178 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope 



ever. If this gentleman bears a small handle to 

 his name, his ultimate success is almost certain. 

 This is curious, for Western women are not snobs 

 nor vulgar (till they settle down in England, where 

 they soon catch the national disease), and the 

 obvious fact that our fortune-hunter has not been 

 able to secure a mate in his own country would — 

 one would suppose — discolour his reputation. Not 

 at all. He anticipates comment by maintaining 

 that the English Miss is dull, dowdy, and impos- 

 sible. When the daughter of the West marries the 

 fellow and follows him to England, she soon learns 

 that the English Miss is often dull, sometimes 

 dowdy, and always impossible — to the wrong man. 

 One girl with a sense of humour and great expec- 

 tations from a rich father told me an amusing story. 

 A fortune-hunter paid her attentions and finally 

 entreated her — as she put it to me — to provide 

 him with a permanent home. " But," she protested, 

 " I understand that you are engaged, or as good as 

 engaged, to another young woman." The fellow 

 smiled reassuringly. " Don't let that trouble you!" 

 he replied. Six weeks later, notwithstanding the 

 snubbing he got from the heiress, he proposed again. 

 "But you are not free to offer me marriage," she 

 remarked; "you are still engaged to that girl." 

 Nothing daunted, the seeker after good board and 

 lodging replied once more: "And I tell you now, 

 what I told you then — don't worry. That little 

 affair can he easily arranged ! " " So can this," 

 retorted she. "Don't you dare, sir, to come near 

 me, or to speak to me again." 



I have nothing to say against the belted earl 



