SHORT STORY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15716, 17 September 1914, Page 3

SHORT STORY.

KNIGHT ERRANTRY. Marjory Boltov was absolutely It. Undoubtedly many men wooed her. But this world said they wooed in vain. Among a large field of starters it could not point to a single favourite, it happened that one week in December Marjory was staying at a big house in Leicestershire, tho home of a land-ridden colonel. There she. golfed or hunted by day and daneed iiy night. Among the party were thr<>e of her mist desperate admirers. There was Captain, West, generally allowed to he a bit of an ass, but a fine rider, and in intrepid dancer; he nad known Marjory for yea:*. There was Oliver James, a hit,', heavy dm . who rode like a centaur a: d j.inced 1;. 1 an elephant. And, lastly, there was Jinn ■ Hawkins, who was thoroughly out of pla •■ in the country ; if there was one '.'-... v he hated more than horses, it was rid; v them. But he was good-looking, aid '.:•■ kept his hair very nicely brushed b.ek. and his danein ; was perfection. Marjory distributed her favoursif fav ours is the righ;name—impartially among- '. these three, 'lhat is to say, the" time she spent in the company of each was about, equal. But whereas she treated '.Vest to an open contumely, st:e had no mercy on the shortcomings 01 Oliver and Jimmy. She called Jimmy " Nervy," and when he proposed in a fit of sheer melancholy desperation she save him her views on nit-, partiality Jir gates and gaps, and stated her opinion tha' hedges were made to be jumped, not looked at. Nevertheless, she concluded, ho was a nice little boy, and when he rode as well as he danced, or revealed 6omo other claim to heroism, some nice girl might look at him. Oliver proposed on the same day. Her pet name for him was "Clumsy.'' "I'm awfully sorry, Clumsy," she said: "you're a very good sort, and all that. But I couldn't possibly contemplate becoming engaged to a man who jumps round like you and calls it dancing. Your waltzing is positively awful—you know yourself it is. And you've refused -to learn the Boston or the one-step. And I don't suppose you've over heard of the Tango." " I wish to goodness I could hear of something else," put in Oliver with justifiable savagery. "So you 6ee, my dear Clumsy. ' went on Marjory suavely, "it's no .goi'i. Now if you only danced as well as von r ■■'.<■ it might be some good talkingbut 1 > ■ afraid Nature didn't mean you to," she ■■• :: eluded encouragingly. Oliver in the meantime was facing tl ■ problem. A strong man, he felt, ought : •-: to allow himself to be put off by hi?, incapacity to dance. Why had Marjory suggested that it was a natural incapacity'' T. was just like her che°k. He would show her whether he could dan'-c- or not. as soon as he gave his mind to it. Ho j would go ill) to town and begin taking ! lessons in the Tango the very next day i Any ass could learn the Tango: it was ■ only parrot work. Why, thousands of I j people were learning it out of newspepc.s I: daily. Oliver dozed indignantly. I | Jimmy also dozed. And then he thought J i he heard a queer noise in the lower part Jj of the house. First he lay in bed straining 1 his ears. He felt an extraordinary impulse to remain in bed andto cease straining his ears. But even in the oppression lof darkness and the loneliness of night j Jimmy rem'inhered his new role. For a j moment he heard nothing more. Then a ! very slight shuffling sort of noise mounted !to his ears. It continued irregularly, stopj ped for a moment or two, and then began I again. He went to tho landing outside his I bedroom, and looked over the staircase. I The noise was unmistakable: it seemed to ' j c>me from the dancing-room. The big j folding door into the dnncing-ro< m v...■open, and an eerie light, barely perceptible | from where Jimmy stood, proceeded from it. In the library, separated from ;',\e dancing-room only by a thin wail; was Colonel Winthrop's safe. Jimmy, listening to the old shuffling sounds, put things together rapidly ,:i !r----mind. The library, lie remembered, ■■ -i* kept very securely locked up ; but to »\..er the house by the dancing-room French win dow would be simple. Then, again, there were burglar alarms at every legitimate entrance to the library; but there was little more than a plaster partition between it and the dancing-room. Jimmy lit one of the night-lights Colonel Winthrop i provided for his visitors, and. shielding it with his hand, crept cautiously down 'no main staircase. At last Jimmy gained the hall. As he did so the noise stoppedA shadow appeared to stoop over the light in the dancing-toom. which was on the floor close to the door. Jimmy moved softly down the hall, and peered round. A figure was bending, with its back 10 him, over seme papers. There was a night-light beside the papers. Jimmy rej membered his armlessness, and th*. necs-

