Our Friend the Charlatan

ndifferent nose, childlike lips and a small, pointed chin;-thus may one suggest the portrait of Iris Woolstan. When Dyce Lashmar stepped into her drawing-room, she had the air

of town not that it would have mattered. I did really want to see

f the breath before and after her speech, and a nervous little pant bet

into a chair before his hostess was seated, "I had gone out of town. I g

forgive myself! Why didn't you telegraph-or just do nothing at all,

g had happened?" cried the other, laughing, as

eable and very unexpected, and I'm rather afraid you won't like it. But we've plenty of time to talk about it. I'm at home to nobody else-I

replied Dyce, smiling at her with kindly sup

ain little business-like note-indeed I did! It will be a lesson to me

other-but I'll tell you

th her. Iris gave the method her entire approval, and hailed it as the beginning of a new era for her sex. She imagined that her own demeanour was no less direct and unconstrained than that of the philosopher himself; in reality, the difference

have bad news?" she exclaim

f the same kind to tell me?" sa

ur's first-

t. So say what you've got to sa

Lashmar addressed her, they carried no suggestion of an intimacy which passed the limits of friendship. When his ey

? I see him very seldom, and we don't take much interest in each other; he's nothing but a man of business, the kind I d

d, heavy of eyelid, with a rather punctilious hearing and authoritative

m going to tell you the whole truth, and of course you won't mind it-he began talking in a very nasty way-he has a nasty way when he likes. 'Look here, Mrs. Woolstan,' he said, 'Leonard doesn't seem to me to be doing well at all. I asked him one or two questions in simple arithmetic, and he couldn't answer.' 'Well,' I said, 'for one thing Len isn't well, and it isn't the right time to examine a boy; and then arithmetic isn't his subject; he hasn't that kind of mind.' But he wouldn't listen, a

of approval. But merely a

said Dy

n the wrong way, and that he'd grow up an immoral and an irreligious man. 'You must remember, Mr. Wrybolt,' I said, rather severely, 'that people's ideas about morality and religion differ

d Dyce, with

he's never given a thought to him till now-and he's a man of influence; that is to say, in his own wretched, vulgar world, but unfortunately it's a kind of influence one's obliged to think about. Len,

smiling rather disdainfully. "I see the upshot

ttered and regarded Lashmar

ust what you think-let us be quite frank and comrad

at was your reason for giving way at once? You really

so, Mr. Lashmar! You kn

you will be easier in mind with Len at school, taugh

has to think of

se, and for a moment looked pretty

right. We'll tal

acy, lacking only the chance to become a power in statecraft. But when Iris had given herself and her six hundred a year, she soon remarked a decline in her husband's aspiration. Presently Woolstan began to complain of an ailment, the result of arduous labour and of disillusion, which might make it imperative for him to retire from the monotonous toil of the Civil Service; before long, he withdrew to a pleasant cottage in Surrey, where he was to lead a studious life and compose a great political work. The man had, in fact, an organic disorder, which proved fatal to him before he could quite decide whether to write his book on foolscap or on quarto paper. Mrs. Woolstan devoted herself to her child, until, when Leonard was nine, she entrusted him to a tutor very highly spoken of by friends of hers, a young Oxford man, c

, stealing a glance at Lashmar. "But of cou

e, absently. "Now I'll tell you something

ws! Oh, I'm afraid i

right time. My news is this. Things are going rather badly down at the vicarage. There's serious diminution of income, which I knew nothing about

rs. Woolstan gaze

y serious! What

That's a very femin

n to use such expressions. But

ve to be th

ttering bosom,

me as a real friend-just like a man frien

tainly ask y

good of you! We'll talk

d with personal culture; her conscience was uneasy about the destinies of mankind; she took to herself the sorrows of the race, and burned with zeal for the great causes of civilisation. Vast theories were tossed about between them; they surveyed the universe from the origin to the end of all

shmar, musingly, "did you

ntive. "Ogram?-Yes, of course; I have heard Mrs. Toplady speak

him a cup of tea. As he bent forward to take it, his eyes for a moment dwelt with unusual intentness on the face

of Lady Ogram," s

ld. She lives at Hollingford; a rich old woman, going in a good deal for social questions. A widow, no children. Who kno

f overcoming a slight reluctance. "Of c

, when any suggestion, however vague, has a possible value. One point is certain; I shan't take any mor

t decided me; I see now that it was-though perhaps. I hardly understood mys

e approval. His eyes wandered, with

he murmured. "Of course it

on. "Only make yourself known to peopl

ut. For the present, I have read and thought eno

onquest. By constitution very temperate in the matter of physical indulgence, Lashmar found exciting stimulus even in a cup of

shall go down

s the friend who prom

ly perceptible pau

e added, vaguely. "A liberal-minded m

oject her full approval, and launch

wer voice, "that after this I shall see very li

ng-his laugh seldom sounded altogether natural-"you're much mistaken. But come now,

definitely informed on that subject. He did not face the question crudely, but like a civilised man and a philosopher; there were reasons why it should interest him just now. He mused, too, on the question of Mrs. Woolstan's age, regarding which he could arrive at but a vague co

nard was a rather precocious child, inclined to work his brain more than was good for a body often ailing. Now and then Dyce had been surprised into a feeling o

him, after my own idea. Well, well, we shall often see each othe

ligence!" was Iris Woolstan's comment in her own heart. And sh

re was the harm? He recognised in himself a tortuous tendency, not to be overcome by reflection and moral or utilitarian resolve. He could not, much as he desired it, be an entirely honest man. His i