Bradford County telegraph. (Starke, Fla.) 1888-current, 1895-11-15


"You are . dear, bat I have an
other idea. You take the bouquet
aud perhaps he viii recognize II. '
Susan lsughe3. and her lAugh VA
20 merry it was infections. 'sNo, no.
Fairy, that would never do. Why,
should feel and look like Q goose,
never had q bouquet in my life; you
keep it to comfort you, all but thu
queer yellow orchid. Ineyer saw one
like it, and perhaps If ] stuck it some
where very conspicuously it might
catch Captain Anthony's eye"
't3ut, Sukey, dear, it is quite toe
awfully ugly with that gown"
"And my hair" finished Susan,
without touch of bitterness in hen
smile. 1.-THE uglier the better; per
haps he viii notice this skirt. I think
nothing could be more effectually
warranted to attract attention"
The orchid fastened in, Susan hud'
died on her cloak.
'Good night, my own darling.
/ shall be thinking of you all the time
go to bed early, and I'll wake yen up
when I get back"
Susan was introduced to two good
looking young men. One OF them
bowed and passed. The other put her
down for number eighteen. "By
which time I trust I shall be tucked
up in bed" thought Susan, the phil.
osopher. However, she got a chair in
the hall next a girl with red elbows,
and a satin bodice ali rucks, who
seemed as psrtnerless as herself, and
who, being much younger, felt it far
more keenIy. Susan always talked to
any girls who happened to be dulland
lonely. She remembered time when
she had been much too shy to venture
to bring out her drawing.block and
make covert sketches, as she did now,
with cIeverness that made look at
q sort of pictorial diary she kept o
much-prized privilege among her
friends.
"Rather slow work, looking on,
hazarded Susan, whose keen eyes were
on the perpetual watch for any one at
all like Peroline's rapturous descrip-
tion of Captain Bridgenorth. che
isn't so very good-looking, perhaps,
but he has something quite, quite diff
ferent from other men about him"
She of the red elbows looked sur
prised but grateful, as she replied !:
az think it is horrible. Every time l
go ont 1t is Just the same, and yet I
always want to come; I seem to fancy
that it will really be nice at last. :"
81 used to think that, too" said
Susan, cheerfully, "but it is q mis-
take. Home is the best place for some
of u.s."
"I know it's wrong" said the other
girl, hesitatingly, shut oh, 1 do feel
so dreadfully jealous of pretty people.
Look at that girl by the door with the
blue velvet bow in her hair; her
mother is very i'll, dying, they say,
and yet she is here"
She was young, only about eighteen,
and was taking the harsh inevitable
very hardly. Susan had learned her
own lesson quickly and with serenity.
Take my advice" she said, cheer
fully, "don't come to balls unless you
are obliged. The little pin pricks one
has hurt, l know. But if you are COM
PEELED to do il, make the best of it
try to enjoy the flowers and the
music"
"Well, l call you downright won
derful, and if there were more girls
like you shouldn't mind things half
as much" She did not specialize the
things she meant. But Susan was not
attending; she was staring with all
her might at q short man with fair
mustache and an eyeglsss. In his but
tonhole there was an orchid, which
might have been q blossom plucked
from the spray she wore upon her
badly hanging lace berthe. She
rushed to a prompt, and, as it hap
pened. a correct conclusion. The
orchid was SO peculiar. No one else
had anything like it. Still, the con-
clusion was something of blow to
her. He was looking about and in
specting the various couples curiously,
but evidently failed to find the object
of his search. Susan and her friend
were partly hidden by a screen, and
with few rapid touches she sketched
him as he stood. A healthy, ordinary
young Englishmsn, quite common
place, and with no especial character
istic beyond an attractive soldierly
alertness. 1t was o very good like
ness. for he kindly gave her ten min
utes in which to do it.
Her companion watched her pencil
sdmiringly." You have made him
rather better looking than he is, she
commented.
Susan laughed softly. "That is be-
cause this portrait is to be a present
to somebody who thinks Captain An
thony Bridgenorth is different from
every one else in the world, but 1 can't
Bee It myself, so have had to imagine
q little. But how white you look. Do
you feel faint or ill?"
'Ihardly know. I am a little giddy /;
I suppose it is the heat, or the flow
ers, or something"
Susan looked positively pleased.
She bad formed q bold scheme, and
found an unconscious coadiutor ready
to hand 81 will go and get some
water for you. Just lie back on the
cushions-nobody can see you behind
the screen"
The fact was, Susan had decided on
a little experiment For two months