The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1917-06-23

to know that till that moment he was
going "home." But this was a dis
tinct evidence of something he had not
thought of, perhaps, that there was no
going home for him, even to a prison.
And this was the first of some twenty
such transfers, which brought him
sooner or later into half our best YES
sells, but which kept him all his life
at least some hundred miles from the
country he had hoped he might never
hear of again.
1t may have been on that second
cruise-it was once when he was up
the Mediterranean-that Mrs. Graft,
the celebrated Southern beauty of
those days, danced with Aim. They
had been lying a long time in the Bay
of Naples, and the officers were very
intimate in the English fleet, and there
had been great festivities, and our
men thought they must give a great
ball on board the ship. How they
ever did it on board the Warren 1 am
sure I do moi know. Perhaps it was
not the Warren, or perhaps ladies did
not take up so much room as they
do now. They wanted to use Nolan's
stateroom for something, and they
hated to do it without asking him to-
the ball; so the captain said they
might ask him, if they would be re-
sponsible that he did not talk with
the wrong people, "who would give him
intelligence" SO the dance went on,
the finest party that had eve been
known, 1 dare say for 1 never heard
of a man-of-war ball that was not. For
ladies they had the family of the
American consul, one or two travellers
who had adventured so far, and a nice
bevy of English girls and matrons, per-
haps Lady Hamilton herself.
Well, different officers relieved each
other in standing and talking with No
Ian in a friendly way, so as to be sure
that nobody else spoke to him. The
dancing went on with spirit, and after
a while even the fellows who TOOL this
honorary guard of Nolan ceased to fear
any contretemps. Only when some
English lady-Lady Hamilton, as I
said, perhaps, called for a set of
American dancers" an odd thing hap
pened. Everybody then danced con-
tredanceS The black band, nothing
loath, conferred as to what american
dances" were, and started off with
virginia Reel" which they followed
with "Money-Musk," which, in it's urn
in those days, should have been fol-
lowed by "The Old Thirteen" But
just as Dick, the leader, tapped for his
.fiddlers to begin, and bent forward,
about to say, in true negro state, 1.-The
Old Thirteen gentlemen and ladies!"
as he had said, "'Virginny Reel if you
pleased" "'Money-Musk,' if you
pleased" the captains boy tapped him
on the shoulder, whispered to him, and
he did not the name of the
dance; he merely bowed, began on
the air, and they all fell to, the Off
GERS teaching the English girls the
figure, but not telling them why it
had no lame.
But that is not the story l started
to tell. AS the dancing went on, No
Ian and our fellows all got at ease, as
I said, so much so that it seemed quite
natural for him to bow to that splendid
Mrs. Graft, and say:
II hope you have not forgotten me,
Miss Rutledge. Shall l have the hon
or of dancing?"
He did it so quickly that Shubrick,
who was by him, could not hinder
him. She laughed and said:
II am not Miss Rutledge any longer,
Mr.. Nolan; but 1 will dance all the
same" just nodded to Shubrick, as If