Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1908-12-15

/ Sic uluu appear W bS thStA.s'ASN
of me at first. On the contrary. she
had a way of seeming to show me Off
almost as II she thought I did hel
| credit.
When we had unpacked we three
went to luncheon and took the frs
seats which were vacant. But pres
emily Mrs. Ess Kay sent for the chief
steward or some one important. 81
am Mrs. Stuyvesant-Knox." said she
| in q naughty voice. "and I have rs
my guest Lady Betty Bulkeley. daugh
| ter Of the Duchess Of Stanforth. YOU
must give US three Of the best seats
at the captains table"
couldn't help hearing, and my ears
! did tingle, but Miss Woodburn only
smiled and looked down. with a funny
twinkle under her eyelashes. which
| curl up so much that it always seems
as II she were Just going to laugh.
thought If We're the steward
would give us the worst seats on the
ship to teach us not to be proud. But
| he didn't do anything Of the sort. He
| was as meek as n lamb. so I'm sure
| he can't have any sense Of humor. He
said Mrs Stuyvesant-KnoX might
count on him. and she and her party
should have places on the captain's
right hand.
Mrs. Ess Kay was as bad with the
deck steward. She found that he
hadn't put our chairs (Which she had
brought on board HERSELF in the right
place, and she had him called up and
made a great fuss. The cards of
Rev. Somebody. his wife and daugh
ters were on chairs In the position
which she had made up her mind tc
have, exactly amidship and on the
shady side.
81 must have my chairs changed
and put here" she said. And then
oh. horror!-I'm certain l caught hel
repeating the formula she'd used a
luncheon 81 am Mrs. Stuyvesant
Knox, and I have as my guest" etc
To be sure, she had walked of to
little distance with the deck steward
where our chairs were, and I might
have been mistaken, but two or three
people who were standing near looked
suddenly very hard at me. and know
l turned scarlet with annoyance, to be
labeled in that way, as II ! were
parcel marked glass" and to be han
died with care.
Afterward when l came to read the
passenger list l found that there wa:
nobody else on board with any sor
OF title, not even an honorable any
body: otherwise, Of course, Mrs. Els:
Kay's little maneuver, which In
afraid must have been meant for snob
bishness. wouldn't have excited the
slightest uotice.
Now" said Mrs. Ess Kay when We
were settled in our places, 81 know
good many people on the ship. bu
most Of them are nobodies. and | dt
not intend to be troubled with them
nor do | thiSk that the duchess would
care to have me let Betty mix herself
up with anybody and everybody.
shall do u great deal of wedding und
select her acquaintances carefully"
Betty" indeed! I'd never told bel
that she might call me Betty, and
hate having persons | don't care fol
take hold Of my name without using d
handle to touch 1t. Ii mases me fee
as did when was child and moth
er commanded me to let myself be
kissed by unkissable and eXtraneous
grownups.
Thank goodness. Vic and l have come
into the world with something Of pool
fathers sense Of humor My share
often serves me as well as balm on q
wound or as nice, dry, crackly little
biscuit which you're enchanted to FIND
when you're hungry and thought you
had nothing to eat, and l got good
deal of quiet comfort out Of 1t during
Mrs. Ess Kay's wedding process
which otherwise would have done
nothing but make me squirm.
When we had been on deck for 6
short time number Of people came u[
to speak to Mrs. Ess Kay and some tc
Miss Woodburn. The water was MS
smooth as the floor of ballroom wher
it's been well waxed for a dance. and
there was no excuse for the most
sensitive person to be i'll: consequently
the deck was something like kaleido
scope. with all its moving groups OF
men and women. girls and children
Most of the best looking and best
dressed ones were Americans. and 4
great many seemed to know each 9th
or Some of them laughed good dea
and talked In high voices. putting em
phasis on propositions. which Miss
Mackinstry and the others would never
let me do In writing compositions
Somehow, though, when these people
spoke Ii sounded very nice and cordial
more so than 1t does when English
people greet each other. though the
voices weren't SO sweet. except few
that drawled in pretty southern way
like Sally Woodburn's.
could tell which were the poor
things that Mrs Ess Kay wanted to
weed out of her acquaintance garden
for next season, by the way she acted
when they came to say "How do you
doY to her She screwed up her eyes
till they looked hard and sharp enough
to 60 through you like a thin knife
or more like long. slender hatpin
jabbing your head. and having waited
an instant before returning their greet
ing, slowly answered: Every we'll
thank you. Yes, am going home
rather early. I'm due at Newport as
soon rs possible" then fingered bel
open book, which she hadn't peeped
into before. and made a little, just
noticeable gesture with her lorgnette
Then the poor people were too much
crushed to stop and try to talk to Miss
Woodburn, though she always looked
at them sweetly, us II she would make
up for her cousin being dragon II she
could.
By and by. somebody else would sal
up, perhaps not half as nice to look a,
as the one who had gone. But 10, Mrs
Stuyvesant-Knox would be suddenly
transformed. She would smile and
hold out her hand. To their How dc
you do?" she would respond "How dc
you do?" and though don't think
she's really much interested In any
one but herself. she would ask where
they had been, what they had been do
ing and how 1t happened they were
going back 80 soon. The next thing