other women, though," said Mrs Leroy. "Still," agreed Hughie, "they impose on men all right. But, as D'Arcy says, a male wallflower is hopeless. He looks miserable, and either mopes in a corner like a new boy at school, or else reads. away at his programme and peers about for a partner who isn't on it." "Why not try the smokingroom?" "The smokin'-room," interpolated Leroy, "is all right for the regular Philistine. But if I go there, I find it in possession of a bilious octogenarian and a retired Major-General. They are sittin' in front of the fire with a cigar apiece. They glare at me when I come in, and then go on buckin' to each other. Presently they stop, and one says: 'I suppose you are not a dancin' man, sir,' in a way which implies that he doesn't know what the devil young men are comin' to nowadays. And by this time I'm so ashamed of myself that I simply bolt out of the room, with some yarn about a brief rest between two dances, and go and sit among the hats and coats in the cloak-room until it is time to go and hunt up the next freak on my programme. Rotten job, I call it!" Mrs Leroy surveyed the three orators with an air of serene amusement. have smacked all the horses' backs and taken the pheasants' temperatures, come in. I want to introduce you to my offspring. You are fond of children, I know." "I know I shall be fond of yours, Mildred," said Hughie. "Thank you-that's nicely put. But they really are rather pets, though I say it who shouldn't." "Rum little beggars," mused the male parent. "Bite your head off if they see you havin' a sherry and bitters before dinner. Got a sort of religious maniac of a nurse," he explained. "She's a queer old thing," said Mrs Leroy, "but such a good nurse that her weaknesses don't matter much. The children are never sick or sorry— wait till I tap wood! your head will do, Jack-and simply love her." "I was pleased to learn from their own lips," remarked D'Arcy, "that they have been enthusiastic teetotalers from birth, and are both ardent supporters of Foreign Missions." "And the baby?" inquired Hughie. "Too young," replied Leroy; "but that doesn't excuse the poor little sinner from havin' to wear a blue ribbon." In the joy of roaming round the familiar plantations and stables Hughie allowed the existence of Mildred Leroy's offspring to fade from his memory; and it was not until the party gathered for luncheon that he was reminded of the introduction in store for him. The assembled company consisted of the host and hostess, D'Arcy, Hughie, Joan, and the young gentleman previously referred to as "Cherub." The others had departed on a sailing expedition. Joan had declined to go, alleging that she must stay at home and entertain her "keeper," as she had now christened Hughie; and Cherub had speciously pled a tendency to mal de mer and remained at home to steal a march on his rivals. The party was completed by two chubby infants of seven and five, in large pinafores and short white socks, who were presented to Brevet Uncle Hughie as Theodora and Hildegard, though Hughie discovered after a brief experience of their society that they answered without resentment and much more spontaneity to the appellations of Duckles and Stodger respectively. They were deposited it seems the right word-in the dining-room by an austere and elderly female, and took their places one on each side of their mother, and sat, like two well-bred little owlets, taking stock of their new uncle. Presently their vigilance relaxed. It is a truism that teetotalers are hearty eaters, and the consumption of what was placed before them soon occupied the attention of Mesdames Duckles and Stodger to the exclusion of all else, the latter exhibiting a particularly praiseworthy attention to duty. At the end of the meal the numbers of the company were augumented by the arrival of John Marrable Leroy, aged two years an infant whose apoplectic countenance sadly belied the small piece of blue ribbon inserted in his bib. Having taken his seat in his mother's lap he proceeded, after the manner of babies, to give his celebrated entertainment. For the benefit of the company he obligingly identified various articles upon the table, and then proceeded to give an exposition (assisted by manual contortions) of the exact whereabouts of the Church, the Steeple, the Door, and the People. After this, without warning or apology, he deposited a nude foot in his mother's plate, having in some mysterious manner got rid of his shoe and sock under the table; and was proceeding to enumerate the respective marketing experiences of a family of little pigs, when his mother, deciding that it was high time this séance came to an end, called upon him to say grace on behalf of the company. John Marrable Leroy reluctantly ceased fingering his toes, and twisted himself into a state of devotional rigidity. He then closed his eyes, folded his hands, and breathed stertorously. All waited with devoutly bowed heads for his benediction. "Tank God-" began Master Leroy at length. There was another tense pause. "Tank God-" repeated the infant despondently. Another hiatus. "For '-dearest," prompted his mother. A smile of intense relief Nine, Ten!" he gabbled illuminated the supplicants' cheerfully; and the meeting troubled countenance. broke up in unseemly con It was a hot afternoon, and Hughie, who as yet was far from getting tired of doing nothing, was well content to sprawl in a basket-chair under a great copper-beech and watch the others play croquet. Presently Joan, swinging a mallet, came and sat on the grass beside him. "Well, Hughie? Hughie?" she beshe be gan, regarding her comptroller rather quizzically. "Well, Joey?" Then they both laughed, or rather chuckled. The curious part about it was that while Hughie laughed "Ha, ha!" deep down, Joey did the same. Tee-heeing and high-pitched feminine shrieking were beyond her compass. She was the Joey of old, with the same gruff voice, though she had got over her difficulty with the r's and l's. II. "Well, it depends on what you tell me to do. If it was anything that didn't