Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1905-02-20
SO Fair, SO false
By Garvce

By Charles Garvice

| pOrtant people, have not arrived.
Rumors of Miss Vavasour's attendance
have gone forth, and the elite are on
the tiptoe of curiosity and expectancy.
| Is it possible that she will not grace
| the ball?
Notwithstanding the expected ap-
| pearance of the fashionable beauty,
Mays entrance creates a sensation
| There is a garrison within score OF
miles of Newlands, and the officers,
| a race always critical and apprec1atlve,
scent out the fresh young beauty.
Before five minutes have elapsed
May is surrounded, and her ball card
would be filled if Mrs. Godfrey Turner
with a wisdom gained by experience,
did not whisper a word of caution.
AS it is she is engaged for three
dances and is soon whirling in the
arms Of languid captain.
With every sign of success the ball
goes on it's way.
1t is nearly midnight; the men are
hot and perspiring; the women are
flushed and mostly disheveled, and
still the Letchford party does not put
in an appearance.
May has danced every dance since
she arrived, and her glazed and or
namented card is nearly full.
| A bright color blooms on her cheeks,
a joyous light glows in her bright eyes,
but still they turn to the door.
Suddenly, while she is dancing with
a county magistrate, who has address
ed her but twice during the intricate
| figures of the dance, she is sensible OF
marked sensation in the room
Some one has arrived.
| She looks around just in time to see
| a stately old lady in black satin and
| lace enter the room. Following her
| is a tall man, with a tawny mustache
and ark, piercing eyes On his arm
leans a beautiful woman, with golden
! red hair and pale, fair face.
May does not need to look twice. In
| a instant she recognizes Sir Heron
Letchford and Miss Vavasour.
Behind them comes yellow-haired
man with one of those perfect Anglo
Saxon faces which one sees, say twice
in a lifetime; beautiful blue eyes
matching the crisk, wavy hair, and a
clean-cut mouth-that feature which
is so generally completes the
picture. This is Vane Vavasour, the
beauty's brother.
But, though nearly every woman's
gaze, after scanning the group, flies
and fixes on the beauty, May scarcely
| looks at her, passes even the fair per-
lection of vane Vavasour but fixes
her eyes on the calm, impassive face
of Sir Heron Letchford, while a
swift flush mounts to her face and
one thought passed through her brain:
''Will he see and recognize her?'
AS matter of fact, Sir Heron does
not seem to see any one; with that i'm
passive composure for which he is
famous, he conducts his stately
mother to her place amid the mighty
one. and then looks down at his card
with an expression which, if it means
anything, is significant OF intense
boredom and WEAKNESS.
To tell the truth, it has needed all
Lady Letchford's persuasive eloquence
to bring him, and now he is here he
sees that the affair is even worse
than he pictured it. and he begins to
turn about for some excuse for flying
from the festive scene and smoking
cigar and quietude and peace some
where out in the street.
Tall and picturesque, in one of the
attitudes which the photographers
have rendered so familiar, Rose Vava-
sour stands beside the black-satined
old lady, her long, eXquisitely gloved
hands-Piver's best sixteen buttons
folded on her fan, her face wearing
that smile of amusement, largely
tinged with contempt, with which
skilled actress might view the eff
forts of a company of amateurs, her
blue eyes wandering slowly, majesti-
cally languid, over the bnstling mass. .
"What barbaric horde she MUIR
murs sweetly to Vane, who, with his
eyeglass, is scanning the multitude
with critical gravity.
Slightly mixed, isn't it?" he says.
''Tops and bottoms and not little OF
the middle crumb; put 'em all in
sack, wonder which would come out
first. But here we are, as the clown
says, andy George" he breaks off
with sudden that's a
beautiful girl, anyhow! This is better
luck than I expected" and without an
other word he drops his eyeglass and
mingles with the crowd.
Three minutes afterward May sees
the fair-haired Antinous struggling
through network of promenaders,
and is smitten with amaZement when
steward comes up from somewhere
and says, in the usual studied tone
"Mns. Turner, permit me to intro
duee Mr.. Vane Vavasour.''
"That was done some years age"
said Mrs. Godfrey Turner. "Of course,
you forget, Mr. Vavasour; but old
women retain their memory longer