The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1900-12-27
CHAPTER VII

Will UdIh udll Circles uuuer uer eyes
and all her pretty color gone.
'"Too many long walks, too much vio-
lent riding and that sort Of thing. I've |
overdone it." she explained to Mrs. |
Norris But she added, seeing the look
of distress on that lady's face, "I'll |
soon freshen up-you'l see"
She did. And when the season open
ed she became most popular; she was
here and there and everywhere. The
piquancy of her foreign flavor gave her
an additional attractiveness. Her So
cial triumphs now for the first time
fully awakened the important De
Witte to her charms, and he wondered
at his former comparative apathy.
AS to Llama, the awakening distress
ed her greatly. He was his mothers
idolized son; she, Llama, was her pen
niless protegee. When her happiness
came to be weighed in the balance
against his it was no open question
which would tip the scales. And she
was beginning to feel something al
most like repulsion for the man, i'm
maculately groomed and tailored as he
was. His continual low whispers and
gazing eyes, the dulcet tete-a-tetes
when the family were out, the tanta-
LIKING passages as he waylaid her on
the stairs of an evening-all these
brought her trouble and unrest. All,
were all men self seeking?
Margaret Maitland and Llama had
become fast friends, as their first meet
ing promised. The experiences of the
summer had brought them closely to-
gether. 1t was the day after Anna
Abbott's wedding, at which both the
girls had been bridesmaids, and Mar
garet, who was not feeling well, was
lying down in her boudoir propped up
with cushions. Llama had dropped in
for few moments chat, but, finding
her friend indisposed, had taken off
her wraps and decided to pass the aft
ernoon with her.
anna looked every inch the bride,
didn't she?' said Margaret; pretty,
flushed and tremulous. l hope she'll
be a good little wife to Charles, he's so
desperately fond of her. And she's
such spoiled petted creature"
Llama acquiesced in all these things,
playing idly with her big muff, which
lay on a chair beside her. Somehow
her heart was heavy today. 1t was
"Lohengrin's Wedding March which
had fetched the heaviness, she said to
herself. Yesterday when the strains
had reached her ears in her usual
senseless fashion she had felt her lips
tremble. and a great foolish sob nearly
had broken up from her throat.
But of this she said no word. She
began to talk instead of the guests
who had been at the wedding, of the
stream of men and women. old and
young, people with a great deal of
4 manner and not much else. 1t amused
her to see the faultlessly dressed men
caressing their hats. grinning vacuous
ly and clacking out set phrases and to
hear the women gossip turbulently
about such things as the shop windows
could bring to view any day, from
Alaskan seal garments at one end Il
jeweled barbarities in buckles at the
: other, with turquoise blue fantasies il
millinery coming somewhere in be
tween
They talked of these people fol
y awhile until Margaret, rising impetu
ously and letting an unregarded cush
ion fall to the floor beside her, said:
LLAMA, I'm sick of it all-this thin.
they call society. It's only the click
claclxing Of a gristless mill, who's
= noise more than anything else pro
claims it's own emptiness"
zone must imagine to like it," put il
v Llama, smiling archly. THAT is how
one learns. This is how one coul
wish things to be- and this is how the
are" She crossed one slim finger owe
Il another as she laid out the case. Blu
we must imagine to like them al
No?"
Margaret watched her silently. The
she reached over to a table at the hea
Of her couch and picked up an ope
pamphlet. 1t was little essay wri
ten in the preraphaelite vein and al
gued against the prosaic outward ful
n niture Of modern life and the spread
ing of "the hideous town." She foun
= the place she wanted and read:
"Say what you will, we are lost chi
dren, and when alone and the darl
4 ness begins to gather we long for th
sisters we knew in our childhood an
cry for the gentle arms that once rocl
40 ed us to sleep. We are homesick ami
this sad, mad rush for wealth an
place and power. The calm Of I'll
- country invites, and we fain would
with less things and go back to sin
plicity and rest
"Child of nature" cried Margare
suddenly turning on Llama, 'how ca
s., you be satisfied"
perhaps | am not" answered Il
girl.
u.s. "Well?" said Margaret.
"Well," echoed Llama, and the sha
ow of the dear old peaks of the Co
= dillera crept over her face.
But Margaret had never seen Il
Cordillera and did not observe its sha
r ow. She went on:
. $50 it came about, around the ye'
POOL, that men began to think, al
they said: Let us 60 home. All is