The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-02

DOCK the young man held. 1t was not a
guide book but little thin volume Of
poetry-bound She glanced at his face, it
seemed refined pleasant face to her hasty
| glance He wore little gold pince-nez.
DO you think she lives there now?" said
Fanny. and Miss Winchelsea's inspection
came to an end.
For the rest of the journey Miss Winchel-
sea talked little. and what she said was as
pleasant and as stamped with refinement
as she could make it. Her voice was always
low and clear and pleasant and she took
care that on this occasion it was particu-
larly low and clear andt pleasant. AS thew
came under the white cliffs the young man
put his book Of poetry away, and when at
last the train stopped beside the boat he
displayed graceful alacrity with the i'm
pedimenta of Miss Winchelsea and her
friends. Miss Winchelsea hated nonsense.
Dut sne was pleased to see the young man
perceived that they were ladies. and helped
tnem without any violent geniality. and
how nicely he showed that his civilities were
to be no excuse for further intrusions. None
of her little party had been out of England
before, and they were all excited and a
little nervous at the channel passage. They
STOOD IN little group in a good place near
the middle of the boat-.the young man had
taken MISS Winchelsea's carry-aM there and
ndo toid her 1t was a good place-and they
"dlcheo the white shores of Albion recede
ana quoted Shakespeare and made quiet fup
VI .ieir IeiloW-travelers in the English way
Ihey were particularly amused at the pre-
cautions the bigger-sized people had taken
against the little waves, cut lemons and
masks prevailed. one lady lay full length in
deck chair with a handkerchief over her
fare
bright brown ''touristy" suit walked all the
way from England to France along the
deck, with his legs as widely apart as
providence permitted.
These were all excellent precautions and
nobody was ILL., The personality
party pursued the conductor about the deck
with inquiries, in manner that suggested
to Helen's mind the rather vulgar image of
hens with piece of bacon rind, until at
last ne went into hiding below And the
young man with the thin volume of poetry
stood at the stern watching England re-
ced1ng, looking rather lonely and sad to
Miss Winchelseas eyes.
And then came Calais and tumultuous
novelties, and the young man had not for
gotten Miss Winchelsea's hold-all and the
other little things. All three girls though
they had passed government examinations
In French to any extent, were stricken
with dumb shame of their accents, and
the young man was very useful. And he did
not intrude. He put them in a comfortable
carriage and raised his hat and went away
Miss Winchelsea thanked him in her best
manner-a pleasing, cultivated manner-and
Fanny said he was mice almost before he
was out of earshot. ST wonder what he can
be" said Helen. "He's going to Italy, be-
cause l noticed green tickets in his book"
Miss Winchelsea almost told them of the
poetry, and decided not to do so. And pres
emily the carriage windows seized hold upon
them, and the young man was forgotten. 1t
made them feel that they were doing an
educated sort of thing to travel through a
country whose commonest advertisements
were in idiomatic French, and Miss Win
chelsea made unpatriotic comparisons be-
cause there were weedy little sign-board adj
vertisements by the railside instead of the
broad boardings that deface the landscape
in our land. But the north of France is
really uninteresting country, and after a
time Fanny reverted to "Hare's Walks"
and Helen initiated lunch. Miss Winchelsea
awoke out of a happy reverie; she had been
trying TO realize, she said, that she was
actually going to Rome but she perceived
"
and they lunched out of their baskets very
cheerfully.
In the afternoon they were tired and silent
until Helen made tea. Miss Winchelsea
might have dozed. only as their fellow-pas-
sengers were two rather nice critical-look-
ing ladies of uncertain age-who knew
French we'll enough to talk it-she employed
herself in keeping Fanny awake. They were
already dreadfully tired of travelling before
their nights stoppage came. The rhythm
of the train became marked and the
streaming landscape outside became at last
quite painful to the eye.
The stoppage for the night was bright
ened by the appearance of the young man,
and his manners were all that could be de-
sired, and his French quite serviceable. His
coupons awaited for the hotel and by
chance, it seemed, he sat next Miss Win
chelsea at the table d'hote In spite of her
enthusiasm for Rome, she had thought out
some such possibility very thoroughly, and
when he ventured to make a remark upon
the tediousness of travelng-he let the soup
and fish go by before he did this-she did
not simply assent to his proposition, but
responded with another. They were soon
comparing their journeys, and Helen and
Fanny were cruelty overlooked in the con-
versation. 1t was to be the same journey,
they found, one day for the galleries at
Florence from what / hear" said the
young man, lit is barely enough"-and the
rest at Rome. He talked of Rome very
pleasantly; he was evidently quite well read
and he quoted Horace about Socrates. Miss
Winchelsea had done that book of Horace
for her naturalization and was delighted to
cap his quotation. 1t gave sort of tone to
things, this incident, a touch of refinement
to mere chatting. Fanny expressed a few
emotions and Helen interpolated few sem
sible remarks, but the bulk of the talk on
the girls side naturally fell to Miss Win
chelsea.
Before they reached Rome this young
man was tacitly of their party. They did
not know his name nor what he was, but
it seemed he taught, and Miss Winchelsea
had a shrewd idea he was an extension
lecturer. At any rate he something of
that sort, something gentlemanly and re-
fined without being opulent and impossible.
She tried once or twice to ascertain wheth-
er he came from Oxford Cambridge but
he missed her timid opportunities. She tried
to get him to make remarks about those
places to see if he would say come up to
them instead OF go down"-she knew that
was how you told a varsity man. He used
the word 'varsitv-not uniyerSity-in unite