Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-11-30

the start for the dining room was made
I offered her my left arm, though / had
carefully planned beforehand just what
I would do. She-without hesitation
and, as / know now, out or sympathy
for me in my suffering-was taxing
my wrong arm, when it flashed on me
lii a binding blow In the face that
/ ought to be on the other side OF her.
| got red, tripped in the f~ar-spraWling
train of Mrs. Langdon, tore 1t slightly,
tried to get to the other side or MISS
Ellersly by walking in front OF her, re-
covered myself somehow. stumbled
round behind her, walked on her train.
and finally arrived at her left side, con-
scious in every red-hot atom or me
that | was making a spectacle OF my
self and that the whole company was
enjoying il. | must have seemed TO
them an ignorant boor; in fact, L had
been about q great deal among people
who knew how to behave, and a l
never given the matter of how to con-
duct myself on that particular occa-
sion an instant's thought should nave
got on without the least trouble
It was with a sigh Of profound relief
that I sank upon the chair between
Miss ElIersly and Mrs. Langdon, safe
from danger of making breaks, so
hoped. for the rest of the evening. BUT
within a very few minutes | realized
that my little misadventure had un-
nerved me. My hands were trembling
so that | could scarcely lift the sour
spoon to my lips, and my throat had
got so far beyond control that | had
difficulty in swallowing. Miss Ellersly
and Mrs. Langdon were each busy with
the nan on the other side OF her; ]
was left 10 my own reflections, ana !
was not sure whether this made me
- -. 1-.- ran,oforto h1a 10 add &c
my torment | grew angry, turlousIy
angry, with myself. | looked UP and
down and across the big table, noted all
these seIf-satisfied people perfectly at
their ease, and l said to myself:
What's the matter with you, Matt?
They're only men and women
and by no means the best spec
linens of the breed. You've got
more brains than all of 'em put TO-
gether. probably; is there one OF the
lot that could get a job at good wages
If thrown on the world? What DO you
care what they think of you? It's a
damn sight more important what you
think Of them, as ii won't be many
years before you'll hold everything
they value, everything that makes
them OF consequence, in the hollow or
hand"
But 1t was of no use. When Miss
Ellersly finally turned her face toward
to Indicate that she would be grac-
iOusly pleased to listen If | had any
thing to communicate, | felt as If |
were slowly whiting, felt my throat
contracting into a dry twist. What was
the matter with me? Partly, of course,
own snobbishness, which led me
to attach the same Importance to those
people tina he snobbishneSs of the
small and silly had got them in the
way of attaching to themselves. But
the chief cause OF my inability was
Monsoon and his lessons. had thought
/ was estimating at its proper value
what he was teaching. But so earnest
and serious am l by nature, and so
earnest and serious was he about these
.triyialities that he had been brought
to regard as whole of life, that L
unConsCiously absorbed his atti-
tude; | was like a fellow who, after
hard for an examination,
finds that all the questions put to him
are on things he hasn't looked at. |
had been making an ass Of myself.
and that evening [ got the first in
stalment Of my sound and just pun
l who had prided myself on
being ready for anything or anybody.
who had laughed contemporary When
| rea nov men and women, presented
at Eu~rolean courts. nae fools of
themselves-I was made ridiculous by
.AA|1N HNVHlC WIN Go L AAAcNNS AtIN
nothing to back their p~retensions to
superiority but a barefaced bluff.
Perhaps, had / thought this out at the F
table, l should have got back to myself
md my normal ease; but I didn't, and
that long and terrible dinner was one
.ong and terrible agony of stage fright.
the ladies withdrew, the other
men drew together, talking of people
[ did not now and of things | did
not care about thought hen they
were avoiding me deliberately as a
flock of tame ducks avoids a wild one
that some wind has accidentally blown
down among them. l know now that
my f~orbidding aspect must have been
for my isolation. However,
| sat alone, sullenly resisting old FL
Iersly's constrained efforts to get me
into the conversation, and angrily sus-
hat Langdon was enjoying my
discontinue more than the cigaret he
was apparently absorbed in.
Old Ellersly, growing more and more
lervous before my dark and sullen look,
finally seated himself before me. II
hope you'll stay after the others have
gone" said he. They'll leave early,
we can "a a quiet smoke and
talk"
desperate courage to resolve that
not leave. defeated in the eyes of
one person whose opinion 1 really
cared about. Very WELL" said !, in
to him.
Continued Next Week.)
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