The Holly chieftain., 1903-05-15
CHAPTER v.

S7AF ! 6H v.
And so to begin with, she carried
Eleanor everywhere, day after day
and night after night. They lived in
a perpetual whirl of luncheons, teas,
inner parties, receptions and ger
mans, waltzing into the small hours,
There was so much more credit due
to Mrs. Stagg for her self-sacritice and
devotion from the fact that, though
she put on such resolute front, she
felt secretly from the first by no
means confident that her efforts could
prove successful. II, as she said to
herself on more than one occasion,
Eleanor were only full of animal spir-
its-one of the saucy or rollicking
kind who amused men by saying what
ever came into their heads-the
cnances were that, with SO much back
ing, she would get along. But would
anyone trouble himself to be more
than decently civil to young woman
without prospects, who was Densive
and retiring and, though possibly in
tellectual, SO far as book-learning
went, without the faculty Of enter
tanning people in general society?
Emma was apt to sigh whenever she
thought of the outlook. Therefore
she saw with feelings which closely
resembled emotion the evident liking
which Owen Page was beginning to
display for Eleanor's company. She
had been gratified on the night of the
ball by his showing the child some at
l,,,% a IL
than the ordinary politeness which a
gentleman is apt to show at the COM
ing-out party of a pretty girl never
occurred to her, though naturally she
was pleased at it, and had made
point of letting Eleanor understand
that he was the desirable kind of man
to know. When, at each of the next
few parties, be again spoke to her,
Emma supposed that he had felt pity
at seeing her deserted, comparatively
speaking, in spite of the ball; for,
though she had not been absolutely
without partners, there had been no
repetition for her of the triumphs of
the first evening.
The assumption that he danced and
talked to ner out of charity seemed,
however, improbable, in the face of his
continue to do SO; and Emma,
though she did not dare to frame any
extrtvagant hypothesis. could not re-
frain from asking herself what it
meant Why should man like owen
Page devote himself to Eleanor unless
he were more or less fascinated by
her? To be sure, he might simply be
flirting; but, no. he would scarcely be
cruel enough to try deliberately to en-
gage the affections of simple-mind-
ed, supplemented girl solely for
the qualification of his own vanity;
for there was so much higher game.
There could be no doubt that he was
attracted by her; otherwise, why did
he never let an entertainment pass
without seeking her out Not that his
attentions were particularly ardent or
exclusive, but they were unremitting.
Eleanor was one of the girls he al
ways danced with and talked to. 1t
might mean absolutely nothing; nine
chances out of ten it did. But even
granting that he were amusing himself
ance on her must necessarily give her
prestige; and there was, of course, the
bare possibility--a possibility which
stirred the blood in Emma's veins
whenever she thought of it, though
she promptly dismissed it as out of
the question-that he might be falling
in love with her. Stranger things had
happened. and in affairs of the heart
it was frequently the unexpected
which did happen. King Cophetua
married a beggarmaid, and why not
Owen Page, Eleanor? Not a soul
could say that she would mt make him
a thoroughly suitable wife.
While thus pondering and avoiding
premature elation, Emma took care