are
their own fathers, enjoying their own
titles and their own estates. the world
makes ample concessions. When the
time came for settling down, there
would not be happier or more for.
tunate girl in the three kingdoms
than she whom the Marquis of Featb.
erstone elected to make his wife.


Only be would not settle down.
He meant TO have his fling first and
probably it was bis habit of throwing
himself about that made him so diff
cult to catch. He was as wary as an
old cockntoo ; prompt TO cut himself
free from the most serious entangle.
meDis.


After making hot love for week
during wet weather in the country
house, papa and mama heard that be
bad broken bis leg 10 two places, CT
that typhoid fever had laid him low
His last affair was with a gay widow,
who thought him safely hooked but
at the last moment he sent postcard
containing brief regrets, and sailed in
his yacht for the South Seas.


He was absent after this fortwo or
three years; wearying of constant
wandering to and fro, be returned,
and took up the threads of bis old
life. The season was at its height,
if that lugubrious season Of 1876 can
be said TO have ever risen above a
dead level Of lugubrious dullness.
His friends said be was fool tc
come back. Never had there been a
season 50 SLOW" nothing going on,
not creature in town.


Looks like it," thought Lord
Featherslone, as be tried to make bis
way through the serried ranks upon
the stairs in a certain mansion in
Grosvenor square. The Duchess OF
Welspool was Eat home" and many
of her guests wished they could say
the same. 10 the entrance hall men
and women stood a dozen deep,
pressing slowly towards the grand
staircase, where two streams clashed
flushed dancers coming
down for cooling drinks, and the
new arrivals eager to bow their bow,
aud in their turn come away.


A crash of this kind is especially
favorable for Il e minute observation
Of ones fellow creatures. Half a
minute was enough to solve the mys-
terry of Mrs. Chrome's yellow bair,
and of the complexion people said
was like milk. Little Penteagle's s
wig, again, could not be disguised,
nor the high color which old General
Bawcock resolutely denied was
rouge. But these sights, although Gu
rious, were not enthralling TO man
who had just seen Fusiame and the
Tai Mahal /; Lord Featherstone was
ON the point of turning tail and leav-
ing the house when bright face in
the crowd arrested his attention, and
be resolved to stay-at least until he
could ascertain to whom it belonged.


1t was quite new face to him ;
the face Of II girl still fresh, and seem
ingly unaccustomed to the town. A
merry, piqudate face, with small but
perfect features, violet eyes, q laugh
ing mouth, showing ofteu the whitest
teeth. A face strikingly beautiful,
but innocent end childish, just ss the
ways of its owner were unconvention-
al sad unconstrained. A most be-
wilching, captivating young person,
aud Featherstone was determined to
End out who she was Surely some
one could introduce him.


Qnite half an hour elapsed before