News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1920-11-17

had to turn in till l could see again"
You don't mean that he"
Blanche had looked rather disgust.
ed the moment before; now she was
all truculent suspense and indigna-
ton.
Beat me?" he cried. Good Lord,
no; but there was none too much in
it,"
Fires died down in her hazel eyes,
+ lay lambert as soft moonlight, flick
{ cred into laughter before he had seen
| the fire.
I'm afraid you're very dangerous
person." said Blanche.
You've got to be" he assured her;
tits the only way. Don't take a word
from anybody, unless you mean him to
wipe his boots on you. | soon found
that out I'd have given something to
have learned the noble art before ]
went out. Did l ever tell you how II
was | first came across old Venus
Potts?"
He had told her at great length, to
the exclusion Of about every other
topic, in the second of the annual let
ters; and throughout the series the in
evitable name Of Venus Potts had sell
dom cropped up without some allusion
to that Homeric encounter. But it was
well worth while having it all over
again with the intricate and picturesque
embroidery Of tongue far mightier
than the pen hitherto employed upon
the incident. Poor Blanche had almost
to hold her nose over the primary
cause of battle; but the dialogue was
delightful, and CaZalet himself made
a most gallant and engaging figure as
he sat on the sill and reelCd it out
Twenty minutes later and Old Fanu.
Potts was still on the magic tapis
though Cazalet had dropped bie b12@;
ir g for CuriOuSly humble, eager auC
yet Intellectual vein.
Odd Venus Poots!' he kept ejacu
lating. you couldn't help liking him
And he'd like you, my world"
is his wife nice?" Blanche wanted
to know but she was looking SO in
tently out her window, at the opposite
end OF the bow to Cazalet'ss that
man of the wider world might have
thouGAt CT something else to tall
about.
Out her window she looked past
willow that had been part of the Ole
life, in the direction of an equal.
typical silhouette of patient angler |
~ in ha1
raised a rod between them during a.
this time that Blanche had been out i. |
Australia; but as a matter of fact sh
never saw them, since, vastly to Tn
credit Of Cazalets descriptive powers
S. a O.. in Australia still
NELLY Potts?" he said "Oh, a joll.
good sort; you'd be awful pals"
Should WEI" said Blanche, just
smiling ct her Invisible anglers.
Il know you would" he assured he
with immense conviction. "Of cours,
she can't do the things you do; blu
she can ride, my word! So she ough
to, when she's lived there all her life
The rooms aren't much, but the veran
das are what count most; they're bet
ter than any rooms"
She was still out there, cultivatine
Nelly Potts on very deep veranda
though her straw hat and straw hair
remained in contradictory evidence
against a very dirty window on the
bank of the Thames. 1t
was a shame of the September sun
n chou bn Hirt n II HniDp. NOT |
only was there a great steady pool of
sunshine on the unspeakable floor, but
/ doddering reflection from the river
IN the disreputable ceiling. Cazalet
ooked rather desperately from one to
he other, and both the calm pool and
he rough were broken by shadows,
me more impTessionistic than the
,ther, of straw hat over stack of
straw hair, that had not gone out to
Australia-yet.
And of course just then a step
sounded outside somewhere on some
,ravel. Confound those caretakers!
What were they doing, prowling
bout?
Il say, Blanchie!" he blurted out. Il
10 believe you'd like it out there, a
portswoman like you! | believe
ou'd take to it like duck to water"
He had floundered to his feet as
veil He was standing over her, feel
ng his way like a great fatuous cow
I'd so some might have thought. But
really looked as though Blanche was
OF attending to what he did say; YETI
either was she watching her little
nglers stamped in jet upon the sill
cry stream, nor even seeing any more ;
f Nelly Potts in the Australian YER
nda. She had come home from Aus
ralia, and come in from the river, and
he was watching the open door at the
Their end of the old schoolroom. listen
lg to those COMPOUNDED steps coming
carer and nearer-and Cazalet was :
azing at her as though he really had
aid something that deserved an an
Wer
Why, Miss Blanche!" cried a voice.
And your old lady-in-waiting figured ;