Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-05-09


its own niche with the other wardrobes
and its share in the days talk. Miss
O'Shea wore it with an impassive front
and greatly enjoyed the sensation it
: created. As a wardrobe to be stared at
it was brilliant success. On its own
ground none of the other wardrobes
could compare with it. Arrayed i'll one
of its masterpieces, no one was as con-
splcuous, no one as gorgeous; no one,
truth to tell, despite the powder and
the paint, was as handsome as Esper
anza O'Shea.
But there is admiration and admira
tion. The unsophisticated Esperanza
had not grasped this fact. That tho
glances and stares Of one of the most i'll
bred crowds in the country were not all
admiring did not penetrate her simple
mind for some time That people were
slow in extending the right hand of fel-
lowship to her she did feel with'a slow
ly dawning, hurt surprise. 1t never oc-
CURED to her that any one could possibly
object to making the acquaintance of a
young lady because she had red gold
hair when nature meant her to have
dark brown, OF plastered her lips with
a crimson glue for all the world to see.
But eastern people were not very
friendly. She announced this with the
customary candor of the Californian to
lady who sat next her at table. The
lady said, "No; they are not eXpan-
sive," and then smiled and drifted out
of the dining room, and afterward
proved to be one of the least expansive
of the people toward whom Esperanza
made friendly overtures
Yes, they were very stiff. She sat in
the casino every evening with her papa
and her mamma, and nobody came to
talk to her. Up in the tower, with its
stone supports black against the horizon,
the red electric lights showed friendly,
cheerful, merry people sitting in groups
and sometimes slipping cool drinks at
the little round tables. Their laugh
ter foated down and mingled with
the faint washing of the waves on the
rocks. They undoubtedly were having a
good time. So were the people on the
balcony and the paved terrace, drawn
together in little gay, chattering par
ties, from which the breeze bore scraps
of sentences and the light, high laugh
ter of women. Esperanza envied them
with the pent up intensity of her IS
years. Silent, between her silent par
ents, she looked at the gay groups around
her with her eyes full of a childish and
pathetically candid envy.
"Don't seem to me, Espy," said her
father suddenly, ''as if you were having
such rattling good time.
''Well, not exactly, popper," she
said, heaving up a great sigh from the
bottom of her pensively covetous heart,
''but maybe I'll get there later
The next evening the O'Shea party
resolved to try change and ascended to
the tower. 1t was even gayer than usu-
al. Groups sat about at the round ia
bles, slipping chilled liquids in tall tum-
blers, in which two blackberries, rasp-
berry and slice of lemon lay ON the
top of the cracked ice. A long steam
yacht, which had run into port few
hours before, was now only vaguely dis
tinguishable, but its lights pierced the
darkness, moving with the moving
swells. Its blue coated, white trousered
yachtsmen roamed the casino, occasion
ally stopping to greet friends.
At 10 O'Clock the silent O. Sheas pick
ed up their wraps and departed for their
hotel, which was close by the casino.
But as they emerged from that building
EsperanZa, who had been struggling
with her long cloak of white silk, dis
covered that she had carried away the
cape Of the lady who had sat next her.
She remembered having seen it on the
chair beside her and recollected throw
ing her own cloak over it. Calling to
her parents to go on, that she had for
gotten something and would join them
directly, she hurried back to the tower
But the lady and her friends had already
gone.
Not finding its owner, Esperanza gave
the cape to one of the walters lettering
about, then slowly retraced her steps to-
ward the corridor. There were only a
few people now left in the tower and
the gallery, and these were mostly cou-
piles who had tucked themselves away
in corners and were enjoying murmured
conversation. Miss O'Shea, smiling to
herself, looked over the road to see if
she could catch a glimpse of her par
ents, then trailed her long skirts of pale
blue brocade along the passage to the
stair head.
Ace 1o ,.oon1aI t1,ic ,ia1r re,%o
the veranda outside announced the ap-
proach of man. Miss O'Shea dreamily
speculated that he must have seen her
as she walked down the gallery. With
her fingers extended for the balustrade,
she turned and saw him enter, then
pause and look at her. He was tall,
handsome man, in the dark blue coat,
white duck trousers and blue peaked cap
Of yachtsman. He wore eyeglasses
and looked somewhere in the vicinity of
80. His face, as ne stood there looking
at her, left upon her memory lasting
impression.
Then, as she extended her foot for the
first step, he took off his hat and said,
smiling:
Elbow do you do? Isn't it a lovely
EVENING""
She was startled and made vaguely
uncomfortable by this unexpected ad-
dress. Looking at him in frank aston
ishment, she murmured hesitating,
eyes, lovely" and was about to con-
tinue her descent when he drew step
closer and said:
''Don't go back yet. Let's so into the
tower and have an absinthe frappe."
Miss O'Shea stopped on the step and
made no further attempt to descend.
The words themselves made little i'm
preston on her. She had seen men and
women this very evening sitting in the
tower drinking absinthe frappe, crem de
menthe and cobblers. In the manner of
the man lay the sting. Even Miss
O'Shea, with her limited range of ex-
perience and her beautiful belief in man.
kinds invariably chivalrous intention,
felt it.
And then she forgot the little, the
very little, training she hadever received,
forgot what DR.. Watts tells us of our
hands not being made for the purpose Of
tearing out each others eyes. forgot that
the only weapon society allows lady
is her tongue, forgot indeed what
society says lady is and what it main
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