, 1889-01-29


haven't arrived"
lis it possibleT' was my rejoinder, and
In ten minutes we were the greatest
friends in the world. We sat in the
drawing o of the Grand Canon hotel
for nearly an hour, chatting gayly of
America and England anaof our hobbies
and of ourselves. At tie end OF that
time h rose and said:
"Wel, it's a humiliating~ necessity, but
l must eat to keep alive, and if you will
excuse me, I'll go down to luncheon"
l rose also and answered: "You are
quito right-if there were no prosy side
to life, we should not appreciate the
poetry of it'-and then, after a moments
hesitation, added: 81 am "a foreigner,
and do not understand your rules OF
conduct, put would IL be very casual of
me to suggest that, as l also must live,
and with that object in view must also
lunch, we hould lunch together, as you
are atone?'
"Why, of course-why SHOULDN'T WEI"
and then she added, a look of perplexed
inquiry coming over her brows, II don't
know quite who is going to introduce us
to n another, Mr.. -
service of Mademoiselle -Y'
"Tressahar-Pauline T~ressahar," said
she. Let me give you a card"
She fumbled for her card case and l
for mine, and standing in the doorway
of the hotel parlor we gravely exchanged
cards n bowed formally to one an
other.
81 live in Nashville, Tenn" she said,
land If you ever come there it will give
papa-CoL Euclid Tressahar-very great
pleasure If you will come and see us-you
will come, won't your
l assured her that | would, and we
vent down to lunch. The head waiter
gave me u menu and n check, and | or
dered a tiny little meal with some
care, during which operation she
watched me with n nervous, per-
picked look which l perfectly well
understood, but which for the life
of me l couldn't see any way of soften
ing-unless | told the head waiter to give
me two checks and filled up one for her
and Il for myself, which would have
been foolish to my English ideas. As we
finished our microscopic repast, how
ever, she said in the most matter-of-fact
tone to the waiter:
The check, please"
Tho o~bsequious Italian brought 1t to me
naturally and she looked up and said;
And mine, too, waiter"
"They arc both together, madame"
Obi but-no-I-want'- she began.
REALLY" said 1, feeling very uncom-
Portable, ait is such an absolute nothing
that 1t would be simpler, and would give
me q pleasure into the bargain, If you
would allow me TO sign this, Miss Tres
sahar."
Certainly not" she replied, blushing,
though her tone was quite decided; Twill
you hand 1t to me for u moment?'
l did SO and sho gravely calculated
what her share of our lunch had been,
and then producing her purse she counted
out the exact AMOUNT in silver and
handed it over to me with the check.
Now" said she, 'if you will sign 1t It
will be all right"
l did SO without a word, fascinated,
but withal feeling n little "mean," and
then the child, laying q quarter down be-
side her plate for the waiter, said:
"Now, let's go back to the parlor for a
few minutes and then | must go out"
We went up stairs again and sat for
half an hour or SO, talking of quite seri-
GUS matters, and then we babe one
another farewell, mutually expressing a
hope that In truth it might be not good
by" but Eau revoir." She was leaving
Denver In an hours time; l also was
leaving the same evening.
And thus we parted.
Up stairs in my o l had a some
what battered copy Of my last volume of
poems. l put a pen through my name
on the fly leaf and wrote thereon a little
inscription in verse expressive of the
pleasure l took in transferring to her the
possession of the volume, and SO l sent it
down to her by q servant and betook my
self to my packing. 1 was thus en-
ployed, talking the while to a friend who
had dropped in to say ~''good-by," when
a bell boy brought up a crimson rose
upon n salver from the office.
Miss Tressahar has just left, sir, and
sends this, with her compliments; she
has received the book and Is much
obliged, and says she will write to thank
you from Nashville"