Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1884-01-31

him home to dinner if he looks nice;
in any case give him some informa-
ton about this wildness of London.
| Mr.. Nalcry has found me some ad-
dresses for him. one or two hotels
where the people are French. It's
pity Frank can't 90 with me.
at il, indeed" said Lady Lynx,
dryly.
II really must run away = said Mrs.
| Valery. again consulting her watch;
"I'm very sorry to seem so rude.
"Ohl not at all, said Lady Lynx,
rising to 90. Her mind was working
busily. Why had Sir George said that
he should be home some time in the
evening. probably 10 dlnnerl lie
had mentioned Charring Cross, it IS
absurd TO suppose that he did not
know what train he should come by.
The thing seemed more ridiculous the
more she thought of it. OF course
he knew when he would arriye-but
he did not want her to. That seemed
clear.
She walked up TO the top Of Wilton
place, took a hanson, and told the
man to drive TO the Charing Cross
Hotel. Arrived there, she entered, and
/ said she expected a gentleman to meet
| her in a few moments, adding that
she would like to wait in the coffee
room. Her heart beat high with eX
ctement as she went in. Was she
about to discover something's Was
the amateur detective about to be re
warded by a great successl She glo-
ried in the thought of how instantly
she had seen through Mrs. Nalery's
absurd story, which She concluded had
been told herin case by any mischance
she should come to meet her own hus-
band
No one was in the coAe-room. 1t
was an hour at which meals were not
wanted. SO much the better, thought
Lady Lynx. She went to an arm
chair in an obscure corner of the
room and established herself there,
providing herself with a newspaper
with which to screen her face. She
was now prepared to wait for what
time might bring forth.
Meantime Mrs. Valery had put on
her bonnet and driven down to the
same place i'm her little brougham A
very short time after Lady Lynx had I
settled herself in the cotfe-room Mrs. |
Nalerv walked INTO the hotel and in |
CURED whether a Count of an unpro- /
nouncable name had arrived. After
considerable consultation and much /
mental effort the waiterin informed her
that "a foreign gentleman whose name |
was like a sneezer certainly had come /
to the hotel taken room and gone
TO it, But he had not said that he /
expected a lady to see him, for the |
very good reason that he could speak |
no language but his own, which no
one in the hotel understood.
go, nonsense! he speaks French, |
said Mrs. Nalery, with a laugh
However, he expects me to interpret
for him. / will write him line on
this card, if you will take it up to
him. / viii wait in the coifee-room
and when he comes down show him
in there.
Mrs. Nalery wrote a Russian line
in beneath her name, and then gave
the card to the waiter. 1t was sent
upstairs, and she was shown into the
colleeroom. She went in and stood |
still a few moments, then began to |
walk to and fro rather restlessly her |
eyes ON the ground. She was a little |
nervous about this meeting with a
man she had never seen. 1t would |
be quite easy if he were nice If he |
were not, it would be horrid She |
thought to herself, as She waited, that !
if one of her dearest friends had not |
asked her to do this she would have
refused.
Probably her sudden dislike of her
task merely arose from the depressing
effect OF being stranded alone in the
midst of a great hotel eoffee-room,
and having to remain there. AT all
events she resolved that she would be
cordial, if the man looked at all nice
she would not let him be chilled as
most foreigners are, in the first hour
he spent in England, and then thought
Of how kind his friends had been
to her when she was in Russia. That
gave her new courage; but oh, how
long he kept her waiting She glanced
around the room. She could Just see
the top of a black bonnet over the dis
tant arm chair; a lady was there read
ing a paper She felt glad there was
no one TO observe a pretty woman
waiting in a public coffee room for
some one who did not come.
AT last the door was opened, and a
gentleman entered quickly Mrs.
Nalery saw i'm a single swift glance
that he was handsome tall and dis
tngushed looking, and that he had
that air which one is compelled to de
scribe as foreign for want of bet
ter word. That is to say, though he
was not very Russian in appearance,
yet he did not lool, like an English
man. Mrs. Nalery called up all her
courage and pretty manners, and,
with extreme nervousness which none
but herself could perceive, advanced
eagerly to meet hm, She held out
her hand and commenced to talk
rapidly I'm RI Ssiau. He did not am
swer her; but then she gave him no
time 10, for her nervousness made her
talk more than She intended lie held
her hand in his and gazed admiringly
into her face, which, with its slight
]. Il.