The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-10
The Conversion of
Mr.. BERTHE Valance

than the admiration of men" The
strangers voice was very musical. and
Valance forgave her speech for the sake
OF hearing II. Miss Grimm ooked at her
with curiosity and admiration.
A moment later Valance returned to
the attack.
We'll all can say is-nO lady noun
taineer for mel" he said, with a light
laugh.
There is no such thing as lady noun
talutor, salu Miss Grimm, sharply.
You j be saying 'mountaineeress' direct
~ just as they used TO say .authoress'-
thank Heaven that's obsolete, I've never
met olga Braun. but 1 should Ike TO.
She was here last summer. and so was /,
but she left the day before ] came"
After That Valance who was OF a te-
nacious turn Of mind. appealed to two
young Germans, who had been listening
eagerly. and was assured Of their entire
sympathy. expressed with the help Of
many cultural sounds Of horror at the
idea Of their Fraus forsaking their three
Is s. or four rather, since KleIder has
been added to the list. to wander among
the mountains clothed IN bifurcated gar
rncIts.
There the conversation ended, for p
porter entered the room with the an
nOunCeWent that the storm was over, and
that Il party Of people were 20 be- seen
through the hotel telescope completing
the descent Of the Schwarzhorn.
Everyone but the stranger whose voice
had fascinated valance, rushed of to en-
Joy the thrills Of mountaineering through
the exceedingly powerful telescope which
the hotel manager provided for his less
adventurous guests.
The young man fingered a moment at
the door
You are not Interested in mountaineer-
ing p he asked.
4 watched ths m so often last year
| the stranger answered. with the swift
! brilliant smile that lii up the quIet face
so unexpectedly Then she rose and shut
her book, and, with a slight bow, passed
q o.
HaIf an hour later Valance saw her
leave the hotel and walk down the one
narrow street. He noticed with pleasure
that her short skirt was perfectly hung,
and her TCot We're undoubtedly trim and
shapely. although heavily shod. lie felt
an unacccuntable interest in this brown
haired young woman. he wondered where
she would sit at dinner.
lie found that she had been placed on
his right. and before the meal was half
way through he had made several dis
cOvoTics. She WAS by no means plain; her
forehead was fine and her eyebrows most
delicately traced, and If she was rather
colurloss. there was certain charm IN
those neutral tints, the pale skin, the
soft. lght-brown hair, and the eyes that
matched it to a shade. And the charm Of
her manner heightened that Of her per-
sonal appearance. He put her down as
very intelligent and a very good talker
True her words were few. but CONVEX
satiuu does not consist in mere talking
Ills discoveries did not include hcr name;
the camaraderie of table d hote seldom
calls for formal introduction. And no
one else in the hotel seemed TO know it,
The next morning dawned gloriousiy;
cloudlCss sky smiled down on that en-
chanted valley, and the weather-wise
among the visitors declared that, after
an unusually variable spell for the month
Of August, the fine days had come TO
stay.
After breakfast Valance set out on an
unambitious tramp, and as ne passed
do Eu the Nerlnda steps he saw that the
brown haired stranger was sitting at her
ease in a wicker-chair with "A TauchnitZ
novel and writing materials on the table
by her side.
lie doffed his cap and she smiled in the
way that was already beginning to haunt
him, and called out bon voyage.
As he waI4.l,- along through the mead
ows thick with many-hued flowers, it
seemed to him that the girls musical
voice her refined, fragile-looking face,
had IN some mysterious manner pene-
trated into the lumber-room OF his brain
and 1ished out something that had lain
there for years, a vague thing at best.
which in his boyish DAYS he had been
rather ashamed of-an ideal. She and the
ideal; the ideal and she-there was some
connection between them. And. without
warning, light flashed in upon him-she
was the ideal.
such was the woman he had dreamed Of
| In the days before the grinding struggle
that had landed him at twenty-eight at a
sufficiently proud altitude in the world of
! art-he was q painter. Just such a quiet.
refined. intelligent personality--a sympho-
ny in light-Drowns.