Poor Relations

cretary from whom he had received an assurance that the very next morning she would be at his elbow, if he might so express himself. In his rosiest moments he had ne

apoleonic, and he was more in awe of her than ever, so much so indeed that he completely failed to convey his sense of obligation to her good offices and could only beam at her like a benevolent character in a Dickens novel. Finally he did manage to

ust increase her salary; but I will be no party to over-pa

He took leave of the young women and walked up Villiers Street, cheered by the pleasant conviction that the flood of domes

ess she agreed to the salary and even suggested the hours of work herself. Oh, she's undoubtedly practical-very practical; but at the same time she has not got that almost painfully practical exterior of Miss Merritt, who must have broken in a large number of difficult employers to acquire that tight set of her mouth. Probably I shall be easy to

by the amazing discovery that Mrs. Worfolk

yfully, for such a melodramatic coincide

k. Perhaps you may remember me once passing the remark that I'd been in service with a racing family? Well, after I left them I took a situation as upper housemaid with a very nice family in the county of Unts, and who came up to London for the season to Grosvenor Gardens. Then I met Mr. Worfolk who was a carpenter and he mad

with Mr. Hamilton? Did he

ming to superintend his Chi-nese valuables being packed I got to know his little girl-your secretary as is to be. Oh, I remember her perfickly. Why, I mended a hole in her st

lendid memory,

in a agony of pain. Well, he died the same year as the Juke of Wellington, but though I was taken to the Juke's funeral by my poor mother, I've forgotten that. Well, one can't remember everything, and

n for such a demonstration. It soon transpired, however, that Miss Hamilton's memory was as good as Mrs. Worfolk's and that she had not forgotten those jolly visits to the

tested that, if she was only going to type thirty to fifty lines of blank verse every ot

letters? You made such a po

didn't I?"

e habit of dictating for dictation's sake, and every night before he turned over to go to sleep he used to poke about in the rubbish-heap of the past for more forgotten friends. As a set off to incommoding himself with a host of unnecessary correspondents he became meticulously businesslike, and after having neglected Miss Janet Bond for several weeks he began to write to her daily about the progress of the play

med Miss Bond in tones that she usually res

her word; but that evening she wrote him an ecstatic letter from her dressing-room about what it

retary, who was looking contemptuously at the actress's heavy

sn't it?" Miss Hamil

u allow that she'

she murmured with

lse that was prospering just now to the advent of Miss Hamilton. However, it was too much to expect that with his newly discovered talent he should resist dictating at any rate one epistolary sermon to his y

y want me to typ

y n

t whatever he's done this won't make him

u to," he r

se, I'll type it out at once if you insist, but it's already after twelve o'clock, and we have to go over the material for the third act. I can't somehow fit in what you've just been d

to appear mortified. "If you think it

without a tremor, she tore the pages out of her shorthand book and threw them

take you at your word

ked the courage to tell her so and checked an impu

th nothing to occupy his energies," John went on, meditatively, "I'm d

intrust him with getting ready the house for your Christ

is way temptations of a more

nditure. Can you trust his taste? He

very well. But won't it seem as if I am ove

kept his eyes averted fro

with him," Miss Hamilton declared. "You can't expect him to be

n interest in him," said

n shrugged h

repare the house for Christmas. He must fight his own batt

hook her head i

s too strong a word-but, indeed, so completely had she identified herself with his work that really he could almost call it collaboration. He ought not to tax his invention at this critical point with such a minor problem as the preparation of Ambles for a family reunion. Relations must go to the deuce in their own way, at any rate until the rough draft of the third act was finished, which, under present favorable conditions, might easily happen before Christmas. His secretary was always careful not to worry him with her own domestic bothers, though he knew by the way she had once or twice referred

