A Voyage of Consolation Part 36

We even went down to the station to meet them, where recriminations and congratulations were so mingled that it was impossible, for some time, to tell whether we were most blessed or banned. Even in the confusion of the moment, however, I noticed that Mr. Mafferton made Miss Callis's baggage his special care, and saw clearly in the cordiality of her sentiments toward me, and the firmness of her manner in ordering him about, that the future peer had reached his last alternative.

I rejoice to add that the day also showed that even Count Filgiatti had fallen, in the general ordering of fates, upon happiness with honour. I noticed that Emmeline vigorously protected him from the Customs officer who wished to confiscate his cigarettes, and I mentioned her air of proprietorship to her father.

"Why, yes," said Mr. Malt, "he offered himself as a count you see, and Emmeline seemed to think she'd like to have one, so I closed with him.

There isn't anything likely to come of it for three or four years, but he's willing to wait, and she's got to grow."

I expressed my felicitations, and Mr. Malt added somewhat regretfully that it would have been better if he'd had more in his clothes, but that was what you had to expect with counts; as a rule they didn't seem to have what you might call any money use for pockets. In the meantime they were taking him home to educate him in the duties of American citizenship. Emmeline put it to me briefly, "I'm not any Daisy Miller,"

she said, "and I prefer to live out of Rome."

Once a year the present Lady Mafferton invites Mrs. Portheris to tea, and I know they discuss my theory of engagements in a critical spirit.

We have never seen either Miss Nancy or Miss Cora Bingham again, and I should have forgotten the names of Mr. Pabbley and Mr. Hinkson by this time if I had not written them down in earlier chapters. Arthur and I have not yet made up our minds to another visit to England. We have several friends there, however, whom we appreciate exceedingly, in spite, as we often say to one another, of their absurd and deplorable accent.

THE END.

D. APPLETON & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.

RICHARD MALCOLM JOHNSTON'S STORIES.

_WIDOW GUTHRIE.

"The Widow Guthrie stands out more boldly than any other figure we know--a figure curiously compounded of cynical hardness, blind love, and broken-hearted pathos.... A strong and interesting study of Georgia characteristics without depending upon dialect. There is just sufficient mannerism and change of speech to give piquancy to the whole."--_Baltimore Sun._

"Southern humor is droll and thoroughly genuine, and Colonel Johnston is one of its prophets. The Widow Guthrie is admirably drawn. She would have delighted Thackeray. The story which bears her name is one of the best studies of Southern life which we possess."--_Christian Union._

_THE PRIMES AND THEIR NEIGHBORS._ Ill.u.s.trated by Kemble, Frost, and others. 12mo. Cloth, uniform with "Widow Guthrie," $1.25. Also in paper, not ill.u.s.trated, 50 cents.

"The South ought to erect a monument in grat.i.tude to Richard Malcolm Johnston. While scores of writers have been looking for odd Southern characters and customs and writing them up as curiosities, Mr. Johnston has been content to tell stories in which all the people are such as might be found in almost any Southern village before the war, and the incidents are those of the social life of the people, uncomplicated by anything which happened during the late unpleasantness."--_New York Herald._

"These ten short stories are full of queer people, who not only talk but act in a sort of dialect. Their one interest is their winning oddity.

They are as truly native to the soil as are the people of 'Widow Guthrie.' In both books the humor is genuine, and the local coloring is bright and attractive."--_New York Commercial Advertiser._

_THE CHRONICLES OF MR. BILL WILLIAMS._ (Dukesborough Tales.) 12mo.

Paper, 50 cents; cloth, with Portrait of the Author, $1.00.

"A delightful originality characterizes these stories, which may take a high rank in our native fiction that depicts the various phases of the national life. Their humor is equally genuine and keen, and their pathos is delicate and searching."--_Boston Sat.u.r.day Evening Gazette._

"Stripped of their bristling envelope of dialect, the core of these experiences emerges as lumps of pure comedy, as refreshing as traveler's trees in a thirsty land; and the literary South may be grateful that it has a living writer able and willing to cultivate a neglected patch of its wide domain with such charming skill."--_The Critic._

_MR. FORTNER'S MARITAL CLAIMS, and Other Stories._ 16mo. Boards, 50 cents.

"When the last story is finished we feel, in imitation of Oliver Twist, like asking for more."--_Public Opinion._

"Quaint and lifelike pictures, as characteristic in dialect as in description, of Georgia scenes and characters, and the quaintness of its humor is entertaining and delightful."--_Washington Public Opinion._

D. APPLETON & CO., 72 Fifth Avenue. New York.

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY'S PUBLICATIONS.

BEATRICE WHITBY'S NOVELS.

_SUNSET._

"'Sunset' will fully meet the expectations of Miss Whitby's many admirers, while for those (if such there be) who may not know her former books it will form a very appetizing introduction to these justly popular stories."--_London Globe._

_THE AWAKENING OF MARY FENWICK._

"Miss Whitby is far above the average novelist.... This story is original without seeming ingenious, and powerful without being overdrawn."--_New York Commercial Advertiser._

_PART OF THE PROPERTY._

"The book is a thoroughly good one. The theme is the rebellion of a spirited girl against a match which has been arranged for her without her knowledge or consent.... It is refreshing to read a novel in which there is not a trace of slipshod work."--_London Spectator._

_A MATTER OF SKILL._

"A very charming love story, whose heroine is drawn with original skill and beauty, and whom everybody will love for her splendid if very independent character."--_Boston Home Journal._

_ONE REASON WHY._

"A remarkably well-written story.... The author makes her people speak the language of everyday life, and a vigorous and attractive realism pervades the book."--_Boston Sat.u.r.day Evening Gazette._

_IN THE SUNTIME OF HER YOUTH._

"The story has a refreshing air of novelty, and the people that figure in it are depicted with a vivacity and subtlety that are very attractive."--_Boston Beacon._

_MARY FENWICK'S DAUGHTER._