Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1893-10-05
BY Nas. M0lESW0RIh

us tlity CdIlt III, Sic ttit dLliuotu W,
and yet sorry for the little pertuba-
tons she sometimes discerned On the
part Of the hostess, especially IL the
latter happened to be young and at all
anxious minded. This was the case on
the evening in question. when fully
half an hour had been spent by Miss
Fforde in her corner before dinner was
announced.
1T is too bad" Maisle overheard the
young chatelaine whisper to a friend;
such affectation really amounts to
rudeness. But yet it is so awkward to
go down" then followed some words
too low for her to understand, succeed
ed by a joyful exclamation-"Ah, there
he is at last" as again the door opened
and mir. Norrcys' was announced.
And Maisie's ears must surely have
been ~preternaturally sharp, for through
the buzz of voices, through the hostess
amiably expressed r~eproaches, they
caught the sound of her own name,
aud the fatal words, that girl in
black"
You must think me a sort OF Frank
eLstien's nightmare" she could not help
saying with n smile, as Despard ap-
preached to take her down to dinner.
But she was scarcely prepared for
the rejoindcr.
II won't contradict you, Miss Fforde,
il you like to call yourself names No,
l should have been both surprised and
disappointed had you not been here
/ have felt sure all day / was going TO
meet you"
Maisie felt herself blush, felt too that
his eyes were upon her. and blushed
more, In fury at herself.
Fool that / am" she thought. "He
is going to play now at making me
fall in love with him, is he? How con-
temptible, how absurd! Does he real
ly imagine he can take me in?'
She raised her head proudly and
looked at him, to show that she was
not afraid to do so. But the express
sion on his face surprised her again.
1t was serious, gentle and almost de-
p~recating, yet with an honest light in
his eyes, such as she had never seen
before.
what IN actor he would make"
she thought. But a little culver Of some
curious, inexplicable sympathy which
had shot through her as she caught
those eyes belied the unspoken words.
II am giving far more thought to
an Alkth ohu MS lhuoNlo Iidh hO ID
worth" was the decision she had ar
rived at by the time they reached the
dining room door. after all, the
wisest philosophy is to take the goods
the gods send us and enjoy them. I
shall forget 1t all for the present, and
speak to him as to any other pleasant
man l happen TO meet"
And for that evening, and whenever
NI,Axr y,aAR .1.sn ..-,- .xN&
in the course of the next few weeks.
Maisie Fforde kept to this determina-
ton. 1t was not difficult, for when
he chose Dcspard Norreys could be
more than pleasant.
And-"Miss Ford" in her third per-
sonality was not hard to be pleasant
to; an~d--another "and"-thcy were
both young. both-in certain direc-
tions-deplorably mistaken in their es-
Inmates of themselves; and, lastly, hui
man nature still. through all the
changes of PHILOSOPHERS, fashions and
customs,
The girl was no longer acting a part;
she been doing so, indeed, she could
not SO perfectly have carried out the
end she had. In the fire of her indigna-
ton, vaguely proposed to herself. For
the time being she was, so to speak,
letting herself co. with the pleasant
insidious current of circumstances.
Yet the meanory of that first evening
was still there. She had not forgotten.
And Despard?
The London season was over. Mr..
Norreys had been longing for its close;
so. ut least, he had repeated to his
friends, and with even more insistenco
to himself, a great many, indeed q
very great many times, during the
last hot, dusky weeks of the poor sea-
sons existence. He wanted To get off
TO Norway in a friends yacht for some
fishing, he said; he seemed for once
really eager about it, so eager rs TO
make more than one Of his compan-
ions smile, and ask themselves what
had come TO Norreys, he who always
took things with such i~mperturbable
cquanimity, what had given him this
mania for northern fishing?
And now the fishing and the trip
were things Of the past. They had
not turned out as delightful in reality
as In anticipation somehow, and yet
what had gone wrong peSpard, on
looking back, found 1t hard to say.
lndt uolulnS ndu gone WTOuS WIS Uue
truth Of the matter. The weather had
been fine and favorable; the party had
been well chosen; Lennox-B Brown, the
yachts owner, was the perfection of a
host.
1T was a case of the workman, not
of the tools, l suspect" Despard said
10 himself one morning when, strolling
slowly up and down the smooth bit of
gravel path outside the drawing room
windows at Makerslea Y~icarage, he
allowed his thoughts to wander back
ward some little way. II am sick OF
1t all" he went on, with an impatient
shake, testifying TO inward discompo-
sure. "Tm a fool after all, no wiser,
indeed a very great deal more foolish,
than nay Leighbors. And I've been
hard enough upbn other fellows in my
time, Little / knew, / cannot throw
it off, and what to do / know not"
He was staying with his sister. his
only near relation. She was older than
he and had but one trouble in life. She
was childless. Naturally, therefore,
she lavished on Despard an altogether
undue amount Of sisterly devotion.