Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1896-02-27

, you Amvw, usvs ruth Al .-..~&oOuussoss
| way OF falling In love with men who can
| pAint, or write verses, or play the violin, or
do something foolish OF that sort, instead
| OF sticking last 20 the solid attractions Of
Ms. Clifford confided her fears that very
| night to the sympathetic ear of the Com
penion OF the Militant and Guardian Saints
| Of the British Empire.
Reginald" she said, solemnly. II told
you the other day, when You asked about
Il, Elma wasn't in love, and at the time !
was right, or very near it; but this afternoon
| I've had an opportunity of watching them
both together, and I've ~halt-changed my
| mind. Eima thinks . great deal too much
altogether, TIM afraid, about his young
CHOW do you know" Mr.. Clifford asked,
The British matron hesitated.
"How do l know anything she an
swered at last, driven to bay by the ques-
| ton. II never know how. only know l
know it. Hut whatever we do, we must be
careful not to let Eima and the young
| man get thrown together sgain. | should
say myself it wouldn't be q bad plan If We
were to send her away somewhere Tor the
summer; but ! can tell you better about all
| this tomorrow"
Elma,, for her part, had come home from
ChetwOod Court more full than ever OF
| Cyril Waring. lie looked SO handsome
kers'. ElMa hoped she'd be asked out
where he was going to be again.
She sat long in her own BEDROOM, think
| ing it over with herself, while the candle
burnt down in its socket very low, and the
| house was still. and the rain battered hard
- ~ A--r >..--l@-l ~~l hN~ HnNI nN 81 nd
mother discussing her by themselves down.
| stairs in the drawing-ioom.
She sat long on her chair, without caring
to begin undressing. She sat and unused
| with her hands crossed on her lap. She
| sat and thought, and her thoughts were all
about Cyril Warning.
For more thar an hour she sat there
dreamily. and told her selfover, one by one,
in order, the afternoons events from begin
ing to the end of them. She repeated every
word cyril had spoken in her eur. She
remembered every glance, every look he
had darted at her. She thought Of that
faint pressure of his hands as he said tare-
we'll. The tender blush came back to her
brown cheek once more with maidenly
shame as she told 1t all over. He was SO
handsome and so nice. and so very, very
kind, and perhaps after this she might
never again meet him. Her bosom heaved.
She wa conscious of q new sense just
aroused within her.
Presently her heart began to beat more
violently. She didn't knOw why. It had
never beaten in her life like that before
not even in the tunnel, nor yet when Cyril
came up to-day and spoke first to her.
slowly. slowly, she rose from her seat.
The TT was upon her. Could this be a
dream? Some strange impulse made her
two, irresolute. Then she turned round,
once, twice. thrice, half unconsciously.
She turned round, wondering to herself all
the while what this strange thing could
mean; faster, faster, faster, her heart within
her beating at each turn with more frantic
utes she turned, glowing with red shame.
yet unable to stop, and still more unable
to say to herself why or wherefore.
At first that was all. She merely turned
and painted. But rs she whirled and whirl-
ed, new moods and figures seemed to force
themselves upon her. She ifted her hands
and swayed them above her head graceful.
y. She vas posturing, she. knew, but why
che had no idea. 1t all canle upon her q
suddenly and - uncontroll ably Is . blush.
She was whirling around the room, now
slow, now fast, but always with her arms
held out llssom like q dancing-girl's.
Sometimes her body bent this way, and
sonstimes that, her hands keeping time to
4AC4 AO OkA40AAO AAV0AbW 1sSV ~ VAA A0NO-
full curves, but rs If compelled by some ex-
Il was an instinct within her over which
she had no control. Surely. surely, she
must be possessed. A spirit that was not
her seemed to be catching her round the
waist, and twisting her about and making
her spin headlOng over tho floor through
this wild, fierce dance. It was terrible,
terrible; yet she could not prevent it. A
force not her v seemed to sustain and
lnpel her.
And all the time, Is she whirled she was
conscious also Of somes strange, dim need. A
sense of discomfort oppressed her arms.
She hadn't everything she required for
this solitary orgy. Something more was
lacking her-sonlething essential, vital; but
what 6h earth 1t could be she knew not,
che knew not.
BY and by she paused, and as she glanced
right and leff. the sense Of comfort grew
that we're wrong. Her hands were empty.
She must have something to fill them
something alive 1.-THE, curling, sinuous.
These wavings and swsyings, to this side
and 70 that seemed to meaningless and
void-without some life to guide them.
There was nothing for her to hold: nothinA
70 anl ana suuuuc. no.I."s ~ .....e >.
writhe and give point to her movements.
oh, heavensi how terrible!
She drew herself up suddenly, and, BY
dint Of q fierce efOrt OF will, repressed the
mad dance that overMastered her. The
spirit within her, If spirit it were, kept
quiet for . moment awed and subdued BY
her proud decentralization it begin
once more and led her resistlessly forward.
She moved over to the chest Of drawers.
still ~rhythmically and with set steps, but
to the phantom strain Of some unheard, low
music. The music was running vaguely
through her head oil the tlme-wild
Eolian music ~ IL BOUNDED like
. rude tunc on . harp or . either. And
surely the cymbals. clashed now and
again overhead: and the timbtel rang clear:
and the castanets tinkled keeping time
with the measure. She stood sNll and
listened. No, no not . sound save the rain on
the roof. It Was the music o finer own
heart, heating irregularly and fiercely to
All intermittent lit, like . Hungarian
waltz or q Roumanian tarsntella.
BY this time Elma was thoroughly
frightened. Was she going mads she ask
ed herself. or had some evil spirit taken up
his abode within her? What made her
spin and twirl about like this-irrespon.
sibly. irrepressibly. meaninglessly2 Oh,
hi would her mother say ifonly she knew
all9 And what on earth would Cyril Waring
think Of herr
Cyril Waring! Cyril waring! It was ill