The morning times., 1897-02-15

| 6iiiS III iiO"tillB iohtlS tlldlc
lanes ana mail-clad knights. He had pored
over coin OF Tiberius until the romance
OF its history seemed tospeak out from the
worn and battered lips of the bronze
| emperor; lie had sat npon the great walls
| of Aigues Mortes until he had made friends
| with the little green lizards and learned
| from them their traditions Of the terrible
Burgundian night; while high up, from the
weird monolithic fortress Of Les BaUX, he
| had, in fancy, beheId its counts riding
| forthto fend foray, winding do wn through
rocky gorGes, To burst out. in all the
| glitter of feudal panoply, upon the plain
below.
People who We're inclined to he practical
| had long since set Gerald Rayhurn down
| for an altogether dreamy seIfcentered and
Unhuman individual; but that these strict
ures were not unqualifiedly Just may in q
measure appear from the fact that, whenhe
| lighted at the CleTmOut- Ferraud station,
the one thing he was longing for most OF
all was to hear "a few words of good in
telligible United States. His French was
not enjoyable, either to himself or others,
nor did lie feel that il was especially re-
liable outside of a few stereotyped situa-
tions. How far the eagerneSS TO rcvel in the
terse vigor Of his native tongue was sharp
ened by the fact that he had Just heard il
normally spoken for the first time in
month, and how far by the fact that the
speaker was remarkably pretty girl
cannot presume to inca sure. To my way OF
thinking, il the latter circumstance had
anything to do with his enthusiasm, il fur
nisheS another argument in favor of the hu
man side of his character.
The words-some passing comment t at
ttacted his attention to the speaker and
to the person to whom they were adj
dressed. Both were young women, some
where about twenty-three or twenty-four
years of age: both were dfeSsedin business
like travelling gowns, and neither was i'll
favored, though the former had by far
the larger share of good looks. Shall l
describe her? Beauty of all kinds has been
described SO often; and when you bear
in mind the carte blanche for invention
which my position gives, l can hardly sec
why my statements should be of interest.
Still, between ourselves, and honestly,
Miss Miriam Lowell, which happened TO
be the name onher valise trunk, was rather
under middle height, slenderly built, with
small, aristocratic features and light brown
upon her appearance, it would be that
the expression OF the mouth and eyes
was just a trifle too naughty and indie
pendent for so perfectly feminine set
ting. Her friend was rather taller, rather
stouter, rather darker and rather more
assertive looking. That was all that Ray
burn could grasp before ne saw them
both captured by the agent of the Hotter
du Louvre and deposited in stage
As for himself, he had contemplated
following his usual custom of taking the
tramway to town and then investigating
the prices and accommodations OF the
different houses before coming to de-
cision. Now, however. he did nothing of
the sort He summoned the agent of the
Hotel de Louvre, whose fevered appeals
he had, by the bye, just repulsed, and in
formed him that, on second thoughts, he
had concluded to. resign himself to his
keeping, whereat the agent beamed with
more than the hospitality of Ere nch
provincial hotel agents. and bundled him
into vehicle with his countryw omen,
Up to this point Rayburn had taken it
for granted that to put himself at once
on friendly footing with compatriots-
even female ones would be the most simple
and natural thing nthe world. Now sud-
denly dawned upon him the quandary Of
just how to set about it. There was some
thing in the appearance Of the two young
women that made such convcntionally inn
pertinent commonplaces as: II believe
you're Americans, are YOU not?' seem
as Impossible as it " ould be to raise his
hat and accost strangers on the streets
OF New York. Then he began to wonder
whether it would not be wiser to wait until
they should be les S b. SLY engaged in the
discussion OF their own plans. and when
their attention might be directed to him
self, if only for moment. To be sure,
it crossed his mind that perhaps the very
fact that they were speaking before du
understanding listener, furnished him with
an excellent excuse for polite announce