The Argosy — page 271: what you’re looking at

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

252 Mrs. Raven's Temptation. “Oh, to be sure—certainly,” cried Evelyn. ‘Then how does the relationship come in? Mrs. Raven must be ——” “Mrs. Raven is the widow of my mother’s brother,” explained Philip. ‘“Mr. Connell,” said Miss Agate, ‘you are quite right in saying that nobody—nobody, at least, as far as I am concerned—ever thinks of you in relation to your family.” “Oh, there are so many of us,” answered Philip lightly. ‘‘ We have to stretch out our affection to make it go round. ‘There are four at home, three girls and one boy, and there are six away: two girls married, I in London, Jack in Demerara, Sidney in Halifax, and William somewhere on the high seas. We can’t all write each other a weekly letter, and if one is honoured by it, the rest are jealous, so we are all impartially silent. I go home two or three times a year, and when I’m coming away I say to the mater, ‘ Remember, no news is good news: you'll hear directly anything goes wrong.’ It would be awful for her to be always expecting six letters: she would never get through the stocking basket.” ‘That is the sensible way to look at matters,” assented Evelyn, pouring out the tea. ‘‘ Of what use are letters? When I was away at school I had often to give up a walk, or some such enjoyment, for the sake of the weekly letter that Gertrude insisted on. Don’t you agree with me, Mr. Raven ?” ‘No, I don’t,” said Frank bluntly. ‘I wish I had somebody that I felt sure would care for a weekly letter from me.” . “Tam with you, Mr. Raven,” said Miss Agate; ‘I am with you entirely.” | ‘Well, I don’t know,” contended Evelyn. ‘I think a great deal of love is only a nuisance altogether. There is Mary Davies now, with her love—just because she nursed me! She has developed a new form of distress. Formerly she wept that I should go away at all. Now she weeps that I am going to Ravenstoke, and assures me the place is bad.” ‘What does she know about Ravenstoke ?” asked Frank, rather piqued to hear any aspersion cast on his beloved village. ‘Of course she knows nothing,” answered Evelyn: ‘ wherever I had been going it would have been the same. She’s an Alstock woman, and she says she has been in Ravenstoke (which is very likely—the places are not more than twelve miles apart, I believe), and that the Ravenstoke people are bad people. As she may pos- sibly have found them, classing with the hedgers and ditchers.” ‘“T think all the Raven people are fairly respectable,” spoke Frank, inclined to stand up for the humblest peasant in the place. ‘‘ There must be a few worthless characters, as there are everywhere, but they are so well looked after, that they don’t do much harm. ‘The most disreputable man in it isi—-—but never mind,” broke off Frank. ‘Nay, let us hear the disreputable man’s name ?” cried Evelyn. ) Gomichbooks (E(0) m