Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1906-02-06
CHAPTER II.

pOl llOA VI JUL COuutIy WuOs
Gxz3XJ knowing that the room In the
wooden cupola over Mr.. Carewe's H.
brary was commonly alluded to by
Rouen as the tower chamber" will
prove himself so sectlonally prejudiced
as to deny that the town was verlta-
bic hotbed Of literary interest or that
Sir Walter Scott was i'll appreciated
there? Some of the men looked sly and
others grinned at mention of this apart
ment, but the romantic were not lack
ing who spoke of it In whispers-how
the lights sometimes shone there all
night long and the gentlemen drove
away, white faced, in the dawn. The
cupola, rising above the library, over
looked the garden, and the house, save
for that, was Of single story, with q
low veranda running the length Of its
front. The windows Of the library and
Of row of bedrooms, one of which
was Miss Betty's, lined the veranda
steamboat fashion, the inner doors of
these rooms all opening upon long
hall which bisected the house. The
stairway leading to the room in the
cupola rose in the library itself, while
the bisecting hall afforded the only ac-
cess to the library; hence, the gossips,
well acquainted with the geography OF
the place, conferred seriously together
upon what effect Miss Betty's home
coming would have In this connection,
for any one going to the stairway must
needs pass her door, and, what was
more to the point, party Of gentlemen
descending late from the mysterious
turret might not be so quiet as they in
tended and the young lady sufficiently
disturbed to inquire of her father what
entertainment he provided that should
keep his guests until in the morning.
But at present it was with the op-
posite end of the house that the town
was occupied, for there workmen were
hammering and saving and painting
all day long, finishing the addition Mr..
Carewe was building for his daugh-
ter's debut. This hammering disturbed
Miss Betty, who had become almost as
busy with the French revolution as
with her mantua maker, for she had
found in her fathers library many
books not for convent shelves, and she
had become Girondin.
She found memoirs, histories and
tales of that delectable period, and for
week there was no meal in that house
to which she sat down earlier than half
an hour late, She had a rightful prop
erty interest in the revolution, her own
great-uncle having been one of those
who suffered, not, however, under the
guillotine, for to Georges Mellhac ap-
pertaincu tbs rare ulsIlnctlon OF death
by accident on the day when the bust
nesslike young Bonaparte played upon
the mob with his cannon.
There were some yellow letters of
this great-uncle's in box which had
belonged to her grandmother, q rich
discovery for Miss Betty, who read and
reread them with eager and excited
eyes, living more in Paris with Georges
and his friends than In Rouen with her
father. Indeed, she had little else to
do. Mr.. Carewe was no cqmrada for
her, by far the reverse. She seldom
saw him, except at the table, when he
sat with ayerted eyes and talked to her
very little, and, while making elaborate
preparation for her Introduction to his
friends (such was his phrase), he treat
ed her with perfunctory civility
which made her wonder II her advent
was altogether welcome to him, but
when she noticed that his hair looked
darker than usual about every fourth
day she began to understand why he
appeared ungrateful to her for growing
up. he went out great deal, though
no visitors came to the house, for 1t
was known that Mr.. Carewe desired to
present his daughter to no one until he
presented her to all. Fanchon Bareaud,
indeed, made one hurried and embar-
rassed call, evading Miss Betty's refer
ence to the chevalier of the kitten with
dexterity too nimble to be thought
unintentional. Miss Carewe was for
hidden to return her friends visit until
after her debut, and Mr.. Carewe ex-
planned that there were always some
worthless young men hanging about
Bareaud's, where, he did not add, they
interfered with a worthy old one who
desired to honor Fanchon's older sister
Virginia, with his attentions.
This was no great hardship for Miss
Betty, as, since plunging into the rev
olution with her great-uncle, she had
lost some curiosity concerning the mer
of today doubling that they would
show forth as heroic, as debonair, gay
and tragic as he. He was the legend
airy hero of her childhood. She remem
bered her mothers stories Of him per
haps more clearly than she remember
ed her mother, and one Of the oldel
sisters had known him in Paris an6
had talked Of him at great length, Civ
ing the favor Of his dandyism aud his
beauty at first hand to his young rela
tive. b
In the library hung small full
length drawing of. Georges. done II
color by Miss Betty's grandmother
and this she carried to, her own room
and studied long and ardently unit
sometimes the man himself seemed tt
stand before her.
Miss Betty had an impression tina
her grandmothers art Of portraiturt
would have been more successful will
the profile than the full face" Never
theless, nothing could be more clearl,
indicated than that the hair of M
Meilhac was very yellow and his short
huge lapeled waistcoat white, striped
with scarlet. An enormous crava
covered his chin; the heavy collar Q,
his yellow coat rose behind his ears