Simon the Jester

nther, which in the act of springing turned into Lola Brandt. What she would have done I know not, for I awoke; but I have a haunting sensation that she w

nd the obvious lurks a mysterious animal power which repels and attracts. Were not her expressions rather melancholy than sensuous, rather benevolent than cruel, one might take her as a model for Queen Berenice or the estimable lady monarchs who yielded themselves adorably to a gentleman's kisses in the evening and saw to it that his head w

I; a remark which seemed to impress him with a sense of my honesty. I asked what were his intentions r

er husband?" I inquired,

he's dead,"

ppose h

icence that Lola and himself would

ed?"

d to be a Pur

o like the idea, a

s. It was not the time f

dy returns your passion?" I

"Is that a fa

er and judge the affair for myself. I'm doi

at there was anything wrong? There wasn't. How cou

at foolish moral conventions. If you want to know my opinion," I con

was talkin

llow of birth and breeding, does not, as I remarked, care a scrap for him. Suppose I exhibit her to him in the arms, figuratively speaking, of her husband (providing one is lurking in some back-alley of the world), Mr. Anastasius Papadopoulos, a curate, or a champion wrestler. He would do desperate things for a month or two; but then he wou

, working on her feelings, persuade her in the name of the boy's mother and sweetheart to make a noble sacrifice in the good, old-f

gallop withal

racing by. I see my little allotted span of life shrinking visibly, like the peau de cha

od godfather to my sister Agatha's fifth child, taking upon myself obligations which I shall never be able to perform; I had dined amusingly at my siste

I consulted my calendar with some a

c gentlemen have interviewed me and tried to weaken my decision. The great Raggles has even called, and

s you can, for the

is the guiding principle of the Cosmos. I could have spoken disrespectfully of the British Empire, of which he has a confused notion; I could have dismissed the Trinity, on which his ideas are vaguer, with an airy jest; in the expression of my vie

you a serious poli

es have I been as dull as that? Ill-health

ed I was speaking humourously-he is astut

litics was all a game of guess-work and muddle and compromise at the best; that, at the worst, as during a General Election, it was as ignoble a pastime as the wit of

iacal a minister. I hope I did not treat him with any discourtesy; but, oh! it was good to speak the truth after all the dismal lies I have bee

ly sympathise. Never again shall I plead passionately for principles which a horrible instinct tells me are fundamentally f

for the public engagements which Dale Kynnersley made for me during my Th

ed, to cease to be a Member of Parliament. And yet, in spite of all my fine and superior talk, I am

lobbies without me, while I am still hale and hearty. When Parliament meets in Febru

onder how far Simon de Gex an

ge, and, muddle-headed creature that he is, has been "bearing" the wrong things. They have gone up sky-high. Se

of copper in the failing mine, drew heart-rending pictures of his wife and family singing hymns in the stree

alk sense. How mu

gh he stretched his credit to the utmost, there

usually a pink, prosperous-looking man. Now he was white and flabby, a piteous spectacle. "You are executor under my will," he continued. "Hea

lected upon my own approaching bow and farewell to the world where Lucy and the kids would still be wandering. I am alw

hange and from seeking a suicide's grave. It would also enable you to maintain Lucy and the kids in

It was like asking a starving beggar whether a

sand set you up

as well try to r

him on the shoulder. "I myse

ore electrified if he had seen me suddenly adorned with wings and shining raiment.

ou

y n

d. I can give you no

a right to be, seeing that the interest would be of no use to me on the other side of the Styx. "Pay

ed half the contents of the brandy decanter on to the tray. I took him in a cab, a stupefied man, to the bank, and when he left me

t," I entreated. "I love Lucy dearly, as you know;

culty had not made their pronouncement, I could have no more turned poor Latimer's earth from hell to heaven than I could ha

bulk of his fortune to himself. The death sentence, I vow, has compensations. It enables a man to play Monte Cristo or an

on in the dry light of reason, he will diagnose a sure symptom

y engagement with such grace, dignity, and sweet womanliness

f breaking it off, Simon," she said, "but I care enou

re for me?

ld have engaged myself to you? If I married you I should swear

iament and a slave to doctor's orders was one thing; it was another to tell her brutally t

ever seeing the hand of Death at my throat. Every time we met she would have noted on my face, in my gait, infalli

articularly desire that folks should not regard me as half-dead. I defy you to treat a man who is only goi

ng from decay. I should think that cor

d not the right to tie her for life to a helpless valetudinarian. "Besides," said I, "as my health grows worse my jokes wil

ntly for treating e

of me, Simon?" she asked tearfull

ve them behind with a shrug. Political ambition, power, I could justly estimate their value and could let them pass into other hands without regret. But here was the true, staunch woman, great of heart and wise, a

eringly until her cheeks grew red and her eyelids fluttered. I had a wild impulse to throw my arms around her, and kiss her as I had never kissed her before and bid her forget all that I had said that day. Her faltering eyes

r your questi

head aside and

rom Sicily. I shouldn't have liked you to wr

you

. "Until just now I was never quite ce

so much as I do now, wh

u must

would be a scoundrel

y, very serious

I must give you your freedom

ng at the engagement ring. Then she took it off and p

e with it," she

lipped it on one of t

to think that you are

age, applauded the step I had taken. As a sprightly Member of Parliament, with an assured political and social position, I had been a most desirable son-in-law. As an obsc

he is young and will soon get over it. I'll send her to the Drascombe-Prynnes in Paris. And as for yourself, your terrible misfortun

s itself, Mrs. F

hand and went away, deeply moved b

eanor's heart. No romance had preceded or accompanied our engag