Jaffery

je, and gone off to Central Africa we should not have been surprised. On the other hand, he might have

proposals from other publishers, they offered what to him were dazzling and fantastic terms for his next two novels. He accepted. He went about the world wearing Fortune like a halo. He achieved sudden fame; fame so widespread that Mr. Jornicroft heard of it in the city, where he promoted (and still promotes) companies with monotonous success. The result was an interview to which Adrian came wisely armed

r, of strong and beautiful though erring souls; it was at once poignant and tender; it vibrated with drama; it was instinct with calm and kindly wisdom. In my humility, I found I had not known my Adrian one little bit. As the shepherd of old who had a sort of patronizing affection for t

eased Barbara to call "merchantates." She expressed a desire to shrink out of the glare of the diamonds; but she wore her grandmother's pearls, and, being by far the youngest and prettiest matron present, held her own with the

the formal welcome of Mr. Jornicroft, a thickset m

breath of fresh air. Did you eve

rous folks had come to do her homage I

stuffy in July i

arbara's wrist and poi

l the same. These people mean nothing but money and music-halls and b

are going to marry a genius," said I. "There is one in Paris

me, it will be beautifu

all and slenderly made, with dark hair, luminous eyes, and ivory-white complexion, a sensitive nose and mouth, a

monogamy dealt me a pang of unregenerate jealousy. There is only one man in the universe worthy of being so regarded by a woman; and he is oneself. Every true-minded man will agree with me. She was i

ious-an Elemental; but whether of Earth, Air, Fire

o that pure ivory-white cheek of hers

e taking her in to dinner. Her husband i

Doria,"

nd she is a museum of diseases and a gazettee

convince an unknown, but agreeable lady on my left that I did not play polo, whereat, it seemed, her eight brothers were experts; and that Omar Khayyam was a contemporary not of the Prophet Isaiah, but of William the Conqueror. As for the setting-I am not an observant man-but I had an impression of

ile depravity of a gentleman called Wilmot, of whom I had never heard, the other arguing on dark dilemmas connected with

you get

ll." I sipped my port. I

rather at

ink," said I, "why fritter aw

good port," Ad

nothing bet

was musing; but musing on unhappy things, for a hand seemed to have swept his face and wiped the joy from it. He was gazing at his half-emptied glass, with the short stem of which his fingers were nervously toying. There was a quick snap. The stem broke and the wine flowed over the cloth. He started, and with a flash the old Adrian came back, manifesting itself in his smiling dismay, his boyish apology to Mr. Jornicroft for smashing a rare glass, spoiling the tablecloth and wasting precious wine. The incident served to disequilibrate, as one might say, the two discussions on Wilmot and Abyssinia. Coffee came and liqueurs. I bade farewell to Lusitanian dreams and found myself in heart to heart conversation with my neighbour on the right, a florid, simple-minded sugar-broker, a certain next-year's Sheriff of the City of London, whose consuming ambition was to become a member of the Athen?um Club. When I informed him that I was privileged to enter that Valley of Dry Bones-my late father, an eminent Assyriologist and a disastrous Master of

some thirty miles out of London-we discussed the dinner party, according to the way of married folks, home-bound after a feast, and I ment

. Jornicroft's previou

o you

me," said

n to be seriously v

ied Barbara, taking my hand, "

ly glories in not knowing how ma

"We're not going abr

e only part of the year that is not 'deformed with dr

st year, and t

cks which you thought would look lovely at Dinard. And last year you also had some frocks and insi

way this year, for I've fixed up with Dori

at once? Why did you ask me

w we weren't,"

rst was a poser and might have elicited some interesting revel

said Barbara. "You've no objec

, no. I'm

d, any one would have thou

gic, I gasped; but s

er and Adrian must find a house or a flat, that has to be decorated and furnished, and th

t you intend having t

o'er again and told of bargains won. In the meantime had it not been for Susan, I should have lived in the solitude of an anchorite. We spent much time in the garden which we (she less conscious of irony than I) called our desert island. I was Robinson Crusoe and she was Man Friday, and on the whole we were quite happy; perhaps I should have been happier in a temperature of 80° in the shade if I had not been forced to wear the Polar bear rug from the drawing-room in representation of Crusoe's goatski

my time, Doria taught me a new and complicated Patience. Then finally, when Doria, having spent a couple of polite minutes in the drawing-room, had retired, and when I was tired out from the strain of

n my forlorn and unprofitable game, the butler ent

on the tel

amid the wreckage of my lay-o

That you

ch me. A devil of a lo

eer comfort in Jaffery's voice. It wraps you round about in thunderin

id you

le of d

idn't you let m

when I see you. By the way, can

t men would have asked me,

time," said I. "And so would Susan. I'

t," s

, I

es

fair ladies-

ry's great voice. "She

e?" I

y. So is

s like to her brother as a little wizened

ken her on. Want

I cried. "I

And his great laugh

g her down wi

, with no female women about save Barbara and my fairy

emia be all ri

otion what kind of a cre

-morrow night to a lecture on Tolstoi at the Lyceum

illy, fishy fish, but a sort of Laodicean fish, now hot, now cold. I have seen him shrink like a sensitive plant in the presence of an ingenue of nineteen and royster in Pantagruelian fashion with a mature member of the chorus of the Paris Opera; I ham e also known him to fly, a scared Joseph, from the allurements of the charming wife of a Right Honourable Sir Cornifer Potiphar, G.C.M.G., and sigh like a fur

. Adrian expressed extravagant delight. A l

ike him?"

re him," cr

s to mean so much to you. Are you g

dressmaker-no place for me," he laugh

ld not help thinking that if Jaffery had been a woman ins

e Adrian threw hi

e said. "I do believe Doria

be proud," said I, "of y