The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1917-08-08

had been lying 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 great
ball on board the ship. How they
ever did it on boardNthe Warren am
sure I do not 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,
stateroon for something. and they
hated to do it without asking him to-
the ball; so the captain said they
night 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 ever been
! known, / dare say; for I never heard
Of 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, 80 as to be sure
that nobody else spoke to him. The
dancing went on with spirit, and after
a while even the fellows who took 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 of with
''virginia Reel" which they followed
with "Money-Musk, which, in its turn
in those days, should have been fol-
lowed by 1.-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. +" The
Old Thirteen gentlemen and ladies ~
a. he had said, "'virginny Reel II you,
pleased" "'Money-Musk.' If you'll
pleased" the captains boy tapped himI
on the shoulder, whispered to him, andI
he did not announce the name Of theI
dance; he merely bowed, began onI
the air, and they all fell to. the Off.
GERS teaching the English girls theI
figure. but not telling them why IL
had no name.
But that IL not the story started
to tell. As the dancing went on, No
Ian and our fellows all got at ease, as
I said, so much so that 1t seemed quite
natural for him to bow to that splendid
Mrs. Graf, and say:
Il hope you have not forgotten me,
Miss Rutledge. Shall 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:
" am not Miss Rutledge any longer,
Mr.. Nolan; but I will dance all the
Iams." just nodded to Shubrick, al Il
to say he must leave Mr.. Nolan to her.
and led him off to the place where the
dance was forming. j+@
He had known her at Philadelphia,
and at other places had met her. and
this was godsend. You could not
talk in contredances. as you do in
cOtillions, or even in the pauses Of
waltzing; but there were chances for
tongues and sounds, as well as for
eyes and bushes. He began with her
travels, and Europe, and Vesuvius, and
the French; and then, when they had
worked down, and had that long talk
ing time at the bottom of the set, he.
said boldly, a little pale, she said, as
she told me the story, years after:
"And what do you hear from home,
Mrs. Graff?"
And that splendid creature looked
through him. Jove! how she must
have looked through him! "Home!lI
Mr.. Nolan!!! thought you were theI
man who never wanted to hear Of
home again!" and she walked directly
up the deck to her husband, and left
poor Nolan alone, as he always was.
He did not dance again.
cannot give any history Of him In
order; nobody can now; and, indeed,
am not trying to. These are the ira
ditions, which sort out, as I believe
them, from the myths which have been
told about this man for forty years.
The fellows used to say he was the
Iron Mask )" and neSozT George Pons
went e ais grave in the belief that
Ito be Continued)