TALES AND SKETCHES. THE FIGHT FOR THE CROWN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6138, 26 March 1898, Page 1

TALES AND SKETCHES. THE FIGHT FOR THE CROWN.

[Bt W. E. Norris.]

Author of "My Friend Jim," "Misadventure/* "Marcia," "Baffled Conspirators," " Matrimony," " Saint Ann's," "A Dancer in Yellow," "No New Thing," &c, &c.

{All Bights Reserved.)

Chapter XXXI.

WH.FRID IS PBONOUNCBD A FAILURE. " Oh, no," said Wilfrid, addressing himself, as he sat alone in his library, which lhad just been vacated by two very long- ' winded visitors ; " that really would be a j shade too ridiculous I" He did not mean that it would be ridi- ; cnlouaonhia part to offer himself forrej election in the character of a repentant Glad-toman — which had been the course ; urged upon him by the two trusted and -.influential delegates of the Heckingley electorate from whose eloquence he had now been set free. That would, no doubt, be a ridiculous thing to do, and he had politely declined to stultify himself in the manner suggested, declaring that he repented of nothing. But in so declaring he had, of course, spoken merely in a political sense: and indeed his attention, during

choir protracted homily, had strayed far

away from them to. a retrospect of other Wkmattacsywhish -seemed to afford room for a ■j good deal of ropentance. E . " Why," Lady Virginia had significantly I. .asked him, in reply to an ejaculation of f Ihis, "didn't you say that last summer?" {And he could but regretfully echo the i ! quel tion. "Ah! why didn't 1?" He had ■ ',not, when he came to look back, been so I very far from proposing to Lady Laura i Mayne. He had known — or almost known — !that Nora Power would never be his wife, he had been fully alive to the necessity of imarrying somebody, and he had certainly •preferred Lady Laura to any other mar- j iriageable young woman of his acquainjtance. It now appeared that his offer, if [he had made it at that time, would not jhave been rejected, and that he might not only have secured a reasonable prospect of for himself, but saved her from : what he still regarded as a hideous calamity. ;But what he proclaimed aloud as too ridiculous was not his unfortunate omission to do itherightthingattheright moment; itwasa .troublesome, insistent idea which kept '.forcing itself upon him that He had perhaps •been mistaken from start to finiah — thathe 'had perhaps loved one person all the time, while imagining himself in • love with another. ' Hia common sense rebelled against so fantastic a notion. Oh, no! Women, it is said, do sometimes deceive themselves after that fashion; but not men. Naturally, he was sorry — sorry for the future Lady Laura Bland, who, as ho had been plainly informed, had at one time been inclined to look favourably upon him, and sqrry for himself in his present disconsolate and undignified attitude between two stools. But the situation was obviously not one for sighs of a sentimental kind. ; Sentimental considerations apart, he was fairly entitled to sigh ; and he relieved ■himself by doing so at" frequent intervals. He must indeed have been an optimist if hiß career, so far as it had gone, had struck •him aa deserving any other form of comment. His parliamentary career he had •virtually destroyed ; for although he was not a Gladstonian, he was by no means sure of being a Unionist, and one must, after all, be adorned with a label of some sort before one can step forward to contest a seat. As for the social career which lies open to a young man of large fortune, such slight efforts as he had made towards embarking upon it had not resulted in much. His acquaintance, which waa a tolerably large one, included scarcely any intimate friends; Bmart society did not attract him in the least, nor w*ere his tastes extravagant ; his money was a nuisance and a burden to him. "In short," he concluded, with a rueful laugh, " I'm pretty much where I was when Uncle John died; I see nothing for it but to bolt. Yet one will have to return to .domesticity some day, unless one happens to be eaten up by a tiger, andl don't believe I'm even as keen about tigers as I was. All this because one can't help seeing that there are two Bides to every question ! What a pity that I am not just a little richer and more important. Then I might be given a peerage, and sit on the cross benches, and do some work on committees, and be a more or less useful and resigned member of the community." Mr Lethbridge, upon whom he chanced later in the day, at a club.to.whichlthey both belonged, spoke to him with slightly sardonic good humour in much the same

