Alonzo Fitz | Page 4

maroon velvet necktie edged
with delicate pink silk; inside handkerchief of some simple three-ply
ingrain fabric of a soft saffron tint; coral bracelets and locket-chain;
coiffure of forget-me-nots and lilies-of-the-valley massed around a
noble calla.
This was all; yet even in this subdued attire she was divinely beautiful.
Then what must she have been when adorned for the festival or the
ball?
All this time she had been busily chatting with Alonzo, unconscious of
our inspection. The minutes still sped, and still she talked. But by and
by she happened to look up, and saw the clock. A crimson blush sent its
rich flood through her cheeks, and she exclaimed:
"There, good-by, Mr. Fitz Clarence; I must go now!"
She sprang from her chair with such haste that she hardly heard the

young man's answering good-by. She stood radiant, graceful, beautiful,
and gazed, wondering, upon the accusing clock. Presently her pouting
lips parted, and she said:
"Five minutes after eleven! Nearly two hours, and it did not seem
twenty minutes! Oh, dear, what will he think of me!"
At the self-same moment Alonzo was staring at his clock. And
presently he said:
"Twenty-five minutes to three! Nearly two hours, and I didn't believe it
was two minutes! Is it possible that this clock is humbugging again?
Miss Ethelton! Just one moment, please. Are you there yet?"
"Yes, but be quick; I'm going right away."
"Would you be so kind as to tell me what time it is?"
The girl blushed again, murmured to herself, "It's right down cruel of
him to ask me!" and then spoke up and answered with admirably
counterfeited unconcern, "Five minutes after eleven."
"Oh, thank you! You have to go, now, have you?"
"I'm sorry."
No reply.
"Miss Ethelton!"
"Well?"
"You you're there yet, ain't you?"
"Yes; but please hurry. What did you want to say?"
"Well, I--well, nothing in particular. It's very lonesome here. It's asking
a great deal, I know, but would you mind talking with me again by and
by--that is, if it will not trouble you too much?"

"I don't know but I'll think about it. I'll try."
"Oh, thanks! Miss Ethelton! . . . Ah, me, she's gone, and here are the
black clouds and the whirling snow and the raging winds come again!
But she said good-by. She didn't say good morning, she said
good-by! . . . The clock was right, after all. What a lightning-winged
two hours it was!"
He sat down, and gazed dreamily into his fire for a while, then heaved a
sigh and said:
"How wonderful it is! Two little hours ago I was a free man, and now
my heart's in San Francisco!"
About that time Rosannah Ethelton, propped in the window-seat of her
bedchamber, book in hand, was gazing vacantly out over the rainy seas
that washed the Golden Gate, and whispering to herself, "How different
he is from poor Burley, with his empty head and his single little antic
talent of mimicry!"
II
Four weeks later Mr. Sidney Algernon Burley was entertaining a gay
luncheon company, in a sumptuous drawing-room on Telegraph Hill,
with some capital imitations of the voices and gestures of certain
popular actors and San Franciscan literary people and Bonanza
grandees. He was elegantly upholstered, and was a handsome fellow,
barring a trifling cast in his eye. He seemed very jovial, but
nevertheless he kept his eye on the door with an expectant and uneasy
watchfulness. By and by a nobby lackey appeared, and delivered a
message to the mistress, who nodded her head understandingly. That
seemed to settle the thing for Mr. Burley; his vivacity decreased little
by little, and a dejected look began to creep into one of his eyes and a
sinister one into the other.
The rest of the company departed in due time, leaving him with the
mistress, to whom he said:

"There is no longer any question about it. She avoids me. She
continually excuses herself. If I could see her, if I could speak to her
only a moment, but this suspense--"
"Perhaps her seeming avoidance is mere accident, Mr. Burley. Go to
the small drawing-room up-stairs and amuse yourself a moment. I will
despatch a household order that is on my mind, and then I will go to her
room. Without doubt she will be persuaded to see you."
Mr. Burley went up-stairs, intending to go to the small drawing-room,
but as he was passing "Aunt Susan's" private parlor, the door of which
stood slightly ajar, he heard a joyous laugh which he recognized; so
without knock or announcement he stepped confidently in. But before
he could make his presence known he heard words that harrowed up his
soul and chilled his young blood, he heard a voice say:
"Darling, it has come!"
Then