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Exeter Advocate, 1914-5-21, Page 26.6 The '`•.',O000r•o•166p466Oi416. edding Eve , Or, Married to a Fairy. CHAPTDR, XIII.—(Continued). Morland House was a specious white building-, pleasantly, situated in a large garden, well furniehed with trees end Itenrds-lewnS. and, provided, moreover, with a field in va•liteh swans, trapezes, and horizontal bars pointea conspicuous- ly to the fact that the pupils' physical training was being attended to aftet the most approved plans. Some of the girls wee playing ten- nis immediately outside the house, and I scanned them eagerly in the bane of recognizing Lilltb. My mind as so full of the girl that when I arrived at the front entrance, the door of which was open, as the afternoon was warm and eultry, a asked the servant who ap- peared in answer to rny ring. for "Miss Lilith Saxon." when, doubtless, etiquette demanded that I should first have in- quired after the mistress of the house. The girl stared at me in such evident surprise that I hastily rectified my er- ror, and gave her my card. to take to Mrs, Morland. She seemed new to the house and of undisciplined manners. for she stared at my card as she placed it in a tray in the hall, and, leaVing me on the steps, she proceeded with it to a door to the right of the entraame, whence her voice, in a hissing whisper, traveled clearly to my ears. "A handsome, dark young gentleman, ma'am, gave me this card, and he ask- ed for YOU and also for a Miss Lily taxon, I think he said." Then came a sweet -toned woman's voice, which 1 at once recognized as Mrs. eforlanda., speaking in accents of in- tense annoyance: "You stupid girl! Why did you say I was in?" At this paint, mistress or maid seem - al to remember that 1 was within ear- shot, and the door was suddenly closed. After what seemed an interminably long time of waiting, the servant returned to ale with a message, evidently learned by rote. Her mistress was not very well and was lying down: it was a bad headache and a touch of sunstroke, and could I be so very kind as to write my business and to call again? And with this she showed me into the drawing -room, "I have not the least wish to trouble Your mistress," 1 hastened to say, while refusing the pen, ink. and paper she nlaeed before me, "i am exceedingly sorry to hear she is ill, and hope she will not attempt to get up on my ac- count, 1 have come down from London to see my ward, Miss Lilith Saxpn, who bus been in Mrs. elorland's care a year, and concerning whose progress Mrs. Morland wrote to me a few weeks ago. Will you tell your mistress this, and ask If Miss Saxon may be sent to see me?" :Noticing a carioue, embarrassed look on the girl's face, I stopped her as she was leasing the room. A sudden fear had crept into my heart. had me." I said; "Miss Saxon is not ill. is she?" don't know. I'm sure, sir," she stammered, in evident confusion. "I'm quite new to theTala(e—I don't even know the young ladies' names—I'll ask my mistress, sir." With that she escaped. andafter an- other tedious period of waiting, return- ed with a, little scented note from Mrs. az an , on pearl-gray paper, in very large handwriting. "My Dear Mr. Hervey" tile letter be- gan): "I am so grieved that I shall be disappointed .about seeing you to -day, as you know what an honor I eonsiaer the visit of any one so •celebrated. Bat I am almost mad with nervous headache and, acute neuralgia. Dear Lilith is not at home just now. She received such a -charming invitation to spend a few days with a schoolfellow—a highly connected and most delightful girl—at Weston - super -Mare, that, as Lilith has been looking Just a little wee bit tired and pale lately through averapPlication to her studies, I thought I might venture to permit her to accept the invitation. I expect her back daily. indeed hourly; but most unluckily. I have mislaid the address, and therefore cannot . give it you. However, when next you are com- ing to Bristol, If you will be so very kind as to let me know 'You ate corning, I will try and arrange that neither Lil- ith nor I shall be ill or away. but here to welcome you as we should wish to be. Congratulating YOU On your bril- liant artistic success—your picture' 'Down to the Sea in Ships' in this year's 'Academy was superb—one actually felt the salt spray on one's lips—I remain, dear Mr. Hervey, very sincerely yours, • "Katherine Stanhope Morland." The letter baffled me. It left me, /10WeVer, 110 alternatIVe but to return to London forthwith: and London in the first weeks of September was much more to any liking than London in the season Vradge and her mother were at Hom- burg, where