The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1893-08-23
SELECTED STORY.
Romance of the Exposition.

The ticket-taker noticed, as she came
through the gate, that she limped a
little. And he noticed, too, that she
smiled at him pleasantly, which made
him conclude--quite correctly-that she
was not from the city, that this was her
first day at the fair, and that it was
very great occasion indeed for her. He
was actually mean enough, was the
ticket-taker to keep his foot lingering
on the iron release moment before he
let the turnstile swing to admit her, just
for the sake of seeing her look puzzled
The ticket-taker might not have done
this If it had been a buster hour of the
day. But it was still early in the morn
ing. There were few in the fair grounds
yet, and the young woman looked
around in some surprise at the almost
empty avenues that stretched down
between the buildings.
Her limp seemed reallyrainful to the
ticket.taker, as she made her way over
to where group of young theological
students stood silently together by their
{" gospel chariots," as the irreverent
newspaper fellows had dubbed their
wheeling chairs. Some of them were
raw looking fellows, and appeared much
than the exercise of oratory in the
pulpit or elsewhere. Some looked weak
and insane, as if they had not positive
ness of character to do any thing but
pray. But there was one among them
who was standing straight on his legs,
as an athlete naturally does, and there
was something in the lines of his
firmly. closed mouth and the pose of his
head that made the young woman go
up to him and ask him what the price
of his chair and his services were for
the day. Not that she had any need to
ask, for she had read all about it in the
papers, and calculated on it very care
fully. But she asked by way of opening
the conversation. The student took
off his blue cap and answered her slowly,
and with an accent of indifference that
somehow was not just what Mary Stuart
had been expecting. Her own blood
was tingling in her veins. 1t was al
most unbearable to her that she was
really at the fair at last-the fair which
had been before her eyes as a sort of
glorifed vision for two wears, and for
which she had saved and planned and
sacrificed.
1t seemed to her that everybody must
have been working just as she had
been 10 get there, and that it was only
natural that their voices should be
tingling with enthusiasm. She felt for
moment as if she would have liked
10 change her young man and get one
who seemed less criminally Indifferent
to the glofies of the moment, but she
was too shy 10 do that, and she made her
bargain and seated herself with some
embarrassment in the chair, blushing
as she was rolled away, to feel that the
eyes of the young students were on her.
She was very light weight--so light
that the well-oiled chair, on its easy
bearings, impelled the pusher to walk
faster than he intended, and he had to
use little resistance to moderate its
pace. The little black sailor hat she
wore had no trimmings, but was swathed
in a tleecy black veil, as the young
man noticed on looking downward.
The simple black gown had neither
crinoline nor fiounces, as he noticed
also, but merely wide white cuffs and
collar, and the high tan boots and
gauntlet gloves had been selected with
careful reference to each other. One
foot was little shorter than the other.
as was evident even as they rested on
the little shelf on the chair. So much
the young man casually noticed, that
the body was very slight indeed and had
a sort of tension in it, as if nerves and
muscles were on the alert.
where do you wish to go?" he
asked, perfunctorily, as he had asked
on many previous mornings of his
freight" But the answer was moi
forthcoming. Instead, the woman
wheeled around in her chair and looked
up at him with some distress on hel
pale face.
81 haven't an idea," she said. 81
haven't been here before. This is my
first day. III only have five days here
might have had seven, only it takes &
day to come and another to go. | wan
to see Just as much as l can. I've beer
saving for two years to come here
Pm a typewriter and stenographer
/ can't walk much at time, or I'C
never have thought of taking a chair
If it hadn't been for taking a chair
it wouldn't have been so hard for me t,
come. But you see how it is. / haven
been to school much, and | thought
could get good deal of education here
YOU Cdu tClI uOW. lLb Vet
important to me-"
The morning wind blew her reddish
brown hair about her face little unde
her veil, and made her cheeks lool
psler than ever. Nathan Ingersol
stopped the chair and looked down a
her a moment. He had got in the way
during his thirty odd days already spen
at the fair, of keeping his personalit
well out of sight. At first, TO be sure
he had permitted himself some fee
ing of personal interest in the woma
he wheeled about the grounds, and ha
ventured on few occasions to forge
that for the time being he was pal
servant, and had let his thoughts spea
themselves in their accustomed way
But he had suffered three or four rattle
severe rebuffs, over which he ha
good-naturedly smiled, saying the
were really just what he needed, an
that they were good training. But, a
the same, he had smarted under then
and for the last two weeks had kel
himself well in hand, and had been a