In truth the beauty of this fair creature was of a rare type, and may
well excuse a moment of our time spent in its consideration. It did not
consist in the fact that she had eyes, nose, mouth, chin, hair, ears, it
consisted in their arrangement. In true beauty, more depends upon right
location and judicious distribution of feature than upon multiplicity of
them. So also as regards color. The very combination of colors which in
a volcanic irruption would add beauty to a landscape might detach it from
a girl. Such was Gwendolen Sellers.
The family circle being completed by Gwendolen’s arrival, it was decreed
that the official mourning should now begin; that it should begin at six
o’clock every evening, (the dinner hour,) and end with the dinner.
“It’s a grand old line, major, a sublime old line, and deserves to be
mourned for, almost royally; almost imperially, I may say. Er–Lady
Gwendolen–but she’s gone; never mind; I wanted my Peerage; I’ll fetch it
myself, presently, and show you a thing or two that will give you a
realizing idea of what our house is. I’ve been glancing through Burke,
and I find that of William the Conqueror’s sixty-four natural ah–
my dear, would you mind getting me that book? It’s on the escritoire in
our boudoir. Yes, as I was saying, there’s only St. Albans, Buccleugh
and Grafton ahead of us on the list–all the rest of the British nobility
are in procession behind us. Ah, thanks, my lady. Now then, we turn to
William, and we find–letter for XYZ? Oh, splendid–when’d you get it?”
“Last night; but I was asleep before you came, you were out so late; and
when I came to breakfast Miss Gwendolen–well, she knocked everything out
of me, you know–”
“Wonderful girl, wonderful; her great origin is detectable in her step,
her carriage, her features–but what does he say? Come, this is
exciting.”
“I haven’t read it–er–Rossm–Mr. Rossm–er–”
“M’lord! Just cut it short like that. It’s the English way. I’ll open
it. Ah, now let’s see.”
A. TO YOU KNOW WHO. Think I know you. Wait ten days. Coming to
Washington.
The excitement died out of both men’s faces. There was a brooding
silence for a while, then the younger one said with a sigh:
“Why, we can’t wait ten days for the money.”
“No–the man’s unreasonable; we are down to the bed rock, financially
speaking.”
“If we could explain to him in some way, that we are so situated that
time is of the utmost importance to us–”
“Yes–yes, that’s it–and so if it would be as convenient for him to come
at once it would be a great accommodation to us, and one which we–which
we–which we–wh–well, which we should sincerely appreciate–”
“That’s it–and most gladly reciprocate–”
“Certainly–that’ll fetch him. Worded right, if he’s a man–got any of
the feelings of a man, sympathies and all that, he’ll be here inside of
twenty-four hours. Pen and paper–come, we’ll get right at it.”
Between them they framed twenty-two different advertisements, but none
was satisfactory. A main fault in all of them was urgency. That feature
was very troublesome: if made prominent, it was calculated to excite
Pete’s suspicion; if modified below the suspicion-point it was flat and
meaningless. Finally the Colonel resigned, and said:
“I have noticed, in such literary experiences as I have had, that one of
the most taking things to do is to conceal your meaning when you are
trying to conceal it. Whereas, if you go at literature with a free
conscience and nothing to conceal, you can turn out a book, every time,
that the very elect can’t understand. They all do.”
Then Hawkins resigned also, and the two agreed that they must manage to
wait the ten days some how or other. Next, they caught a ray of cheer:
since they had something definite to go upon, now, they could probably
borrow money on the reward–enough, at any rate, to tide them over till
they got it; and meantime the materializing recipe would be perfected,
and then good bye to trouble for good and all.
The next day, May the tenth, a couple of things happened–among others.