The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-01-19
evening, apparently to the lions salts.


to the piazza, knitting his brows over
dance with Miss Honoria Clapham. But
shall come back to you. You will
give me the rest of the dances after
supper, won't you2"
"Oh, haven't you any names on your
card 2"
"Not one. But perhaps you would
like to dance with some one else2"
Oh, mol nobody wants to dance
with me-"
"Then you will wait for me here till
after this dance9" he said, hurriedly, as
the music sounded.
Christy felt as if she were in dream,
AZ she sat alone, the moonlight falling
around her, the music drifting out to
her, waiting for Mr.. Ross to come back.
She had rude awkening therefrom. A
hand grasped her shoulder 80 harshly
that she almost cried out, and Bellies
voice said, in fierce whisper
$50 straight up stairs to bed, miss.
Do you hear me2 Go this instantl !"
and each pause was emphasized with a
shake.
80, Belle IL"
Hush not q word aloud. You've
been making yourself ridiculous, and
mamma and are ashamed of you. Go
straight round the piazza and up stairs. I"
Christy never thought of disobeying.
Her rose-colorAd visions all hoated away,
and she went slowly around the house,
and up the back way to her room. There
she sat down in the moonlight, with
wide eyes and burning cheeks. Oh! what
had she done2 And finally all her won
dering resolved itself in bitter burst
of crying.
When Belle came up stairs, after the
last guest had gone, and looked in her
sisters room, Christy was lying across
the foot of the bed, asleep, her pretty
dress all crumpled and her cheeks
stained with tears. SO her indignation
did not break upon Christy's head till
morning at the breakfast table, when
her piqued pride sought revenge. Poor
Christy before the meal was through
she saw a forward, pert, bold chit, at
whom Mr.. Ross had laughed in his
sleeve, and of whose simplicity he had
made capital.
eff you could have seen yourself
whirling around with that silly smile,
and he paying mock devotion !"
"Did he say anything about me,
Belle 2"
"Bah why should he1 We had bet
| ter things to talk about" said her Sis
ter, with little conscious toss of the
| head.
Why need / tell of the days that fol.
loweds Surely every girl will under
stand the change that came over Chris
ty's school girl life. Why say that her
cheeks grew pale, that she had frequent
| fits of crying, and that the very mention
of Mr.. Ross name brought a guilty
flush to her cheeks2 She would not
have met him for the world, and it
would ha,e been hard to calculate how
many times she avoided him on the
street (; yet evening after evening she
waited and hoped he would come. The
evening after the party he had come.
She heard him ask for her in the hal, +,
and heard Belle say, with a laugh, that
"these schoolgirls always were deep in
study evenings" Then, crouched in
the dark, after David had been put to
bed, she listened to his rare tenor voice
as he sang song after song, his notes
blending with Bellies, his laugh min
Cling with hers. What fool she had
been she thought, as she closed the
French grammar, whose leaves were wet
with tears, and crept to bed. He was
Bellies beau, that was all.
But after that evening he did not
come, which was strange for Bellies
beau. Nay, more his lady mother
mentioned, in the course of q call, that
they would return to New York in the
middle of October.
"We have staid in the country much
longer thar usual this year," she con-
tinued, "and / wish / could persuade
Charlton to go to the city at once"
He wants to stay on Bellies ac-
count" mused Christy "but 1 wonder
he does not come and see her."
One thing was certain ; Belle was un-
usually cross, so cross that Christy was
fain to do her studies out of doors or
locked in her own room. A little sum-
mer-house covered with vines was her
favorite retreat, and thither she re-
paired every afternoon upon returning
from school. She had no more river
expeditions, for, poor child, she was
afraid of meeting the proprietor of the
scarlet wherry. But perhaps the Sc
cret of her liking the summer-house
was because she could see the aforesaid
wherry pass and repass, and watch the
rover from behind the sheltering vines.
Two weeks passed. Then crisis
came. One Indlan-summer afternoon,
when Belle and her mother were out
calling, Christy was having a romp
with the dog on the side piazza. In
the midst of this romp she was horri-
fed to perceive Mr.. Ross entering the
street-gate. Her first impulse was to
run away; but, knowing that he had
seen her, there was nothing for it but to
meet him with flaming cheeks and dis
ordered attire. The dark eyes that had
haunted her waking and sleeping
dreams so long were Lit by merry
smile.
"Why, Miss Chrisiy, if I had not just
shaken hands with You / should have
supposed you myth" he said, with one
of his bright laughs. "What are you
going to say to me in excuse for running
away fortnight ago, and keeping away
ever since. Do you know you robbed
me of five waltzes2"