The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1884-05-29

"Charles, you are no diplomat-you
tell q lie with the awkwardness that
should belong only to truth. You
are not engaged, unless to that musty,
strong old meerschaum of yours. Say
you will come"
madame, l do protest that nothing
is such q bore to me-"
''Say you'll come, Charles. Promise,
If you would avoid a scene"
"Ah, coercion, is itP Well, I promise
that won't" and he retreated back
ward with agraceful effort at escape.
She made a feint of pursuit, and he
threw up both hands.
"Tn come-Tn come! But I shall
stay just one half hour-mark! just one
half hour"
"Very we'll. As you please"
Wanda in her blue dress hat evening
ore than ever like a fiax-fower.
In her maidenly slitnrfess she had an
air of feld-growth, breezy and sunny.
Even Bertha, glancing out of her
thickets of dark lashes, was not so al
Turing.
Burnham came early, with a suspi-
cious appearance of having given ex-
treme care to his toilet.
There was a long delay in the arrival
of some important performers, and con-
%versation took the place of music.
Wanda fell to Burnham's share. She
was naive and a bright talker.>
$50 you like ChicagoP" he said, after
some predatory skirmishing.
at is a nice place"
"Ah-I should scarcely apply that
term"
1--WE like it. But perhaps I cannot
Judge as well as YOU"
ss1t is a brutal place"-this said to
provoke controversy.
But Wanda was too joyous to be a
very good listener. She did not heed
the cynical speech. She was, just at
that instant, giving a smiling attention
to something Bertha was saying to a
devoted admirer near at hand. Burn
ham caught this fragment:
SIT was like Wanda to do it-exactly
like her."
The young man laughed, and Wanda
and Bertha laughed too.
..What is it that was so characteristic
of Miss Hegelp'.. asked Burnham.
Bertha can't get over a funny thing
that happened when we first came
here" answered Wanda, evasively.
..It seems to have made agreat impress
sion on her,"
sit is no secret. l see she has told
Mr.. Cuthbert. May I not hear it?'
wanda will be sure to leave out the
best part of it." interposed Bertha.
And she went on to give a piquant &C.
count of Wanda's peremptory action
the night of the reading. making very
merry over it and embe1lishing It with
full details.
.And we know who it was," she
added, s.foroho has glowered at us ever
since. But we have had no more the
atricals."
t.Did he read weilp'' asked Cuthbert.
"He read loud" said Wanda. stHe
tried to read WELL"
perhaps he's in training for the
stage"
Both girls, with the plethoric old gen.
tleman of the d~ining-room in mind,
laughed merrily.
Burham's face was crimson.
.Was it quite kind" he said, s.to
put such a speedy check upon en-
deavor?"
Speedy" replied Wanda; she had
been going on nearly all night. Be-
tween him and the mosquitoes Bertha
was almost frantic"
'tPray tell me who he is" pleaded
Cuthbert-not so much interested in
what Bertha should say as in the soft
sheet-lightnings of her eyes in the say
ing of it.
"Ah, no." said Wanda, shaking her
head; ''that would be unfair. It is
enough that we know"
Further conversation there could not
be, as the music..began.
Burnham's 'tjust n half-hour" ex-
tended to midnight. Wauda's figure at
the piano was as supple and graceful a
thing to watch as a cynic's eyes could
desire. And there might have been
worse sounds than her pretty playing.
But to Burnham there was a thorn of
wounded vanity in all the sweetness.
"You behaved very nicely" said
Mime. Muller next morning. "And it
would take more than your lawyers
logic to make me believe you didn't
enjoy it. So, to pay you for your pa
tient attention to SO much piano, come
in this evening again for a quiet game
of whist. My young ladies have made
very creditable progress in that as
we'll"
No demur now-no hesitancy, no ex-
cuses. He would come.
He hated the charm that held him,
but he yielded to it.
The next evening was an improve
ment on the musical one-very little
card-playing, very pleasant talk. And
from that time forward Nine. Muller,
with her strong tendency toward match
making, made opportunities without
number for the young people to be to-
gether. With her as ~chaperone they
went to operas and theaters together,
and to various other gala places.
But when penitential Lent came on
she became obdurate and strict, and
made them all miserable by refusing
them any public pleasures.
"Let's form a little club amongst our
selves" said Cuthbert one evening,
t'for the study of something-Shak-
speare, for example-since we must
moatify flesh and spirit according to a
canon"
Burnham blushed.
Durham, l heard once you had
p~roclivities for the staee-that you hall
thought of forsaking the law for the
drama. Is it SOP"
1t was so; he had INDUCED such a
dream, but it had been rudely dis
PEELED.
60" he answered evasively, 81
think we are all stage-struck at some
period in our lives" d
"Well, you must have given some at.
tention to the study of the art if you
really purposed devoting yourself to it.
Give us a sample of what you can do"
Eyes, let us hear YOU" Joined
Wanda.
$40, please, Mr.. Burnham," urged
Bertha.
A desperate resolution entered Burn
hams heart; it was a crisis of all his
secret modification, self-scorn and vex,
alton. Sweet as those girls were he
would put them to confusion. He
would read from Macbeth