Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1908-11-26
ROSALINO AT
RED GATE
CHAPTER II CONTINUEDJ
ny Mere dim Mich olson.


,r,I,pr-,p =, -oxr,N1.r,,
rrobIl,crcd Nv this experience I kept
out Of trouhlc for two years. and my
nov affair wcs With n widow, two years
my scrior whom nc. at n house In
Scotland where | was staying for the
shooting. She was n bit mourn.ul. and
lavender became her we'll. | forgot the
grouse after my first day, and gave my
relf I'D TO conso,ins her. She had as no
other woman ! have known has had, a
genlus--lt was nothing lcss-for sraccfu,
attitudes To surprise her before an open
fire, hci prett!ly curved chin resting on
her pink little palm. her eyes bright with
lurking tears, ana to see her lips twitch
with the effort TO restrain a sob when
one came suddenly upon hey--but the pic
ture is not for my clumsy hand! | have
never known whether she suffered me TO
make love TO her merely "a n distrac-
ton. or whether she was briefly amused
by my ardor and entertained by tho new
phrases Of alteration | contrived for her.
! loved her quito sincerely l am glad to
have experienced the tumult she stirred
In wo-clad that the folding Of her little
hands upon her Knees as she bent
Scotch manor. ana her low, murmurinE,
mourrful voice. made my heart jump. I
told her-and recall it without shame
that her eyes were adorable islands
aswim in trimming seas, and that her
hands were nuttering white doves of
peace. found that / could maintain
that sort of thing without much trouble
for an hour at time.
4 - l,., 1,c u l,t-
when | packed my bags and gun-cases
ana left one frosty morning. | regret
nothing, but am glad it all happened just
SO. Her marriage to clergyman in the
Establishments dukes second son In
holy orders who enjoyed considerable
reputation as a cricketer-followcd quick
~ and | have never seen her since. |
was in love with that slrl for at least
a month. 1t did me no harm, and think
she liked IT herself
next went down before the slang of
an American girl win teasing eyes and
amazing skill at tennis. whom met at
oxford when she was a student in Lady
Margaret Her name was Iris and she
was possessed by the spirit Of Mischief
If YOU know aught of the English. you
know that the average peaches-and-
squarely. exciting Iris understood this
perfectly and delighted in doing things
no girl had ever done before in that ven
cradle town She lived at home-her
family had taken house out beyond
Magdalen and she went to and from the
classic halls OF I.ardy Margaret in a
dog-cart. sometimes with a groom,
sometimes without. When alone she
y, fa.l,
caused sedate matrons to stare and
sober-minded fellows of the university to
swear. and admiring undergraduates to
chuckle with delight. I had gone to OK
ford TO consult a certain book in tho
Bodle!an--a days business only but it
fell about that in the postofIlce, where I
had gone on an errand, I came upon
Iris struggling for a cable-blank, and
found one for her. AS she stood at the
receiving counter, impatiently waiting 70
file her message. she remarked for the
benefit, l believed, Of a gathered bishop
at her elbow: How perfectly rotten
this place is.''-and winked at me. She
was seventeen. and l was old enough 20
know letter. but We had some talk. and
the next day she bowed to me In front
Of St. Mary's and, the day after picked
me Hp ouN neal N'Oi' illu hIpNt nv al
over town, and past Lady Margaret, and
cropped me quite boldly at tn" door Of
Ihe Mitrc. Shameful 1t was; but at the
md of week | knew all her family, in
)luding her father, who was bored 70
leath. and her mother who had thought
a fine thing to move from GAINESVILLE
Ohio, to live in a noble old academic cen
ter like OXford-that was what too much
home study and literary club had done
for her.
Iris kept the cables hot with orders for
clothes, caramels and shoes. while
fingered and hung upon her lightest slang
and encouraged her in the idea that edu-
cation in her case was a sinful waste o.
time; and | comfortcd her father for the
loss % his native buckwhcat cakes and
consoled her mother, who found that
seven OF the perfect English servants OF
the story-books did less than the three
she had maintained at GAINESVILLE. ! In.
gered in oxford two months, and hcpco
thcr get out of town when Iris was
dropped from college for telling the prin
cipal that the GAINESVILLE High Schoo
genera! educational efficiency, and that
tablished Church because the litanj
GOT tbcr, orr - o,.,ord o,d ,vor :,