Diana Tempest, Volume I (of 3)

houlders are

eye is s

ning an

er

stars and orders, and splendid uniforms. If it made Di feel limp

the moving pressure of the crowd, were commenting in the abs

lass?" asked the younger man, whose bleached

hi

seen a thing or two. There-he is

buttonholed Hemsworth. I should like to hear what he is saying to hi

standing there for

n see that. So am I, thoug

you lookin

to the Post Office? There-the Duchess of Southark ha

eggar with the clean-sha

There is no lack of ability there. He is one of the men of the future, and people are beginning to find it out. He has not taken any line

are-shouldered erect figure and st

hom there was a lawsui

t it. There was no evidence forthcoming, though the

like the

tow-coloured hair in the further doorway, making running with t

"If he were less handsome, he would be better looking, and

ve done something, but he never came to the fore. He was a trustworthy Conservative, but

sent man will co

at he voted right at the last election, but so did half the Liberals. I incline to think he has Liberal leanings, but he refused to stand three years ago for the fam

er's family, except that

him now; he is speaking to Lord Frederick Fane, his mother's-first cou

The likeness between the elder man

you think?" he ask

it is a moral certainty, and that Lord Frederick-- But it is seven and twenty years ago, and it is half forgotten now. He is not the only heir with a doubt about him. He will be a credit

t!" said the younger

est woman in the room except Lady Delmour's two yards of unmarriageable maypole. Look how she moves, and the way her head is set on her shoulders. If I had not a wife and seven children, I should make a fool of myself. I reme

an; "don't tie yourself to a party any more than you would to a woman. Leave tha

way when I have decid

't commit yourself. Always

t to back out of anything. I shall never consciously put myself

of us, he! he! and not be above a shift. There's not a man who won't stoop to a shift on a pinch, provided the pinch is sharp enough, any more

uth of strenuous self-indulgence, is a disbelief in human nature. Secret contempt of women, coupled with a smoo

ifted towards the room in which they were standing. "If Hemsworth goes on giving that girl a hold over him, he will find himself deuced

hn, rather absently. "After all, n

manner which takes some men more than anything; it did me. I wonder more women don't adopt it. I very nearly married her. He, he! But Tempest, your uncle, made a fool of himself while I hesitated, and was wretched with her, poor devil! I have never had such a shave since. Upon my word" putting up his eyeglass-"if I were a young man, I think I'd marry Di T

y. "I cherish thoughts of Miss Delmo

e. I have seen two generations of them. They have a sort of prettiness when they are quit

usted him. "Three years' absence blunts the recollection of one's friends." And he moved away towards the next room. The recollection of a good many people, however, had apparentl

d to see John, having

na, of course?" she said,

the Thesinger wedding to-day, and found myself in the

ut I suppose she was in a chrysalis school-room state then, and has emerged into young ladyhood since. Here is your cousin sayin

height, and the steady keen glance that passed between was like the meeting of two formidable powers.

nued Mrs. Courtenay. "Lord Hemsworth, what is that

for Miss

ue her conversation with the Turk, who was still hovering near, and

he refreshments were, and a stream of people beginning at that moment to p

s as best she could. She would have given anything at that instant to say something unusually frivolous in order

ohn, placing his square shoulders between the throng and herse

sipped the highwater

n't want it now I've got it. Have you seen Archie since you

at the Thesinger

you

whole affair too much. Many marriages, half the marriages one sees, are o

s the river and its gliding shimmer to the lights bey

last, in a low voice, unconscious of a paus

mistake," he

I was at last autumn in the country. I was staying in the same house as the bridegroom, and he and the best man, a Mr. Lumley, got up at an early hour, woke some of the other men, and paraded the house with an impromptu band of music. I rememb

I left it off because it tickled and increased the natural me

upon a tray. The whole was very effective. He told me afterwards that it was a relief t

ncomfortable sense that he was regarding her with secret amusement. A moment before she had been sorry that she h

ay up to them. "I have been looking for you everywh