The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1904-08-16
A QUESTIONING,
ROMANCE y REALITY.
e W
BY Miss ANNIE EDWARDS.

in her white cot, with her tranquil
angel face, awakening some pangs, you
may be sure, in Aunt HOsie's heart
the fine old heart wherein love, crushed
as regarded self, had but opened into
fuller and more perfect blossom for
others. They rose early, and, before
the elder sisters had breakfasted,
were on their way, hand in hand,
through the crisp morning air to the
fields. Whatever Henrietta Vansit-
tart's business, whatever the season of
the year, the little figure, faithful as
shadow to substance, followed close
upon her footsteps; father, mother,
playmate she was all these, and some
thing more besides, to the child's in
stinct Sheswas Aunt Hosie!
i So, in sunshine and shower, life
| went on until Daphne was eighteen
years old. Then, in dark hour, it
was resolved, owing to the fact Of
Theodore Vansittart's possessing a
dove-colored satin with Honiton
flounces, that the girl must be kept a
| child no longer-must come out.''
I'VE middle-aged people are apt to
grow selfish. Henrietta" said Miss
| Theodora-her mind fixed, as she
| spoke, on those poor, obsolete fneries,
last worn, alas! at Cheltenham dinner
parties, but which dexterous manipula-
/ ton and close study Of the Petit Cour-
Ter des Danes might bring approx
mately close to the fashion of the day.
1.-THE prospects of the potato harvest,
the fortunes OF handful of common
laborers, may be vital enough interests
for you and me. Daphne is eighteen
years old, and call it a positive duty,
duty that we owe to her grandfath-
er's memory and to the girl, not to let
such an opportunity as the present slip
through our fingers"
The opportunity was big Govern
ment House ball, given in honor Of, the
arrival Of new regiment always in
little outlying military stations an
event Of magnitude) and to which the
Miss Vansittarts were hidden.
| Theodora's early representations
had proved correct. Colonel Vansit-
tart's position was not forgotten in
| the Channel Islands, and, on all occa-
sions Of state or official gayety, cards
Of invitation were dispatched, as q
matter of received usage, to the lonely
farmhouse at Quernec. Up to the pres
to extract no pleasure from these invi-
tationg beyond arranging them, in
company with the time-yellowed cards
| of Cheltenham notabilities, in a china
| dish upon the parlor table. What
maiden lady, with her half-century Of
existence well struck, could have the
valor to enter concert or ballroom
save in the character Of a chaperone!
But now that Daphne was eighteen
now that inclination could robe itself
in Honiton-flounced satin, and call that
garb duty-Miss Theodore felt that
her whole moral attitude toward the
outside world had shifted.
let her Judge for herself-let the
child judge for herself" she cried, in
terpreting, by her own lights, a certain
wistful irresolution on Aunt Hosie's
honest face. Daphne. you are invited
with ourselves to a ball at Government
House ON the twenty first csto 60 into
society again under our altered cir
cumstances," said Miss Theodore, in
| parenthetic minor-''to follow where in
| brighter days one used to lead re-
quires an etIort! Still, / am ready to
sacrifice personal feeling, at the call Of
Duty. Are we to refuse or accept2'
| Need record Daphne's answer? Did
the lips of girl Of eighteen ever say
nay to the first bewildering temptation
| of white shoes, gossamer skirts, mill
/ tary music, and a fresh scarlet-jack-
eted partner for every dance? The in
vitation was accepted; and during the
next three weeks ribbons and gauzes
were canvassed as surely no millinery
details were ever canvassed before
within the sober walls Of Fief-de-la-
Refine Daphne should be dressed in
blue, in green, in pink. Nom this, at
least, Aunt Hosie's finer sense Of fit.
ness carried the day Daphne should
be dressed in white, only degree less
simple than she wore at Confirmation,
and with natural flower in her hair
or waist-belt for adornment.
And then arose the question Of quad
rifles and lancers.
Daphne had frequented the Christ
mas farmhouse parties round Quer-
nee ever since she was seven years old,
and understood what dancing in its
severer sense meant. In such exercises
as "Tallais chez la Boulangere," or
"Grande Maman, que youlez yousg'
she was proficient.
Exercises carried on, without haste
4 without rest, s0lemnly as religious Ger,
emonies, and to the stentorian mono.
tone OF the performers own voices
straight through the hours of a win
\ ter's night. Neither of her round dances
was she afraid. Such OF the island
children as had been to school in
France were always furious walters
and in some room apart would whirl
round at these festivities like SO many
small dervishes, while their elders ear
ried on the legitimate Christmas rites
of which / have spoken. in the bes1
kitchen. But quadriIles and lancers.
1t came to matter Of necessity thai
the three poor old ladies' yes, ever
deaf Aunt Isabella must form them
selves into a set, and, with Theodore
! weak treble indicating the once5famll
lar score, so through the figures pc
! ony-hued Margot. her apron over he
mouth, Jean at her elbow, doing au