The Lady Paramount

e (something like "Ts-s-s! Ts-s-s-s! Ts-s-s-s-s!"), that was clearly meant as an intimidation. She had on a dark-blue frock, blue flannel I think, plain to the verge of severity: a stra

e she caught sight of him. An obvious practical step, she having evidently some trouble on her hands, might have been to approach her with an offer of assistan

ght of him, abruptly, without h

wonder whether she realised who he was, or thought no further as yet, in he

pitating, Antho

tree. "What is one to do? He won't pay the slightest

a prayer-book, and, twisted round her wrist, a red-coral rosary;

conscious of her nearness to him, of their solitude together, there in the privacy (as it were) of the morning,-and tingling to the vibrations of her voice, to the fres

shed immediately, for the momen

tip of his tail twitching with contained excitement, his yellow eyes fixed murderously on the branch next above: where, in the agitation of supreme distress, a chaffinch, a little grey hen-ch

was the genius of cruelty made man

d. She was pale, and her lips were strained; she looked sick

ere there-she is guarding h

cingly, and, in tones of ster

you. Come down-come down fr

a sharp rap of his stick against the high

rambling down. Next instant, (if you please), unabashed, tail erect, back arched, he was rubbing his whiskers against Anthony's legs, circling round them, s-shaping himself between them, and purring conc

hed a deep si

u bad cat! You cruel cat!" And raising eyes dark with reproach to Anthony's, "Yet he seems to be a friend of you

le anew to the deep notes of her voice,

. But he 's English, and he lives in the country. So, a true English country gentleman, he has perhaps an exaggerated passion for the pleasures of the chase-and when questions

tle, looked down at Pa

ame. I will not think too ill of him if he will promise never again to t

flection conveyed a r

ny shook

eed to forget it. Fringue

light little tr

laugh," thought

gone from you, do, pray, for my instruct

s," he thought. "How it sets off her hair and her co

sparkling, spirited dark eyes, their merriment, their alertness, their graver underglow; the spirited, high carriage of her head; that dark-blue, simple, appropriate frock; and then her figure, upright, nervous, energetic, with its fluent lines,

me dimly," he said, "as-

,"-with an air of recalling it,-"finch, to be sure.

of it-the curves it takes-and those incredibl

meet for pretty words,

rejudiced observer as r

the unprejudiced observer had his eyes open, woul

Anthony cautioned her, diminishing his voic

her light tri

is a fountain-jet of musical notes, each not

o share with you a singularity. The morning is a morning like another. God is prodigal

Italy where my habits were formed, it is one of our lazy customs. We like always to be abr

It is an uncommonly fin

be a race of poets i

's eyes eclipsed, for an instan

earned how to read and write. But now, with the introduction of p

ace. Not poetry only, but all good things and all good feelings,-religion, reverence, courtesy,-sane contentment, rational ambition,-the right sort of humility, the right sort of pride,-they all go down before it: whilst, in the ignorance which it disseminates, blasphemy, covetousness, bumptiousness,

sentiments with a g

sure there was n't a quick little fl

ave touched by accident upon a s

ew up a dep

heart, it is the study of my life to exclude from

randum and reflection, a subdued, withheld, occult little s

ursued, "I wonder whether you will bear with m

" Susanna politely

ubject equally near

re full of

he encour

ndred reasons that chance has led to our meeting this morning. Not to mention ninety-nine of them,

d her eyes, i

m your credi

gies and condolen

er brows, in

f my grievance and of

abuse it. They have let you the ugliest house in the United Kingdom;

cried

n fortunate enough to amuse as well as to surprise her. S

ve read of it as 'a vast and imposing ed

with misinformation; it ought to be placed upon the Index. The house in question is a vast and pompous contiguity of stucco, in the style of 1830. It looks like a Rivier

conscience is too sensitive. The ultimate responsibility for my having taken it comes home to no one, un

igmatic. But I daresay he felt that he scarcely knew her well enough

-the park, the country-is

ny, "the country is bea

abandons it, and s

ce lighted,

erved the fact, but I was at a loss to

a deep-sea fish objects to dry weather or the income-tax. He abandons the country during the three pleasantest months of the year, not because it is beautif

na po

there anything that he can c

n bore. It is an interim sport. It is an annual national tournament. The good knights flock together from the four corner

tuality, "Apropos of interim sports," she demanded, "what are you going t

uttings of his feet, stealing a silent march; now, flat on his belly, rapidly creeping forward; now halting, recoiling, masking himself behind some inequality of the ground, peering warily over it, while his tail swayed responsive

watched him for a li

magination," said Anthony, at

virtuous. This, of course, is sheer play-acting. He 's simply waiting

e said: "What 's the good of telling her that that will only be to defer the evil

be to put the evil off. The cat certainly knows the

a trifle disconcerted.

is concerned, until the end of time. Cats have a very high sense of their personal freedom-they hate to be tied up. Well, if we tie Monsieur Patapouf to this tree, so that he can't get away,

s very ingenious,"

ve such a thing as a piece of string in your pocket? It does n't ma

those blandishments one must exe

étapes and délours, app

ed from round her waist, where it was doing duty as a belt, a broad band of cherry-coloured ribbon. This, with Anthony

," she said, measuring off what she de

ollar to his neck. They had to stand rather close together during this process; I am not sure that sometimes their fingers did n't touch. From Sus

and bestowing upon the bow a little tap of approbation

n charity, perhaps twice his own length of tether

smiled a good-bye into Anthony's eyes, and was movin