The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1895-11-22

lint now you have ouggostod IT." I
went on, considering, TITS not ct III :
bad ideAn Miss Hewitt moved TO the
further end Of the stall. and sold
another pair Of stockings. Its quite
worth thinking Of" / said, when abe
was within hexring again, I'm glad
you mentioned it "f..I never mentioned
anything" she retorted holly. mo.
OF course, you didn', mention it." I
agreed, '.but I don't see why you should
b angry because we are discussing
calmly -" I'm not discussing any
thing" she observed tartly. Mo-
said /. but II the duchess of Devon
shire Thought At y good deed to pur-
chase what she considered the welfare
Of her country by allowing voters to
kiss her, I don't think you should be
offended II for the sake Of an excellent
charity" 1T am not the duchess Of
Devonshire," said Miss Hewitt, shortly.
Il don't suppose" l said, that it was
much of q kiss" Miss Hewitt's nostrils
curled in scorn. Good people are al
ways so particular" I said. philosophic-
ally. Miss Hewitt's indignation
broke forth "Do you suppose, Mr..
Randall" said she sarcastically. sthat
one would allow anyone that wished
to" ooh, I lever said anyone" I
interrupted, hastily. mo, certainly
not anyone" She looked at me with
undisguised hauteur. Iglanced about
the stall. II should like to have a lot
of those things" I said. "Icould send
them to a children's hospital, you
know" Miss Hewitt's face relaxed
slightly. "They would be very use-
full" she said. SIT would be fifty
pounds, wouldn't it," I asked, as if
entering on a calculation. YES"
said Miss Hewitt with a little show of
excitement, "forty-fve if anyone took
the lot" I fingered in my pocket and
hesitated I'm afraid" said I.
You see I forgot I had promised to
buy q quantity Of flowers for the in
firmary,"I remarked, glancing at Miss
Chudleigh's stall. Miss Hewitt's face
fell, but she said nothing. I took out
my. pocketbook and extracted some
notes, dividing my looks between the
two stalls in . hesitating way. II
think the children in the hospital
would like the toys very much," said
Miss Hewitt, nervously. Eyes, they
could play with the stockings nicely,
couldn't they?" said ]. She paid no
heed to this remark.
II wonder if Miss Chudleigh would
do what the duchess dido" l observed,
presently. Perhaps you had better
ask her." said Miss Hewitt, sarcastic
ally. ''Oh. no." l said hurriedly, II
was only wondering. For the sake of
the poor people do make sacrifices, l
suppose" II don't believe she did let
them-let them kiss her." remarked
Miss Hewitt, after q pause, and con
templating . wooden horse. Don't
you?" l asked. looking up. What did
they do, do you think9" Miss Hewitt
examined the toy carefully. "Oh," she
said, in~differently, Il should think she
merely pretended" "Pretended?" I
echoed. Yes, they only kissed-iust
not quite-I mean they really didn't
touch her." she explained, with more
interest in the horse. l considered
this. "But some of them,' I~objected,
would not have been content to be
put off that way. They must have
really" "Oh, if anyone liked to be
rude and take advantage like that"
she said, disdainfully; ''she couldn't
help it, poor thing" NO" l assented.
II suppose she couldn't, and she must
have hated it all the time. "Of course
she did, said Miss Hewitt, now in
speeding a doll. "But she did it out of
sense of duty-to benefit her coun-
try" I concluded. "a man would
have been SO unselfsh," said
Miss Hewitt. Never" 1 said, en-
phat'"a11v. But do you think that
women are capable OF such an act of
self-sacrifice in these days?" I asked.
''Of course" said Miss Hewitt, watch
ing some people go by with great
interest, eff they only only
pretended to- "But if there was
an accident? I ventured. Miss
Hewitt apparently did not hear this.
''Do you really think" I persisted,
'that a woman-a girl, would do a
thing like that?" 'She wouldn't-she
couldn't-of course the duchess did not
let it pretend to be done-in-before
anyone else" mot, for example, in a
room like this" I said, looking round
the bazaar. How then?" "After-
wards" murmured Miss Hewitt, bend
ing down to pick up a pin, l suppose.
.'oh" | said, .she would only promise,
then?" Miss Hewitt said nothing. I
rose. "Well, Pm afraid I must be
really going" I said, holding out my
hand II think if she were really
honest she would have to keep her