The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1897-10-30

ed sweetly.
prince G%ortehof? Yes, madame; l
was with him today. He is a Russian,
one of the great mobiles of that empire.
1 last saw him in Vienna, to which city |
had travelled with him from st. Peters
burg"
Icould see Mrs. Wallis fairly pluming
herself at knowing so great a parsonage
even at secondhand.
"And when" she said softly, "are
we to see the cards you send to the
prince?"
Mr.. Valois gave a little laugh and
walked away. "Oh, l am Of service to
you here as l am, madame. Ipromise-
when you reach France"
Then / opened the door and walked
Two days after we left England and
crossed the channel to France. AT the
last minute Mr.. Valois found that he
could not accompany us, but promised
to meet us in Paris within a few days.
I don't know why, but l didn't believe
he would come. / felt that / was saying
"goodby" to one Of the pleasantest &C.
quaintances l had ever made. And, as
sometimes happens, my presentiment
was not far from wrong.
sit is moi 'goodby, he said. SIT is
only au revoir. We shall travel long
roads together over there" And he
looked at me.
After we had embarked upon the
chopping channel we were glad that
Mr.. Valois was not with us, unless his
seasickness remedy was also on hand.
We were frightfully ill, as were all the
rest of the passengers, and the piles of
washbowls were i'll constant use. We
only stopped in Calais for n day. Our
rooms were already engaged in Paris.
Mr.. Valois had attended to that for us.
Mrs. Wallis and l were anxious to get
into the whirl Of life. We were no
longer good comrades for each other,
and we both moped in the absence of a
companion who had done SO much to
enliven us of late. 1t seemed absurd
when we realized that we had only
known him a fortnight.
We had been in Paris a week, had
shopped at the Bon Marche, bought a
dress or two of the immortal Worth,
and had found some American friends
who had rapidly seen the sights of the
French capital and wanted US to push
ON into Switzerland and north Ger
many with them. "Winter was the
time for Paris" But we were awaiting
some one whose judgment was infalli-
BILE. We wee to go the next day to say
goodby to them and were sitting in
our parlor talking in a desultory way
of their plans, carefully leaving out
Mr.. Valois' name when we spoke of our
own, when there was a knock at the
door, and a ervan came in with a
large salver-a brass sea, islanded by a
tiny white note. 1t was addressed to
Mrs. Wallis, and we both recognized
the writing as that of Mr.. Valois. She
broke the seal with almost trembling
hands, and after she had read it handed
it over to me:
MADAME-You are now in Paris, where l can
refer you to almost any gentleman in the city
for information as to my standing. l have re-
Trained from falling myself up to this time
because l wished you to know me well before
l made any pretensions. May I call at your
rooms in one hour from this2 Your devoted
servant, HENRI Val. is.
Mrs. Wallis went over to the table
and wrote a hasty note, which she dis
patched. Again was her face that burn
ing red.
81 will order the carriage and go
around to see the Prices," 1 said, and
she did not object. l went into my own
room and NEARLY died of laughter, "
as schoolgirls say, while l was putting
on my jacket and hat. ! felt as sure as
T ovor folt of onuthinn fbot Hanr; Va-
lois, or the Marquis de Saint Lippe, or
whoever he might be-and we should
o o know-was going to propose to
Mrs. Wallis for my hand. To him she
stood in the place of my mother. A
man never would write such a business
like epistle as that to the woman he
was going to ask to marry him. l felt a
little sorry for her and then I felt ex-
ultant. 1t was good enough for her. A
woman of that age has no business
falling in love with young men.
And then l laughed again and i'm
agined her sensations when she went
into that room, expecting the embraces
of a lover, to be asked to play the part
of mother to me. Oh, it was too good
almost to keen to myself! If Mr.. Valois
had ever made downright love to me,
as an Englishman or an American
would certainly have done under the
circumstances, ! would have told Della
Price all about it and let her laugh
with me, but it would have been a tame
love story whose only incident was the
joke with which it reached its climax.
But l was merciful in one respect
timed my return SO that the embarrass-
ment should be as short rs possible for
Mrs. Wallis.
After Mr.. Valois Che was something
more than that now had explained
himself / would come in. l looked at
my watch as I went up in the elevator
(they call them lifts and assenseurs
over here) and calculated that Henri
had been with Mrs. Wallis about three
quarters of an hour. Invent through my
own room. took off my hat, fiuffed up
my bangs and softly opened the parloI
door.
1t was empty.
AS I stepped in, a little bewildered,
Mrs. Wallis door opened on the other
> side, and she rushed across the room,
and throwing herself into my arms
, broke into the widest peals of laughter.
/ vas frightened to death. Had the