The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1895-12-17

ana perhaps he will recognize it,
Susan laughei, and her laugh was
so merry it was infectious. "No, no,
FAIRY, that would never do. Why, l
should feel aud look like a goose,
never had bouquet in my life; you
Keep IL to comfort you, oil but this
queer yellow orchid. never saw one
like 1T, and perhaps if I stuck it some
where very conspicuously 1T might
catch Captain Anthonys eye"
But, Sukey, dear, it is quito too
awiully ugly with that gown"
And my hair" finished Susan,
without n touch of bitterness in her
smile. ''The uglier the better per
haps he will notice this skirt. / think
nothing could be more efectually
warranted to attract attention.
The orchid fastened in, Susan hud-
died on her cloak.
Good night, my own darling. l
shall be thinking of YOU all the time :;
so to bed early, and I'll wake you up
when | get back"
Susan was introduced to two good
looking young men. One of them
bowed and passed. The other put her
Gown for number eighteen. "By
which time | trust / shall be tucked
up in Led, thought Susan, the phil
osopher. However, she got chair in
the hall next n girl with red elbows,
and satin bodice all rucks, who
seemed ms partnerless as herself, and
who, being much younger, felt it far
more keenIy. Susan always talked to
any girls who happened to be dull and
lonely. She remembered time when
she had been much too shy to venture
to bring out her drawing block and
make covert sketches, rs she did now,
with cleverness that made n look Mt
sort of pictorial diary she kept a
much-prized privilege among her
friends.
"Rather slow work, looking on, +"
hazarded Susan, whose keen ey es were
on the perpetual watch for any one at
all like Peroline's rapturous descrip-
tion of Captain Bridgenorth. "He
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:
81 think it is horrible Every time
go ont 1T is just the same, and yet 1
always want to come | seem to fancy
that 1t will really be nice at last"
81 used to think that, too" said
Susan, cheertully, "but it is mis-
take. Home is the best place FOR some
of u.s."
81 know it's wrong" said the other
girl, hesitatingly, "but oh, i do feel
so dreadfully jealous of pretty people.
Look Mt 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, | know. But if you are com
PEELED to do it, make the best of it
try to enjoy the flowers and the
music"
"Well, | call you downright won
derful, aud if there were more girls
like you | shOuldn't mind things half
rs much. She did not specialize the
things she meant. But Susan was not
attending; she was staring with all
her might at short man with fair
mustache and an eyeglass. In his but
tonholc there was an orchid, which
might have been blossom plucked
from the spray she wore upon her
badly hanging lace berthe. She
rushed to prompt, and, rs it hap
| pened, correct conclusion. The
orchid was so peculiar. No one else
had anything like it. Still, the con
clusion vas something Of blow to
her. He was looking about and in
speeding the yarious couples curiously,
but evidently failed to find the object
Of his search. Susan and her friend
were partly hidden by II screen. and
with few rapid touches she sketched
him as he stood. a healthy, ordinary
young Engiishmon, quite common
| place, and with no especial character
istic beyond an attractive soldierly
alertness 1t was very good like
ness. for he kindly gave her ten min
utcs in which to DO it,.
Her companion watched her pencil
admiringly." You have made him
rather better looking than he is, " she
commented.
Susan laughed softly. THAT is be.
cause this portrait is TO be present
to somebody who thinks Captain An.
thony Bridgenorth is different from
every one else in the world, but I can't
see 10 myself, so I have had TO imagine
% little. But how white you look. Do
| You feel faint or ill?''
81 hardly know. am little eiddv :;
/ suppose it is the heat, or the flow.
ere, or something"
Susan looked positively pleased.
She had formed bold scheme. and
found m unconscious coadiutor readv
TO hand. 81 will go and get some
water for you. Just lie back ON the
cushicns--nobody can sec you behind
the screen.
The fact was, Susan had decided ON
% littlo experiment. For two months
she had heard OF Anthony Bridgenorth
as % quito peerless person st last,
sine, too, had nude hero OF him, so
that this ordinary young man came rs
o revelation. Yet she was certain II
was he. The question to be decided
was whether he was worthy of Pero.