Chronicles of Dustypore

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no one has yet been found with courage or strength enough to break down a custom so detrimental to the health and comfort of mankind, are among the numerous mysteries which the historian of India must be content to leave unsolved. Like Chinese ladies' feet, the high heels o

not to be a whit less fashionable and uncomfortable than their

was always popular, and all that was pleasantest and best in Dustypore assembled at her parties. Young London dandies fresh from home, and exploring the Sandy Tracts under the impression of having le

that in some rooms there breathes a subtle charm, an aroma of delicacy and culture, a propriety in the behaviour of the sofas and ottomans to one another, a pleasant negligence apparent

ied by a victorious horde from the nursery, and bore many a sign of the commonplace routine of daily life. But to Felicia's friends it was an enchanted abode, where a certain refuge might be found from whatever d

mounted the tall rows of plantains that marked the garden's boundary, and guarded her treasures from the sultry air. It soothed her to superintend ferns and roses, cuttings from some Himalayan shrub, or precious little seedlings from England. By dint of infinite care she had created a patch of turf, which, if not quite as green, fresh and dewy as the lawn at home, was at any rate a rest to eyes weary with dazzling wastes and the bright blazing air. There Felicia had a shady corner, where pots and sticks and garden-tools attested the progress of ma

ed, and Felicia, when she saw his card, told Maud

, 'and is to do great things. But he talks great nonsense and a

nice?' in

tle face, not alto

hile he was exchanging preliminary commonplaces with Felicia, Maud had an opportunity of obse

h redeemed it all from utter fopdom. He was far too profusely set about with pretty things, lockets and rings and costly knickknacks; on the other hand his handkerchief was tied with a more than Byronic negligence. The flower in his button-hole was exquisite, but it

of fun, extravagant, joyous, unconventional; he had turned, after the first few sentences, straig

ton. I should have asked to be allowed to join you, but that I was t

ux?' said Felicia, 'and should be expunged from

the trio, and two of us are men, I confess I don't like it. It is so nice to have one's lady all to one's self. But, Miss Vernon, you are alarmed, I know, and naturally; you think that I am going to ask, what I suppose fifty peopl

o you see that you might have asked

goose; the excitement of going to bed in the dark and treading on a black-beetle; the excitement of shaving in a gale of wind and cutting one's nose off, as I very nearly did; the exci

dances, and a gentleman who played the most lovely var

convinced, 'then perhaps you are

rry you must be to have finished your mar

d Desv?ux, gallantly; 'or rather no place woul

ause you call on mail-days, when I

frequent setting down, and closed her door inhospitably agains

vely, I admit. Come, Mrs. Vernon, the Fotheringhams, for instance-does not the very thought of them leave a sort of damp upon y

Service; that was the traditionary rule; it was only when you were half-idiotic that you could do the

Mrs. Vernon d

ll,' said Felicia; 'but

o see what the Board is like? First, you must know that I am the Agent's private secretary, and part of my business is to knock his and their heads together and try to get a spark out. That is how I come to know ab

e,' said Felicia, quite prepare

is how he sits and looks-gra

g her hands with pleasure;

condescending and serene and wishing us all "Good-morning," as if he were the Pope dispensing a blessing. You know his way-like thi

to burst out laughi

ed Maud, 'give

are awkward manner and cou

childish. I don't want to be offensive or personal, and I have the highest possible opi

'and what do you do all

are supposed to have wits, and we have a great deal of intelligence to get over. But you know how the old ones were chosen. All the stupidest sons of the stupidest families

s you over,' Felicia said: 'No trea

on between husbands and wives who happen to be uncongenial-no othe

Felicia, 'thank you

portable: there is no trouble, no scandal, no inconvenience. Mrs. Desv?ux's health has long required change of air; I secure a berth for her on the P. & Q.

sake of argument, that you don't

as taking just the turn she hated, 'that we try our duet, Mr

as they approached the piano and becoming suddenly serious: 'You know

x, though not quite such a Don Juan as he liked to be thought, had a large amount of affection to dispose of, and