Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-06-01

Then she laughed out loud with pleas
ure.
care you glad to see me?" Her
hands were caught fast in two strong,
powerful ones. Two piercing eyes were
fastened on hers hungrily and held
them.
YES" said Priscilla sortiy Yes, I
am. >"
THANK God returned Stornmouth
succinctly.
Then Priscilla, womanlike, began, to
put it inelcgantly, to back water.
at is the most natural thing in the
world that should be glad to see you, {"
she said. Il have not seen a decent
Americana home American, / mean
in a year "
Stornmouth smiled pleasantly, with
the old, memora bic twinkle in his eyes.
"There are plenty of them at home, :"
De remarked irrelovantly. will you
dance Miss Priscilla:"
Yes" said Priscilla.
And then she was horne off into a
rapturous land of ideal motion which
carried in its we'll remem bered measures
a gladness Priscilla became conscious
right then and there that she had for
gotten could exist, so full it was Of
bounding life and strength and elastici.
ty. She felt the way colt feels when
he shifts the morning air after a night
spent in his box stall. All her healthy
nature hailed the promise that dance
contained of wind swept days wherein
sport predominated and culture sulkcd,
dismally put ont for the moment by
something essentially more desirable.
"You dance very we'll " remarked
Miss Delno critically, as they strolled
to and fro in the little stuffy corridors.
"Thanks," returned Stornmouth. Il
am afraid dancing is not my strong
point. "
"What is your strong point?"
Horseback riding and shooting" he
replied.
How jolly! That's what love, too, &"
said Priscilla. do you ever go to
Hempstead?"
Does horse eat oats?" returned
Stornmouth, laughing.
And where do you shoot?"
"Where it pleases me, my lady. On
my friends preserves on Long Island
sometimes; in the Rocky mountains
best. But l catch little wiggling trout
sometimes, after a knee deep wrestle
with them, out of the brooks in the Ad-
irondacks, and there is log cabin of
mine ON the Restigouche, where lie in
wait for salmon and dream dreams in
the waiting'
"What do you dream?" Priscilla de-
manded.
"Of girls" said he audaciously.
MANY of them" curiously and a
trifle obviously.
Their name is legion"
"No doubt, " remarked Priscilla, with
a little culver of her lip. You have
known a lot of them, met them in your
travels, and all that, she added lalnely.
Eyes, all of that
There was pregnant pause.
There comes the Count de Lacaze, "
Priscilla announced in a relieved tone
81 suppose l must dance with him if he
asks me. "
y
devil with the bilious complexion, who
looks like widowed portrait of his
ancestors and dances like kanga-
ROOF
He belongs to one Of the Oldest fam
lilies III France, returned Priscilla ill.,
dignantly, abiectly aware that she was
repeating Constance own words, which
had hppn rarnata1 tn 4 l,1,c
body else, but also Selling this auspi-
clous occasion, for some occult reason,
to defend her friend new found trophy
with warmth. He owns several cha.
teaux, and he is very good fellow,
they say, at heart"
1T S a pity" returned Stornmouth
apparently unconvinced, that his heart
is not as conspicuously developed as his
face. "
Il presume you think that is remark.
ably witty" from Priscilla in a high,
strained voice.
Well, " said Stornmouth, with be.
coming modesty, sit may be said to
have been to the point, may it not?"
What is the point?" asked Priscilla
cruelty
But just here the scion Of one of the
noblest houses in France bent his much
be ancestored body before her.
1.-The pleasure of another dance,
mademoiselle?" he demanded in French
Certainly" returned Priscilla def
antly, gloriously triumphant III the con-
seriousness that her accent was perfection
and thot
the Gallo tongue.
She rose and strolled away.
Foreign noblemen be hanged -
muttered Stornmouth under his mus
tache, "Sets the wind in that quarter,
my little LADY,"
Then, strangely uneasy, he made his
way toward Aunt Mildred. She well
coined him very cordially, talked with
him of her brothers. family-which
Stornmouth did not hesitate to avow he
had looked up more than once'-and
finally contiGed to him all her little
woes, which we're many, and her joys,
which she, like most richly endowed
and healthy persons, considered few.
Stornmouth listened quietly. His
bent His eyes, stern and forbidding,
were fixed upon two whirling figures at
the end Of the room, who appeared, to
his critical gaze, to be giddily revolving
in one spot
Mademoiselle, whispered the
count, will it be permitted that your
august aunt may extend to me her hos
pitality in so far that l may renew this