6ity for prompt and glorious action. ho was a bare two yards away from trie crouching man, who was studying th<t papers intently, utterly unconscious of th" proximity of a second person. Jimmy braced himself for a spring; and, just as the man seemed about to rise, ho hurled himself at him, pinioning hie arms tigut'v with his own, and bearing him to the ground. The man shouted with S'.irnriso and struggled frantically. The noisa rang like pandemonium through the silent house. Doors opened upstairs, and a sound o? pattering bare feet followed. I Jimmy, putting forth the strength of tor i Jimmies, if not of ten men, kept his l.ps j tight shut, and hung on to his grip for ■ dear life. As he did so his ecstasy of 'heroism left him, and he began to rvalue ! various small matters. In the first place, ; his burglar was clad in a serviceable suit of Ceylon pyjamas, and hardly anything else ; and the " papers" over which he was crouching were the leaves of an ordinary illustrated newspaper. He inspected the person of his captive, and gasped. It was I Oliver James! " Good Lord '." said Jimmy, relaxing his grip, and springing to the- | other end of" the room. Simultaneously Oliver recognised his tormentor. He stood still in blank amazement for a full rive seconds ; and in that five seconds the crowd arrived. They were in various stages of dress and coiffure ; most of them looked sleepv. startled, and Generally disorganised. Even Captain West was hardly so spruce as usual. For a moment no ona , said a word : they all stoad regarding th« discomfited combatants censoriously. i Then suddenly Marjory arrived down- | stairs. She alone was 'thoroughly selfpossessed. She walked straight into the dancing-room, while the crowd still lin- • gered about the doorway. " What are you two idiots doing?" she

began. Neither seemed in a communicative mood. She went and picked up the paper, and looked at the pace that had been upturned. Then a glimmering of light came m her ,and she began shrieking with laughter. She turned to the crowd. " All of yoa must go away, please," she said, in tones of decision and authority. j " For a moment or two at all events. I think, though, nerhaps, Captain West had better stay." He .stayed. The rest withdrew wonderinjlv. " Now," she said to Oliver, "what were you doing here?" Oliver ceased to think of devious explanations. Marjory had obviously guessed too much. "I was learning your beastly Tango out of the Daily Erroryou'll see the diagrams of the 9th figure there." (Her pointed to the paper.) "I understand you rather wanted me to." "Of course I did," said Marjory, with lips still twitching dangerously. " But how ripping of you to sacrifice your beauty sleep to do it!" Then she turned to Jimmy. "Well, Jimmy." she asked, " why did you coma down and try to kill poor old Clumsy when he wad putting himself out for my sake'!" "I thought he was a burglar, of course," said Jimmy sullenly. " But why didn't you give the alarm, instead of running about the hoi.se jumping—at conclusions?" "Because." said Jimmy, ,T yon seem to hold a low opinion of my courage ; and I thought this might be a slight opportunity of-" " Of capturing a horrible great burglar tingle-handed and laying him at my feett or on my plate at breakfast to-morrow morning. Oh, Jimmy, you are good to me." She appealed to Captain West. Billy." sli3 said, isn't it too sweet of thc-m both? But really they mustn't do it again—not for me, anyhow. It's hardiv nroper. I almost think, Billy, you and I had l>ettir announce our engagement, or goodness knows what they'll do next,"-