Show A CHUBBYFACED HERO The Girl Laughed n Him nt Pirsf Bat Does So Ko Longer So some people say that all men ara not cowards by right of their sex For my part I can not entirely agree with this Cowards are only folk who have not such a sense of personal dignity as their more fortunate fel lowsYet Yet for all that women admire courage cour-age more in a man than any other quality Precisely They know how ridicu lously stupid they are themselves and how it is hardly possible to find courage cour-age where it exists as to find a modiste with new ideas There were four or five of us teated in the little yellow tea room and if was the time of twilight so the lamps were not lit and no candle flame was reflected in the Venetian griandoles And the firelight flickered and tho scent of the Mentone roses in the big bowl mingled with that of the strong pekoe and were hipped and dull and distrait and all the rest of it Yes said our Constance the Constance Con-stance the guide I dont mean pro fessional lady guide but the ameieur kind of thing which is not after all always the more pleasant the philosopher phil-osopher for she has read Comte ind actually laughs over Monsieur Aronct De Voltaire which is very wrong of her And friend she never wants to rob any other woman of anything She has got plenty of her own good looks included and has no occasion to be Jealous Happy composition Better than that of any Mme Racnel to make the face look pleasant I once knew a brave man But did yon know he was brave when you knew him or only until af terI I fancy that when this question was asked our Constance moved uneasily on the chair for though she is a widow of not the least marriageable tendency and with the best of jointures she is not always as a matter of course I composure its very self She put the Burmese handscreen before her face although she was not nearly near enough to the fire to feel the heat uncomfortably un-comfortably Yes I did know a man who was brave once It was a long time ago How well I remember it all He was one of those rosyfaced subs that are such favorites with our friend Rud yard Kipling Here someone must needs break in withOn On the road to Mandalav Where the old flotilla lay Constance kept quiet for a few seconds sec-onds No he was not bound for Mandalay though it was at Shepards at Cairo where I met him last We were tak ing the journey easily He was on the rush to join the One Hundred and Fif tieth up on the hills I think I see hint now He was rather thickset as well as chubbyfaced and he had a knack of wearing gloves of which the buttons were burst off They said he passed very well in the competition and that he was a good I drill and all that sort of thing But as I said before he was chubbyfaced he was thickset and the buttons would 1 come off his gloves What girl of 18 could possibly submit to that There was a chorus Of course not much too absurd an idea altogether Yes I suppose the idea was too absurd ab-surd at any rate for a girl of 18 Besides Be-sides he blushed dreadfully and that of itself was sufficient to cjreate a revulsion re-vulsion of feeling I think I see him I now as I sat under one of those hideous hid-eous white umbrellas and the servants moved to and fro and the puggariea fell down flat and limp in the breezeless breeze-less air I am going Constance he said May I call you Constance as it is the last time I may speak You have done so without asking ask-ing I answered Tis really too familiar fa-miliar but as you are going on a fighting fight-ing expedition perhaps I may overlook it Of course he muttered something about loving me better than his life and all that sort of thing but one expects ex-pects that sort of thing from the rosy faced sub Perhaps this may be the last time I may see you I may he shot 0 really dont be too sentimental It will make such a difference to your relations Think of your parents or uncles or aunts They wont have to make you an allowance any longer He sighed walked away A yean after I took up the Times one day and read a telegram from Afghan He had been severely wounded cutting out and saving a brace of Ghoorkashad been recommended for the Victoria cross And so he came home a victorious heroNo No he lies In that very damp cemetery ceme-tery by Simla But I suppose some of his people were pleased at his getting the Victoria crossHe had no people to be pleased I wonder what became of the Victoria Vic-toria cross 0 dont be so dismally sentimental have a nice piece of music said Blanche Fitzroy and she sat herself down in the dark to the piano laughed and struck up the Marche Funebre Constance moved In her chair and let > the Burmese fan fall on the carpet I wish you wouldnt do that And the pianist who is goodnatured If stupid left off About a month after I was looking through Constances jewel case and in one of the drawers I came across a Victoria cross ugliest bit of bronze metal and a faded cartedevisite of I the chubbyfaced who looked half choked with his collar I do not want anyone playing with those Put them down my dear I After all I think he had the womans i tears that should fall at La Mort dun Heros I I He sleeps at Simla She can not always sleep without the help of chloral When she lies awake does she ever > think of him You see after all he was a hero though he did burst the buttons off his I gloves |