sense. " Shake hands, Elles. You've discovered now, as I knew you would, and as I myself discovered some years ago, that they have 110 uae in the House of Commons for an average honest citizen. You're going to chuck it, I Buppose ?" "Well," answered Wilfrid, laughing, "I'm going to be chucked, I believe. My present supporters won't hear of me, unless I do public penance in a white sheet, and overtures from the other sido have only been made as a matter of duty, in tlie evident hope that I should decline them. So T am writing to decline. Prom all >I hear, Mr Mildmay is likely to lie your new .member." "Foot Mildmay! How he will hate it all !— and what a time he will have of it with Virginia ! By the way, are you coming to Virginia's afternoon squash presently, or are you nq longer worthy of betas- invited?" • S j Wilfrid had been honoured with an invitation, but had not qnito made up his flundto take advantage of it, he said. : " Oh, you had better come," said Mr Lethbridge -, • " it will be rather fun. You'll meet all manner of queer people— Cabinet Ministers, Irish members, newspaper men— the sort of crew that my wife delights to get together every now and then,°uncjer the impression that she is establishing a political salon. Moreover, I.. hear that Southfield is to be there, as'-ty'ell as Miss Power. If only Bland could he induced to take this opportunity of asking Southfield •his intentions !— but that 'is too much to • hope for, perhaps. Laura, I understand has been catching it hot from Southßeld' Serve her jolly well right, too 1 D ear mo J what an amusing world one lives in when one has the privilege of being Virginia^ husband!" '„,'-' These disjointed remarks had the effect of -persuading Wilfrid to accompany Mr Lethbridge to Tilney Street, where, asi ho had been led to expect, he found hin 3 'elf one of a large crowd of persons who uere discussing the political situation to an | •accompaniment of iced coffeo and sfci-aw-berries and cream. The voice of Sir Sai uiel Bland rose, predominant aud mollifl v ous, above the general hubbub. Ho wa3, a pp a . rently, favouring those near him witli an electoral forecast. "We shall sweep the country," he was saying, " because the heart of the cou ntry is with us ; and England's heart, as all history teaches, has never failed to prove itself mightier than the wisest heads." I " \Yhat," inquired Wilfrid, who * had managed to elbow his way to a cbrnei where Lady Laura was standing, " does that mean ?" „-,,,_ " I liaven't the most distant idea, she replied; "nor, I should imagine, has lie It sounds as if he meant that England ha<

always preferred folly to wisdom; but whether that is the teaching of history or not I can't remember ; I have been so long out of the schoolroom. Perhaps ie doesn't very much matter."

" You don't think that anything matters yery much, do yott ?" asked Wilfrid, raising his eyes for an instant to her beautiful, unimpassioned face, which wore a fixed smile..

" Well," she answered, "nothing that is happening now will matter a straw fifty years hence, by which time most of us, let us hope, will be in our graves. Still, one can't help being a little interested and amused by some of the things which are taking place under one's nose. Just look at Southfleld and Miss Bland, for instance ! Don't you call that an interesting and amusing spectacle ?" With a slight motion of her hand, she directed his gaze to the couple in question, who were seated, side by side, on a sofa at the opposite end of the room, and who did not appear to be making any great effort towards amusing or interesting one another. Lord Southfleld, staring blankly into spaoe and slowly twisting his moustache between his fingers, wore the unmistakable air of one who has been led to the water, but will perish of thirst rather .than drink, while his neighbour, very red in the face, looked as if tears of anger and mortification were not far from her eyes. "It certainly is rather funny," Wilfrid admitted with a laugh; "but what is he doing it for ? Why doesn't ho gob up and go away ?"

"Oh.it is only people of exceptionally strong character, like yourself, who can get np and go away after receiving orders from Virginia. I suppose you realise that you will never be forgiven ?" " For venturing to differ from your sister and Mr Gladstone?"

"Not so much for thafc as for being a failure. It can't be denied that you are a political failure, and Virginia will have nothing to do with failures. That is why she refuses to know that you are in the room."

" I should be the last to deny that I am a total and all-round failure," answered Wilfrid with a touch of bitterness, " and I am quite willing to be ignored. At the same time, I can't think, and I am sure you can't either, that your brother means to gratify Lady Virginia with a success."

"There's really no knowing. At the present moment I should say that a good deal depended upon Miss Power, who, after all, has nothing to gain by being a marplot. It isn't as if Southfield could or would marry her. Don't you think it was rather clever of Virginia to answer malevolent gossips by having Her here to-day ? , Sir Samuel, who admires Virginia much more than he does me, calls it a charming instance of thoughtfulne3 and true womanliness on her part."

