River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1882-06-01
A DINNER CARD.
Madame est servie. u


Hultley slightly turned her head, and
gave one swift glance toward her hus-
band.
Mr.. Huntley, whom long years OF
practice had rendered perfect In meter
of host. comprehenGed the almost i'm
perceptible signal, offered his arm to
Mrs. Elphinstone, with whom he was
talking, and moved toward the door
The company followed in a softly rust
ling procession, Mrs. Huntley bringing
up the rear, on the arm of Alex Dent,
her husbands Junior partner, freshly
returned from China, and the guest OF
the evening. There was no confusion
as to place. Mrs. Huntley had reduced
dinner giving to a science, and each
detail was carefully planned and pro-
vided for. A nod, blithesome smile
to the right and left, the gesture of a
lilac gloved hand, and each person was
in his appointed place at the table-a
table spread with wondrous fashion of
the day, and to whose adjoining had
gone all the resource and the lavish APP
pliance of modern decorative art.
The family tinted and heavily en-
broidered cloth was overlaid here and
there with lengths of linen, transpa-
rently fine, and edged with priceless
lace. A multitude of tapers, rose, red
or green, each with its little lace-trim-
med shade, cast their play CLOVIS on the
low bank of flowers that ran the tables
length, on the alternate fire and rides
cence of many-hued glasses. and the
jeweled gieam of Salvirti decanters and
salt-cellars. Beside each lady's plate
stood an arrangement of choice roses
in the form of horseshoe; for every
gentleman was a bolt0nniere of lilies;
and upon the napkins lay exquisite
dinner cards OF white silk, hand-paint-
ed, and scented with violets.
Such dinner tables are too common
in the luxurious life to-day to attract
special attention from those to whom
they are customary spectacles. But
Alex Dent had gone to China before the
the tide of modern luxury had risen to
half-food, and was too lately returned
to have grown wonted to its exhibition.
He admired, and spoke to his ad-
miration-admired the arrangements of
the flowers, the beautiful glass, the per-
feet adaptation of detail to effect; and
Mrs. Huntley listened to mis- eulogiums
with pleasure. 1t was an old story to
her but women do not easily weary
of hearing their household gods ex-
t0lled
"What a land of luxury it has grown
to be-" he went on. what pains are
lavished on the merest trihes! This
card, even"-picking up the one be-
side his plate-"why, it is little work
of art, really charming"
$50 it is" admitted Mrs. Huntley.
''Those people at the Decorative Art
Society do have the loveliest things. A
great many of their designs are made
by real artists, you know"
''But don't know" Their was no
Decorative Art Society when l went
away" replied Alex, still studying the
silken painting intensely. AS he look
ed, sudden thought seemed to come
to him. His eyes gave out swift
sparkle, then set as though seeing a
vision. For brief moment he was
oblivious of the very existence of his
handsome hostess. This was the pict-
ure that Alex Dents mind was looking
at; q room in stately city house; a
with amber curtains, painting flowers
at little table; himself, raw, sensi-
tive boy, seated near her. mis- hat on
his knees-watChing the sheen cast by
the amber light on her satin-smoOth
hair, watching the long lashes which
shaded her eyes, the slender fingers
which played rather nervously with
the paint misunderstanding with words
which he had resolved not TO speak,
wretched at the enforced silence, at
the sense of coming separation. 1t was
a picture which had frequently risen
before his mind during the ten years OF
his absence; but what had revived il
now? He studied the dinner card to
lind out.
Cyclamen! Yes, is was group Of
cyclamen that Evelyn Morris was paint
ing that last morning. He remembered
it perfectly now. There was something
in the graceful little picture that re.
called her style, the choiceness and
charm which seemed inseparable from
all that she touched or did. And jusi
at that moment two tiny letters caught
his eve traced in the shadow of leaf
E. NJ. Could they stand for E-Impos
sible! and yet
Ten years mad taught the raw boy
worldly wisdom. His pause of retro
spet took him much less time than
have occupied in telling, and he recov
cred himself in time to betray nothing
to his bright-eyed hostess. Soup and
Chablis had been followed by fish anC
entrees, before, with skillful inadver
tence, ne returned to the subject of the
dinner card.
"Who creates these dainty things
do you SUPPOSED" he queried.
"All sorts of people, no doubt
They don't tell unless you ask, anC
perhaps not then; but never thought
to ask. persume great many thing,
are the work of poor ladies who are
glad to earn little something under
the rose"
And are all these on the table by
the same hand"
ooh yes, they come in regular set
ten or dozen, or dozen and a-half IL
each, These silk ones are awfully dea
eighteen dollars the dozen-but theI
they are the prettiest | ever saw
Theresa, please show your card Il
Mr.. Dent. He mas been so long il
China that he isn't used to such vani
ties as the rest of us are"
"Don't you use dinner cards il
Gilman, asked Theresa, otherwise Mrs
Denham, a handsome, sleepy blonde
with fringe of oddly colored yellow
hair falling above her eyes. She ou
did her commission, for she borrowed
her neighbors' cards left and right. anC
placed half dozen of the pretty thing
within Alexis reach while she spoke.
81 suppose we must have something
of the sort, but not like these. or sure
iy would have enoticed them," he re
piled, as he studied the cards. The
subjects were various-a spray of wilC
azalea; woOabine tangle with an ell
balanced therein as in a swing; lily
with sleeping fay in its cup; a curve
ofiasmine framing IN a reach of palt
sea and one tiny sail. Each and al
bore the impress of the same delicate
taste, and in every one-in the darkes
leaf of the lily, beneath the shadow o.