Produced by David Widger
By Winston Churchill
It was small wonder, said the knowing at Asquith, that Mr. CharlesWrexell Allen should be attracted by Irene Trevor. With the lakebreezes of the north the red and the tan came into her cheeks, those booncompanions of the open who are best won by the water-winds. Perhaps theybrought, too, the spring to the step and the light under the long lasheswhen she flashed a look across the table. Little by little it becameplain that Miss Trevor was gaining ground with the Celebrity to theneglect of the other young women at Asquith, and when it was announcedthat he was to lead the cotillon with her, the fact was regarded assignificant. Even at Asquith such things were talked about. Mr. Allenbecame a topic and a matter of conjecture. He was, I believe, generallyregarded as a good match; his unimpeachable man-servant argued worldlypossessions, of which other indications were not lacking, while his crestwas cited as a material sign of family. Yet when Miss Brewster, one ofthe brace of spinsters, who hailed from Brookline and purported to be anup-to-date edition of the Boston Blue Book, questioned the Celebrity onthis vital point after the searching manner warranted by the gravity ofthe subject, he was unable to acquit himself satisfactorily. When thisconversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the father ofthe young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevorthrew shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then andthere by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.In the eyes of Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke the apotheosis of the Celebritywas complete. The people of Asquith were not only willing to attend thehouse-warming, but had been worked up to the pitch of eagerness. TheCelebrity as a matter of course was master of ceremonies. He originatedthe figures and arranged the couples, of which there were twelve fromAsquith and ten additional young women. These ten were assigned to theten young men whom Mr. Cooke expected in his private car, and whoseappearances, heights, and temperaments the Celebrity obtained from Mr.Cooke, carefully noted, and compared with those of the young women. Beit said in passing that Mrs. Cooke had nothing to do with any of it, butexhibited an almost criminal indifference. Mr. Cooke had even chosen thefavors; charity forbids that I should say what they were.
Owing to the frequent consultations which these preparations madenecessary the Celebrity was much in the company of my client, which hecame greatly to prefer to mine, and I therefore abandoned mydetermination to leave Asquith. I was settling down delightedly to myold, easy, and unmolested existence when Farrar and I received aninvitation, which amounted to a summons, to go to Mohair and makeourselves generally useful. So we packed up and went. We made an oddparty before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebritydropped in for lunch or dinner. He could not be induced to remainpermanently at Mohair because Miss Trevor was at Asquith, but heappropriated a Hempstead cart from the Mohair stables and made the tripsometimes twice in a day. The fact that Mrs. Cooke treated him withunqualified disapproval did not dampen his spirits or lessen thefrequency of his visits, nor, indeed, did it seem to create any breachbetween husband and wife. Mr. Cooke took it for granted that his friendsshould not please his wife, and Mrs. Cooke remarked to Farrar and me thather husband was old enough to know better, and too old to be taught. Sheloved him devotedly and showed it in a hundred ways, but she wasabsolute