The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1880-07-22
A THRILLING TALE OF THE
PERIOD.

PERIOD.
He wins, he wins! No, confound him,
he dcesntp' The speaker is lady. "a
| lady?" cries the reader. Sir or madame,
! If you will take the trouble to reach down
Johnson from the shelf, you will see that
in defining the noun lady the lexicograph-
er makes no mention of refined manners
and gentle bearing, but simply explains
/ it as a word meaning woman of high
rank. Therefore, as the young girl who
makes this unfeminine exclamation is the
/ grand daughter on one side of an earl,
and on the other of baronet, and moves
in good society, she is perfectly entitled
to be called lady. The words are half
smothered, it is true, but they are heard
/ by man who, in the general excitement
| caused by the approach of the horses,
has been pushed close to the speaker
! He turns and looks at her with an ex-
preston of disgust which he does not
for an instant attempt to conceal, and
then, the race being over and the crowd
dispersed, ho moves away from her.
Il thought" he said to friend, that
only ladies' were allowed here"
This place is Sandown.
'fQuite true. Why2"
us that LADY," indicating with his
eyes the girl who has so offended his ears.
Certainly; she is Miss Wylde.-
Rather rapid, but what a glorious figure
hasn't she2"
Eyes, answered Alan Fame. He is a
/ handsome man of some three and thirty,
/ home about q month from India, where
he has spent the last ten years. His re-
turn was occasioned by his quite unex-
pected succession to ten thousand year.
Society has changed since l remem-
Der it, adds Alan.
! Garlands of flowers, music, waxlights,
youth, and good looks. Of such is COM
posed Lady z. rs ball, at which Captain
| Fame finds himself assisting. Lady Bianc
Dasshe and Miss Wy.de are there, and
Fame has been reluctantly compelled to
admit to himself that the girls face is al
most beautiful, while her figure is quite
perfect. Somehow he feels irritated with
himself because he cannot help watching
her; he objects to her style; he objects
violently to the use she makes of her
dark blue eyes. He has lost sight of her
at this moment, and Is standing idly
in a doorway when a friends voice whis-
pers:
"Would you like to be introduced to
Miss Wylde2"
"Not for worlds' he replies, emphati-
cally; and then, turning, has the unex-
peeted pleasure CT seeing that young lady
on his friends arm. That both should
color violently is only natural conse-
quence of the situation. The lady is, of
course, the first to recover.
pray don't distress me by refusing"
rshe utters with stinging scarcasm, while
those wonderful eyes of hers blaze with
q dark fire. Il was going to ask you to
dance"
81 shall be delighted" he stammers,
overwhelmed with confusion, giving her
his arm.
81 am not going to dance this-it is a
quadrille," she says, ''Let us 60 where
my partner won't find me!' And she leads
him half down the stairs to corner with
a low couch.
"Why not for worlds'?" she asks.
Fame feels not only embarrassed, but
angry. The girls behavior is so daring
and unfeminine that she seems to him to
have lost the right TO the courtesy which
is the special due from his sex to hers
Because, he answers coldly, 81 have
not the remotestidea what to say to you. y
Really" with a mocking laugh
'How is that?'
He is silent, and she repeats the ques-
ton.
"Do you insist on knowing" he in-
quires.
''Of course l do
'It is rather an awkward thing to say,
! he observes, halting for moment.
II shall enjoy it all the more, remarks
the girl, defiantly.
He looks in her face with perfect cool
hess, and says, deliberately:
81 know how to talk to a lady, but I
don't know how to rank you"
If Miss Wylde was in want of new
sensation she has got it with vengeance
this time. Her face is scarlet; she trem-
bles with anger; and yet she has shrewd-
ness enough to know that by forcing
/ herself upon this man she has handed the
reins end whip into his keeping.
"Will you explain yourself?" she asks,
controlling her voice by violent effort.
Alan Fame never felt more uncomfor
table in his life, but he is resolved, nov
he has the chance to make the most of it
II had the honor" he says, ''of stand
ing next you at Sandown, aud heard yor
curse horse for not winning. You see
have been away from England for ter
years, and when left there were only
ladies and-and-the other thing"
The most deadly humiliation has taker
possession of the girls breast. If there