Judy | Page 7

planted in the first
days of bridal happiness.
For years it had been a lonely garden, as lonely as the old Judge's
heart--for fifteen years, ever since the death of his wife, and the
departure of his only son to sail the seas, the darkened windows of the
old house had cast a shadow on the garden, a shadow that had fallen
upon the Judge as he had walked there night after night in solitude.
But this evening as he sat on the bench under the lilac bush, a broad bar
of golden light shone down upon the gay cupid and the sleeping
flowers, and from the open window came the lilt of girlish laughter and

the rippling strain of the "Spring Song," as Judy's fingers touched the
keys of the little piano lightly.
Presently the music changed to a wild dashing strain.
"It's a Spanish dance," Judy explained to Anne. She was swaying back
and forth, keeping time with her body to the melodies that tinkled from
her fingers.
"I can dance it, too," she added.
"Oh, do dance it, Judy--please," cried Anne. She was living in a sort of
Arabian Nights' dream. Hitherto the girls that she had known had been
demure and unaccomplished, so that Judy seemed a brilliant creature,
fresh from fairyland.
With a crash the music stopped, as Judy jumped up from the bench, and
went into the hall.
"Move the chairs back," she directed over her shoulder, and Anne
bustled about, and cleared a space in the centre of the polished floor.
In the meantime Judy bent over a great trunk in the hall.
"Oh, dear," she cried, as she piled a bewildering array of things on the
floor--bright hued gowns, picturesque hats, and a miscellaneous
collection of fans and ribbons. "Oh, dear, of course they are at the very
bottom."
"They" proved to be a scarlet silk shawl and a pair of high-heeled
scarlet slippers. Judy wound the shawl about her in the Spanish manner,
put on the high-heeled slippers, stuck an artificial red rose in her dark
hair, and stepped forth as dashing a señorita as ever danced in old
Seville.
"Oh, Judy," was all that Anne could say. She plumped herself down in
a big chair, too happy for words, and waved to Judy to go on, while she
held her breath lest she might wake from this marvelous enchantment.

Out in the garden, the Judge heard the click of castanets and the tap of
the high heels.
"What is the child doing," he wondered.
As the dance proceeded, the sound of the castanets grew wilder and
wilder, and the high heels beat double raps on the floor. Then, suddenly,
with one sharp "click-ck" the dance ended, and there was silence.
Then Anne cried, "Do it again, do it again, Judy," and the Judge
clapped his applause from the garden below.
At the sound the girls poked their heads out of the window.
"You ought to see her, Judge," Anne's tone was rapturous, "you just
ought to see her."
"Shall I come down?" Judy asked. She was glowing, radiant.
"Yes, indeed. Come and dance on the path."
Five minutes later Judy was whirling, wraithlike in the white light of
the moon, which turned her scarlet trappings to silver. Anne sat by the
Judge and made admiring comments.
"Isn't it fine?" she asked.
The Judge nodded.
"I saw the Spanish girls do it when I was young," he said, beating time
with his cane, "and Judy lived in Spain with her mother for a year,
you'd think the child was born to it," and he chuckled with pride.
But when Judy came up after the last wild dash, he was more moderate
in his praises. The Judge had been raised in the days when children
heard often the rhyme, "Praise to the face, is open disgrace," and at
times he reminded himself of the merits of such early discipline.
"I don't know what your grandmother would have thought of it, my

dear," he said, with a doubtful shake of his head, "in her days, young
ladies didn't do such things."
"Didn't grandmother dance?" asked Judy.
"Indeed she did," said the Judge with enthusiasm. "Why, Judy, there
wasn't a couple that could beat your grandmother and me when we
danced the Virginia reel."
Judy threw herself down on the bench beside him, and fanned herself
with the end of her shawl.
"Can you dance," she asked, "can you really dance, grandfather? I'm so
glad. Some day I shall give a party, and have all the people of the
neighborhood, and we will end it with the reel. May I, grandfather?"
"You may do anything you wish," was the Judge's rash promise, and
with a quick laugh, Judy saw her opportunity and took advantage of it.
"Then