Madge had succeeded in ene slaving a. certain- pompous little grand duke, who, so 1 was told by kind friends by letter, followed her like a shadow. "The Prince" had paid her many corn- - pliments, and her toilets had made a sensation even among, the exquisitely dressed women of all ranks and nation- alities whom fashion attracts to Hom- burg. in the autumn of each.year. while old Lady Carchester's diamonds were, of course. historical by this 'thee. From my cousin's letters. she anpear- ed to he surrounded by a court of ad- mirers; and she even sent me the little grand duke's portrait. She had enough Photographs or young men to stock a shop, and they were stuck around her Private deri at home until it looked like a club. Why she did not take one of her numerous and excellent offers of marriage puzzled me. Had she cared at all about rne she could never have flirted as she did, or treated 1110 with so Much caprice and indifference. But she was a very determined young woman, and had made up her mind years ago, when she was sixteen and I. nineteen, and I was her boyish slava to marre me: and 7 suppose that she never cared enough about any one else to trouble to Orange her mind. I thought about these things as row at my club on coming up from Bristol, and found a letter from Medge, with the Homburg Post -mark, waiting for me, T vas vexed ancl disappointed cf. missing Lilith, and alot even having the satiefaction of talking about her. was in 110 harry to read Madge's letter. ss T gussec1 e the usual re - cora of triumphs and flirtations. It was at blazing hot day in ' town, and the streets seemed absolutely empty, I slipped Madge's letter into mY packet unopened, and strolled along ANYONE CAN. The Dye that colors ANY HilF§BO of Cloth Perfectly, with the SAME DYE. 761 15, C.ftroton' of Ittlorak a 0. Olean and Sitar/N., Anb, ,0 t, Drnaglat or Cooler. Send M1'13001;10. Tfteltd.400t...RIeliard o Co, LI toltOd, Illontse*1 Piccadilly and Regent Street to get up an appetite for dialer, as it was not yet six o'clock. Save for a few country Cousins, the great thoroughfere seemed deserted; and it was with a feeling of positive surprise that I met a Young blackeand-white artist' Pained Wilson, who had been a felleaastudent of mine in Paris, and bad at one time shared a Studio with that erratic genius Nichol- ae NN. ray. Meeting Wilson reminded inc of the man wham I had not seen,- or heard of far about a year. He had left the shel- ter of nw studio as casually as he had accepted It, moving his untidy parcels Out one night, and leaving a Pencilled note of thanks Xer ' the accommodation.. and no data as to his proposed subse- queat plans. Since then, as he had neither called nor written to borrow money, I presumed that he was doing well. and I was the more surprised when, upon inquiring what had become of him of Wilson, the latter informed me that he feared Wray had "gone un- der completely," "Fact is, he won't work. I really think he'd rather starve. alas one of the bad results of a mixed breed—father a rank Bohemian, the mother Aristocrat - lo family, who never did a stroke of, work—thought themselves above it. A man I know met him on a sketching - tour last spring, drinking the best brandy, smoking the best cigars, and re- duced to sketching the landlord to settle tbe bill." "Great artists who have made great names have had to do that before now. "'Yes, but \Vi'ay will never make a great name. As soon as he can beg, or bully, or borrow a pound out of any one, lie makes it spin. He'd', be poor on eightee_and equally poor on eight thous- and, Depend upon ..itc the mixture -of lazy aristocrat and lazy Bohemian is a bad blend indeed." • I laughed and, left him, Heredity was Wilson's craze, as I knew, and yet I could not help remembering with, a tinge .of regret that Lilith Saxon came of just the same stock—a strolling, bar - loafing actor married to a lady. I walked on idly, smoking a cigar. and gazing about me, I had been so long out of London that the shoasand the crowds bad the charm of novelty. Two over -dressed young men just ahead of. me were nudging each, other anaturning aside in their walk to stare into a Jeweler's shop -window, into which a young girl, dressed in some soft white material, with black gloves, and a large black hat, was steadfastly gazink. Her back was turned to nie as I passed, and I only caught a glimpse of a, slight. graceful figure, and a' glimmer ofaeyery fair bats in a loose knot peeping beneath her hat: eas I reached Oxford Circus, I stopped to decide which road I should take, and at that. identical Moment the you -ng Kiri I had before noticed passed close to me. :walking