I Forbid the Banns! — page 17: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ON THE CUTTING OF CAMEOS. | 7 and a knight of many distinguished orders—some made in Germany, others of home manufacture—and he frequently employed his son’s name as a proper noun which required to be qualified by several improper adjectives. It was usually made by Sir Montague the center round which the harmless lightnings of military profanity played. People said it showed that there were some estimable points in Cyril Southcote’s nature when he remained on speaking terms with his father. The simple fact of the matter was that the general, who had distinguished himself for the energy with which he had suppressed certain native risings, for which his admin- istration of the affairs of a particular district was alone responsible, believed that there was a heredity in chances as well as in genius, and he was, consequently, disappointed that his son was not so fortunate as he himself had been in running through the gamut of knightly distinctions, His son had obtained in the course of ten years several diplomatic appointments, but had held none for any length of time. He was too clever to be a diplomatist, the chiefs under whom he had served were accustomed to assure his father, when the general, on hearing of Cyril’s periodic reliefs from duty, had associated that name which sounded like a musical chord with the elements of the supernatural. But in spite of the fact that he was so frequently relieved from duty, Cyril managed to spend every penny of the liberal allowance made to him by his father, and a good deal more besides. It was this that caused Sir Montague some irritation. His son endeavored to explain to him that observing men and women carefully could not possi- bly be called a waste of time. The general declared in response that it was the waste of money he objected to; and he was not altogether reassured when he was reminded by his son that a complete system of observations, whether of the aberrations of heavenly bodies or of earthly, could COMMIC LOOKS. EC)