Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1912-10-30
CHAPTER V.--(continued1


you wish my opinion?" countered
the daughter. "He is shy, but he is
neither stupid nor silly; and when he
smiles he is really good-looking."
my child" replied the woman,
drawing off her gloves and examining
her shapely hands, 81 have looked in
to the very heart of that young man.
A thousand years ago, a red-cross on
his surtout, he would have been beat
ing his fists against the walls of
Jerusalem; five hundred years later,
he would have been singing chant
royaIes under Iattice-windows; a pa
1adin and a poet"
How do you know that? Did he
make love to your"
No; but l made love to him with
out his knowing it; and that was
more to my purpose than having him
make love to me-" systematically.
Three days, and he was so guileless
that he never asked my name. But
in Monte Carlo, as you know, one asks
only your bankers name"
And your purpose?"
''It is still mine, dear. Do you real
TIE that we haven't seen each other
in four months, and that you haven't
offered to kiss me "
did he go away without writing to
you about that money!"
Mrs. Chedsoye calmly pIucked out
the inturned fingers Of her gloves. Il
believe I did receive a note inclosing
his bankers address, but, unfortu-
nately, in the confusion of returning
to Paris. lost it, My memory has
always been trial to me-" sadly.
Since when?" coldIy. There is not
a woman living with a keener memory
than yours
You flatter me. In affairs that in
terest me, perhaps"
You never meant to pay him. 1t
IS horrible"
"My dear Fortune, how you jump at
conclusions! Did l not offer him
draft the very first thing?"
Knowing that at such a moment he
could not possibly accept it?" de-
risively. Sometimes 1 hate you!"
'Tn these days fliaI devotion is a
lost art"
No, no; it is a flower parents have
ceased to cultivate"
And there was in the tone a
strained note which described an in
tense longing to be loved. For if
George Percival Algernon Jones was
a lonely young man. it was the result
Of his own blindness; whereas Fortune
ChedsOye turned hither and thither in
search Of that which she never could
find The wide Lybian desert held
upon its face a loneliness, a desolation,
less mournful than that which reigned
within her heart.
[ flush! We are growing sentiment
al" warned the mother Besides,
believe we are attracting attention.
Her glance swept a hal-circle COM
placently.
Pardon mel I should be sorry to
draw attention to you, knowing how
you abhor it"
My child, learn from me; temper is
She arch-enemy Of smooth complex
ions. Jones-it makes you laugh"
1T is a homeIy, honest name"
II grant that. But Percival Alger-
non Jones!" Mrs. Chedsoye laughed
softly 1t was one of those pleasant
sounds that caused persons within
hearing to wait for it to occur again
Come; let US go up to the room. 1t
Is a dull, dusty journey in from Port
Said"
Alene, Fortune was certain that for
her mother her heart knew nothing
but hate. Neglect, Indifference, in
justice, misunderstanding the chill
repenence that always met the least
outreaching of the chfid's affections,
the unaccountable disappearance,
the terror of the unknown, the blank
wall of ignorance behind which she
was always kept, upon these hate had
builded her dark and brooding re-
treat. Yet, never did the mother come
within the radius of her sight that she
did not fall under the spell of
strange fascination, enchanting, fight
against it how she might A kindly
touch OF the hand, single mother
smile and she would have flung her
arms about the other womaH's neck
But the touch and the mother-smile
never came. She knew, she under
stood; she wasn't wanted, she hadn't
been wanted in the beginning; to her
mother she was as the young of ami
mails. interesting only up to that time
when they could stand alone. That
she mother never made and held
feminine friendships was in nowise
astonishing. Beauty and charm, such
as she possessed, served Immediately
90 stimulate envy in other women's
SSsarts. AnG that men Of all stations