Piccadilly Jim

ounted to a reception, for they were not only a sort of official notification to New York that one of its most prominent hostesses was once more in its midst, but were also designed to

art to consider it injudicious of her not to have been born a boy, and he always took in New Y

in the room stood the six resident geniuses to whose presence in the home Mr. Pett had such strong objections, and in addition to these she had collected so many more of a like breed from the environs of Washington Square that the air was clamorous with the hoarse cries of futurist painters, esoteric Buddhists, vers libre poets, interior decorators,

. He was a massive, weather-beaten man, who looked very like Ann in some ways and would have looked more like her but for the misfortune o

his sort of th

mind it,"

, Ann, but I'm glad I'm pulling out of he

yed the g

n, the playwright, o

r, the feminist w

sculptor, with the

e

ort the catalogue

Doesn't he come t

laug

re till it's safe to come out. The last time I made him come to one of these parties he was pounced on by a woman who t

gaze hovered about the room, and paused. "Who's tha

and fro, in a manner equally reminiscent of a hawk swooping on chickens and an earnest collegian bucking the line. Her guests were as a result perpetually forming new ententes and combinations, finding themselves bumped about like those little moving figures which one sees in shop-windows on Broadway, which revolve on a metal disc until, urged by impact with another little figure

d removed a tall, blonde young man with a mild, vacuous face. For the past few minutes this young man had been sitting bolt upright on a chair with his hands

ed her fat

ta? There, they've gone over to speak to

Who

ed him to us! That's Lord Wisbeach, who came to uncle Peter w

id he wanted a letter to old Pete for some reason, so I scribbled him one in pencil on the back of an envelope. I've never met any one who playe

at him me

ould be discovering h

e been trying to make

me to m

his daughter with interest. Her growing-up and becoming a beauty had always been a perplexity to him. He could never ri

ff for lunch. I keep regular office hours.

feel about thi

ferent. Most of the men I know are all turned out of the same mould. Lord Wisbeach-and

the o

know. I met hi

r looked a

el no paternal anxiety about you. I don't have to give you advice. You've not only got three times the sense that I have, but you're not the sort of girl who would take adv

ren't you going to

st

t my way through to her! I'd be torn to pieces by wild poets. Besides, it seems silly to make a fuss sayi

o run back for we

since Lord Wisbeach had asked her to marry him and she had promised to give him his answer on her return from England. She had been back in New York several days now, but she had not been able to make up her mind. This annoyed her, for she was a girl who liked swift decisiveness of thought and action both in others and in herself. She was fond of Mr. Chester in much the same unemotional, detached way that he was fond of her, but she was perfectly well aware of the futility of expecting counsel from him. She said good-bye to him at the boat, fussed over his comfort for awhile in a motherly way,

him just yet. She wanted to be alone. She was feeling depressed. She wondered if this was because she had just departed from her father, and decided that it was. His swift entra

reat thinker disturbed in mid-thought. He always looked like that when spoken to, and there were those-Mr. Pett belonged to this school of thought-who held that there was nothing to him beyond that look an

g the last year of his life was common knowledge in those circles which are interested in such things. Foreign governments were understood to have made tentative overtures to him. But a sudden illness, ending fatally, had finished the budding career of Partridgite abruptly, and the world had thought no more of it until an interview in the Sunday Chronicle,

each's ingenuous countenance, Willie paused, and his face

beach!"

manner. He plunged cheerily into talk. He had a pleasant,

get an offer for your stuff from our fellows at home before long. I saw a lot of our Wa

d to as "the stuff," but he made allowance.

d?" he

is a patriot and would have to give o

the

all over the world. They are so s

it was a most decent little contrivance and very useful and all that; and he simply can't get them to say Yes or No abo

sliked to have to mention her sister or to refer to this subject at all, but curiosity impelled her-"my

eemed to hesita

been great pals. He's a bit of a nut, of course, . . . I beg your pardon! . . . I mean . . ." He broke off conf

"the stuff," he was still less in favour of its bei

get along with the

nquired Lord Wisbe

ntirely successful. I have enough Partridgit

Mrs. Pett. "Why didn

I am so i

leted my wor

society. There was something about the young man which he did not li

xpression had dropped from his face like a mask. A

y I speak to y

Much as she liked Lord Wisbeach, she had never given him credit for brains, and

boratory, though no doubt he has hidden it as carefully as possible. It ought to be in a safe somewhere. In that safe in your libra

ng out sensational fiction, quivered irrepressibly at these words, spoken in a low, tense voice wh

" she q

ach. "Secret Service agents. Every country has its me

teal Willie's-?" Mrs

e you. Perfectly straight men in private life, but absolutely unscrupulous when at work. They stick at nothing-nothing. If I were you, I should suspect every one, especially every stran

Pett horrified. "I trust you implicitly. Even supposing such a thing

Lord Wisbeach. "I ne

pect everybody but me

spered, "don't look

almost inaudible. "W

n listening to

ith raised voices the prospects of the clubs competing for the National League Baseball Pennant. Then, extending the sweep of her gaze, she saw that she had been mistaken. Midway between her and this group

listening. Who is that man? Your butl

butler. His na

r? He hasn't been w

d from England

e get in here? I mean, o

butler who admitted us. He asked Mr. Pett something about baseball, and Mr. Pett was so pleased that he offered him a place here if he wanted to come

each laug

they had him planted

do?" asked Mrs.

your eyes open. Watch this man Skinner. See if he has any accomplices. It is

tridgite; until a moment later it began to resemble more nearly the shrieks of some partially destroyed victim of that death-dealing invention. It was a bellow of anguish, and it poured thr

separate and distinct discussions on twelve highly intellectual topics died instantaneously. It was as if the last trump had sounded. Futurist p

enabling it to carry its message to one at least of the listeners. Mrs. Pett, after a moment of strain

tairs two at a time, gathering speed as sh