Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-01-25
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BERTHA M. CLAY

drove up to the hall door; one group
after another entered; everything
seemed promising and fair.
Most scrupulously had Beatrice
Leigh refrained from uttering one
single word of advice or assistance.
Her one great hope was that Lady
Violante would make some terrible
blunder that should expose her ignor-
ance to the world, and cause annoy
ance to her husband. II was disap-
pointment to her to see that every
thing was in trim.
Lady Violante on this suspicious
evening had taken great pains with
her toilet. She wore a dress of rich
white lace, looped up with lilies of the
valley: a few of the same fragrant
flowers were wfeathed in the coils of
golden hair, and in her hands she car
ried a bouquet of lilies and soft, shin
ing green leaves.
She went creditabiy through the
reception Of her guests; even the ter
rible duchess did not awe her. She
found few appropriate words for all;
vet her nervousness was evident; her
sweet face flushed and paled-the
hands that held the lilies trembled.
Beatrice Leigh sneered. the duchess
whispered some malicious witticisms
about country manners and mauyaise
hOnte" But many hearts warmed
there to the fair, sweet face, and
gentle. timid manners; many admired
the gentle, retiring manner more than
they did the imperial grace and dignity
az Beatrice Leigh.
But as the evening wore on, she
grew physically fatigued and exhaust
ed. The difficulty of inventing civil
epecches to so many people overtaXed
her strength. Lord Vivian had wish
ed. too. that she should dance with
his most honored guest, Lord Ions
dale.
She did wonders. She found part
ners for those who had none, she
made up capital quartets for the whist
table. she talked-timidly it is true
to the ladies; and, but for a malicious
remark she overheard from the Ouch
.ess, the chances are that she would
have gone through the evening sue
.cessfully.
Her grace of Roxminster was talk
ing busily TO Lady Seftone-and the
two together could get through more
gossip and scandal than any other
two women in England. Lady VIC
lante saw them sitting apart, talking
in q low voice. and the idea unluckily
occurred to her that she ought TO go
Up to them and see if they required
amusement in any livelier shape.
She went 10 the back of Lady SET
tones chair, and was just in time to
hear the duchess say:
"Ah, poor Lord Vivian! he must
have had great taste for what Lord
Byron would call bread and butter,
when he married an Uniformed girl like
that"
"She was a mere nobody rejOined
Lady Seftone; the daughter of some
country attorney. No one can imagine
what he married her for. She has
but washed-out kind of beauty, after
all"
Poor Violante, She did not know
that was the common language of the
fashionable world; she did not know
tNet envy has no pity; no liking; that
elderly beauties who have lost all
their own charms. have no occupation
better than deCrying the charms of
others. A woman of the world over
hearing such a conversation would
have smiled to herself, and felt that
she was beautiful enough to excite
envy. To Lady Violante the words
brought a sharp. keen pain. They
haunted her: she could not forget
them. Lord Vivian was ridiculed for
having married her. They preyed
upon her. distressed her. annoyed her.
until. when the time came that she
stood up with Lord Lonsdale. Lady
Selwyn celebrated her first London
Lall by falling in a dead faint on the
floor lOdy and mind alike exhausted
An event which created dire con-
fusion. causing the guests to dispense
sooner than they would have done.
and leaving Lord Vivian Selwyn with
q tingling sensation of discontinue
and failure.