The Career of Katherine Bush

lishment with no indication upon the wire blind of the only street window as to the trade practised by the two owners of the aristocratic names emblaz

here since she was nineteen. They paid her wel

n the three years in which she had earned thirty shillings a week sitting there, she had become quite a connoisseur in male voices, and had made numerous deductions therefrom. "Liv" and "Dev," as Mr. Percival Livingstone and Mr. Benjamin Devereux, were called with undu

wer it without too much palaver. The eyes were darkly heavily lashed and were compelling and disconcertingly steady, and s

tall and slight, and she could at any moment have been turned by a clever dressmaker and hairdresser into a great bea

sh rather than feminine. She did not inherit them from that excellent mother, retired to a better world some ten years before; nor from that astute auctione

er do they go?-Katherine Bush often asked herself questions like th

ing something, and before she had reached sixteen, she had realised that power to rule

d up with a book in the armchair in the tiny attic, which she preferred t

it read aloud by a cultivated voice. She knew French grammatically, but her accent would have made a delicate ear wince. Her own voice was

ver the glass screen upon his first visit to Liv and Dev to be accommodated wi

eigh everything in life, she accorded him a mead of praise for the manner in which he had carried out his intention to make her acquaintance. She had flouted h

e complete. One must see life, she argued, and it was better to make a first plunge with a person of refi

and their friends enough as it was-and the idea of marriage in that circle never entered her level head. Of what use would be all her st

that what she proposed to do was the last thing she would have considered wise or safe for another woman to attempt. Rules of conduct were wisely made for communities

r her should a

she argued to herself, being totally unaware that her point of view was altogether affected becau

d calls morality-and she had no scruples.

ed clear and

elf for holidays to the seaside. No questions would be asked her when she returned on the Monday. If the ma

ght. Liv and Dev had granted her a holiday until the Tuesday. She had put on her best blue serge suit that morning, and had taken a small valis

nth or two-But then?-He was the fourth son of a stingy Welsh marquis, and nothing would ever induce his family to pardon such a mésalliance. Of this she was well a

and perfectly honest were the only two things of any avail, and to acquire a tho

tion, but of no vital importance. She would have been horrified if

ing had been her endeavour, ever since she

dow," she said to herself, "and can

pend an agreeable Saturday to Monday! He was piqued by Katherine Bush, a

er of Oxford Circus, and when she got in with h

u think it would be much nicer if we stayed there to-night, and went on by the morning train?

ent-she never acted on impulse. She crushed down a strange sensation of gasp which came in her throat. After all, of what matt

" she said,

meant to persuade you, and I am going to make you so awfully happy-I sent my s

self to smile, which was a rare occurrence; she would spend hou

saw it, and it warmed him. She was, as he had confessed to his

Jack Kilcourcy. "I don't think she cares two damned straws for me really, but, by J

er to let Jack see her, th

rine Bush was a little angry with herself because she fe

ured her. A discreet valet stepped forward and spoke to his master, and

ord Algy said, looking round, "but we must not mind, as it is only for one nigh

Katherine Bush thought it a splendid place, but if it appe

ink we shall be as jolly as can be. In there is your room

e was burning, and the curtains were drawn, and on a chair there was

is it for?" she asked, i

ndone the string, "and a little wrap-I thought you would be so awfully col

ng woman's white cheeks, somethi

to me for this trip-but why is it addressed 'Mrs. R

lgy la

own too difficult to pronounce!" He began pulling out the coat and a soft pink silk dressing-gown from the box. "I always am just 'Rufus' when I come out like this." He laughed again a little constrain

ngly steady grey-green ones-and then she smiled again-as the Sphi

in his arms with a fond caress, a far better plan he had

every grade of pleasure as well as experience. This was

them on. They were very friendly, and Lord Algy suggested that as the dressing-gown was almost a te

," he lisped, as he kissed her ear,

and said the chocolate was ready, so

ush now decided she would keep him at arm's length for a while; the game was

of-fact way for an hour or more, and then she told him she would

awfully good maid-I never bungle with the beas

ted passion, and his good-look

erine Bush retorted-and slipping in

, lit a cigarette and laughed softly. He

what's her name-fellow wrote jolly nice stuff-oh-er-Mademoiselle de Maupin, of course! By Jove! I believe I am going t

uter passage to his room beyond hers, where he found his servant t

t," Hanson said respectfully, "so I h

splashing in the Lubin scented wa

he was sponging her white face-an

or at this time of day," she said t

scarlet spot grew in each cheek-she must never forget to learn and profit by her le

ke the first!-When you ha

for a minute, while she piled

he called back. "Only

oung woman said to her

e. She had not yet begun to employ any art whatever, or to alter the rough bundling up of her hair, but now, out to enjoy herself under the most propiti

min Devereux had made advances to her in her first year at Liv and Dev, but she had annihilated him, and withered his proposals for unlimited dinners and a generous se

ng train had ever had so much as a kind word, much less the tip of one of her

ed him as he devoured his with the joy of an epicure. She had not been quite certain as to which was the right impl

on Saturday nights. Or they could be pulled about in the mincing fashion in which his fiancée, that genteel Mabel Cawber, treated them, with little finger daintily curved, and the first

ir spirits. He reproached her for her hardness in not having allowed him to play the part of mai

dressing, that some of her garments were not fine eno

to enact the r?le of condescending queen, while

She was perfectly aware that he showed outwardly every mark of breeding in his weak, handsome face, and lean well-drill

personal attraction, amply balancing absence of brain for general

elf. She found the ones she was experiencing now peculiarly delightful! To be twenty-two and in love for the first time in life, with an extremely delectable specimen of manhood-to be free as air-answerable to no one-untrou

regs to follow the last si

, and Lord Algy's blue eyes we

ur de rose, Katherine Bush