The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1880-12-09
raised to his. "You are flatterine me-,

sWered, quite earnestly '"But there
are plenty OF men who are always STUPID.
while you can be rather entertaining.
When you are at your best" and she
turned gently from him to greet new
batch of guests.
Was L ever damned with such faint
praise before ?" thought Dick. "Iwon-
der II am at my best to-night?"
For mlnnte he stood, taking q survey
OF the scene before him. The musicians
were playing q waltz, and playing it
well; only strange to say there was a
flute among them, which came piping in
with its shrin persistent little treble In q
manner distracting to Dicks over-sensi-
tive ear. He thought of Mozart's saving
that the only thing in the world worse
than q flute in IN orchestra was two
flutes, and wondered at Mrs. Crews
choice in music. Nevertheless, as LONG
as he was there he might as we'll dance.
and looking around for familiar faces, his
nrst glance" fell upon O brown-eyeA
maiden whom he had met at party onlv
the week before, and whom he had adj
mlred with the guarded and half-sl1per-.
| clllous admiration of O veteran society
| man. In another minute they were on
the floor contending with their fellow
creatures for q little room to whirl around
i'll, and seemingly successful in their
struggle, until q slight lurch sent them
rather suddenl y against another pair O
dancers o.
"That was stupid, wasn't it?" said
Dick, as they stopped to take breath
after the concussion.
"Yes, " replied she Of the brown eyes.
raising them frankly to his face. you
are rather poor dancer. Perhaps you
are out of practice?"
'Tndeed ought not to be, protested
Dick, IN unutterable Indignation at the
charge. 'I never danced more in nv
life than have this winter"
lis that 80? 1t must be awkwardness
then," said his companion, gently.
Some people never can thoroughly
learn. think it is q natural gift.
Dick wondered if he could have heard
Alright or if that wretched little flute, still
piping away SO complacently, had
absolutely bewildered him. If there was
one thing he prided himself on more
than another-one gift, natural or other
wise, which he felt sure of possessing-it
was his dancing Was the brown eyed
damsel out of her mind or was she
simply an ill-bred little thing, who did
not know good dancer from bad one?
Whichever was the case he lost no time
in getting rid of her, and still mute with
amazement and disgust, took refuge
among group Of men at the door.
"You here, Turner!" said one of them.
"l hardly recognized you at first, you
look so yellow and thin"
. ''Do L, iadeed?" said Dick, shortly,
and wondering what he was doomed to
hear next
81 should rather think you did," was
the friendly answer. "I just said to
Smith, here, as you came up, that be-
tween your sallow skin and that bald
spot ON your head, you were beginning
to look like an old man before your time.
Why don't you take to country life and
early hours and freshen up bit?"
'Why don't you mind your own af-
fairs and kindly leave mo to attend to
mine?" retorted Dick, now thoroughly
aroused, and without waiting for another
word he veered around and left the
group, who, one and all, seemed pro-
Foundly astonished d Mt his i'll temper.
BY this time no began to feel O little
uncertain who to approach next. Hav-
ing been told already that he was stupid,
ugly and bad dancer, what was there
left for him to hear He certainly had
never met so many disagreeable people
IN his life and he had serious thoughts of
beating permanent retreat, when he
caught sight OF q blonde head half hidden
beneath the azaleas in the conservatory.
1t was Florence Redifcr, whom he had
never expected to meet tonight and
whom two hours ago he would have in
d1gnantly avoided But for some reason
his contempt for her flattery and false
ness had been strangely modified in so
short time and he felt positive yearn-
ing to listen again to her pretty nothings
and to see her blue eyes uplifted with
that tender glance of admiring trustful-
ness to his 1t must have cost her q
great deal of time and patience to culti-
vate the glance up to it's present perfec-
ton and it was unkind, after all, to sneer
at the result of such honest and endear-
ing toll.
The next minute he was by her side.
She looked very pretty; her fair hair
tumbled in some mysterious fashion on
the top of her shapely little head; her
bright face lit up with smiles, and her
white silk cleaning under the colored
lamps with soft and shifting radiance
that pleased Dicks cultivated eye. He
was not one of those to whom q woman's
gown is matter of Indifference.
II came in here for q little air, sh
said; 'the rooms are so terribly hot. an
the whole affair is very stupid. Don't
you think 80 ?"
'It has been worse than sturid for
me-" he answered, laughing. "I have
been insulted wherever [ went. First,
Mrs. Gray told me was often very
stupid; then Miss Vincent, do you know
her2 She is dancing now with Tom
Stern"
'T don't know her; but never mind!
What did she say to you?"
''She told me was awkward and o
bad dancer and intimated that could