Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1913-04-02


toilet Of eese and without her teeth,
the countess twho was gazing stock,
for the same reason. and Augustine.
4 her maid. the three Russians on the
second floor. and the three Americans
on the third. filed the windows with
/ polygiot CONSERVATION. The conse-
/ quence OF II all was that when the
! Count Won Butler was formally pre-
sented TO Miss Wing that evening. she
blushed. She was 700 pale and list
less 10 be pretty, but when she blushed
she was enchanting. Remembering
the meringue. she smiled and ventured
an upward glance; and, for the first
time In her life, met the admiration in
the eyes Of man. At this time Mar
garet was thirty years old and had
never been asked in marriage. She
Fhad spent most Of the thirty years in
a boarding-schocl, as pupil or as
teacher; and she had brought from
her clustered life a single vivid feel
ing, passionate friendship which
death had ended. The sapphire ring
was her poor friends last token. /.
To be thirty and never to have been
sought like other girls, leaves chii!
in the heart. It may be lonely never
to have loved, but it is bleak never TO
have been loved Margaret remem-
bered her delicate, giriish dreams with
a recoil Of humiliation: they seemed
to her almost immodest She thought
/ she was too old to wear hats. and
wondered whether she ought not TO
| discard the pinks and light blues
{ which poor ELY had liked on her. for
/ more sedate colors. But she wore
| pink after she mel Max Butler. Yet
he never saw her save In the pres
enee OF others He was full OF little,
| graceful attentions. but he showed the
same attentions to the portly clergy
mans widow and the meritorious but
cross-eyed teacher OF fifty, who formed
Miss Wings party; IT was only his
eyes, his eyes always following her,
approvingly. delighting. admiring,
| pleading, speaking to her as they
spoke to no other woman She told
herself that il was just the pleasant,
/ foreign way; and she wrote to her
friends in America, The German Of.
ficers have very agreeable. deferential
manners; / think they are much more
| gentle and polite and have a higher
! respect for women than the French or
/ Italians" And he said no word. even
OF friendship. until that afternoon at
the Heidelberger Schloss.
He came upon her almost imme-
diately, scrambling up the bank at a
rate which had worked woe to his uni
form. He was torn, he was scratched,
he was stained with mud and grass;
and he was beamIng with delight. II
have seen you from below" he ex-
claimed in his careful English, so /
came up. VIII you excuse?9 Then
his mood changed, perceiving her
| plight, and he insisted on tearing his
handkerchief into strips to bind her
| ankle. II semed absurd TO refuse his
aid, which he offered quite simply;
but his hands trembled a little over
the knots. 1T will be most easy, |
think" said he. that you should let
me assist you small way. to the res
tauracion; so | can get the carriage,
and you can have some ice cream.
Again, to-day. is It burned"
She had laughed and said that she
never had heard Of burned ice cream.
He laughed, too, and explained that
il was burned as a custard and some
how under cover of this she let him
put her hand on his shoulder and his
arm about her waist. She was crate
full 10 him for the matter-offact man
ner in which he did It all, saying,
You will have to be my comrade that
has been wounded. and will help
him on the field; so l did, once, with
my colonel; it is better than to wait
until Icould bring help" In this fash
! ion they walked for some twenty min
utes
He told her of his coun ry and his
home; and how he loved the hills
that his fathers had always owned,
and the rugged. simple, faithful peo-
pie; he told her of the plans of his
father and himself for them; he told
her of his father, who had the best
heart in the world. but was credited
with fierce temper simply because
| his voice was loud: and his mother.
who was so geutle that every one
loved her; and his handsome sister,
and his brother, who was a diplomat
and far cleyerer than he; and his lit
| tie brother who died and would have
no one carry him In his pain but Max
| (''Ah. he was the most clever and the
most beautiful of us alll'0. and Max,
/ his little nephew. who looked like the
dead boy. 4 hope you will see my
home and them ALL" he said; "tomor-
row. | shall see them. then. the same
day. shall be back herewith you."
And then. by degrees, she won him
to talk of his profession, of his hopes.
his ambitions. his ideals; OF all those
/ intimate and cherished things which
| lie at the bottom of the soul and only
rise for friends eyes. II seemed TO
| her that she could read his character
in the hints given by his words, as
one would MI an outline sketch with
| perspective and details. There was
certainly a fascination In this revela-
ton; candor. after all. was virtue.
as we'll as reticence. Perhaps her
new friend was little medieval. but
he WIS as refined as II he had been
all modern.
BY now they were rafting through
the modern town of Heidelberg, the
plain walls OF which looked bare after
the lawless pomp OF carving and form
on the old castle they had not even