Show r 1 i t Fred w Koso 1 RUMS cur ION S 1 In Black and White 1 r V 44c1qt14 w ollln < r 2 IIJr 1 > A r I I Amid hearty lighter and applause the urtain fell rail In response to relocated re-located cries ot Author Author Vane Kingston came forward and bowed True It was net a dinicult audience people from the neighboring villages and j friends staying at the castle who knew and liked the young man but among these was old Morton Thomson whose comedies had been played in several London theaters The cordial words of the old dramatist therefore gave Vane more pleasure than he had ever hoped from a work which he looked upon as I trivial Ho was still at Oxford destined II I to enter the Colonial ofllce but with se cret ambitions for literary fame There I had been talk of getting up theatricals J I and as there was much diversity of opinion opin-ion as to what play should be selected he had seized a quaint Idea which occurred oc-curred t1 him and working It up In three clays he had knocked off the little farce Rumsculllonfl which had been so well received The absurd title caught the people fancy and not only among the guests at the castle but also among the villagers It was common to hear such remarks as Whoy ce do scorn to be n reglar old Rumscullion doant nee or My dear Dl 1 what a pair of KumsuulHons people would think us If we did Now although Vane Kingston proba ably set as low a value on his production produc-tion as any one still it Is always a pleas ure to a young man or even to an older I one to find that an idea which has started In his brain is taken up and becomes be-comes current coin among even a small public Thou too how natural for him to think If this trifle which cost me so little trouble takes the fancy of people peo-ple so different as Lord Hepburn Canon Do war Airs Fllchlty Miss Gravedene and Forbes the keeper how much more shall I Oe able to succeed when I give them really of my best On returning to Oxford he found Hint the news of his triumph had preceded him for a few days later at a wine In his rooms the conversation turned upon his farce and nothing would satisfy his friends but he must read it to them The reading was received with acclamation acclama-tion and from that day he wa dubbed Rumsculllon not only by his own friends but by men In other colleges This measure of fame envied by many an undcrgrrid wns not entirely pleasant 1 pleas-ant and when a few months later ho r had entered the Colonial olllce he was half sorry to llnd that one of his new I Continued on Pago 10 I s Ii t i I 1 6RUMSCULLHONS 1 I Continued from Pane 23 oclkagucs with whom he had struck up i a sort of Intimacy called him by the The I now too wellknown nickname slight annoyance of these happenings ought to have been a warning to him I yet that Inborn vanity which dwells in inost men and has even been discovered on rare occasions in the more perfect I Hex caused each wellmeant Intimation of the kindlier fates to fall on deaf or I dulled cars One evening the tempter In the Jovial i guise of Norton Thomson appeared and I after that was the end Nor need we of riper experience be adamant toward I I any young man of fourandlwenly who should In such a case fall to discern the I snake amidst the flowers I am glad to meet you again said the dramatist he found I heartily shaking hands 03 himself next to Vone by the withdrawal of the atlracthe portion of the company I i after dinner Do you know I have often thought of your little farce capital capi-tal Idea but you should expand it a bit I Introduce a little love element of the lighter ort Just a pinch of sentiment or even pathos If I you will and then a comic footman or groom with a smart saucy maid as a foil to the other coupleIt I will bear stretching to three acts ill give you n hand If you like but I am sure you can do It better by yourself I and I will set the technical details right for you If you will bring It to me when i Is done Then my lad well get Brain tree to put It on nt the Piccadilly and Ill stake my reputallon it runs three months Vane was dazzled London theater his name all over the town welcome checks dropping In from time to tlmcl Small wonder that these prospects appealed ap-pealed to the young mans fancy which had not yet felt the Influence of spring II Three years after Vanes fateful meetIng meet-Ing with the dramatist the two men were at a picnic on the river livery one wanted the successful author now This had Its pleasurable side no doubt hut at the same time It was rather wearisome weari-some to find that there was only one subject upon which Indies over spoke to him the unprecedented run of his pIn Sweet are the honeyed accents of i his admiring matron sweeter perhaps the superlative raptures of the Ingenue