Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-02-27
THE YOUNG LADY FROM SALT
LAKE.

%, you're Mr.. Braithwaite's friend.
/ don't know you, but I've heard you're
a nice man. Do come in"
1T was very good of B~raithwaite to
have reported so faverably on me, but
the reception was somewhat startling.
| hope l looked modest.
81 am all alone, you see, and just as
busy Packing up; I'll lever get
through. We're off TO Cairo to-mor-
row. SIT down just there, and you
can help. Hold this a minute, there's
a good man"
And she tossed me a tangle Of wool.
1 began to see the humor of the Sit
uation. l, a correct Englishman, in a
small Paris salon au premier, was hold
ing a skein of wool, which a handsome
American girl, who didn't seem to con-
slider an introduction necessary, was
deftly winding, chatting all the time
with a frankness that didn't give me a
chance to say a word.
You do that rather well for a man, -
she went on; goodness knows how d
should have -ixed it alone. You don't
look much like an angel dropped in, but
that's not your fault. A little slower,
o, my friend, II YOU please. There!"
She tucked the ball snugly into a lit
tie travelling case, put her hands upon
her waist and Strengthened her back;
then looked me in the face in the
friendliest manner. l felt it my duty
to speak.
Now, Miss Holiday, if you a be
ceremonious for just a minute, III In
troduce myself. Braithwaite was I'M
able to come to-day, SO he asked me to
make his adieux, TO give you this pack
ct, and to say you We're To DO very KIND
to the messenger, who wa5 his friend. p"
AS / handed her the large box l
scarcely remembered that the latter
part OF the message was fictitious.
Candy! The lovely mani said Miss
Holiday. Yes, I've heard a great deal
about you, and when We've flushed
packing III be good and motherly to
you. Now, Mr.. Haskell from London,
you'll be kind enough to help me with
this trunk.
Miss Nora Holiday was a magnifi-
cent girl. and as she knelt at the other
side Of the trunk, with a faint glimmer
of freight behind her great mass OF
brown hair (Parisian anthracite gives
a faint CLEAN toward dusk)-well. even
the best bred Englishman has a reve-
lation of the artifici5lity of courtesy,
and maybe remembers the wood pig
cons. who have no manners.
"Alors, mon ami, you shall put those
cotton gloves, for which / gave two
francs, next the little packet you're not
to look at. Now that travelling pillows
and those slippers. These books-and
therei | guess the lid won't close now.
Do you mind?"
I knelt upon the lid, which, after sew
| eral attempts, we succeeded in catch
ing, and Miss Holiday rose, with a
handsome flush on her face.
There, she said, its just too bad
of me to make you work like that, but
you've been very good, and you shall
have some tea, and some of Mr.. Brairh-
waiteis candy"
BY this time / was in no hurry 70
leave. This young lady from Salt
lake, with her frank, free manners,
her intuitiye breeding, and her back as
straight and lissom as a sapling. was
like a pine-laden breeze, Of which one
inyoluREarily breathes deep. and Amer
lean slang, after all, was no worse than
| had been accustomed To hear from ir-
| r~eproachable English ladies.
We sat down on either side Of the
table 10 a most successful and discur-
sive tea i took my cue from her con-
versation, and found ! might be as un-
embarrassed as she "a
She spoke Of Cairo. I didn't know
Cairo. o. but / ought TO. That, Z said,
probably explained my ignorance. o,
but / must, she replied. / subjected
myself to Kismet; did she intend to re-
main In Ceiro long?
All the winter. I guess. IL the men
will let me They're q terrible lot OF
men, They think every American Url