Sir Samuel himself, having concluded this oration, camo ambling up at this juncture, and Wilfrid at once moved away. There was no use in being rude to the man, and no possibility of joining politely in a triangular conversation with him and his betrothed.

But what seemed perfectly sensible — if, indeed, it were not absolutely incumbent upon him — was to say a few friendly words, before leaving, to Nora Power, who was talking with much animation to an admiring entourage of ladies and gentlemen. She favoured him with a smiling gesture of recognition as he drew near ; but he had to wait upon the outskirts of the group which surrounded her, and when at length she rose, remarking that she would not have much more than time to get down to the theatre, he doubted whether he would be able to obtain speech of her, after all. He contrived, however, to clear a passage for himself in her wake, and caught her up as she was descending the staircaise after taking leave of her hostess.

"Are you bound for home or for the theatre ?" he began. " May I escort you part of the way ?"

she could answer, Southfield, looking eager and rather pale, was at her elbow. His brougham, he said, was outside; could he drop Miss Power anywhere ?

"Oh, no, thank you!" she returned, laughing. "Other people, lam afraid, would make haste to drop me if I were seen in a brougham with you. Mr Elles is different; I feel that I can afford to walk through Mayfair in his company. So we are going to walk— he and I."

Lord Southfleld glanced interrogatively at Wilfrid, and, receiving a slight responsive nod, fell back. He understood, perhaps, that his interests were likely to be better served by his absence than by his presence just then* Nor would he have thought that the confidence which it had pleased him to repose in a man who might so easily have been his rival had beeu betrayed, if he had overheard the parley which ensued between Wilfrid and Miss Power as soon as

they Avere out in the street. "I have a recantation to make," the former began (for he was resolved not to do things by halves) . " I was wrdng about our friend there, and you were right. I am sorry I tried to make you think badly of him— though, to be sure, I didn't succeed."

" Ons makes so bold as to think for oneself," answered Nora, laughing. "I suspect I know quite as well as you what to think of Lord Southfield. But why this sudden change of opinion?"

He told her as well as he could without making indiscreet revelations. He knew now — and ho though that she ought also to know — what Lord Southfield's feelings and wishes were; he had likewise somo-l thing to say with regard to Lady Vir-. ginia's feelings and wishes ; in a word — or,| rather, a gdod many words - he endeavoured to make the actual position of affairs clear/ and to point out that their future course lay at the mercy of one, and only one, person. " Thank you," said Nora, when ho had finished, "it is very kind of you to have taken all this trouble. But did you think you were telling me any ne-tfs ?" He made a despondent gesture.

" I am so dense !"

"Iwon't.contradict you; though I like you none the worse for that. Of course, Lord Southfield wants to marry me ; I don't know whether you will understand that my riot wanting to marry him is quite as much a matter of course. Pam sorry aliout Mis Bland, who is plain and vulgar, and will give him some bad quarters of an hour, but what wonld you have ? 1 really* oan't put my pride into' my pocket so far -is tb deliver him from her. Lot him deliver himself, if he is eager enough for liberty to think it worth some temporary bothet 1 . r If not, the money-bags must be his compensation."

"I dare say that will be his view* if you refuse him. But will you be wise to refuse him ? "

"You would have to define wisdom before I could answer. I may tell • you, though, that no earthly consideration would ever induce me to accept him. Even if I were wasting away for love of him — and I don't look very much like that, do I? ~-l should say the same. Just imagine the I fi gnre that I should cut ! The Irish adventuress, who had been plotting and scheming all this time to capture a coronet ; tne viper whom poor Lady Virginia had b^ w arming in her bosom ! " ' .fhat is absurd ! You are just as y ,el l ;b6rn as he is, and nobody could dare 0 «S you an adventuress." mii im! onG can ' fc be 'sine; tnere 1B S0 c " audacity about. Even you, yourself, J^epegple might think, aro displaying a

certain amount of it now. Considering, I mean, that it isn't such a very long time since you professed to be eagei to marry me to quito another person."