how sweet how sweet how beastly sweet after a time pail I Such reflections were passing through Vanes mind as he wandered away from I the rest of the party a matter requiring I come strategy to accomplish He Hung I J hImself down in the long grass and I lighted a cigarette Soon he was aware I of a luivlow falling upon him and Morton Mor-ton Thomson stood beside him t AIl you turninG for a moment from I tl lu contemplation of a dramatIc art to I the ealnT dellght of nature asked p Hit1 elder lan with u slight acidity of tone toneOh i Oh bosh paid Vane rudely L J My dear fellow dont let this success > tuin your bead and mlle you outgrow your boots iiinl lose your manners 1 Vane wis silent I was I always the 4 first t admit that your face was clever i and contained a distinctly original Idea I I but this continued run of over two years I f J simply absurd and bars out the truth pf Carlylca celebrated dictum mostly fools Come lad dont Imagine you are Shakespeares rival yet though you l have passed an old stager like myself on the road Vane sprang to his feet Thomson he said gravely you dont understand me I know how grateful I should be to you but the fact la when I think of L my wretched play I always feel inclined to damn you and above all to damn RumsctilHons Halloa whats up now young fellow fel-low cried Thomson In surprise Whats up Eel thlngR up with me Here am I a sentient rational I being of 27 with hopes and alms In I life and I can do nothing because of I this millstone around my neck I have written asocial problem play and a comedy which havo taken two years of my leisure1 and the best of my brains and not r manager will look at them They may be good or they may be bad I conceive it possible that the public and I may take different views of their merit but I have been to every manager In London with them and though they receive me civilly It Is the same endless refrain This Is very well but there is no room for It Now If you would only do something on the lines of Rumsculllons Good God am I to be condemned for the I rest of my life to writing driveling I nonsense The tears rose to the young mans eyes as he spoke and Thomson seizing seiz-ing him by the hand gave It a vigorous vigor-ous shake saying Thank God you are not spoilt and you v > ill grow out of It RumscullIons cant run forever for-ever III Later on in the day some pretext of washing teacups had led Vane Kingston Kings-ton and Miss Lily Botcler down to the backwater whert a boat lay under the drooping willows The red light of the sinking sun tinged the tops of the trees with a warmer glow Swallows Swal-lows skimmed low over the water and now and then In a Haah of blue and purple a Jeweled kingfisher dashed up and down the stream This girl at least had some originality She could talk of other subjects than the stage and Vanes wonderful work Indeed she never mentioned It her dreams and aspirations being quite other In fact drunken cabmen filled her mind To make them sober the task her method n club Here a scientific lecture lec-ture on the deterioration of animal life under the action of alcohol might be brightened by tho lurid lights of The boy stood on the burning deck and a small dose of wellchoaen admonition admoni-tion should be helped down by the Jam of young ladles fresh young I voices She was a tall wellmade girl with more beauty than Is to be looked for In maidens occupied with thise schemes for surely people should In such cases be satisfied with the beauty of the mind Vane had been much attracted the first line they met and he had wIllingly ingly accompanied her to one of the club meetings but the result of that visit hud not been satisfactory tp either of the young peoplij He had been placed between two men in an advanced ad-vanced stage of drunkenness who seemed to think harmony would be best promoted by a standup fight Thus ho had no chance of 1 word with Miss Botcher until she asked him to sing and he had quite ruined the good effect he had produced upon her mind while ho acted as n buuor between the agrcsslve Jehus by singing Thats Why Jane and Me Fell Out after which the cabmen voted every other entertainment slow The result of his unlucky evening had been to Impress Lily with the Idea that Vane was a hopelessly frivolous i man with no soul above well above Rumscullions but with the true Christian spirit she fell that the more frivolous or degraded a fclloucreature might be the more was It her duty to let him profit by h the companionship of a highminded and pureFouled lady like herself Vane Kingston was not the llist person who had misinterpreted I the degree aroused by him In n kindhearted kind-hearted person of the nobler sex He i thought as they sat In the boat dangling I dan-gling