The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1903-07-24

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s1En bed dtk the Made OF thQse i6ngs
4ek, sweepine sldshes: when her reti
Tips parted. shoIyapg her teeth OF pea}1
and sn gaye tine littId Clap H<
Hapds, q s9lx 6f climax to the sdl inx}
!, rippling M1Gh she mad ~ d ptcti6e q
SUCH EXQUISITE ioveIineseSflE lEat sitsfs@an
wonder men were fQ6ls q bout, i{kf-3n6
/ dGhk lbya<Rs one, ,xHtcke d 'contaS
hpd once. AS yon ALREADY lrnoy16[d1sj
k,had recovered. 4 All that S0rSS6k, q s.
3!
6{6s > iife, ~ 10 = 1Fiiiis6 reeted {zI g
heart, fastfHk sa{sEuard s -
Il wonder II your prodigy pig
cards-tliat is such as wcsladfes piast7'
asked Mary. "You say he has Hyed
much In France, where the game was
invented. but I have no doubt he
would scorn to waste his time Mt SO
frivolous Il pursuit when he might be
slaughtcring armies single handed and
alone" %.,
II do not know as to his dancing
and card playing, but dare venture
a wager he does both," l replied, not
liking her tone of sarcasm. She had
vet to learn who Brandon was
II will hazard ten crowns" said
Mary quickly, for she loved n wager
and was born gambler.
''Taken," said l.
eve will try him on both tomorrow
night in my drawing room," she con-
tinucd. "You bring him up, but tell
no one. I will have Jane there with
her lutte, which will not frighten YOU
away / know, and we will try his step.
| Will have cards, too and we shall see
what he can do Mt triumph. Just we
four. no one else ut all. You and Jane,
the new Duke of Suffolk and /. Oh.
I can hardly wait-' And she fairly
danced with joyous anticipation.
The thing had enough irrcgularity
to give II Zest, for while Mary often
mad few young people In her drawing
rooln, the companies were never SO
small as two couples only, and the
King and queen. to make up for greater
faults, were wonderful sticklers in the
matter Of little proprieties.
The ten crown wager, too, gave spice
to 1t, but to do her justice she cared
very little Sfor that. The princess
loved gambling purcly for-, gambling
sake, and with her the next best thing
to winning was losing.
When | went to my room that night,
j awakened Brandon and told him of
the distinguished honor that awaited
him.
"Wcll, I'll be- But he did not say
what he would "be." lie always halt.
ed before an oath. unless angry. which
was seldom, but then beware. He
had learned to swear I'm Flanders.
How she did fly at me the other
morning! l never was more surprised
In all my life. For once l was almost
caught with my guard down and did
not know how to parry the thrust
| mumDled over some sort of a lame
retaliation and beat retreat. 1t was
so unjust and uncallcd for that It
made me angry. But she was so gra.
cious in her amends that l was almost
glad 1t happened. like woman
who can be us savage as the very
devil when 1t pleascs her. She usually
has In store an assortment Of possible.
ties for the other extreme"
"Shc told me Of your encounter" !
returned, "but said she had come of
second best, and seemed to think her
overthrow huge joke"
"The man who learns to know what
woman thinks and feels will have a
great deal Of valuable information" he
replied. and then turned over for sleep,
greatly pleased that one woman
thought as She did.
was not sure he would be so highly
f1attered IL he knew that he had been
Invited to settle n wager and to help
Mary to little sport.
AS to the former, I had an interest
there myself, although dared not set
tie the question by asking Brandon If
he played cards and danced, and, as to
the matter Of Mary's sport, felt there
was but little If any danger Of her
having too much Of it ut his expense,
Brandon being well able to care for
himself in that respect.
The next evening Mt the appointed
time we wended our way by an unfre-
quented route and presented ourselves
as secretly as possible at the drawing
room Of the princess.
The door was opened by Lady Jane.
and we met the two girls almost Mt the
threshold. had told Brandon of the
bantering conversation about the title