The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1890-09-26

happens with girls of her restrained
disposition she became strangely i'm
pulsive with the excitement of mo-
ton. When they ceased and went
together into the conservatory she
was beaming with gladness.
"How pleasant" she exclaimed.
"Oh, it makes me feel as if l were
girl again and thought of nothing
but friendship and flowers!"
he was amused at her assumption
of maturity.
Really" he said with a sly irony,
"You bear your age wonderfully;
you are remarkably well preserved"
She laughed at the odd banter OF
his tone. "Do you really think me
SO young?" She asked little piqued.
''Ah," he said, with languishing
look, "You are as young as the un-
folding lily, as young as the rosebud
at dawn"
'sThat is true" she said demurely,
"My mother has often told me that
was born young"
Very soon she relapsed into her
mood of silence. After all he liked her
better thus. AS she chung to his arm
she brought him dreams of his boy
hood, when he had cared for one as
lovely as she, perhaps, but now SO
long forgotten. They walked out in
to the hall and assembled the central
stairway where they could overlook
the dancers beneath. He leaned his
head against the balustrade. She
sat clasping her knee and gazing at
him abstractedly. She was under
the strangely imaginative influence
of the masquerade. Perhaps it was
just this very dream influence that
pleased him so, for is not all friend
ship, all passion, dream? Certain
it was that as they sat together,
strangers though they were, there
was a perfect understanding between
them, so perfect indeed, that for a
long time neither spoke or wished to
speak.
He had been watching the gay
movements of the quadrille. The
motley dancers in the parlors beneath
wove in and outin turmoil of move
ment and color. He felt peculiarly
isolated among so much mirth and
gayety Astranger in strange land
is not half so lonely as stranger in
the home of his people.
At last, as if recalling his fancies,
he turned and said, fixing his gaze
on her mask, 81 am so glad that l
came as Ingomar."
She was listening but did not mind
his words. Perhaps it was the rich
strength of his voice that caught her
ear.
Because, you see, my costume
privileges me to devote myself to
Parthenia.'
She bowed her head for pleasure
He fancied he could see frightening
of color even beyond her velvet
masque. However, she remained
silent, and he went on:
"And yet there is a subtitle feeling
of sorrow in the thought that it is
Ingomar and not myself that you
have favored"
Her gaze still seemed to pass
through him and beyond. She had
the air of speaking from the shadow
OF a dream.
"No," she said quietly, 81 have en-
joyed our dances very much. You
are like an old friend ofmine." After
while she asked, do you ever
fancy yourself different, do you ever
feel as you used to in the years gone
by? l have felt all the evening as if
l were living my girlhood again"
Eyes, sometimes" he said, las I
used to feel when was happiest and
most light-hearted."
She seemed pleased at this and re-
peated, 81 have enjoyed our dances
very much"
"And l may have the waltz after
the unmasking?" he said, smiling at
the naivete of her remark. Because
you see as yet have known only
Parthenia. And I, too, have enjoyed
our dances"
She shook her head softly. "No, I
shall go home before the unmasking."
She arose and they descended to
the hall. His heart was filled with
delight at her presence. Already he
had conceived a friendship for her.
She was so simple and 80 graceful,
that it seemed as if he had always
known her. The thought of her go
inc filled him with tender regret.
The quadrille had ended. 1t was
but moment before the unmasking.
Come" he said, "You say you
have really preferred myself to In
gomar; can't you give me just this
one last dance? The rest you know
were scarcely my own"
NO." she said, ''the unmasking
would spoil it all. Let US part un-
acquainted"
"Now what shall l believer he
burst out with pretended pigue. sit