THE CHINA AMATE
"THE TEA PARTY
ADY Saxonbridge was a pow-
er in the land.
If she so much as recognised the existence of anyone who liv- ed in the ancient and historic town of Wynston it put them socially on the map, if she called on a newcomer it decided their status and indicated that they had passed through their first test successfully. Following upon that there were other grades which culminated in an invitation to lunch or dinner; a very difficult altitude to attain to Between these two highly important func- tions there was the lesser but still much valued tea party which was an intermediate state of proba- tion which it was so difficult to arrive at Sherry parties were very select
Lady Saxonbridge was a rich widow in the early fifties, extreme- ly well preserved and carefully if heavily made up, with cold, rather protuberant eyes. Her house was large and imposing and stood in fine seclusion in the Park, it even haunted by the gh
King which was well in-keeping
one
ful
even a
hats, and and when they the young
part into the Park where
ick was, her, a pened, the sid
Compar officers of Colonel Hatfield's late Regiment he seemed even worse. for he wore his hair long and called every woman he met "Darl and let 3 ing." It was also obvious, so Aunt Lucy felt, that Janetta had run after this odious youth and was far more in love with him than he was with her, which as she very truly said "looked so bad"
Janetta was not engaged to Frederick, who she called Fritz, for the distressing reason that, so far, he had not asked her to be. He was the type of your y man who "amused" himself, and had no in- tentions of the right nature-
Though, as had been said, far removed from the gilt edged cir- cle which Lady Saxonbridge rul- ed so autocratically, the Hatfields were thought highly of in a les-
with Lady Saxombridge's social Short
standing. Had he not been a King
it was felt that she would have got rid of him from the Towers, but as her ghost was of royal des- cent she was quite pleased to house him and allude to him in conver- sation, and said such things as I saw the King yesterday in the library.
Also in Wynsten, but living in a small and unpretentious way, were Colonel and Mrs. Hatfield and their pretty viter aged nineteen The Hatfields were of no particular importance socially and, just then, were going through a difficult time of it with Janetta, who had most amazingly fallen in love with a sleek young man who was, so Colonel Hatheld said, no better than a lounge lizard. She had met him at a hotel on the Riviera. Frederick Torry
was his name and his looks were of the dark and flashing type object- ed to by all sensible parents.
Neither had Mr. Torry any vis ible means of support, though he seemed able to get about, for he appeared in Wynston soon after Janetta had returned home. He immediately called upon Colonel and Mrs. Hatfield, who were duly and deeply affronted. Their sole consolation was that Janetta could not marry Frederick Torry until she was twenty-one, when she would be to some extent indepen- dent. Until then, their duty was to restrain their daughter from making a wholly unsuitable mar- riage.
The Hatfelds rented a little house in a quiet terrace, andTM though they had heard of Lady Saxonbridge, were remote from the orbit in which she moved. If they had any social ambition, it had to be on a limited scale, for no one can do much in the way of splashing with but one small maid of all work
Janetta's visit to Cannes had been considered a great opportun ity for her when Aunt Lucy in- vited her to go with her as her guest for a month, and Colonel and Mrs. Hatfield had accepted it de- lightedly, blissfully unconscious: as they then were of what was to follow. But fate i intended other-
wise and Janetta returned deeply in love with the undesirable derick Torry,
Story
ser sphere, and when Frederick Torry arrived in Wynston in cor- duroy trousers and a pink silk shirt without sleeves, which he con- sidered suitable for country wear, the friends and acquaintances of Colonel and Mrs. Hatfield register- ed dismay and disgust. He was seen in the Park with Janetta and presented himself frequently and with sublime affrontery at 6. Prince Consort's-terrace.
As he had not "proposed" to Janetta the situation bristled with difficulties. He couldn't well be asked to clear out, and beyond a freezing reception there was nothing else the Hatlelds could do about it. Nor could they lock Janetta in her room so as to pre- vent her meeting him. All that lay within their power was to tell' her as often as possible how much they disliked Frederick Torry and objected to her being seen in pub- lic with such a man, and this they did
A week after Frederick's arri val and when things had reached a pitch when mealtimes became a constant repetition of scenes with Janetta and hurried exits on her
Colonel Hat
field said "decidedly. "Now let us hope that Janetts will learn sense. What, I ask you, would Lady Saxonbridge think of that Boun- der?”
Mrs. Hatfield was triumphant No one in their set had been so honoured, and she even wondered whether there wasn't some mis- take about it? They had lived in their discreet way in the Terrace for three years, and for Lady Sax- onbridge to call after such a lapse of time looked almost as though there might be an error in her visiting list. It was a harrowing thought, for the call would have to be returned, and what if Lady
By Mrs. Vietor Rickard
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7
Saxonbridge was unfriendly or wanted to know why they had come? They had all heard stories of her ruthlessness towards peo- ple whom she regarded as "push- ing. What then, indeed, if through some dreadful mistake Colonel and Mrs. Hatfeld got in- to that indesirable category?
Still, Janetta did seem a little impressed by Lady Saxonbridge's visit, though the effect soon wor off and she said a number ter things about snobs and silly people who dishked anything new or original, and she definitely re- fused to go with her parents to the Towers, so that they were left to face that ordeal together and without her support. They hired a large car and made their way to the magnificent and imposing house, where, to their huge relief, the butler informed them that her Ladyship was from home. Though it would have been nice to think that they had been welcome guests, it was with a sense of hav ing a menace removed that they returned to Prince Consort's Ter- race in time for tea.
For a few days the Hatfields ex-
ood deal of
more
99
all consider
out
ought to
ut-persia-
awful Mr. Torry,
come
this, Mrs. Hatheld said most tearfully to her daughter, and Janetta, who was beginning to think that Fritz would never come to the point, was silent.
Fritz was enchanting but illu- sive, and his coming to Wynston did not seem to mean matrimony. He had told her that he hadn't a bean" and had to "look for a job," and had tried to find out from her what her future fortunes were likely to be, which had slightly disillusioned Janetta. However. she was on her mettle and, in the face of all her parents had said to her about Fritz, had no inten- tion of giving him up.
Have you been to the Towers. again?" Miss Burkitt asked al- most every day when she met Mrs. Hatfield in the Pedary. Miss Burkitt was notorious for her acidity of speech. "I'm told that Lady Saxonbridge is having
of her tea parties. Of course you are invited? Will Janetta bring that odd looking young man with her 2
atto
All this was duly reported to Janetta to prove that so long as she would walk in the Pedary with Torry, her prospects of ever go- ing to the Towers were dim. Jan- etta fired up in defence of the absent and said she wouldn't be seen dead at the Towers, any hp And that ry afternoon by the late post an invitation arriv
Mwas
It was such a shock-and-so un- expected that when Mrs Hatfield • took the card from the envelope she felt quite giddy. But there it was. Lady Saxonbridge at home the following Friday and invited Colonel and Mrs. and Miss Hatfield and Friend the "and Friend" was underlined. That was so odd
“Who does she mean by ‘žnd. Friend?" Colonel Hatfield asked, turning quite dangerously red. "Surely not that bounder Torry?”
"Of course not. She may think we have someone staying might ask Lucy down for the day and bring her," Mrs. Hatfield said in
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some-
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