Los Angeles herald., 1892-06-05


inensely.
And she was equally delighted will
the frank, manly ways of Mr.. Rush
which contrasted very agreeably will
the popular idea that never conceives tn,
combination Of brains and society men
They had already danced two waltzes
mazourka, contradance and New
port together, and as the midnight houl
approached Mr.. Van Tromp's FRIEND
heard himself slyly twitted by his &C
quaintances whenever an opportunity
| offered itself.
In fact, not only the sharp nosed and
sharp eyed duennas, but even his male
friends who, as q rule, are always
the last to perceive that something ais
up" noticed that he had only once left
the side of the handsome young lady
! since their introduction, and then he had
only gone to get her some sherbet during
an interval between two numbers of the
programme.
They were dancing schottische and
as MIR. Rush looked proudly down upon
his partner he noticed the glow of pleas
ure and excitement upon her pretty
cheeks and the glitter Of happiness in
her large gray eyes, and he admitted to
himself that he had never seen 30 thor
oughly ravishing face.
Suddenly she stopped in the midst Of
the dance
The flush left her face and gave way
to an expression Of alarm.
The somber sound of q nearby church
tower clock rose above the gay music in
twelve slowly vibrating strokes.
"Are you illY' asked Mr.. Rush solicit
, tously, after having brought his nearly
fainting partner to a seat. LET me
bring You some water"
Mono thank you," she whispered;
''do not trouble yourself; l was only
frightened about its being so late. Some
how forgot all about She did not
finish her sentence, but arose abruptly
and turned in the direction of the stair
way.
Permit me at least to have your car
riage brought and let me get your
wraps" and he started to execute his
purpose.
She stopped him with q gesture and
said: "You are really very, very thought
full, but ! think, that isl will have to
-er-it will do me good to walk" and
she blushed and looked confused.
Jack Rush gazed at her in utter amaze
ment; the idea of a young lady of social
standing that admitted her to the ultra
exclusive Van Trompball, walking home
after midnight, and alone, was beyond
his understanding.
However he was too well bred toshow
surprise and SO he simply said, Then !
must insist upon your permitting me at
least to see You safBly h0mer
With that he offered her his arm and
brought her into the entrance hall, where
he waited for her return from the cloak
room.
There were four distinctly new wrin-
kles Of surprise in old Ben's forehead
when he saw the two pass out of the
hall and actually walk. think Of it,
walk, up street.
It had stopped raining and the clear
cold night air had covered the pave
ments with an icy coating.
They walked very close to each other,
and Mr.. Rush pressed the arm of his
companion quite hard in order to keep
her from slipping.
At near corner they boarded horse
car.
What puzzed the young man was that
ever since they had left the house the
lady had met all his attempts at CONVEX
sation with monosyllabic reticence that
bespoke preoccupied mind.
Presently she asked, "By the way,
who was the elderly lady in yellow bro
cade who had brought her two daugh-
ters to the ball"
"Do you mean Mrs. Vandercook, of
Annapolis?' sss
"Yes, that is the name; dear me,
think have really forgotten nearly all
the names," she sighed. "What shall
do? What shall do?"
He looked more puzzled than ever,
but as he saw the evident distress of the
young lady he inquired with a tender,
sympathetic touch in his voice, "Why
don't you tell me what is troubling you;
perhaps might be of service to you"
For moment she gazed into his frank
face which echoed her own anxiety, and
then turning her eyes toward the floor
of the car she said hesitatingly, II would
be ever SO much pleased to have you get
me the names of all the people who We're
at The hall; but mind you every one of
them"
" - Is that all you wantedY' be asked,
and when she nodded assent he broke
into a loud laugh, in which somehow or
other she had to join. There was such
an honest ring to it,
"Why, my dear young lady, assure
you that tomorrow mornings papers
will print full list of the names to-
gether with description of the entire
affair, not to forget the dresses worn by
the ladies'"
"Oh, but not this one," rejoined his
companion, "the Van Tromps are SO ex-
ceedingly careful not to let the newspa-
pers know anything about their enter
tainments."
"Don't you worry; these newspaper
reporters manage to get in everywhere,
you know; though how they do it is
often q mystery to me-"
She only smiled feebly and motioned
to the driver to stop.
Mr.. Rush left the car with her. After
walking some fifty yards up side street
she halted before dimly lit stairway.
There was lot of yellow paper scat
tarad ahout such "a teleUraphic dis.