matter much I might do it, sometimes, just to save your face. But as a rule I shouldn't." "Oh!" said Hughie, in his turn. "I may as well tell you at once," continued the lady, "the things that it's no use scolding me about. First of all, I always choose my own friends, and never take recommendations or warnings from anybody. Then, you mustn't interfere with my dancing or sailing or riding, because I love them better than anything in the world. Then, you mustn't try to prevent my reading books and seeing plays that you think are bad for me, because that sort of thing is simply not done nowadays. And of course you mustn't call me extravagant if I dress nicely. Also, you mustn't expect me to go in for good works, because I hate curates. And don't give me advice, because I loathe it. He On the other hand, it may comfort you to know-it does most men, for some reason— that I don't want a vote and I don't smoke cigarettes. the poor little mite!" "It seems rummy," observed Miss Gaymer reflectively, "my being put in your charge like the guard of a train. Do you expect me to obey you?" "Yes," said Hughie. felt he was missing an opportunity of saying something bright and striking, but "Yes was the only word he could think of besides "No." "Oh!" replied Miss Gaymer enigmatically. "Don't you intend to?" inquired Hughie. Oh, She was on her feet and across the lawn in a flash, to where the obese Stodger, prostrate upon a half-buried tree root, was proclaiming to the heavens the sorrow of a sudden transition from the perpendicular to the horizontal. She comforted the child with wholehearted tenderness, and after taking her turn in the game of croquet, returned to Hughie and sat down beside him again. "Well-what do you think of me?" she inquired suddenly. Hughie regarded her intently. "I don't know yet," he said. "I want to see a little more of you." "Most people," said Miss Gaymer with dignity, "make up their minds about me at once." "I won't do that," said Hughie. "It wouldn't be quite fair." Joan pondered this retort, and finally flushed like a child. "That means that you have taken a dislike to me," she said indignantly. 66 "I didn't mean it that way," said Hughie, much distressed -"really!" "Anyhow, it means that you haven't made up your mind about me," persisted Joan. "That is true," admitted Hughie, who was no hand at fencing. "Well, do it soon," said Miss Gaymer. "I'm not accustomed to being put on trial. I may mention to you," she added complacently, "that I am conDo sidered a great success. you know what Jacky Penn told me?" "No; what?' inquired Hughie perfunctorily. He was beginning to understand the inwardness of Mildred Leroy's warning that the girl beside him had not yet found her feet. "He told me," said Joan, with an unaffected sigh of pleasure, "that the men here all call me 'The Toast.' What do you say to that?" "A Toast," said Hughie rather heavily, "is usually 'an excuse for a glass.' I shouldn't like to think of you merely as that, Joey." Miss Gaymer eyed her guardian with undisguised exasperation. "Hughie, you have got fearfully old-maidish in the last nine years," she said. "Where have you been? In any decent society?" "Sometimes; but not often. Not what you would call decent society, Joey." "Well," remarked Miss Gaymer, turning her opponent's flank with characteristic readiness, "whatever it was, it wasn't very particular about clothes. Hughie, your get-up is perfectly tragic. If you are going to be my keeper you will have to begin by dressing decently. I don't know who your tailor is, but Che-eerub!" "What ho!" came from the croquet-lawn. "Come here, at once." the benefit of the untutored hands-only that and nothing Marrable, while Miss Gaymer more. Hughie sighed. All his ran over his points. old assets seemed to have become liabilities, somehow. "Aren't "Must I have a waist ?" inquired Hughie meekly. "Yes if you've got one," replied Joan, surveying her guardian's amorphous shooting-jacket doubtfully. Cherub, keep quiet!" said the coutumière. 66 You have absolutely nothing whatever to recommend you but your clothes, so don't spoil it by babbling. There, Hughie! That is the sort of thing. You must go up to town next week and order some. Run away, Cherub! Now, another thing, Hughie. Look at your hands. They're like a coal-heaver's, except that they're clean. Can't you get them attended to?" Hughie surveyed his hands in a reminiscent fashion. They were serviceable members, and had pulled their owner through many rough places. At present the palms bore the mark of the Orinoco's coal-shovels, and there was a great scar on one wrist where Hughie had incautiously touched a red-hot bearing. There was also an incision in the middle knuckle of the right hand, caused by the impact of Mr Gates's front teeth on an historic occasion. There were other and older marks, and most of them had some interesting story attached to them. But of course Joan did not know this. To her they were large, unsightly, un-manicured they a scandal, Hughie?" Joan repeated. "I suppose they are, Joey,' said Hughie, coming out of his reverie. "Right O! I'll get them seen to. I don't suppose they're ever likely to be much use to me again," he added in a depressed tone, "so they might as well be made ornamental. I'll go and consult Sophy Fullgarney about them when I get back to town." "Who's she?" said Joey quickly. "Manicurist before your time," said Hughie briefly, pleased to feel that he could give points to his ward in knowledge of something. "Any more requirements, Joey?" "Let me see. Oh, yes. Can you dance?" "Used to waltz," said Hughie cautiously. Decently?" "I can get round a room.' "Can you reverse properly?" "If a man reversed in my young days," said Hughie, "we used to regard him as a bounder. Do they do it now?" "Yes, always. Can you do anything else?" "The usual things-Lancers and Polka. Danced a Reel once in Scotland." "Nobody dances the Polka now, and I hate the Lancers. Can you Two Step?" "Never even heard of it." Miss Gaymer sighed. "Never heard of the Boston, I suppose?" she said resignedly. |