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OLD VALENTINES
A LOVE STORY
BY MUNSON HAVENS
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
1914
COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY MUNSON HAVENS
TO MY WIFE
CONTENTS
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
XI
XII
Published by HOUGHTON MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
ILLUSTRATIONS
From drawings by Griswold Tyng
"SHE WAS YOUR MAMMA, TOO, WASN'T SHE?"
"ARE YOU CERTAIN YOU CAN SPARE SO LARGE A SUM?"
SIR PETER GAVE IT INTO THE TINY FINGERS
OLD VALENTINES
I
You might enter this story by the stage door. You remember beautifulValentine Germain—the actress? She married Robert Oglebay, the painter,brother of Sir Peter Oglebay, the great engineer. Their baby Phyllis—
But, after all, the main entrance is more dignified.
Sir Peter Oglebay's passion is for Construction: to watch massivemachinery slowly hoisting materials more massive into positions ofincredible height with calculated accuracy. Wherever construction is inprogress you are likely to see him, standing at a little distance,holding his silk hat on his white head with one hand as he looksupward, and leaning, a little heavily, on his stick with the other. Andwhenever or wherever you see him, you will see an English gentleman.
His portrait, in the lobby of the Engineering Society, is by Sargent.His erect bearing, white mustache, and something about the cut of hisclothes suggest the soldier. But he is one of the great engineers; hisfather and grandfather were engineers. You observe the red ribbon in hislapel; France honors him.
Sir Peter's big house is in Armytage Street, near the park. You mayremember the house by its walled garden and the imposing wrought-irongrille through which one has access to the flagged walk, the wide steps,and the great doorway.
In his house, the library defines his chief interest in life. Theshelves are filled with somber sets of the "Transactions" and"Proceedings" of several learned societies. Sir Peter is himself aFellow of these societies Mr. Rowlandson, his bookseller, has a standingadvertisement in "The Athenaeum" for certain missing volumes. One inparticular, the "Proceedings of the British Engineering Society for theyear