cups and saucers In the water I that after all there was a refuge from I his troubles which he fancied within his reach Lily said he softly aa I he fixed his eyes upon her do you know why I have come here with you I I Can you not guess To wash teacups was the prompt I reply replyNay Nay you pretend to misunderstand Dont you see how In dipping this saucer into the limpid water all Us stains arc removed Ho gave It a gve swirl through the water and It slipped from his fingers settling demurely at I the bottom Even so dear Lily I long to plunge Into the clear depths of your sweet soul I Miss Boteler was startled and her presence of mind quite left her The only thing that she could think of was Q noticeboard at the opening of the backwater which bore the legend No bathing allowed after 7 oclock Though not quite without relevancy It struck her that she could hardly he making the appropriate remark by quoting this noticeboard so she fell back lamely on Oh you must not do thatVane Vane had drawn near her and seized her hand Whether her remark applied ap-plied to his expressed desire to explore depths or to his action who shall determine de-termine perhaps equally to both 4 Lily I love you wont jou give mo the right to this little hand he asked This declaration wow not altogether displeasing to the young lady for she thought there might be many a less presentable lover but na she looked I furtively at him the thought flashed through her brain To be called Mrs Rumsculllon I ain so sorry so very sorry Mr Kingston she said and this was partly part-ly true but I could never be yours She dlsenagcgd her hand from his and began gathering up some teacups Will you give me no hope at u I 1 he asked gloomily I would be only cruel of me If I did she replied as she climbed the bank to Join the rest of the party Vane tried fishing up the lost saucer with a boalhook This sport requires nerve otherwise 11 Is easier to spear the prey So Kingston found IV A dozen years had passed since Vane Kingston had made his unsuccessful bid for a wife He had struggled bravely brave-ly to strike out new lines In various paths ot literature but beyond getting a very Informing article on Central Africa accepted by OnC of the more no rloua reviews he had been uniformly a failure Ant yet manaRors of thea terrf constantly asked him for a farce Finding that he must either comply with their request or he forever known us the author of Rumsculllona he gave way to the temptation to have the name of some other work associated asso-ciated with his own The new farcical comedy as such performances were now called was awaited with eager ness and seats for the first night of Tillys Granpa fetched high prices From that day Kingston flung down hls pen determined to devote his whole energies to his official career And here at last his work began to win recognition for on certain ques i ions his chiefs looked upon him as no mean authority Lately some mischievous newspaperman newspaper-man anxious for copy had seized on and exaggerated a trifling Incident with the magnificent persistence of halfpenny Journalism Certain foreign for-eign statesmen with 1 benevolent desire de-sire to teach England her duty were not slow to follow up these attacks In that portion of the Continental prton o Contnntal press which Is ever ready for money down to Instruct the nations as to the deep designs o Great Britain Questions began to be asked In various legislative legisla-tive assemblies The Colonial Secretary Secre-tary paced and down his pace up an room while the Under Sucreturj stood lean i I Ing on the mantelpiece and tearing I small slrlps o feather from a quill We shall have to send out Q goodman I good-man at once to watch thingse said the Secretary Who have you got I that is not too old and yet old enough to be relied on The Under Secretary drew forth a list of the establishment and ran his finger down I I think that Is i the man he said with something slightly apologetic In his manner What thai plnywrltlng fellow 7 snapped his chief Well he did something of that kind years ago 1 remember Tillys Granpa a silly thing but rather funny though and the Minister smiled to himself at the recollection Suddenly his faced clouded overHang over-Hang It no Dont you see its Impossible Im-possible He wrote Rumscullions Why every hostile paper In Europe and America would havo articles on the studied Insult Intended by sending him V Vane Kingston did not go Another man was Bent and since he has attained at-tained honors we may believe he was lie right man Vane took 3 holiday soon after He olo took typhoid fever and was burled nt But no At present no chattering guide points out the last resting place of le grand ecrlvlan Anglais Sir RhumSculllon |