richard the lion hearted woke up.
he rolled over and went back to sleep.
he was walking down a long corridor lined with paintings of ladies in pink and white dresses playing croquet on green lawns under blue skies.
miss cecily was defeating miss emily roundly at the game.and miss emily did not like it one bit.
now, cecily, lady desdemona admonished cecily loudly, let emily win a game. it is the civilized and ladylike thing to do.
i declare i do not care why i should, cecily retorted brashly, as i am feeling neither ladylike nor civilized this morning.
lord randolph, who had been smoking a cheroot and observing the proceedings from a spot on the sidelines, guffawed loudly.
i say, that is a spirited filly, his lordship announced to his chum and toady, the honorable bartholomew billingsley, who waa standing ready in his shadow,
i do not care to be referred to in such terms, miss cecily shouted.
and with that, she flung her croquet mallet in to the ground, narrowly missing hittting miss emily on her dainty foot, and flounced off.
oh dear, what is to be done? lady desdemona muttered. i do hope she pulls herself together in time to be presented to the duke of g———— at sunset.
no fear of that, lord randolph chortled salf-satisfiedly, and the honorable bartholomew billingsley laughed appreciatively.
go after her, will you, lady desdemona implored richard, who had been observing the scene silently from the shade of the old oak tree. see that she does not do anything foolish.
no fear of that, lord randolph shouted again, and the honorable bartholomew billingsley laughed appreciatively. again.
what a bother, richard thought, but he did as lady desdemona commanded.
the rolling lawn stretched out eternally down to the meandering river.
richard encountered his old schoolfellow sir lancelot sitting on a rock, reading a slender new volume of verses from the poet laureate.
did you see miss cecily go by? richard asked lancelot.
i saw a flash of something pink and white go by. might that have been she?
no doubt. be a good fellow and accompany me, will you. if she has committed some folly like jumping into the river i might need all the assiatance i can get.
why, of course, old man. anything for a pal.
but when richrd and lancelot reached the river, they saw only miss cecily’s straw bonnet, with its white ribbon, heading placidly downstream.
what a great bother, richard thought bitterly. i shall probably have to resign my commission in the guards.
and the worst of it was, that that cad randolph had been witness to his humiliation.
do you think it worth diving in, richard asked lancelot, putting the best face on it he could.
i do not see why not, lancelot replied. nothing ventured,, nothing gained.
a trio of clouds passed overhead.
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