" I am eager," answered Wilfrid, reddening slightly, " for your happiness." " I see. And was it my father or Lord Southfleld — or both of them, perhaps P —

who begged you to overcome my perversity, if you could ? Never mind ! you have done your best, and I am grateful to you. I am, really and truly. To prove it, I will give you one word of good advice, in return for yours. Lady Laura Mayne isn't Lady Laura Bland yet; I doubt whether she ever will bej unless you wish it. I should wish her to have another surname, if I were you— and I should tell -her so. Now stop a hansom for me, please; I haven't time for any more walking or talking."

Chapter XXXII.

DEFEATS AND VICTORIES.

On a fine, warm morning towards the end of July, Mr Lethbridge was reclining luxuriously in a long cane chair beneath the shelter of a tent which had been erected upon his lawn at Heckingley. Only a few hours before he had arrived from Norway, whither he had betaken himself to kill salmon and escape the turmoil of a general election; he had now had a bath and his breakfast, and the Times, which he was perusing through intermittent clouds of cigarette smoke, afforded him pleasant reading. During the period of his absence, events, public and domestic, had occurred which entitled him to wear a smile of placid satisfaction,' not unmingied with a shade of malice. " Lord !" he murmured, " what a joke it all is ! Or, to speak more accurately, what a capital joke it/would be if one were just a littlo bit : further removed from tho scene t Virginia looked beautifully unconcerned just now ; but that, of course, . was only because appearances had to be kept up in the presence of tho servants. I take it that she will be here in a very few minutes, and then — well, then one will be apt to require all one's philosophy and admirable self-control."

To him, in accordance with anticipation, presently entered tho lady of the hous9, holding a batch of letters and telegrams in her hand. She seated herself beside her husband, and began :

" Now then, Tom !"

" Now, then Virginia ! Place am dames, you know."

" No ; I'll wait to hear what you have to say first. It is sure to be something nice, and you are evidently dying to say it."

"I always try to be nice," MrLethbridge - declared. "What prevents me doing justice to myself is that I am so subject to attacks of unseasonable giggling. I remember to have been frequently whipped, when a boy, in consequence of that constitutional infirmity. And there's a completeness about this — about your defeat, I mean — which would tickle the most sombre of mankind. You'll bear that in mind, won't you ? — and you'll understand that any passing access of what may strike you as unfeeling hilarity implies no lack of sincere condolence ?"

"Go on : I wouldn't interfere with your enjoyment for the world !" "Thanks, very much ! Well, to begin with, we have the total collapse of your revered leader, and the final extinction of his impossible Home Rule scheme." " Don't you be too sure about collapses and extinctions. Great questions are not settled by a single election."

" Not even when the clear-sighted and intellectual agricnltural labourer takes part in them ? Anyhow, you are out in the cold for some years to come — you and your Home Rulers. That is pretty well, as it stands ; but it sinks almost into insignificance by comparison with tho successful revolt of Southfield. Of course I don't know ; but I should have said that if ever you were certain of anything in this world you were certain of being able to prevent him from marrying that girl. Yot he is actually going to marry hei-, it appears, and Miss Bland may wear the willow."

"Nora Power will be no discredit to him," said Lady Virginia. " I am glad I took her up last season. It is a pity that she has no money ; still sho is entirely respectable. And there was always the chance of Southfield marrying somebody not in the least respectable." Mr Lethbridge took the liberty of indulging in one of the laughs for which he had pleaded permission. " And to .crown all," he added, " here is Laura kicking over the traces at the last moment, and dismissing the venerable Samuel with a flea in his ear ! You are not going to pretend, I hope, that that little incident hasn't given you a rather nasty jar." " I never did like the Blands," remarked Lady Virginia, meditatively. " For political reasons one had to be friendly with them ; but they are horribly vulgar people, and I am glad to think that they may now be quietly dropped."

"Your sentiments, dear Virginia, are my own. But 1 must say that I never should have susnected you of entertaining them."

"Ah, but then you never suspect anything that isn't thrust in bold black and white under your very nose. I may make occasional mistakes and miscalculations — I don't' dony that Southfleld has rather astonished me — but I really am not quite the goose that you take me for in your haste."

Lady Virginia added demurely, after a -short pause, '■' I havo just had a telegram from Mr Elles. He is coming down for a few days, and he will he here this afternoon." Mr Lethbridge whistled. "Oh !" said he ; "that's it, is it ?" " I'm sure I dou't know ; I hope so. At all events, even you, Tom; matter-of-fact as you are, must know quito well why Laura accepted old Bland— and why she has thrown him over."

