of such a character. The personages of her amusing anecdotes, instead of
being third-rate theatrical folk, shall be Earl Blank and the Baroness
de Dash. The editors of society journals shall pay me a shilling a
line for them. Jarman--yes, Jarman shall be the son of a South American
millionaire. Vulgar? Nonsense! you mean racy. Minikin--he looks much
more like forty than twenty--he shall be an eminent scientist. His
head will then appear the natural size; his glass eye, the result of
a chemical experiment, a touch of distinction; his uncompromising
rudeness, a lovable characteristic. We will make him buy a yard of
red ribbon and wear it across his shirt-front, and address him as Herr
Professor. It will explain slight errors of English grammar and all
peculiarities of accent. They shall be our lions. You leave it to me. We
will invite commonplace, middle-class folk to meet them."

And this, to my terror and alarm, Dan persisted in doing. Jarman entered
into the spirit of the joke with gusto. So far as he was concerned, our
guests, from the beginning to the end, were one and all, I am confident,
deceived. The more he swaggered, the more he boasted, the more he talked
about himself--and it was a failing he was prone to--the greater was
his success. At the persistent endeavours of Dan's journalistic
acquaintances to excite his cupidity by visions of new journals, to be
started with a mere couple of thousand pounds and by the inherent
merit of their ideas to command at once a circulation of hundreds of
thousands, I could afford to laugh. But watching the tremendous efforts
of my actress friends to fascinate him--luring him into corners, gazing
at him with languishing eyes, trotting out all their little tricks
for his exclusive benefit, quarrelling about him among themselves--my
conscience would prick me, lest our jest should end in a contretemps.
Fortunately, Jarman himself, was a gentleman of uncommon sense, or my
fears might have been realised. I should have been sorry myself to have
been asked to remain stone under the blandishments of girls young and
old, of women handsome and once, no doubt, good looking, showered upon
him during that winter. But Jarman, as I think I have explained, was no
slave to female charms. He enjoyed his good time while it lasted, and
eventually married the eldest daughter of a small blacking factory. She
was a plain girl, but pleasant, and later brought to Jarman possession
of the factory. When I