apparent smoothness, until one morning John

much positively enamoured of her country that the ordinary love interest would be superseded. I shall continue to keep Joan herself heart free; but I do think that it would be effective to have at any rate two people in love with her. My notion is to introduce a devoted young peasant who will follow her from her native village, first to the court at Chinon, and so on right through the play until the last fatal scene in the market place at Rouen. I'm sure such a simple lover could be made very moving, and the contrast would b

ery sin

TOUCH

Bond replied

agnificent, there should be exit speech of renunci

et

e suggestions?" John

ve complete confidenc

to see if she was laughing

some ways you yoursel

was simply John Touchwood over again in a more passionate period and a more picturesque costume that, as the critics pointed out, he presented the world with an aspect of him that would never have been recognized by Machiavelli. Yet, even when Harold was being most unpleasant, or when Viola and Bertram were deafening his household, John could not bring himself to believe that he and Gilles de Rais, who was proved to have tortured over three hundred children to death, had many similar traits; nor was he willing to admit more than a most superficial likeness t

ngraving of the bust from the church of St. Maurice, Orleans.

ean in c

loyer, but really what else can I say? You might as well compare Ida Merri

far-fetched," John said, huffily. "It

in the first act, because I think I ought to

admired practicalness, he realized that it was possible to be too practical, and he sighed sometimes for the tone that his unknown admirers took when they wrote to him abou

LCR

ield

sey,

14,

your plays, but the committee is afraid of the expense. I suppose it would be asking too much of you to lend us some of the costumes of The Fall of Babylon. I think it is your greatest work up till now, and I simply live in all those wonderful old cities now and read everything I can find about them. I was brought up very strictly when I was young and grew to hate the Bible-please do not be shocked at this-but s

ncere a

ENID

he women begin by saying that it is the first time they have ever written to an author; of course, they would say the same thing to a man who kissed

out of reach alike of the still, sad music and the hurdy-gurdies of humanity, so that these letters from unknown

f in the writer's place," h

. Her household will crash like Babylon if she isn't careful, and her family will be reduce

he suburbs to be t

had seemed quite unconscious of having rather offended him and had taken down his answer without excusing herself. Now when in a spirit that

atter-of-fact,

er desirable quali

ded me of Joan of Arc before you began talking about those co

ct just because you're ann

the audience may not appreciate that they are wolves, and if they think they're only a lot of s

espondence, and John settled down to a speech by the Maid on

elf, "but she is like Joan-extraordinarily lik

e before Joan of Arc took it in hand. He knew in his heart that these weeks before Christmas were unnaturally calm; he had no hope of prolonging this halcyon time much further; but while it lasted he would enjoy it to the full. Any one who had overheard John announcing to his reflection in the glass an unbridled hedonism for the immediate future might have been pardoned for supposing that he was about to amuse himself in a ve

ne has any ulterior object in view. Notwithstanding all the rich externals of the past, I'm bound to confess that the relations between men and women are far more natural nowadays. I suppose

isen. He shook his head sadly at the thought that once upon a time he had tried to imagine a Miss Hamilton in Edith, and in a burst of self-revelation, like

t through much more in

ess practical response, b

f away from London for Christmas. I dread the idea of a complete break-especially with the most interesting

hfare he would have done so. His manner might have sounded brusque, but John was sure that the least suggestion of

my mother alone," said

etic, but firm, whe

kes no account of the church calendar," he

you at all. Oh, well, bother relations!" she exclaimed, vehemently. "I'm going to

I've got into the habit of dictating my letters and rely

nce if I cried off. All the same, I can't help being worried by the notion of leavi

avel in the morning, if I were you. It's apt to be unpleasant, traveling in the evening on a Bank Holiday. Hullo, here we are

eems to me that most of the time you were talki

aughed

r accusers. I can assure you that all my remarks were entirely relevant to what I had in my head. That's the way I get my

ike Dick Whittington in a touring panto

Janet Bond has good leg

e least signs of rosifying her and he had renewed this vow every morning before his glass; but it was sometimes difficult not to attribute to her all sorts of mysterious fascinations, as on those occasions when he would have kept her working later than usual in the afternoon and when she would have been persuaded to stay for tea, for which she made a point of getting home to please her mot

and firelight and the warmed scent of hyacinths that Miss Hami

nearly three weeks, and you've not bee

ame!" he cried

ritable uncles who want to boast of what they've done for their poor brother's only daughter.