quickly, and evidently trying.,to escape the attentions of the two young men, who dogged her footsteps, and strove by every means in their power to make her turn her head in their direc- tion. • "Girls like you are too pretty to walk about alone," I heard one cad murmur close behind her. The girl turned a. flushed and angry face upon him It was Lilith Saxon. amid hardly believe the evidences of my senses, but there was no doubt possible. She was taller than. sbe had been a year ago—about •five' feet six, I should think, or even a little more—and her figure, while retaining its supple grace and slender proportions, had gain- ed just that amount of curve which 'marks the difference between an un- developed child and a lovely woman in her early youth. Her big .blue eyes, under their curled - up, g•old-browa lashes, had lost none of their forget-me-not blue shade, nor any of their soft light. Their Aze was just as clear and direct as of old, but into it had been introduced' some dash of co- quetry, of conscious feminity, which rendered them irrestibly attractive, Her dress of Indian muslin, made in what is called "baby bodice" fashion, all yokes and puckers about the neck, and failing in soft frills round a throat of snow, was, I should say, of quite cheap material -and fashioning. and the long black gloves which covered her slender but beautifully shaped arras •to the elbow,were of silk, and had been well darned at the fingers. ClearlyMrs. Morland had not wastad too much money on her pupil's outwafd adornment, But Lilith's beauty was proof againstsiin- plicity. and cheapness of attire, and. her appearance in her plain white gown was so unique and so altogether lovely that the vulgar admiration and persecution of the attendant, aaaTies was at least comprehensible: "Lillth!" I criedat sight of her. The girl stopped quite still, and look- ed at Inc with dilated. frightened eyes; and a face from which all lovely rose - tints s ow y faded. She knew me, recognized Inc in a mo- ment, and try. as I:,wouid to be blind to the unflattering truth, it was fear, ard nothing else, that I read, in averaline of la er face. "Mr. Hervey!" she faltered, with pale lips, "I-3 didn't know you were • in London. 3 thought YOU were at sea in a yacht somewhere." ' "I wrote to you a fortnight ago from Leghorn," I said, "and had supposed making a longer trip. But I changed my pians, and ran up to London for a few days.' She . seemed to be glancing nervously about her while I was speaking, as though she feared to be recognized. "It is I, and not you, who might to be astonished," 1 went on. "1 only came up from Clifton half an hour ago.". "From Clifton?" • She caught her breath and looked at me, growing red and white by turns, with absolute terror in her eyes, I went down there to see you," "To see me?" she echoed, in dismay. "Oh, why didn't atet write and tell Inc you were coming? 'You had kept away so long that, or COUPS.% I didn't expect you. But' you saw Mrs. Morland, of course. ' What did she. say?" "Mrs. Morlancl was too III to see me. She sent me a note to sa7 that yole were staying 'with school friends, whose ad- dress she had lost at Weston -super - Mare." I -Ter face eleared„ and she gave a little slgh ''Well, now," she said. a little de- aantly, "T suppose you will very lieea .'ry, and she wili be et y angt • But rriy school friends think 1 Itave gone o Bristol, and Mrs. Morland thinks I ip at WestoresupereMare still. And in 'winter 1 have run 1137 to LOTiC1011 just to lave a look at the shops" • You naughty little truarat" I said, we walked slowly on up Oxford tree': side by side. "This is one of our old. 'tricks. Do you remember how ou ran away from LYtilinge /T1Ore than year ago? year yes! But that time 7. couldn't tay down there because / wanted to be with you," • She looked right up into my face as he spoke, and something in her eyes et my heart madly thumping• as it lied ever done befora '1 wish to Recraen that 'Wee your eason for coming. noty1!".4 -murmured, could not bele it' The words'Were rue, and they siinfied „eta. If the read- eenderfals• Inc TOP 'Uttering them,— the reader did not see, Lill th's eves lalfoalen "It wes mY reason," she said ver:N'` (4.,I4'nsense!" 1 ter - Meal, rant at all pleased at sight of tile, Iid you thought 1 'Wee at ima," ,it pas .frightenod bedattSo was thinking of. Yeti. Arid 3 knew you were In London," she. aneeeerecl quietly. 