ake sure that if the opening comes
inevitably, we shall be found not to have devoted ourselves to the
adorning of the casket, but to have piled with careful hands the
treasure high within.

XIV

THE SIMPLE LIFE

There is a good deal of talk just now about "the simple life," and
though I would not go so far as to say that there is a movement in the
direction of it, yet the talk that one hears on many sides proves, at
all events, that people take a certain interest in the question.

Part of it is a pose no doubt; there is a distinguished, and I would
add very charming, lady of my acquaintance, who has the subject
constantly on her lips. Her method of practising simplicity is a
delightful one, as all her methods are. In addition to the three
magnificent residences which she already possesses, she has bought a
cottage in a secluded part of the country; she has spent a large sum of
money in adding to it; it is furnished with that stately austerity
which can only be achieved at great expense. She motors down there,
perhaps three times in the year, and spends three days there, on each
visit, with two or three friends who are equally in love with
simplicity; I was fortunate enough, the other day, to be included in
one of these parties; the only signs of simplicity to the complex mind
were that there were only five courses at dinner, that we drank
champagne out of rather old-fashioned long glasses, and that two goats
were tethered in a corner of the lawn. The goats I understood were the
seal and symbol of the simple life. No use was made of them, and they
were decidedly in the way, but without them life would have been
complicated at once.

When we went off again in the motor, my charming hostess waved her hand
at the little cottage, as we turned the corner, with a sigh, as of one
condemned by a stern fate to abjure the rural felicity which she loved,
and then settled down with delighted zest to discuss her programme of
social engagements for the next few weeks.

It had certainly been very delightful; we had talked all day long; we
had wandered, adoring simplicity, on the village green; we had attended
an evening service in the church; we had consumed exquisitely cooked
meals about an hour before the usual time, because to breakfast at
eight and to dine at seven was all part of the pretty game. I ventured
to ask my hostess how she would like to spend six months in her cottage
comparatively alone, and she replied