"I am not sure that I understand her motives for throwing him over. She accepted him, of course, because you insisted upon it." "No such thing! She says . she was obliged to break off the engagement because he has a way of cloaring his throat every othor minute which she could never hope to be able to live in the liouse with. As a reason— well, it is a reason."

Mr Lethbridge stuck his hands in his pockets, gazed up at tlie canvas roof above his head, blew a cloud of cigarette smoke, aud chuckled. " Poor Elles !" he remarked.

But it is not certain that the ex-member for the Heckingloy Division, who was at that moment in a railway-carriage, on his way down to the district he had ceased to represent, was so very much to be pitied. It is true that he was still sorry for himself and still under the impression that ho had' made an unmitigated failure of his life so far as it had gone ; yet recent occurrences had been of a more or less consolatory nature to -hun. Politically he was able to feel that ms action had been approved and confirmed by a majority of Sellow-countrymen, whilo m the category of private affairs he had nothing but the most sincere congratulations to offer tc himself and his friends. He had heard .r! „-, na nleasure and without a w lt h gemime pleas Southfield . s a llthat f COuldbedesir^ re explanations. .W hs were moro Rathfinnan; stage W P matters did nofc seem to be e ™° Jj£ p i ace in the -autumn, i wedding was to iano F^ 1 -

Nora, to be suro, had the grace to make some allusion to the disdainful repudiation of her future husband which she had announced not so very long before. " But I daresay you will understand," sho wrote, " that one doesn't always mean exactly everythingthatonosays — you ought to be able to understand that, if anybody ought ! — and I have been brought to see how silly and wicked it would be of me to throw away all I care for on account of the fears which I nieutioned to you that afternoon. Southfleld says, truly enough, that he will have a much worse time than I shall, and he is prepared to face it. So I have changed my mind, and if you like to smile, you may. I am delighted to hear that Lady Laura Mayne has changed hers. Perhaps you may find something to smile at in that also."

Now, it is a fact that Wilfrid, while musing in the corner of the railwaycarriage, had a smile, indicative of moderate contentment, upon his lips. It was undeniably pleasant to havo baen summoned, iv the friendliest fashion, to a house which he had scarcely expected to visit again, and to have received that proof that a lady to whom he was much attached did not propose to decline his future acquaintance by reason of his somewhat ignominious retirement from public life. Legitimate satisfaction belonged also to the prospect of hearing from Lady Laura .Mayne the* story of her rupture with Sir Saruuol Bland. For as yet he knew no more than the bare fact that the engagement was off.

He was informed, on his arrival, that tbe Ladies were in the tent on the lawn ; but it so happened that he found only one of them there, and her surprise at the sight of him was so obvious as to be a little embarrassing.

" I really was invited," he felt bound to state, after shaking hands. " Wasn't I expected ?"

" Not by me," Lady Laura replied, wifch a slight laugh ; " but Virginia has only gone down to the walled garden, and will be back presently. I never know what visitors are expected in this house," she added, by way of excusing herself.

"Then I suppose," said Wilfrid, "you looked so astonished because I am such a very improbable person to have been asked to this liouse."

" Well, you have made yourself a little bit improbable nowadays, haven't you ? Not the less welcome, though. Won't you sit down ? "

Beneath her outward composure thera was a suggestion of nervousness wliich he did not fail to discern. He himself was absurdly nervous : so much so that he was fain to discourse for a considerable time about the discomfiture of Mr Gladstone before he found courage to allude to that of Sir Samuel Bland. But Sir Samuel, it appeared, had not been at all discomfited.

" Our rupture," Lady Laura said, "was the simplest and easiest thing in the world. I told him that I was really ashamed of myself, and he begged mp not to mention it. The truth was that he was only too glad to be off his bargain. For a week or more I had been doing all I knew to convince him that if he married me he would marry a species of malignant idiot, and he was thoroughly frightened. Then, of course, he was furious about Southfield. I believe he afterwards gave Virginia to understand that he had had more than enough of us, as a family. But Virginia is rather reticent about that' finai i: interview."

After an interval of silence,- Wilfrid ingenuously resumed :

"I wonder what made your sister offer hospitality to an apostate like me ! I was fully prepared to be struck out of her visiting list for the future."

Lady Laura hurst out laughing.

