Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1898-05-04
MRS FORRf &IERAl

Already there Is a squeak of a fiddle get
ting into tune, and the two girls hearts
throb responsive.
As June was standing beside Tom,
flushed and lovely with excitement, DaL
las Broke came up to her.
"Yop will give me . waits won't you =
he said, persuasively: and Juns, who wa
too happy to be cold or disdainful to any
one tonight, replied that she would be
very happy.
"The secondr
And she assented.
"Ah, my dear old chap" said Dallas,
laying q friendly hand on Toms arm, Il
have one pull over you. Miss Rivers. why
don't you make him learn to dancer"
Happy as she was, June felt a slight
sense of vexation at Mr.. Broke's manner.
She wished he would not always look and
speak IS though she were Toms prop
erty.
The Quadrille was over. the music of
the first waltz had commenced. June's
partner this time was the son of a neigh
boring rector. He was little rough in
his PAGES, but June had an extraordinary
facility for adapting herself to almost any
step and any partner. When they made
their first pause, Dallas and Mrs. Feth-
erston had the floor TO themselves. Ev-
eryone was watching them. Their move
ments were the perfection of ease and
grace; such a lover Of dancing as June
could not look at them without admira-
ton, even though it occurred to her that
there was rather more abandon In Mrs.
Fetherston's style than was quite decor
Gus. They stopped. Dallas looked dowI
into his partners eyes and whispered
something; she answered him In kind.
June felt a sudden spasm Of anger fit
through her heart; she told herself that il
was due to a sense of outraged propriety.
Exquisitely as Dallas danced, she decid-
ed with q sudden impulse that she did not
want to dance with him. He was not
nice: she would rather not dance, talk.
or have anything else to do with him.
Tom came to her when the waltz was
over; the rector's son made way for him.
'Tom," she whispered, take me into
the conservatory. / want to get another
flower. These are crushed"
"All right, come along" said Tom, Civ.
Ing her his arm.
He gathered her a rich cluster Of Grim
son geraniums, and she fastened it in her
dress.
How are you enjoying yourseIf?'" he
asked, and June replied:
Immensely"
"You are going to dance the next with
Dal," he said. Il shall come and have a
look at you. hear the music beginning"
II don't particularly care about dancing
with Mr.. Broke" uttered June, lettering.
At this moment he came to look for her.
Seeing Tom, he half paused, and again
that smile hovered in his eyes and mouth,
81
instead of thisr' he said, and June an
swered coldly, putting her hand on his
arm:
mo; think this is ours
WAS l wrong to come for your' he
whispered as they passed out of the con-
servatory, and she replied, more coldly
still:
Certainly not"
A minute later his arm Is round her. Is
it possible that erewhile she was angry
with him? Now one soul seems to ami
mate them; together they fulfill the per-
feet poetry of motion: never in her eigh-
teen summers has June been conscious of
such ecstasy as this.
When at last they pause, he looks down
at her with a glance which she no longer
resents.
Was not that perfectf" he whispers.
She answers him by look.
LET us go on. 1t is n sin to lose q mo.
ment of this!' Dallas says, and again they
float along the polished floor.
Alas. alas! it is over! the piano has
banged the final chord; perforce they
stop.
Mrs. Rivers was sitting up for her dar-
ling, anxious to hear all the events Of
the evening, and, as June made her re-
citaI, a sudden Consciousness came to the
girl that, instead Of pouring all her heart
out to her mother as was her wont, she
WAS talking almost as insincerely as
though she had been speaking to a strang-
er. 1t was a relief to her when her story
was finished and she had kissed her moth
er fondly and hidden her goodnight. The
maid who acted ns parlor maid, house
maid and lady's maid at the Rose Cottage
unfastened her dress and fingered a little
deeply interested in the doings at the
Hall
When ut last she went, June stood i'm
movable for a moment. Then she flung
herself down by her bedside and cried as
# her heart would break.