River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1884-11-27
ertain extent, when he was lust under

my nose"
TT must have been disagreeable
necessity"
1T was. l used to think he wasn't
bad looking. Last night he looked hid
eous."
but you are short-sighted, and he
kept a distance.
II am thankful he did-old friends
are such a bore" her cheeks which
were as soft as velvet, coloring like
Jacqueminot rose.
Then won't ask him to dinner
Pray, do, If you feel inclined.
mot ii you don't wish it,
ooh, can talk to somebody else.
"I suppose I must wait until / have
made his acquaintance.
That can be easily managed. Charlie,
as you call him, would introduce him.
Rather hard on Charlie asking a
man to sign his own death warrant"
Major Wentworth wouldn't care if
he had to. .
Ny dear. is he so far gone as that ?"
81 mean that he would regardit as
waste paper, and live contentedly ever
afterward.
you'll have to decide between the two
before long"
II have decided long ago"
and whichis it to be 2" lifting her head
in sudden eagerness.
Neither" and she hurried out of the
room. saying that she must go and put on
her habit.
In spite of her protestations, Mabel
Lorraine kept her lovely eyes wide open,
in case an old friend might be inclined
to make himself nuisance-and found
the Row empty, because he wasn't
there
The season was over, and one of its
undoubted bellies had been through the
whole campaign. and reached the end
desired of maryland given to none.
She shrugged her shoulders in an
swer to Lady Waverleys expostulations.
Even in the marriage vow you have to
own you take o man for better or
worse, and with the worse alternative
before my eyes / cannot turn my back
on single blessedness. Let me be, my
silly old May might be happy as an
old maid, but miserable with an unsat-
isfaetory husband"
II wish that tiresome Captain Vivian
had kept out of the way"
Just what he has 1one." An invol-
untary sigh escaped her. six months
i'll England, and we have never met! /
wanted to see him to ask after the
Rowlandsons.
why didn't you write him note,
and tell hir SOP"
ASK him to come up from Cornwall
| or down from Scotland to tell me if
Mrs Richardson's last baby had cut its
| teethl"
cat least it would have broken the
ice. :"
eff there is any ice, should be the
last woman on earth to break it. You
ought to know that be this time. :"
Don't freeze me, in order that I
mayn't forget it." laughing softly.
''Put on your prettiest gown tonight. I"
''Why?" covert eagerness in her
tawny eyes.
Because Guy doesn't care to go out
with dowdy women"
"Pshaw / really thought" She
as she felt an inconvenient blush in the
act of eonvicting her.
THAT Captain Vivian would be
there ~ with mischevious smile.
at would make no difference to me
if he were" with great decision.
"Of course not; so i shouldn't have
thought of mentioning it. y
In order to please Sir Guy, Mabel
Lorraine seemed to have taken immense
care with her toilette that evening; and
when she entered Mrs. Forrester's
crowded rooms more than one pair of
eyes followed her movements with fer
vent admiration. Her eager glance had
told her that her old friend was there,
and her heart beat tumultuously, when
for the first time after many years she
found her hand in his. In her struggle
for outward composure she fell into the
| extreme of apparent GOODNESS. Her
long lashes dropped nervously on the
velvet of her cheeks, and her lips parted
in chilly smile. Unable to Judge by
ANYTHING but outward sight, Vivian
drew back, Disguised and disappointed.
"Let me introduce you to my cousin, !"
she said hurriedly, and before she had
mentioned her name Mrs. Forester
hustled up, and asked her to take a
place IN the second row, which Major
| Wentworth had been keeping for her all
the evening. Wishing the amateurthe-
atricals at the bottom of the sea, Mabel
obediently followed her hostess, and
| found herself, to all intents and pur-
poses, a prisoner, with the faithful
Charlie by her side, and bent on MAX
ing all the running now that he mad dis
-, SIf
fmaneuvers.
Frank Vivian, savage as the typical
bear with wound in his ear, dropped
down into the seat beside Lady Waver-
| lev. determined to show his faithless
love that. although she had chosen
| to go off with another, he was
by no means cleft lamenting. :"
When she smiled on him he fled to
the Lands End; now that she didn't
smile on him, with the true perversity
of man, he felt aggrieved, and resolved
to call in Chesterfield Gardens on the
first opportunity. With no less than
three objects in view-to stab Mabel to
the heart, to allay SIR Guys fancied
! jealousy, to gain an invitation TO the
baronet's house -he entered into des-
Derate Irritation with the pretty girl who
was, as he supposed, Lady Waverley's
| cousin
He was so good to look at that she
could not help raising her eyes to his
face with a bewitching smile. He was
Mabel's particular friend, so, of course,
it was only kind of her to be civil.
| She wanted to get him on her visiting
| list, for Mabel's sake, so it would not
do to begin with snub. All these rea-
| sons combined to make Lady Waverly
as charming as possible.
| An arrant but harmless coquette, she
was accustomed to fiattery as the natu
raj sauce to conversation, but Captain
| Vivian, with the fair, frank face that
! seemed to mean no harm, went further
/ than any other man on so brief an ac-
quaintance, except Sir Guy, and he had
meant to carry off the prize from the
beginning. A thrill of pleasurable ex-
element darted through her heart as
| she listened to his musical voice gradu-
ally sinking till little above whisper
as she looked into the earnest eyes
which seemed to express i'll their earn
| est glance all that the audacious tongue
! lett unsaid; as she felt that she was
flirting, really flirting. but only for Ma
| bells sakei
| ''You have never been to Chesterfield
Gardens to see your old friends? 2" and
she threw a laughing glance toward
| that ill-nsed maiden, who knew very
| we'll what was passinr behind her back