The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1903-03-13
A Slight misunderstanding.

|: A Slight misunderstanding.
A tall, we'll made man was following
his sister into the Sesame Club.
You must stay and lunch," said she;
W shall just be an even number. Never
mind about the Gowers-they can watt
you forget" he said, II can't remem-
Der how to behave like an ordinary civ
lhzed being. And a luncheon party will
be a torture to me; a year on the veldt
almost makes me forget the motto:
Manners maketh man, not to speak of
all my wanderings BEFORE"
Mrs. Seaton turned and looked at him.
saying dryly:
II 90 not think you need be afraid"
In the hall there were several people
waiting, most of whom Arthur Seaton
knew as his sisters friends. They went
upstairs and found their table, and start
ed luncheon cheerily. On Arthur's right
was an old acquaintance, on his left a
lady he did not know. They were all af-
fected by the splendor of the spring
weather, not to speak of Mrs. Seaton's
merriment, and her luncheon; the con-
versation was more amusing and inter:
estlng than usual Mrs. Seaton~ leaned
over the table, saying: i: -.
Arthur, let me introduce you to Mrs,
Rodney; Ruth, I do not think you know
my brother"
He turned, and found on inspection
that the. stranger was pretty, with a
gllmmer of green in her eyes, which was
peculiar and lent an attraction, as the
peculiar so often does. She did not give
him time to realize. of what he was
thinking, for she laughed and said:
How nice to meet a kindred spirit"
He answered her smile; her %unconven
tional greeting did not seem to surprise
him.
"How do you know I am the genuine
article ?"
"Your sister never introduces without
an object"
"But surely the exigencies of a lunch
con party demanded it,"
"Who can tell? Don't destroy nv H.
fusion SO soon. You have been in South
Africa" she continued, looking at his
tanned face.
Yes, 1 am only just back. London is
very refreshing after seven years of alb
sence."
DO you find us much changed?"
He laughed.
That's rather ambiguous, isn't it?"
He already felt that subtle attraction
which perhaps lay as much in a certain
touch of irresponsible sympathy in her
manner as in the beauty of her face and
eyes.
SIS it? I don't know; for my part
nothing ever changes. The streets are as
muddy as ever in winter, and as dusty in
summer; watercarts are as scarce as
tootWarmers in autumn. No. with a
glance at a sign OF depreciation from him,
Il am not trying to be clever-I couldn't
IT l tried-and do you see that man over
there, clean shayen, with the eyeglass
He has not altered a line on his face or a
thought in his brain since he married me
six years ago."
An ineXplicable sense of depression
made Seaton wonder if ladies' clubs were
good places to lunch at. Why on earth
couldn't he have gone to his own, where
the eternal feminine was left staring at
the doormat with the, to them, rather
~ironical "Salve' on it.
"Ihat speaks we'll for you," he said,
but she was not listening. Isabel Seaton
was talking across the table to her.
Arrangements for some expedition were
being made. When Mrs. Rodney turned
to him again, he forgot his depression;
the wine was good, the food was all he
could wish, and at present he forgot to
analyze his companion. It was more
than an hour later chat the party broke
up. Seaton found himself strolling down
Dover street, with Mrs. Rodney. He
hated the corner at the end, knowing
that politeness demanded his proposing
to leave her.
He stopped and murmured "Goodby;.
with the hope of meeting again.
ooh, DEAR" she said, "a boring after
noon is before me; I have to 60 to the
Wallace exhibition. I have promised to
do S o for a friend in the country, and ]
have to write to her and describe my
valuable opinion on the subject. Imag-
inc it, on such an afternoon
"Mayn't l come with your" Their in
timacy had progressed apace, though the
thought of "the clean shaven ass with the
eyeglass and the air of a cleric" as
Seaton inwardly described him, stayed
somewhere in the recesses of his brain
with a persistency that derided any eff.
fort to move it. He could not bring him
self to speak of him, and she did not
again touch on the subject. They talked
as if the long afternoon before them were
all too short for what they had to say
They had much in common. She was
right-they were kindred spirits. And
so the minutes wore away; Hertford
House wa pleasantly cool, and they lin
gered long. Several of the rooms they
had to themselves. Once she dropped he1
gloves, and in restoring them to her theni
hands met, and rested together almost
longer than one would have thought nee.
essaryy for such a simple action. HI
looked ed down into her eyes, and caught