Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1896-05-28
It was an excellent opportunity to study her.


lillian maiden, fine brunette. with a
/ figure inclined to the statuesque in its
outlines. The ether. so nearly as I
could discover from an occasional
| glimpse of her in the course OF the first
two days of the voyage, was slender,
| graceful girl, brown-haIired, and neither.
| very dark nor very lightof complexion.
! She was travelling in company with an
| Older woman, attendance upon whom
kept her fully employed for As hours
out of port. Then. as the weather
was fine, the pair appeared on deck and
| Joined the party under the big awning
aft. Each carried book, but it was
noticeable that, while the elder read
steadily and rapidly. with the business
| like air of hardened devourer of nov
els. the girl often dropped her book
upon her lap and let her gaze stray
across the wide expanse of blue water.
Seemingly she took little heed of her
feliow-voyagers. group of whom were
chatting not dozen feet from her.
1t was an excellent opportunity to study
her without her k1owledge-as | be-
lieved; and the longer / watched the
young woman the more interested in
her did | become.
She was slender. as has been said,
and carried herself so crectly as to APP
pear taller than she really Was. her
height being, in fact but d trifle above
the average of her sex. Her forehead
vas broad, and her hair worn low upon
ii. Her features were good. The nose
VAS straight and finely chiseled, the
chin delicately rounded. Tier mouth
WAS larger than the canons Of art de
manded, and now and then the lips
were set in a line which indicated no
lack of firmness. 1t was not a stub
born mouth, however, even when the
thoughts of its mistress seemed to be
least pleasant. The face was inclined
to paleness, relieved by faint, flicker.
ing color which came and went on her
cheeks, even as she sat watching the
sea. The eyes gave her strongest claim
to beauty They we're clear, dark
brown eyes shaded Ry long lashes.
As whole, the face was attractive,
but it was no easy task to class its de-
gree of pulchritude Absolute beauty
il did not attain; pretty" was clearly
not the adjective 10 apply to it. Hand
some" seemed TO be closer to the truth,
| though even that word did not quite
| satisfy my Judgment But / did nor
ponder long over the point, for / soon
found myself fully decided that the
| girl was, in appearance at least. a very
| charming young person.
| Burroughs, British youth with
| whom | had struck up an acquaintance
IN the smoking-room, crossed the decl.
10 her chair, and talked with her for
| perhaps quarter of an hour. the novel;
| reader merely looking up from her book
on his approach ana promptly return
my to its peruSal after answering his
\ greeting. ! envicl Burroughs ac-
| cuaintance with the girl, although
neither he nor she seemed to derive any
great entertainment from their some
what intermittent conversation. Once
she sent a quick glance in my direction,
and l guessed that the youth had
| reached me in going over the list of pas
sengers. prayed that he might be
| charitable in his comments.
Strolling into the smoking-room that
evening, found most of the male pas
sengers were assembled. Two games
of cards were in progress. with a fringe
of spectators looking over the players
shoulders. After few minutes Bur
roughs appeared. and dropped upon the
cushioned bench beside me.
Not playing. eh?' said he. Don't
YOU admire the sport?"
Not particularly / answered. "Are
YOU going to take a hand?"
Il like TO, generally" said he. with a
laugh. hut Ill rather 10 something
lse lust now"
smoke, for instanc ?" l suggested
Not exactly" he answered, with !
eert of embarrassment in his tone
by the way. wouldn't YOU like TO NEE