The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-09-28
Y.
Continued,

NtullGDQSn Wv hoS e|eoS H~S
morning visits to girls Of eighteen. my
dear Henrietta" said Miss Theodore,
with her little air Of superiority. Mr..
Chester asked leave 20 inquire for my
health after the fatigues Of the ball
a very pretty and a very natural piece
OF attention, too. Unless I am much
mistaken, we may look to receiving a
visit from Mr.. Chester before the day
Us out"
|And Theodore was right. Just at
the hottest hour Of the afternoon,
Aunt Hosie and Daphne, picking cur
5ants and raspberries for the annual
jelly-making, forth rushed Margot to
say that a fine English dandy in a tan
dem Gun beau Dadais Anglais avec sen
betail en- fieche) was inquiring before
the front porch for Demoiselle Vansit-
tart.
land Daphne's cheeks flushed Grim.
son! She had spoken truth, rigid and
un%varnished, as respects the ball. Inc
mariners who held her till her breath
was gone, the ladies who smiled
at her chasser-croisees behind their
fans, the crush, the glare, the empti.
mess Of the whole scene, had disap-
pointed her simply as a child is dis
appointed with actualities falling short
of impossible expectation. In this mo-
ment she lost the child, assumed the
woman; a sense Of power, q thrill OF
vanity, dangerously sweet, il only by
virtue of their newness, sprang to life
within her heart.
Ss.I don't want one bit to see Mr..
Chester" Sc she told Aunt Hosie, who
stood gravely watching the changes of
color on the girls FACE. And Of course
the visit is to Aunt Theodore, not me.
Still, after giving him so many dances
last night, it might look odd if I did
not go in to see him. just for forms
sake"
iiMAnd in three minutes time, her fin
gers stained with raspberry juice. and
in her garden dress and hat, she en-
tered the parlor, where Mr.. Chester
awaited her alone-Theodora, who had
not expected her visitor so early, De-
ing still occupied with lappets and
faces, in the maiden seclusion Of her
own. chamber.
@This first visit did not prove a bril-
liant success. Mr.. Chester'S CONVEX
sation was modelled after the elliptic
or Geographic fashion prevalent among
gentlemen Of his class-a form Of ut
terance wherein ~nominatives exist not.
pronoups are %supplanted by "ums,"
.:ahs," or perusals Of the c~eiling-and
which altogether gives you more the
idea of a message framed at so much
per word than Of an attempt made by
a. rational human being to communi-
cate with his kind.
:'"Enjoyed ball last night? Tired.
Balls in hot weather deuced mistakes.
All balls out Of London deuced mis-
takes" Long pause. "Pretty coun-
try, Jersey. for a week. See it all in
a week. See everything in a week"
Aionger pause. Know C~heltenham:'
This, when Miss T~heodora's entrance
had infused temporary vigor into the
conversation. Know Cheltenham
well. Too we'll. Hunted there couple
OF seasons. Deuced slow set Of peo-
pie, Cheltenham people. Warwick
shire Stamers-most intimate friends"
Such was Mr.. Barry Chester's style;
IL the style be the man, such was a
tolerably fair index to Mr.. Barry Ches-
tiers mental powers. Fortunately, there
hung q strip Of mirror above the par
lor : mantelshelf, in which he could
catch distorted glimpses Of his charms,
as he stood first on one foot and then
on the other. pulling restlessly at his
~mustache, while Miss Theodore en-
deavored to fill up the gaps in his dis
ieinted talk with high-1own Chelten-
ham "reminiscences Of her own. For
tunately, too, as far as Chester was
concerned, Daphne's judgment was un-
conditioned by experience She had
absolutely no standard, either Of man.
ner or intellect, of men or books, by
which to Measure him.
"A most p%resentable creature, real
ay," Miss Theodore pronounced, when
the SNOWY hired dog-cart, high-step-
ping, hroken-winded hacks, mock liv-
cry, and all, had dashed away among
;7he vista of sand hills out Of sight.
-And, little as one cares for looks in
the other sex, so very unusually. hand.
some" ..,-;
"The man has cold eyes and 4 hard
mouth" said Aunt Hosie, who had
been present, critically taciturn, dur
Sng the last three minutes of the visit.
rAnd he is not a gentleman! No, Theo.
dora, not in spite of all the Warwick
shire Stamers in the world. MI. Ches-
ter is i'll at ease with himself. He tries
his best to forget his origin, and sue
teeds-just sufficiently well to make
Sou remember it."
. Nor did it please heaven to soften
Aunt Hosie's opinions upon further
acquaintance.
Before a month was over Barry Ches.
Ter had contrived excuses for paying
two more afternoon visits at Quer-
nee, his attractions each time enhanced
by the smart hired dogcart. Detail en-
diiech," and mock private livery. BY
The end Of a fortnight it had grown to
Be an accepted thing that the young
man should constantly hover around
Fief-de-la-Rein not paying Daphne
attentions that as yet could be called
serious, but always finding some rea.
son that necessitated his spending long
afternoons OF evenings in her neighbour
hoed