Jeffery Farnol

“ I groaned inwardly, and took up the pan. I am not a weak man as a rule, but what could one do in the face of such determination? Thus while I lied to Pattison, the Cherub busied himself throwing things into my grip; as I sealed the note, he was in the act of ramming in a dress coat.
"Hurry up," he panted, "or we shall miss that train."
"Tooth-brush in?" I inquired.
"It can't go in here," he cried excitedly,—"no room," and with a mighty effort he closed the grip.
"But my dear chap," I remonstrated.
"All right, I'll make a parcel of the rest," he said buckling the straps feverishly. ”

“ She greeted me with a studied ease.
"You are down very early," I said, wondering why she did not always dress her hair so.
"Oh, I'm fond of the early morning; but you—what brings you down at such an unusual hour?" ”

“ Er—yes,—that is, I suppose so,—though some people object to fair men I believe, think them—er—unstable and all that, but of course the Cherub,—"
"Is perfection," she said, opening and shutting her fan.
"Certainly."
Kate was playing a soft, dreamy air, and as I sat, watching Phyllidia's half-averted face, a bitter feeling took possession of me. Why should I do this thing? I asked myself. Why should I trample thus on my own heart? What right had the Cherub—? My hand closed suddenly over hers, I felt her start, and for one delicious moment I looked into her eyes, and read there,—what? ”

“ You and I might run over for a day or two—be quite a merry little party."
"House-parties are an abomination," I said.
The Cherub assented, and reached down a time-table.
"There's a train leaving in an hour," he suggested.
"Well?"
"If we catch that we shall be there in time for dinner." Now it is one thing to sit in one's own rooms and describe the right and proper way to carry so delicate a matter to a successful issue, but quite another to face the haughty She one's self. My mind was made up in an instant. ”

“ I continued more cautiously. "there is a strange affinity between men and some animals, especially dogs; for instance, now I—" In another moment, despite my stern self-repression, I really believe I should have said more than I ought, for as she sat there beside me looking at me out of those deep eyes of hers, so close that her skirts brushed my knee, I had an almost overmastering desire to relegate the Cherub to the deepest limbo, and my fingers itched to clasp the hand lying so near my own. but at that instant Kate began playing, and I pulled myself up in time. ”

“ Catching sight of me, he immediately dodged and tried to hide behind the nearest hush. With pitiless irony I demanded to know if he had taken to birds'-nesting, and thereupon he came forth looking a trifle uncomfortable.
“You're down awfully early," he began, but I brushed this aside. ”