" Oh, come, Mr Elles you l?now Virginia well enough to guess why you are hore, and you and I know one another well enough, I hope, to enjoy the joke. At one time, as you, must be quite well aware, Virginia was kind enough to offer you to me as an alternative to Sir Samuel Bland. Sir Samuel being now disqualified, she naturally falls back upon her second string. That really need not make either of us uncomfortable. You are certainly not going to malce rae an offer of marriage, and if you were, I sliould respectfully decline the honour ; so there's no harm done."

By means of what clumsy asseverations (he was afterwards assured that they had been phenomenally clumsy), Wilfrid managed to convince Lady Laura that an offer of marriage was the very thing which he was bent upon making he hardly knew. He was a good deal agitated and impeded by a sense that his statements were not, upon the face of them, such as to command ready credence. But nothing could have been more direct, unequivocal and final than the refusal with which his halting eloquence was met.

"Not if my life depended upon it!" Lady Laura declared. " No ; not even if you really desired this as much as you don't! A mariage de convenance— well, perhaps I shouldn't have said no : for we have always got on pretty well together. But from the moment tliat you begin pretending to be in love with me "

"It's no pretence; it's strict, sober reality!" Wilfrid eagerly declared. "I want to be perfectly honest; so I won't deny that I loved Miss Power once. Never mind how much or how little ; I only say that I loved her once, and that I love you now. Can't you believe that ?"

The girl smiled.

"Suppose we strike a bargain?" she suggested. "I will try to believe in your auxiety to marry me if you will be so good as to believe that— notwithstanding anything you may have bean told— l haven't the shadow of a wish to marry you." But, as this did not happen to bo the truth, and as, in cases where the tender passion is concerned, truth is apt to show itself great and prevail, Lady Virginia, on her return from the walled gardon, received a piece of intelligence wliich pleased without surprising her. " It lias taken some manoeuvring to make a happy man of you," she observed to Wilfrid, some hours later, " but I flatter myself that the fact may now be regarded as accomplished."

" Really, this is a little too much !" exclaimed Wilfrid laughing. « I confess to being happy ; but I can't allow you, of all people, to claim credit for having taken the yoke of parliamentary life off my neck and having delivered poor Laura from the jaws of the monster, Bland." "I claim credit for having moulded you. Lady Virginia rejoined coolly. But for me, you wouldn't yet have discovered what you are— a good fellow, but a hopelessly iuept politician—and you would have^ wasted many years in the House of Commons which you will now employ much more pleasantly and profitably as a country gentleman. As for bir Samuel Bland, it was you, not I, who made him inevitable. I meant you for Laura all along, only y OU chose to misunderstand.

She shrugged her shoulders and smiled retrospectively We all have our weak potnts, and ,f Lady Virginia Lethbridge was under the impression that nine men out o every ton to whom she made friendly advances fell victims to her personal attractive,^, nobody wh knev / her during the period with which this narrative has dea fc will be disposed to call that assumption a very extravagant one. been'SolSgSSfuC^ V* pleased to el the^^C^my de!

feat ; and lam sure that you are of one mind with him. But you are both mistaken; lam not a bit defeated. Nor is Home Rule."

" For tho present, surely !"

"Oh, for the present, yes. Like Catholic Emancipation and the repeal of the Corn Laws, and the extension of the suffrage and every other just and generousmeasuie which has had to wait. But it is quite certain to come; a policy of mere resistance never wins."

*' Meanwhile the great Liberal Party has ceased to exist." , " Well, everything and everybody must die some day. I hope you won't die before the Irish Parliament assembles again in College Grreen, for I don't wish Laura to be a young.widow."

" So long as I am not called upon to vote for it !"

' " You couldn't sum yourself up more admirably or concisely. And you won't be called upon to vote tor or against it ; I foresee that nothing will ever drive you back into Parliament. You are going to be a happy, healthy, humdrum being, with a wife who will approve unconditionally of everything that you do and say."

" There is a cocksureness about your predictions, Virginia," remarked Mr Lethbridge, who had strolled across the room in time to overhear the concluding portion of the above dialogue, " which is most cheer-; ing and enlivening to a man who, like myself, is upon the confines of middle age. Qui vivra verra. In tho smoking - room, Elles, are cooling drinks. Lat us go and bury our heads in them, for the necessities of the presont must lie attended to, and tho future belongs neither to you nor to me, nor even to Virginia."

fTHE End I