'fere had been but ten. mintitok together, hut T lamer ely fate. I was madly in love ivith Lilith xen, astAillsit iv After we, Iiatt been together a little while. strolling Tate Oermel. Street in the fear which Markedlith"a manner t ward tue When We Peat met, gredeal gave place to something, 111Ce the free conadenee which had merited, our forn er reletione. At fleet she glanced from time time nervously about her, or 'turned h bead sharply to eScertain who was hind her: but before long, becoming it terested in the contents of the WW1 windows, she seemed to forget her a Preizensiens, and, to give herselt u 0- if, having- donned a, hat that was lY • • intended to disguise. he, she did fall in with a proeession, it did Pot to fellow that she believed in votes for er women, She ha S looked into many ea- questions for herself; but the spirit )- of inquiry does not inslieate a °lear- n- p ing of the horizon. There is no end to her curiosity in regard to the Wholly to the pleasure of the moinen t. forces of social reform. , In Dublin, particularly, 'has she probed the hard questions of the day; and her After l'eading liar a leeemz her e teeree naughtinoss in deeeivitig frienc by rupning• away to London instead 0 returning to scalpel. I. asked her if sh was fond of sweets, and, receiVing a Immediate area ernpleetie answer in the alfirmatiVe, X led the WitY to a well- known confectioramee, and treated her to a large bag of their best boebona She was pleased as i child. with the Fitt and clapped her bands with glee. "You're very rich. Ala 1iervey, aren't You?" she said, eYeleg me. Witte an odd thonghtfulness, a iSayaoraywfaaartafaroarnw aaatd Bthuatma can artord "Ahl Don't I wish I was rich!" **What would, you, buy'?" "Scene gloves, first of all—race long d bsraedke. olekerszat°thmenY ae011%,00wii. attalorraegolaohreade sc_zn "Dancing -shoes? You dont go to dblinlicSingthoy: iorN?"" at do Y°d want gn "We danceriyin class," she said, blush - 3 chose to inteapret her blush and slightly confused manner Of answering to the fact that she did not like to re call her fernier pg,sition in- life •as a strolling claimer. She went CM speak ing very quiekly: "Thee rd buy a little gold watch, and a silver -handled .umbrella, and a bunch of roses, and some nice;fine hem -stitch- ed poclieahandkerchiers 'with my in- itials embroidered in the corner, and a purse, and new hat—oh, and lots of things!" "Ana suppose I buy souse of thent for you—what would you say then?" "I should say you were my dear. dear Mr, Hervey, and nearly as nice as you used to be!" 'Why, only nearly?'' "Oh, nothing; only no one is quit the same as they used to be. do you think?" slie said, growing suddenlY grave. "I mean, one caret go back, an( even you can never be quite the Mr Hervey you were when I first saw YOU at the inn, at LYthinge." "And why not, Lilith?" ' She looked up into my face.. The ex Pression in her sof t blue eyes had grown strangely wistful and sad. ' "I mean, every one changes." she murmured; and for a few seconds ive Walked on in silence, while I pondered over her words. But in a very few seconds she was al gaiety again, stopping in front of a shoemaker's shop, , and eagerly examin ing the wares shown in the evirelow. "Now, if you really meant what you said." she cooed persuasively,..slimang her hand through my arm, "here are, just the sort of shoes I want. Do come in and buy them fox me. dear Mr. Her- ve:v!" "Caoose what you want and will pay"a "No, you must help mel' She drew me into the shop. a very large once and, to my surprise and dis- may, thrtiate out a slender, beautifully arched foot in .01-nost threadbare walk- ing shoe to be measured for slippers she reauired. "Why, what in the world have you been doing to your shoes at the sea- side?" I asleed. 'They are absolutely in holes! You must throw them away and havehave some more at 'once." really hadn't notice'd they were so bad," she said, ruefully contemplating leer small, ill -shod foot. "No wonder I felt moist and uncomfortable in the rainy weather." I waited in silence while she was fit- ted for the shoes and the dancing -slip- pers. The latter she would not have sent to Brietol, but insisted upon carry- ing away herself in a parcel. But once outside the shop I spoke ,tnind. • "Mee. Morland has no right.' I 'began, "to allow you to go aboat in such shoes. .Sae has altogether neglected her trust." acOh, she didie't know." Lilith protest- ed. "You don't know what Ian leice•for wearing out shoes. And then Eye been staying away—" "With your shoes in that condition! My dear child, way didn't you buy more out of your pocket -money?" out spent it," faltered Lilith, hang- ing her head like a _child discovered_ in some act of naughtiness. ' "Still, Mis. Mol•land would have ad- vanced you some mote—" "But I'm always having money ad- vanced. And you. mustn't blame IVIrre. Morland. You don't know how extrava- gant I am and.how. tiresome." "Then you are fond of airs. Morland?" "Oh. 