The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1906-08-18
Captains Double
By LILLIAS CAMPBELL DAVIDSON

had been too Immersed in the delight
of Countess 1lka's company to realize
how the time had gone. Her II am
afraid there is a mistake-the last
dance was ours, not this one," had
dignity Winstanley had never heard
her use to him before. His amaze
ment at the remark was a great as
the manner in which she delivered it
she had never seemed SO cool or so
distant since the day they met. II
that officer of the Denbighshire had
not been there, he would have instant
ly called on her to tell him she was
not offended-not vexed with him for
some mysterious thing. She. could not
blame him for taking Countess 1lka in
to supper since it was her own deser-
ton that had made him do it. but
there must be something amiss if she
could speak like that.
"Our dance over!'' He repeated in
CONSERVATION. "But this is the Sec
ond extra! You are engaged to me
for it."
1T is the eleventh dance; we are
back again at. the program" She
made a little movement of her head
toward the great numbered card that
hung at the top of the room before the
band. To his dismay as he followed
her glance he saw that she was right
it was number eleven on the pro-
gram. Two dances, not one, had
slipped by while he sat with Countess
Ilka in the supper room.
He was so astonished, so bewil-
dered, so taken aback at the discovery
that he had absolutely not a word to
say. He could only turn to his card
and stare at it vindictively as if it
were. the author of his mistake. '"At
least: we have the rourtee11th togeth-
er," he calculated.
Ursula checked on her lips the re-
tort she felt trembling there, .''If you
still care to have it, She would not
say what she might be sorry for, how
ever much she was stung to the heart.
He passed the time between the
dances in a kind of amazed effort to
understand. Ursula had left him to
go in to supper with another man;
she had treated him when he came to
claim the dance he had been eagerly
waiting for as if he had been at fault.
What was the reason? Could she pre-
fer to talk to that fool of a FELTON,,
who had no other claim to notice than
the fact that he dined at Osborne and
was the cousin of a duke?. He ragged
for minute or two, then he told him.
self he was an ass to think of it. Ur-
sula was not that kind of girl. Yet
Why should she suddenly begin to
treat him so oddly? Why should she
speak as If she did not mind that he
had missed the dance he had been
counting on? He could not under
stand.
Since the world began the misunder-
standings of lovers must have made
the angels sigh. There is nothing so
skilful in self-torment, nothing so
prone to inf1ict suffering on the other,
as the human being who begins to let
doubt enter into love. Winstanley
was the most good-tempered of NOR
tails, but he felt distinctly tired.
Women were the most difficult crea-
lures on the face of the earth to
fathom; one had better give up the
attempt in despair.
When number fourteen came it did
not seem to put matters as right as
one might have hoped. He had meant
to ask for an explanation; he was not
prepared to find Ursula in such gay
spirits that he could not even try to
stem the flow of her gaiety. She was
ordinarily bright and merry enough !;
now she laughed and talked and jest.
ed almost remorselessly. He had yet
to learn, like most men, that a woman
uses the mask of lightheartedness halt
the time to hide that her heart is any,
thing but light. s. l.
She, too, had had time to think over
the situation. If he really would rath
er be with Countess Ilka than with
herself she would not let him think
she wanted to stand in his way. 1t
was the old, ,5,0ld story of the folly o1
lovers; the misunde ding that "a
word could set right, yet a word thai
was never uttered: the little: rift with
in the lutte widening till the, music
threatens to grow mute. 1 81. s. ~:5s ..z.S II II
She talked OF the decorations; the
floor, thes band; the ocks,1 as she
might have. done il he had just been
intro oduced to her. Nv Instantly, after
q futile effort Or two to turn the con
versation to the subj ject u that was
rambling IN his own mind. let 1T 60
and listened with faint grimness"o 81
EXPIRE ession. She was trying to. keel
him from q demanding al explanation
of=wlhy he had been cast side.in faYol
iH=of5al elton. the Queen's yacht