An Original Belle | Page 4

power.
"Why, this is an agreeable surprise, Mr. Lane," she exclaims.
"Agreeable? I am very glad to hear that," he says, in his customary
direct speech. "Yes, I ran up from the city this afternoon. On my way to
lunch I became aware of the beauty of the day, and as my thoughts
persisted in going up the river I was led to follow them. One's life does
not consist wholly of business, you know; at least mine does not."
"Yet you have the reputation of being a busy man."
"I should hope so. What would you think of a young fellow not busy in
these times?"
"I am not sure I should think at all. You give us girls too much credit
for thinking."
"Oh, no; there's no occasion for the plural. I don't give 'us girls'
anything. I am much too busy for that. But I know you think, Miss
Marian, and have capacity for thought."
"Possibly you are right about the capacity. One likes to think one has
brains, you know, whether she uses them or not. I don't think very
much, however,--that is, as you use the word, for it implies the putting
of one's mind on something and keeping it there. I like to let thoughts
come and go as the clouds do in our June skies. I don't mean
thunder-clouds and all they signify, but light vapors that have scarcely
beginning or end, and no very definite being. I don't seem to have time
or inclination for anything else, except when I meet you with your
positive ways. I think it is very kind of you to come from New York to
give me a pleasant evening."
"I'm not so very disinterested. New York has become a dull place, and
if I aid you to pass a pleasant evening you insure a pleasanter one for
me. What have you been doing this long June day, that you have been
too busy for thought?"
"Let me see. What have I been doing? What an uncomfortable question
to ask a girl! You men say we are nothing but butterflies, you know."
"I never said that of you."

"You ask a question which makes me say it virtually of myself. That is
a way you keen lawyers have. Very well; I shall be an honest witness,
even against myself. That I wasn't up with the lark this morning goes
without saying. The larks that I know much about are on the wing after
dinner in the evening. The forenoon is a variable sort of affair with
many people. Literally I suppose it ends at 12 M., but with me it is
rounded off by lunch, and the time of that event depends largely upon
the kitchen divinity that we can lure to this remote and desolate region.
'Faix,' remarked that potentate, sniffing around disdainfully the day we
arrived, 'does yez expects the loikes o' me to stop in this lonesomeness?
We're jist at the ind of the wourld.' Mamma increased her wages, which
were already double what she earns, and she still condescends to
provide our daily food, giving me a forenoon which closes at her
convenience. During this indefinite period I look after my flowers and
birds, sing and play a little, read a little, entertain a little, and thus
reveal to you a general littleness. In the afternoon I take a nap, so that I
may be wide awake enough to talk to a bright man like you in case he
should appear. Now, are you not shocked and pained at my frivolous
life?"
"You have come to the country for rest and recuperation, Miss
Marian?"
"Oh, what a word,--'recuperation!' It never entered my head that I had
come into the country for that. Do I suggest a crying need for
recuperation?"
"I wouldn't dare tell you all that you suggest to me, and I read more
than you say between your lines. When I approached the house you
were chatting and laughing genially with your mother."
"Oh, yes, mamma and I have as jolly times together as two girls."
"That was evident, and it made a very pleasant impression on me. One
thing is not so evident, and it indicates a rather one-sided condition of
affairs. I could not prevent my thoughts from visiting you often to-day
before I came myself, but I fear that among your June-day occupations
there has not been one thought of me."
She had only time to say, sotto voce, "Girls don't tell everything," when
the maid announced, from the door, "Mr. Strahan."
This second comer was a young man precociously mature after a
certain style. His home was a fine old place in the vicinity, but in his

appearance there was no suggestion of the country; nor did he resemble