Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1908-07-03
ass Ms n ahss. uulssl DO yaa S.As
Mssii

Nuil dny~SuplNi, VI uOh s"u' II yo''
don't, It's our dance"
"No. don't. No, 1t isn't Kemp
you annoy me-"
That's nice thing to say. Is II
your deIicately inimitabIe way Of Civ
ing me my congci'
"Yes, thank you" nodded Miss Ian
dis coolly. "You may go now"
you're spoiled that's what's the
natter" retorted Ferraii wrathfully
81 thought was to have this dance.
You said"-
81 said perhaps because didn't
see Mr.. Plank coming to claim It,
Thank you, Kemp, for finding him"
Her nod and smile took the edge
from her malice. Ferral. who really
adored dancing. glared about for any.
body to dance with.
Sylvia. standing beside Plank. look
ed UP at him with her confident and
friendly smile.
"You don't care to dance, do you?
Would you mind II we sat out this
dancer"
"If you'd rather" he said, so visit
| fully that she heSitated; then with q
little shrug laid one hand on his arm,
and they swung out across the floor
together into the secuted whirl.
Plank, like many heavy men, dane.
ed beautifully, and Sylvia, who still
loved dancing with all the ardor Of o
schoolgirl, permitted moment or two
of keen delight to sweep her dreamiy
from her purpose. But that purpose
must have been a strong one. for she
returned to it in few minutes and,
looking up at Plank, said very gently
that she cared to dance no more.
Her hand resting lightly on his arm,
It did not seem possible that any pres
sure of hers was directing them to the
conservatory, yet he did not know
| where he was going, and she was ia
miliar with the house, and they soon
entered the conservatory, where, In the
shadow of various palms, various
youths looked up tmpatiently as they
passed and various maidens sat up
very straight in their chairs.
Threading their dim way into the
farther recesses, they found seats
among thickets of forced lilacs over
hung by early wistaria. A spring
like odor hung in the air. Somewhere
n tiny fountain grew musical In the
semidarkness.
marion told me you had been ask
ed" she said. eve have been so
friendly. You've always asked me to
dance whenever we have met, so
thought I'd save you one. Are you
hattered, Mr.. Plank?'
He said be was, very pleasantly, per-
fectly undeceived and convinced OF her
purpose-a purpose never even tacitly
admitted between them, and the old
loneliness came over him again-not
resentment, for he was willing that she
should use him. Why not? Others
used him, everybody used him. and II
they found no use for him they let
him alone. Mortimer, Fleetwood, Bel
wether-all, all had something to ex-
act from him. 1t was for that he was
tolerated. He knew it, He had slow
Iy and unwillingly learned it. His In
trusion among these people. of whom
he was not one, would be endured on
~ while be might be turned to some
account. The hospital used him, the
clergy found. plenty for him to do for
them. the museum had room for other
pictures of his Who among them all
had ever sought him without a mo-
tive! Who among them all had ever
found unselfish pleasure in him? Not
one
He wished she would come to her
point, but he dared not lead her to 1t
too brusquely. because her purpose and
her point were supposed to be absO-
lutely hidden from his thick and cred
ulous understanding. 1t had taken
him some time to make this clear to
himself. Passing from suspicion
through chagrin and overwounded feel
ing to dull certainty that she, too, was
using him, harmlessly enough from
her standpoint, but how bitterly from
his, he alone could know.
The futter Of her fan meant impa-
thence to learn from him what she had
come to him to learn and then. salts
fed, to leave him alone again amid
the peopled solitude of clustered lights.
He wished she would speak. He
was tired of the sadness of 1t all.
Whenever In his isolation, In his utter
restitution of friendship, he turned
guilelessly to meet a new advance. al
ways, sooner or later. the friendly
mask was lifted enough for him to
divine the cool. fixed gaze of self In
terest inspecting him through the
damask Sits.
Sylvia was speaking now, and the
plumy fan was under sayant control
waving graceful accompaniment to her
soft voice, punctuating her sentences
at times, at times making an emphasis
or outlining a gesture.
1t was the familiar sequelice-topics
that led to themes which adroltly skirt.
ed the salient point; returned capri
ciously, just avoiding tia subtly
charming pattern Of words which re-
quired so little in reply that his smile
and nod were almost enough to keep
her aria and his accompaniment afloat.
1t began to fasclnate him to watch
the delicacy Of her strategy, the CO.
quoting with her purpose; her naive
advance to the very edges of 1t, the
airy retreat, the innocent detour, the
elaborate and circuitous return. And
at last she drifted into 1t so naturally
that 1t seemed impossible that fatuous
man could have the most primitive sus.
,,ioion of hon. nromad itn ton