The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1878-01-03

You are looking at my JAR" said
Mrs. Brixham, following the direction of
his unseeing eyes. Is it not beauty =?
Real dragons blood, and very hard to
get nowadays even in China, [ am
told. You, with your opportunities,
must have seen quantities, however"
Well, no, not quantities. said Mr..
Lotus, automatically. Mrs. Brixham
moved away, and he fell to dreaming
again.
Was it the word " dragon" which set
him thinking Of that almost forgotten
time before he went to China? 1t
was at Dragon, the droll little seaside
village in Connecticut, that he spent that
last summer. He wondered if the place
was still named 50, or was modernized
into something different; if thin-shelled
favorOus clans and small high-bred
oysters with a taste all their own were
still its staples; if big, pink-mOttled bell
wether apples still grew on the orchard
trees, and whether grandmother Meyrick
made pies of them. Grandmother Mey-
rick, What was he thinking of? Thi,
was twenty years ago; her pie-making
thought of something younger than
grandmother-of pretty Hope Meyrick,
who had cut the last pie for him on that
last afternoon, had mended the hole in
his glove and said goodbye with tear
sandwiched between two smiles and a
blush like a rose! Pretty Hope. What
had become of her? On that day it had
seemed TO the boy Alick that coming
home to her was the best hope with which
he went. Did he whisper word or two
Of this hope. He could not quite remem-
Der. Three or four letters had passed
between them, he knew: he had the neat,
cramped little notes somewhere among
his things still then somehow Hope and
Dragon and all things American began
to grow dim and strange and till to-day
nothing had come up to remind him of
them. A plagne on the dragon China
Mr.. LOTUS was unusually absent, Miss
Brixham thought as he wished her good
bye.
\ penny for your thoughts" said
Ernest, after repeating the same ques-
ton twice over without an answer.
Your offer is handsome; but my
thoughts are worth more" said his uncle,
rousing from abstraction. Where
next, old fellow"
The fact is, said Ernest, glancing al
his list, the next is one of my calls,
which | must make now or never, to save
time and distance. It's Dickson, ouI
junior partner, you know. He lost his wife
in the spring, and his sister has come TO
keep house for him, Just round the cor,
ner in Fifty-tifth street, and he asked
me to call. 1t is bore for you sir, but
you can sit in the carriage if you like
III not be five minutes"
Mr.. Lotus did not like. The day was
cold, but that did not account, nor could
he, for the sudden impulse he expert.
enced to enter the small house before
which they now drew up. 1t was mod
est dwelling enough, i'll size and build
exactly like its neighbors; but with the
opening of the door mass of something
different and comfortable struck his
senses. Was it the snugnes5 of the little
entry itself, whose walls We're tinted OF
a warm red, the trails of ground pine
which swung from the picture frames
and gas-branch, the bigiwhite owlwhich
from above a pair of antlers, turned sol.
emn glass eyes down upon them, or the
unusual presence of glass of roses
which sent out fragrance after them w
the stairs? Mr.. LOTUS could not tell.
Up stairs they went, and into small
drawingroom. The same old air OF
country freshness was there which had
greeted them below. Nothing unusual
nothing costly; good tints in chintz and
paper; a tioOr-covering of plain gray
felt, with couple of gay rugs; photo
graphs, autumn leaves growing plants in
sunny windows, whose curtains were
drawn back; and beside bright fire two
little children, with liter of dolls and
dolls clothes, and lady neither young
nor old, who welcomed them with quiet
friendliness, pushed away big work
basket, brought forward another chair,
and made them comfortable without fuss
or disquietude.
Ernest introduced himself; then, my
uncle. " Your brother promised to be
here to introduce me to YOU" he said
but, like the rest Of the world, he has
been tempted out, see. Have you had
many calls to-day, Miss Dickson?"
Two-counting yourselves" replied
his hostess, with pleasant smile. Let
me show my welcome with cup of cof-
fee" She filled two cups from a catet-
iere which stood before the crate on a
genuine hob, and advanced a tiny sugar
bowl and cream Jug.
what delicious coffee" said Mr..
LOTUS.
Miss Dickson half started at the sound
of the voice, and looked straight at him
for a second. Unconsciously hereturned
the gaze; then, coloring, and embar-
raised, he leaned over the table to exam
Inc plate of green moses iii which
small ferns and vines and minute scarlet
berries were imbedded like a bit of mo-
safe
Straight from the woods" he OBJ
served. " One rarely sees anything so
Countrywide in the middle of a city win
ter
They are all of the winter-growing
sort" said Miss Dickson. 81 dug them
up at Orchard Bay only little more
than a month ago, so they have not had
time to lose their freshness"
Orchard Bay? That is one of the
new SedsIue places III connecticut, ISM [
it?' said Ernest The Pooles were
there last summer, think. They liked
it,"
" Yes, people like. it, believe. There
is an excellent hotel, and good fishing
and sailing. To me it is spoiled, for |
knew it i'll the old days when there was
no hotel and no summer people, and no
fine new name, and hardly any one had
heard of it except few families who
lived there. The place was delightful
then"
" Is Orchard Bay a new nance" said
Ernest. What was the old one?"
" Dragon
" What a queer name. Was it your
homes
" | beg your pardon" little smile.
= You are giving me a new name too.
Harry should have explained that am
not his sister, only his sister-in-law. Ny
name is not Dickson. 1t is
" Hope" cried Mr.. Lotus, with a
sudden certainty of recognition.
. Yes. Hope Meyrick. And | almost
think YOU are Alick I,oftuS'