Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-06-04

uuI, u course, cannot stay long. 30,
may | hope, Lady Kitty, that you will
give me some of the earlier dances?
AS you know, l. don't dance; but
have SO much to say to you"
Il can give you the first two, Mr..
Dumbdale,' answered Kitty, smiling
all the more radianty at her stodgy
admiTer to st1f1e the sighs and fore
| Swallowed yawns she felt at the pros
pect. HHe will be dull even when
proposing" she felt. Even the exer-
else Of the flnesse necessary to Opt
mist1c evasion would not compensate
for the prosy condo sension with
which he would offer the great wealth
and political Importance Of DuInbdala,
NJ. p, to a penniless beauty. She
| would be lucky If he didn't use the
wife and mother of my children
formula She knew it was to be ap.
pretended from pompous civilians
| with boards.
Lady Kitty knew that she might
have to marry him in the end. Her
mother had explained their circum.
stances to her. BY spending large
slice of their capital, they could do
two seasons, and do them well. Then,
unless Kitty had made the right kind
Of marriage, they would have to drop
out Dumbdale had fifty thousand Il
year, and didn't seem to be any worse
than other young men who had simt-
lar incomes. The light-hearted, ire
sponsible young men with whom she
could imagine life might be joyous
were all hard up. Her ideal of friv.
olous millionaire, with dash of
poetry, was too remote conception
ever to be realised.
So Dumbdale, M P, went back to
the house feeling that Lady Kitty had
been too overwhelmed by the magnt.
tude Of what he was offering to abso.
lutely accept him till she had search.
ed her heart, to see if she was worthy
of the honor. AS for Lady Kitty, she
| INDUCED herself in a delirious valse
with an impecunious but hilarious
subaltern; and when the last note
had been played, took him to won
derful sitting-out place, and, for the
moment, managed to forget everything
but her youth.
Thus it came about, that when Lord
Ancestor and Vandraken arrived, and
| the latter was introduced to his host.
ess, the daughter of the house was
not on, hand. Lady Donoyle introduced
| him to a well-meaning girl. who had
an empty program and then asked
Lord Ancestor to take her to have an
ice.
after all, 1 don't think I want an
ice, RIVE. want a talk Let's sit
down here She pointed with her
fan to two chairs in the embrasure Of
a window
"Rivie" was her own name for him
(short for Rivalon Carraghdoc). When
he was twenty-one and she was TWEEN
ty-seven, she had licked him into
shape-done all the things for him
said all the things to him, that a
woman of the world can do and say
for a boy Of that age when desperate
ly in love with her She herself had
married for love when she was eigh
teen, and married BLACKBOARD. He
taught her her word long before she
was twenty-seven.
The ten years which interviewed ha6
made no change in Lady Donoyle
Her loneliness had always been of {
weird, laughing kind. The downward
droop at the corners of her lips, which
began with her first great disillusion
ment, was more accentuated, but i
only harmonized with the tragic beau
ty of her white face. with its grea
pale-blue eyes, and the f1ame-colorec
hair. She had sought forgetfulness If
action-taken up, excelled in, and ex
hausted, her interest for every kind Of
sport, and saved her figure alive. The
texture of her skin was perfect; you
could see the play of tiny muscle:
under the satin surface, endowing j
with life. If she had not been per
fectly proportional men might have
called her tall. AS it was, she ap
peared to be Of medium height. 4
face which was made to have tragedie!
written on it does not show them.
face which was not meant to have
dissipation written on it, does SHOW
it. There was no longer any externa
evidence Of disparity in the ages o
the two in the window seat.
Lady Donoyle fenced for awhile ant
then came swiftly to her point.
"Rivie, I want you to do somethin:
for me. I want Kitty to marry you
American friend, and you must hell
me to work it. You will, won't you?
She laid her hand appealingly on hi
arm. Conversation without gestures
was difficult for her; it was part 0
her charm.
The tired look habitual to his fac
was replaced by frown. Lad.
Donoyle noticed it.
"No!" He leant back and folde'
his arms resolutely. "He won't dc
Adelaide-not for little Kitty"
1 FIFTY million pounds, and won
do! Whatever are you talking about
Rivie?"
"The fact is Well, it's this way
Vandraken is all right for a man
man. You see. he hasn't sown hi
wild oats yet, but he has begun, an
oh, hang it! Adelaide, you know
what mean-his morals, and all tina
sort Of thing"
"My dear mani" answered Lad,
Donoyle, impatiently, "it's a tiara
want for Kitty, not halo. And rea
ly, RIVE, with your record, to TAX
this highly moral tone!
"'But when old age came on them,
They had strong religious qualms
So King Solomon wrote the proverb
And King David wrote tn
psalms, y