The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1898-04-02

In various attitudes of WEAKNESS
WEAKNESS of the heart, rather than the
body-were varied types of maiden
hood, daintily, richly gowned, not n few
| beieweled, the eyes of each drinking
their tears of modification" as they
nerfously toyed with untitled dance
cards, or concealed them in their
| bodiees. Pauline's "sweet asking eyes"
passed from one to the other to rest
on the motherly Dinah talking in low
tones to a pale, weary little woman,
who wrote rapidly while she questioned
necessarily. The weary little woman
was reporter. 1t was the toilettes of
the unhappy girls that the waiting
maid was describing, with interpola-
lions as to their wealth and social pros
poets. All were daughters of wealth,
the offspring of families of social emf
nenee; and yet-Pauline shuddered as
she turned from their ill-disguised
wretchedness to meet Dinah's SYM
pathetic smile.
The reporter had disappeared
I'm so sorry for that little woman"
said the maid. shes worked to
DEATH"
Pauline lifted her delicate eyebrows
questioningly.
shes six balls to report tonight.
Her baby's sick, and she's so nervous
she gets names and costumes mixed.
She's going home now-it's midnight,
miss-to nurse the baby before she
takes in the fourth ball. Twill be three
O'Clock before she's abed. always help
| her when | can. You see, miss, knew
her when she was the greatest belle in
New York. Lor' bless you, honey,
there's no beauty on that floor tonight
could hold candle to that little woman
in her day-hefore her pa lost his mill
lions and her husband broke her heart
and left her to shift for herself and the
babes"
Dazed, bewildered, Pauline went back
to the ballroom. How spiritless, how
absent-minded the graybeard found
her! And SO, the ball rolled on, and
Mrs. Raget was piqued to account for
her miscalculation.
III.
Recalling those detected faces in the
| gold and white dressing-room, Pauline
was grateful to Mrs. Raget for sending
her back to her mountain home. Gone
forever was her girlish dream of social
conquest. She bad boxed it with the
ball gown, and both were quite forgot
ten until he said: II shall never be
quite satisfied, Miss Detmar, until I see
you in a ball gown"
"And why not?' said the mother
when the girl told her. There's the
hop at the Fort to which Detmar is
always welcome. For once in your life,
my dear, you have not the excuse of
Flora McThinsey," and forthwith the
box was uncovered.
They were making a little journey
round the world, he told her-he and
his companion, the grizzly little man
with the keen eyes and the musical
laugh. The latter would some day de-
scribe what they saw in lucid prose,
while he, Geraud Montant, was an art
list in search of types-types of Amer
lean beauty. Hers was a face nearer
his ideal than any he had yet met. Ger
tainly there was nothing at the last
Patriarch that appealed so strongly to
his pencil But Montant checked him
self The absurdity of speaking of the
Patriarch-that undiscovered, un-
dreamed-of country-to this lonely
mountain pink paling under his genial
glance. That his name, known in two
continents, which he himself pro-
nounced not without self-conscious-
ness, made no visible impression upon
her, was positive delight. 1t was the
finishing stroke of her conquest.
Learning of their poverty, 1t came
about that Montant, with consummate
tact, prevailed upon the mother to per-
NIT Pauline to pose daily for consid-
Grafton. A new world was thus opened
to Pauline, and her sympathetic soul
ripened fast, as her eyes, under Mon
tant's direction, began to perceive
beauty in natures homeliest aspects.
In her interest in the world beautiful,
as his art revealed it to her, all sense
of her own personality was lost, until
one day he expressed a desire to see
her in a ball gown.
With sudden consciousness that his
interest was not altogether impersonal
came yearning to nibble again, if only
at the fringe, of the polite world. OF
course, he would be at the hop at the
Fort-the cynosure of all eyes, with his
Apollo head and his air of medieval
knight errantry. And he was there;
it's related, moreover, that he had eyes
for none of the beautiful women who
graced the suspicious occasion, after
the model made her debut in the Raget
gown.
you would be surprised" wrote
Montant about this time to a chum oil
the Latin Quarter, ito see how desper-
ately infatuated L AMI, a globe-trot
ter of 40 odd years seasoning-with
the liveliest child in all the wide world
But when you see my salon picture
After the Ball. perhaps you will un
derstand."
That little journey round the world
ended at London, where there was
much curiosity in certain circles TO SEE
Montant's American wife. Always g
clever draughtsman, a strong, origina
colorist, his rise as a fashionable por
trait painter practically dates from his
marriage. Settling down at Mayfair
his skill was richly supplemented by
Pauline's beauty and sympathy and
Lucretia Detmar's diplomacy, which