LOVE AMONG THE LIONS

 

LOVE AMONG The LIONS
A MATRIMONIAL EXPERIENCE

BY F. ANSTEY
AUTHOR OF "VICE VERSA," ETC.

 

LONDON
J. M. DENT & CO.
29 & 30 BEDFORD STREET, W.C.

 

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List of Illustrations

	Page
The exquisite face looking out over the wire blind	4
Æneas Polkinghorne	5
Still I persevered	9
The Introduction of Mr Blenkinsop to Miss Lurana de Castro	12
"And whom should I marry, Mr Blenkinsop?"	18
"Let us be married in the Lion's Cage"	26
"Yes, papa, we are a little late"	31
"First-rate idea of yours, Blenkinsop"	33
"Well, if the lady's as game as she seems, and the gentleman likewise, I don't see any objection"	41
We were still chatting when Laurana returned	43
A Cleric of the broad-minded school	51
"If you go on like that I shall begin to think you want to frighten me"	55
Mademoiselle	63
"A de Castro can never marry a Craven"	73
"If them two got together, there'd be the doose's delight"	79
I was forlornly mopping when Niono returned	82
My wedding toilette was complete	87
It's a swindle	91
A kind of small procession entered the arena	95
Then he addressed the audience	101
"If only you had been firmer, Theodore"	113

Love among the Lions

PART I

In the following pages will be found the only authentic account of an affair which provided London, and indeed all England, with material for speculation and excitement for a period of at least nine days.

So many inaccurate versions have been circulated, so many ill-natured and unjust aspersions have been freely cast, that it seemed advisable for the sake of those principally concerned to make a plain unvarnished statement of the actual facts. And when I mention that I who write this am the Theodore Blenkinsop whose name was, not long since, as familiar in the public mouth as household words, I venture to think that I shall at once recall the matter to the shortest memory, and establish my right to speak with authority on the subject.

At the time I refer to I was—and for the matter of that still am—employed at a lucrative salary as taster to a well-known firm of tea-merchants in the City. I occupied furnished apartments, a sitting-room and bedroom, over a dairy establishment in Tadmor Terrace, near Baalbec Road, in the pleasant and salubrious district of Highbury.

Arrived at the age of twenty-eight, I was still a bachelor and had felt no serious inclination to change my condition until the memorable afternoon on which the universe became transformed for me in the course of a quiet stroll round Canonbury Square.

For the information of those who may be unacquainted with it, I may state that Canonbury Square is in Islington; the houses, though undeniably dingy as to their exteriors, are highly respectable, and mostly tenanted by members of the medical, musical, or scholastic