The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-10-27
CHAPTER Il,

| several bedrooms.
 | CHAPTER Il.
 Pansie returned to Athena house Sussex Square, Brighton, in due courst the next day. She went went of sadly, and in disgrace; sadly, because she knew not when she should set Lancelot again; in disgrace, because in the presence of her aunts and the entire household of Furnace court ss. sembled to bid her good bye, she had been the willing and unblushing reef. pient of a sounding kiss from the young gentleman.
 But her reception at Athena house partially atoned for what she had un. dergone. There she was the acknowl- edged sovereign of some thirty young ladies, who looked up to her as the arbiter of fashion, as the leader of all fun and amusement, as the referee in all disputed matters, and as the hand somest and cleverest girl in the school Moreover, strange to say, she had not rival, much less an enemy, among them; for, despotic as she was, her despotism was of so gentle and win ming nature, that while everybody admired, nobody was jealous of her. She was popular, too, with the rigid Miss Sage and her teachers, who only complained that she was clever enough to afford to be idle.
 But every one remarked & great change in Pansie when she returned from the midsummer holidays. She seemed to have lost the high spirits and the irrepressible fun which had so helped to make her popular. The thousand and one little matters which formerly interested and amused her seemed now to have no charm for her she was silent and depressed. More than once she was discovered in tears and Miss Sage herself remarked that her favorite pupil seemed to be more indifferent about success and less bril- liant than before.
 At first a great many solutions were offered. Pansie was taking to heart her approaching departure from country in which she had made SO many friends, and which she had learned to regard almost as her own. She had received bad news from America !; she had Quarreled with two maiden aunts, of whom every body had heard, and whose peculiarities she ex- hibited with such exquisite mimicry. But when 1t was noted that she wrote a great many letters, which she mailed surreptitiously, instead of consigning them to the common receptacle of Athena house correspondence, sus- pended to Miss Sage's desk, the real reason for her changed demeanor was patent, and 1t was whispered about that Pansie Wyman was in love. The next thing to be found out was the object of her affection. She was eagerly watched as the school took its usual constitutional along the Marine parade; but there was no Adonis who seemed to gaze after her in particular, although there were plenty of young bucks who made daily duty of in- specting Athena house as it proceeded demurely along as far as the Aquarium and back.
 Young ladies are keen logicians when they have a symptom or two given them by way of premises, SO it was concluded that Pansie had fallen in love during the holidays, that she had thereby incurred the wrath of her aunts, and that her low spirits arose from these circumstances. The inter- est which this occasioned in the little world of Athena house may be imag- ined, but there was no surprise. The only wonder was that clever, pretty, accomplished, vivacious girl like Pan sic Wyman should have so long re- mained scatheless, and, as she was still initiated in spite of her altered de- meanor, regular epidemic of love set in, and there was not . girl in Athena house with the smallest pre- tensions to good looks who did not become melancholy, who did not take to reading poetry, and who did not profess admiration for one or other of the aforesaid young Marine parade loungers. Miss Sage of course knew nothing of this. Never having capti- vated masculine heart herself, she was not versed in the ailments of those who had, or who pretended to have, and she attributed the alteration in Pansie Wyman's manner to grief at approaching departure from England in general and Athena house in par ticulAr.
 But an accident very soon opened her eyes to the real state of affairs. Several petty lArcenies had taken place in the school of late. Many of tho girls complained that they missed little articles from their desks and boxes. Suspicion was at hrst pointed at certain hveried youth who opened tho door, waited It table, and per- formed snndry menial ofIices in tho regions below, end who was known by the name he called himself, William. Bttt ,rs na0rhfnv HSfsa Saoa' daeaarsa.