Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1905-03-20
SO fair, SO false
By Charles 0arvice

By Charles darvice

and two slim, patrician greyhounds
arise from a Persian rug in front OF
the wood fire, which burns in the huge,
dog-ironed chimney-place, and come
shifting inquiringly.
Mr.. Dalton looks around and feels as
if he had entered cathedral; Carrie
edges close under Mays protecting
wing with supreme awe, and May,
even May the dauntless, realizes that
she has passed the boundary OF the
other world and is within the sacred
precincts of the aristOcrats.
Like flash of lightning, the remem-
brance of all the crimson and gold in
the brand new hall at home arises be
fore her eyes and makes her blush in
| wardly A gulf between the Daltons
and the LetchfordS. 1t is not gulf,
| but an ocean, that divides them. A
| ladylike young woman, dressed IN
, black and wearing plain mob-cap,
comes downstairs and drops them a
courtesy. 1t is Lady Letchford's own
maid.
The two girls follow her up the
broad stairs and along the corridors to
a large guest-room, in which every
chair and table and picture seems to
whisper, haughtily; 81 am Of the old
nobility" And the maid relieves them
of their cloaks, kneels- actually kneels
and arranges their dresses, and then,
| witI another curtsey, conducts them
down to the hall again, where Mr.. Dial
ton awaits them, feeling as If he had
just undergone cold bath. He had
been prepared for magnificence and
grandeur kind of Guildhall splendor
and he could have borne up under
it, however splendid it might have
| been: but this vast oak-paneled hall,
the dim light falling on the portraits,
the battered flags oyerwhelm him. AT
that moment he wished himself back
| in his own gorgeous drawing-room.
! The servant, too, oppressed him fear
| fully, he stood SO still and solemn in
his dark livery. his eyes fixed on the
ground, his whole bearing eloquent of
| his surprise at the presence Of such a
common mortal in the sacred house of
the Letchfords.
| On May and Carries temperance.
this somber official leads the way to a
pair of heavy tapestry curtains, draws
them aside, and, opening a door, an
nounces, in subdued tone:
"Mr. and the Misses Dalton"
1t is a long room, filed with SUBJ
furniture of dark oak and ebony; here
and there are patches Of crimson and
gold, but only just sufficient to relieve
| the warm solemnity of the whole.
| The tall stately black-satin clad
figure of Lady Letchford arises and
| comes toward them with white out
! stretched hand, on which glitters three
hoops of diamonds and emeralds.
"How do you do?" she says, hadrly
suppressing the shudder that runs
| through her as Mr.. Dalton's large hand
hot through his glove-incloses her
own thin one your eldest daughter
and are already-acquainte CIV
| ing her hand to May, who takes it and
does not inclose it, much to the old
| lady's relief "and this is your young
est-Miss-M Miss
Carrie says Mr.. Dalton, his voice
only half its usual volume. "Christen-
ed Caroline, my lady, but girls are
never satisfied with the names their
godfathers and godmothers give EN-"
Carrie is much prettier than Caro-
line" murmurs the old lady, as she
fixes her glance upon poor Carrie; but
as the half-clised eyes rest on the
sweet, childish face, downcast and
frightened, something of the cold steel
drops from them, and the thin lips
close with a smile. "You must be
cold, my DEAR" she says; come to the
fire; this is Miss Vayasour.",
Then the beauty comes forward-she
is dressed in some material which is
neither silk, nor satin, nor velvet, a
soft kind of plush, in color neither
mauve, nor blue, nor gray, but a neu-
trail tint composed of all three, which
sets off her fair, regular loneliness to
the fullest advantage, an embodiment
of perfect grace and breeding. Placid
and serene as sonata of Schubert's,
or a landscape OF CanalettO, she seems
part and parcel of the stately room,
and fit companion to the patrician old
lady who rules in it.
May takes it all in-the beauty, the
grace, the patrician air-at a glance,
and then, for the first time, uncon.
sciously, perhaps, buckles on her ar
NOR, RECEIVERS her self-possession, and
grows courageous and at her ease, and
gives back smile for smile
For Rose Vavasour is too clever to
spoil the play by undertaking her part
1t is no part of the play to freeze these
plebians into good behavior, and so
make them appear passable-no, they
must be encouraged to show them
selves in their true colors; they must
be lured into displaying their vul-
garity to the full; Sir Heron must be