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Misalliance



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MISALLIANCE

Johnny Tarleton, an ordinary young business man of thirty or less, istaking his weekly Friday to Tuesday in the house of his father, JohnTarleton, who has made a great deal of money out of Tarleton'sUnderwear. The house is in Surrey, on the slope of Hindhead; andJohnny, reclining, novel in hand, in a swinging chair with a littleawning above it, is enshrined in a spacious half hemisphere of glasswhich forms a pavilion commanding the garden, and, beyond it, a barrenbut lovely landscape of hill profile with fir trees, commons ofbracken and gorse, and wonderful cloud pictures.The glass pavilion springs from a bridgelike arch in the wall of thehouse, through which one comes into a big hall with tiled flooring,which suggests that the proprietor's notion of domestic luxury isfounded on the lounges of week-end hotels. The arch is not quite inthe centre of the wall. There is more wall to its right than to itsleft, and this space is occupied by a hat rack and umbrella stand inwhich tennis rackets, white parasols, caps, Panama hats, and othersummery articles are bestowed. Just through the arch at this cornerstands a new portable Turkish bath, recently unpacked, with its cratebeside it, and on the crate the drawn nails and the hammer used inunpacking. Near the crate are open boxes of garden games: bowls andcroquet. Nearly in the middle of the glass wall of the pavilion is adoor giving on the garden, with a couple of steps to surmount thehot-water pipes which skirt the glass. At intervals round thepavilion are marble pillars with specimens of Viennese pottery onthem, very flamboyant in colour and florid in design. Between themare folded garden chairs flung anyhow against the pipes. In the sidewalls are two doors: one near the hat stand, leading to the interiorof the house, the other on the opposite side and at the other end,leading to the vestibule.There is no solid furniture except a sideboard which stands againstthe wall between the vestibule door and the pavilion, a small writingtable with a blotter, a rack for telegram forms and stationery, and awastepaper basket, standing out in the hall near the sideboard, and alady's worktable, with two chairs at it, towards the other side of thelounge. The writing table has also two chairs at it. On thesideboard there is a tantalus, liqueur bottles, a syphon, a glass jugof lemonade, tumblers, and every convenience for casual drinking.Also a plate of sponge cakes, and a highly ornate punchbowl in thesame style as the keramic display in the pavilion. Wicker chairs andlittle bamboo tables with ash trays and boxes of matches on them arescattered in all directions. In the pavilion, which is flooded withsunshine, is the elaborate patent swing seat and awning in whichJohnny reclines with his novel. There are two wicker chairs right andleft of him.Bentley Summerhays, one of those smallish, thinskinned youths, whofrom 17 to 70 retain unaltered the mental airs of the later and thephysical appearance of the earlier age, appears in the garden andcomes through the glass door into the pavilion....