you don't expect my brother, Hugh, to commit a forgery every week. Besides, that excellent suggestion of yours about preparing Ambles for Christmas has kept him busy, and probably all the rest o

ay before Christmas. The Su

n for to-morrow, and I must begin to see about

at is Christma

ea Christmas was on top of us like this. You'll help me with my shopping next week? I hope to goodness Eleanor won't

llowing evening, and since it was too late to let them know by post, he decided

of which he drank a good deal, referring to it all the while as poison, much to John's annoyance, embroi

es appear to exhibit is only one of their numerous sexual allurements. A woman thi

d Miss Hamilto

, "you'll only have indigestion if

band. "My liver will be like dough to-morrow after

n have mosell

as soon drink syrup of

all have syrup of

ide reproachful smile. "Jimmie's only jokin

try to analyze my tastes

press "What did I tell you?" But she was blind to his signa

r physical constitution. But they have, I insist, a supplementary intelligence without which the great

cried. "A capi

rison! Woman is purely individualistic. The moment she begins

understood the last word and was anxious not "to be made to feel

and jumped through the argument

ristmas Eve," he said, boisterously. "We're goin

before he could express his opinion Beatrice held up

she declared. "Christmas with a lot of

with aplomb and refused to

it more than any o

ked on a desert island with nothing to read but

e seemed no reason amid the universal collapse of tradition to conserve the habit of letting the ladies retire after dinner. As there was no drawing-room in his bachelor household, it would have been more comfortable to smoke upstairs in the library; but James ret

house than Beatrice is. I suppose, though, that like everything e

lp?" James asked, when he and his b

John said, sharply, "I met her on boa

omplexion; I suppose she took your eye by not being seasick. Beware of wo

o be warning me aga

ous. Nurses, of course, are the most notoriously danger

y. "You will be relieved to hear that the relationship between Miss Ha

s answered with a snort. "It was the

rested in her work and in mine not to bother he

cizing contemporary literature; but hi

rous age, Johnnie. However, as I say, I'm not accusing her of designs upon you. But a man who writes the kind of

o accept your dictum about my age. I consider that the effects of age have bee

tear. No, no, you're making a great mistake in introducing a woman into the house. Believe me, Johnnie, I'm speaking for your good. If I h

by a dose of dra

heart and make a sane person retch. However, don't take my remarks in ill part. I was simpl

"Any one who was listening to our conversation would get th

uite good-looking.

d her ankles," Jo

, what's that rascal, Hugh, been doing? I hear you've replanted him in the bos

sdemeanor; he had even denied himself the pleasure of holding him up to George as a warning; he

architecture," he explained to James. "And I'm thinking

h Honduras you could establish me as the edi

d not had the slightest intention of trying to score off his eldest brother by th

areer? I suppose it's she who has persuaded you that he has possibilities? You tak

and proposed joining the ladies upstairs. Beatrice was sitting by the fire; her husband's absence had allowed her to begin the digestion of an unusually good dinner in peace, and the smoothness of her countenanc

many he had heard him make that evening. He hoped that Miss Hamilton would not abandon him after this first encou

ured, apologetically. "I hope my sister-in-law wasn'

alicious-she was explaining to me th

other must be very trying to live

lance, "that I told her I was never likely to make the ex

eps and was gone before

I've no doubt Beatrice was very trying; but I really don't think she need have said that to me. I

secretary, he had no desire to change the topic. She was much more interesting than the weekly bills at Hill Road, and he li

And the beauty of it is that they can't occupy her as they can occupy a house. I must see about getting Hugh off to the Colonies soon