Indiscretions of Archie

most admired Parker, the lean, grave valet of Mr. Daniel Brewster. Here was a man who, living in the closest contact with one of the most difficult persons in New York, contrived

g, Archie would not have changed places w

ffort to establish more amicable relations, and had found it occupied only by the valet, who was dusting the furniture and bric-a-brac with a feather broom rather in the styl

reaking the silence, "has som

tle

y dar

wned upo

you mean now. Dare say you're right, old frie

iative flick at a vas

eping Venus. He regarded this figure with a look of affectionate esteem which seemed to Archie absolutely uncalled-for. Archie's taste in Art was not precious. To his untutored eye the thing was o

" said Archie

ir

g what-not Pongo. Don't know wha

is levity. He shook his head and rep

ey," he repeated. "

ot by

the guv'nor could get hold of it, he'd have something worth having. Something that connoozers would give a lot

lling a straigh

isely

iately apparent to the casual observer. But without success. Pongo left him col

pair be worth?" he a

e. "A leetle more than that, sir. Sev

"that there are chumps going about loose-absolutely loos

ique china figures are in gr

Pongo once more,

t takes all sorts to

ich his father-in-law had taken for the summer at Brookport. The curtain of the second act may be said to rise on Archie strolling back from the golf-links in the cool of an August eveni

the heart, which, translated into words, would have formed the question, "What on earth could have made a girl like that fall in love with a chump like me?" It was a question which he was continually asking himself

ere we are, what! I was just hopin

e kiss

aid. "And you look like a

always say it doesn't matter what you pay for a suit, so long as it's right

Why didn't he co

my company. I left him in the locker-room chewing a cigar

You didn't be

. He gazed out to sea with

old thing, to be absolutel

bad

ith some vim and not a little emphasis. To be pe

t him beat you to-day. You know h

any idea how dashed difficult it is to ge

f her sweater. "Oh, there's a letter for you. I've just been to fetch the mail. I don

he envelope. It pr

Who could be

it and

ill, Herbert Parker. Who t

Parker. The one he dismissed when h

willingly wear the sort of shirts your father-? I

wants to use your influence wit

sort of Johnny, if he does. Well, here's what he says. Of

me time since the

with you, but I am

l me to mind when

r. Brewster, your f

wing to an unfortuna

that position and a

hou fallen from Heav

g!" (Isaia

ly, "this bird is hot stuff! I me

, with my own affa

ir. I have little d

t I shall not fall l

n young and now am

forsaken, nor his

). My object in wr

call that I had the

Mr. Brewster's su

the subject of Mr.

ng particularly in

sist your memory, t

ich you whimsically

ou remember, that, c

the pair would be

ar sir, that this ha

Art Galleries on Wes

to-morrow at auction

If Mr. Brewster car

rouble in securing it

thought of refraining

tter, but more Chri

enemy hunger, feed hi

doing thou shalt heap

0). Nor, I must conf

thought that my acti

r. B. consenting to f

rmer position. Howeve

this to his

respectf

rt Pa

clapped

! Father will

ly found a way to make the old

'll be delighted when y

erb. Parker's is the nec

e refl

ed. Her eyes lit up. "Oh, Arch

ant

k to-morrow and buy the thing, an

indly. He hated to spoil

ty in specie, which I took off your father this after-noon. We were playing twenty-five cents a Hole. He cou

can pawn that ring and

hat! Pop the

u all the money we asked him for, if he knew what it was for. But I want to surprise him. And if you we

said Archie.

looking forward to it for weeks. He'd hate to have to go up to town himself and not

e pon

he ear-marks of a somewhat fruity wheeze! B

eg

alloa, here's a postsc

glad if you wou

to Mrs. Moffam. W

to meet Mr. Willi

the boat. He desi

ay that he would

ourse of a day or

im back. "A wise

(Proverb

William?" a

f course. I've told

Bill. Rummy to think I've got a

suddenly. When we marr

od! Wha

lly. Yale. Th

ah,

his mind. You must look him up to-morrow when you

This really does begin to look like the point in my career where

s an egg,

d Archie enthusiastical

her Bill before lunch. He decided to postpone the affecting meeting of brothers-in-law to a more convenient season, and made his way to his favourite table at the Cosmopolis g

but gradually he had found himself becoming more personal. Even before the war and its democratising influences, Archie had always lacked that reserve which characterises many Britons; and since the war he had looked on nearly everyone he met as a brother. Long since, thro

ne," sai

ar

Not too rare

good,

use you have asked him to bring you a minute steak, but still there was something about Salvatore's manner that disturbed Archie. The man appeared to have the pip. Whether he w

?" he said sympathetically

ar

be something on your mi

indicating an unwillingness to inflict hi

agingly. "All pals here. Barge alo

is soul. What he said was not very coherent, but Archie could make out enough of it to gather that it was

'll introduce you, and you get that extract from Italian opera-off your chest which you've just been singing to me, and you'll find it'll be all right. He isn't what you m

his table. He liked Reggie, and it also occurred to him that a man of the world like the heir of the van Tuyls, who had been popping about New York for