The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1906-08-02
Story Of a Real Person.
BY E. M. GOODMAN.

| had danced once with her, and at
tempted three polite conversational
openings as we sat in a coy corner
between the schoolroom door and the
conservatory, but nothing in her care
full department or murmured monosyl-
tables had prepared me for this.
| recalled my thoughts from the
waste places of detection which they
were so painfully exploring, and pre-
pared to answer a fool according TO her
folly.
You are either a real person. re-
piled, cor an ill-brought-up young
woman. Real persons are rare There
are only half-a-dozen or 50 in each
generation So the alternative is the
more probable"
She did not take up the challenge;
there was nothing Of the hoyden about
my partner. She continued the sub
ject in a spirit of impartial inquiry.
Il think you must be mistaken about
that" she remarked. Il know severa!
real persons. Now, there is my maid.
AS maid she is too bad not to be
true. Her temper leaves much to be
desired, and most persons would man
age to sew better with bone needle.
But she is real person, so | keep her.
| should keep her even il she hit me
with a hair-brush."
My partner was exceedingly we'll
turned-out. so either she had dressed
herself, or she was an untruthful per-
son. l reyolved the question in silence
till the girl said coolly:
Yes, | dressed myself. Auntie par
ticularly told me to look nice"
The conversation languished, but /
was not bored, The next dance had
begun and the schoolroom passage
was deserted | recalled the mental
arithmetic lessons | had shared with
my cousins before | went to Winches-
ter preparatory | remembered the
hopeless Darkness of forgetting the
problem while one was only halfway
towards the solution.
Poor old man." she said softly, let
ting her kind childish eyes rest on me
moment.
Il sat just behind you after the
Lancers," she explained; 81 was sit
ting out with your cousin Jim. He is
pig!" she paused and looked at me
again with a gentlemanly air of apol-
ogy.
we heard what you said" she went
on, land what she said. And Jim, who
is pig, is going to chaff you about it,
But I'm sorry-because we heard, and
because of it. know the real thing,
you see," she said an smiled, and
shrugged her shoulders, looking rath-
er wistful; and ones always sorry
when it's wasted. Group should be
kept for common birds" She seemed
to imagine | should not hear this
| managed, somehow, to express
kind of angry gratitude, an attempted
to divert the conversation.
Il believe I've seen you somewhere
before, havnt -" | asked.
Here, she said briefly, "once, at
schoolroom tea. My name is Marga-
ret, but you may remember they called
me piglet.' | had Holland pinafores
and pigtails, when they had white
frocks and curls. 1t wasn't ill-treat-
ment.' she added, but my hair used
to get into the ink"
The old butler came sailing down
the corridor and offered her a pink
ice
He's rather sweet" she remarked.
before he was well out of earshot. He
pretends he's forgotten all about the
schoolroom scrapes.' Then she re-
turned to my affairs. She only talked
like that" my partner explained be
cause Of Mr. Oliphant. But he isn't
the real thing. She'll forget all that.
You mustn't mind her being rather
silly, you know, because she is a per-
feet dear. Most girls think a clergy
man must be the real thing, especially
if he has a celbate VOW. | don't, be-
cause two of my brothers are curates,
and even if thought they were more
than human, Uncle George is a bishop.
So you see she isn't to blame You
won't give up?" she asked rather anx-
iously.
| assured her that | would not give
up-nOW.
'You have put things in a different
light | told her.
Poor old man" she said again |
recognized in her eyes the look my
grandmother gave me when I was
more than usually battered in nursery
warfare, and reflected that my partner
must be at least six years my junior.
She got up, smoothing her satin
frock
y mustn't miss my next dance" she
said. Mr.. Pollitt dances like a dervish.
Don't annihilate Jim when he chaffs
you. He is the sort of pig who
wouldn't be pig If he could help It."
| nodded. "You may be a badly
hrought-up young woman, but you,
too, are a perfect dear"
Postcards for Princess Ena