The Press. (Stafford Springs, Conn.) 1883-1935, 1905-09-13
Little DOrOthy'S
COurtShip
By VIRGINIA LEILA VENT


Dorothy knew that it was about time
for Joan and the rest of them to be re-
turning from their sail on the lake. 1t
would never do for Joan to find the
''big fish" of the house party-that was
the name she had given the young Eng
lish earl-talking to her alone. She,
alas, was only poor little Cousin Doro-
thy and acting in this particular house
hold as JOan's mothers paid compan-
ion! So she pretended to be bored
with his lordship's society.
''La-la, la-la, la-la-la," she hummed,
sinking back into the depths of the
easy chair and stretching her white
arms lazily.
81 say" said the earl, "am firing
you, Miss DorothyT'
Dorothy stopped humming. NO."
she drawled, with mock mischief, mot
exactly. But''-here she smiled her
sweetest smile upon him-"you won't
be vexed, will you, If 1 tell you that
I'm bit sleepy and that must sleep
in the sun? Will you draw this chair
over for me, please" Rising slowly,
she adjusted the fleur-de-lis at her
waist while his lOrdship drew the chair
to the sunny corner of the big veranda.
How'll that do?" asked he.
"Splendidly. Now for cushions"
"How many?"
Hundreds" said she.
He collected as many as he could
carry and fetched them to her.
Here are thousands" he announced
'Deliciousr murmured Dorothy, sink
Ing back into them with sigh of con-
tent This is quite perfect"
alt will be when fetch you a sun
shade" he amended.
''Sunshadep' cried she. go away.
sou Goth! l want the sun"
You'll be pickledr' warned he.
'No," corrected she, dimpling, pre-
served" Her long black lashes lay mo
tionless on the wild rose flush of her
cheeks
The arl chuckled and, pretending
that he fancied her already ASLEEP
crept deliberately away on tiptoe. Joan,
and the rest of them were I'm sight.
and he advanced to meet them
Joan Shannon was unquestionably q
beauty. She had been photographed In
every variety of pose; she had been
painted by several of the most cele-
brated artists on two continents, but
In spite of this fact she had passed
through the whirl of three seasons and
was still unwed.
''She must be waiting for q title"
people said, as other girls far less;
beautiful came out, danced through a
season or two, and were led to the.
altar by men of their choice.
However that may be, included
among the guests at this particular
house party at the Shannon's big coun-
try place on the sound was the young
Earl of Stowbridge, and it was common
property that Miss Shannon already
had found him very attractive.
$50 awfully sorry you couldn't join
US in our sail this morning." she began
In her sweet, suave voice, with an ac-
cent which was the result Of much
travel. as your headache better now?"
"'Pon my honor, I've not given it a
thought for the last half hour. found
Miss Dorothy reading on the veranda,
and she took pity on me and put down
her book, and-well, somehow she must
have cured my headachel She's got jol-
ly pretty dimples, and she's q cousin
Of yours, didn't some one say?"
"Yes-distant. Mamma never liked
me to associate. much with her family
when we were little, and now, as you
can imagine, we aren't yery-er-eon-
genial"
"Such fun" observed the earl Iaeon-
ically. His fair companion turned and
looked at him reproachfully. "And who
would wish to be 'funY" said she.
"Oh, don't know" said his lordship
calamity.
Miss Shannon found herself wonder
ing for moment as they walked ON
whether the earl might not prove testy
after all. Would he be uneasy under
the crushing and ordering about 10