The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1893-05-13
} TTIE' IRISH STANDARDS SATURDAY, NAY Is.

6AI l1A u rs ]
Then opportunity for further criti-
cism was lost. Mrs. Norcross was COM
ing towards them, followed by. q tray
bearer. She swooped down upon them
smiling:
''You are neither eating nor drink
ing! This is abominable. -
mo; WE were gossiping, and about
YOU
'sAbout me?''
She clasped two jewe1ed hands to her
pink ears. The diamonds that flashed
upon them were priceless family gems.
cit is the left one that burns You were
saying naughty things about me-"
ION the contrary. We were saying
that Eugene was always a most fortu-
nate man. But-Bennett is trying to
catch your eye. He has card there.
One does not need cards to-day"
Mrs. Norcross turned towards the
butler, who was standing behind her
extending card and wearing his most
impassive facial expression. She flushed
under this implication of social ignor-
ance. and made no motion towards TAX
ing the card:
81 am at home to all my friends to-
day, Bennett"
s.This is not friend, madam. It is
person"
'sThen am not at home to her.
''She insists upon seeing you. She
would not go. She has written some
thing on the card. I have shown her
into Mr.. Norcross' study
Mrs. Norcross lifted the card from the
salver. 1t was one of the sort Bennett
always kept in the drawer of the hall
rack for emergencies. There was roth
ing written on it but name:
tNora."
A slight tremor, as slight as the wav-
ing of willow wand when a rude wind
shakes it suddenly, passed through her
frame, leaving her color a shadefainter,
and her voice a trife less resonant in its
gay clear tones:
presently"
She waved Bennett out of her pres
ence with that one softly-spoken word,
and once more gave her exclusive at
tention to Mr.. Norcross' relatives.
She had favor to ask Of both of them:
''Would dear Mrs. Delany come to her
on next Monday and dine en- famille?
She and Eugene could not agree upon
the location of the conservatory. They
needed an umpire. Eugene was posi-
lively autocratic.
And
would dear Mrs. Norcross make one
at the theater party she was getting up
for Irving's first night?''
Then, with joyish thanks, and an
adieu waved from the tips of her pearl
sticked ostrich-feather fan, she turned
from them flashing and smiling, and,
gradually making her way to the velvet
portiers that separated the parlors from
the rear of the house, she disappeared
behind them.
''Wonderful!'' Mrs. Delany exclaimed,
in tones of genuine admiration, as the
velvet draperies fell softly together once
more, shutting out the radiant vision.
,.sWhat?''
t'Amelia's self-control. The card that
Bennett brought her agitated her ex-
cessively. She had twisted it into per-
feet corkscrew before you had made up
your mind about the theater party.
The person is not welcome
''That, at least, goes then to prove
that Eugene did not marry a provin-
cial" ~
:. II yield that point. But one would
like to know little something of the
antecedents of ones own brothers
wife,
If it had been Mrs. Delany's privilege
to 20 with her sister-in-law into the
presence of the person who was patient
~ waiting in the study, her curiosity
might have been amply if not agreea-
bly, satisfied on the score of antecedents.
1t was John Lorimer's wife who sat
there waiting for the tardy coming of
her sister Amelia, Ninette's mother. As
the radiant young thing who had just
successfully run the gauntlet of several
score Of critical eyes fitted into the
DINNER region of Mr.. Norcross' study,
Nora stood up confused and bewildered.
They kissed each other, and they
called each other ''Norrie'' and MEL