Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1909-12-03
CONSTANTIA IS ADVENTURE

: 'iNfSI hHo"n Il woman who. while
thoroughly NICE" could order her life
with such complete freedom from the
ordinary conventions. Her last adyen-
ture was OF this order. though it was
not OF her seeking.
! we had arranged to visit together a
! small university town in the south Of
France. For some reason or Other Com
; stantla had an ardent desire to see tho
place, though she knew not a soul there.
Something attractive in the life Of the
! university had interested her. NOTHING
! can dissuade Constantia when once that
spirit is at work in her, and so off she
went
! She found herself at last in the land
of her desire. There were other boarders
besides herself, all French The DAYS
passed peacefully, so peacefully in fact
! that the adventure seemed to have fallen
a little fiat.
But one evening she returned from a
long, lonely tramp to find another ar
rival. Anything more unlikely to give
cause for an adventure It would be diff
! hcult to imagine He was a stout
ioose y built middle-aged German with a
bald head and spectacles. He spoke
French with great difficulty. English not
at all, and Constantine never dreamt they
could have any interest for each other.
However, she was agreeable with him.
helped him out with the language, show
| ing HIM perhaps more sympathy than
the other members of the house. for the
| quit between the Latin and the Teuton
Is wide and not easily bridged.
Very quickly he showed his apprecia
| ~
to dinner in the town was followed bv
an immense bouquet of flowers: then
came sweets and chocolates Constantine
accepted each token with chiIdIike sim
| pliclty, without once dreaming that she
was on the verge of an adventure Tc
| be sure, he was only twelve OF thirteen
years Older than she, but he might easily
! have been taken for her father, and she
had only to look at his placid. comfort
! able face to be assured that his feeling
for her was purely paternaI
Germans. however, are proverbiaIlv
| plain woman. Before she realized what
was surging in the breast of the GOOD
man, he had put his arm round her and
attempted to kiss her.
| 1t is at this point that the average
| pei SUI NOtIlu uIlu NOuSIdlGId 1ncOUlpIC-
! hensib,e. A woman of 30 is no ingenue,
he would say Why couldn't she see
what was coming? Well, can only say
that in such matters as these Constantine
| is superblv blind She can never bring
| herself to believe that she is capable of
attracting admiration. With reckless
| abandon she pours out all her charm for
anyone. man or woman, with whom she
| feels sympathy, expecting nothing in
return 1t is Just there that we all find
COnstantia so DuZzling and so delicious.
Const anita kept her head; she always
does She became very dignifed; ex
planned candidly that she reserved her
kisses for those she loved; finally, that
she preferred to dispense with his com
pany if he insisted upon regarding her
as a plaything.
Constantia has very firmly rooted
ideas upon the freedom of her sex. Aft
er her frank explanation to the aston
| ished herr she assumed that he now
| thoroughly understood her views and
would respect them; she, accordingly,
! forgot promptly what had occurred and
became her natural charming self.
For a whole day things went exceed
inely well. She told me what good
comrade he was that day, how they
laughed together over thousand small
absurdities, cracked jokes, told stories
! in hating French, and behaved like a
couple of schoolgirls Oh holiday. lie did
certainly take her hand as the evening
came on, kissing it once or twice and
saving fond nothings in German. But 1t
was all done with such gay camaraderle
and such honest, healthy laughter that
none but a prude could have taken Of
Tense. Not again did he try to kiss her.
They reached home in the warm, star
| LIT dusk. filled with fresh breezes and
happily tired.
| The next day was Constantias last.
It passed without incident. She was to
leave for England by the night train.
| She went to her room before supper to
prepare her luggage for the journey. A
| knock! "Etes-v ous visible, mademol-
selle?" |'NIais ori, monsieur Constan-
tia replied. opening the door. The herr
stood in the doorway, his arms full OF
fruits and good things. She thanked
him warmly and turned to put them on
her table. He advanced towards her,
imnlorino a farewell kiss. But Constan-
| tia was firm. She refused: and III most
urmistakable terms But this time he
would take no refusal. his arms were
around her before she could escape, and
kiss implanted on her lips.
Constantine was now very angry. she
struggled free from his embrace, order
inc him to leave her at once. After re-
peated commands he finally retreated'
and Constantine, flushed, indignant ana
Inundated. was alone. -
The time came to dress for the de-
nartnre She made her adieux to the
| little circle and went towards the door
| The herr was waiting to conduct her to
the station. They walked along the
darl- rood in silence and arrived at the
station oalh rNi in ample time for the train.
The good man was evidently DIS
tressed. He glanced at her questioning
" and at length broke the 81, silence eo TO
ask if she were angry with him Con-
SANTA s expressed with great frankness
h her deep Indignation at his want Of re-
n p her views on the independence OF
NO1 y