BOB IN LOVE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11565, 31 January 1901, Page 3

808 IN LOVE.

| "Mr brother Bob is always falling in'and iout of loveV in. fact, he lives in a chronic i state of rapture or despair. Sometimes I I find it rather trying to have to accustom | myself to his sudden changes of mental at- | mosphere, but good sisters always accommo- ; date themselves to their brothers' mental j atmosphere to prevent storms. Bob is fair, fat, and 14-, with a top hat and an Eton suit and a round self-satisfied eye. ■ Yesterday morning he flung himself some- ', what suddenly into my bedroom. "Can I come in. Dot?" "Well, dear boy, judging by your proximity to my dressing-table, which is a long way from the— " Oh, stow it, Dot ! I hate your beastly long words; they're such rot. I only thought vou might be faking yourself up, like Celia—taking off your back hair, or putting on your complexion, or something of that | kind." j . " My back hair is permanently fixed on \ my head," I said with dignity; "and so also is Celia's, and as to our complexions— Bob grinned. " Celia' got a false curl; 11- saw it sticking tip on a hair-pin like a sausage, jolly unnecessary, I should have thought, 'cos she's got a lot of hair of her own, but girls are such blooming idiots." He rose as he spoke, and, strolling over ; to my dressing-table, looked fixedly at himself in the glass. There was nothing particularly exciting for him to look at. but he was evidently deeply interested. Presently he said with great modesty: . "I say, Dot, do you'think I'm—at least, I mean" " I don't think you're at all good-looking, if that's what you mean, Bob." .He glanced at me with contempt. " Good-looking!" he said;' scornfully. " Who wants to bo good-looking? D'ye think I'm a girl?" Ho looked suddenly rather foolish. " What I meant was, if or—you didn't know me, Dot, would youoh ! hang it, would you think me a—a —manly-looking sort of chap?" "I might if I didn't know you," I replied sweetly. By the way, Bob, who is it this time? What's her name?" Bob's eyes became rounder than ever. " I'll tell you what, Dot," he said, looking at me with open admiration, " you may not be as good-looking as Celia, but you're a jolly sight cuter." "Thank you, Bob," I said, politely; "I will describe her to you, shall I? She is tall and fair and has fluffy hair" He positively gasped. " How the dickens did you know?" "Force of contrast, my good boy; the last one was short and dark." Bob sat down a 'id instantly became communicative. " I met her in church," he said confidently ; " she sits in a pew in front of us, and she's perfectly stunning. I will show her to you if you like." I gently removed the lint-box containing my best hat, and pushed a footstool towards my brother for him to kick instead. "That will be very kind indeed of you, dear Bob," I said, gratefully. "Right you are," he replied, and went off whistling contentedly. | Not long afterwards mamma and I went I down to stay at Eastbourne, where Bob is lat school. Having a half-holiday, he was I strolling along the parade with me, when he I suddenly pinched my arm violently. I bravely [ suppressed a desire to scream, and gave a gasp instead. i " Bob, how dare you?" J "Hush!" he whispered, and I saw that he I was not even aware of having pinched me. I " Hush, Dot ; there she quick—look— i isn't she a stunner? Don't stare so!" he j added fiercely. I glanced at a tall, rather plain-looking young woman with rosy cheeks and a very small sailor hat who was coming jauntily I towards us. | " She is quite stunning," I replied, em- ! phatically, inwardly wondering why one's i young brothers invariably exhibit such 1 strange taste in womenfolk, considering what j nice women they often marry later on. } The beauty passed us, throwing as she did Iso a slight smile in Bob's direction. He 1 flushed all over his face. " I wish you and I the mater would get to know her and ask 1 her to come and stay with us, Dot; lam sure I the mater would liko her," he said, eagerly. a "I am sure she would," I replied, plea--3 santly ; " only, mightn't it be a little dangerj ous with Tom at home?" I Bob sniffed. "I don't suppose she'd bo | bothered with a chap like Tom," he said, j with brotherly contempt; "he's too beastly j conceited. I think I am. more in her line— eh, Dot?"

"Much more," I replied, gently; "besides, you're so beastly modest." "I say, stow it, Dot," said Bob; "come on, she's turned to the left, if we go down the High-street then we shall meet her coming back—come on." And we turned down the High-street. The next day, strangely enough, I was introduced to Robert's divinity. I found her very pleasant and greatly amused by his attachment to her.

"What a dear, funny boy that brother of yours is!" she said, laughing. "I do wish, though, he would not waste his money on buying mo satin boxes of chocolates and putting them in my pew. because—this is a dead secret, of course, Miss Anstruther, for I would not hurt his feelings for the world but I can't bear chocolate."

Mamma and I stayed on for several weeks at Eastbourne. One day Bob's "attachment" came up to me while I was sitting reading on the beach. She seated herself next to me, with a radiant smile.

" I must tell you what has happened, Miss Anstruther," she said, laying her hand for a moment over my book. "Do stop reading and talk to me; you always are so sympathetic and so nice to me, and I am so very, very happy." She paused and looked at me blushing. I think I must have a knack of penetrating the deep recesses of the human heart.

"What is his name?" I said, "and when is it to come off?" and I gave a sigh of sisterly sorrow for poor Bob as I spoke. "His name is Captain Farlham—— Tom," she added, shyly; "and he's in the navy, and we're to bo married in a month, because he is going abroad again. Do say you're glad, Miss Anstruther. I'm so happy." " I wish you every happiness, and I am very, very glad," I said, with a heartiness born of the knowledge that she would never become my sister-in-law. Presently she sprang excitedly to her feet. " There he is— on the Parade——l promised to be there but ho is early." And she went off to meet her lover.

Mamma and I went home the next day, and a few days later I received the following from Bob, heavily smudged, and evidently written by one in pain : [Strictly private.] Dear Dot,An awful thing has happened. I met "her" last night at the Simpsons'. She spent nearly the whole evening ti<ll ; to that beastly little whipper-snapper Farlham, and I tried to interrupt him two cr three times, but could not jet a look in without being downright rude, which, of course, wouldn't have done [excepting to a sister's" admirer, eh, dear Bob?]. I hear that she is engaged to him. The little beast is, I believe, coming into a lot of money. Of course she wouldn't care in tho least for this, and ho must have talked her over, he is such a fearful gasser. No chap with any decent modesty gets a look in with girls nowadays. I'm awfully unhappy, and don't care about the Eleven now, or whether my grub-box conies or not. Bob.

I could not help feling deeply for my brother, as this seemed far more virulent than any of his usual attacks, and I wrote him a very sympathetic and touching letter. In fact, I worried a good deal about the poor dear boy, and only recovered my spirits on tho receipt of the following epistle, which I received about a fortnight later: — Dear Dot, —Please thank the mater for the grub-box. It was jolly nice of her to remember all the things; but the cake might have been a bit richer. Can't you give a private hint to Mrs. Clarence to put a bit more grease and a fow more plums in next time? And tell the mater if she could spare a. bottle of cherry brandy it would be jolly useful. Thanks for remembering cigarettes and gingerbreads. We shall be home on the 11th. P.S.—I have something stunning to tell you, so you might come by yourself and meet mo in the cart alone.—Your affectionate brother, Bob. Bob came home to-day. " She" is short and dark, and he tells mo she smiled twice at him in church last Sunday; he is consequently in a temporary state of absolute beatitude.