The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-12-09
A Phase
Of the
Feminine

MISS De GuySter stepped ABOARD tne
car gingerly with the hesitancy of one
accustomed to riding in upholstered
carriages. She was so dressed that the
women regarded her with envy, the |
men with admiration. When the troll
ley, as usual, started the vehicle with |
a disquieting jerk, she preserved her |
balance with an effort and then pro- |
ceeded to sit up very erect indeed, look |
ing straight before her in manifest |
dsapproval of everybody. i
1t was the expression of conscious |
superiority lurking in her serene gray |
eyes that, in way, confounded and |
abashed her neighbors. 1t seemed to |
add to the charm of her beauty and |
accentuated the daintiness of her dress. |
1t appeared to say: Il am not i'm the |
habit of going about in this way, my
good people-believe me, | am not. l
am of a different class. | am of So
ciety. When / travel abroad | usually
go in my mammals equipage, with the
family crest on the panels and men in
livery on the box | am compelled to
take a short journey with you this fine
September morning, however, and--I
hope you are enjoying the experience
as much as | am"
Now ii so happened that the seat oc-
cupied by Miss De Guyster was the
one at the forward end of the car with
its back to the motorman. She was
consequently compelled to face quite
half of the other passengers, and she
bore their keen, analytical scrutiny
with an Indifference distinctly thor
oughbred. The car filed rapidly, and
very soon there were but few seats re-
naming vacant. Into the narrow
space beside hcr--the only space left
in the row--there climbed. at the next
stop, the very type of passenger whom
the young lady from the Avenue would
probably have gone farthest to avoid.
She was a girl was going to say,
like herself" but that would scarcely
be true, because this girl was Of
type 50 different that, looking at the
| twain it was impossible to cOmpre-
hend how Nature could have fashioned
two such beings and linked them to-
gether with the one word human
| The newcomer was perhaps twenty
years old. She had lean figure, un-
gracefully displayed by frayed ging-
| ham dress. She had head of curly
hair, cropped short at the back of the
4 neck, ana her large blue eyes shOne
! with a hard, defiant stare. Her hat
was a red one, and was soied. Her
/ hands were not we'll kept and there
were inexpensive rings on them. Yet
! with it all, she had a certain brazen
/ beauty that was undeniable.
! Miss De Guyster shuddered secretly.
! but preserved her composure. She
/ would have done the same thing if
! called upon To swim from a sinking
! yacht or submit without warning to the
] n mn tt1ti 10, ,,f 1f,,,l lp haH
| innocent of any outward sign of dis
! tress, but the Tough Girl had detected
her aversion by instinct, and-pouf!
/ the war was on.
1t was the war alas! of Race-that
sorry. interminabe war that has been
responsible for so many bitter heart
burnings since this sad old world be-
gan. The figure of the Tough Girl
| grew, in an instant, tense and rigid
! She leaned forward slightly and spread
the ringed fingers of the ill-kept hands
| Ostentatiously out on her knees before
her. She squared her lean shoulders
! and elevated her insOlcnt little nose,
smiling the air disdainfully. In her at
! titude, there was scorn mingled with
defiance, hatred with contempt.
The fellow travellers of the pair could
| hardly fail To notice the spirit of an
| tagonism that existed between them.
| Indeed, the physical contrast would in
itself have been sufficient to excite re-
mark. The pampered lily of the salon
side by side with the tarnished peony
of the Observation-Disclosures and Me
Fadden-purity and grime--it was an
| interesting situation.
on whizzled the trolley. Miss De
Guyster continued to hold herself very
erect and, to stare straight before her
without once blinking. She fixed her
serene eyes on the painted number at
the rear end of the car, and wondered
if this very Objectionable person be-
side her had far to go. She also felt
that if it were necessary for loud young
women with short hair and soled
hands to ride in trolley cars with peo-
pie of refinement they might at least
abstain from the use of abomlnable
perfumes. 1t was this thought. pos
sibly, that led her to fish in her reticule
for a gossamery little lace handker-
chief with the De Guyster crest en-
broidered in the corner, and to flick it
lightly across her face.
Cologne against patchouli. The two
essences do not harmonze. They did
not in this instance. The act of the
Swell bred i'm the heart of the Tough
an added detestatiOn and defiance. She
ceased the tossing of her abbreviated
curls and the hard breathing through
her little fiat nostrils. She turned half
round and looked. with scorn and
malice. squarely into the De Guyster
face. The De GuySter nerves stood the
test though the ordeal was trying.
Slowly, and with the utmost delib-
GRAFTON. the person of low degree pro-
ceeded to study the aristocrat. She be-
gan, literally, at the foot and went to
the top. She marked, first of all, the
cleaning patent leather boot, the in
1nitesimal toe of which peeped from
beneath the hem of the smart tailor
built skirt. She absorbed with bitter
ness in her soul the charm of the
iaunty drab jacket with its slim waist
and fanciful stitching at the seams and
cuffs. The dazzling Whiteness of the
lady's collar COVE her a new irrita-
tion, and she noted. with fresh scOrn
the daintiness Of the gloves, the mod
est tilt Of the pert little hat. But just
then Miss De Guyster herself hall
turned, and thereby placed a climax
: upon the Tough Girls desperate emo
tion. For in an instant the hard blue
eyes had burrowed their way into tho
gray ones and had discovered i'm those
placid depths a something that vastly
intensified the ache i'm that rebellion,
heart a something that is found only
i'm the eyes of children and of the good
IA something, alas, that the hard eyes
would never hold again. At which the
l.