Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1905-02-23
Continued.

here; may l look?"
She puts out her hand swiftly, but
it is too late.
81 am fortunate" he says. THE
next dance is unclaimed. | may have
it? If you refuse me l shall think
that your forgiveness goes no deeper
than your lips"
Il think am engaged" she says,
falteringly.
mo. Look" he rejoins and holds
cut the card.
She bends forwarl; their heads are
so close together that he can smell the
sweet fragrance of the flower In her
hair.
You see! You are not. You will
give it to me? 1t is a shame to ask
YOU, for l am, suppose, the worst
dancer in the room; but still l ask it
as a proof that | have won your for
giveness. l may have it,"
Without word she puts the merest
end of her gloved hand on his outheld
arm, and he leads her, without a word
into the crowd. They have just be-
gun a mazourka, an old-fashioned
dance which one seldom sees in mod
ern programmes, but which the coun.
ty balls cling to.
or a mazourka Sir Heron Letch-
ford is as ignorant as a Greenlander
is of the sun; but he puts his arm
around her and starts off in despera.
ton. Before they have gone half the
round of the room he has made a
dozen-twenty-fal steps.
you see" he says, what your
clemency has cost you. I am as ignor-
ant as bear, and you have lost your
dance. l would give the world to be
able to dance with you"
There is so evident sincerity in his
voice that May-May, who likes dane
ing next to scarcely anything in the
worlds touched.
See" she says, you take step
like this, and this, and then like this"
and in her eagerness she illustrates
her meaning standing a little way
from him, and orgetting-everythin
Il see" he says, eagerly.
Eagerly! whom but quarter of an
hour before he voted the whole thing
a bore.
Now let me try" and he tries. as
that better?"
"A little BETTER" says May
Don't take such long strides"
81 WON'T" he says, humbly 1T
seems to me that ones legs are rather
in the way of ones executing this ex.
tremely sphinX-like dance; and l have
rather long legs he says, remorseful-
ly.
Never mind" she says, you are i'm
proving"
Growing shorter, do you mean?"
with deep gravity.
NO" she laughs. Dancing more
like"
"a civilized being" he finishes
thanks to your tuition. You have been
very patient with me-more patient
than ] should have expected-had any
right to expect" he Corrects himself,
quickly, an ominous arching of the
straight, dark brows warning him that
the hot temper is only doing, and
needs but word to rise in all its
strength and separate them
And Sir Heron would not, for words,
be separated just yet. He has arisen
from the depths of WEAKNESS to the
giddy heights Of amusement and
pleasure.
1t is not the girls beauty, it is not
altogether her sweet young grace
though he notices and appreciates both
as he feels the 1.-THE figure upon his
arm and looks down at the face, with
its blood-red lips and softly flashing
eyes, all life and youth; it is something
more than this-a nameless charm
springing from the girls sublime in.
difference of self-consciousness and
her amazing independence.
"A ill-tempered little wildcat" he
thinks, glancing down at the dark
brow and long black lashes. 81 pity
the poor wretch who dances at the
end of the chain she holds!"
But even as the thought comes to his
mind she raises her eys, and his pity
for her future husband is swallowed
up by sudden irrepressible admira.
ton, oyerpowering his cold judgment
and making his heart beat quick and
fast against hers. So engrossed is he
in contemplation, admiration, half a
dozen other emotions Of the heart and
brain, that he has forgotten they are
not the sole possessors of the Crawford
Town Hall and that two or three hun.
bred people are remarking his rapt
face and close attention to his partner
and that his lady mother sits upright
as a dart, in her black satin, and
watches him with set face and eyes
that are crystallized with surprise be-
hind those gold glasses.
VIII some. one be so good as to
tell me with whom my son is dane
lng?' she says. at last, and in voice
as stony as her gaze
Then the dowagers and countesses
raise their glasses, ana pretend as II