Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1894-08-09

VI A1iuy N0iSASeS SulucA kslltS. IL
was one of the garden parties to which
Everybody" went--Dcspard Norreys
for one. as Il matter of course. He had
got more qualification and less annoy
ance out of his second meeting with
Miss Fforde; for he battered himself
he knew how to manage her now
s'that little girl i'll black. who thinks
herself so wonderfully wise, forsooth!'
Yet the sting was there still; the very
persistence with which he repeated tC
himself that he had mastered hel
showed it. His thoughts required tc
her more than they We're in the habit
of doing to any one or anything but
his own immediate concerns Out OF
curiosity, merely, no doubt; curiosity
increased by the apparent improbable
ity of satisfying it. For no one seemed
to know anything about her. She
might have dropped from the skies
He had indeed some difficulty in re.
calling his personality to the two OF
three people to whom he applied fol-
information.
"A girl in blacll-at the Leslies' mu'
steal party? Why. my dear fellow
there were probably dozen girls in
black there. There usually is Il good
sprinkling of black frocks at evening
parties" said one of the knowers OF
everybody whom he had selected to
honor With his inquiries. What was
there remarkable about her? There
must have been something to attract
your notice.
mo, on the contrary" Despard re.
piled, "she was so remarkably unre-
markable," and he laughed lightly. "It
Inv al, T 1,or
ed haunted by her once or twice late.
about her except that her name is
Fforde"
''Fforde." said his companion, 'that
does not tell much. And not pretty,
you say?'
Pretty, oh, yes. No. not exactly
pretty" and a vision Of Maisie's clear.
cold profile and-yes there was no
denying it-most lovely eyes, rose be-
fore him. More than pretty he
would have said had he not been afraid
of being laughed at. 81 don't really
know how to describe her, and it is
of less than no consequence. 1 don't
suppose 1 shall ever see her again.
and he went ON to talk of other mat
terS.
He did see her again, however, and
it was, as will have already been Sup
posed, at Lady Valence's garden party
that he did so. 1t was a cold day, of
course. The weather. with it's usual
consid eration, had changed that very
morning after having been, for May,
really decently mild and agreeable.
The wind had yeered round to the east
and it seemed not improbable that the
Il IN inv tod 1cf
in the course of the afternoon.
Lady valence declared herself in de.
spair, but as nobody could remember
the weather ever being anything but
highly detestable the day of her gar
den party, it is to be hoped that she
in reality took it more philosophically
than she allowed. Despard strobe
about feeling very cold, and wondering
why he had come, and why, having
conc, he stayed. There was long
row of conservatories and ferneries
and glass houses of every degree Of
temperature not far from the lawn,
where at one end the band was play
ing, and at the other some deluded
beings were eating ices. Despard shiv-
cred; the whole was too CHASTITY. A
door in the center house stood invit-
ingly open, and he turned in. Voices
near at hand, female voices, warned
him off at one side, for he was not
feeling amiable, and he fastened in the
opposite direction. BY degrees the
pleasant warmth, the extreme beauty
of the plants and flowers amid which
he found himself, the solitariness, too,
soothed and subdued his irritation.
IF could smoke" he began to say
to himself, when, looking around with
a Informed idea of so doing, he
caught sight amid the ferns Of feni-
nine drapery. Some one was there be-
fore him-but q very quiet, mouselike
somebody. A somebody who was
standing there motionless, gazing at
the tall tropical plants, enjoying, ap-
parently, the warmth and the quiet
like himself.
THAT girl in black, that sphinx of a
girl again-by Jover' murmured Des-
pard under hts breath, and as he did
80 she turned and saw him.
Her first glance was of annoyance;
he saw her clearly from where she
stood; there was no installing the
fact. But, so quickly that it was diff
cult to believe it had been there, the
expression Of vexation passed. The
sharply contracted brows smoothed,
TIE SrslceIu neau DenL SNSutly IOF-
ward, the lips parted.
How do you do, Mr.. Norreys?" she
said. eve are always running against
each other unexpectedly, are we not?"
Her tone was perfectly natural, her
manner expressed simple pleasure and
qualification. She was again the third,
the rarest Of her three selves-the per-
sonality which Despard, in his heart
of hearts, believed to be herself.
He smiled-a slightly amused, almost
a slightly condescending smile, but a
very pleasant one all the same. He
could afford to be pleasant now. Poor
silly little giri-she had given in with a
good grace, truce to her nonsense Of
! regal airs and dignity; truce, too,
to the timid self-consciousness Of her
first introduction
She understands better now, see, y
he thought. Understands that little
country girl is but-ah, well-but lit
tie country girl. Still, must allow
and he hesitated as his glance fell on
her; it was the first time he had seen
her by daylight, and the words he had
mentally used did not quite ''fit''-"I
/ must allow that she has brains, and