“a young curate.”
“You wouldn’t believe,” said Miss Buller, “what a run there is on him; but I find I can easily supply every kind of variety now. A barrister, on this next page, suggests that, as he has influential legal connections, he can generally procure for his sister an excellent place at the sensational trials that have become so fashionable for ladies to attend! He commands a huge salary, especially being a gifted conversationalist, and taking the charge of a dinner table brilliantly; he has credentials from his last place for being ‘witty without vulgarity.’”
“And now,” I said, “I should like to see the sort of advertisement used by ladies needing Brothers, if you would be kind enough to show me one.”
“They are not so interesting,” she replied, “but here is one I received to-day:
“‘A Brother is required during the hunting season by two sisters. He must be a good rider, capable of giving a lead, but very obliging, as two Brothers have been parted with lately, owing to over-excitement in the field causing them to neglect their sisters. The Brother will be mounted by the ladies’ parents.’”
“Don’t you find that disputes arise,” I asked, “between Brothers and their employers? I should have thought the position might become irksome to a young man, if the sister was unpleasant.”
“Of course,” she answered pensively, “an ill-tempered girl can make matters very unpleasant; but such people pay very highly, as I pointed out only yesterday to one of our most promising Brothers. ‘She is rather a common girl,’ I said, ‘but you know you were very unlucky at Newmarket lately; and you sit up incessantly playing poker; and if you take my advice you will make your losses good by sticking to your place. I dare say the theatres are rather trying, but, on the other hand, as you don’t go into at all the same society that she does, you are not likely to meet anyone you know at the parties she takes you to; and, of course, as her Brother, you need not dance incessantly with her!’ He finally took my advice.”
“Now that,” I said, in my very stupidest manner, “is one of the difficulties which has occurred to me. A man who has been engaged as a Brother finds himself saddled with an undesirable acquaintance after the engagement is over.”
“an ill-tempered girl can
make matters very unpleasant.”