'very, very fond of her," she an- swered enthusiastically; "and , you mustn't blame her for anythang. Every- tazieg that is wrong is my fault.. Now, here's an umbrella. shop. and next to it a hatzshop. 1 -should 4aae to have an umbrella—I don't think 1. have even had one in my life. Only I should chleflY want it to take care of my best hat, and I haven't got a best hat," she added, looking archly up at me I burst out la.ughing, "You insatiable little wheedler!'" I ex- claimed: **Doesn't Mrs. Morland buy you nice cl(oTtaliekse?"ca n etinu-d,? .* MISS VIOLET A.SQUITIL keen. interest in the Arehie Gordon Boys' Club Hoxton is, of eourse, only an offihoot of her general eon - cern for social work—a, concern much fostered several years ago by Lady Aberdeen. People were fond of thinking of Miss Asquith as the enfant terrible of the Liberal party, and the le gend 'Persists. They look joyfully to her, speeches for the' indiscretions that will suffuse the Cabinet with fiery blushes. They like to picture the embaera,ssment of Mr. Lloyd George and Mr. Birrell when she said that it was "no use blinking the fact that the Insiirance Act was unpopular," and when she deplored the imprisonment of Mr. Larkin. But it is not, in reality, for those who know the Premier's household DO well to resent its liberties cm speeeh, It is,, all through, a fam ily of tongues it would not' keep its character if it kept silence. Even its youngest member has learned to e express himself, and bidden his fa ther listen to a small boy's lectures 1. on a,eroplanes and I3eethoven. If subservience is what is called for in a Premier's womenkind, Miss - Asquith has been set the worst ex- ample in the world. Her step- mother knows not the meaning of the word. Mrs. Asquith had alwa,y1 s had the courage of her own opin- The British Prime Minister's Right - Hand Daughter. -Miss Violet Asquith is always in the .preeincts of the House of Com- mons. Not only when she aeeom panies her father to soni,e such func- tion as the luncheon given to the newly -appointed Colonial Gover- nors, but in the daily exercise of her duties as her father's compan- ion and best friend, does she hive in the Parliamentary atmosphere. It is a, friendship and companionship so close that there is probably no grave question on which the father and daughter disagree. The ?girl's opinions are formed while she is 811 her father's side rather than during her lonely excursions into the midst of social problems. Her enthusiasms are Liberal; she is with the Cabinet. On the face of it, such professions would be natur- al enough, if it were nob the ten- dency of the young people of the modern world to call in question parental teaching, to rebel against the houtehold gods. It is, accord- ing to the . prevalent, convention, still the part of the wife to believe in an order, of things which gives effect, to the genius and principles of a. husband; but how many fathers have their daughters with them'? Miss Asquith is whole-hearbedly with her father, and that she is with her father's Government nobody whotihas observed her intensest,par- 8ailShip in the Ladles' Gallery can tor e, moment doubt. She has the piiit that would make her a leader among militants if ever she fell tin- der ,Mrs, Pankhurst's spell, But that is the one thing that can never happen 'J'110 Spirit of Inquiry. For a time ib was enreored„that her sympathies were with the, snf- fragettes. It was said that she had walked in a suffrage procession, she had been recognized in Hyde Itains/line, the odd coastra late and even r ark beside a bartner-bearer, tut Miss Violet Asquith: ions, and, even as the wife of the Prime 'Minister, she preserves that virtue. Her mots, when such things were fashionable; were fa- mous for destructive brilliance; and when she wrote revieWs*for the Pall Mall Gazette, or when in the Times she instructs the Bislibps on Kiku- yu, it is because she has the inde- pendence that sets the professional, whether he be politician, or author, or ecclesiastic, at naught. Miss Violet Asquith is not unlike her stei-mother, • either physieally or mentally. The notable differencesbetween. them are differences of a slightly different period; the younger woman takes life the more seriously. POINTED PARAGRAPHS. The man who hesitates may find it to late to &et. It's easy to be happy, all you have to do is to be foolish. Ignorance of the law excuses no man—unless he has a pull. Turkeys' are innocent birds; al most any woman can stuff them. The world will forgive a man al- most any old thing except a failure. 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