The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1917-04-12
SHFFpIS
AUTHOR "THE ONE
WOLF" THE BRASS
BOWL,"ETC
COPYRIGHT BYLoUS JOSEPH WncE


the girl relished all this with gladness.
But presently her spirits sagged again
and she grew drowsy, and fingered
from her bed only to please the
~warm-hearted old woman who had
adopted her pro tempore-"on suspi-
eion," as Mrs. Beggarstaff put 1t, not
without a little harmless malice.
Now and again friends paused to
pay their addresses to the Dowager
Dragon amiable, light-hearted people,
personable and attractive; yet of them
all the facile waxen tablets of Miss
Carteret's memory retained impress
Sions of but three personalities.
One was the famous Peter Trait,
,Laiming her interest more because of
Mrs. Beggarstaff's outspoken delight
N him than through any qualities he
3araded during the few minutes he
spent with the two-a youngish, we'll
poised body, with a drawl and a sort
Of insouciant humor that seemed to
afford the Dragon intense diversion.
But much of this mans discourse was
touched in a modified phase of Ameri-
.an slang or else harked back to local
American topics; both largely unintel-
igible to a sense of humor nourished
IN strictly British slang and localisms.
Then there was q Mrs. Merrilees-
recording to Mrs. Beggarstaf not a
rear out of mourning for a worthless
lusband-an adorably pretty creature,
md so b~ewitchingly gracious that
Miss Carteret, at sight, first caught
her breath with envy, then fell hope
essly in love with her.
A third she remembered for no rea-
son she could assign. His name was
Quoin-a tall, taciturn man with a
Iuiet voice, a semi-ironic attitude
coward the Dowager Dragons gush of
spirited inconsequence, and a sugges-
ion of reserve. For some reason she
remembered him more definitely even
than she remembered Mrs. Merrilees.
As for the others, they might as well
have been shadows on a cinemato-
graph screen.
BY ten o'clock, leaving Mrs. Beggar-
staff firmly fixed in the fourth seat
at a card table, ~engrossed by her one
confessed infatuation, auction bridge,
Miss Carteret was abed and asleep.
A bed Of almost sybaritic luxury it
seemed, as it rocked her gently to for
getfulness; but a bed of misery when
she awoke in the chill of dawn, with
the Alsatia, for all her immense bulk,
dancing d%runkenly to the tune piped
by a mad northeaster. And for more
than sixty hours she was held the
victim of mortal weakness and the ele-
ments' immortal rage.
Intervals there were, of course,
when, her sufferings temporarily abat-
ed, she was able to talk a little with
one or the other of her would-be COM
forters-Mrs. Beggarstaff and the
s~tewardess. But on Tuesday a mem
orable conversation took place, neg
ligible though it seemed at the time,
1t was at about six bells in the fore
noon watch when the Dowager Dragon
came below, ostensibly to find a book
In reality to convey fair tidings.
you're feeling better" she assert
Gu, d1leI d SLicWu lOoh at IhS 81"
Propped up in bed, Miss Carteret
moved a languidly negative head.
"Don't tell me! 1 haven't crossed
this %mill-pond thirty times not t.
know hen a seasick woman's on the
mend. Besides, haven't you noticed
how much steadier the boat has beer
this last hour or two?"
81 thought l must be imagining it,
the invalid murmured incredulously.
"Nonsensel The barometer's beer
rising since midnight. The wind shift
ed at dawn, and now we've a clearing
sky and a falling sea. OF cours'
you're feeling better. You'll be oil
deck before night"
"Oh, please, Mrs. Beggarstaffl"
"Don't worry; 1 shan't carry you of
by force. Bless my inadequate In
comet What's this?"
The girl turned her head YEARLY t
look.
Mrs. Beggarstaff had been standin
beside the chest of drawers, a han
a~bstractedly toying with her protegee'
simple jewelry, and suddenly ha
singled out a brooch for wondering IL
terest.
This brooch was a very beautifJ
thing, an exquisite m in sardony
framed In an oval frame of fine dis
monds; and Miss Carteret treasured
above all her possessions.
"Where under the sun, child, did 20
pick this up?"
at was given me on my ifteent
!. birthday"
"Five years ago?"
"Just about. Whyf"
The Dowager Dragon laughed d
lightedly. my roundabout way
asking your age, dear" She turne
En- the hr1o,h 80. 81 ko1a a. - ~