Literature.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 255, 1 November 1904, Page 4

Literature.

A FUTILE STRATAGEM. ■*' You may imagine how it has annoyed me," she said, serenely. Lady Elizabeth having realised the ageing effects of a lugubrious expression, seldom permitted herself to exhibit any outward and \Ublp signs of unhappiness. She was aware that, although ugliness might be accounted mereiy a misfortune, an appearance of decrepitude was considered little leas than a crime. " Put yourself ion my place as the mother of six unmarried daughters, of whom the eldest is twenty-five, and as obstinate as a mule," she continued—baffling an impertinent sunbeam which had penetrated the leafy mulberry tree by unfurling a scarlet umbrella—" picturo yourself with mortages l on all your property, a sinfully extravagant son, and a personal predilection, for playing bridge till the small hours—" " Please don't ! " entreated Tyrrell, pathetically. " Your home always seemed to me so absolutely perfect. Your parties, your children, your very motors have always struck me as much nicer than other people's. Don't suggest there is a serpent after all intheis modern earthly Paradise." Lady Elizabtth smiled placidly. She . rarely laughed, having been .warned of the deteriorating effects of exuberant mirth on the feminine figure.

" One must keep one's sepulchres •heavily whitened in thene days ; but they are sepulchres, u. .u\ all. Society is a game of buff on a large scale—oh, I'm not supposing that that remark is original .I— -and one must, play it as long as one can. And if Rosalie had only had the sense to accept young Briggs " " Y'ou- can't seriously mean . that you are isorry itnat your daughter refused that egregious young bounder, ? " said Tyrrell, putting;' down ins cigarette. " Not a single soul can I get to back me up ! " lamented Lady Elizabeth, with a " Thou also, Brutus ! " look in her eye. " Ah, well ; We shall be in the workhouse before long, no doubt. Romance and high ialuting notions sound, theoretically, delightful ; but one can't rear a family on .sentiment in .this practical age."

" Mass Ivett is sure to have other chances, probably equally good from a pecuniary point of view," suggested Colonel Tyrrell, consolingly, " Other chances ! " When he fully expected that every unappropriate bachelor who beheld lovely Rosalie .would fall down and worship the ground she had deigned to walk upop!

"My dear Edward "—Tyrrell had >, lieen Lord Ivett's " fag" at Eton,, and was exactly six years junior to I that well-preserved and perpetually •hand-up Peer "if she refuses other eligble men as heartlessly as she did poor Biggs, we shan't be much ' forrader,' as old Jenkins jvould say. Bosid.es, if she does not '. marry this summer " Lady Eli-] ; zabeth- shrugged her lace-decked J: shoulders expressively, Tyrrell was gazing meditatively at \ • a cornfield which bounded the horizon ' on hia extreme, left. He was wonder- •■ ing what his hostess was driving at, having concluded some minutes pre■f—sviously, that she had not arranged 4 the tete-a-tete solely from a desire A to amuse herself. * Lady Elizabeth scrutinised his averted face anxiously. Its imperturable expression, seemed to satisfy her, and she nerved herself for. the stroke jwhich she had been contemplating oyer since Rosalie's confession of her •- rejection- of Jack Briggs and his mon-ey-bags two dajß earlier " The fact is, Edward—the idea is! too ridiculous, of course—but I ver- . ily beUeve tie foolish girl is in love % .with yoti !•"

iady Elizabeth was carelessly rearranging, the cubWoub of her gar-den-chair as she spoke. Her tone implied milH amusement and a good deal of irrtteUen. Tyrrell Knocked the ash from his cigarette into the small gun-metal tray which stood on the rustic table ibesifttihiui. "I really don't quite see why you are telling melius;" he rejoined coolly, "ft is a foregone conclusion that you would disapprove of me as a son»m-law———" "You are really too funny, Edward," said Lady Elizabeth, gaily. , Tyrrell was evidently going to prove manageable after all. Some middle-aged men might have been flattered by the revelation of a young and.pretty girl's affection. She had had some misgivings as to the result of her- frankness when she re- , membered -his chivalrous, almost quixotic, reputation. He had struck her as a man who might have in.sistedon doing something, rash and self-sacrificing. His manner, however* *e-assured her. She heaved a sigh of relief. "No, my,-dear boy, I don't expect you to make a-martyr of yourself. Neither is it probable that P.osalie will pine away after the fashion of the love-lorn early Victorian damsel. Thank Heaven, oup family have too much spirit to go in for sitting on monuments and smiling at grief!" "Then I cannot see where I come i in."

"Can't you ? It hasn't occurred to you that Bosalie might have accepted poor young Briggß if she had not - imagined-heroelf in love with you? And you; know her romantic, only-marry-for-love notions." Tyrrell .was silent. He was askng himself whether any other mother and daughter could be built on such •widely diverging Hnes as this scheming, worWy woman and Bosalie, "Do you remember going to see ' David Garrick ' with us in the spring ?" said her ladyship, abruptly-

Tyrrell nodded. Had he not spent that halcyon evening: by Rosalie's side, while Lady Eliaalbeth had devoted herself to the entertainment of the dull Dowager Duchess of Wandsworth in the front of the box. He remembered that Rosalie had .worn a blue frock and had cried softly through the last act. 1 "If you would only play David Parrick .to Rosalia's Ada Ingot, matters might right themselves. Of course, you need not smash the tumblers or make yourself quite such a laughing-stock as poor D a vy, in order to disillusionise Rosalie. You must be mora modern and artistic. You might begin, for instance, by making love to Mrs Van Drennan." i'- What -would only snub me unmercifully,! You forget I am elderly, impecunious, and minus even a third cousin in the Peerage." , -V Considering you have hardly been even civil to the poor woman And talk of;«B: : angel, here she comes ! Now, do have the decency to ask her if-She has enjoyed herself." ■ Mrs. Van Drennan trailed her scarlet linen skirts across the lawn and gank into the chair proffered by Colonel : Tyrrell. '* Motoring in this weather makes njß tired," she professed, putting a lump of sugar into her tea with her fingers. "Say, could you undo the ends of tire veil. Colonel. I feel for all the world like a pig in a poke tied up in this thing, and I'm sure I look a perfect fright." Tyrrell, as in duty bound, protested that under no oircumstanscs and in »o guise could Mrs. Van Drennan appear anything but charming. (To be continued.)