Simon the Jester

e. A lady had called for him, said Rogers, in an electric brougham. As my chambers are on the second floor an

o the door and said that the brough

w the lady came

e remained in the br

keeps an elec

she now resides. I must say that his details were rather vague. She rode in a circus or had a talking horse-he was not quite sure; and concerning her conjugal or extra-conjugal heart affairs he admitt

le Kynnersley in

ell me something else? What is the presen

discuss Dale with Renniker. When he had completed his sketch of affair

r in the afternoon to Sussex Gardens to call on Mrs. Ellerton. It was her day at home, and the drawing-room was filled with chattering peo

and pouring a treacly liquid into a cup. "You must

er over the teacup and wondering how an exquisite-minded gentleman like Dale could forsake her for a Lola Brandt. It was not as if Maisie were an empty-headed, empty-natured

king at me like

I, "you are good to look upon. Y

ling thing. "I did my hair a

ion, but alluded to autumn gaieties. She spoke of them without enthusiasm. Miss Somebody's wedding was very dull, and Mrs. Somebody Else's dance manned with vile and vacuous dancers. At the Opera the g

n anything of

me this morning. I've

for

u last see h

r weeks. We used to be such friends. I do

m to call fort

come of his own accord-I don'

apely head and lo

aid I. "Dale's a selfish

d. "How dare you say s

ands-one of them held a piec

famous bit of advice, but I think it was I myself in a pastoral incarnation. I had a

laughed and said I wa

't be good to you i

an end. It was enough, however, to convince me that my poor little A

eagerly inquired whether my pain was worse. I said it was not. He professed delight, but look

ul frame of mind induced by the consciousness of havin

ry appearance. He wore a morning coat,

ave you dressed mo

there was anything wrong. I assured him of the impec

to take Maisi

is dark skin. Before he could spe

be angry with me. But don't you thin

o one has the right to say so. There was never a qu

t man plays fast and loose with a girl and throws her over ju

hat she wanted to see you about yesterday. I

I would

o me, and respects my opinion on worldly matters. He walked to the

been rubbing it in

did Renniker at the club. I suppose every one

hat if t

our name which is scarcely that in whic

e seniors have preached to the deluded young from time immemorial. I have seldom held forth so platitudinously even in the House of Commons. I spoke as impressively as a bishop. In the midst of my harangue he came and sat by the library t

ignoble obscurity with an old and painted mistress, whom he detested, but to whom habit and sapped will-power kept him in thrall. There was Bullen, who blew his brains o

t moving, he

you are talking

g fire, pouring out the wealth of my wisdom, experience, and rhetoric for ten min

and looked at him across the ta

absurd remark in my homily, I'll eat the

hing at all about Lola Brandt. She's not the sort of woman you think. She's quite different

ite different from other women. She was misunderstood by the cynical and gross-minded world. A heart of virgin purity beat beneath her

't stand it. I've gone mad about her. She has got into my blood somehow. I think about her all day long, and I can't sleep at night. I would give up any

-just as you would honour and r

th the Olympian qualities of the Syren and his own fervent adoration. I was the only being to whom he had opened his heart, and, the floodgates being set free, the

was frenziedly, idiotically in love with her. That was all I could gather. When he had finished, which h

exhibition of myself," he said, defian

"what I said before. I'l

the present about the lunatic business?

ent, then rose and cam

w you blindly. You're my chief, and a kind of elder brother as well. I would do any mortal thing for you. You know that. But you've no right to try to guide me in this matter. You kn

sting village maiden, or any other cliche in the melodrama of real life. "You are making a fool of y

at him wh

n't

d to climb over the garden wall to the peril of my epidermis. We loved. We were parted by stern parents-not mine-and Clothilde was packed off t

own and crush me miserable beneath their weight. And then her brother challenged me to fight a duel, whereupon, as the most worshipped of all She's had not received a ha'porth of harm at my hands, I called him a silly

do with Dale. Neither had the tragedy of my lost Clothilde. The m

id I, "that I know nothing of love and pa

ed, with an impatient gestur

abrupt and c

ldn't-

was going to say. Let us

ongue," said I cheerfully, "to refer t

he, reddening. "It was unpardo

about the ingenuous boy of the inge

ostbag for a letter from Miss Faversham

re about it, Simon," he

d a weapon to hand which I had overlooked, and with the discovery came a weak craving for the boy's sympathy.

r he would hav

my engagement-in confidence, of course. When Eleanor Faver

ice girl, but she's no more in love with you than my

ng my head. "It's a question of heal

broke into sympathy. My health? Why had I not told him

Only I must go piano for the rest of my days. Marriage isn't to be tho

at? Give up Par

n as po

st, as if the world

oct an epistle to R

can't be

r Dale. This is one of t

you're just coming into your own-what Raggles said, what I told you yesterday. But it

ted phrases which an honest young soul unaccustomed to expr

" said I, "I've got

uld they com

y fellow who pulls your chair from under you and shrieks with laughter when you go wallop on to the floor. Well, I don't grudge them their amusement. They must have a dull time settling mundane affairs, and a little j

lways command one's eyes, but one's lips sometimes get out of c

id! I wish I could take a

I've told you all this with a purpose. At Wymington it will be a case of 'Le Roi est mort. Vive le Roi!' The v

a s

hav

ho

ou

rang into the air

y n

never ad

u've done some speaking-you do it rather well; it's only your private conversational style that's atrocious. You've got a name familiar in public life

ed. "Why I'd give

winning card, "let us hear

p and down the room for a while in sile

quotation-"you're a just beast. You oughtn't to rub it in like

ly approaching that of reason," I r

this afternoon

me nicely in the tra

. "But on the disti

nding you like!" he crie

are you

he telephone and tel

ey have such a disconcerting mann